Time Out For Fun

"The Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans to present John Bolton with more written questions about his behavior and practices as a State Department official. (Move America Forward, which ran radio in Ohio totaling, it says, tens of thousands of dollars, has abruptly reversed course and pulled the ads, citing "an unspecified briefing from a close associate of George Voinovich.)"

Sounds like Voinovich knows something about Bolton that is even starting to scare off the neocons.

And this one will have everyone talking: California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown "told an audience Sunday that people of faith were embroiled in a 'war' against secular humanists who threatened to divorce America from its religious roots, according to a newspaper account of the speech," reports the Los Angeles Times'

Isn't Brown one of the extremist judges Bush is tryng to push through. Religious people are at war...? Sounds like the taliban--like they are pushing for religious tyranny.

Addding to the laughter pile...

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_04_24_atrios_archive.html#111445652215540233

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

And some more from today's Bush is an idiot files, via mr. Bill:

Bush in Galveston asked if "You still have Splash Day?" http://tinyurl.com/7c8f6
Splash Day is a gay and lesbian event...
http://www.galveston.com/mediace...r/ splashday.txt
Ahh, a man date!

Time to add your voice to this non-scientific vote on CNN:

Do you favor President Bush's plan for personal retirement accounts?

Yes 32% 46870 votes

No 68% 100392 votes

Total: 147262 votes

Created: Tuesday, April 26, 2005, at 10:24:38 EDT

http://us.cnn.com/

scroll down the home page, box on the right hand side

Well, OK then, since we're in the mood to laugh, here's my contribution:

http://www.humorinthenews.com/pages/thisweek.html

Friday, April 22nd, was Earth Day. President Bush marked the event by riding his airborne SUV [Clip of Air Force One] to Tennessee to visit the Great Smoky Mountains, ironically our nation's most polluted National Park. But he wound up stuck on the tarmac due to a sudden burst of hail and thunderstorms because the Earth hates him so much." --Jon Stewart

"They claim now that President Bush spends two hours a day playing video games. ... Here's the good news -- that's two hours less than he spends being president." --David Letterman

Dr Whitehurst on Earth Day and right-wing "thinking"

http://www.buzzflash.com/whitehurst/05/04/whi05003.html

[snip]
To overcome the reactive thinking that results when anxiety-prone Americans are presented with scary statistics about huge threats to the entire earth, we must speak to a far more tangible, personal fear: that environmental degradations will greatly harm human health and happiness now and in the near future. When the corporate right appeals to average Americans through its mouthpieces at the White House and in Congress to allow more pollution, deregulation, and exploitation because of the supposed economic benefits, we must anticipate this by appealing just as powerfully to a far more tangible, personal benefit: that protecting the environment and its beings from these greedy demands will benefit human health and happiness now and in the near future.

Posted by: Spinnaker at April 26, 2005 04:05 PM

Heh, heh.

I'm not laughing today. This use of religion to further politics and vice versa is very disturbuing.

I'm not laughing today. This use of religion to further politics and vice versa is very disturbuing.

Posted by: Ellen at April 26, 2005 06:14 PM

Same here. After seeing www.theocracywatch.org (a very disturbing yet excellent website) I am in no mood to kick back and relax. The brand of Christianity as practiced by the theocrats is a very mean-spirited culture of death that does not care for the not-so-well-to-do.

"President Bush's tax returns are a little different. He claimed the Christian Right as dependents, he declared the 2000 election as a gift, and he tried to write off all the mileage he got from 9/11" -Bill Maher

Posted by: monkey at April 26, 2005 06:24 PM

Good one. I love Bill Maher. I recently had a chance to see him in person at Comedy for a Cure (a fundraiser against tuberous sclerosis complex, a very debilitating genetic disease) and he cracked the hell out of me.

It was one of my better Los Angeles moments - especially since my idol Calista Flockhart was also there as one of the organizers.

This is good for a laugh too...

CNN QuickVote

Do you favor President Bush's plan for personal retirement accounts?

Yes 32% 56638 votes

No 68% 121370 votes

Total: 178008 votes

THE “I’M NOT A DOCTOR BUT I PLAY ONE ON CAPITOL HILL” AWARD, bestowed for advances in congressional oversight of science. And the nominees are …

http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2005/05/diddly.html

(And always listen to your mother...)

