The Liberal Patriot Blog
 The Liberal Patriot Blog is dedicated to collecting and sharing information about National and State [New Hampshire] Political Action, News, and Events.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Are you fucking kidding me?!!

For Injured U.S. Troops, 'Financial Friendly Fire'

His hand had been blown off in Iraq, his body pierced by shrapnel. He could not walk. Robert Loria was flown home for a long recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he tried to bear up against intense physical pain and reimagine his life's possibilities.

The last thing on his mind, he said, was whether the Army had correctly adjusted his pay rate -- downgrading it because he was out of the war zone -- or whether his combat gear had been accounted for properly: his Kevlar helmet, his suspenders, his rucksack.

But nine months after Loria was wounded, the Army garnished his wages and then, as he prepared to leave the service, hit him with a $6,200 debt. That was just before last Christmas.....

The new analysis comes as the United States has more wounded troops than at any time since the Vietnam War, with thousands suffering serious injury in Iraq or Afghanistan

Army officials said they are in the process of forgiving debts for 99 of the 331 wounded soldiers, all now out of the military. ... Part of the problem is that the government's computerized pay system is designed to "maximize debt collection"……

…..Rep. Todd R. Platts (R-Pa.) said that for some troops, "we've so mismanaged their pay that . . . we've sent debt notices while they're still in combat, in harm's way." Hounding wounded troops is unfathomable, he said. "For even a single soldier, this is unacceptable," he said.

….For wounded troops -- still adjusting to their injuries and changed futures -- a debt notice can be another bitter discovery.

"It was like I was being abandoned. I was no good to the military anymore," recalled Loria, who served more than five years. "They figured the pay glitch was my fault and I was going to pay for it."

from washington post via The News Blog

This is criminal!!! Is anyone able to comment on this without swearing? You are a better person than me.... [or you have ice water for blood.]

Is there anybody left stupid enough to think that our bloated defense spending actually makes it to the troops? They nickel and dime the shit out of these guys [and gals] and then give no bid contracts to defense contractors for brazillions! It is Criminal, Treasonous and Unpatriotic!!


David Nicholson don't like black people.

White Americans feel (more or less correctly) that the battles have been won and that blacks enjoy the same opportunities they do. And while they may not voice their concerns publicly, they wonder (and who can blame them?) why so many black men are in prison or on parole, why so many black children are born out of wedlock, and why even middle-class black kids don't do as well on standardized tests as whites.

It's going to take a lot more than a 10-point platform, and speeches on the Mall, to change the realities that lead to the perception that maybe black people aren't quite good enough.

The above quote is from a Washington Post Editorial... an excellent example of a white person refusing to understand or acknowledge the plight of African Americans. A perfect illustration for a large public demonstration like the Millions More Movement .

Even with all the problems that assail the black community many whites still would like to believe that the problem of racism and the legacy of slavery has been mostly if not entirely erased. I think that most want to believe this NOT as proof that African Americans are inferior to whites but just so that they can feel that the lack of progress for African American isn't their [or their country's] fault. That is a racist attitude.

It is like saying... I am not going to say that "why so many black men are in prison or on parole, why so many black children are born out of wedlock, and why even middle-class black kids don't do as well on standardized tests as whites." is because "black people aren't quite good enough." But I will say that "that the battles have been won and that blacks enjoy the same opportunities they [whites] do." So draw your own conclusions.

That's racist.

Check out a great post on this issue at my new favorite blog "The News Blog"

Romanian Fried Chicken... delicious but deadly!

Next human pandemic "inevitable," says U.S. scientist

The next human pandemic is "inevitable" and the world must prepare now against bird flu and other potentially deadly viruses, a top U.S. government scientist said on Saturday.

"It's been over 30 years since we've had a pandemic, so inevitably we are going to have a pandemic within a reasonable period of time," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"It's not a matter of when or if," he told reporters in Vietnam, where 41 people have died from the H5N1 virus that has now spread to Europe.

full article @ yahoo news

Wait I am confused... aren't those supposed to be books.. they look a hell of a lot like chickens. I REALLY need to start reading these posts...


Bromance Reminder: I love Sirota Blog

Every once and a while I feel compelled [like a closeted anti-gay christian] to remind everyone how great David Sirota [and sirota blog] is.... I know many of you get tons of emails from everyone and their grandma, but you should definately sign up for sirota blog updates and read them. He is a thoughtful progressive from a conservative state that is turning democratic and he has balls. He was one of the first people to come out swinging at democrats over the bankruptcy bill and CAFTA.

Here is a thoughtful look at tax increases....

Jesus, I just wrote the word "tax increases".... there really is profanity on the Liberal Patriot Blog.

Potempkin 1st Amendment Martyr: Judith Miller

Here is more pure political crack RE: the Plamegate / Judith Miller scandal for those of you who have been following it.

NYT finally breaks it's silence on the issue and it looks like the mask of integrity that Judith pretended she had is dissolving fast than Democratic Party support for my Gubernatorial Campaign.

I won't post all the new developments and insider stuff here, it would just bore those of you only interested in which Bushies are going to prison.

UPDATE: For the downlow on those developments visit The News Blog

Too many people on the left are waiting for some Deus Ex Machina to save Rove from himself. They think Bush will push it aside, the media will cover up for him and it will be business as usual. Stop giving Bush that kind of credit....

