Exxon Pension Shortfalls

Ain't that the truth!

Great post, Casey.

Listened to that on the way to work (jurors, NPR). Love the photo! They also had a story on the data theft of millions of Veterans, right around Memorial Day.

I remember a few years ago when we went to some musical event & some musician said, "I just have one word .. Enron." We were pretty confused but I went home & looked it up on the internet, & that is how I found out about Enron. Started to hear about the scandal shortly thereafter.

Reposted cause Im not fast enough to catch a new thread

Veritas, my love...

"Who's going to be the Paul Revere?"

There is no more Paul Reveres. It is too late.

There is no rescue coming.

"The immigration issue almost did that, "

That issue is not over yet, and that is EXACTLY what is was DESIGNED to do.

There are three significant factors that all of you MUST start seeing LITERALLY.

1. An army of rascists is now on the border. Armed. And waiting to fill up those brand new detainment facilities KBR built for JUST SUCH A CRISIS.

2. The entire Port of Orleans has been 'militarized' and now does he not only have war ships in the port but it is sitting right on top of the g*dddamn strategic reserves.

3. Bushs stated intentions to send uniformed soldiers to the border.

People keep seeing it as 'coincidence'. There was no coincidence why he left 40,000 people behind to die. The longer he waited to mount a rescue the more maximum damage could be acchived. The MORE damage, the less likly the aftermath looks...calculated.

The changes in border laws began almost immediately as soon as bush took office. He now has everything PERFECTLY in place to start his own little Civil War right here.

I tried telling yall this several times over the last few years, nothing has changed except it is getting closer now. All this time he has prepared more and more. Do any of you honestly believe he wont use the strategic advantages that he betrayed us all to accomplish?

But Paul Revere is dead. And really, it is already too late to send word anyway.

What is coming can not be stopped.

I took a lot of flak once because I said 'they are literally trying to turn us into Isreal.'

I am not sure WHY that made me an anti-semite, but ok.

It still does not change what Isreal is though.

Why would the Moussad dress up as arabs and carry out bombings against their own? It is actually quite simple really. To keep it a 'war state'.

War profitteers can not make war profits if there is no reliable source of conflict.

Well, georgie is NOTHING if not a war profitteer. The United States of America, is still the ultimate war prize.

And as soon as we can turn latinos into the 'new' Palestinian suiciders, the sooner georgie will get his RELIABLE source of blood money.

Iran is in no way 'doable'. I do not have to be a military general to see our forces can not maintain it's grip on the Middle East. They already have something closer to home they were working on before they were able to convienantly distract us 'over there'.

Heads up, DCPers:

This is looking like it is going to be a summer of encampments on the Mall, with many saying they will not leave until:

troops are withdrawn from Iraq
diplomatic ventures are made with Iran
impeachment proceedings are initiated
Katrina victims are better helped

etc.

Consider your family vacation this year on the beautiful property known as the National Mall. Working title: Democracy Camp.

And Christy,

Sharing your feelings about the mainstream media (I am putting it nicely for the NSA folks reading this) would not necessarily be outside the interests of those organizing such encampments...

Just in:

Statement by John Kerry on the Confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia

“If there’s anything the last five years have proven – from Iraq to Katrina – it’s that competence matters. Federal judgeships cannot be political gifts to political cronies. Mr. Kavanaugh’s legal experience consists largely of three years with Ken Starr and responsibility in the White House Counsel’s Office for selecting right-wing judicial nominees.

“Mr. Kavanaugh has been nominated to one of the most important federal courts with huge impacts on worker rights and employee safety, clean air, and clean water. But not once in his hearings did Mr. Kavanaugh point to any experience in these areas of the law.

“Brett Kavanaugh doesn’t have the experience for this job. An attorney who has played a central role in only five court cases isn’t ready to manage one.”

Good press release. Clearly, Bush and the Republicans are just passing things willy-nilly now. They know their time is running short to accomplish their long-term destruction goals.

It's difficult to realize how long it will take to repair their damage.

Christy, btw....Loved your Colbert thoughts on the other thread. (I was too exhausted to comment at the time.)

And the band plays on.....

Business is a Gun, money is the bullet, politics is knowing when to pull the trigger.