Ira,
Regarding your post at 3:24, I hope you are correct about the reason for Move America Forward cancelling their ads against Voinovich. I am so suspicious of him though that I am afraid he may have indicated that he will support Bolton's nomination after all.
I certainly hope that he doesn't cave to White House pressure.

well, well, well...
http://www.electablog.com/oharm.html

kay:

that quote about Move Forward cancelling their ads in Ohio after speaking with Voinovich was from today's Washington Post.
kay, if you are in Ohio you might want to call Voinovich's office and see if they will disclose if he is on still on bd to vote against Bolton in committee. I am totally with you in not wanting to trust Voinovich or any other Republican including Chafee who tells us how they intend to vote. Show us your vote Voinovich. But remember kay we need mavericks to help us next week with the nuclear option so try and be pleasant with Voinovich's office if you call. But the Washington Post quote about American Moving Forward which I am sure is a right wing org. by their name, indicates that Voinovich knows of something explosive about Bolton and he is ready to drop a bombshell(ready to sing). Any others here hear about this Bolton story? (I feel like Matt Drudge).

This is a rather disgusting story about retribution against the telecom industry's support of our man JK, I thought worth posting:

"Any Kerry Supporters On The Line?
The Bush Administration punishes some Democrat backers
By VIVECA NOVAK AND JOHN DICKERSON

Sunday, Apr. 24, 2005
The Inter-American Telecommunication Commission meets three times a year in various cities across the Americas to discuss such dry but important issues as telecommunications standards and spectrum regulations. But for this week's meeting in Guatemala City, politics has barged onto the agenda. At least four of the two dozen or so U.S. delegates selected for the meeting, sources tell TIME, have been bumped by the White House because they supported John Kerry's 2004 campaign.
The State Department has traditionally put together a list of industry representatives for these meetings, and anyone in the U.S. telecom industry who had the requisite expertise and wanted to go was generally given a slot, say past participants. Only after the start of Bush's second term did a political litmus test emerge, industry sources say.

The White House admits as much: "We wanted people who would represent the Administration positively, and--call us nutty--it seemed like those who wanted to kick this Administration out of town last November would have some difficulty doing that," says White House spokesman Trent Duffy. Those barred from the trip include employees of Qualcomm and Nokia, two of the largest telecom firms operating in the U.S., as well as Ibiquity, a digital-radio-technology company in Columbia, Md. One nixed participant, who has been to many of these telecom meetings and who wants to remain anonymous, gave just $250 to the Democratic Party. Says Nokia vice president Bill Plummer: "We do not view sending experts to international meetings on telecom issues to be a partisan matter. We would welcome clarification from the White House."

From the May. 02, 2005 issue of TIME magazine

Clashes Growing Between Bush and GOP Moderates
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-conflicts26apr26,1,5091543,print.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

more laughing:

http://photos6.flickr.com/10983084_3cdf9af0f8.jpg

More from Bill Maher, weighing in on the debate over "conscience laws" and pharmacists:

Pharmacists have to fill prescriptions. As our audience seems to already know, more and more American pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control because of their personal moral objections. Hey, you know what would really teach us a lesson? If you took off your pretend doctor jacket and got another job.

Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe cutting off the pill doesn't even go far enough. Yeah, it's high time activist drugstores stopped coddling sluts on every aisle. Let's not sell any more makeup either. A good woman doesn't paint herself. And no more deodorant. You should smell bad. Keep the boys from getting ideas. And no suntan lotion. I've seen what happens at the MTV Beach House, you whore. You want to avoid melanoma, buy a veil.

Why is this country becoming Utah?! You know, I know the conservatives are always saying that the coastal elites don't really get it about them because we just fly over. Okay, maybe. But, you know what? You guys don't get us either. We need to f***. Refusal to provide birth control threatens our economy and our very way of life here in Southern California. There's a lot of hot chicks out here, man. We need birth control! I mean, seriously, how do you think movies get made?

Now, of course, I know the other side is saying, yes, but this is a moral issue. Yeah, but the problem is, not everyone gets their morals from the same book. You go by the book that says slavery is okay but sex is wrong until after marriage, at which point it becomes a blessed sacrament between a husband and the wife who is withholding it.

