Blog of Doom

Sen. Clinton holds online conversation

2007-01-23T17:34:00.000-05:00

By CHUCK RAASCH
WASHINGTON BUREAU
(Original publication: January 23, 2007)

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that she had learned from mistakes she made in pushing national health care as first lady in 1993 and 1994 and told listeners on a Web chat that she would make health care a centerpiece of her presidential campaign.

In a half-hour video Web cast dubbed "The Conversation Begins," the New York Democrat answered a smattering of soft-edged and broadly framed questions about health care, energy independence, terrorism, the United States' relationship with other countries, and hurricane relief. It was the first of three nights of Web chats Clinton plans to have on her campaign's Internet site.

Clinton announced over the weekend that she was running for president and has since engaged in a multiple-platform media rollout. As she was chatting live online, the cable network MSNBC was promoting a Clinton interview with NBC anchor Brian Williams to be shown later yesterday.

Not surprisingly, Clinton's Web chat was more "Oprah" than "Hardball." Those who clicked in heard Clinton say she had plans to address the nation's energy, health care and foreign policy challenges, but few details. Clinton did say she was considering a proposal to allow uninsured people over age 55 to buy into Medicare or other government health insurance plans.

Clinton said she was convinced that the country was reaching a critical point on the need for health-care reform, largely because high costs and the growing number of uninsured Americans was hurting the U.S. competitively in global markets.

"Some people might say, 'Well, you know, senator, didn't you try that before, back in 1993 and 1994?' " Clinton said of her attempts to nationalize health care, which many think contributed to the Democrats' 1994 electoral defeats.

"I did. I worked at my husband's request to see if we could do what was necessary to create a system that everybody could be a part of. And we were not successful, and we made a bunch of mistakes. And I have learned from all of that, and I have the scars to show from what I went through."

Some Democrats are also wary of Clinton because of her 2002 vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

Clinton told an e-mail questioner that if the nation had known then what it knows now, she believes President Bush would not have asked for the vote, nor would she have voted the way she did.

Clinton told another questioner worried about the United States' standing in the world that she did not understand why Bush did not engage in more diplomacy with leaders he did not agree with.

The U.S. wants "to lead the world, but we want to do it through cooperation, building alliances, making more friends than enemies," said Clinton, who sat on a sofa in front of bookshelves. "We cannot kill ... or jail all of the bad guys who wish us ill, but we sure can surround them, we can deter them, we can defeat them, if we have people rooting for us."

The medium of the Internet is increasingly becoming the message for presidential candidates. Many '08 contenders have chosen the Internet to declare their intentions and to prove their bona fides as modern communicators. In both style and substance, they are attempting to join the universe of politicos who are forming Web-based alliances and engaging in debates on blogs and chat rooms.

Fellow Democrat John Edwards launched his campaign last month with an Internet video feed from New Orleans produced by the video blog site Rocketboom and posted on YouTube. Over the weekend, another Democrat, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, issued his own Internet video saying he was running. But Clinton's Web presence overshadowed Richardson's.

Clinton launched her candidacy with a video on her Web site Saturday, which showed her sitting, relaxed, on a couch and inviting Americans for "a chat ... a dialogue about your ideas and mine." It seemed designed both to emulate her successful "listening tour" that helped launch her Senate career more than seven years ago and to address the persistent image that she is cool and detached.

Contact Chuck Raasch at craasch@gns.gannett.com

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36.9 Million Viewers For Fox's Idol

2007-01-19T20:11:00.000-05:00

An estimated 36.9 million people watched the two-hour special on Fox Wednesday night, only slightly down from the 37.3 million who tuned in for Tuesday's two-hour season premiere, according to Nielsen Media Research.

They were the two biggest nights of prime-time entertainment on Fox since it came onto the air nearly two decades ago.

"We're fortunate it's on our air and we take good care of it and it rewards us with good ratings," said Preston Beckman, Fox's executive vice president for strategic planning.

The audience for what host Ryan Seacrest dubbed "the weirdest turnout in history" on Wednesday was 17 percent bigger than the corresponding night a year ago, Nielsen said.

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Why the iPhone is a rip off

2007-01-18T17:09:00.000-05:00

By Lucas Mearian

I love whiz-bang technology. I love it so much that when MP3 players first came out, I bought one as a voice recorder for business interviews when all my reporter counterparts were still buying reel-to-reel mini recorders or digital recorders with a one-tenth the memory and no file-manipulation capabilities. And, I love my cell phone because I can send and receive messages in a meeting, take photos on the fly, shop on it and perform Google searches no matter where I am -- and it was free with my cellular service plan. So why would I ever pay $500 for a cell phone? I don't think I'm alone here.

Market research firm Isuppli Corp. today released a research report stating that the iPhone will generate more than a 50% gross margin for Apple -- nothing unusual for them. That basically means that Apple is pocketing $250 for every iPhone it sells. Compare that with the average gross margin of 10% to 20% for handsets and you'll see where Apple is really relying on fan loyalty to gouge.

In a recent interview, Steve Ballmer chortled when asked about the iPhone. Not that I would normally take anything seriously that a Microsoft executive would say about an Apple product, but in this interview posted on YouTube, he makes two very good points: 1) $500 for a phone is outrageous when you can get the same features on another cell phone for less than $100; 2) The iPhone has no keypad, so it's not business/text-message friendly.

Then you have to consider iPhone's competition. In 2007, it's estimated that there will be 835 models of music-enabled phones introduced by various Apple competitors. iSuppli estimates that 14 phones already shipping -- from Nokia, Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG -- have features comparable to what the Apple iPhone will have when it ships in June.

But Jagdish Rebello, a PhD, and director and principal analyst with iSuppli, says Apple knows its market and is good at displacing competitors.

People just love the iPod. Why, I don't know. There are plenty of cheaper MP3 players with the same functionality on the market, but hey, it's Apple. Apple equals anti-establishment, and therefore, it's cool. So I have no doubt that Apple will sell the 8 million iPhones it's aiming for this year. And, with a total of 1 billion handsets being sold every year, those 8 million iPhones are only a fraction of the marketplace. So why the rant?

It's the principle. It's like Boston Red Sox tickets. The team wins one World Series, and they go about gouging their fans. Apple gets a big win with its iPod and it believes it can gouge the consumer on a follow-on product.

It's very likely that when Cingular begins selling the iPhone, it will subsidize a portion of the cost -- so the consumer won't have to foot the full $500 bill -- at least that's the hope. But until I see it, I won't be running out to buy it.

The iPhone is cool technology -- you can't help but ogle the interface -- but like PS3, you'd have to be out of your gourd to pay that kind of money for something that's basically whiz-bang with no more substance than other cheaper, comparable products.

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Obama for ....hmmmm....

2007-01-18T17:01:00.000-05:00

Wire Services

SPRINGFIELD (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may have a lot of explaining to do.

He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. He supported allowing retired police officers to carry concealed weapons, but opposed allowing people to use banned handguns to defend against intruders in their homes. And the list of sensitive topics goes on.

With only a slim, two-year record in the U.S. Senate, Obama doesn't have many controversial congressional votes which political opponents can frame into attack ads. But his eight years as an Illinois state senator are sprinkled with potentially explosive land mines, such as his abortion and gun control votes.

Obama - who filed papers this week creating an exploratory committee to seek the 2008 Democratic nomination - may also find himself fielding questions about his actions outside public office, from his acknowledgment of cocaine use in his youth to a more recent land purchase from a political supporter who is facing charges in an unrelated kickback scheme involving investment firms seeking state business.

Obama was known in the Illinois Capitol as a consistently liberal senator who reflected the views of voters in his Chicago district. He helped reform the state death penalty system and create tax breaks for the poor while developing a reputation as someone who would work with critics to build consensus.

He had a 100 percent rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council for his support of abortion rights, family planning services and health insurance coverage for female contraceptives.

One vote that especially riled abortion opponents involved restrictions on a type of abortion where the fetus sometimes survives, occasionally for hours. The restrictions, which never became law, included requiring the presence of a second doctor to care for the fetus.

"Everyone's going to use this and pound him over the head with it," said Daniel McConchie, vice president and chief of staff for Americans United for Life.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said voters will be able to judge distorted accounts of his votes against his legislative career in general.

"I don't doubt that if you take a series of votes and twist them and kind of squint, you can write a narrative the way you want to write it," Gibbs said. "I think what people understand is that (what matters) is taking the full measure of his career and the full measure of his legislative efforts."

Abortion opponents see Obama's vote on medical care for aborted fetuses as a refusal to protect the helpless. Some have even accused him of supporting infanticide.

Obama - who joined several other Democrats in voting "present" in 2001 and "no" the next year - argued the legislation was worded in a way that unconstitutionally threatened a woman's right to abortion by defining the fetus as a child.

"It would essentially bar abortions because the equal protection clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this was a child then this would be an anti-abortion statute," Obama said in the Senate's debate in March 2001.

During his 2004 run for U.S. Senate, Obama said he supported similar federal legislation that included language clarifying that the measure did not interfere with abortion rights.

Such hot-button issues were the exception in a legislative career that focused more on building consensus to improve the justice system and aid the poor.

Gibbs noted Obama's leadership on legislation requiring police to videotape interrogations in murder cases. It started out as a controversial idea but ended up passing the Senate unanimously.

Allies and opponents alike say he listened to those who disagreed, cooperated with Republicans and incorporated other people's suggestions for improving legislation.

"He was looked upon by members of both parties as someone whose view we listened carefully to," said Republican state Sen. Kirk Dillard from Hinsdale, Ill.

