Putin Slams bush on Free Speech

from Newsweek

When Bush confronted his Russian counterpart about the freedom of the press in Russia, Putin shot back with an attack of his own: "We didn't criticize you when you fired those reporters at CBS."

It's not clear how well Putin understands the controversy that led to the dismissal of four CBS journalists over the discredited report on Bush's National Guard service. Yet it's all too clear how Putin sees the relationship between Bush and the American media—just like his own.

and from Time

But when Bush talked about the Kremlin's crackdown on the media and explained that democracies require a free press, the Russian leader gave a rebuttal that left the President [perplexed]. If the press was so free in the U.S., Putin asked, then why had those reporters at CBS lost their jobs? Bush was openmouthed. "Putin thought we'd fired Dan Rather," says a senior Administration official. "It was like something out of 1984."

The Russians did not let the matter drop. Later, during the leaders' joint press conference, one of the questioners Putin called on asked Bush about the very same firings, a coincidence the White House assumed had been orchestrated.

First of all, I substituted "perplexed" for "nonplussed" because the word "nonplussed" sucks. Second of all, the movie 1984 was about a future where love is outlawed... so... What the hell kind of quote is that?

...I think they're just fucking with people at over at Time.

Anyway, both articles take the view that the Russians are confused about how things work in America. Whereas I think they've got a pretty good handle on what's been going on since bush came to power. Free speech doesn't exist for liberals in this country.

Lets face it. The RNC forced CBS to fire Dan Rather. It's as simple as that. Falsified documents were just the excuse, and lets be clear there too. CBS still cannot determine if those documents are fakes.

So maybe it's a matter of degrees. Our government won't drag you into street at gun point for something you've said. We've become to civilized for that.

...but feel free to ask Phil Donahue, Bill Maher, Dan Rather, Danny Glover, The Dixie Chicks, Linda Ronstadt, or Ward Churchill if speech in America is free. Feel free to ask Joe Wilson. Feel free to ask Valerie Plame.

The T-Mobile Terrorist Strikes Again!!!

Shitty 'singer' Fred Durst is the latest victim. His 3 minute (LOL) sex video hit the net today.

It looks like the sleeze-ball David Hans Schmidt who released Amber Frey's nude pics for free over the internet, after a judge told him that he couldn't sell 'em, had a hand in all of this. I guess he tried to shake down Durst on behalf of the hackers, and I hope they throw his ass in jail for it.


As for Durst...


His music sucks, His dick is small, and I find his suffering pretty damn funny.

A Cure For Cancer?

I woke up this morning to some goofball, on my tv, hocking his book on curing all kinds of things, among which was cancer. Now I don't pay much attention to people selling stuff at 5 in the morning on cable news channels, but this guy really stood out. He said something along the lines of "if you make your bodies ph level more alkaline you will never get cancer." The qoute might not be right, but that's the jist of what he said, and it got me to thinking... Why hasn't the FDA locked this guy up? He actually said something about the FDA, but at 5 in the morning the film on my teeth was of more importance, so I wasn't really listening...

Still, he made a very bold comment so I decided to look around the internet, and see what I could dig up...

Turns out the guy was telling the truth.

Atleast as far as I can tell, he was. Sites like this, and this will tell you all about it.

...but it really makes you wonder about the world we live in. Here could be the cure for cancer, but since there's no profit in it, no one cares.

James Guckert / Jeff Gannon Stuff

Movies!

...not those kind.

Here's a .wmv via Over/Spun. It's Anderson Cooper interviewing Guckert/Gannon. Anderson seem kinda dumb to me... and Guckert blinks at least 487 times during the interview.

And here's a .mov via OneGoodMove. This one is from Real Time with Bill Maher. Joe Biden make a good point it it. (one I've made too) ...but Robin Williams at the end is just too damn funny.

Watching Biden trying to hide his laughter cracked me up.

Documenting The War Crimes...

...would be a full time job.

This week we've learned that they...


Blinded a Brit by spraying pepper spray point blank into his eyes while he was a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. Not to mention the eye gouging. Which seem to have become a recurring theme.

...and then there's the dead Iraqi at Abu Ghraib that they packed in ice, and pretended wasn't dead. They admitted that he died durring "interrorgation", but they didn't say how. Turns out he died from being put into a position known as "Palestinian hanging". That's when they hand-cuff you behind your back and then lift you into the air by your wrists.

from the AP

One Army guard, Sgt. Jeffery Frost, said the prisoner's arms were stretched behind him in a way he had never before seen. Frost told investigators he was surprised al-Jamadi's arms "didn't pop out of their sockets," according to a summary of his interview.

Frost and other guards had been summoned to reposition al-Jamadi, who an interrogator said was not cooperating. As the guards released the shackles and lowered al-Jamadi, blood gushed from his mouth "as if a faucet had been turned on," according to the interview summary.

The military pathologist who ruled the case a homicide found several broken ribs and concluded al-Jamadi died from pressure to the chest and difficulty breathing.

[more]

Dr. Vincent Iacopino, director of research for Physicians for Human Rights, called the hyper-extension of the arms behind the back "clear and simple torture." The European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of torture in 1996 in a case of Palestinian hanging — a technique Iacopino said is used worldwide but named for its alleged use by Israel in the Palestinian territories.

The Washington Post reported last year that after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, the CIA suspended the use of its "enhanced interrogation techniques," including stress positions, because of fears that the agency could be accused of unsanctioned and illegal activity. The newspaper said the White House had approved the tactics.

I wonder if bush gets off killing people? Or is it just a power thing?

Iraq War Creating More Terrorists

From The Washington Post

On a day when the top half-dozen U.S. national security and intelligence officials went to Capitol Hill to talk about the continued determination of terrorists to strike the United States, their statements underscored the unintended consequences of the war in Iraq.

"The Iraq conflict, while not a cause of extremism, has become a cause for extremists," Goss said in his first public testimony since taking over the CIA. Goss said Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian terrorist who has joined al Qaeda since the U.S. invasion, "hopes to establish a safe haven in Iraq" from which he could operate against Western nations and moderate Muslim governments.

"Our policies in the Middle East fuel Islamic resentment," Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate panel. "Overwhelming majorities in Morocco, Jordan and Saudi Arabia believe the U.S. has a negative policy toward the Arab world."

Jacoby said the Iraq insurgency has grown "in size and complexity over the past year" and is now mounting an average of 60 attacks per day, up from 25 last year. Attacks on Iraq's election day last month reached 300, he said, double the previous one-day high of 150, even though transportation was virtually locked down.

Michael Jackson's Penis...

...looks like a barber's pole.

Ya know I'm starved for news when I'm reading Jackson trial updates.

[PI Ernie Rizzo] claims he saw police photos of a naked Jackson taken more than 10 years ago. And he said distinctive brown rings were visible around the star's penis as the singer bleached his body twice a week.

Legal experts claim the distinctive 'two tone' markings on Jackson's manhood could play a key role in the prosecution's case.

Rizzo claimed: "It looks like a barber's pole - that is exactly what it looks like."