Our white house is made up of business people. They served on the board of Boeing, lockheed/martin, Randtron, United Technologies...it is a long list of defense contractors
When George Bush was elected in 2000, they left their high paying jobs for far less wages, but far higher stock benefits. Imagine a White House staffed by the directors of America's largest defense contractors, i am surprised we are not invading Canada.

Exxon is just another corporation with ties to this White House...if you really want to hurt them, stop buying Exxon Mobil.
you can bring the largest company to their knees, by simply not purchasing their product or service....We would boycott a company because they had an Office in South Africa 25 years ago, today we keep buying and supporting companies that actively support murderous policies and public Fraud.

Karen, honestly, sharing my ideas has become a dangerous proposition. Even among friends.

The misinterpretation alone will get me hanged.

Posted by: Toolmaker at May 26, 2006 01:02 PM

Bullseye.

Sheeple's got a ticket to ride, and sheep don't care.

Meet The Sheeples.

Oh and don't you think it is funny that just as Hayden is confirmed, a debate is raging on a compromise for immigration, AND the House INTELLIGENCE Committee is all meeting simultainiously...

And one single anonymous call saying 'shots in the Capital Building' has completely bumped away any other concerns about what in the hell Congress is up to behind locked down doors today.

I never understood why people were so eager to believe georgie is 'stupid, just really dumb.'

Want to know how I would take over the USA if I were a 'war profiteer' hell bent on crowning MYSELF as Queen of ALLLLLLLL The Americas..?

Exactly like georgie did.

suz do you recall my warning 2 weeks ago about Kavanaugh.Senator Durbin pointed out during his confirmation hearings that Kavanaugh had never tried or appealed a case, period. Amazing but also quite disturbing. As I predicted folks like him would be approved while no one was paying attention, no one. We were preoccupied with certainly important issues, but we as progressives totally blew it letting this gentleman and others during the filibuster debate now serve on the second highest bench in the land. This really disturbs me b/c it seems that with all of Bush's problems the judiciary is being overlooked and he is being given a totaly free hand. It was fashionable when we had the Princeton guys here during the filibuster fight to be involved with the judiciary appointments but since then, hardly a word from the left. JK is exactly right. These types of appointments will haunt this country years after Bush is out of office when the federal bench is ruling on our civil liberties and the constitutionality of reactionary legislation passed by an out of control Congress. If we ever have another Bush v Gore fight go to the courts please remember this day.

suz do you recall my warning 2 weeks ago about Kavanaugh.Senator Durbin pointed out during his confirmation hearings that Kavanaugh had never tried or appealed a case, period. Amazing but also quite disturbing. As I predicted folks like him would be approved while no one was paying attention, no one. We were preoccupied with certainly important issues, but we as progressives totally blew it letting this gentleman and others during the filibuster debate now serve on the second highest bench in the land. This really disturbs me b/c it seems that with all of Bush's problems the judiciary is being overlooked and he is being given a totaly free hand. It was fashionable when we had the Princeton guys here during the filibuster fight to be involved with the judiciary appointments but since then, hardly a word from the left. JK is exactly right. These types of appointments will haunt this country years after Bush is out of office when the federal bench is ruling on our civil liberties and the constitutionality of reactionary legislation passed by an out of control Congress. If we ever have another Bush v Gore fight go to the courts please remember this day.

sorry it posted twice from a server error

Ira,

It was worth posting twice, my friend!

For those interested in impeachment:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/resourcecenter
One stop shopping...

Something even more important than the House and Senate was abandoned with this 'security breech/alert'.

NO ONE is talking about that disasterous speech last night.

Wow, one phone call sure got a lot of milage for bushie today.

I do not know about yall, but I feel like I am watching a tragic play, where we the audience are the scripted victims.

If this nomination doesn't deserve to be filibustered than what nomination Sen Feinstein does? Exactly what are his qualifications? From what I have read Harriet Meyers could run rings around him in court. The filibuster compromise has turned out to be totally worthless, and Senator Lieberman, the author of this sham, deserves defeat at the polls for crafting it. It is now responsible for allowing approval of 1 controversial Supreme Ct. Justice and 5 questionable Appellate Justices.
G willing, if we have a Democratic President in 2009 the first move of the Republican party will be to undo the filibuster agreement. If Dems dare allow that to happen I will never support them again.