In conclusion, let me say to all the activist pharmacists out there, the ones who think sex is bad probably because sex with them always is. Fellas, a pharmacist is not a law-giver, not even a doctor. In the medical pecking order, you rank somewhere in between a chiropractor and a tree surgeon.

You don't answer to a law above the laws of men. You work for Sav-On. The doctors are the ones who make medical decisions because they went to medical school, whereas you were transferred from the counter where people drop off film.

http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/new_rules/20050408.html

We just had a lovely dinner with the lovely oncall and his even-more-lovely wife.

How nice to meet such warm, loving, knowledgeable people and know that they are working hard for democracy!

Every time we meet one of the DCP regulars, we are amazed at out fortune here. Oncall was no exception.

You are all the best. More tomorrow--after I sleep! It's a Nyquil night...

Great thread! We need some laughs!

Sort of funny:

An old nun was offended by the coarse language of the workers at a construction site next door to the convent. She decided to help them change
their ways. She packed a sack lunch and walked over to where the men were having their lunch. She smiled broadly and asked, "Do you men know Jesus Christ?" They shook their heads and one steelworker yelled overhead, "Anybody here know Jesus Christ?" From above, a voice yelled back down, "Why?" And the first steelworker answered, "His wife's here with his lunch!"

Not funny:

Afghan Woman Reportedly Stoned to Death

Mixed reports are circulating that an Afghan woman was stoned to death for reportedly committing adultery in the northeastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. According to BBC News, Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission stated that that the 29-year-old woman, Amina, was sentenced to death by a decree from a local religious scholar.

A witness told Reuters that Amina was dragged out of her home by local officials and her husband, who then stoned her to death. The man she reportedly committed adultery with was flogged and whipped 100 times and then was freed.

The provincial police chief, Shah Jahan Noori, confirmed to Reuters that Amina had been stoned to death. However, the Associated Press reports that Noori said, "With the fundamentalists and the hardline mullahs who are in that area, these things are not impossible ... but I know that in this case, she was not stoned." The deputy governor of the province, Haji Shamsul Rahman, told the AP that the woman's father killed his own daughter out of shame. It is still unclear whether Amina was killed by her own father in an "honor killing" or if she was stoned to death by local officials for reportedly committing adultery.

Meanwhile, after pressure by the United States, the United Nations has removed its human right monitor in Afghanistan. An unnamed US official said that the move was in part because the human rights situation in Afghanistan was no longer bad enough to warrant the position, according to the LA Times.

-- I thought we liberated the women of Afghanistan - remember the young woman hanging with Barbara Bush at the State of the Union? & the year before it was Chalabi (while they were still on good terms?)

Posted by: madame defarge at April 26, 2005 04:42 PM

Don't suppose we can get him an all day video game...

Posted by: Ellen at April 26, 2005 06:14 PM

What do you get when you cross a Frist with a Christian?

(nope...it's not fristian)

still guessing?

still guessing?

A BIG MISTAKE!

Just playing at http://www.novaplanet.com
(streaming from Paris, France)

Peter Tosh - You Can't Fool Me Again (Lyric)

First you came and you sold us Christianity
But all your members just lust after vanity
Telling them to trust in you faithfully
Not seeing it's the return of the slavery

You taught us of heaven way up in the sky
Where we can't reach unless we die

But you can't fool me again (repeat)

Of things you taught me in school
Were so much to make me a fool
But if I was a mule
I know I'd be used as a tool

But you can't fool me again (repeat)

You draw an object on piece of a paper
Said and to serve it as lord and as savior
Tell me of a heaven way up in the sky
Where I can't reach unless I die

But you can't fool me again (repeat)

You say Humpty sat up on a wall
You say Humpty, he had a fall
You said a cow jump over moon
And the dish ran away with the spoon
You can't fool me again

Wow - now it's 6 AM in Paris & they're playing

Honey Cut - "Impeach the President"

Impeach the President
Impeach the President
Ahhhh Unh Alright

We're gonna have to send you back to Texas, man
Make you work on a ranch
You violated the trust of the American people
You were spinning the wheel on the axis of evil

We need to can this adminstration
That blatantly disrespects the United Nations
I think it's within our reach
Impeach

Juan Cole knows...