I hate to say it, but you won't be able to escape Michael Jackson coverage once the trial starts. Strange days indeed.

Why do people get off easy for Animal Cruelty?

Newschannel 8

A woman convicted of animal cruelty after an emaciated pit bull was discovered eating at the carcass of another dog in her backyard was sentenced Monday to two days in jail.

[...]

The prosecutor had asked General District Judge Craig Johnston to impose a 10-day jail sentence, which is unusual for misdemeanor cases.

He said he felt compelled to seek a tough sentence because, "I feel there's a direct correlation between the way that humans treat animals and what they do in the rest of their life."

Two whole days for staving her dog to death...

Ever Closer to a Draft; Current Soldiers Staying Until 2031

I can't understand why more blogs aren't highlighting this Rolling Stone Story.

The Bush administration has sworn up and down that it will never reinstate a draft....

That assertion is demonstrably false. According to an internal Selective Service memo made public under the Freedom of Information Act, the agency's acting director met with two of Rumsfeld's undersecretaries in February 2003 precisely to
debate, discuss and ponder a return to the draft. The memo duly notes the administration's aversion to a draft but adds, "Defense manpower officials concede there are critical shortages of military personnel with certain special skills, such as medical personnel, linguists, computer network engineers, etc." The potentially prohibitive cost of "attracting and retaining such personnel for military service," the memo adds, has led "some officials to conclude that, while a conventional draft may never be needed, a draft of men and women possessing these critical skills may be warranted in a future crisis." This new draft, it suggests, could be invoked to meet the needs of both the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.

[...]

David Qualls, who joined the Arkansas National Guard for a year, is one of 40,000 troops in Iraq who have been informed that their enlistment has been extended until December 24th, 2031. "I've served five months past my one-year obligation," says Qualls, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the military with breach of contract. "It's time to let me go back to my life. It's a question of fairness, and not only for myself. This is for the thousands of other people that are involuntarily extended in Iraq. Let us go home."

Today's Headlines

bush is dragging porno company Extreme Associates back to court again. I don't consider porn free speech, and I doubt many liberals do, despite what republicans say about us. If I had to support anything that bush has done, this would be it. Like Olbermann pointed out on his show a day or so ago... It wasn't all that long ago that SI's swimsuit edition was risque. Now you gotta worry about your kids watching some girl being "throat-banged" on the internet. Something's gotta give here.


Of course none of the major media will report on the lawsuit. They see it as an attack on their free speech. Not really... They know that if they could do porn movie reviews their ratings would really soar. So they're more than a little biased. That being said, the big bush news today will be that bush is considering raising taxes to pay for Social Security. No kidding? Did people really think private accounts would fix anything? Looks like even bush has figured out that they won't.

Iran and Syria are joining forces. They say it's not to fight America, but that's exactly what they're doing. Lets see now... Iran has nukes, and Syria is a terrorist state. I wonder what the odds of a nuke being smuggled into the U.S. are now?

...no reason to wait for a nuclear holocaust though. Global Warming will kill us even if bush doesn't. The rest of the world signed the Kyoto Protocol, yesterday. America didn't. bush still thinks global warming doesn't exist, and even if he did, he wouldn't care. bush puts making money before everything else.

However, you should keep in mind that the Kyoto Countries are serious. I wouldn't be surprised if, before to long, they impose sanctions on the U.S. for not participating.

If there is any justice this week, it will come in the form of finally finding out who leaked Valerie Plame's name to the press.

...and it would be nice to see Novak castrated for it.

GannonGate and the Media Fallout

So it seem that the mainstream Media, often referred to as MSM by lame people, is going to retaliate in some form or another against bloggers. They're calling bloggers "headhunters", and are claiming that GannonGate is little more that an example of trophy hunting. They think bloggers are being petty. They think the story is "overblown", (all pun intended). I think that, (as usual), the big media is bending over backwards to protect the White House and the conservative reporters that cover it.

Let's be clear here. A gay male prostitute named Jim Guckert, a man that no one had ever heard of, was issued White House Press Credentials under the made-up name Jeff Gannon.

If the White House knew who he was, then this is an example of propaganda that you would expect to see in a documentary about Nazi Germany, China or North Korea. The questions he asked could have been, and potentially were, written by Karl Rove, himself.

And IF the White House didn't know who he was, then he could have, just as easily, been an Al Queada terrorist. This Could have been a national security failure not seen since 9/11. He could have killed the president.

Now I don't really care if bush lives or dies, but the fallout could have, literally, started World War 3. So it's only logical to ask how this could have happened. How does a male escort go from sucking dick on Friday nights, to sitting in the White House press room asking the president about Joseph Wilson. How is it that the name of the CIA agent, charged with preventing a nuclear attack inside of the United States, was revealed to him?

Just whose dick was Jim Guckert suckin'? Personally I'm thinking Matt Drudge, but that's only because of Drudge's total lack of coverage of this story... And besides Drudge isn't important enough to get "Jeff Gannon" into the White House. No, Jim Guckert must have been involved with someone who had real clout. Someone like Scott McClellan.

If Scott McClellan isn't the weak link in this chain then he must know who is. Scott issued the press credentials, so asking him who recommended "Gannon" isn't out of line.


...but don't tell that to this tool, who thinks this is all a joke, and even went so far as to make a entry for Atrios at Gay Singles Online. Boy that's funny... [/sarcasm]

The problem is that, even though it tries to be, GannonGate isn't funny.

And the Mainstream Media just rolls it's eyes. They don't care about how he got into the press room, they don't care about the security leaks, they don't care about propaganda, they only care about themselves, and their ratings... They sold out a long time ago...

In the end James Guckert was just one whore in a room full of 'em.

The Fifth Estate

Go watch the Documentary Sticks and Stones

It's online. It's free. What more do you want?

Private Accounts; A First Hand Look

LA Times

Weary from decades of working nights and weekends at a public hospital, nursing assistant Inelia Pardo Acevedo recently retired.

But the 64-year-old plans to look for a part-time job to pad the nest egg in her personal retirement account. The $225 a month she draws under Chile's privatized system doesn't stretch far. And what galls her is that colleagues who stuck with traditional pension plans get three times as much, guaranteed for the rest of their lives.

The government "painted this wonderful picture of private accounts," Pardo said. "They fooled me. They fooled us all."

[...]

Nearly two dozen nations, including Britain, Argentina, Sweden and Singapore, have since adopted some version of Chile's plan. President Bush has lauded it as "a great example" of why Americans should be allowed to divert a portion of their Social Security contributions to personal accounts.

[...]

While privatization may have been good for Chile's economy, workers like Quintanilla say it hasn't done much for them.

"I'll probably have to work the rest of my life now," she said. "I'm angry."

You should also note that Britain is working to move back to the pay as you go system that the U.S. currently has.

bush Is Killing Off Endangered Species

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

SFGate.com

Scientists in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say they've been forced to alter or withhold findings that would have led to greater protections for endangered species, according to a survey released Wednesday by two environmental
groups.

