Backwards

We need to start making some friends on this planet.

John Kerry

One man has it right.

Memo to George Bush: Please read the directions. It's Unite Your Friends, Divide Your Enemies.

Sheesh.
--Casey Morris

~well, with Bu$h we see a pattern of being "consistently" Wrong and/or Backwards....as in "uniter not a divider". He got that backwards too...
let's re-visit a list of Bu$h's Backwards statements & programs...

Bush's Broken Promises:

http://www.failureisimpossible.com/needtoknow/campaignslogans.htm

Hmmmm...

I heard a report this morning that said John Edwards was considering a run in 2008 if Elizabeth is up to it...with or without Kerry's blessing.

A house divided once again...

Wonder who is next to throw in their hat?

As long as they have LOTS of cattle!!!

Got Unity?

Speaking of attempted fence mending, dicklomacy, and getting it backwards...

Bush warns Europe on lifting China arms ban
President denies Iran attack plans, but ‘all options are on the table’

BRUSSELS, Belgium - President Bush and European leaders settled simmering differences about Iraq but plunged into a troublesome new dispute Tuesday over the lifting of an arms embargo against China. Bush warned Congress might retaliate if Europe revokes the 15-year ban.

-snip-

Many Europeans also are nervous about a possible U.S. strike against Iran to stop its suspected nuclear weapons program, and Bush gave mixed signals about American intentions.

“This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous,” the president said with a slight smile. “Having said that, all options are on the table.” He made a similar statement last week, saying a president never says never about military action.

Can you say.....

But they have oil, dude. And freedom and democracy need to be fed lots and lots of oil.

Backwards and furthermore...

Scientists feel stifled by Bush administration
Monday, February 21, 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The voice of science is being stifled in the Bush administration, with fewer scientists heard in policy discussions and money for research and advanced training being cut, according to panelists at a national science meeting.

Speakers at the national meeting of the American Association for Advancement of Science expressed concern Sunday that some scientists in key federal agencies are being ignored or even pressured to change study conclusions that don't support policy positions.

The speakers also said that Bush's proposed 2005 federal budget is slashing spending for basic research and reducing investments in education designed to produce the nation's future scientists.

And there also was concern that increased restrictions and requirements for obtaining visas is diminishing the flow to the U.S. of foreign-born science students who have long been a major part of the American research community.

Rosina Bierbaum, dean of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, said the Bush administration has cut scientists out of some of the policy-making processes, particularly on environmental issues.

"In previous administrations, scientists were always at the table when regulations were being developed," she said. "Science never had the last voice, but it had a voice."

Issues on global warming, for instance, that achieved a firm scientific consensus in earlier years are now being questioned by Bush policy makers. Proven, widely accepted research is being ignored or disputed, she said.

Government policy papers issued prior to the Bush years moved beyond questioning the validity of global warming science and addressed ways of confronting or dealing with climate change.

Under Bush, said Bierbaum, the questioning of the proven science has become more important than finding ways to cope with climate change.

One result of such actions, said Neal Lane of Rice University, a former director of the National Science Foundation, is that "we don't really have a policy right now to deal with what everybody agrees is a serious problem."

Among scientists, said Lane, "there is quite a consensus in place that the Earth is warming and that humans are responsible for a considerable part of that" through the burning of fossil fuels.

And the science is clear, he said, that without action to control fossil fuel use, the warming will get worse and there will be climate events that "our species has not experienced before."

Asked for comment, White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said, "The president makes policy decisions based on what the best policies for the country are, not politics. People who suggest otherwise are ill-informed."

BWAHAHAHAHA!

read more at http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/02/21/bush.science.ap/index.html

I was taught the game of Risk by my manipulative but fun (and loving) brother in law. He told me one thing before we started to play. He said, "You put your piece wherever you want to." That was all the strategy he told me.

So I went about putting my peices on Switzerland--cause I like the chocolate and the cuckoo clocks, France--well who could resist france, etc... In the meantime, he put all his pieces in the smallest continent witht the 4 countries, the U.S., South America...while I remained divesivied all over the board.

Well, needless to say, he kicked my butt, since there is no way for Little Countries to win by themselves when the continents are united.

I learned my lesson though. First lesson: Unite, Unite, Unite. Two: Don't spread yourself too thin. Three: Don't trust Brother-in-law to explain game rules.

Perhaps, I need to send B-I-L to play some risk with the current administration. They might learn something too.

Senate Democratic leadership joins push for Gannon inquiry

By John Byrne

The Senate Democratic leadership is privately circulating a letter calling for other senators to join a call for an investigation into discredited White House reporter Jeff Gannon, RAW STORY has learned.

The letter, issued from Minority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), calls on President Bush to “order a full inquiry” into how a “fake” journalist working for a “sham” news organization got access to the president.

The letter was leaked to RAW STORY this evening. A decision on taking action on Gannon has been brewing for about a week, since Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) called on the White House to turn over all documentation relating to Gannon’s credentialing.

The Senate Democratic leadership is encouraging members to sign onto the letter behind the scenes. As Congress is in recess, Democrats will be calling on members in their home districts before the Senate reconvenes next week.