Don't always assume that the Dems are just waiting for their next beating. That's a silly, self-perpertating idea. Why don't the Dems do this or that? Well, you have to make them. Politicians follow trends, they don't set them. [from The News Blog]
However if you want to get into the guts of the media's failure in leading us into war and allowing the Neo-Con / Bush Administrations reign of lies, incompetence, corruption, and crime to go unchecked you will find Judith Miller at the focal point.

Check out Daily Kos.

UPDATE: Daily Kos has more insight into the dealio

Blow Hard Power!!

Energy bargain blowing in wind

Customers of Xcel Energy's Windsource wind-energy program soon will have more to brag about than their environmental ethic.

Namely, lower bills.

The 29,000 Colorado Windsource participants who now pay as much as $6 more a month for "green power" soon will pay up to $10 less than their neighbors who use conventionally generated electricity.

Higher natural-gas prices are driving this abrupt change in the economics of Xcel's voluntary wind-power purchase plan.

full article @ denverpost.com via sirotablog


Life in War Time; Today in Iraq

Four Iraqis killed in vote attacks

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and three injured in a roadside bomb attack just hours before voting began in Iraq's referendum on a new constitution.

From yahoo news

3,663 Iraqis Killed in Past 6 Months

Saturday's vote on Iraq's new constitution takes place nearly six months after the country's first elected government took power, and during that period at least 3,663 Iraqis have been killed in war-related violence, according to an Associated Press count.

From yahoo news

Baghdad Blackout Caused by Sabotage

Insurgents sabotaged power lines to the capital Friday evening, knocking out electricity across the greater Baghdad area and plunging it into darkness on the eve of the country's key vote on a new constitution.

From Yahoo news

Rebels attack Sunni party offices in Iraq

AFP - Rebels attacked two offices of the Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab group that backs the draft Iraqi constitution, and burned a third in the volatile town of Fallujah.

From Yahoo news


Western States want bigger role in primary

Governors of Utah, New Mexico advocate Western primary in 2008

The governors of New Mexico and Utah will try to recruit other Rocky Mountain and Western states to hold presidential preference contests early in the 2008 presidential campaign.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, joined with Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a Republican, on Tuesday in calling for a Western regional presidential primary or caucuses on the first Tuesday in February 2008.

If enough Western states hold early contests, they say, it will increase the fast-growing region's clout in picking presidential nominees.

"For too long, the West has been a flyover region and Western issues have not been emphasized," Richardson said at a news conference with Huntsman. "We had little or no impact and our issues were easily ignored. If we're successful in putting together several Western states, then that will change."

Full article @ boston.com


Solar powered yogurt!

LONDONDERRY, N.H. (AP) -- International yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm has installed the state's largest solar panel array.

The company says the system is the fifth largest in New England and will help power its operations while fighting global warming and boosting its commitment to supporting renewable energy projects.

from boston.com


Friday, October 14, 2005


SAVE PARIS HILTON FIRST

Rightard radio host Neal Boortz told his listening public on October 14, that in the event of a national disaster we should save the rich first.

In this country, people achieve a lot and they are wealthy because of their hard work. In this country, people don't achieve squat. They sit around all the time waiting for somebody else to take care of them. They have children they can't afford. They're uneducated.


Men wearing silly hats will not be on the first lifeboat, Neal.

LOSE WEIGHT!! AND FEEL BETTER!!

Join the Guantanamo Fast

Since early 2002, the men held at Guantánamo Bay have waged desperate and at times life-threatening hunger strikes to protest their detention without trial and the conditions under which they have been kept.. The current hunger strike, which began in August 2005, has involved the participation of over half of the estimated 540 prisoners still there. Many are now prepared to die if they do not receive a fair hearing or humane treatment.

Please join the Center for Constitutional Rights in a Fast for Justice on November 1, 2005 to show your solidarity with those being kept out of the public eye and to raise awareness for their plight . Click here to let the U.S. Government know that you support fundemental human rights and do not believe that the Bush Administration is above the law.

From Center for Constitutional Rights


Homosexually is SO great it's like demonic possession!!!


On the October 11 broadcast of Today's Issues, a program on the Christian broadcasting network American Family Radio (AFR), Rev. Lou Sheldon, chairman and founder of the conservative "church lobby" group Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), suggested that Christian therapists believe exorcism is the only effective technique that can "release" a person from the homosexual lifestyle.

From the October 11 broadcast of AFR's Today's Issues:

WILDMON: And let me just say one other thing, and we'll go on to our next caller. And I'm not a psychologist, or a psychiatrist, or a social scientist, or anything like that. But I have heard from people who know and understand these things that two of the most difficult sins or bondage to break out of are alcoholism and homosexuality.

SHELDON: Oh definitely, because the groove is built, and I've talked to many psychotherapists who are Christian, and they say once you enter into that lifestyle -- Now, you may have gender identity conflict -- that's the medical-scientific name for homosexuality -- where you're attracted to the same-sex person, but once you enter into the culture, into the music, into the gay bars, into the gay literature, into the gay theater, and all of that kind of -- and gay travel -- once you immerse yourself into that, you have really put yourself into a groove that only a sort of an exorcism can release you from.

WILDMON: Wow.

Full article @ mediamatters.org

Now I bet the Catholics really regret keeping out all the gay priests. Who better to perform a gay exorcism! WOOH! Just thinking about it makes me want to leave my wife and kids and find a crusty old man to smooch!

I always get a secret little chuckle when I hear a "hetereosexual" christian man talk about how aluring, powerful, and attractive the gay life style is. I have no doubt they absolutely feel that way. hehhehe...

Piece of Shit runs for Congress.... I know you are shocked.