[...]

Forty-four percent of the scientists who responded to the survey said they have been asked by their superiors to avoid making findings that would require greater protection of endangered species.

One in five agency scientists reported being directed to alter or withhold technical information from scientific documents.

And more than half of the respondents -- 56 percent -- said agency officials have reversed or withdrawn scientific conclusions under pressure from industry groups.

[...]

Last week, the inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency reported that the agency has failed to fully assess the health impacts of mercury pollution because political appointees have intervened and compromised scientific practices. EPA officials denied the charge.

"The political manipulation of science is an ongoing problem with this administration," said Lexi Shultz of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

[...]

One scientist from the Pacific region, which includes California and five other western states, reported being involved in two decisions to list species as endangered that were reversed, allegedly due to political pressure.

"Science was ignored -- and, worse, manipulated to build a bogus set of rationale for reversal of these listing decisions," the scientist wrote.

Another scientist from the Pacific region concluded: "I have never seen so many findings and recommendations by the field be turned around at the regional and Washington level. All we can do at the field level is ensure that our administrative record is complete and hope we get sued by an environmental or conservation organization."

UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE

Does bush's Hatred For Life Know No Bounds?!?

Drugged Iraq Soldiers Flipping-out

AP

Some current or former troops sent to Iraq claim that Lariam, the commercial name for the anti-malarial drug mefloquine, has provoked disturbing and dangerous behavior. The families of some troops blame the drug for the suicides of their loved ones.

[...]

"What are we doing giving drugs that cause hallucinations, confusion, psychotic behavior to people that carry weapons and hold secret clearances?" asked Pogany, 33, who is now seeking a medical discharge. "It doesn't pass the common-sense test."

The story talks a lot about why the drug was chosen. Scary stuff.

McDonald's to pay $8.5 million

CNN

McDonald's has agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit over artery-clogging trans fats in its cooking oils, the company said Friday.

McDonald's said it will donate $7 million to the American Heart Association and spend another $1.5 million to inform the public of its trans fat plans.

The settlement is the result of litigation from a San Francisco-area activist who has been seeking to raise public awareness of the health dangers from the trans fatty acids (TFAs) in hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.

bush Tells 300 Volcano Refugees to Get Out!

Boston Herald

Ten years after nearly 300 refugees arrived in the United States, fleeing a volcano that destroyed homes and poisoned the air on the West Indies island of Montserrat, federal authorities are telling them it's time to go home.

``That doesn't make any sense to me,'' said Montserrat native John Lee of Mattapan, whose sister, Bernice, must return to the devastated island at the end of the month or face deportation.

``She's 67. There's no one to go back to,'' said Lee, a U.S. citizen since 1965. ``We still have property there, but our entire village is uninhabitable. I don't know what she'll do if she goes back.''

The Department of Homeland Security announced in July that temporary protected status granted to 292 refugees in the late 1990s was no longer appropriate, even though conditions on Montserrat are described by the State Department as still unsafe for resettlement.

Montserrat's volcano erupted in 1995, forcing approximately 8,000 of the island's 9,200 residents to flee and destroying two-thirds of the island. Between 40 and 60 refugees settled in Boston, renewing their temporary status annually, while the island's situation grew worse. The volcano may continue to spew ash for decades.

Maybe junior thinks he's making a human sacrafice to appease the war gods...

CAST THEM IN!!! MwwA-HA-HA-HA!!!

Gay Conservative Journalist Defends Gay Conservative Fake Journalist

From Matt Druuuaaawdge

White House spokesman Scott McClellan On Thursday challenged liberal media activists, who are currently feigning outrage over events surrounding "Jeff Gannon," to examine the definition of reporter in the new century.

So I take it that Drudge doesn't have a problem with defending a gay prostitute in the White House...

It does raise some questions about him. Like:

Is Drudge on the bush payroll?

Or could it be that Gannon and Drudge , two prominent gay conservatives, "hooked-up"?


It's a small world after all...

Chilling Effect

AP

A veteran civil rights lawyer known for representing radicals and revolutionaries in her 30 years on the New York legal scene has vowed to fight her conviction for smuggling messages of violence from one of her jailed clients to his terrorist disciples.

Lynne Stewart, 65, a firebrand, left-wing activist, was convicted Thursday of conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists, defrauding the government and making false statements.

"It's a dark day for civil liberties and for civil liberties lawyers in this country," attorney Ron Kuby said Thursday. "In the post 9-11 era, where dissidents are treated as traitors, it's perhaps no surprise that a zealous civil rights becomes a convict."

[...]

Vowing to appeal, Stewart blamed the verdict on inflammatory evidence that included videotape of Osama bin Laden urging support for the jailed Abdel-Rahman, who prosecutors said communicated with the outside world with Stewart's help.

[...]

"The purpose of this prosecution ... was to send a message to lawyers who represent alleged terrorists that it's dangerous to do so," said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights....

So the second convicted terrorist in the war on terror is their lawyer?

bush Gives Aid to Companies Killing Americans

AP

The Senate approved a measure Thursday to help shield businesses from major class action lawsuits like the ones that have been brought against tobacco companies, giving President Bush the first legislative victory of his second term.

[...]

"The reason why this bill is the highest priority of the Bush administration and the Republican leadership in Congress is because of one simple fact: Class action suits moved from state courts to federal court are less likely to go forward, to be tried, and they are less likely to reach a verdict where someone wins or loses," said Senate Democratic Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill. And if the plaintiffs win, businesses are "less likely to pay a reasonable amount of money in federal court than in state court."

You'd have to sue for at least $5 million before they would even hear your case... So does that mean that unless a company has done 5 million in damages it cannot be sued?

I smell a campaign slogan...

Republicans: Protecting Big Tobacco From The Law Since 2005

What bush doesn't want you to know about 9/11

The New York Times

In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report from the 9/11 commission.

[..]

The report, completed last August, said officials appeared more concerned with reducing airline congestion, lessening delays, and easing airlines' financial woes than deterring a terrorist attack.

The Bush administration has blocked the public release of the full, classified version of the report for more than five months, officials said, much to the frustration of former commission members who say it provides a critical understanding of the failures of the civil aviation system. The administration provided both the classified report and a declassified, 120-page version to the
National Archives two weeks ago and, even with heavy redactions in some areas, the declassified version provides the firmest evidence to date about the warnings that aviation officials received concerning the threat of an attack on airliners and the failure to take steps to deter it.

Among other things, the report says that leaders of the F.A.A. received 52 intelligence reports from their security branch that mentioned Mr. bin Laden or Al Qaeda from April to Sept. 10, 2001. That represented half of all the intelligence summaries in that time.

Five of the intelligence reports specifically mentioned Al Qaeda's training or capability to conduct hijackings, the report said. Two mentioned suicide operations, although not connected to aviation, the report said.

yep... it sure looks like they could have stopped it from happening.

Gannon Fodder

I waited all day for the big media to chime in on the scandal that is Jeff Gannon, and when they finally did, they blew it.