Senator Durbin’s letter follows.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=117

This was on another site I frequent, and I thought it was good reading. Long post because these are scattered throughout the linked site:

Washington Post Editor Amy Sullivan has a series of excellent posts on Belief Net as a guest blogger. She points out that the press regularly glosses over or criticizes as insincere the idea of a religious or evangelical left. They have so inculcated the idea of left=secular and religious=conservative that they can't report effectively.

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/161/story_16120_1.html

Here is a sample of her writing:

Crosses and Cubicles
February 2, 2005 | 11:00 a.m.

An article in Tuesday's Boston Globe about a movement that advises Christians on how to practice their faith in the workplace reminds me of one of the more inexplicable decisions made by the Kerry campaign. Few people are aware that John Kerry introduced the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, along with unlikely cosponsor Rick Santorum, during the last Congress, and that he has been the prime mover behind similar legislation since the mid-1990s. The main reason few people are aware of this fact is that, to my knowledge, Kerry never mentioned it during the campaign and it was noted way at the very bottom of the "People of Faith for Kerry" page on his campaign website.

Here's a relatively uncontroversial issue--it's about freedom of religious expression, after all, not freedom to proselytize--that has the support of religious minorities like Sikhs and Muslims, civil liberty advocates, and religious conservatives. And yet not one peep from the Kerry campaign. If Karl Rove had been handed an opportunity like that, you wouldn't have been able to pick up a paper without reading at least five anonymous quotes from "close friends of the candidate" attesting to his commitment to protecting the rights of people of faith and reminding voters that he’s a good man with a good heart.

Stop the Presses!
February 1, 2005 | 1:00 p.m.

I suspect you're all as shocked as I am to read in today's New York Times that conservatives don't believe Hillary Clinton is really religious. In recent speeches, they say, she's starting talking about God and morality, which they find awfully convenient. And that's stunning, because conservatives have always thought very highly of Mrs. Clinton and have been willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

To be fair, further down in the article, Times reporter Raymond Hernandez admits that many people say faith has always been important to Clinton--she taught Sunday School in Arkansas and I can personally report that she attended services at Foundry Methodist just up 16th Street from the White House whenever she was in town. So why did the Times decide to spin the article this way? Everyone knows that conflict plays well in news, but the he said/she said formulation is even more strained here than usual: "Hillary Clinton talks about religion; conservatives say she's a big faker." Well, then. Who to believe?

If Hernandez had dug just a little bit deeper, he would have learned that Clinton has been convening her colleagues in the Senate to discuss ways to "reclaim" concepts like faith and values and morality since well before the election. In 2001, she headlined a panel the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life put together to discuss faith-based social services. And anyone who paid attention to her husband's mantra that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare" knows that both Clintons believe abortion rates should be lower.

Unfortunately, this reality doesn't fit neatly into the boxes most political reporters have for politicians--Republicans are genuinely religious; Democrats are natural secularists, and if they talk about religion, it's insincere. Need more examples? The day before the election last fall--a Monday--John Kerry took a quick break from the campaign trail to attend a mass for All Saints Day. It wasn't a campaign stop, it was just a Catholic guy going to church. Did it get covered? Barely--a sentence here or there in a wire story, but nothing like the photos of Bush leaving church over the weekend that blanketed papers that same day. You can almost see reporters' brains melt down as they're presented with information that seems to contradict what they "know" about Democrats and religion. Can. Not. Compute.

----------------
One of the other stories in the Time magazine cover package on evangelicals is about Democratic efforts to reach religious voters (it's only available online to subscribers, unfortunately). The article does a fairly decent job of outlining the various Democratic leaders who are spearheading this discussion and the institutional changes already underway (e.g., the DNC's creation of a center for religious outreach). But the reporter--Perry Bacon, Jr.--writes with the apparent assumption that Democratic values don't appeal to religious voters. "Religious voters might like the music," he concludes, "but they’re unlikely to be seduced by it as long as Democrats stick to their core positions." That's only true if by "religious" you mean "conservative."
It's bad enough when members of the media automatically equate "evangelical" with "conservative." (And, yes, I'm aware that the majority of white evangelicals voted for Bush, but they didn't all go Republican. There are millions of liberal evangelicals, too. Ever hear of Jimmy Carter? Bill Clinton? John Edwards? They're not alone.) But painting "religious voters" with the broad brush of conservatism is irresponsible. Democrats do need to realize that it's not enough to stick with health care, education, and prescription drugs, and assume that voters will realize that they're also really good people. But addressing their image problem isn't just window-dressing--when the entire Republican presidential campaign is a religious outreach program, you better believe the DNC needs to hire at least one person (and preferably a whole slew) to fight back.

I'm Taking My Church and Going Home
February 3, 2005 | 4:00 p.m.

What many people don't know is that the battle over gay marriage and the ordination of gay priests in the Episcopal Church hasn't gotten much further than a lot of angry talk for one simple reason: Individual churches don't own their buildings--the diocese does. So if you want to leave the denomination, that's fine. But you're going to have to turn the church building back over to the diocese and find your own, thank you very much.

As you can imagine, this isn't going over very well with some of the Episcopal churches that are most up-in-arms about the idea that their denomination might express tolerance of homosexuals. It has been a particular problem in Virginia, where a dozen conservative churches brought over a bishop from England last year to preside over confirmations rather than use their own bishop, who has taken what they believe to be too liberal of a position. So, the Washington Post reports, a Virginia state senator has introduced a bill that would "allow congregants to vote to leave their denominations and keep their church buildings and land, unless a legally binding document such as a deed specified otherwise." Hmm. If it's that easy, why would anyone stay in a pesky denomination anymore?