Politically connected Windham man eyes Second District seat

Bret Clemons, a 37-year-old greeting card company executive, said concern over one-party control in Washington and inaction on key issues has led him to seek the Second Congressional District nomination.

Clemons, a Nashua native, said he’s a moderate [a moderate what!!? Republican?] who would bring a pragmatic approach to governing, born of 14 years in business management.
“I come at things from a private-sector point of view. In that world, you have to deliver,’’ Clemons said.

Thats right when the lobbyists contribute to you, you need to deliever the votes. Great, another corporate crony for congress.

This would be his first contest for elective office, but Clemons comes from a political family. His mother is Jane Clemons, the Nashua Democrat who is No. 2 in the hierarchy of House Democrats. His younger brother, Nick, is executive director of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Another brother, Ben, was the party’s nominee for county sheriff. And his father, Michael, ran for Hillsborough County commissioner last fall.

On issues, Clemons said the Bush administration won support for the war in Iraq through false pretenses but the U.S. cannot set a public timetable for removing troops. “I do believe it’s a national security issue now. We can’t simply leave Iraq,’’ Clemons said. “At the end of the day if we leave Iraq, we end up with another terrorist state. I can’t see us doing that.’’

Well he already has the Democratic non-position on Iraq down. Coming out the gate he is already out of touch with 60% of America.

If elected, Clemons said, he would consider both cutting spending and raising revenue to balance the federal budget. “We are in a fiscal situation that is not sustainable. We need to look at the revenue and the spending side.”

The Congress needs to reform Social Security to keep it financially solvent in the future but Clemons said he opposes letting younger workers set up private accounts to invest some of their earnings. Instead, Clemons said he would consider reducing cost-of-living adjustments to retirees that are now tied to wage increases for private sector workers.

He wants to fuck over our seniors, too, just not as badly as Bass does. Republican lite all the way.

from Nashua Telegraph

Should anyone be able to run for any political office, Hell Yes! Why don't I like this guy, because he is another of the spawn of one of the worse political insider families in NH. Also he is a conservative piece of shit. The last thing we need is a return of the obsolete "3rd way" DLC lay down sell out model of Democrat.

But having said all that I actually don't think primaries are bad or a waste of money. I have had a change of heart on that and I now feel primary contests can be good even if their is only one viable candidate and the other two are the worse human beings ever. Oh well what do I know. I come from a family of janitors.



How come they ain't no brothers in that group? Only white soldiers in Iraq?

Earlier today, Pentagon communications aide Allison Barber “insisted” to reporters that questions during President Bush’s photo-op teleconference “were not rehearsed,” and that no “specific questions” were prepared.

Unfortunately, she was caught on tape acknowledging just the opposite — that the soldiers had “drilled through” “all six” of the questions that Bush was going to ask:

Watch in streaming Quicktime

BARBER: So here’s what you to be prepared for, Captain Kennedy, is that the president is going to ask some questions. He may ask all six of them, he may ask three of them. He might have such a great time talking to you, he might come up with some new questions. So what we want to be prepared for is to not stutter. So if there’s a question that the president comes up with that we haven’t drilled through today, then I’m expecting the microphone to go right back to you, Captain Kennedy, and you to handle [it].

from thinkprogress blog


Musical Boobs

No, I am not talking about Pat Boone or John Ashcroft...

Computer chips that store music could soon be built into a woman's breast implants.

One boob could hold an MP3 player and the other the person's whole music collection.

BT futurology, who have developed the idea, say it could be available within 15 years.

from huffington post


The Young Chickenhawks

Clarisse Profilet looks at a new generation of conservative college students who aggressively support the war in Iraq but have no interest in fighting it.

"The top of the antiwar movement is led by communists, and I will call them that," Executive Director of the Minnesota chapterof Young Americans for Freedom Chris Hill said. "Unlike these communists, we have truth on our side.... We say to those who oppose this war, Go to France."

Does it undermine his group's prowar position if all the YAF higher-ups are unwilling to participate directly in the war? "I don't think so," Hill replied. "You don't have to be involved in something to believe in it."

Conservative campus groups like YAF and College Republicans are growing in strength and numbers. And since the start of the Iraq War, these outfits have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Bush to support the war, but they have not stood alongside the soldiers doing the actual fighting and dying. They want someone else to do the hard work.

full article @ the nation.com



NH Parental Notification Law... steadily putting abortion further and futher out of reach.

House Speaker FLIP FLOPS and supports parental notification law.

House Speaker Douglas Scamman has reversed his earlier position and endorsed a 2003 law that would require minor girls to notify a parent before getting an abortion.

Scamman told The Telegraph this week he had [previously] signed on with a group urging the U.S. Supreme Court to oppose the law.

This comes as the law, found unconstitutional by a federal appeals court, heads to the U.S. Supreme Court next month.

Full article @ boston.com

ScamMan says he originally opposed the law because it didn’t have a clause to protect the health of the woman. But now [that he has been pressured by anti-choice groups] he realizes that a woman could go before a judge and get waiver to the notification law. He said that before,

"I did not have a copy of the brief. I did not read it,"

Idiot.

Lynch asks court to overthrow parental notification law

Gov. John Lynch said two courts already have rejected New Hampshire's parental notification law on abortions, and the U.S. Supreme Court should do the same.

Lynch filed a brief with the court on Wednesday asking it to find the law unconstitutional. He said it is a risk to the health of New Hampshire women.

"As governor, and as a father, I believe parents should be involved in these important decisions," he said. "But we must also recognize that there are cases where that is not possible -- and we should not risk the health and safety of young women in those cases," Lynch said.