First off, let's give credit where credit is do. And the only person that deserves any credit is a blogger that goes by the name Lorenzo. His blog Unimpressed.net likely doesn't get the kind of traffic that the likes of KOS and Atrios get, and that's where they come into it.

Lorenzo used KOS as a megaphone by announcing his discovery in the comments section. So does KOS deserve any credit? Not really... 'cause if it wasn't for Atrios' reading of KOS' comment section KOS himself would have never even seen it. KOS admitted that somewhere so I give him props for honesty. And it's not like Atrios or KOS claimed credit for the story. So I'm not blaming them.

...and I should point out that I was too lazy to give credit to Lorenzo yesterday, only saying "Someone at KOS searched up what domain names Jeff owns".

...but in my own defense at least I linked to it.

And how the hell did World O'Crap get credit for the story? They're as far out of this loop as I am.


Now that the credit is where it belongs. Let's try to get our shit together shall we? The self-hating, gay, republican, whack-job Matt Drudge refers to the story of GannonGate as "Online Reporter Quits After Liberals' Expose..."

He then links to a Google News search for "conservative reporter who asked President Bush a loaded question at a news conference last" I get a lot more by searching for "jeff gannon". So I can only assume that Drudge is directing people to this story by Howard Kurtz.

Howie writes:

The conservative reporter who asked President Bush a loaded question at a news conference last month resigned Wednesday after liberal bloggers uncovered his real name and raised questions about his background.

He then goes on to give credit to Daily Kos, Atrios and World o' Crap... and the he even finds time to quote the evil that is Instapundit.

I am not impressed. The "asked President Bush a loaded question at a news conference last month" implies that he only did it once, and provides no context since Gannon was providing cover for McClellan on an almost daily basis.


...maybe they'll get it right today.

Gannon Resigned? Scott McClellan Next?

from The All Spin Zone

For anyone that's been closely following the Jeff Gannon / J.D. Guckert fraud reporter story, it seems to have reached a critical mass today. Gannon has shut down his website, resigned his "position" with GOP front organization Talon News, and is heading for rougher waters than I think he ever imagined at his snarky best.

He also predicts Scott McClellan (who used Gannon's softball questions as and out whenever he got into trouble) will resign.

I doubt that it will happen, but it certainly should. All in all this White House doesn't punish it's own.

Was Gannon the Plame Leak?

from KOS

White House-credentialed fake news reporter "Jeff Gannon" from fake news agency "Talon News" was cited by the Washington Post as having the only access to an internal CIA memo that named Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert CIA agent. Gannon, in a question posed to Wilson in an October 2003 interview, referred to the memo (to which no other news outlet had access, according to the Post). Gannon subsequently has been subpoenaed by the federal grand jury looking into the Plame outing.

GardenGate / GannonGate Update

Jeff Gannon 
It looks like junior's favorite plant may be more of a whore than we all thought.

from Over/Spun via KOS

White House correspondent, Jeff Gannon, has been earning quite a reputation for asking the bushies hard nosed questions like:

" Doesn't Joe Wilson owe the President, and America, an apology..."

Well now Jeff is earning a different kind of reputation. Someone at KOS searched up what domain names Jeff owns, and hit the motherload.

Many simply show that Jeff is a right wing hack:

Conservativeguy.com
Conservative-guy.com
Conservativelegal.com
Exposejessejackson.com
Jeffgannon.com
Theconservativeguy.com
Theconservativelegal.com
The-conservative-guy.com
conservative-guy.com

...but these three domains really caught my attention:

Hotmilitarystud.com
Militaryescorts.com
Militaryescortsm4m.com

Did the White House hire a male prostitute to ask softball questions during it's press conferences?

OMG!

Developing...


Here's More about Jeff

Uniquely Insensitive

from Drudge

BUSH: HOLDING THREE JOBS 'UNIQUELY AMERICAN'
Tues Feb 8 2005 9:27:01 ET

Last Friday when promoting social security reform with 'regular' citizens in Omaha, Nebraska, President Bush walked into an awkward unscripted moment in which he stated that carrying three jobs at a time is 'uniquely American.'

While talking with audience participants, the president met Mary Mornin, a woman in her late fifties who told the president she was a divorced mother of three, including a 'mentally challenged' son.

The President comforted Mornin on the security of social security stating that 'the promises made will be kept by the government.'

But without prompting Mornin began to elaborate on her life circumstances.

Begin transcript:

MS. MORNIN: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.

THE PRESIDENT: You work three jobs?

MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that.
(Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.)

I think Karl Rove should call the woman up, and tell her how unpatriotic it was for her to go off script, and embarrass the president by exposing the fact that he's an asshole.

Jose Canseco Implicates bush In Steroid Tell-All

USA Today

In his upcoming book, Jose Canseco said he introduced Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez to steroids after being traded to Texas in 1992, the New York Daily News reported. Canseco said Bush, the Rangers' managing general partner from March 1989 through December 1994 and a part owner until June 1998, must have known about the drugs.

Ny Daily News

-Some Major League Baseball owners welcomed or condoned steroid use because they believed a power surge would bring back fans after the disastrous 1994-95 work stoppage.

-The Players Association condoned steroid use because a home run barrage would mean bigger salaries for members and union leaders.

-President Bush, who was the Rangers' general managing partner in the early '90s, must have known that some of his players were using steroids but chose not to address the issue. White House spokesman Ken Lisaius declined to comment on Canseco's book, but noted that Bush had urged players, coaches and owners to work together to rid sports of steroids during the 2004 State of the Union address.

Why am I not surprised?

The latest Abu Ghraib Disclosure

AFP

Unqualified US military medics stationed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison carried out amputations, recycled used chest tubes and lacked medical supplies to treat the overcrowded jail's inmates after the fall of Baghdad, according to a report.


The Time magazine report, to hit newsstands Monday, also said that a medic was ordered, by one account, to cover up a homicide inside the jail.

[...]

The report cited National Guard Captain Kelly Parrson, a physician's assistant at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 and 2004. Parrson was seriously injured by a mortar during an insurgent attack that targetted the jail.

Parrson told Time there were times when he and other non-physicians carried out amputations and other procedures on inmates that should have been performed by surgeons.

"I took off an ankle and a lower leg," he recalls. "There was no one else, and if it was death or amputation, you just had to do it."

"When somebody died, we just took out their chest tube and inserted it into another, living person," he said.

[...]

Auch said neither he nor his medical staff were consulted about an Iraqi, later dubbed "Ice Man," when he was first brought to the prison for interrogation by US military intelligence.

The detainee subsequently died during questioning in the middle of the night under circumstances that have been officially ruled a homicide by the military.

According to statements made during an Army inquiry, military personnel ordered the body put on ice and then spirited it away after medics had attached a fake IV to the dead man's arm in an apparent attempt to create the impression he was still alive.

China Pioneering In Nuclear Technology

FT News

China is poised to develop the world's first commercially operated “pebble bed” nuclear reactor after a Chinese energy consortium chose a site in the eastern province of Shandong to build a 195MW gas-cooled power plant.