What Is Time Magazine Talking About?
February 2, 2005 | 11:00 a.m.

I hadn't seen this week's Time magazine, with its cover package on "The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America," as well as a piece on Democrats and religion, until a reader pointed it out. Having read it, I'm now having trouble seeing straight, so I'll need to parcel out my comments in installments.

For now, I'll just say that a list of the nation's most prominent evangelicals that doesn't include Jim Wallis or Tony Campolo or Ron Sider or Richard Mouw is appallingly incomplete. And I say that having the greatest respect for David Van Biema, the Time religion reporter who penned the piece. It is simply absurd and insulting to publish an article purporting to identify the leaders evangelicals look up to while ignoring the existence of evangelicals who are to the political and theological left of Tim LaHaye. Of the 25 evangelicals profiled in the magazine, I can only identify three, maybe four, who can even be charitably defined as centrists. The remainder are solidly on the right, religious conservatives who command a following--there's no doubt about that--but whose influence does not span the entire evangelical community.

Bush gets weak support for program cuts
Even loyal Republicans oppose many plans

WASHINGTON - It isn’t hard to understand why few in Washington are taking President Bush’s proposal to kill or cut 154 programs very seriously. Just listen to members of his own party.

“It ought to be expanded, not eliminated,” Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl says of aid to states with imprisoned criminal aliens, a $300 million program Bush wants to eliminate.

“We’ll fight it with everything that’s in us,” Pennsylvania Rep. John Peterson says of the president’s plan to end vocational education subsidies running $1.2 billion annually.

“It does a lot of good, it reaches out to young people,” Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine says of a $2 million program Bush wants to erase, this one supporting teaching about the underground railroad for escaped slaves.

Kyl, Peterson and DeWine are all loyal Republicans.

Killing and cutting
Bush proposed the cuts this month as part of his $2.57 trillion budget for 2006. He wants to trim non-security programs — except automatically paid benefits like Medicare — by an overall 1 percent from this year’s levels, the first such reduction proposed in a presidential budget since President Reagan was in office.

Of Bush’s 154 targets, the Education Department would suffer the most losses: He would kill 48 of its programs worth $4.3 billion and cut two others.

They range from vocational education aid distributed to states and communities nationwide to the B.J. Stupak Olympic scholarships. It provides $1 million for athletes training at the four U.S. Olympic training centers — including Northern Michigan University, in the district of the program’s sponsor, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich. The program is named for the lawmaker’s late son.

Another nine Justice Department programs worth $1.5 billion would be erased, including grants for hiring local police officers and for communications equipment.

Others targeted for elimination include $9 million for traumatic brain injuries, $136 million in subsidies for advanced technology research, $90 million in state recreation grants, and hundreds of millions of dollars that lawmakers won last year for environmental, disease and agriculture projects in their home districts.

Some Republicans think cuts unwise
Bush’s rationale for the cuts is the need to control relentless federal deficits that the White House expects to set a third straight record this year, hitting $427 billion. He also would slow the growth of the Pentagon’s budget and pluck savings from Medicaid, farm aid, veterans payments and other benefit programs.

“The principle here is clear: Taxpayer dollars must be spent wisely, or not at all,” Bush said in his State of the Union speech this month.

Many interest groups and members of Congress, including plenty of the president’s fellow Republicans, think what’s unwise are his proposed cuts. That’s why his plan to save $15.3 billion by eliminating 99 programs and cutting 55 others faces bleak prospects.

“We want to be fiscally responsible,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said of the 28 agriculture programs Bush would cut or abolish. “But we also want to make sure American agriculture remains competitive.”

Federal programs have staying power
Last year, Bush persuaded Congress to limit non-security spending to about a 1 percent increase — the smallest in years. But of the 65 programs he then proposed eliminating to save $4.9 billion, lawmakers killed four, saving just $270 million.

In another measure of the staying power of most federal programs, of the 154 programs Bush wants to kill or cut this year, he has targeted 86 in the past — including 41 he has tried erasing or trimming every year since becoming president in 2001.

Administration officials say every program on their list has shown little evidence of effectiveness.

“Will we get everything we want? Probably not, but by doing this we help assure overall spending isn’t growing so fast” that it hinders Bush’s effort to control deficits, said White House budget office spokesman Chad Kolton.

Democrats say Bush’s proposed cuts will hurt needed programs. They also complain that the budget’s overall $389 billion for non-security programs is just 15 percent of total federal spending. Eliminate all of them and there still would be a budget shortfall, they argue.

“They end up doing a world of hurt for very little effect on the bottom line,” Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., said of Bush’s suggested reductions.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., have agreed to try to include Bush’s 1 percent cut in non-security spending in the congressional budget they will write in coming weeks.

But underlining the shaky fate of Bush’s effort to kill or cut specific items, Gregg said he was not sure he would support one of those proposals — to cut a prison construction program, perhaps affecting work on a prison in New Hampshire.

Even many of Washington’s staunchest supporters of spending cuts say they doubt Congress will eliminate and cut the programs targeted by Bush. They also doubt Bush’s own willingness to fight hard for his proposed cuts.

“You’re probably right,” said conservative Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., when asked if this year’s list would fare about the same as last year’s. “I wish you weren’t.”