"I don't believe he's filibuster-able," said Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted to bring the nomination to the floor.

snip
Ms. Feinstein said she would vote against confirmation, saying that she would vote for Mr. Kavanaugh as a district judge, but saying, "the circuit, I think, requires more seasoning."

please don't ever consider Sen Feinstein for the backbone award.

Mr. Kavanaugh has been nominated to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the court that produced Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

Mr. Kavanaugh's candidacy revived the fight over Mr. Bush's judicial nominees. For a time, Democrats hinted that they might use the filibuster against him.
snip
Democrats also pointed to Mr. Kavanaugh's American Bar Association rating, which was downgraded to "qualified" from "well qualified."

Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, senior Democrat on the judiciary panel, said Thursday that he could not recall any nominee's being confirmed after such a development.

Mr. Leahy said Mr. Kavanaugh had "failed miserably" to demonstrate "that he has the capacity to be independent of the president, to be an independent check on his political patron."

Republicans praised Mr. Kavanaugh as "eminently qualified" what a joke. Senator John Cornyn of Texas called him an "outstanding nominee," adding, "His nomination has been needlessly protracted and contentious."

At work but got an email with a Kos story where someone cited a Newsweek reporter in the front row who said Bush was laughing & smirking after he admitted he ever made any "mistakes."

Frat boy.

OnCall
I am interested in boycotting anyone where you can set up the case. Right now I buy gas from Citgo but I want to research more where I buy every single item & try to spend most money very consciously. I'm getting a new roof but first had to know the voting & donation patterns of the person putting it on. The person who painted my house was the one who told me the REAL story of how we went into Iraq the first time. (I was not familiar with April Glaspie or with history of Halliburton).

Christy
Have you heard of Endgame? That's where we get rid of all "deportable aliens" and terrorists, illegal workers & dissenters could all end up in the camps built by BRK. Not so different than not distinguishing between POWs & enemy combattants. Not so different from calling those who destroy Humvees in lots "terrorists" but those who destroy the Istanbul airport
"saboteurs."

I see these diaries on kos fairly often. What I really like is the diversity they demonstrate among the people who do hang out and post there. The pundits who describe the kos community as a monolithic group of hippies and radicals just don’t get it. This story demonstrates the reverse in a big way.

It also addresses another issue: why Democratic candidates shouldn’t be afraid to call it like it is.

The comments on this diary are interesting as well. They offer some interesting ideas on how to reach out to gun owners and the NRA. They are not ready to cede them to the Republicans. Enjoy!

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

Down at the Gun Shop - Bush is Burnt Flesh

by Kenevan McConnon
Fri May 26, 2006 at 09:23:56 AM EDT

I post gun listings for my local gun shop on Gunsamerica. I head down, take some photos, collect descriptions, and hang out at the gun shop for a hour or two shooting the sh*t with whoever happens to come in to shop or talk. I've never concealed my progressive tendencies and over the years the guys have come to respect my patriotism and passion for the United States. I can wear my "George Bush is a Punk A** Chimp" T-shirt and everybody just laughs.

The most interesting thing is what has happened over the last year as the guys have realized that Bush is a real threat to the Constitution and the United States. These were the guys that supported Bush as 40%, but have abandoned him now. At first, the guys just didn't want to talk about the war in Iraq, then they expressed a beleaguered disbelief about Abu Graib, rendition, and torture, and now they are getting mad. The NSA scandal has ended their support for Bush and I don't think anything will bring them back into the Republican fold unless he is impeached and jailed.

Yesterday, a guy was having trouble with his Kimber 1911. It was firing two rounds with every trigger pull. After figuring out what was wrong, we started talking about politics and he said something that floored me.

"George Bush is more dangerous to America than Osama bin Laden. He should be impeached, indicted, tried, convicted and hung." Beyond the fact that he was very specific about the fact that Bush would have to be impeached before he can be indicted, he made this pronouncement in a gunshop with six guys standing around and I know I was the only one that had ever voted for a Democrat. This pronouncement was not greeted with silence or derision. Everybody agreed this is what needed to happen. I was encouraged today; Bush is not going to get away with it.

~snip~

go here for the discussion...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/26/92356/7529

Dianne...

We are completely trapped.

We are out of time, because bush is almost out of time. The next few months will be his ONLY chance to sieze absolute control.

He will NEVER get another chance. And he knows it.