[...]

Advocates of “modular” pebble bed reactors argue they offer the hope of cheap, safe and easily expandable nuclear power stations a potent appeal for China, which is struggling to meet huge growth in energy demand while avoiding environmental disaste

...the world is juat passing us (U.S.) by.

Eleven Marines Stripped of Their Purple Hearts

MSNBC

"I told them I didn't think I deserved it," said Arellano, 38, of Oceanside, Calif. The thought of wearing a medal he didn't earn "was eating me alive."

Then a letter arrived two months ago making things even worse. The Purple Heart pinned on him nearly two years earlier had been "an administrative error" because his wound was not "caused directly or indirectly by enemy action." Ten other Marines who sustained noncombat injuries got the same news, from the office of the commandant of the Marine Corps.

None of this would have happened if junior wasn't in such a rush to find "hero's" in Iraq.


Hero in Iraq... it's almost an oxymoron.

bush to cut funding for 150 Social Programs

WaPo

About 150 programs in all would be shuttered or radically cut back to help meet Bush's goal of shaving the budget deficit in half by 2009. One out of every three of the targeted programs concerns education. Medicaid funding would be reduced significantly and even major military weapons programs would be scrapped to make more resources available for the war in Iraq.

[...]

The spending plan does not include future expenses of the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, nor does it include upfront transition costs of
restructuring Social Security as Bush has proposed.

*The line "[does not] include upfront transition costs of restructuring Social Security", in the common tounge reads "junior wants you to give him money so that he can cut your Social Security benifits".

Still, the administration plans to cut costly weapons programs such as an Air Force advanced fighter plane, a stealthy Navy destroyer and the next generation of nuclear submarines. Bush's missile defense program would likewise lose billions of dollars in funding in coming years.

On the domestic side, according to documents, the budget would consolidate 18 community development block grant programs into one Commerce Department program for a savings of $1.8 billion. It would slice law enforcement grants to states from $2.8 billion to $1.5 billion. And it would cut 48 education programs totaling $4.3
billion, including $2.2 billion for high school programs, mostly state grants for vocational education.

The budget would cut $440 million in Safe and Drug-Free School grants, $500 million in education technology state grants, $225 million for the Even Start literacy program, $280 million for Upward Bound programs for inner-city youths and a $150 million talent research program, according to the documents.

The budget includes no subsidy for Amtrak and would eliminate $20 million for the next generation of high-speed rail and $250 million for railroad rehabilitation. Several Energy Department programs would be eliminated, as would $100 million in grants for land and water conservation. The budget proposal would cut $94 million in grants for the Healthy Communities Access Program and phase out rural health grants, the documents said. Bush touted his commitment to such programs during his reelection campaign. The president would terminate the Community Food and Nutrition Program, and cut a migrant and seasonal farm worker training program. He would renew his effort to cut a $143 million program for the removal of severely distressed housing.

...It's a fucking disaster.

The Superbowl Sucked...

First off, borring... I grew up with Montana, Rice and the two minute drill. To say the least, I was unimpressed.

Second, The commercials weren't all that good either. Except for the Ameriquest one. White cat, spaghetti sauce, and a chef's knife. If you didn't see it, all I have to say is the look on the guys face made it work.

Liberals Leaving bush's America

Int. Herald Tribune

...a 56-year-old Vietnam War veteran and former magazine editor who lists Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner," among his ancestors.

...For him, the re-election of George W. Bush was the last straw.

"I love the United States," he said as he stood on the Vancouver waterfront, staring toward the Coastal Range, which was lost in a gray shroud. "I fought for it in Vietnam. It's a wrenching decision to think about leaving. But America is turning into a country very different from the one I grew up believing in."

[...]

America is in no danger of emptying out. But even a small loss of population, many from a deep sense of political despair, is a significant event in the life of a nation that thinks of itself as a place to escape to.

This story only looks at people moving to Canada, which I think is flawed. Moving to Canada is hard. You have to have a job in Canada, before you can move to Canada.

Sweden looks good to me...

You're 3 times more likely to advance to the next economic class in Sweden, than you are in America. Not to mention that they got health care, social security, longer lifespans, and all of the other perks as well.

..then again, you could say the same about most countries.

America has become the shithole of the industrial world.

Senate worries about bush's Intel.

Chicago Tribune

The Senate Intelligence Committee has launched what its chairman called a "pre-emptive" examination of U.S. intelligence on Iran as part of an effort to avoid the problems that plagued America's prewar assessments on Iraq.

Sen. Pat Roberts(R-Kan.) said he had sought the unusual review because the erroneous prewar claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction had made lawmakers wary of the CIA's current assessments on Iran.

I wouldn't trust him either, but the key here is that it's the republicans that are doubting junior's honesty this time.

Peace isn't fit for Children?

Tennessean.com

A Cookeville (Tenn.) High School administrator said Veterans for Peace and a Quaker group can't come back into his school with materials considered ''anti-American'' and ''anti-military.''

The groups plan to go before the Putnam County school board tomorrow with claims that
they're being denied privileges afforded to other organizations, including military recruiters.

The war veterans, some who also belong to the Quaker group, were allowed into the school during a September fair for organizations. They set up a table with books about U.S. wars and offered photocopied fliers and pamphlets from both organizations about the war in Iraq and military careers and alternatives

Quaker and veteran Hector Black said several students stopped by the table and asked questions, and a couple of teachers even thanked them for coming.

He said there wasn't any indication of a problem until later that evening, when he got a phone call from Principal Wayne Shank.

Shank told Black that some of the groups' materials may be proper for adults, but he thought they were inappropriate for the students.

[...]

Black said Shank specified some quotes in the literature that he objected to, including one from a 1953 speech by President Eisenhower that said,

''Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed. Those who are cold and are not clothed.''

[...]

County School Director Michael Martin said, ''Parents found the materials to be anti-American, anti-military. That didn't come from us. That came from the parents who saw the materials when their kids brought it home.''

[...]

The principal also said their literature could be shown only in a classroom setting that would allow an opportunity for a ''balanced'' presentation. Military recruiters and other groups don't face that restriction, the peace activists said.

You might want to read this too, and learn how junior uses the No Child Left Behind Act to give military recruiters access to your children's school records.

...not to mention your children.

Contender for Most Evil Company of the Year Award

Aids drug trials on prostitutes suspended

From IOL Africa

Cameroon suspended controversial tests of a United States-manufactured anti-Aids drug on Friday amid complaints that prostitutes were encouraged to have unprotected sex under the trials with no guarantee of medical care if they became infected.

A government statement read on national radio said trials of the drug Viread by California-based biotech company Gilead Sciences were suspended "because of lapses and dysfunction". It gave no further details.

A total of 400 prostitutes were taking part in the trials, which began in Cameroon's capital, Douala, in 2003.

One group was given Viread and another a placebo to see if those taking the drug had a statistically lower incidence of becoming with infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.

[...]

"We know that the women who accept to participate in this experiment will certainly become seropositive, yet there is no promise of anti-retroviral drugs for the participants at the end of the exercise," said Arthur Noumbi of campaign group Elite Polytechnicienne.