~~I would like to know what this "fence mending", grand-standing jaunt of Bu$h's is co$ting the US taxpayer...who pays for all this hyper-security, us or the host country??? Inquiring mind wants to know, because it sure sounds expen$ive for Georgy to travel anywhere..

Mainz residents told not to take a peek at president

By Bertrand Benoit in Berlin, George Parker in Brussels and Robert Anderson in Prague

For residents of Mainz, George W. Bush's seven-hour visit to Germany on Wednesday and his short meeting with Gerhard Schröder, chancellor, will mean one of two things: a headache or a holiday.

Between the US president's 9.45am landing at Frankfurt airport and his afternoon departure, the sleepy Rhineland town and birthplace of Gutenberg will turn into a steel fortress.
snip~
Slovakia, where Mr Bush meets Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, on the last leg of his tour, is preparing the tightest security measures in its history.

Although the country has no history of terrorism, more than 5,300 policemen will be deployed, supported by 400 soldiers, 400 firemen and elite anti-chemical forces.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ca1d3720-8457-11d9-ad81-00000e2511c8.html

Although the country has no history of terrorism, more than 5,300 policemen will be deployed, supported by 400 soldiers, 400 firemen and elite anti-chemical forces.
Posted by: on.to.victory4Dems at February 22, 2005 09:40 PM

Gee, he's such a likable kind of guy -- a real rough 'n tough cowboy. I can't understand why he needs so much security...

A Mystery - Are they talking about long-time Senator from WA "Scoop" Jackson?!

Subject: Sen. Jackson papers

I received this from someone in my DC:

I know that you have contacts with various groups and blogs. Have you seen or heard about the CIA removing documents fromSenator Jackson's papers
held by the University of Washington. The CIA gave national security as the reason for removing those papers. But since the papers have been at the UW library since the mid-80's one would think that any major national security issue or secret would have been breached after 20+ years. Here is the link to the story in the PI

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/213009_tl122.html?searchpagefrom=2&s
earc

The idea is to unite your friends and divide your enemies.

The Bush administration seems to have gotten this backwards.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Very true. Heck, he's even united Democrats against him!

....For residents of Mainz, George W. Bush's seven-hour visit to Germany on Wednesday and his short meeting with Gerhard Schröder, chancellor, will mean one of two things: a headache or a holiday.

Between the US president's 9.45am landing at Frankfurt airport and his afternoon departure, the sleepy Rhineland town and birthplace of Gutenberg will turn into a steel fortress.

Posted by: on.to.victory4Dems at February 22, 2005 09:40 PM

I have a German friend in Mainz who I know hates bush. ill have to call her tomorrow and see what she thinks of this whole thing!

Bush Prematurely Closes News Conference

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- President Bush jumped the gun Tuesday, closing a news conference before his podium partner had a chance to speak his fill.
...

Bush had just finished a lengthy answer to a question about how he would improve trans-Atlantic relations in his second term. "Thank you all very much," Bush concluded, turning as if to leave the podium.

But NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer wasn't quite ready to wrap things up -- especially since the reporter had specifically directed a question to him. "Let me ..." he started to say.

"I'm sorry," Bush said -- twice -- then turned to humor to get himself out of the jam.

He pretended the NATO leader had flashed a universal hand motion signaling he didn't want to answer.

"You don't know what this means?" Bush joked to reporters, giving his ear lobe a quick tug. "That means 'end the press conference.'"

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-cha...

Pictures from Mainz, Germany

http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/02/107739.shtml

How Far Will Bush Go?

(flag animation)

http://www.motherearth.org/bushwanted/flag.php

Re the original post - about slienating people so they band together againt the US

Russia welcomes India as possible oil partner
New Feature

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/22/business/rusoil.html

A Mystery - Are they talking about long-time Senator from WA "Scoop" Jackson?!

Posted by: DiAnne at February 22, 2005 10:35 PM

~DiAnne
Yes, that Sen Scoop Jackson, Dem hawk, godfather of the birth of the Neocons...read this article, its no mystery who would now be "classifying" some of Jackson's papers..

Scoop Jackson's protégés shaping Bush's foreign policy
The list of former Jackson staff members reads like a who's who of foreign-policy experts.

• Richard Perle is an adviser to the Defense Department and considered a major influence on Bush administration foreign policy.

• Doug Feith is undersecretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon.

• Elliott Abrams, special assistant to the president focusing on Middle East affairs, worked as special counsel to Jackson.

Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense and one of Bush's Iraq policy experts, never served directly under Jackson. But they had a long relationship that began when Wolfowitz, then a 29-year-old graduate student, helped Jackson prepare charts when the senator wanted to persuade fellow lawmakers to fund an antiballistic-missile program in 1969.

complete article~

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001834779_jackson12m.html

Confusion Said to Create Invalid Ballots

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A large voter turnout and poll workers' confusion contributed to the invalidation of many provisional ballots cast in the Nov. 2 election, the president of the League of Women Voters said Tuesday.

In Ohio, 21 percent of provisional ballots were found to be invalid, compared with 13 percent statewide in the 2000 presidential election.

Nationally, 32 percent of provisional ballots cast in last year's election were thrown out. Most states were using them for the first time.

Last year, 5.7 million Ohioans voted, compared with 4.8 million in the 2000 election. Ohio was pivotal in the 2004 election. President Bush won the state by 118,000 votes, giving him the 270 electoral votes needed for re-election.