Statement by John Kerry on the Confirmation of General Michael Hayden as CIA Director

“I opposed the nomination of General Michael Hayden to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Circumstances make him the wrong nominee in the wrong place for the wrong job.

“The abuse of the CIA by the Rumsfeld Pentagon and the Cheney White House has hurt our credibility with unfounded claims of ‘slam dunk’ evidence of mythical weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I don’t think General Hayden is the person best equipped to restore the CIA’s independence and credibility. It’s not just that he comes from Secretary Rumsfeld’s Pentagon, but because he was the Administration’s principal spokesperson and defender of an illegal domestic spying program.

“We are all committed to destroying terrorists and preventing terrorist attacks before they happen. But this vote was a test of this Congress’s willingness to restore the Founding Fathers’ checks and balances and stand up to a government run by people who hold themselves above the law. How many times will government secrecy shield decision-makers from any kind of accountability? It was a mistake to confirm General Hayden.”

Will Farrell .. Bush on Global Warming

http://www.transbuddha.com/mediaHolder.php?id=1147

I am excited!

Congressman Jim McDermott will fill in for a talk show & Murtha is his first guest!!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=b&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/271727_radioshow26.html

Ira,

Good point. But also, if we have any sort of case before the law, it's being decided by partisons who have little or no experience AND an agenda.

Let's pray that these judges decide to retire young.

its an issue that I may be alone discussing; taking politics out of the court room. I didn't agree with Roberts' qualifications to sit on the Supreme Ct but he was eminently qualified and that is the most important part of our selections of jusges. We shouldn't want unqalified Progressives any more than unqalified Republicans sitting on our benches especially when it comes to the Federal and Supreme Court. I thought the right got that message with Harriet Meyers but apparantly not. Hopefully we will have 51 Senate votes after Nov to stop this nonsense but I imagine we will still have our Liebermans and Ben Nelson's to swing the balance in judicial appointments. Any candidate who is given an unqualified from the ABA should not be given any consideration by the Senate, period.

I didn't agree with Roberts' qualifications; meant to read his politics to be chosen for the S. Ct, but he is eminently qualified.

This may seem out of context, but WHAT is Sensennbrenner's problem?!!!!

DiAnne you are kidding, right? He is intent on destroying any Immigration Reform. Thanks for the gift, that will certainly hand us the House and maybe the Senate.

(Deleted: Please keep it clean, thanx.)

Oh look...

The NSA IS reading this blog.

Hmmm. Politics and porn. Sounds like a republican poker game at the Watergate.

Obviously we can tell what that troll likes to do with their free time.

Posted by: Christy at May 26, 2006 08:04 PM

LOL

Oncall and Christy,

Lol

This is interesting. I was sent it from Pamela Leavey of Democratic Daily. The post is followed by a number of comments.

JUDGE BROWNIE
Posted by John Kerry

Remember Brownie? This morning Senate Republicans might as well have given him a federal judgeship.

If there’s anything the last five years have proven — from Iraq to Katrina – it’s that competence matters.

Federal judgeships cannot be political gifts to political cronies.

But that’s what happened this morning – Brett Kavanaugh is now a judge on the D.C. Circuit. And Washington barely seemed to notice – in spite of the noise we Democrats made about his outrageous nomination.

Am I overstating the case? You tell me.

MORE - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=3127

Ira
I was thinking the same thing about Sennsennbrenner. The more extreme, crazy and paranoid things the wingers overtly and publicly say, the more they will hopefully scare the public away from themselves.

I sure hope the zombie churces are not successful here in WA in overturning our gay civil rights bill and in the process (using this wedge issue), turning out to the polls in big numbers & putting an earth plunderer into the Senate in their zest to vote straight-ticket rightwing platform.

I just wrote this... HeHeHe.Check it out.

http://rebellenation.blogspot.com/2006/05/vindicating-al.html

Great post Christy.

I bet Bush has that deer in the headlights look right abou now.

Iraqi Minister Backs Iran on Nuclear Research

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 26 — Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari of Iraq today endorsed the right of Iran to pursue the "technological and scientific capabilities" needed to create nuclear power for peaceful purposes, in the first high-level meeting between officials from the new Iraqi government and its eastern neighbor.