Although sex workers participating in the tests are given condoms by Gilead Sciences, "this is just a hoax, because we know that to really get the drug effectively tested, the prostitutes need to have unprotected sex", said Noumbi.

The bush Earpiece Redux

from The Left Coaster

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting reveals the New York Times killed a story just before the election which contained assertions from a NASA digital imaging expert that Bush cheated during the debates by using electronic assistance in violation of the debate ground rules.

FAIR has now confirmed that not only did a NASA scientist analyze the pictures and conclude that in fact Bush was wearing an electronic cueing device hooked up to an invisible earpiece, but that the New York Times declined to run the story after it was prepared.

GardenGate Recap

A story about a bush and his plants:

The bush: G.W.B.

The Plants:

The Dangers of Drug Abuse

Shortly before last year's Super Bowl, local news stations across the country aired a story by Mike Morris describing plans for a new White House ad campaign on the dangers of drug abuse.

What viewers did not know was that Morris is not a journalist and his "report" was produced by the government, actions that constituted illegal "covert propaganda," according to an investigation by the Government Accountability Office.



The Medicare prescription-drug benefits

The Bush administration’s promotion of the new Medicare law through videos made to look like news reports violated a prohibition against using public money for propaganda, Congress’ General Accounting Office said Wednesday.

The materials in English and Spanish were produced by the Health and Human Services Department but did not identify their source. The videos, or parts of them, aired on at least 40 television stations in March, the department


What Ever It Takes

One of President Bush's closing television advertisements features a doctored photograph with certain images of uniformed soldiers sprinkled repeatedly into a crowd to enhance the backdrop of a presidential speech.

A Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman acknowledged the editing of the image, which was still posted today at the top of the Bush website to publicize the 60-second ad titled "Whatever It Takes."


Bob Novak

Syndicated newspaper columnist Robert Novak revealed Plame's identity as a CIA operative in a July 14 article, saying the CIA sent Wilson to Niger at his wife's suggestion. Novak, who also is a CNN contributor, cited two senior administration officials as his sources.

It is a felony offense to reveal the name of a CIA operative, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine


Armstrong Williams

Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.


Maggie Gallagher

In 2002, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher repeatedly defended President Bush's push for a $300 million initiative encouraging marriage as a way of strengthening families.

...But Gallagher failed to mention that she had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal.


Jeff Gannon

The Bush administration has provided White House media credentials to a man who has virtually no journalistic background, asks softball questions to the president and his spokesman in the midst of contentious news conferences, and routinely reprints long passages verbatim from official [GOP] press releases as original news articles on his website.

Watergate Redux

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Vietnam Redux

A lot of the time, when the NY Times does a story, I don't link to it. It's not that I don't like the Times, it's that I hate their subscription policy. And even though it's free (for now) it's a pain in the ass.

So now, I bring to you (a day late, and a dollar short) VietNam Redux

Via the Falls Church News Press

By Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 - United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 percent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam. The election was the culmination of a constitutional development that began in January, 1966, to which President Johnson gave his personal commitment when he met Premier Ky and General Thieu, the chief of state, in Honolulu in February. The purpose of the voting was to give legitimacy to the Saigon Government, which has been founded only on coups and power plays since November 1963, when President Ngo Dinh Deim was overthrown by a military junta.

...and we all know how well the conflict in Vietnam turned out.

May They Rest in Peace

18 December 1917 - 4 February 2005

AP

Ossie Davis, whose rich baritone and elegant, unshakable bearing made him a giant of the stage, screen and the civil rights movement — often in tandem with his wife, Ruby Dee — has died. He was 87.

24 February 1932 - 1 February 2005

CNN

John Vernon, a stage-trained character actor who played cunning villains in film and TV and made his comedy mark as Dean Wormer in "National Lampoon's Animal House," has died. He was 72.

bush uses the deficit, He Created, as an excuse to cut funding

AP


On the chopping block:

-Defense Spending

-Farm Subsidies

-Pell Grants

-Perkins Loans

-Banks Subsidies (that encourage them to make low-interest loans)

-Medicaid ($60 billion over ten years)


Republican 101: Cut taxes-> Create a Deficit-> Cut Social programs-> Rinse Repeat.

Side Effects of Republican 101: The Value of Dollar Falls (deflation)


Sum Result: You're even poorer than you were.

Rumsfeld Avoiding War Crimes Lawsuit

IndyStar

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday he may skip a trip to a security conference in Germany next week because of a lawsuit there accusing him of war crimes.

"It's something that we have to take into consideration," he said when asked whether the suit was a factor in weighing whether to attend the Munich Conference on Security Policy, an annual gathering of government defense officials and lawmakers, where an address by the U.S. defense secretary is typically a highlight.

Attorneys from the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights filed a suit with German prosecutors last November charging that U.S. officials, including Rumsfeld, are responsible for acts of torture against detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Rumsfeld also skipped the conference in 2002, sending his top deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, instead.

Jeff Gannon; A Plant in the President's Garden?

from Boston.com

The Bush administration has provided White House media credentials to a man who has virtually no journalistic background, asks softball questions to the president and his spokesman in the midst of contentious news conferences, and routinely reprints long passages verbatim from official press releases as original news articles on his website.

Jeff Gannon calls himself the White House correspondent for TalonNews.com, a website that says it is "committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news coverage to our readers." It is operated by a Texas-based Republican Party delegate and political activist who also runs GOPUSA.com, a website that touts itself as "bringing the conservative message to America."

Called on last week by President Bush at a press conference, Gannon attacked Democratic Senate leaders and called them "divorced from reality." During the presidential campaign, when called on by Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Gannon linked Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, to Jane Fonda and questioned why anyone would dispute Bush's National Guard service.

Now, the question of how Gannon gets into White House press conferences is coming under intense scrutiny from critics who contend that Gannon is not a journalist but rather a White House tool to soften media coverage of Bush.

Jeff also does "news reports" that are just copy and pasted from the RNC talking points memo... but back to his helping out the White House Press Secretary.

from Media Matters

Some of the questions that Jeff's been asking;

Q: Thank you. The imam [Yassin M. Aref] that was arrested in [Albany] New York last week was discovered because his name appeared in a Rolodex in a terrorist training camp in Iraq before the war. The book was found after, by U.S. troops, but he was in Iraq before the war. Is this another piece of evidence showing the direct terror ties between Iraq and al Qaeda?

[...]

Q: Let me follow up with a second question. How damaging was the revelation of the deepest mole that we've ever had in al Qaeda? The publication of that man's name by The New York Times -- how damaging is that to our war on terror?

[...]

Q: Last Friday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report that shows that Ambassador Joe Wilson lied when he said his wife didn't put him up for the mission to Niger. The British inquiry into their own prewar intelligence yesterday concluded that the President's 16 words ["The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa"] were "well-founded." Doesn't Joe Wilson owe the President and America an apology for his deception and his own intelligence failure?

They go on and on like that.