Provisional ballots are used when poll workers cannot immediately confirm if a voter is properly registered.

County boards of elections and poll workers had to wait until nine days before the election for a federal court to rule on a challenge to Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's directive that provisional ballots would be valid only if voters cast them in the precinct where they lived.

Democrats claimed the order by Blackwell, a Republican, was too restrictive and could unfairly limit Democratic votes. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Blackwell's favor.

``We had so many new registrants and the elections officials were overwhelmed in many cases trying to keep up with all those registrations,'' said Kay Maxwell, the league's president. ``We knew we were going to have the potential for a lot more people not being on the registration list who technically should have been and therefore need to cast provisional ballots.''

Maxwell was among the witnesses scheduled to testify in Columbus Wednesday before the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, created by Congress after the 2000 election. The commission planned its first hearing since the 2004 election to study the impact of provisional voting.

Sen Scoop Jackson, Dem hawk, godfather of the birth of the Neocons

aka

(in the Senate) "the esteemed Senator from Boeing"

if the previous link to the Scoop Jackson article was archived, try this link

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001834779_jackson12m.html

~DiAnne,
on Feb 15, the night the story broke on the reclassification of Scoop Jackson's papers, DailyKos did a diary on the story. Interesting comments...

CIA reclassifies Scoop Jackson's records.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/15/201851/101

~Ahhnold is a bully

Schwarzenegger Remarks on Women Anger Many

Tue Feb 22, 1:39 PM ET U.S. National - AP
By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - Could Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have another "woman problem" on his hands? Schwarzenegger made headlines in recent months by deriding political opponents as "girlie men" and ridiculing a group of nurses at a women's conference. Now, an effort to paint the state's teachers as little more than a balky special interest group has angered many critics, who have begun to question why constituencies dominated by women have been subjected to such tough talk.

"He behaves like an arrogant patriarch with respect to women's occupations," said Rose Ann De Moro, executive director of the California Nurses Association. "Nurses, teachers, home health workers — it's vulgar how he's run roughshod over them. He's arrogant, and he's a bully."

~continue
http://tinyurl.com/5sdlx

Well, needless to say, he kicked my butt, since there is no way for Little Countries to win by themselves when the continents are united.

Posted by: sparrow at February 22, 2005 09:15 PM

Maybe the answer to this question is obvious to you all, but I don't know the answer to it.
Why is Bush going through Europe trying to act diplomatic? To try to unite continents before going in to kick Iran's ass? What do you think?
Help me out here, folks....

Then after you answer that one for me, here is question nbr. 2: Why is Bush trying to boss Europe and Russia around? (Napolean complex?)
He looked like he had been through the ringer on the news tonight. It's obvious he is not being received well there. He had that agitated look with the blinky eyes on today's newsclip. You remember that look, from the 1st debate.

I am so new to getting REAL news this way, and I am not a seasoned political person. I am not apologizing, just explaining. I think DiAnne's mom and I would get along great together, however, we are both little ladies who are smart enough to see through the lies and deception, and have an opinion to boot. Maybe I will change my name to The Little Church Lady.

Thank you all for the hard work you do to get great articles onto this blog. I am like a kid in a candy store each evening as I sit down to more news and insight.

And Karen, re your post of last night:, Yes, this is a lovely sanctuary. Sometimes when reality is hitting home hard, and it all seems intolerable, I log onto the chat and just hang there for awhile. Even if I leave the room, I know I am in the company of other people who KNOW and CARE.
Someday we will have to have a reunion.

Where is the outrage?

Mark Shields, Inside Politics, CNN
Monday, February 21, 2005

WASHINGTON (Creators Syndicate) -- Either we are losing our capacity for moral outrage, or George W. Bush is presiding over the ultimate Teflon Administration.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/21/enron.outrage/index.html

I wanted to go "backwards" in time, to pre-Nov 2
I was feeling a bit nostalgic tonight, so I went to re-visit the old JK/JE blog...
its gone, I can no longer find the old blog archives at johnkerry.com :(
Its very sad to say goodbye to so many old familiar friendly names...sigh...

~sorry about that...I did find the old JK JE blog, you have to click the "Take Action" link to get to it...
Yeah! We're still all there! :)

~sorry about that...I did find the old JK JE blog, you have to click the "Take Action" link to get to it...
Yeah! We're still all there! :)

Posted by: on.to.victory4Dems at February 23, 2005 12:57 AM

How did you find the old JK JE blog, got a link or address?

Why is Bush going through Europe trying to act diplomatic?
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at February 23, 2005 12:35 AM

~ T S P
Part of the answer to that question is because Bu$h (and Rumsfeld) know they have not been telling the truth about the real number of Iraqis who have been trained....Bu$h desperately needs NATO to help train Iraqi troops..so he's got to try to be diplomatic, in order to convince NATO to take Iraqis into their countries to train...
But look what I found over at the old johnkerry.com website...under JK JE's plan to bring peace to Iraq: especially point #2:
Once again, Bu$h is taking JK's plan as his own.