Obama regularly supported gun-control measures, including a ban on semiautomatic "assault weapons" and a limit on handgun purchases to one a month.

He also opposed letting people use a self-defense argument if charged with violating local handgun bans by using weapons in their homes. The bill was a reaction to a Chicago-area man who, after shooting an intruder, was charged with a handgun violation.

Supporters framed the issue as a fundamental question of whether homeowners have the right to protect themselves.

Obama joined several Chicago Democrats who argued the measure could open loopholes letting gun owners use their weapons on the street. They said local governments should have the final say, but the self-defense exception passed 41-16 and ultimately became state law.

"It's bad politics to be on the wrong side of the Second Amendment come election time," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. "It will certainly be talked about. You can take that to the bank."

On the other hand, Obama parted company with gun control advocates when he backed a measure to let retired police officers and military police carry concealed weapons.

Obama occasionally supported higher taxes, joining other Democrats in pushing to raise more than 300 taxes and fees on businesses in 2004 to help solve a budget deficit. The increases passed the Senate 30-28.

That's one reason Illinois business groups gave Obama a low rating, while labor groups praised him. But even Obama's allies say he refused to become a rubber stamp for their legislation.

"He always wants to understand an issue and think it through," said Roberta Lynch, deputy director for Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "You have to make your case no matter who you are."

For six years, Obama served in a Republican-controlled Senate, so he and fellow Democrats only got a fraction of their bills signed into law.

During his last two years, Democrats controlled the chamber and he was the go-to guy on a variety of issues. He helped pass legislation overhauling Illinois' troubled capital punishment system and was a key figure in requiring a massive statewide study of traffic stops to look for signs of racial profiling. Although police groups opposed the legislation, they say Obama listened to their concerns and accepted some of their suggestions to improve the bill.

Even when he was in the political minority, Obama sometimes played a critical role. He helped write one of the rare ethics laws in a state known for government corruption and worked on welfare reform with Republicans.

He sponsored legislation to bar job and housing discrimination against gays, and he helped create a state version of the earned income tax credit for the poor. Obama also led efforts to reject federal rules that would have put workers' overtime checks in jeopardy.

A look at the senator's record

Some of the key issues U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat poised to a run for president, sponsored or voted on during his eight years as a state senator:

Budget & Taxes

Voted to raise the minimum wage in Illinois from $5.15 an hour to $6.50 an hour over two years. (2003)

Helped pass a 5 percent earned-income tax credit for low-income working families in 2000; made the credit permanent in 2003.

Voted to end $300 million worth of tax breaks for businesses. (2004)

Voted against making permanent the repeal of the state's 5 percent sales tax on gasoline. (2000)

Health Care

Voted for having Illinois endorse embryonic stem cell research. (2004)

Successfully sponsored the Health Care Justice Act, a study of ways to implement a universal health care system statewide. (2004)

Voted against restrictions on public funding of abortion. (2000)

Successfully co-sponsored a prescription drug discount buying club program for seniors and the disabled. (2003)

Crime & Gun Control

Voted against letting people argue self-defense in court if charged with violating local weapons bans by using a gun in their home. (2004)

Voted to let retired police and military police carry concealed weapons. (2004)

Successfully sponsored requirement that law enforcement videotape interrogations of suspects in some serious crimes. (2003)

Successfully sponsored law enforcement study of the race of people pulled over for traffic tickets. (2003)

Helped pass an overhaul of the state's troubled death penalty system. (2003)

Unsuccessfully sponsored measure to expunge some criminal records and create an employment grant program for ex-criminals. (2002)

Unsuccessfully sponsored limit of one handgun purchase per month. (2000)

Voted against making gang members eligible for the death penalty if they kill someone to help their gang. (2001)

Miscellaneous

Unsuccessfully co-sponsored ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation. The measure became law after Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate. (2003)

Successfully sponsored move to shield Illinois workers from federal rules that threatened overtime pay for some employees.

Successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform called the Gift Ban Act. (1998)

n Voted against giving tax credits to parents who send their children to private school. (1999)

On the Net:

Illinois General Assembly Web site: www.ilga.gov

© Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Big Brother and Little Foxy

2007-01-18T16:53:00.000-05:00

Times of India
Wednesday, January 17, 2007

By Rashmee Roshan Lall

London --- The controversy over alleged racism towards Shilpa Shetty by fellow-contestants of a British reality TV show escalated on Wednesday with Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Indian government weighing in, albeit with cautious platitudes and a further 10,000 complaints flooding into the television regulatory authority and Channel 4.

The total number of complaints now stands at 16,400, making Shetty's ordeal the most complained-about television show in history.

Angry members of the 1.3-million strong British Indian community told this paper they were mobilizing furiously to keep up the pressure on the authorities to take action over the "degrading and demeaning" behaviour towards Shetty just because "she's Indian, young, beautiful, successful and well-educated".

While a passionate internet campaign to "save Shilpa" gathered pace, cynical TV pundits said the Bollywood star's unexpected first-name recognition in Britain may actually pay her huge celebrity dividends once her ordeal ends.

Though C4 largely remained mum about the issue, it backed away from its previous belittling description of Shetty's bullying at the hands of three other women contestants as "girlie rivalry".

The channel continues to insist Shetty was not called a "Paki" by one of the male contestants.

Police in the English county of Hertfordshire, locale of the Big Brother house, confirmed they are to investigate e mails sent to Channel 4 containing threats against Celebrity Big Brother housemates. Police also confirmed receipt of a complaint about racist behaviour in the house.

Pressure was mounting on C4 to "do something" about the programme, which has two weeks still to run, with the show's sponsor Carphone Warehouse reconsidering its three-million-pound largesse on issues of taste and decency.

In an unprecedented development for a show that is consistently seen to be as successful as it is shallow and sexually-degraded, bookmakers said on Wednesday that they had cut the odds of Celebrity Big Brother not lasting its scheduled run from 20/1 to 5/2.

British television channels added an interview with Sunanda, Shetty's mother, in their wall-to-wall coverage of the story. Sunanda, who said Shetty had agreed not to do "any lip-to-lip kissing with male or females on the show...to cook or eat beef", added that her daughter was "secure inside".

Meanwhile, in a sign of spiralling interest across two continents in the shenanigans of Shetty's Big Brother housemates, Goan-origin Labour MP asked Blair in parliament to condemn the outright "racism and xenophobia" on the show. Vaz also pointedly asked Blair to remind broadcasters such as C4 of their duty not "to publish any such prejudices" to millions.

Blair responded by admitting he had not seen the programme in question but unreservedly condemned racism in any form.

British establishment interest in Shetty's woes came as hundreds of South Asians here started to speak out in sympathy for the actress, with the additional biting rider that her racial harassment was a harrowing reminder of the situation they faced in the UK.

Speaking for many British Indians, actress, comedian and writer Meera Syal lambasted C4's "bland" response to days of racially-charged bullying of Shetty. Syal said the show had slipped into "vile spectacle" and "there is a very thin line between what is entertainment and a vile spectacle and I think we are in that area now." She said, "What this treatment of Shilpa has done is remind a lot of Asian people in Britain of the type of uncomfortable treatment they've received themselves over the years. This is bullying."

She added, "I certainly wouldn't have taken as much as Shilpa has taken. I'm just wondering if on their (C4's) last series (of Big Brother), for example, the Tourette's sufferer had been called a 'spaz' (or a spastic) on a regular basis, whether they would have let that continue".

Vaz, whose Leicester East constituency has a heavy concentration of East African Indians, admitted he had been moved to employ political dark arts such as parliamentary early day motions because his appalled constituents had set up a clamour. Vaz's motion read: "This House views with concern the comments made about Big Brother contestant Shilpa Shetty by other housemates; believes that Big Brother has a role to play in preventing racist behaviour in the Big Brother house; regrets that these comments have been made; and calls on the programme to take urgent action to remind housemates that racist behaviour is unacceptable."

In a clear indication tensions within the Big Brother house were running as high as outside, one of Shetty's chief tormentors and fellow contestants branded the actress "pathetic, fake and a liar" in a ridiculously petty row over stock cubes.

As pressure built up on the programme, a spokesman for bookmakers William Hill said Channel 4 could easily pull the programme "for any number of reasons, and despite the fact that Big Brother is one of their success stories, we will not be offering such generous odds in the future."

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2007-01-14T19:47:00.000-05:00

I'm not a big fan if Hannity and Colmes, but they tear this moron a new ass. The moron thinks that the military men and women are overpaid, and that wounded soldiers are leeches. He is truly not worth the time, but the interview is.

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Somalia Attacks Bad For Islamists, But Good For You

2007-01-09T16:58:00.000-05:00

as·sas·si·nate (ə-sās'ə-nāt')
tr.v. as·sas·si·nat·ed, as·sas·si·nat·ing, as·sas·si·nates

1. To murder (a prominent person) by surprise attack, as for political reasons.
2. To destroy or injure treacherously: assassinate a rival's character.

as·sas'si·na'tion n., as·sas'si·na'tive adj., as·sas'si·na'tor n.

In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford issued Executive Order 11905 to clarify U.S. foreign-intelligence activities. In a section of the order labeled "Restrictions on Intelligence Activities," Ford concisely but explicitly outlawed political assassination:

5(g) Prohibition on Assassination. No employee of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination.

Since 1976, every U.S. president has upheld Ford’s prohibition on assassinations. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter issued an executive order with the chief purpose of reshaping the intelligence structure. In Section 2-305 of that order, Carter reaffirmed the U.S. prohibition on assassination:

In 1981, President Reagan, through Executive Order 12333, reiterated the assassination prohibition:

2.11 No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.

Reagan was the last president to address the topic of political assassination. Because no subsequent executive order or piece of legislation has repealed the prohibition, it remains in effect.

