The Basics: American land owners are being forced to give up land for the US/Mexican wall... unless you are a friend of George W or give him 35 million for his Presidential library.
"With the Texas Democratic primary and caucus less than a week away, the Bush administration’s plan to build a wall along part of the southern border has suddenly become a campaign issue. After many landowners refused to give over their land for the eighteen-foot-high wall, the Department of Homeland Security began filing lawsuits against some homeowners. At the same time, the government is leaving large gaps to avoid building the wall on the property of wealthy residents, including those with ties to President Bush."
I tend to disagree with this woman's viewpoint on plastic surgery — I actually even dipped into it myself for some love handle lipo last year, and was very pleased — but her points are valid. She considers the trend to more and more cosmetic procedures to be creating "Cosmetic Darwinism."
I think people (and many animals) have always wanted to look like whatever ideal their biology implies. Look better, more sex. More sex, more chances to reproduce. The downside when the look is artificial, of course, is that even though you had the doctor give you Angelina Jolie's lips, your kid will still have your genetically defined lips. At least until cosmetic surgery goes genetic.
People, life is short. If you look like DeVito and want to look like DiCaprio, go for it. Just don't cry if you end up like some kind of Star Trek transporter accident.
It's definitely going to be a happy Valentine's Day for the good horny people of Texas: the Lone Star State's infamous sex toy ban has finally been overturned. After years of needless meddling in people's sex lives, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the ban -- which made it a crime to sell sex toys shaped like human genitalia -- was in violation of the 14th Amendment, also known as the right to privacy.
"If this were only about me, I'd go on. But it's never been only about me. I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, in this time of war I feel I have to now stand aside for our party and for our country."
"In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."
So all left-leaning people are helping the terrorists? What a shame you are leaving. You are truly the uniter the country needs. We really would have come together under your leadership.
Pandering until the very end... what a good soldier you are.
Fuck off Romney. Go home all ready... which ever political resume building place you call home.
I've been a web designer since the mid 1990s. Back then you had very limited choices for browsing the web. No firefox, safari, or mozilla. In one corner, you had a horrible IE browser that is almost as bad as it is now (and was pushed upon the world via Microsoft's horrid monopoly). It sucked.
In the other corner, was the wonder and reliable Netscape. This was a great browser. I seem to remember version 3.04 being it's best version on the Mac.
This week, life support was pulled on the 17 year old browser. We'll remember you and your crummy lighthouse graphic.
Stump speech on the radio. This kind of marketing can't be defeated. Well done.
I voted for Mike Gravel today. I like Obama all well and good, but was put off by the media turning the volume down on otherwise good candidates with options to add to the conversation. I though Gravel, Kucinich and Ron Paul were all screwed. This was my symbolic protest again big politics before I do everything I can to get anything that remotely smells like George Bush out of the White House and Congress.
This is Kucinich's side of the story. I think we should be aware of this. Get past the dumb image of Willie Nelson and click on it.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health experts denounced President George W. Bush's 2009 federal budget request on Monday, calling it a disaster for the health of Americans and saying they would look to Congress to change it.
Bush's $3.1 trillion spending plan proposes a 7 percent cut in funds for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as less money for Medicare and Medicaid -- the joint federal-state health insurance programs for the poor and elderly.
The budget for the fiscal year starting October 1, 2009 would reduce spending on Medicare by $12.8 billion and lower federal funds for Medicaid by $18.2 billion over five years.
From last June... I still feel as strongly about this now as I did then.
Citizens of Iraq: I'm an American, and I have something to tell you that is long overdue. It does not come easily. Many people in my country would berate me for saying it, call me a coward, think me morally weak, or even worse – betraying the soldiers who fight on behalf of my freedom. But I do not believe any of that. I believe the those who fear saying what they believe are the true cowards, and are not free at all.
People of Iraq, I would like to tell you I am sorry.
I am sorry for the unjust suffering that my government has inflicted upon you in my name.
I am sorry that at the conclusion of our first war with Iraq when Saddam invaded Kuwait, our former President encouraged you to rise up, promising you our support, and when you did, we let you be killed by the thousands while we did nothing but watch.
I am sorry for a new war that was sold to America with outright lies, half-truths, and omissions of fact. I am sorry that most of us believed them, allowing ourselves to be frightened beyond reason by tales of secret Iraqi weapons, though many truly knowledgeable people knew better. The "yellow-cake" uranium from Africa. The aluminum centrifuges. The mobile poison gas facilities. The "smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud."