From boston.com

Unlike ScamMan, Lynch sees that merely being able to go before a judge and ask for a waiver does not replace a clause guaranteeing an exception for when the health of the woman is in danger. Medical choices should be made by a doctor not by a judge in a court of law. But try telling that to a Republican!


Thursday, October 13, 2005

DeLay's tentacles are everywhere....

Democrats question timing of 2002 GOP donations

Democrats say three donations made to the New Hampshire Republican Party just before Election Day 2002 raise troubling questions about who paid for a scheme to jam phone lines set up to get voters to the polls.

Rep. Tom DeLay's political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, gave $5,000 to the state Republican Party on Nov. 1, 2002, four days before the election in which Republican John Sununu won his Senate seat by defeating former Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.

Four days earlier, the state party received $5,000 each from two Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist with close ties to DeLay. Together, the three donations nearly equal the $15,600 Republicans paid a telemarketing firm to make repeated hang-up calls to the Democratic phone banks.

from boston.com


Minuteman co-founder whines like a little bitch.

A co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps says its volunteers have been harassed by what he calls "domestic terrorists" who have threatened violence.

What a bunch of pussys and, of course, no one is showing up to play pretend vigilante with them.Boo hoo.

Border Patrol officials said Wednesday agents had been ordered to report any Minuteman activity, but none had been spotted since the beginning of the month when the Minuteman organization began a month long operation on the U.S. Canadian border.

SimCocks is trying to claim that his people are being low key because they are scared for their safety.

Simcox said the volunteers had been keeping a low profile.

"We don't typically turn it into a dog and pony show because of the aggressive groups who advocate violence against our law abiding volunteers," he said.

Full article at Boston.com

What do you expect from a group named after sexual disfunction. As you can tell by the pictures they ain't called the minutemen because they run very goddamn fast.


Higher than I expected.

From the "Today" show this morning:

RUSSERT: And Matt, the most astounding number in this: 2 percent – just 2 percent - of African-Americans give George Bush a positive rating for his performance as President. The memories of Katrina very much in their minds.

LAUER: Is that what this is all about? I mean, obviously that is just a startling number, 2 percent of African-Americans. Is this all about the aftermath of Katrina?

RUSSERT: Well, the imagery of that along with the economy and fuel prices and Iraq, but that event, Matt, really did have a searing effect. George Bush and the Republican Party has tried very hard to reach out to African-American voters, but this is a very dramatic setback. I cannot find a pollster who can remember any President ever getting just 2 percent approval from African-Americans.

from huffington post

Update:

To be fair, the margin of error on the poll is 3.4% percent. So Bush’s actual approval among African Americans could be anywhere from -1.4% to 5.4%.

from think progress blog


Let them eat room service...

Straining to meet President Bush's mid-October deadline to clear out shelters, the federal government has moved hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina into hotel rooms at a cost of about $11 million a night, a strategy local officials and some members of Congress criticize as incoherent and wasteful.

The number of people in hotels has grown by 60 percent in the past two weeks as some shelters closed, reaching nearly 600,000 as of Tuesday. Even so, relief officials say they cannot meet the deadline, as more than 22,000 people were still in shelters in 14 states on Wednesday.

from huffington post

Is it a waste of money to do whatever needs to be done to help katrina victims? HELL NO.

The point here is because FEMA and the federal government lack the leadership and competency to help these people they are having to throw them in hotels and spend a hell of a lot of money for a worse outcome then if they were prepared and able to deal with this situation.

When you strip down essential aspects of the government and put cronies in positions of authority, you can't just fix everything real fast when those services are needed.

Once again the America Tax Payers are going to pay for the misadventures of politicians. Just like my joke about me using my electric stove to heat my house. Because of our governments unpreparedness this catastrophe will cost us many times what it would have and probably turn out worse for it. In my example had I just bought heating oil, it would have cost less and I would have been warmer. Had I pre-bought oil it would have cost even less.

Even the “honest” Libertarians and Conservatives who really want to get rid of all government, and not just the parts they don’t like, will fail. But their "experiments" will cost us horribly. This is why these Republican “conservatives” are actually Radicals ideologues. A real conservative would never take a chance with people's safely by dismantling an emergency response program. A Real Conservative always wants to do things the way they have always been done, only agreeing to a change after careful consideration then only to least change absolutely necessary.

To give the Republicans and anti-government "conservatives" some credit this hotel thing is a compromise. If they had their way those people would be left to "sink or swim" to pull themselves up by their own water moccasins.


The Big Chill....

Winter heating bills will be a third to a half higher for most families across the country, with the sharpest increases expected for those who heat with natural gas, the Energy Department forecast Wednesday.

The department said natural gas users can expect to pay an average of $350 more during the upcoming winter compared to last year, an increase of 48 percent. Those who heat their homes with fuel oil will pay $378 more, or 32 percent higher than last winter.

from huffington post

I heard freezing to death is not so bad, you just get sleeper and sleeper until you die. Simular to running out of coffee.

See the heating oil companies are not required to deliever oil to you once you run out, unlike the electric company which can't (legally) turn off you electricity during the winter months. So my plan is to just move my family in to the kitchen and sleep with the electric oven on and during the day use the laundry room as the living room with the electric dryer running. Nows THATS Republican self reliance for ya! What wrong with these other whiners don't they have dryers and ovens?


THE POLLS

According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, the fortunes of the Bush administration and the Republican Party have not yet begun to recover.