U.S. aircraft launch 2nd wave of Somalia attacks
L.A. Times, By Edmund Sanders and Abukar Albadri, Special to the Times
12:11 PM PST, January 9, 2007

MOGADISHU, Somalia — U.S. helicopter gunships resumed attacks today against suspected terrorist holdouts in southern Somalia following airstrikes over the past two days, Somali officials said.

The attacks against suspected Al Qaeda members believed to be hiding in Somalia marked the first overt American military intervention in the Horn of Africa nation since the U.S. withdrew its troops from a peacekeeping operation in 1994 after the deaths of 18 American servicemen.

A Pentagon spokesman would only confirm today that U.S. forces were involved in an attack early this week after receiving "credible intelligence." State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment on details about the strikes, but defended the U.S. interest for intervening in Somalia's conflict.

"Very clearly, the U.S. government has had a concern that there are terrorists and Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists that were in Somalia," he said. "We have a great interest in seeing that those individuals not be able to flee to other locations."

Acting on information that suspects from the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania might be among the Islamic fighters, a U.S. Air Force Special Operations gunship struck at least one target early this week.

Somali officials and witnesses said at least five villages in southern Somalia have been targeted in strikes spanning the past three days. One village, Afmadow, was reportedly struck a second time today.

Details about damage and casualties remained unclear, due in large part to the lack of communications in the remote region near the Kenyan border, where cell phone service is not available.

According to estimates by local officials and witness accounts aired over radio stations, the death toll ranged from 15 to more than 50. There were several reports of civilians being killed or injured, including six members of one family and guests at a wedding ceremony.

Somali military officials said today they received advance warning about the U.S. airstrikes and were standing by to capture fleeing suspects. Officials said they have apprehended 28 people, who were being held for questioning.

Twin US aims in Somalia
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

It wants to intervene decisively on the side of the transitional government now back in Mogadishu and to get at three al-Qaeda suspects linked to bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel and airliner in Kenya in 2002.

The air strikes were carried out by a huge AC-130 gunship in the south of the country where supporters of the Union of Islamic Courts have retreated under attack from the Ethiopian army and soldiers of the transitional government.

From their special forces base in nearby Djibouti, the US has been watching three al-Qaeda suspects in particular who took refuge in Somalia. It seems that they were among the targets of this operation.

The three are Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Talha al-Sudani and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, from the Comoro Islands, was indicted by a US court in New York for conspiracy to bomb the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Abu Talha al-Sudani, a Sudanese, was accused by the office of the US Director of National Intelligence recently of leading an al-Qaeda cell in East Africa.

Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan, is on an FBI wanted poster in connection with the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel and an attempted missile attack on an Israeli airliner in Kenya in 2002.

The US sees the break-up of the Union of Islamic Courts as a good opportunity to try to remove what it regards as a serious threat from al-Qaeda in the region.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this assassination?

American Psychological Association (APA):
assassinate. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved January 09, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assassinate
Modern Language Association (MLA):
"assassinate." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 09 Jan. 2007.
Chicago Manual Style (CMS):
assassinate. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assassinate (accessed: January 09, 2007).

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Last Throes of the Lying Charlatans? Quagmire of the Vanities

2007-01-08T22:05:00.000-05:00

By Brian Cloughley: "It depends", said Bill Clinton, "on what the meaning of 'is' is" ; and he was promptly pilloried by scandalized commentators and shocked - shocked - legislators whose morals and motives were of course impeccable. But there is curious silence on the part of these paragons of semantics and virtue now that there is disagreement about the meaning of words used by two pathetic crackpots who occupy posts in the present US administration.

Washington's charlatan-in-chief, Cheney, has boasted he stands by his statement that Iraq's insurgents are in "their last throes", because it all depends on what the meaning of 'throes' is. He decided to order some deep thinking, and his researchers told him to say "If you look at what the dictionary says about throes, it can still be a violent period".

The vain and arrogant draft-dodging Cheney should know all about that. When the war in Vietnam was in its last throes, and he was obtaining deferment after deferment because he said he had "other priorities", the conflict was indeed violent. And the violence ended when the US was forced out of the country.

It is obvious that when Cheney first used the phrase "last throes" he was convinced the insurgents were in their final shuddering spasms before collapsing. He meant he was sure that the insurgents were indulging in last desperate efforts and that the débâcle would soon end in victory for the Washington warmongers. And if there were a few hundred more US troops killed in the process that wouldn't matter because, in the words of Bush, the "Mission Accomplished" president, "I'm not giving up on the mission. We're doing the right thing."

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on June 23, General John Abizaid, commander Central Command, didn't seem too keen on Cheney's smart comment. He admitted there are just as many insurgents now as there were six months ago, but when asked if they were in their "last throes" he could say only that "There's a lot of work to be done against the insurgency . . . . I'm sure you'll forgive me from criticizing the vice president." I'm not sure what that means except for one thing : if he had agreed with Cheney that the insurgency was in its last throes, he would have said so in a very loud voice. But he lacked the moral courage to answer the question.

Then there is the matter of the word 'quagmire' that so excites Rumsfeld. Webster defines 'quagmire' quite simply : "Marshy ground that gives way under the foot; a difficult situation". Oxford says it's "A hazardous or awkward situation." The sense comes through. Quagmires are nasty.

In his anxiety to portray Iraq as a non-quagmire the equally vain and foolish Rumsfeld told the Committee that the insurgents "in recent months have suffered significant losses and casualties, been denied havens and suffered weakened popular support." Nobody pointed out that in recent months US occupation troops "have suffered significant losses and casualties, been denied havens and suffered weakened popular support." In March to May there were 168 American soldiers killed and 534 wounded in Iraq. But it isn't a quagmire, of course.

Senator Ted Kennedy asked a question about quagmires and "Rumsfeld, flanked by top US commanders, responded : 'First let me say that there isn't a person at this table who agrees with you that we're in a quagmire and that there's no end in sight'." So there must, conversely, actually be an end in sight to the counter-insurgency war.

Let's think back to 1967, to the quagmire in Vietnam. The US embassy in Saigon held a New Year's party to welcome 1968. The invitation read "Come see the light at the end of the tunnel". Exactly a month later, on the night of January 31, 1968, 19 Vietnamese guerrillas arrived at the embassy and blew their way in to its compound, killing four US soldiers. The Tet offensive had begun. And on February 6 Art Buchwald's column read :

"Dateline: Little Big Horn, Dakota. General George Armstrong Custer said today in an exclusive interview with this correspondent that the Battle of Little Big Horn had just turned the corner and he could now see light at the end of the tunnel. "We have the Sioux on the run", General Custer told me. "Of course we'll have some cleaning up to do, but the Redskins are hurting badly and it will only be a matter of time before they give in."

The Senate hearing was on Thursday June 23, and the world was told by Rumsfeld that there is an end in sight to his war in Iraq. But on June 26, on Fox News Sunday, Rumsfeld said "Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, ten, twelve years". So what happened in Cheney-Bush Washington between Thursday and Sunday?

One of the things that happened was a decision that Rumsfeld should get himself on the Sunday news shows to try to make up for his stumbling and embarrassing performance in front of the Committee. But his pathetic attempts to achieve credibility fell flat.

NBC's Tim Russert showed Rumsfeld a video clip of Cheney's silly claim that the US invaders would be "greeted as liberators" and was asked "Do you think this was a misjudgment?" There is only one honest answer to that question, because it was one of the most foolish misjudgments of the many made by the Cheney-Bush administration. But of course Rumsfeld couldn't give an honest answer. He got himself in deeper by avoiding the question and then claiming he had given Bush "a list of about 15 things that could go terribly, terribly wrong before the war started."

Rumsfeld declared that "oil fields could have been set aflame like they were in Kuwait, [and] we could have had mass refugees and dislocations and it didn't happen. The bridges could have been blown up. There could have been a fortress Baghdad where the moat around it with oil in it and people fighting to the death. So a great many of the bad things that could have happened did not happen." Certainly, "a great many of the bad things" didn't happen before the invasion. They happened later, as a direct result of the triumphal mindset and unthinking brutality of the conquerors.

There was no moat of oil around Baghdad. That was a ludicrous prediction. But as to the other main warnings Rumsfeld says he gave, it appears he doesn't read newspapers. It was his air force that destroyed bridges, and there have been scores of oil pipeline fires caused by guerrilla attacks since Iraq was "liberated".

Pipelines are much less risky to target than oil wells, as anyone could have told Rumsfeld if he had not been so vain and smug as to reject advice about his war. Such attacks have several effects : they deny oil, and thus national income ; the threat of interference ties up security forces ; and they demonstrate the impotence of occupation forces and the make-believe government in Baghdad. The day before Rumsfeld's talking parrot performances it was reported that guerrillas had blown up two pipelines : one in the far north, from Kirkuk to Turkey, and the other in the south, along the line from Basra to Baghdad. But Rumsfeld said Sunday that "solid progress is being made . . . economic progress is being made . . ." He must imagine that building more US prisons and military bases all over the country can be called economic progress.

Rumsfeld's alleged warning to Bush about refugees and relocations was not relevant at the time of their invasion. These disasters took place afterwards. Has he heard of Fallujah? It was his merry men who took Nazi-style reprisals on the city and reduced much of it to rubble, creating hatred of America that will last for generations. Rumsfeld doesn't want the world to know the extent of the destruction wrought by his merciless blitzes, but the State Department has revealed officially that "about 90,000 of Fallujah's 300,000 residents have recently returned to the city".