I am sorry we allowed those who questioned our government's assertions to be bullied into silence, sidelined, punished, or black-listed as un-American, including those of reason within our Congress, our military, and the news media we trusted to objectively inform us and protect our best interests.
I regret a fabricated coalition that was formed to invade your country. Fourty-nine countries, many of whom were present in name only to satisfy American demands. This so-called "coalition" cheapened the true coalitions of history that were created to fight for just and noble causes.
I regret that our soldiers were ordered to leave a worthy cause in Afghanistan to turn it's attentions upon your country, though I trust few of you were sorry to see Saddam ousted. Our soldiers are by-and-large good people with spirit and character. They sacrifice everything to protect their country. The deserve better than they have received, yet they still try to do what is decent and honorable.
I apologize that during the siege of your capital, the short-sightedness of our military planners – so focused on your oil – forgot to protect you and your national treasures from criminals, the mob, and fanatic warlords.
I am sorry that while years were spent planning the invasion of your country, only weeks were spent considering how to deal with what came after. I am sorry we put people in charge that had no credentials other than being ideologically aligned with our President and his staff.
I am deeply sorry that in our rush to oust the tyrant who brutalized your country, we did not study your history, which would have easily foretold the civil unrest and retribution killing which plague you now. Some did foresee this, though again, those voices were silenced or ignored. Without this insight, we allowed your communities to fall into chaos, causing many of you to flee homes your families have owned for generations and see loved ones murdered without cause.
I regret the thousands of people sent to Abu Ghraib to be tortured and humiliated. Torture has been proven time and again to not produce reliable information, though it often works well on American television. I fear our current leaders did not know the difference.
More over, I am deeply sorry that in this rush to war, we took our eyes off the true threats that we all share, and somehow must learn to face together.
Apologies can be hard to come by in uncertain times. They are particularly scarce from this American government.
People of Iraq, America is a nation of good people. We will spill our blood at a moment's notice for a worthy cause, even for people we have never met. 3,500 American soldiers have died, and 20,000 have been wounded for a cause they believe worthy. More innocent Iraqis have died and than can be reliably counted. But our government has betrayed us, and has betrayed you as well. I hope someday soon we will restore our government to one that is worthy of our people – and you will be able to rebuild your country free of tyranny and chaos.
Finally, and most importantly, I am so very sorry that we came to Iraq with the premise of defeating religious fanatics willing to kill for power, while not realizing we had those very same people in charge our own country.
Like everything else related to the Iraq invasion, the new 104 acre American Embassy in Baghdad is behind schedule and over budget. This mega structure, wrapped in secrecy, is being built by First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Co. Apparently they were given the contract without having to bid. But don't worry, because they are doing everything possible to cut costs, including using slave labor from the Philippines.
Over the summer Rory Mayberry, a former employee of First Kuwaiti testified to Congress that:
"when the airplane took off and the captain announced that we were heading to Baghdad, all you-know-what broke out on the airplane. The men started shouting, it wasn’t until the security guy working for First Kuwaiti waved an MP5 in the air that the men settled down. They realized that they had no other choice but to go to Baghdad. Let me spell it out clearly: I believe these men were kidnapped by First Kuwaiti to work at the US Embassy… I’ve read the State Department Inspector General’s report on the construction of the embassy. Mr. Chairman, it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on. This is a cover-up and I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to set the record straight."
Here's the testimony:
First Kuwaiti's website can be viewed HERE: They need a better website, but I'm afraid they may kidnap me and force me to build it.
In the last televised debate before "Super Tuesday", Clinton and Obama passionately discussed the issues with civility, in great detail and with great clarity. While making sure to set themselves apart from the other, they stated their positions without sidestepping and explained why their positions were better. They discussed a wide range of topics, many emailed from citizens and voted on for importance via the web.
Even Wolf Blitzer kept it business-like (beside perhaps a few jabs at Clinton) and kept the hype to a minimum.
Overall, an excellent showing for both would-be Presidents. After watching McCain and Romney get all ticky tacky with eachother the night before, this was a welcome change. Neither of these two are my ideal choice, but with the bar so low that it's practically in the dirt, we have some good choices for Democrats.
If we could only get the Holy Ghost Homo-paranoia out of Hucklebee, add in about 80% of Ron Paul's Common sense, Mitt's hair, and whatever good is left of McCain that hasn't been hollowed out by the Republican machinery, the other side would have a good candidate to match.