For the first time in the poll, Bush’s approval rating has sunk below 40 percent, while the percentage believing the country is heading in the right direction has dipped below 30 percent. In addition, a sizable plurality prefers a Democratic-controlled Congress, and just 29 percent think Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is qualified to serve on the nation’s highest court.

full article @ huffington post.

Other polls have had Bush below 40% approval rating for a while. The lowest of those polls give him a 37%.


Some like it hot....

New international climate data show that 2005 is on track to be the hottest year on record, continuing a 25-year trend of rising global temperatures.

Climatologists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies calculated the record-breaking global average temperature, which now surpasses 1998's record by a tenth of a degree Fahrenheit, from readings taken at 7,200 weather stations scattered around the world.

from huffington post


What can't happen....

[...] Leo Giacometto is to Montana what Karl Rove is to America. Now that he's batting for private industry as opposed to for Republicans, he's willing to raise money for anyone he thinks will be friendly.

Giacometto is a Republican, former chief of staff to Conrad Burns, linked to Abramoff, and a lobbyist. So why do we care about yet another sleazy, corrupt Republican?

Because he is now doing fundraisers for Democratic senator Max Baucus.

full post @ daily kos


Wednesday, October 12, 2005

THE LIBERAL PATRIOT PODCAST!!!!

Podcast webpage at:http://joneaston.podomatic.com

RSS feed is available here:http://joneaston.podomatic.com/rss2.xml

Download podcast here.

UPDATE 5 pm: I am working on uploading a LOUDER version of the podcast... should be done soon...

UPDATE 5:45 PM ... NEW LOUDER podcast should be read by 6pm!! enjoy

UPDATE: 6:02 pm IT UP... try it out!

UPDATE: 9:01 pm I did it, the little green button on the podcast page WORKS... so you can download or stream our podcast @ http://joneaston.podomatic.com


Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Who is paying the price.....

The U.S. National Guard and Reserves have been especially hard hit by the ongoing war in Iraq. These troops, traditionally used sparingly in overseas conflicts are now overburdened, and, according to AP, are “suffering a strikingly higher share of U.S. casualties in Iraq.”

Consider:

10 percent: Guard and Reserve casualty rate in the Spring 2003, between the invasion and “Mission Accomplished.”

20 percent: Guard and Reserve casualty rate for 2004.

36 percent: Guard and Reserve casualty rate for the first nine months of 2005.

56 percent: Casualty rate for August and September 2005.

From think progress blog


Worse Presidential Prospect: Return of the Kerry

With Kerry visiting Iowa and touring the state, David Yepsen weighs in on the possibility of a Kerry 2008 run. Yepsen is the dean of the Iowa political press corps. Yet instead of apologizing for his state's wrong-headed single-handed selection of John Kerry in 2004, he is making the case for an encore perfomance.

  • He came close, oh so close, in 2004. Bush got 51 percent. Kerry got 48 percent. Only 120,000 more votes in Ohio, and you wouldn't be reading this column [...]
  • Kerry's been vetted. He's been through the crucible once, and the lessons he learned would be useful again.

    Media people, opponents and voters have all had a chance to study the man. Many saw him as presidential material. He did well in the debates. The smear attacks on him in 2004 will be old news in 2008. And considering how poorly Bush has been doing of late, Kerry looks better by the day.

  • He was a classy loser. Unlike Al Gore, who skulked off to grow a beard, Kerry withdrew quickly and honorably. He set about tending his duties in the U.S. Senate, giving speeches and trying to help fellow Democrats win elections in 2006, which is shaping up to be a good year for them.
  • Kerry understands why he lost. Strategists in his camp say if he does run again, the campaign will be more nimble in responding to attacks than it was in 2004. He won't be isolated from key Democrats seeking to offer advice.
  • 120,000 votes in Ohio could've flipped the race? Flip 120,000 votes in Wisconsin, Minnesota and New Hampshire, and Bush wins a 310-228 blowout. Heck, his own state passed on Kerry. Bush looks poorly right now? Too bad Kerry wouldn't be facing Bush in 2008. Kerry has been vetted? Of course he was. And he was rejected, against the worst president in our nation's history.

    Nah, the Kerry ship has sailed. I'm still unexcited by any of the current crop of presidential contenders, making it easy to remain neutral thus far. But I'm not neutral on Kerry. Far from it. We, as a party, don't need to make that mistake twice.

    (Via Political Wire.)

    from daily kos


    Google, Google, on the net, who is the biggest failure of them all!

    1. Go to www.google.com
    2. Type "failure" in the search text box.
    3. Press "I'm Feeling Lucky" button just next to "Google Search"
    button.

    Home Town (state) Pride: Abramoff possibly linked to NH Phone Banking Scandal

    .....the 2002 New Hampshire election tampering case which has been dragging on now for almost three years. The former Executive Director of the New Hampshire Republican party and Republican political consultant Allen Raymond have already taken pleas and gone to prison. James Tobin, who then worked as the Northeast political director for Bill Frist's National Republican Senatorial Committee and the RNC, is now awaiting trial for his role in the scheme.

    Through the life of the case, Justice Department lawyers have never seemed in a particular hurry to move the case along or to work it higher up the food chain of those who might have been involved. But that now appears to be changing.

    For the duration of the case, the prosecution had been in the hands of Todd Hinnen, a Justice Department prosecutor from the Criminal Division's Computer Crimes Section. At the end of July, however, Hinnen was pulled from the case and reassigned. He's now reportedly working on cyberterrorism issues at the White House.

    At the time, observers in New Hampshire thought this might be another example of the DOJ's lack of total commitment to the case. After two and half years, and just before the big trial, they were pulling the lead attorney from the case and starting over with someone new.