Mainstream Media and Bloggers

Matthew Haughey says he won't read our blogs if we use the term "mainstream media" (a.k.a. MSM).

A news flash for Matt: We don't care.

We don't care if you read our web logs.

The difference, Matt, is that we are independent actors, not part of a small set of multi-billion dollar corporations. The difference is that we are not under the constraints of making a 15% profit. The difference is that we are a distributed information system, whereas MSM is like a set of stand-alone mainframes. The difference is that we can say what we damn well please.

If we were the mainstream media (perhaps better thought of as corporate media), we would care if you threatened to stop reading us. Because although we might be professional news people, we would have the misfortune to be working for corporations that are mainly be about making money.

We would be ordered to try to avoid saying anything too controversial (and I don't mean "Crossfire" controversial), because we would be calculating what would bring in 15% profits per annum on our operating capital. Would hours and hours of television "reportage" and discussion of Michael Jackson or of Terri Schiavo or Scott Peterson (remember?) bring in viewers and advertising dollars? Then that is what we would be giving the public. Bread and circuses.

Would giving airtime to Iraq, where we Americans have 138,000 troops and are spending $300 billion that we don't have, be too depressing to bring in the audience and advertising and the 15% profit? Then we would dump it in favor of bread and circuses. We'd dump Afghanistan as a story even faster, since there are "only" 17,000 US troops in that country, and it is only a place where Ben Laden may be hiding out and from which the US was struck on 9/11, leaving 3,000 dead and the Pentagon and World Trade Center smouldering.

Read the rest at http://www.juancole.com/2005/04/mainstream-media-and-bloggers-matthew.html

Boy that Juan Cole was great - I sent it around ..

A co-worker went & saw U2 the other night.
I asked if they played "Beautiful Day" - I don't think I could have handled it. You all know why.

& speaking of music & nostalgia, this is a great election day post morten playlist:

Born In The Break Playlist - November 3rd, 2004

In honour of the blatant election fraud committed by the American Republican party yesterday:

Tonight's Breakdown: The Honeydrippers' Impeach The President (1973)

James Brown - Can Mind
Brand Nubian - All For One
De La Soul - Brainwashed Follower
Ray Charles - Booty Butt
Common - Watermelon
The New Apocalypse - Get Out My Life Woman
Big Daddy Kane - Smooth Operator
Nasir Jones - I Can
De La Soul - Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)
The Arsonists - The Session
Grand Puba - Check It Out
Slick Rick - It's A Boy
Digable Planets - Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
Audio Two - Top Billin'
Biz Markie - Alone Again
The Notorious B.I.G. - Unbelievable
Gang Starr - Alongwaytago
INI - Fakin' Jax
Soul II Soul - Jazzie's Groove
The Honeydrippers - Impeach The President
UMCs - Any Way The Wind Blows
Al Green - Here I Am
Break Bread - No Other MC
Trick Daddy - I'm A Thug
Millie Jackson - Cheatin' Is

I had a DJ all lined up for my victory party.
Damn!!

This comes from a friend in Oregon - please pass it on if you are or know Oregonians:

Albert Kaufman of blueoregon.com would like to have a posting on their site about Democracy Cell Project and any other Kerry blogs for the
Oregon Dems who would like to visit the sites.

http://blueoregon.com

I also posted this under "Oregon" on the Forum but it sounds like they'd also like to tell others about DCP.

Bush Backs Rep DeLay Amid Ethics Allegations
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8304009

A co-worker went & saw U2 the other night.
I asked if they played "Beautiful Day" - I don't think I could have handled it. You all know why.

Posted by: DiAnne at April 26, 2005 11:52 PM

I saw U2 earlier this month, and yes, they did play it... The solace is in that it was released before the 2000 election, when it was still a beautiful day.

Btw Bono is asking American fans to visit www.one.org. While I like the cause, I don't know if we can afford to commit a certain percentage of our budget to foreign aid... especially when we are doing such a horrible job of caring for our own due to all those reckless tax cuts.

A co-worker went & saw U2 the other night.
I asked if they played "Beautiful Day" - I don't think I could have handled it. You all know why.