Where are the rest? -- They are despairing, bewildered, poverty-stricken, helpless, tent-dwelling refugees who have to be fed, after a fashion, by the UN and other charitable refugees' organizations. They are examples of Rumsfeld's "solid progress."

And in the north there is massive "relocation" taking place, because the Kurds are forcing out the Arab population at gunpoint, and US forces are doing nothing about it. They couldn't do anything even if they wanted to. They don't understand the problem and they haven't got the expertise or troop numbers to even begin to moderate the ethnic cleansing and slaughter that are taking place. "Solid progress"?

Then there was Rumsfeld's amazing nonsense about the full scale insurgency that has taken thousands of lives. Tim Russert wanted to know if the vain and arrogant secretary of defense had foreseen this, so asked him "Was a robust insurgency on your list that you gave the president?"

That was a very good question. In old-fashioned British military parlance (and to quote Evelyn Waugh), it was a 'swift one'. If Rumsfeld had told the truth and said "No", there would have been melt-down. If he had answered "Yes", he would have looked even more stupid. So he tap-danced round the point and said "I don't remember whether that was on there, but certainly it was discussed the possibility that you could have dead-enders who would fight."

It may be credible to some that the US secretary of defense does not remember if there was a factor as vital as post-invasion insurgency on the list of 15 likely problems he says he gave to his president. On the other hand, you could conclude that Rumsfeld is a liar.

Rumsfeld's tactics are eerily reminiscent of the Nixon era -- "Just say you don't remember". In fact the writer George Higgins summed up the Nixon presidency and was unknowingly prescient about the Cheney-Bush administration when he wrote in the Atlantic of November 1974 that "The Nixon School of Lying was erected on the premise that people will hear what they want to hear, and all you have to do is give them something." Last Sunday Rumsfeld gave the people of the United States of America the same sort of mendacious twaddle that Nixon and his people dished out about Watergate.

Rumsfeld said he didn't remember if he had mentioned the biggest single problem facing any military occupation force : the likelihood of an uprising by people who don't like their country being occupied and who do not take kindly to swaggering bullies blowing down their doors in the middle of the night, stealing their savings, humiliating men, terrifying women, torturing captives and in general behaving as barbarians. The army and marines acted and continue to act like a tribe of video-game hi-tech savages. Their conduct is a direct result of lack of training that was caused by lack of planning.

And the lack of planning was the direct result of inaction on the part of a vain, naïve and foolish man : Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense. He thought he knew it all. He thought he was infallible. Perfection personified in a priggish buffoon. But at the Senate hearing he was taken down a well-deserved peg by Senator Byrd who said "Mr. Secretary, I've watched you with a considerable amount of amusement . . . I don't think I've ever heard a secretary of defense who likes to lecture the committee as much as you. You may not like our questions, but we represent the people . . . We ask the questions that the people ask of us whether you like it or not . . . The problem is we didn't ask enough questions at the beginning of this war that we got into, Mr. Bush's war . . . I don't mean to be discourteous [but] I've just heard enough of your smart answers to these people here who are elected . . . So get off your high horse when you come up here." Rumsfeld could not summon up a reply. (This splendid piece of ego-deflation was not a feature in the main newspapers or any TV reportage.)

Rumsfeld might have been shaken by such a well-merited rebuke from someone whose boots he is not fit to polish, and his dumbfounded reaction certainly indicates this possibility. But he is so absurdly convinced of his righteousness that he and his soul-mate Cheney cannot understand that anyone who disagrees with them might actually have a reasonable point to make.

Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush are so arrogant, ignorant and vain that they imagine they can never fail. But they have failed disastrously and in the course of their reckless self-deception they have disgraced their country. There is small comfort in the fact that hubris leads to nemesis, because countless human beings have been sacrificed to their bumptious pride. They don't yet realize it, but they are in the quagmire of their vanities.

Brian Cloughley writes on military and political affairs. He can be reached through his website www.briancloughley.com

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Fire Poi

2007-01-08T17:01:00.000-05:00

A video of a girl using fire poi. Pretty good if you ask me. Better than I could do at least. Just click on the picture.

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Bellydancer Video - SFW

2007-01-08T16:56:00.000-05:00

This is a video of a belly dancer taken at Hybrid in New York. SFW

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YouTube Brazil Gets Waxed

2007-01-07T19:55:00.000-05:00

A court has ordered YouTube to close it's video sharing site in Brazil, due to a 'sex clip' of a Brazilian soccer player and his former fiance. The fiance sued the site.

Daniela Cicarelli complained to YouTube last year after a video showing her and her boyfriend at the beach became the most-watched online clip in Brazil.

Cicarelli is one of Brazil's most famous TV personalities. As well as her previous attachment to Real Madrid player Ronaldo, she's also a host on MTV Brazil.

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Battle of Hastings

2007-01-05T17:26:00.000-05:00

The Battle of Hastings, 1066 A.D. Normans versus Saxons. Would William the Bastard become a King....

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Romans Versus Queen Bouddica

2007-01-05T17:21:00.000-05:00

This is a very informative clip about ancient warfare. It shows very well why the Romans were able to create an empire.

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Longbow Versus Crossbow

2007-01-05T17:09:00.000-05:00

Just some more medieval stuff. It's good stuff though. Longbow versus crossbow.

Swinging Saddam Update #2

2007-01-03T21:49:00.000-05:00

Iraqi officials said today that militia members infiltrated Saddam's execution in order to stir up sectarian tension.

“Whoever leaked this video meant to harm national reconciliation and drive a wedge between Shi’ites and Sunnis,” said National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie.

“There was an infiltration at the execution chamber.”

Saddam's last moments were filled with taunting.

The fate of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's half brother and a former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court still hang in the balance. Television stations reported that they would be hanged at dawn on Thursday, however Al Jazeera is reporting that they will wait until the end of the Eid al-Adha.

Sami Al-Askari, a senior aide to Nuri al-Maliki, said: "Most probably they will be executed next week after the holiday."

Currently under heavy criticism for Saddam's execution, Iraqi Prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said today that he will not seek another term.

"I wish it could be done with even before the end of this term. I would like to serve my people from outside the circle of senior officials, maybe through the parliament or through working directly with the people," Mr Maliki told the Wall Street Journal.

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Penn and Teller from the West Wing

2007-01-02T17:32:00.000-05:00

Penn and Teller on the West wing perfom a good trick. What's better is that there is meaning to the trick. Very intelligent.

Tom Brokaw speaks about Gerald Ford

2007-01-02T17:24:00.000-05:00

Tom Brokaw speaks about former President Gerald Ford.

Gotcha!

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Britney Spears Collapses

2007-01-01T18:51:00.000-05:00

While Star Magazine paints a happy face on Britney Spears's appearance at Pure Nightclub at Caesar Palace, Vegaspopular is reporting that the chubby pop beauty collapsed less than one hour into the New Year.

Spears counted down to the New Year for the packed house inside the club and shouted, "What happens in Vegas, always stays in Vegas!"

Spears had been seated on a VIP tented-cabana bed overlooking the dance floor at 12:50AM talking with one of her male dancers. She intimated she wanted to leave and as she stood up, "she went into a dead faint and just fell right to the floor."
Her group pulled her up and lay her on the bed at the same time as her personal security asked for the club to provide at least 10 other security managers to "get her out as quickly as possible." They surrounded the stricken pop star in an attempt to screen her from all observers and the new years revelers on the crowded dance floor.

One woman in the Spears' entourage yelled, "Make sure nobody gets any photos. No photos anywhere."

When the 12-strong security phalanx was in place, two of her dancers wrapped Britney in what appeared to be a blanket-hooded poncho. Literally carrying her in both arms, they managed to propel her through the crowds and out of the club.

It appeared as if "she was being dragged as she wasn't walking under her own speed" said one eyewitness. "It looked as if they wanted to get her up to her hotel room as soon as possible."

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Swingin' Saddam - Update

2006-12-31T12:18:00.000-05:00

This is not for the faint of heart. This is the full video of the execution of Saddam Hussein. It is a good quality for a camera phone. It leaves nothing to the imagination.

Swingin' Saddam

2006-12-30T12:07:00.000-05:00

This needs no introduction.

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Immaculate Deception?

2006-12-21T16:52:00.000-05:00

By Steve Connor

The world's largest lizard has astonished biologists by being able to produce offspring by an "immaculate" conception without the help of a male.

Two captive female Komodo dragons have had virgin births by a process called parthenogenesis, when an unfertilised egg develops into a normal embryo without being fertilised by a sperm.

The eggs of one of the lizards - a female called Flora at Chester Zoo - are due to hatch early in the new year, said Kevin Buley, one of the zoo's curators.

"Although other lizard species are known to be able to self-fertilise, this is the first time this has ever been reported in Komodo dragons," Mr Buley said.

"Essentially what we have here is an immaculate conception ... and it is a possibility that the incubating eggs could hatch around Christmas time," he said.

"We will be on the look out for shepherds, wise men and an unusually bright star over Chester Zoo."

All the offspring produced by parthenogenesis are male which, unlike mammals, are the result of two identical sex chromosomes - in reptiles it is the females that have two different sex chromosomes. The study is published in Nature magazine.

One theory is that parthenogenesis allows Komodos to establish breeding colonies from sole females that have swum to distant islands. Although the parthenogenic offspring will be all males, they would be still able to mate with their own mother to produce both males and females in subsequent generations.

Originally posted here.

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New Medieval History Site

2006-12-19T21:14:00.000-05:00

New site but it looks good...

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Matt Damon and Robert DeNiro on Hardball Monday

2006-12-17T18:54:00.000-05:00

Little snippet with Matt Damon telling G.W.B. how it should be...