    But the opposite now seems to have been the case.

    Hinnen was replaced by another attorney from the Criminal Division's Computer Crimes Division and, significantly, an attorney from the Public Integrity section. That is, after all, what you'd expect in a case that is about political corruption. The tempo and zeal of the investigation appears to have picked up since the reassignment. And there is reason to believe that the new vigor behind the prosecution and the assignment of a Public Integrity section lawyer to the case has come about because the New Hampshire case has become tied to the ever-expanding Abramoff investigation.

    Full article @ talking points memo blog


    Study shows that Conservatism is a disease. Finally suffers can get help!!!

    A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity".

    .... the report's four authors linked Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan and the rightwing talkshow host, Rush Limbaugh, arguing they all suffered from the same affliction.

    "This intolerance of ambiguity can lead people to cling to the familiar, to arrive at premature conclusions, and to impose simplistic cliches and stereotypes," the authors argue in the Psychological Bulletin.

    full article @ guardian uk


    Iraq: Life during War Time

    UK troops in Iraq to be cut by 500

    British troop numbers in Iraq will be cut by around 500 next month, the defence secretary, John Reid, announced today.

    From UK Guardian via huffington post

    Insurgents Kill More Than 40 Iraqis

    Insurgents determined to wreck Iraq's constitutional referendum killed more than 40 people and wounded dozens in a series of attacks Tuesday, including a suicide car bomb that ripped apart a crowded market in a town near the Syrian border, police said.

    In the deadliest attack in nearly two weeks, a suicide car bomb exploded at about 11 a.m. in a crowded open market in the northwestern town of Tal Afar, killing 30 Iraqis and wounding 45, said Brig. Najim Abdullah, Tal Afar's police chief. U.S and Iraqi forces routed insurgents in a major offensive there last month.

    From yahoo news via huffington post

    Ex-Iraqi Officials Sought in $1B Theft

    Iraq has issued arrest warrants against the defense minister and 27 other officials from the U.S.-backed government of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi over the alleged disappearance or misappropriation of $1 billion in military procurement funds, officials said Monday.

    For months, Iraqi investigators have been looking into allegations that millions of dollars were spent on overpriced deals for shoddy weapons and military hardware, apparently to launder cash, at a time when Iraq was battling a bloody insurgency that still persists.

    From yahoo news via huffington post


    Many of the dead are children....


    Pakistan's military spokesman has said an entire generation of young people has been wiped out in the areas worst hit by a massive earthquake.

    Full article from BBC News

    UPDATE:

    Quake death toll could top 35,000 Also:

    Death toll from Central American floods surges to 770


    GOPerverts: Oregon Head of Christian Coalition Molests Family Members.

    Local Christian Coalition Official Did Molest, Family Members Tell 'The Oregonian'

    After news broke that local law enforcement officials were investigating complaints that Louis Beres, longtime chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon, had molested three female family members when they were pre-teens, The Oregonian in Portland went out and interviewed Beres' family members.

    full story @ editor & publisher via huffington post


    Update: Beres is also former chairman of the Multnomah County Republican Party.


    National Review's Conservative Bash: Who was there, Who wasn't there....

    Guess who was at the 50th Birthday bash for William Buckley's Ultra-Conservative [and sometimes racist] National Review magazine?

    Remember, Buckley helped fellow neocon Lieberman win his Senate seat by ousting the then-liberal Republican Weicker with a challenge from the right. (Weicker is now a liberal independent, still well to the left of Lieberman.)

    As noted in the comments, Lieberman didn't just attend, but he sat at the head table with Buckley and Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh says they had a nice chat.

    from Daily Kos

    Guess who was expected but never showed up?

    Raw Story reports:

    Vice President Dick Cheney was noticeably absent from a landmark dinner held last Thursday for the 50th anniversary of the conservative National Review magazine, Roll Call will report in Tuesday editions.

    While guests raved about the gourmet food served at the National Review’s 50th anniversary party Thursday night, they couldn’t take their minds off who wasn’t there: Vice President Cheney. His absence dredged up the question that dominated the blogosphere in recent months: Where’s Dick? “Not here,” was the short answer. “Scheduling conflict,” the party line.

    Cheney was supposed to speak at the dinner at 7:30. For health reasons, he wanted to move his slot to 7:00. They couldn't change it, and he ended up not going.

    from TalkLeft Blog

    Satan must have had other plans for him. A bargin's a bargin.

    mosquitoes with glowing testicles

    British scientists have made a breakthrough in the control of malaria: by creating mosquitoes with fluorescent testicles.

    full story here

    More 1950's Bullshit from the Man-o-centric Manocracy!

    To minimize the risk of crib death, the nation's largest organization of pediatricians is recommending that babies be put to sleep with pacifiers and in their own beds, despite intense opposition from advocates for breast-feeding and the "family bed."

    The American Academy of Pediatrics, hoping to settle some of the most hotly debated, emotional issues related to the care of newborns, is for the first time endorsing routine pacifier use and explicitly advocating a ban on babies sleeping with their parents.

    In an eagerly awaited set of recommendations being announced today, the academy's first new guidance in five years also toughens its long-standing policy that babies always sleep on their backs, saying for the first time that even sleeping on the side is too dangerous. Babies should, however, sleep in the same room as their parents, the academy concludes. full article @ sfgate

    The only place for a baby to sleep is in a bed with their parents. Go here to stop abdicating your instincts and your consciousness to "experts".