Posted by: DiAnne at April 26, 2005 11:52 PM

I saw U2 earlier this month, and yes, they did play it... The solace is in that it was released before the 2000 election, when it was still a beautiful day.

Btw Bono is asking American fans to visit www.one.org. While I like the cause, I don't know if we can afford to commit a certain percentage of our budget to foreign aid... especially when we are doing such a horrible job of caring for our own due to all those reckless tax cuts.

Hi Ally,
Hi Ally,

Looks like you're pulling "a DiAnne".
Looks like you're pulling "a DiAnne".

LOL!
LOL!

a little more humor mixed with outrage:

http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=723

Posted by: madame defarge at April 26, 2005 11:28 PM

Right on madame!

This isn't funny...ask those security moms if they still feel safer with this president...

As FloridaDem said yesterday -
Half of America got duped big time and ALL of America is paying for it.
(Posted by: Florida Dem at April 26, 2005 12:49 PM) Well, it looks like the world is paying for it. And this regime's solution? Stop issuing terror reports...

World Terror Attacks Tripled in 2004 by U.S. Count

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. count of major world terrorist attacks more than tripled in 2004, a rise that may revive debate on whether the Bush administration is winning the war on terrorism, congressional aides said on Tuesday.

The number of "significant" international terrorist attacks rose to about 650 last year from about 175 in 2003, according to congressional aides briefed on the numbers by State Department and intelligence officials on Monday.
--snip--
The State Department last year initially released erroneous figures that understated the attacks and casualties in 2003 and used the figures to argue that the Bush administration was prevailing in the war on terrorism.
--snip--
The State Department last year initially released erroneous figures that understated the attacks and casualties in 2003 and used the figures to argue that the Bush administration was prevailing in the war on terrorism.
--snip--
The State Department last week unleashed a new debate about the numbers by saying it would no longer release them in its annual terrorism report but that the newly created National Counterterrorism Center that compiles the data would do so.
--snip--
Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday asking her to release the data, which include only international attacks and exclude violence that is classified as purely domestic.

"The large increases in terrorist attacks reported in 2004 may undermine administration claims of success in the war on terror, but political inconvenience has never been a legitimate basis for withholding facts from the American people," Waxman said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

Read the rest at http://tinyurl.com/8y5q8

The laughs just keep coming...

Laura Bush: No plans to seek office

The Associated Press
April 27, 2005

BURBANK, Calif. - Despite her popularity, first lady Laura Bush says she’s not interested in running for higher office.

Bush made the declaration Tuesday, telling “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno that she has no aspirations for holding office and doesn’t even pay much attention to her approval ratings — though she tracks her husband’s.

The first lady’s approval rating hovered around 80 percent in February, according a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll, the most recent taken. By contrast, the president’s overall approval rating is at 47 percent, a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday shows.

Does Bush ever taunt her husband because her ratings are higher?

“No, but I might,” she told Leno on Tuesday’s program.

Leno asked Bush if she would consider a political run of her own.

“No,” she replied. “But I know this is the seat that people announce for governor of California” — a reference to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s declaration on the show in 2003 that he planned to run for governor. He won.

'You're a very understanding wife'
The first lady, who has appeared on the “Tonight Show” four times since President Bush was elected, was in Southern California to visit schools and promote an education initiative for at-risk youth.

During the show, the former teacher and librarian talked about her recent trip to Afghanistan.

“It was an honor to be able to bring the best wishes of American women to the women of Afghanistan,” she said.

At one point, Leno ribbed the first lady about recent television footage showing her husband and a Saudi diplomat holding hands, asking if she ever became jealous.

“It was actually very sweet,” Bush laughed.

“You’re a very understanding wife,” cracked Leno.

Bush offers sites for new oil refineries
President suggesting old military bases

The Associated Press April 27, 2005

WASHINGTON - President Bush is offering to make closed military bases available for new oil refineries and will ask Congress to provide a “risk insurance” to the nuclear industry against regulatory delays to spur construction of new nuclear power plants, senior administration officials said Tuesday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president will outline his proposals in a speech Wednesday in which he intends to emphasize how new technologies can be used to ease the energy supply crunch.