The Mad Democrat

2006-12-13T21:58:00.000-05:00

I believe this is the maddest Democrat I have ever seen...

Lewis Black

2006-12-13T21:42:00.000-05:00

This was just so good I had to share it!

Pictures of Doom!

2006-12-13T21:02:00.000-05:00

More funny pictures. I felt the need to share...

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The Funniest Frankenstein

2006-12-13T16:38:00.000-05:00

Peter Boyle, a man with love in his heart and laughter in his soul, has passed on. On the evening of December 12, 2006 at New York Presbyterian Hospital, he passed away. Boyle had been suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease, he died at age 71.

Peter Boyle (October 18, 1933 – December 12, 2006) was an Emmy Award-winning American actor. He was perhaps best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond and his film roles in Young Frankenstein (1974) and Taxi Driver (1976). He had won praise for playing both comic and dramatic roles.

Read more here.

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Oh the hypocrisy

2006-12-12T23:24:00.000-05:00

George W. Bush made the following proclamation the other day:

"Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Human Rights Week, 2006
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

Peace and justice prevail when people are free to speak, assemble, and worship, when their rights are protected, and when governments are accountable to their citizens. These blessings of freedom are guaranteed for Americans in the Bill of Rights of our Constitution. During Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Human Rights Week, we celebrate the ideals of our founders and reaffirm the belief that freedom is the gift of God and the right of all mankind.

Just over six decades ago, the future of freedom seemed bleak, with only a small number of democracies around the world. Today, citizens of over 100 nations enjoy the blessings of democracy, and freedom is taking root in places where liberty had been unimaginable. The United States will continue to support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation.

The advance of freedom is the story of our time, and new chapters are being written before our eyes. Around the world, freedom is replacing tyranny and giving men and women the opportunity to enjoy lives of purpose and dignity. Because Americans are committed to the God-given value of every life, we cherish the freedom of every person in every nation and strive to promote respect for human rights. By standing with those who desire liberty, we will help extend freedom to many who have not known it and lay the foundations of peace for generations to come.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 10, 2006, as Human Rights Day; December 15, 2006, as Bill of Rights Day; and the week beginning December 10, 2006, as Human Rights Week. I call upon the people of the United States to mark these observances with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first."

GEORGE W. BUSH

This is the same week that Cindy Sheehan was convicted of trespassing on a public sidewalk...

Ironic....

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Iraq Situation

2006-12-12T21:44:00.000-05:00

I wanted to pass on a good site that I found. It covers the situation in Iraq.

-Me

Blog of Doom: Pauly Shore and the Texan

2006-12-12T20:48:00.000-05:00

hollywood.outsidethebeltway.com: Pauly Shore and the Texan

Pauly Shore and the Texan

2006-12-12T20:29:00.000-05:00

You gotta see this:

Paulie Shore doing stand up in Texas.

That's not the funny part.

Paulie Shore getting knocked down by a big dumb Texan.

That's the funny part.

Check it out here.

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War on Christmas Update!

2006-12-12T20:14:00.000-05:00

By GENE JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 12, 2006; 1:35 AM

SEATAC, Wash. -- Christmas trees are going back up at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Pat Davis, president of the Port of Seattle commission, which directs airport operations, said late Monday that maintenance staff would restore the 14 plastic holiday trees, festooned with red ribbons and bows, that were removed over the weekend because of a rabbi's complaint that holiday decor did not include a menorah.

Airport managers believed that if they allowed the addition of an 8-foot-tall menorah to the display, as Seattle Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky had requested, they would also have to display symbols of other religions and cultures, which was not something airport workers had time for during the busiest travel season of the year, Airport Director Mark Reis said earlier Monday.

Port officials received word Monday afternoon that Bogomilsky's organization would not file a lawsuit at this time over the placement of a menorah, Davis said in a statement.

"Given that, the holiday trees will be replaced as quickly as possible," he said.

Davis added that the rabbi "never asked us to remove the trees; it was the port's decision based on what we knew at the time."

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The Simple Life, I think not!

2006-12-11T20:36:00.000-05:00

'The Simple Life' star Nicole Richie was arrested for driving under the influence, last night.

"She volunteered the information that she had smoked marijuana and taken Vicodin," the prescription painkiller, but no drugs were found on her or in the car, CHP Officer Todd Workman said.

Bail was set at $15,000, but Richie was released on her own recognizance, Glendale police Agent John Balian said.

Richie, 25, is best known for starring with sometime-friend Paris Hilton in "The Simple Life."

Hilton was charged with misdemeanor drunken driving after her September. 7 arrest in Hollywood.

Strangely, I think that this is the best she has ever looked.

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War on Christmas

2006-12-11T20:25:00.000-05:00

Airport's trees stoking "war on Christmas"

By Stuart Eskenazi

Seattle Times staff reporter

The departure of Christmas tree displays at main passageways at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport — the Port of Seattle's response to a local rabbi's insistence that an electric menorah also be put up — is accelerating into an international spectacle in the so-called "war on Christmas."

The displays were removed from the airport's main arrival hall and various entries overnight Friday.

Airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt said the Port's decision was not as simple as whether to put up a menorah.

"Our thought was if we remove the trees and stave off this decision until after the holidays, which is our busiest season of the year, then we can give more careful thought and discussion to this," she said.

The airport has no policy governing the longtime holiday display because no one has ever challenged it before, Betancourt said.

"What we have are holiday trees," she said. "If we are going to display symbols representing other cultures, we have to think what that means and what's respectful and what would make a good display. Maybe it would be 'Holidays of the World.'

"Or maybe it's snowmen."

Read the full story here.

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Cindy Sheehan Update!

2006-12-11T17:32:00.000-05:00

Alright, help me out here. Does anyone know what this means?

From Wikipedia: "In the United States, the right to petition is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution, and specifically prohibits Congress from abrdiging "the right of the people ... to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Its roots within the colonies can be traced back to the Declaration of Independence,. Historically, the right can be traced further back to English documents such as the Magna Carta, which, by its acceptance by the monarchy, implicitly affirmed the right, and the later Bill of Rights 1689, which explicitly declared the "right of the subjects to petition the king".

While the prohibition of abridgement of the right to petition originally referred only to the federal legislature (the Congress) and courts, the incorporation doctrine later expanded the protection of the right to its current scope, over all state and federal courts and legislatures and the executive branches of the state and federal governments. The right to petition includes under its umbrella the right to sue the government, and the right of individuals, groups, and corporations (via corporate personhood), to lobby the government."

Also from Wikipedia: "The freedom of assembly in order to protest sometimes conflicts with laws intended to protect public safety, even in democratic countries: in many cities, the police are authorized by law to disperse any crowd (including a crowd of political protesters) which threatens public safety, or which the police cannot control. The idea is to prevent rioting. Often local law requires that a permit must be obtained in advance by protest organizers if a protest march is anticipated; the permit application can be denied. Sometimes this bureaucratic power is abused by lawmakers if the protest is not a popular one in the community or with the local government, with the permit process in some cities taking a great deal of time, organization, and even money required before a permit is issued -- and then, when issued, time and location restrictions are sometimes added."

Alright, after reading that read this:

"(AP) Peace activist Cindy Sheehan and three other women were convicted of trespassing Monday for trying to delivery an anti-Iraq war petition to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and refusing to leave. Prosecutors said they were arrested after ignoring police orders to disperse.

The four were acquitted of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstructing government administration. They had faced up to a year in jail if convicted of all counts.

The women, calling their campaign "Women Say No To War," had hoped to give the petition to Peggy Kerry, the mission's liaison for non-governmental organizations and sister of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as they had in 2005.

Kerry refused to meet with the women in the presence of Cindy Sheehan and the news media. She testified during the trial that the presentation seemed like a publicity stunt.

The women ignored police orders to leave and were reading it aloud on the sidewalk when police moved in. The women sat on the sidewalk and were carried to patrol wagons.

The trial began Dec. 5 in Manhattan Criminal Court. Sheehan's co-defendants were Melissa Beattie, 57, of New York; Patricia Ackerman, 48, of Nyack, N.Y., and Benjamin, 54, of San Francisco."

Now my questions: How can someone be convicted of trespassing on a public sidewalk? How can someone be charged resisting arrest when they are simply not helping the police to arrest them, i.e. taking no action to either further nor hinder police efforts? How can Peggy Kerry refuse to accept a petition as a governmental employee? Why can't people realize what Cindy Sheehan is doing IS exactly a publicity stunt. That's the whole point, to get attention for what she believes in. What about donating a wing to a medical facility, or trying to cure AIDS. The biggest difference is that everybody hates AIDS. Everybody doesn't hate G.W. Bush. Publicity raises awareness and educates people. It is one of the most critical building blocks of our society. Like muscles, you must exercise your rights, or they will get all jiggly and weak.

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Heart Attack Grill

2006-12-08T17:21:00.000-05:00

By AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press Writer

TEMPE, Ariz. - The Heart Attack Grill — a theme restaurant whose specialties include the Quadruple Bypass Burger and Flatliner Fries, cooked in pure lard — is making health-care professionals' blood pressure rise, and not because of the menu.

It is because of the waitresses' naughty nurse uniforms.

The waitresses wear skimpy, cleavage-baring outfits, high heels and thigh-high stockings — a male fantasy that some nursing organizations say is an insult to the profession.

Several nurses have complained to the Arizona attorney general's office, and a national nursing group has repeatedly asked Heart Attack Grill owner Jon Basso to stop using the outfits.