John Kerry and John Edwards believe the President needs to:

Provide incentives to improve and accelerate military and police recruitment.
Expand urgently the security forces training program inside and outside Iraq by establishing a single, common template for police training and another for military training, and enlisting our NATO allies to open training centers in their countries.
Recruit thousands of qualified trainers from our allies, especially those who have no troops in Iraq.
Strengthen the vetting of Iraqi recruits, double classroom training time, and require follow-on field training.
http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_security/iraq.html

~ T S P

to pull up the old JK JE blog:

http://blog.johnkerry.com/

Then all the entries are archived on the right side of the screen, just scroll through each thread :)

Wow thats neat I was just thinking about that game Risk yesterday and the Bush administration...

You know in a way I really don't see it as a grab for world domination by georgie though. Alot of people make the same analogy that that was Hitlers goal as well..I think thats slightly off.

I think we all agree georgie is the most dangerous fool since calligula. But the funny thing is when people hear bush motives and goals compared to Hitler himself they bristle. But if you look at it they are ALMOST perfectly parrallel and both atleast knew enough to know actual global dominance wasn't possible.

I dont care what race you are you simply cannot breed enough little nazis to be every where ALL the time.

Georgies a fool but I'm sure some one explained it to him. Probably Carl.

Hitler did exactly what georgie is doing but you must understand WHAT EXACTLY george IS doing.

Hitler did not care for jews but that wasnt really the point of his acts. He HAD to kill the jews. They were the witnesses and rightful hiers to all he STOLE.

WW 2 was a crime to hide a larger crime. Those families who got rich off bloody jewish property are still rich to this day. Hitler HAD to eventually commit genocide as the theft became the biggest crime humanity ever saw.

Biggest since native americans were slaughtered for thier land, that is. The people who got rich off that are still to this day rich from it. the murder escalated in direct corrolation with the scale of the theft. In both cases of genocide.

It all comes down to war profiteering. Bush is using the blood of the Iraqis to hide a bigger crime.

The surprising thing about war profiteers is they have the exact same mindset as a common thief.

Bush is not out to control the world. He is out to steal as much as he can and blow up the evidence while he and his line disappear into the smoke that will take generations to settle.

Generations, that is, unless,. he is caught red handed.

If you want to take down georgie follow the money. Youll have to step over alot of bodies to keep up, but he is, in the end...as sloppy as a simple thief.

If bloggers can expose a gay hooker getting state secrets with his mandates, imagine what the bloggers who can see past fuzzy math could do to those we ALREADY KNOW ARE PROFITING....

Instead of thinking bush has aspirations of being emperor, consider for a moment the mindset of a common thief and suddenly things become very clear.

I personaly cannot do math tricks but I can add enough to know there is SERIOUS MONEY missing...TRILLIONS....If you can work with numbers that big I bet you could directly connect bush to....um lets just say serious felonies.

If I could do those tricks I would personally start with the insurance scam on the World Trade Towers. (The insurance on the Towers was increased by 300% less than 90 days before they were destroyed..no Im not joking...google it.)

In Germany it took years for the people to come together with a common understanding of what happened. Perhaps this time we wont give bush time to move on to genocide.

I really REALLY hope so.

BTW ...HI Yall

Christy, it's been awhile since you gave me the IRC intro. It is amazing that we have so much money unaccounted for... where is it going? Trillions spent for things we cannot account for in a time when we are facing cutbacks that directly effect America's poor, underemployed and undereducated. This is big government at its ugliest.

"Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other."
-- Oscar Ameringer

Oh boy, the religious wrong is gonna have a field day with this...

Pope: Gay marriage is 'evil'

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Homosexual marriages are part of "a new ideology of evil" that is insidiously threatening society, Pope John Paul says in his newly published book.

In "Memory and Identity," the Pope also calls abortion a "legal extermination" comparable to attempts to wipe out Jews and other groups in the 20th century.

He also reveals that he is convinced the Turkish gunman who shot him in 1981 did not act alone and suggests that the former Communist Bloc may have been behind the plot to kill him.

The 84-year-old Pontiff's book, a highly philosophical and intricate work on the nature of good and evil, is based on conversations with philosopher friends in 1993 and later with some of his aides.

In one section about the role of lawmakers, the Pope takes another swipe at gay marriages when he refers to "pressures" on the European Parliament to allow them.

"It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man," he writes.

The Pope's fifth book for mass circulation, issued by Italian publisher Rizzoli, sparked controversy in Germany and elsewhere after Jewish groups protested against leaked excerpts comparing the Holocaust to abortion.

In at least two sections of the book, the Pope talks about the Nazi attempt to exterminate Jews and the wholesale slaughter of political opponents by Communist regimes after World War Two.

'Legal extermination'
In following paragraphs he says that legally elected parliaments in formerly totalitarian countries were today allowing what he called new forms of evil and new exterminations.

"There is still, however a legal extermination of human beings who have been conceived but not yet born," he writes.

"And this time we are talking about an extermination which has been allowed by nothing less than democratically elected parliaments where one normally hears appeals for the civil progress of society and all humanity," he writes.

In Germany, a leader of the country's Central Council of Jews called the comparison unacceptable.

At a news conference presenting the book, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's top doctrinal official, dismissed the Jewish charges.

Ratzinger said the Pope "was not trying to put the Holocaust and abortion on the same plane" but only warning that evil lurked everywhere, "even in liberal political systems."