My question is this. How did this go on for so long without anyone noticing?

I don't get Lexus Nexus, so I don't get to read the daily press briefings, if I did, even I would have known something was up. So how is it that this phoney could go unnoticed in the middle of a group of journalists? Journalists that are charged with covering the White House no less!

Are they all fucking plants?!?

Video of Ann "The Man" Coulter looking like an Idiot

Thanks to Crooks and Liars


Quicktime and Mpeg

...the look on her face is just priceless.

Hey now... I'm the only one that gets to call 'em Nazi's

from WorldNetDaily

Garofalo: Fingers with ink comparable to Nazi salute
Actress, liberal radio host calls Republican gesture 'disgusting'

Actress and liberal talk-radio host Janeane Garofalo is taking issue with congressional Republicans who dipped their fingers in ink for President Bush's State of the Union speech as a sign of solidarity with Iraqi voters, likening it to a Nazi salute.

WOW Janeane must have really said something horrible... Let's take a look;

Garofalo: "The inked fingers and the position of them, which is gonna be a 'Daily Show' photo already, of them signaling in this manner [does the Nazi salute], as if they have solidarity with the Iraqis who braved physical threats against their lives to vote as if somehow these inked-fingered Republicans have something to do with that.

That...

That's it?


...and ya know. Since when is it less acceptable, to point out that someone is acting like a Nazi, than it is to actually act like a Nazi.

"It's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

CNN

"Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot," Mattis said, prompting laughter from some military members in the audience. "It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling.

"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

It's called Gallows Humor.

This guy didn't do anything wrong. We ask our military to kill people, and they have to be able to it. If they need to trivialize it just so that they can sleep at night, then I got no problem with it.

If a politician making decisions at arms lenght had said this, it would be a different story. That would be unacceptable, but soldiers are not polititions. They can say whatever they want.

There are a lot of 'crimes' that a soldier can commit during wartime, being a prick isn't one of them.

*wink-wink, nudge-nudge, know-what-I-mean?*

I almost forgot to mention this...

During King George the Empty's speech last night, he said that he wants judges that will not legislate from the bench... and then he winked at a grown man wearing a black dress...

Could have been a robe...

Could have been a judge....


All I know is it was creepy, and I think our president is gay. And not the happy kind of gay either, I'm talking SpongeBob gay.



...cause there is no way junior could have been using code to say he wants to outlaw abortion...

BUSH Was Behind The Oil For Food Scandal

CNN

Documents obtained by CNN reveal the United States knew about, and even condoned, embargo-breaking oil sales by Saddam Hussein's regime, and did so to shore up alliances with Iraq's neighbors.

[snip]

The unclassified State Department documents sent to congressional committees with oversight of U.S. foreign policy divulge that the United States deemed such sales to be in the "national interest," even though they generated billions of dollars in unmonitored revenue for Saddam's regime.

[snip]

...in a 2002 memo by Richard Armitage, undersecretary of state under President George W. Bush.

"Jordan has made clear its choice for peace and normalization with Israel," Armitage said, calling Jordan "an important U.S. friend" and citing its 2001 free trade treaty with the United States.

"U.S. assistance provides the Jordanian government needed flexibility to pursue policies that are of critical importance to U.S. national security and to foreign policy objectives in the Middle East," Armitage said.

[snip]

Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told CNN Tuesday the waivers were given to Jordan and Turkey every year since 1998.

For almost a year now, republicans have been attacking the credibility of the U.N. with a "scandal" that george w. bush not only knew about, but fully supported!

ATTN: Republicans

Oil For Food is now your baby. Your president was behind it.

On a personal note

This is Campaigns and Elections magazine's description of me:

The warrior is in a blogging crusade against the Reublican leadership, as most of the newsworthy events on the site that receive comment and criticism are laws, rules, and developments made by Republican leaders.

I'm a Crusader!

12 Iraqi Soldiers Dragged Off Bus, Shot Dead

...While Nero gave his speech.

from Netscape

Insurgents dragged Iraqi soldiers off a bus and shot 12 of them dead in the bloodiest attack on security forces since last weekend's historic election, the Iraqi army said on Thursday.

Two soldiers survived and fled to a nearby village after their bus was ambushed near the northern oil city of Kirkuk late on Wednesday. The soldiers had been returning from vacation.

Two U.S. Marines were also killed on Wednesday in Anbar province west of Baghdad, a hotbed of anti-American militancy.

The deaths took the number of U.S. military and Pentagon personnel killed in action in Iraq since the invasion of March 2003 to at least 1,102.

All Hail! King George The Empty!

Sourcing CNN

Bush said Social Security, on its current path, is "headed toward bankruptcy,"

empty threat...

...and he urged Congress to "pass reforms that solve the financial problems of Social Security once and for all."

empty words...

He said the best way of reaching that goal is through a government-run program of "voluntary personal retirement accounts"

empty accounts...

Here is why personal accounts are a better deal: Your money will grow, over time, at a greater rate than anything the current system can deliver," Bush said.

At the same time, he said, "I have a message for every American who is 55 or older: Do not let anyone mislead you. For you, the Social Security system will not change in any way

empty promises...


It's hard to get excited about a speech given by King George the Empty.

After all, after the last one he gave, his father came out, and said that he didn't mean any of it.

Now how empty is that?

Texas A&M Debunks Abstinence-only

Reuters

Abstinence-only sex education programs, a major plank in President Bush's education plan, have had no impact on teenagers' behavior in his home state of Texas, according to a new study.

Despite taking courses emphasizing abstinence-only themes, teenagers in 29 high schools became increasingly sexually active, mirroring the overall state trends, according to the study conducted by researchers at Texas A&M University.

[...]

The study showed about 23 percent of ninth-grade girls, typically 13 to 14 years old, had sex before receiving abstinence education. After taking the course, 29 percent of the girls in the same group said they had had sex.

Boys in the tenth grade, about 14 to 15 years old, showed a more marked increase, from 24 percent to 39 percent, after receiving abstinence education.

Corrupt GOP House Leaders Stack the Deck

LA Times

The House ethics committee chairman who presided over three rebukes of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was bounced from the job Wednesday and replaced by a Republican congressman from Washington state.

The new chairman is Rep. Doc Hastings, the committee's second-ranking Republican. He was named by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., to take the gavel from Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo.

In addition, Hastert appointed two new members to the panel, Reps. Lamar S. Smith, R-Texas, and Tom Cole, R-Okla., whose political action committees have contributed to DeLay's legal defense fund. Smith's PAC contributed $5,000 in 2001and an additional $5,000 between July and September 2004; Cole's gave $5,000 between July and September 2004.

[snip]

The shakeup of the panel, formally known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, comes in the wake of a Texas grand jury indictment of three fundraisers with ties to DeLay. They are accused of illegally funneling corporate contributions to GOP candidates for state office. DeLay has called the investigation politically motivated and said he had not been contacted by prosecutors.

...How can America be the "Home of the Free" when it's leaders are bought and paid for?

You should be glad the SS reforms are DEAD!!