"Nurses are the most sexually fantasized-about profession," said Sandy Summers, executive director of the Center for Nursing Advocacy, based in Baltimore. "We're asking people, if they're going to have these fantasies, please don't make it so public. Move these sexual fantasies to other professions."

Basso shrugs off Summers' complaints, and refers to her and her supporters as prudes, cranks and lunatics.

"If anything, I think it glorifies nurses to be thought of as a physically attractive and desirable individual," Basso said. "There's a Faye Dunaway, Florence Nightingale hipness to it. Nobody wants to think of themselves as some old battle ax who changes bedpans for a living."

The most serious complaint Basso has faced was made to the Arizona attorney general's office by the state Board of Nursing. In September, the attorney general's office wrote Basso a letter informing him that he is illegally using the word "nurse" at his restaurant and on his Web site. Citing Arizona Statute A.R.S. 32-1636, the attorney general said only someone who has a valid nursing license can use the title "nurse."

Basso refused to remove "nurse" from his Web site but inserted an asterisk next to every nurse reference and included the following disclaimer:

"The use of the word `nurse' above is only intended as a parody. None of the women pictured on our Web site actually have any medical training, nor do they attempt to provide any real medical services. It should be made clear that the Heart Attack Grill and its employees do NOT offer any therapeutic treatments (aside from laughter) whatsoever."

Basso said the complaints have been good for business, "all they've done is ensure there's going to be a gajillion of these all over the country."

The Heart Attack Grill opened a year ago with a Hooters-like formula of red meat and sexy waitresses. Diners choose from among four cheeseburgers: the Single, Double, Triple and Quadruple Bypass. The Quadruple is a towering monstrosity with four half-pound beef patties, four pieces of cheese and a mound of bacon.

"Essentially, it's nutritional pornography. It's so bad for you it's shocking," Basso said.

If "patients," as customers are called, finish a triple or quadruple bypass, waitresses will push them out to their cars in wheelchairs at no additional charge.

"The service is fantastic," Steve Koebensky of Scottsdale said with a snicker. "But they're overly dressed."

Phoenix resident Amanda Price, one of the few women customers at the restaurant, said the outfits did not offend her. "You don't hear nuns complaining about pregnant nun costumes, and that's more disgraceful than sexy nurses," she said.

But Scottsdale nurse Kira Wilder, who contributed to the letter-writing campaign against the Heart Attack Grill, complained: "Why do they have to denigrate the nursing profession and sexualize nursing? It's just not necessary."

Courtney Chapman, a 20-year-old waitress at the grill, said she found nothing wrong with the uniform or the stares she gets.

"They definitely look at us, but they're guys," she said. "If our butts are coming out the bottom of our skirts, and our boobs are coming out the top of our shirts, we're kind of asking for it."

___

On the Net:

Heart Attack Grill: www.heartattackgrill.com

Nursing Advocacy Center: www.nursingadvocacy.org/news/news.html

Arizona State Board of Nursing: www.azbn.gov

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Gas Powered Airliners?

2006-12-08T17:16:00.000-05:00

Wed Dec 6, 2:20 PM ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec 6 (Reuters Life!) - It may be one problem airline security officials never envisioned -- a passenger lighting matches in flight to mask odors from her flatulence.

The woman's actions resulted in an emergency landing on Monday in Nashville of an American Airlines flight bound for Dallas from Washington, D.C., said Lynne Lowrance, a spokeswoman for Nashville's airport.

Other passengers reported the odor of burned matches, but the woman was not forthcoming when asked about it, Lowrance said on Wednesday.

"Of course, she was scared and embarrassed but all the passengers had to disembark, all the luggage had to be searched, a canine team was brought in, and about three hours were consumed in sorting out the situation," she said.

The woman was not allowed back on the flight and barred from flying on American Airlines, Lowrance said.

"Since there was no malice involved and the incident was accidental, she was not charged with anything," she said.

Passengers are permitted four books of paper safety matches on a plane but cannot light them during flight, Lowrance said.

"I've had calls from people all over the country about this," she said. "And I don't have the answer to this problem."

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Your Condom is too big for me!

2006-12-08T17:05:00.000-05:00

Fri Dec 8, 8:21 AM ET

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Condoms designed to meet international size specifications are too big for many Indian men as their penises fall short of what manufacturers had anticipated, an Indian study has found.

The Indian Council of Medical Research, a leading state-run center, said its initial findings from a two-year study showed 60 percent of men in the financial capital Mumbai had penises about 2.4 cm (one inch) shorter than those condoms catered for.

For a further 30 percent, the difference was at least 5 cm (two inches). A poor fit meant the prophylactics often didn't do the job they were bought for, and led to some tearing or slipping off during use.

"One of the reasons for a failure of up to 20 percent (of condoms) is the association of the size of the condom to the erect penis," the council's Dr. Chander Puri told Reuters, adding another reason was couples often put them on in a hurry.

Puri said many men in India, which has the world's highest
HIV positive caseload, were too shy to ask for condoms.

"We need more vending machines for condoms of different sizes so people can pick a condom with confidence that is suited to their needs," he said.

The Times of India reported the ICMR survey had studied 1,400 men between 18-50 years of age in cities like Mumbai and New Delhi as well as in rural areas in a report. It entitled its story "Indian men don't measure up."

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Cindy Sheehan Arrested!

2006-11-21T17:25:00.000-05:00

Associated Press | November 09, 2006

WASHINGTON - Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Wednesday as she led about 50 protesters to a White House gate Wednesday to deliver anti-war petitions she said were signed by 80,000 Americans.

The Berkeley, Calif., woman, whose son was killed in Iraq more than two years ago, was arrested along with three other women on the sidewalk outside the White House gate, said Lt. Scott Fear, a U.S. Park Police spokesman. They were charged with interfering with a government function after they blocked the gate and ignored orders to move, he said.

Before she was arrested, she joined the protesters in hailing the outcome of Tuesday's elections and chanting "Stop the War" outside the gate.

"It was taking too long for them to decide whether to accept them or not, so we just delivered them," said Sheehan, who waited about 15 minutes with other protesters before tossing the petitions over the fence.

The petitions opposed use of military force to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

Sheehan, 49, and other grieving families met with Bush about two months after her son died, before reports of faulty prewar intelligence surfaced and caused her to speak out. She has tried repeatedly to speak with the president again, including a 26-day vigil last year outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Wednesday's protest came as Republicans lost control of the House and the White House announced the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"He's being offered as a sacrificial lamb," Sheehan said.

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Bush Impeachment?

2005-11-24T04:45:00.000-05:00

"Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out, and no one's speaking to you.

Mission accomplished. Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company, and the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy, or space man? Now I know what you're saying: you're saying that there's so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in. Please don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela. And eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote. But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives.

You've performed so poorly I'm surprised that you haven't given *yourself* a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis to rising water and snakes. On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.

So, yes, God does speak to you. And what he's saying is: ' Take a hint.' "

Bill Maher

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Here we go again!

2005-11-21T09:12:00.000-05:00

By: Me

Amid the recent attacks on his administrations policy, President Bush on Sunday softened the White House's lashings to those critical of the Iraq war, saying they have "every right to voice their dissent."

Bush specifically cited Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a decorated Vietnam War veteran and longtime armed forces advocate who called last week for the U.S. to withdraw its troops. Not two days prior, spokesman for Bush, Scott Mclellan, had assailed Murtha, saying that Murtha's idea would only encourage terrorists and compared him to liberal filmographer Michael Moore. But on Sunday, Bush called Murtha, "a fine man, a good man, who served our country with honor and distinction."

"I know the decision to call for an immediate withdrawal of our troops by Congressman Murtha was done in a careful and thoughtful way," Bush said in Beijing. "I disagree with his position." The debate over Bush's handling of the war and when and how to withdraw american troops dominated his trip to Asia, which was a weeklong.

But on Sunday, Bush said he would "totally reject" the idea that criticism of the war is unpatriotic. "This is not an issue of who's patriotic and who's not patriotic," he said. "It's an issue of an honest, open debate about the way forward in Iraq. I am confident we will succeed in Iraq."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also welcomed dissent on the war, stating that politicians might "respectfully disagree" with her belief that the invasion of Iraq will remake the Middle East.

My issues:

Those who think that Americans might not have the right to express there dissent should try reading and old document. It's called the Constitution of the U.S. of A.

Democrats have compared George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler at times, and all the Republicans can compare people to is Michael Moore? Wake up, do some research, and find someone more intimidating than Michael Moore to compare "evil" Liberals to.

Why is our president speaking about our troop withdrawls in Beijing? What the hell do they have to do with anything? As a matter of fact what does any of this have to do with Beijing? Beijing is the capital of China, unless there is a Beijing North Dakota that I don't know about. Is he talking about all of this to try to assuage China's fears over a US invasion of their Sovereign country? China has over 1 billion people! If they only had loincloths and rocks they wouldn't be afraid of America invading!

Last, but not least, why is our Secretary of State, our chief diplomat, talking about how our invasion of Iraq will remake the entire Middle East? Maybe we should give her the Secretary of Defense position, and Donald Rumsfeld the Secretary of State position. We all know how well he can tap dance around actual issues with a flair for the dramatic. While we're at it, let's make Dick Cheney the Secretary of the Interior. After all he is always inside some secure bunker somewhere. Then let's switch the Secretaries of Labor and Education. Most people don't even know their names anyway. (Department of Labor:Secretary Elaine Chao;Department of Education:Secretary Margaret Spellings)

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Medieval Gifts

2005-11-14T20:06:00.000-05:00

Okay, I found more medieval stuff. Maybe you know someone who'd like one of these?

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Texas Hold Up

2005-11-14T19:11:00.000-05:00

Okay, this one's a doozie! My sister found this one and told me about it.