UN: Afghanistan Could Become Terror Haven

A new UN report on Afghanistan says that the country still has the worst education system in the world. Nearly three-quarters of all adults are illiterate and few girls go to school in the provinces. The country’s income is being absorbed by warlords. The report also says the U.S.-military presence in Afghanistan helped cultivate a climate of “fear, intimidation, terror and lawlessness.” The reconstruction effort by the U.S. has been “inadequate and dangerous,” it notes.

One question each: Europe's leaders are awarded topics for their presidential chat

By Stephen Castle in Brussels
21 February 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=613151

As the leader of the free world George Bush is known to be a busy man. There have also been question-marks in the past over his attention span and dislike of protracted debate, but, even by the standards of the Bush White House, the assembled heads of Europe will be given short shrift tomorrow when they gather to address the President of the United States.

President Bush arrived in Brussels last night for his week-long tour of Europe. When 25 elected heads of state assemble tomorrow in the Justus Lipsius building, which houses the Council of Ministers, eleven of them have been chosen to address the US President on an international matter of importance, they will be allocated a minimal amount of time ­ the betting is five minutes each.

Tony Blair will give a commentary on the future of the Middle East. The French President, Jacques Chirac, will attempt to sum up the intricacies of European integration. Bertie Ahern will speak for five minutes on the subject, bizarrely, of Russia. But the man who has been handed the short straw is the Slovakian Prime Minister, Mikulas Dzurinda, who will address a doubtless stony-faced President on the subject of Iraq. Mr Bush will speak for half an hour in the 90-minute meeting.

EU officials in Brussels explain that, given the number of leaders who wish to speak, the format makes sense. Silvio Berlusconi forced his way on to the list (economic reform) after being excluded, further squeezing his colleagues' minutes. But, as the President begins a tour designed to reconcile old Europe and the White House, it has become clear that Europe is prepared to bend over backwards to ensure the guest has a good time.

Over the next two days, European leaders will welcome the invader of Iraq, scourge of the Kyoto protocol and patron of Guantanamo Bay with the warmth normally reserved for an old flame. Officials have been warring for weeks over the order in which Europe's institutions will roll out the red carpet.

On the whim of a nervous US secret service, 2,000 Eurocrats will be sent home to keep the two EU buildings Mr Bush will visit as empty as possible.

With the most powerful man in the world in town, no fewer than 31 other heads of government are converging on Brussels. About 2,500 police have been drafted in for the three-night visit to the US president during which 88 groups are threatening protests.

Even before he stepped off Airforce One at Brussels' Zaventem airport last night, the message of this trips had come over loud and clear. Belgium was one of the most vociferous opponents of the war in Iraq and, not so long ago, politicians here were talking about using a (now changed) war crimes law to arrest visiting US dignitaries. It is safe to assume that topic will not be raised when Mr Bush kicks off his visit with an audience with King Albert II this morning.

After a meeting with the Belgian premier, Guy Verhofstadt (a critic of the Iraq war) Mr Bush will give a speech on "a new era of transatlantic unity" with a goal of spreading democracy across the Middle East.

Mr Bush will say that "America supports a strong Europe because we need a strong partner in the hard work of advancing freedom in the world", according to excerpts of the address released by the White House.

Then in the evening comes another symbolic act of reconciliation at the US embassy where Mr Bush will entertain M. Chirac.Yet it is over tomorrow's events that officials have been feuding for weeks. Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, gave a taste of the shenanigans last week when he said: "If ridicule could kill there would be bodies piling up in the streets of Brussels."

Mr Bush will breakfast with Mr Blair then make his way to the Justus Lipsius building for his briefings. The prime ministers will not need telling to make it snappy.

WHO WILL BE ASKING WHAT

Bertie Ahern (Ireland) Russia. Will act as honest broker, outlining EU policy towards Moscow ahead of Mr Bush's visit with Vladimir Putin

Jan-Peter Balkenende (Netherlands) Counter-terrorism. Will underline efforts by the EU to co-operate with the US on security

Silvio Berlusconi (Italy) Economic reform. Will stress the EU's bid to list competitiveness through structural economic reforms

Tony Blair (UK) Middle East peace process. Will call for US commitment to 'road-map' and stress vital role in regional stability.

Jacques Chirac (France) European integration. Expected to outline the next steps in integration that will flow from the EU constitution

Mikulas Dzurinda (Slovakia) Iraq. Will stress the EU's contribution to helping to shore up the new government

Ferenc Gyurcsany (Hungary) Ukraine. Will explain policy to encourage reform without immediate view of membership of EU

Goran Persson (Sweden) Millennium Development Goals. Will cover EU commitment to eliminating poverty in the Third World

Gerhard Schröder (Germany) Iran. Will ask for more public American backing for European diplomatic engagement with Tehran

Wolfgang Schüssel (Austria) Balkans. Will seek US support for EU policy in Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia

Jose Zapatero (Spain) Barcelona process. Will underline the EU's efforts to build democracy in the Mediterranean region

Thank you George for uniting...Europeans!

I came across a very interesting article in Libération this morning, and I'm going to translate some excerpts, or at least try...

GEORGE W BUSH, GODFATHER OF EUROPE, IN SPITE OF HIMSELF.