    Once upon a time these same sort of “experts” said formula feeding was superior to breast feeding, than they said babies should breast feed for 6 weeks, now they say babies should breast feed for AT LEAST six months.... fuck them.

    Trust your body and heart. Should the newest and dearest member of your family be put in a wooden cage by themselves. IN what evolutionary cal de sac is that a viable plan? I guess when your children are older you can explain away their suffering by saying, “Honey, we had to do that if was the currently recommended way to prevent crib death.”

    As with all the other “Family Bed” parents we have known both our children sleep “through the night” very early. My son was sleeping through the night 2 weeks after he was born, my daughter was 2 days after she was born. We were the envy of other non-family bed new parents.

    For those of you blindly heeding the mindless bleats of “experts enjoy the sleepless nights and agonized screams of your child, you inhuman monster.


    New Orleans Police beat up a elderly black elementary school teacher.

    A 64-year-old man, Robert Davis, who was repeatedly punched in the head by police in an incident caught on videotape was not drunk, as police have alleged, and put up no resistance as he was being pummeled, his lawyer said Monday.

    The man, a retired elementary school teacher, had returned to New Orleans only to check on property he owns in the storm-ravaged city, and was out looking to buy cigarettes when he was arrested.

    Two city officers accused in the beating, and a third officer accused of grabbing and shoving an Associated Press Television News producer who helped document the confrontation, pleaded not guilty on Monday to battery charges. full articles @ abc news

    They claimed he was drunk which I guess they feel gives them the authority to kick the living shit out of him. Davis has a different story.

    "I haven't had a drink in 25 years," Davis said.

    Davis said he had been walking in the French Quarter and approached a mounted police officer to ask about the curfew in the city when another officer interrupted.

    "This other guy interfered and I said he shouldn't," Davis said. "I started to cross the street and — bam — I got it. ... All I know is this guy attacked me and said, `I will kick your ass,' and they proceeded to do it."

    Full article @ yahoo news

    How many young white guys does it take to take down a 64 year old black elementary school teacher. Do all black men have super powers or are southern white cops just a bunch of pussys? It's seems beating the crap out of black people is fine, but these police REALLY crossed the line when they PUSHED A JOURNALIST! THE NERVE!!! If you think that is "over the top" then answer me this, who the hell would have reported for read about this story IF the cop had not push a journalist. He there had been no video tape and all we had was the word of one black man against 3 white copes this thing wouldn't even be going to court.

    In this image taken from video, a police officer who identified himself as S.M. Smith, partially obscured by officer in foreground, pushes Associated Press Television News producer Rich Matthews against a car as he holds up his press credentials near Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Satuday night, Oct. 8, 2005. At least one police officer repeatedly punched a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication, shortly before this incident where Smith assaulted Matthews as a cameraman taped the confrontations.

    Mier's contributed to Hillary Clinton.

    Harriet Miers' law firm donated $1000 to Hillary's Senate run in 2000.

    from America Blog

    Well, that should be the end of her.

    Ohio Coingate

    So, Coingate was not only a way to kick some money to a corrupt GOP supporter but it was also a way to funnel money back to GOP candidates from the state pension fund.

    Yesterday's Toledo Blade had the story putting all the money movement together: Tom Noe moved money into his own personal bank account and subsequently made donations to Republicans, both in Ohio and for Bush's presidential campaign. The Blade has been in the lead with these stories on the Culture of Corruption, Ohio Division, Coingate series.

    Interestingly enough, Salon has a story showing one of the Blade's reporter's had the corrupt Noe story back in 2004, and sat on it. Why? Well, it looks like he's a Republican operative.

    full article at Daily Kos

    [picture: left to right, Tom Noe, Governor Taft, expendable crony]


    Monday, October 10, 2005

    GOPerverts

    Kentucky molester

    "Former Floyd County republican leader Bobby Stumbo's case will be heard by a grand jury. He is charged with sexually abusing a five year old boy."

    There seem to be an awful lot of GOPervs.
    a whole list

    In the Wake of the Flood....

    Governor assesses damage; some dams still in danger of failing

    Gov. John Lynch was briefed Monday morning by state emergcency management officials on flooding that knocked out roads and bridges and killed at least two people in the southwest part of the state.

    Lynch had flown to Europe for a trade mission Saturday, but returned Sunday to take charge of the response to the flooding and declare a state of emergency.

    "This is the worst damage they've seen from flooding in 25 years in New Hampshire," he said.

    Two people died in Unity when their car drove off a washed-out bridge into the Little Sugar River and overturned Sunday. After the car was recovered, the bodies of two 20-year-olds were found inside. Steven Day, of Unity, and Ashley Gate, of Claremont, both died, state police said.

    full article @ yahoo news

    Keene resonates with sounds of generators, pumps

    Keene, the biggest city in hardest-hit southwestern New Hampshire, had no electricity and was awash in the sounds of generators and pumps Monday as Gov. John Lynch and Cheney toured.

    Two of the confirmed deaths occurred when a young man and woman drove off a washed-out bridge into the Little Sugar River in Unity on Sunday. The bodies of Steven Day of Unity and Ashley Gate of Claremont, both 20, were in their car, state police said.

    The third death was a man spotted from the air Sunday afternoon in a cornfield next to the Cold Driver in Langdon, said Col. Jeff Gray of the Fish and Game Department. The man remained unidentified Monday, but Gray said the death appeared to be flood-related.

    A kayaker was missing on the North Branch River in Antrim. Rescue workers tried to reach him as he clung to a tree, but he was washed away and was feared dead. State police also were asking for help locating several residents of Alstead who were reported missing.