Texas Bans All Marriage?
Is it possible that in their zeal to ban gay marriage in Texas, the Christian Right has crafted a constitutional amendment that would in fact ban all marriage? That seems incredible, but it also seems possible based upon the language used.

Jonathan Ichikawa quotes the proposed amendment to the state constitution:

Sec. 32.
(a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.
(b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.

Ichikawa comments:

Texas cannot recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage! I'm not sure what all would count as identical or similar to marriage, but I do know of one legal status that is definitely identical to marriage: marriage! I didn't realize the Texas legislature was so broadly anti-family.

Read more here

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Knights of the Round Robin

2005-11-13T18:49:00.000-05:00

Okay, so these places have a lot of good medieval stuff, and I know a lot of people who like that kind of thing, so I offer you these to try and get a jump start on your holiday shopping. Enjoy!

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French Toasted

2005-11-12T18:12:00.000-05:00

RIOTING

The number of cars set ablaze by rioters rose slightly again on Friday night, and two fire bombs were thrown at a mosque in southern France, damaging the entrance.

Some 500 vehicles were set ablaze across France, compared to 463 the previous night, and unrest hit areas including Strasbourg, Marseille, Lyon and Lille. But there were fewer incidents of violence in the Paris suburbs, police said.

"We've gone back to an almost normal situation in Ile de France (greater Paris region)," national police chief Michel Gaudin told reporters.

The Paris ban on large gatherings went into force at 10 a.m. (0900 GMT) and was due to run until 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Sunday. The heart of the city has largely escaped the violence that has plagued impoverished neighbourhoods just outside the city.

Three thousand extra police were brought into Paris on Friday, the Armistice holiday marking the end of World War One.

The unrest was triggered by the accidental deaths of two youths who were electrocuted on October 27 as they hid in a power substation just north of Paris while apparently fleeing police. It later spread to other cities and towns across France.

Read the full story

Editorial by me: So the French enact a curfew to try to stop this violence, expecting that the people fighting police, looting, firebombing, and generally being law-breakers, are suddenly going to not break this law? Does this make sense to anyone? If I were one of these rioters, why would I stop doing my thing, just because they added a new law to which I am violating. Someone very wise once said, "A lock will only stop an honest man."

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Just Alito Too Much For Me To Bare

2005-11-09T00:51:00.001-05:00

Alright, I knew I would eventually find something upsetting about Alito, but this is pretty bad in my opinion:

From the News Tribune

WASHINGTON – The facts of the case were stunning: A 10-year-old was strip-searched in her home by police officers whose warrant authorized only the search of her father, a suspected drug dealer.

To the other judges who heard the case, the law seemed clearly on the girl’s side: The purpose of a warrant is to limit the scope of permissible searches.

But Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito saw it differently. And his ruling opens a window onto one facet of his judicial philosophy.

Alito said the girl’s search, while unfortunate, was justified because supporting documents broadened the warrant’s sweep.

It was a technicality, he said, that the particulars were left out of the warrant itself, and that was no reason to punish good cops who were just doing their jobs.

He was the only judge hearing the case who thought the police acted properly.

Editorial by me: I believe the Nazis said it best:'I was only doing my job. I'm a good person.'

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Vive la Revolution!

2005-11-08T20:40:00.000-05:00

Excerpt from the NY Times:

After a series of mostly ineffectual pledges by French leaders to restore order and crack down on lawbreakers, the government resorted to a 50-year-old law, dating from the Algerian war, which authorizes local officials to enforce nighttime curfews for up to 12 days, starting at midnight tonight.

"The republic faces a moment of truth," Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said in announcing the decree during a grim-faced address in Parliament. "A return to order is the absolute priority."

President Jacques Chirac, who called an emergency cabinet meeting to adopt the curfew decree, said nothing publicly today, continuing to keep a low profile amid the worst unrest here in a generation. That lack of public visibility by Mr. Chirac, who suffered what was thought to be a mild stroke in September, has contributed, critics say, to an atmosphere of political drift during a time of crisis.

The chaos, and reports of isolated unrest in Belgium and Germany, have even rattled the euro, Europe's common currency, helping drive it today to its lowest level against the dollar in two years.

Editorial by me: Didn't old Louis hide from the peasants when thwey started rioting? Smell those Freedom Fries burn!

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Legal Beagles

2005-11-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, this comes from Duhaime Law. This is real stuff uttered in actual courts.

Enjoy!

Was that the same nose you broke as a child?
------------------------------------------------
Now, doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, in most cases he just passes quietly away and doesn't know anything about it until the next morning?
------------------------------------------------
What happened then?
He told me, he says, "I have to kill you because you can identify me."
Did he kill you?
------------------------------------------------
Was it you or your brother that was killed in the war?
------------------------------------------------
The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?
------------------------------------------------
Were you alone or by yourself?
------------------------------------------------
What is the meaning of sperm being present?
It indicates intercourse.
Male sperm?
That is the only kind I know.
------------------------------------------------
Can you describe the individual?
He was about medium height and had a beard.
Was this a male or female?
------------------------------------------------
How long have you been a French Canadian?
------------------------------------------------
How far apart were the vehicles at the time of collision?
------------------------------------------------
Mr. Clark, you went on a rather elaborate honeymoon, didn't you?
I went to Europe, sir.
And did you take your new wife?
------------------------------------------------
Do you have any children or anything of that kind?
I show you Exhibit 3 and ask you if you recognize that picture.
That's me.
Were you present when that picture was taken?
------------------------------------------------
Were you present in court this morning when you were sworn in?
------------------------------------------------
Now, Mrs. Johnson, how was your first marriage terminated?
By death.
And by whose death was it terminated?
------------------------------------------------
Do you know how far pregnant you are now?
I'll be three months on November 8.
Apparently, then, the date of conception was August 8?
Yes.
What were you doing at that time?
------------------------------------------------
Mrs. Jones, do you believe you are emotionally stable?
I used to be.
How many times have you committed suicide?
------------------------------------------------
So you were gone until you returned?
------------------------------------------------
She had three children, right?
Yes.
How many were boys?
None.
Were there girls?
------------------------------------------------
You don't know what it was, and you didn't know what it looked like, but can you describe it?
------------------------------------------------
You say that the stairs went down to the basement?
Yes.
And these stairs, did they go up also?
------------------------------------------------
Lawyer: What device do you have in your laboratory to test alcohol content?
I have a dual column gas chromatograph, Hewlett-Packard 5710A with flame ionization detectors.
Judge: Can you get that on mag wheels?
Only on the floor models.
------------------------------------------------
Have you lived in this town all your life?
Not yet.
------------------------------------------------
All you responses must be oral, ok? What school did you go to?
Oral.
------------------------------------------------
Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
Yes, I have been since early childhood.
------------------------------------------------
Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
All my autopsies are performed on dead people.
------------------------------------------------
Do you recall approximately the time that you examined the body of Mr. Brown?
It was in the evening. The autopsy started about 8:30 p.m.
And Mr. Brown was dead at the time, is that correct?
No. He was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy!

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Aaaarrrgghh!!!!

2005-11-07T20:47:00.000-05:00

MAHE, Seychelles Nov 7, 2005 — Pirates who attacked a cruise ship off the coast of Somalia grinned as they aimed grenade-launchers and machine guns at the deck and staterooms, some passengers said Monday, recounting the ordeal after safely docking in this Indian Ocean archipelago.

The ship escaped by shifting to high speed and changing course, and the cruise line said Monday the crew also used a sonic weapon, which blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam, as it tried to ward off the attack.

"I tell you, it was a very frightening experience," Charles Supple, of Fiddletown, Calif., said by phone.

Read the full story

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Let them eat cake

2005-11-03T19:45:00.000-05:00

AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France Nov 3, 2005 — A week of riots in poor neighborhoods outside Paris gained dangerous new momentum Thursday, with youths shooting at police and firefighters and attacking trains and symbols of the French state.

Facing mounting criticism, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin vowed to restore order as the violence that erupted Oct. 27 spread to at least 20 towns, highlighting the frustration simmering in housing projects that are home to many North African immigrants.

Police deployed for a feared eighth night of clashes, after bands of youths lobbing stones and petrol bombs ignored President Jacques Chirac's appeal for calm a day earlier.

Read the full story

Editorial by me: Isn't this what the beginning of the last French revolution looked like to the rest of the world?

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Y are we there 2K

2005-10-25T19:13:00.000-04:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the U.S. military death toll in Iraq reached 2,000, President George W. Bush said on Tuesday the war will require more time and sacrifice, and rejected calls for a U.S. pullout.

"Each loss of life is heartbreaking, and the best way to honor the sacrifice of our fallen troops is to complete the mission and lay the foundation of peace by spreading freedom," Bush said, his voice breaking with emotion as he spoke at a luncheon of military wives at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington.

His remarks came shortly before the Pentagon announced that Staff Sgt. George Alexander Jr., 34, of Killeen, Texas, died at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas on Saturday of injuries sustained October 17 in Samarra, Iraq, when a bomb planted by insurgents detonated near his Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

This pushed the death toll in a war that began in March 2003 to 2,000. More than 15,000 U.S. troops have also been wounded in combat.

"This war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve," Bush said amid declining public support for the war. "The terrorists are as brutal an enemy as we have ever faced."

The U.S. Senate paused for a moment of silence after news that the death toll had reached 2,000.

But Army Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the 2000th death was "not a milestone."

"It is an artificial mark on the wall set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives. In some cases, this could also be the creating of news where none really exists," Boylan said.