WaPo

Under the White House Social Security plan, workers who opt to divert some of their payroll taxes into individual accounts would ultimately get to keep only the investment returns that exceed the rate of return that the money would have accrued in the traditional system.

The mechanism, detailed by a senior administration official before President Bush's State of the Union address, would hold down the cost of Bush's plan to introduce personal accounts to the Social Security system. But it could come as a surprise to lawmakers and voters who have thought of these accounts as akin to an individual retirement account or a 401(k) that they could use fully upon retirement.

Unfuckinbelievable

Private Accounts Are DEAD!

Reuters

"President Bush should forget about privatizing Social Security," the Nevada Democrat said. "It will not happen. The sooner he comes to that realization, the better off we are." -Harry Reid

[snip]

"President Bush should forget about privatizing Social Security," the Nevada Democrat said. "It will not happen. The sooner he comes to that realization, the better off we are."

[snip]

Reid said none of the 44 Democrats in the Senate would back a plan that diverts Social Security taxes into accounts that workers would invest in stocks and bonds. Opponents argue it would only add to Social Security's financial problems, force
big cuts in benefits and add to ballooning budget deficits.

But Bush and his supporters (refuse to accept reality).

Looks like the fat ladies singing on bush's Social Security reform...

...Oh-Wait that's Ashcroft.

"Let The Eagles Soar"

Marines miss January quota for recruiting

Daily Star

For the first time in nearly a decade, the Marine Corps missed its monthly recruiting goal in January, in what military officials said was the latest troubling indicator of the Iraq war's impact on the armed services.

More proof that the unpatriotic republican warmonger are refusing to put their children where their mouths are.

MTV Markets Pornography to Children

Netscape

Conservative watchdog group Parents Television Council blasted MTV as "smut peddlers" Tuesday, accusing the music cable network of targeting young viewers with oversexed programming.

The PTC found fault with the teen-targeted network based on an examination of 171 hours of programming that aired the week of March 20 last year, during its annual "Spring Break" celebration. The analysis, contained in a report titled "MTV Smut Peddlers," spotted 13 sexual scenes per hour in MTV's reality series, as well as 32 instance of foul language per hour in its music videos.

[snip]

The report declared reality series "Making the Band 2" the channel's most offensive series, chronicling 208 instances of foul language in four total hours.

An MTV spokeswoman said, "[removed for the sake of reality]"

We need to give the FCC power over cable networks. They got Missy Elliot rapping about sex acts while 6 or 7 year old kids dance around with her on the stage...

...what the hell kind of message is that?

Splenda Sucks

Reuters

Johnson & Johnson is facing a raft of lawsuits over a marketing campaign related to its artificial sweetener Splenda, which accuse the company of misleading buyers to believe Splenda is a natural product.

[snip]

"Splenda No Calorie Sweetener is made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar."

But the Sugar Association says the marketing pitch does not accurately reflect the end product and is misleading because it gives the impression that Splenda contains natural sugar.

[snip]

"We feel the public needs to be aware that Splenda is an artificial chemical sweetener. Splenda is created with chlorine, and the final product does not have sugar in it," he said.(James Murphy, counsel for the Sugar Association)

mmmm... chlorine... [/Homer Simpson]

Canada sent troops to Vietnam?

Rumor Control.

I swear I saw this a while back, but it's news again, and it makes Ann "The Man" Coulter look like a fool so I'm all in favor of reliving it.

Coulter: "Canada used to be one of our most loyal friends and vice-versa. I mean Canada sent troops to Vietnam - was Vietnam less containable and more of a threat than Saddam Hussein?"

McKeown interrupts: "Canada didn't send troops to Vietnam."

Coulter: "I don't think that's right."

McKeown: "Canada did not send troops to Vietnam."

Coulter (looking desperate): "Indochina?"

McKeown: "Uh no. Canada ...second World War of course. Korea. Yes. Vietnam No."

Coulter: "I think you're wrong."

McKeown: "No, took a pass on Vietnam."

Coulter: "I think you're wrong."

McKeown: "No, Australia was there, not Canada."

Coulter: "I think Canada sent troops."

McKeown: "No."

Coulter: "Well. I'll get back to you on that."



"Coulter never got back to us -- but for the record, like Iraq, Canada sent no troops to Vietnam."

The Ukraine Sold Missles to Iran and China

FT

Ukraine's SBU secret police had found that 12 Kh-55s were illegally exported in 1999-2001. He said six of the air-to-ground cruise missiles were sold to Iran, and six to China.

The Kh-55 - which the US calls the AS-15 - has a highly accurate guidance system and a range of up to 3,000km, which would put Israel in striking distance of Iran. The missile was part of the Soviet bomber fleet weaponry left behind in Ukraine.

Just one more reason for Israel to nuke Iran...

...bet it starts World War 3 if they do.

Genocide? What Genocide?

AP

The crisis in Darfur, which has killed more than 70,000 people and has affected some 2 million people, has gripped world attention but also drawn calls that international leaders are again standing by while a people is exterminated — as happened in Cambodia, Rwanda and Yugoslavia.

While the United States has labeled the destruction genocide, the U.N.-appointed panel of five lawyers said that there appeared to be no clear evidence of "genocidal intent" against the people of Darfur.

What did you expect? You didn't really think that we fight wars for "humanitarian reasons" did you? To spread freedom??

Please... Give me a break.

Free Speech is Bad, Just Ask Your Kids

from USA Today

The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing...

[...]

Asked whether the press enjoys "too much freedom," not enough or about the right amount, 32% say "too much...

[...]

...74% say people shouldn't be able to burn or deface an American flag as a political statement; 75% mistakenly believe it is illegal.

(contrary to what your kid thinks) The U.S. Supreme Court in 1989 ruled that burning or defacing a flag is protected free speech.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Lara Flynn Boyle went nuts on a flight to London. She stripped naked, climbed into bed with some guy who was sleeping, and then told him "We're landing, get your clothes on"...

Quite possibly the greatest practical joke... ever.


On a more serious note, Kylie Bell has accused over rated rapper Snoop Dogg of rape. Bell, who is an Emmy Award-winning makeup artist, claims Snoop Dogg drugged her, then gang rapped her with his friends, in his dressing room after a tapping of "Jimmy Kimmel Live". This was all back in 2003, and would likely be brushed under the rug as just another woman looking for money if not for the fact that...

*Bombshell Alert*

ABC!! and Snoop Dogg were paying her off!!!!!!

...and the only reason we know about any of this is because Snoop Dogg's ' insurance company refused to "pay a portion of the compensation previously promised" by the rapper's legal team'. You can read all about it at The Smoking Gun.

As far as I'm concerned, I think ABC should be charged as a conspirator after the fact. They even knew about (if not provided) the drugs.

...and then there's this, Zoeller, ABC's Vice President and Attorney for Jimmy Kimmel Live, stopped paying her bills when she refused to hire the lawyer recommended by Zoeller. The lawyer, he recommended, encouraged her to drop the case.

Scumbags... fucking scumbags...