To get rooted, the identity feeling needs many factors at the same time: the perception of common interests, the pursue of collective ambitions, at last, some strong opponents or at least some vigorous foils. EU is starting at last to fulfill all those conditions.
....
Follows the description of Bush I first political game:
- Acting as Commander in Chief of the western world
- Wanting Europe to take orders from the White House
- Decision to break Europe in the new and the old one, who refused to obey
- Results far from the ones expected
- GB, Spain, Italy following, France, Germany, Belgium resisting
....
and miracle, a European public opinion sprung, massively resistant. What the European counsellors of the heads of states were never able to do, George Bush was able to make it: the citizens of continental Europe and a great part of the Britons, all the citizens rejected the American choice and method. George W Bush gave birth to a European public opinion.
....
George Bush I denied Europe, tried to break it and treated it as a declining continent.
Other technique:
George Bush II rediscovers Europe, pays it a salute and foresees as treating it as a partner.
....
The first Bush gave birth to a European public opinion, the second Bush encourages Europe to behave as a self-governing actor, as if a vitual power had slowly turned in a real power.

So there we are, still united against Bush, because we know that under the smiles (grins) and polished manners nothing changed. He appeared as if momma had been teaching him lessons before he came visiting his european cousins: behave yourself George, be a good boy, say hello to uncle Jacques and uncle Gerhart, do not yell at them and leave your weapon toys at home...
The feeling in the press is quite mixed. Everyone acted politely, but what took place behing the scene?
Future will tell.

Link:
http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=277621

Libération is a paper for soft left leaning rather young educated people.

Reactions to Bush visit in a European business paper.

http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/050223112058.aokkoy3u

hmmm...

Totally OT but funny... an excerpt from WaPo today:

Dogs and Cats Living Together? Chaos

One reason the Navy is so good at what it does is because it learns from its experiences, going over them from every angle and in meticulous detail to reduce future error.

The hurried evacuation in July of more than 1,000 military dependents and civilians from Bahrain -- after intelligence reports of terrorist threats -- to Norfolk produced the usual post-action assessments, including one report titled "Evacuation of Pets from Bahrain: Lessons Learned."

The lessons, outlined by the veterinary folks at Naval Station Norfolk at a recent conference on various evacuations, came from handling about 80 canine and feline evacuees, many of which apparently showed up before their owners, on a flight from the Persian Gulf area.

So here are some general tips for future situations: Try to get a letter of authorization from owners for veterinary care. Make sure vets are on the airfield and pet transportation is arranged beforehand.

Then: "Remember -- the owners are under a great deal of stress, there is no way to ensure owners will hear what they are told," the report says, "but repetition and a clear set of written instructions should be provided."

One key tip: "We established a policy from the beginning that no cat would be removed from the carrier unless two personnel were present to reduce the risk of escapes."

And, most important: "Segregation of cats and dogs reduces the stress for all involved."

No doubt.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45262-2005Feb22.html?referrer=email

dw...

Is the "No Pet Left Behind" program fully funded?

More propoganda?

CREW Files Complaint Against Social Security Administration -- SSA Paid Fleischman-Hillard $1.8 million

Feb 23, 05 | Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint against the Social Security Administration (SSA) in the District Court for the District of Columbia for failing to produce documents pursuant to Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA). CREW had asked SSA to produce any records relating to contracts SSA may have entered into with any public relations firms. // read more

http://www.citizensforethics.org/

Also, found this posted on Kos.......

Frank Luntz strategy report
by kos
Wed Feb 23rd, 2005 at 00:02:44 PST

This zipped file contains two PDF files -- scans of a 160-page briefing book by Frank Luntz on the lessons learned from 2004 as the GOP seeks to extend its winning streak in 2006.
Haven't read and processed it all yet. I thought I'd give you guys an early look at it. It's a virtual smogasboard for fans of language framing, and a great "preview of coming attractions".

Warning, it's an 8MB file, so it may take a while to download

http://www.dailykos.com

Since they handled the flu vaccine issue so well last year, I wonder how the anti-science administration is gonna deal with this?

WHO: Bird flu pandemic is imminent
Governments must act swiftly to prevent outbreak, officials say

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6861065/

World Health Organization officials urged governments on Wednesday to act swiftly to control the spread of the bird flu, warning that the world is in grave danger of a deadly pandemic triggered by the virus.

The bird flu has killed 45 people in Asia over the past year, in cases largely traced to contact with sick birds, and experts have warned the H5N1 virus could become far deadlier if it mutates into a form that can be easily transmitted among humans. A global pandemic could kill millions, they say.

7000 protesters in Mayence,and 10000 policemen, who transformed the city into a fortress.
The air traffic has been stopped, PEOPLE REMOVED FROM THEIR HOMES, the Rhine searched by frogmen and the administrative precinct closed.
Laura Bush declared herself "hurt" by the opposition to her husband... The protesterd were kept away 2 miles from the secured area though....

http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=195004&Template=GALERIE&Objet=32007

Sorry mayence is Mainz in English.

More about the protest.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20050223-0705-bush-germany-protest.html

andre: my french sucks. do you have the story in English? Poor Laura.

Ira,

I'm sorry, I have not translation for Libération, I put the link for the picture mainly and then added the San Diego paper one that writes quite the same...but in English so that you might get the information properly.

It snowed in Paris, it's beautiful...and rare.

Andre:

Houston had 2 inches of snow, Galveston had 6 inches and Corpus Christi had 8 inches this year.That is unheard of. Next we should expect snow in Miami. Its a sign and beautiful but I am afraid it represents major climate changes that we should be concerned with.