But let's not forget Mike Gravel in all of this... I still like that guy. Excluded from this debate, he still held his own to web stream an alternate debate where he could get his thoughts in.
Watching the CNN debate set in the Reagan Library. This is a fitting location as both Mitt Romney and John McCain are bending over backwards these days to fellate the corpse of Ol' Jingo in order to gain conservative street cred.
An example from Mitt: "We're in the house that Reagan built." What a brown-noser! He also took the bait when he was given the question "Would Reagan endorse you for President?" He was very assured that he indeed would. Junk question, junk answer.
An example from McCain: "I was a foot soldier in the Reagan revolution." I just threw up.
I know how Ronnie has been given conservative sainthood that has been strengthened by the mist of time, foggy baby-Boomer memories and nostalgia for "Morning in America", but can we drop it yet?
Time for these guys to stand up on their own. If you two want to be the new Reagan, I'll take my vote elsewhere, thank you.
Meanwhile Ron Paul gets a chance to speak some common sense every once in awhile between front-runner sparring. Too bad he isn't given more time. He'd better watch it though, if he gets too many jabs in he'll be excluded from future debates like the Democratic second tier.
Huckabee was also very well spoken. He got the last word and made it a damn good one. He was able to invoke the best of Reagan's spirit without putting his tongue in Ronnie's bum.
Each of these guys were passionate, knowledgeable and highly experienced. Edwards was hobbled by his pledge not to take donations from special interests (and the odd way he pronounced vowel sounds), and Kucinich was just too progressive (and short). Too good candidates who may have been too white and too male to sell to a country looking to get as far as possible from anything that even looks a tiny bit like the Bush administration. I hope both of these men continue their causes, cause they are both better than who is left.
What kills me is that after 8 years of the prudish Laura Bush, would it have been so bad to see Elizabeth Kucinich strutting around the White House? Oh... now I'm the one being superficial...
Anyway, good luck gentlemen. I was looking forward to voting for either of you. Now it's only January and we're down to TWO viable candidates.
"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."
Today my 5 year old girl, in a surprise move, expressed a rabid desire to watch Star Wars. I almost cried with joy.
Since I all ready ripped my DVD to hard disc using the wonderful (and free) Handbrake, I made a copy of the original, cut out all the parts where anyone was shot, amputated, burned, or blown-up (15 minutes in all) and uploaded to my Apple TV. The "Star Wars - Episode 4 - A New Hope - Lilah Edition" was born.
Of course, with that critical 15 minutes of violent content deleted, "Star Wars" could have be renamed "Star Strong Disagreement". Did Greedo shoot first? As far as my kid knows, he didn't shoot AT ALL!
At any rate, she was overjoyed and delighted, but not a tenth as much as I was.
I officially end any desire to have a boy in order to fulfill my needs of sci-fi companionship. I don't even mind that she spends all her time watching for what kind of shoes Princess Leia is wearing.
Mike Huckabee: “I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards, rather than trying to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.”
A very thoughtful friend of mine posted a questions on LinkedIn today:
How many LinkedIn users out there will be working over their little holiday break? Is this corporately inspired? Your own work ethic | addiction | insanity? How many will just be checking in on social networking apps like LinkedIn, but not necessarily for work-like purposes?
My answer:
I'll answer with a portion of an email sent by a client, which I think sums up the issue nicely...
"We will be available throughout the holidays, and this weekend, to provide you with feedback. Can you get us something tomorrow or Sunday? I can commit to 24 hours turnaround. While each of us are out a day here and there, this is obviously a very high priority for us and we will get you feedback quickly."
This was obviously written by an executive, as the "very high priority for US" is generally not shared by the other members of "US", who no doubt would rather go spend some time with their family... or watch a James Bond marathon of TBS... ANYTHING but work.
I resist the need to work over the holidays – there are many things more important – but sadly the erosion of "work/non working time" has been so dramatic across the American corporate landscape, taking a constant block of time is increasingly difficult, especially for those who are self-employed.
Yale University is producing digital videos of selected undergraduate courses that it will make available for free on the Internet through a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The project, called “Open Yale Courses,” presents unique access to the full content of a selection of college-level courses and makes them available in various formats, including downloadable and streaming video, audio only and searchable transcripts of each lecture. Syllabi, reading assignments, problem sets and other materials accompany the courses
To create the online offerings that will introduce and test this new approach, Yale will draw on its recognized excellence in teaching across the full spectrum of liberal arts disciplines. Some of Yale’s most distinguished scholars are taking part. The three courses being taped this fall are:
Introduction to the Old Testament, with Christine Hayes, Robert F. and Patricia Ross Weis Professor of Religious Studies;
Fundamentals of Physics, with Ramamurti Shankar, John Randolph Huffman Professor and Chair of Physics;
Introduction to Political Philosophy, with Steven Smith, Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science.