Read the full story

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Federal Bureau of Indictments

2005-10-24T15:57:00.000-04:00

The FBI has conducted clandestine surveillance on some U.S. residents for as long as 18 months at a time without proper paperwork or oversight, according to previously classified documents to be released today.

Records turned over as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit also indicate that the FBI has investigated hundreds of potential violations related to its use of secret surveillance operations, which have been stepped up dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but are largely hidden from public view.

In one case, FBI agents kept an unidentified target under surveillance for at least five years -- including more than 15 months without notifying Justice Department lawyers after the subject had moved from New York to Detroit. An FBI investigation concluded that the delay was a violation of Justice guidelines and prevented the department "from exercising its responsibility for oversight and approval of an ongoing foreign counterintelligence investigation of a U.S. person."

Read the full story

Anyone else notice the resemblence?

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Idiotism

2005-10-22T01:21:00.000-04:00

"Can we win? I don't think you can win it." George W. Bush - after being asked whether the war on terror was winnable, "Today" show interview, Aug. 30, 2004

SIMI VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 21, 2005 -- Comparing his determination to overcome terrorists to the resolve of Ronald Reagan to confront the Soviet Union, President Bush said Friday that Islamic radicalism is doomed to failure because he will not yield until it is defeated.

Editorial by me:Whew! Now I feel safe!

Speaking before several hundred guests at the opening of a new pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Bush attempted to grasp the mantle of Reagan, who he said demonstrated that the key to victory is "the resolve to stay in the fight until the fight was won."

Read the Full Story

Other notable idiots:

"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." –Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, when asked about weapons of mass destruction in an ABC News interview, March 30, 2003

"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." –Vice President Dick Cheney, "Meet the Press," March 16, 2003

"From a marketing point of view, you don't roll out new products in August." --White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, on why the Bush administration waited until after Labor Day to try to sell the American people on war against Iraq, "New York Times" interview, Sept. 7, 2002

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Crude Intentions

2005-10-21T15:43:00.000-04:00

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil and heating oil fell for a fourth straight day on expectations that U.S. inventories will jump as Hurricane Wilma heads away from the nation's oil fields.

The storm is expected to hit Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula early today and should reach Florida this weekend, the National Hurricane Center said. If Wilma follows the projected path it will miss oil fields and refineries that were hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. U.S. crude-oil and gasoline supplies surged last week as imports jumped and facilities were repaired.

"There is a fair amount of crude oil and products laying around, there are no shortages and the situation will only get better as refineries come back," said Justin Fohsz, a broker at Starsupply Petroleum Inc. in Englewood, New Jersey. "A price in the $65-to-$70 range no longer makes sense; something in the $50 range is more reasonable."

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Trial by Liar

2005-10-20T04:44:00.000-04:00

Rizgar Mohammed Amin, the chief of the judges at the trial for Saddam Hussein, asked him his name.

Saddam replied: "You know me. You are an Iraqi and you know who I am. Who are you? I want to know who you are. I did not hire you. I will not answer to this so-called court, with all due respect. The occupation is illegitimate. I maintain my position as president of Iraq and I have the right to remain silent about my identity."

Editorial by me: "Does Saddam not realize that he gave up who he was in the first
half of that sentence?"

Amin said: "Mr Saddam, we ask you only now to prove your full name, title and profession. Then you will be given a chance to talk."

Saddam continued ranting for about 10 minutes. Finally, Amin read his name for him, and referred to him as the "former" president.

Saddam angrily replied: "I said I'm the president of the republic of Iraq. I did not say deposed."

Amin, a Kurd, replied calmly: "You say what you say."

Amin then read them their rights and the charges. He followed that by asking how they each plead, starting with Saddam: "Mr. Saddam, go ahead. Are you guilty or innocent?"

Saddam was holding his copy of the Quran he brought with him the court, and replied faintly: "I said what I said. I am not guilty," referring to his arguments earlier in the session.

Amin read out the plea, "Innocent."

After a few hours of legal dancing, the case was adjourned until November 28.

Ahhh, the power of beauracracy!

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Contradictions

2005-10-18T20:22:00.000-04:00

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." George W. Bush — Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." George W. Bush — Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction." George W. Bush — Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." George W. Bush — speaking underneath a "Mission Accomplished" banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, May 1, 2003

Umm.....that's not counting the US right?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway." George W. Bush — explaining why high taxes on the rich are a failed strategy, Annandale, Va., Aug. 9, 2004

"Haven't we already given money to rich people? Why are we going to do it again?" George W. Bush — to economic advisers discussing a second round of tax cuts, as quoted by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil, Washington, D.C., Nov. 26, 2002

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating." George W. Bush — as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002

"Do you have blacks, too?" George W. Bush — to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001

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"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." George W. Bush — Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000

"I'm the commander — see, I don't need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president." George W. Bush — as quoted in Bob Woodward's Bush at War

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm the master of low expectations." George W. Bush — aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

"I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things." George W. Bush — aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." George W. Bush — Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

Umm...No Comment....

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How odd...

2005-10-17T13:12:00.000-04:00

William Gerry Myers, III - STILL PENDING IN THE U.S. SENATE
First nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on May 15, 2003. Former Solicitor of the Interior, Bill Myers of Idaho is a highly respected attorney who has extensive experience in the fields of natural resources, public lands, and environmental law. Currently in private practice, Mr. Myers enjoys widespread bipartisan support. Mr. Myers has been nominated to fill a vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that has been designated a "judicial emergency" by the Judicial Conference of the United States.

This is over two years old and still pending? A judicial emergency? Talk about response time! This is off the White House website if ya don't believe me.

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Power Rangers

2005-10-16T22:56:00.000-04:00

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So I don't know who came up with this, but props to them cause it had me rollin'!

Wha ha ha ha! No one can stop me and my precious hurricane!"

"Mr. President. I'm afraid that Rita is more powerful than we thought."

"o rly? How so?"

"It appears she has powered herself up to a catagory five and is proceeding to take over the lower region of the united states."

"Ha ha ha ha! Soon the Unites States shall belong to me!"

"..."

"Mr President?..."

"Send in the Power Rangers"

*Power Rangers Theme*

"Good luck, Rangers"

"What?! The Power Rangers?!"

Red Ranger: "Alright guys! Let's stop this witch!"

Rest: "Right!"

"You won't beat me and my hurricane!"

"Hurricane?"

"WTF?"

"Use your Dragonzord!!"

"I likes Dragonzord."

"ROOOOOOAAARRRRZZZ!!!!11one!1"

"Oh noes!"

"Mr. President I believe we are winning!"

"I can't watch!!!"

"Ha Ha, Dragonzord is no match for my Category 5 Hurricane!"

"I believe in you, Power Rangers."

"R-ROARZ! Dragonzord can't take anymore!"

"Shall we evacuate the Gulf Coast Mr. President?"

"No. No. Wait until the Power Rangers unleash their weapons of mass destruction."

"But sir, wouldn't that still cost us thousands of lives?"

"Boy I'll tell ya that pink one, aint she a cutey?"

"Ready to give up the United states to me?!?"

"..."

"Well, are you?"

"..."

"...???"

"..."

"...???!!!"

"..."

"...?!?!?!!!"

Cheney: "No."

"NO!!!"

"Only I can sentence the citizens of Texas to death."

"Send all available troops to the Gulf Coast immediately to assist the Power Rangers."

"Sir, everyone's fighting Iraq right now."

"Boy I'll tell ya that pink one, aint she a cutey?"

Red Ranger: "Crap, we're all doomed"

"Sergent, lik, what's the status?"

Sergent: "Seems like the hurricane is approaching. The Power Rangers deployed their Megazord by the coast, sir."

"Oh Snapz! Megaz0rz Go!!!"

"Sir, is the Megazord enuff?"

"You underes...under-est...und...undesti...condemn teh Power Ranj0rz? You sir are stripped of your rank!"

Red Ranger: "Alright guys. Let's tame this hurricane!"

"Not so fast, Rangers! Goldar! Go and protect my hurricane!"

"I like gooooooooooooold."

*Who0o0o0o0o0o0o0osh*

"May god save America...!"

Bush: "g2g brb"

All: "The president is LEAVING?"

"George Bush doesn't care about Black Rangers!"

"Hekllo, where da hell did he go?"

Later that day...

ZORDON: "RANGERS!, Some idiot has brokin in the lab, and I don't What is going on now!!"..

"wtf!?"

Then..

Hey guys!

All in Megazord: "Who the heck?!"
Tommy!??

Tommy:Wtf?,I'm right here!!

"...?!?!?!!!"

"Sup dudes..its me!"

"Wtf is going on here?."

Bush:"Ultra White House MegaZord Transform!"

"wtf?!"

"Wtf?!"

"WTF?!"

"WTF?!"

"WTF?!"

---

.

.

.

"Rawwr!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

Iraq n Roll

2005-10-16T11:55:00.000-04:00

In his weekly radio address President Bush said, "By casting their ballots, the Iraqi people deal a severe blow to the terrorists and send a clear message to the world." Yeah, that ballots don't hurt as much as bullets. I guess they can't spell. "... We have stood by the Iraqi people through two elections, and we will stand by them until they have established a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself." Here's a question, how many elections DOES it take to establish a free nation? "...Simply by coming out to vote, the Iraqi people have shown that they want to live in freedom, and they will not accept a return to tyranny and terror." Or they just wanna get rid of us...

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2005-10-15T21:19:00.000-04:00

Alright so here it is, my first blog post. Blog. Who came up with that word anyway. Blog. It sounds more like a noise than a thing. Blog. If one were to vomit lots of fluid, the sound of it hitting the ground might make the same sound as 'Blog'. Just a thought.

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