    During the weekend, residents downstream of the Highland Lake dam in Stoddard and the Lake Todd dam in Bradford were evacuated. Water went over the top of dams in Alstead, Belmont and Washington during the weekend.

    Water continued to flow over the Warren Lake dam in Alstead on Monday morning, but the dam itself was intact. A surge over that dam during the weekend sent a "4- or 5-foot wall of water" downstream, damaging at least a half dozen bridges on Route 123 and washing away several homes. The Cold River also overflowed, leaving the town virtually cut off.

    Full article @ yahoo news

    The worse than useless mainstream media isn't reporting it, but there was also a Hurricane Stan that kill 763 people so far in South America.


    Sunday, October 09, 2005

    Just horrible....

    UPDATE:
    Earthquake death toll in Pakistani Kashmir estimated at 30,000

    An estimated 30,000 people were killed in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir by a massive earthquake, the region's Minister for Works and Communication Tariq Farooq has told AFP.

    "Our rough estimates say more than 30,000 people have died in the earthquake in Kashmir," he said on Sunday. Pakistan's military said earlier that at least 18,000 died in the 7.6 magnitude quake that hit Saturday.

    Full story @ yahoo news

    18,000 Dead in Pakistan Quake

    A powerful earthquake centered in the Hindu Kush mountains of Pakistan on Saturday morning sent tremors across South Asia, killing more than 18,000 people, including at least 1,600 in remote northern Pakistan, among them hundreds across both sides of disputed Kashmir, and shaking houses and high-rises throughout the region.

    Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan's chief army spokesman, who announced the toll on Sunday, said at least 45,000 people had been injured, a vast majority on the Pakistani side of Kashmir. He said that "so far there are many areas which have not been reached" by the army, but that military units were expected to reach all of them by the end of the day.

    full story @ daily kos


    Judith Miller Criminal; NYTimes enablers...

    New development in Judith Gate:

    NEWLY-DISCOVERED NOTES

    Last Friday, after spending 85 days in jail, Miller testified before the grand jury about two conversations she had with Libby in July 2003 and turned over redacted notes. She testified about a meeting with Libby on July 8, 2003 at the St. Regis Hotel and a later conversation by telephone on July 12, 2003, sources said.

    But after she testified, Miller discovered that she had additional notes from the June 2003 conversation with Libby. That was well before Wilson on July 6, 2003 published an opinion piece in The New York Times accusing the White House of twisting intelligence on Iraq, but after reports of his mission had begun to surface.

    A column by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times on May 6, 2003 may have been the trigger for the interest by Cheney's office, the sources said.

    This explanation of Miller's is simply not credible. Just discovered the notes? Are you kidding me? I believe David Corn is right that the Miller matter has discredited the New York Times in a way that the Blair fiasco never could.

    As an aside, it has long been my belief that it was the Kristof column that triggered the Rove attack on Wilson:

    For those who can add 2 plus 2, the conclusion is obvious -- the classified information improperly, (and probably illegally) leaked by Rove and Libby, came from the June 2003 State Dep't memo. All Rovegate roads lead there. Not a new story, we have said this for quite a while. But Pincus' story reminds of this central fact. But it does lead me to one piece of speculation - Judith Miller may have been given the memo for her review by Lewis Libby. And that is why her testimony is critical to the investigation.

    It is in that context that the newly found notes of a June 2003 meeting between Miller and Libby become potentially critical. What appears to be Miller's initial attempt to cover up the existence of the June meeting demolishes any presumption, at least for me, that Miller's motivation was in fact the protection of her source. It simply is not credible. At this point, the credibility of the New York Times itself is at stake.

    It is NOT unfair now to speculate that a New York Times reporter conspired with members of the Bush Administration in a scheme to discredit a critic of the Bush regime. It is NOT unfair now to speculate that the management of the New York Times is engaged in obfuscation and stonewalling in order to cover up its complicity in Ms. Miller's actions.

    full post @ daily kos

    Miers is qualified.... for a woman.

    But today on Fox News Sunday, in an attempt to assuage conservative activists, Brit Hume offered this explanation of Bush’s choice: Miers may be unqualified when compared to white men, but judged against minorities and other women, she is actually the cream of the crop (video at Crooks & Liars):

    WILLIAM KRISTOL: I was opposed to the president nominating [Alberto] Gonzalez, but I think it is absolutely the case just on the merits that Judge Gonzalez was more qualified than Harriet Meiers.

    BRIT HUME: I think, Chris, that to the extent that the president flinched, he flinched on this point, and that is he decided it had to be a woman and/or a minority, and that narrowed the field. And I think it’s also the case that while he had just named to the appellate bench some quite likely seeming candidates, Priscilla Owen being one, Janice Rogers Brown another, and after prolonged battles, lasting years, gotten them confirmed, I think that he was still operating from a much narrower list. And in that context, she looked much better than she would have against a full field, men and women alike.

    from thinkprogress


    A modest proposal

    A modest proposal

    Abort Every White Baby!
    By JUSTIN FELUX

    "Bill Bennett, a prominent right-wing blowhard, has recently come under intense fire for remarks made on his radio show, in which he stated, "I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could ... abort every black baby in this country." He quickly backed away from the proposition, saying "That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down." It's unfortunate that Bennett chose to be so politically correct, because I think he may be onto something here. He's just wrong about the target. If we really wanna get tough on crime, it's the white babies who should start getting the coat hanger treatment."


    Stupid white men (and women)can be prevented!

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