Those whose courses are slated for taping next spring include Charles Bailyn, Thomas E. Donnelley Professor of Astronomy; Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology; and Langdon Hammer, Professor and Chair of English.
Of course, no access to teachers for questions, and no actual degree is given.
Below is from Democracy Now. You know, besides having to say "President Huckabee" for 4-8 years without snickering would be tough, but this is just silly. Must be out of context or something.... I can see how he would be against AIDS and environmentalism, but what does he have against porn? Little joke there.
Meanwhile the past writings and comments of Republican Mike Huckabee are coming under increasing scrutiny now that he has become the Republican frontrunner in Iowa. In 1998 Huckabee published a children’s book that equated environmentalism with pornography. The book was titled “Kids Who Kill: Confronting Our Culture of Violence.” Huckabee wrote: “Abortion, environmentalism, AIDS, pornography, drug abuse, and homosexual activism have fragmented and polarized our communities.” Huckabee also equated homosexuality to necrophilia. He wrote: “It is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations—from homosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia.”
Mr. Huckabee, welcome to the spotlight. Let's see how you hold up. Anyone hear from Ron Paul lately? I hear he's making big bucks....
Anyhow... here's the link on Amazon if you wanna have a look.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman (READ: BUSH LACKEY) Kevin Martin has refused to delay a vote on his proposed changes to rewrite media ownership laws. The vote is set for Tuesday.
The FCC Chair says he has suggested a “relatively minor loosening of the ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership.” But there has been a groundswell of public opposition to his proposal. Last Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously voted to block the FCC’s December 18th vote.
But two days later, Martin insisted on moving forward with the vote during a heated exchange with Senator John Kerry at the Committee’s oversight hearing. It appears that only half his team agrees with the rush. Sounds like someone is in a hurry. I wonder why? I wonder who REALLY wants this pushed through? Who would profit the most? Here's a hint: His name starts with R and ends with Murdoch. Maybe?
C-SPAN'S COVERAGE... would John Kerry have been such a bad President, Swift Boat people? Listen to him stand up and bitch slap this guy. Geez even Republican Senator Ted "Uncle Crazypants" Stevens thinks it's a bad idea.
Please read an interview with Craig Anderson of the Free Press HERE.
HAVE AN OPINION ON THIS THE FCC SHOULD HEAR? CLICK.
And when I say "locked in mortal combat" I mean "desperately trying to finish up their work so they can leave for vacation."
The big news here is the knowledge that AT&T, Verizon and other telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on Americans. This was done without permission from the secret court created to protect Americans from unwarranted government intrusions on their privacy. A provision in this legislation will give those companies retro-active immunity from the 40 or so civil lawsuits pending against the companies.
I'm sure the companies THOUGHT they were doing the right thing.
"For the last six years, our largest telecom companies have been spying on their own American customers... I have seen six presidents and I have never seen a contempt for the rule of law equal to this." said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who unsuccessfully tried to block the bill from coming to the floor Monday. The White House threatened Monday to veto any bill that does not contain a retroactive immunity provision.
Bush and Co. say that the restraints on them hinder the War on Terror, which is kinda funny cause the laws didn't seem to hinder them at all, which is the issue.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R), known for his non-partisan positions (read: COMMON SENSE) said: "I do not know whether there is wrongdoing or not, but I do not think it is appropriate for the government to act secretly, surreptitiously...and then come back at a later date and say please exonerate us."
Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence (photo right), says industry deserves “thanks, not lawsuits.”
Oh, and an important footnote here: The New York Times has revealed that the Bush administration’s spy program began almost as soon as it took office, months before the Sept. 11 attack. A lawyer for an AT&T whistleblower says that within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration began a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage. So much for the War on Terror excuse.
And George's mother said he wasn't motivated. Pish posh!
Presently living in an abandoned Soviet radar station
I'm a former male model with degrees in philosophy and martial arts. I left the seminary to spread the word of truth to the infidels (the other ones). I frequently mix Vodka, Cialis, Viarga and Paxil to control my overzealous love of mankind.