The White House acknowledged that none of the initiatives was expected to provide any short-term relief from soaring gasoline and oil prices. It is Bush’s second speech on energy within a week, reflecting the growing concern within the White House over the political fallout over high energy prices.

The officials said the president believes the country needs a diverse supply of energy, including expansion of aggressive nuclear power. There has not been a new commercial nuclear reactor ordered in the United States since 1973.

Read more... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7646880/

Oh, P.S. ...

"I have a real energy plan to harness the full force of America's technology and make this nation independent of Middle East oil in 10 years. My plan will increase fuel efficiency, lower energy prices, produce alternative and renewable sources of energy and create new jobs here at home. I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation, not the Saudi royal family." - John Kerry, from an October 2004 speech in New Mexico.

Pre-Shrub, a website like this would have seemed like a bad B movie... (and I find the name of the site more than slightly ironic)

http://www.ready.gov/index.html

What's on Jesus's iPod?

Protest anthems, Zeppelin, gospel, classical and, of course, Nine Inch Nails. And, yes, Jesus does P2P
By Mark Morford

You know he has one.

You know it's the big 60GB model, loaded, flawless and gleaming and radiating a strange liquid ethereal glow and couched in a beautiful custom rainbow-colored biodegradable case made of clouds and eagle feathers and wine.

And of course Jesus gets his iPods wholesale, given how he and Steve Jobs go way back, back to the time when Jobs was a scruffy twentysomething geek ever praying for revelation and God finally gave Jesus the green light to inspire the first Mac.

The iPod and Jesus -- it just makes sense. ...

(click here to read the rest)

(Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2005/04/27/notes042705.DTL&nl=fix)

Ally

We can afford foreign aid if we cut back on pork to corporations. It has to be well thought-out, but I keep thinking about CIA "blowback" & the saying "the chickens come back to roost."

The whole reason I supported John Kerry was because he said he that we need to start making some friends on this planet. I agreed so much that I didn't need to agree about everything else & developed a certain amount of trust.

I am anxious to read Jeremy Rivkin's "The European Dream" and am watching with interest the British election, the upcoming Italian election, our 2006 & the French "oui/non" vote in 5 weeks on the EU Constitution.

Too many Americans think what happens overseas doesn't affect us - that wasn't correct 300 years ago & it especially isn't now in the age of the internet, flight, corporate globalization and global terror. We are all one and that's not a corny hippie platitude - it's physics!!

Bono would have been so much better at the World Bank than Wolfowitz, who will keep the developing nations undeveloped while taking us backwards as well. Then stir in some John Bolton & Condi ..
a little N Korean nuke tests etc.

And then there is this:
Hammer the hammer:

http://www.hammerthehammer.com/

I understand that some people may not be in the mood to laugh today, or any other day for that matter. But Casey brings up a good point that it's important to take time out to laugh and enjoy the life you have, for yourself and for the people around you too. Not to mention, for your health as well.

We work our asses off everyday for democracy, and a laugh once in a while isn't going to kill anyone.

http://www.ready.gov/index.html

Posted by: monkey at April 27, 2005 08:53 AM

This is the kind of stuff that Third World dictatorships used to do - bring up "legitimate" scares that would force the population to support the regime in power.

In fact my mother used to do this before coming to the US - and still hasn't gotten over that mentality yet. Which is why she "understands" the security crap the Bushies are pushing, and still is a Republican despite having voted with the Democrats on just every issue.

Posted by: DiAnne at April 27, 2005 09:15 AM

Good points you are making as always, DiAnne. Bono is definitely better than Wolfowitz for the job - but the World Bank tends to be led by Americans while the IMF is left to Europeans.

As you pointed out, most Americans think of themselves as a privileged island immune from the events of the rest of the world. That's appalling. Overseas events DO affect America, no matter how strong it is.

As for the North Korean nukes, the Korean-American community here in SoCal has really turned Cuban on this topic. They voted for Bush just so that he could start a pre-emptive war on North Korea. And when the South Koreans complain about all the collateral damage they'll get out of this war, they are dismissed as a whole bunch of commie sympathizers. The Korean-Americans are total sellouts - to Bush and against their own brothers back home - on this issue (and just about everything else). No wonder Sam Brownback way over in Kansas loves 'em!