But Mr. Zebari's statement, made at a news conference after a meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, appeared deliberately ambiguous and reflected the complex position of Iraq between the United States, which wants Iran to abandon efforts to enrich uranium, and Iran, which says it needs enrichment to create fuel for nuclear reactors.

http://tinyurl.com/rt6g8

Christy
That is great!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060526/ap_on_go_ot/cia_leak

Judge: Reporters must give Libby documents

WASHINGTON - Time magazine must give I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby drafts of articles so the former White House aide can use them to defend himself against perjury and other charges in the CIA leak case, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton limited the scope of subpoenas that Libby's lawyers had aimed at Time, NBC News and The New York Times for e-mails, notes, drafts of articles and other information.

But in a 40-page ruling, Walton rejected the news organizations' argument that they have a broad right to refuse to provide such information in criminal cases.

{{{More on link. This is a tough thing about which to have only one opinion. While I feel like the First Amendment is circling the edge of the drain closest to the center and about to be sucked down the drain, the reporters did, after all, publish Plame's identity, so they are partly culpable for the criminal act of outing Plame. However, more blame has to go to Libby and his bosses because they are the ones who outed Plame to the reporters in the first place, and when they got their jobs they are the ones who signed the papers that said they knew it was a crime to even accidentally give out state secrets and they know they can be prosecuted for outing a CIA agent, even accidentally, but they did so on purpose, so they deliberately and knowingly (with malice aforethought) broke the law....}}}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060526/ts_nm/bulgaria_usa_bases_dc

Bulgarian parliament approves US bases deal

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's parliament approved an agreement on Friday allowing the United States to establish three military bases in the former Soviet satellite, despite strong public opposition to foreign troops.

The deal allows Washington to deploy 2,500 U.S. soldiers in the poor NATO member as it shifts focus from large Cold War-era installations in central Europe and Asia to smaller bases near potential hot-spots in the Middle East and Africa.

{{{More on link.}}}

NonnyO
I wonder what was the bribe?

No sun will shine
In my day today
(No sun will shine)
The high, yellow moon
Won't come out to play
(Won't come out to play)
Darkness has covered my light
And staged my day into night.
Where is the love to be found?
Won't some one tell cause
Life sweet life must be somewhere to be found
Instead of concrete jungle
Where the living is hardest
Concrete jungle
Man, you've got to do your best....

Confusion, yeah

Concrete jungle....

Stir it up
Little darling
Stir it up
(Come on baby)
Come on and stir it up
Little darling
Stir it up
Oh-oh....

Chuck .. Pacific Northwest Weather & Folklife Festival

Ooooh this pain,
And I know there would not be,
This cloud thats over me,
Everywhere I go.

Ooooh baby,
Ooooh baby,
I wish I never saw the sunshine,
I wish I never saw the sunshine,
An if I never saw the sunshine baby,
Then maybe I wouldn't mind the rain.

(Beth Orton)

DiAnne:

I can't stand the rain
Upon my window
Bringing back
Sweet memories

(Ask Monkey for the attribution)

Still fighting -- we'll get them
We need to marshal our resources
And hit them hard come October

No surrender.

Just about this time of year
Is a good time to check out
The wild flowers in Indian Meadows
On the east side of Mount Adams

Chuck in Houston

That's on the Yakima Reservation

Yeah, heard the wheels a-churnin'
All down the line
Oh, heard the wireman calling
All down the line
Yeah, heard the women sighing
All down the line

....

Well, you can't say yes
And you can't say no
Just be there baby
When the whistle blows...

Everytime I'm walking
On down the street
Some pretty momma
Start breaking down on me
Stop breaking down
Momma please stop breaking down
That stuff is going to bust your brains out
Going to make you loose your mind

(Note: Just listening to "Rolling Stones" "Exile on Mainstreet")

Rock on all!

May the good Lord
Shine the light on you
Make every song
Your favorite tune
May the good Lord
Shine the light on you
Whoa, like the evening sun....

Well, I was driving home
Early Sunday morning
Through Bakersfield...

Shattered
Uh-huh
Shattered
Does it matter?

Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head
That didn't hurt.

And the beer I had for breakfast
Tasted good
So I had one more for desert.

Then I rummaged through my closet
To find my cleanest
Dirty shirt

....

Name that tune! (or artist)

I'm shocked, but not surprised.

It's one thing for an ailing company like United Airlines, IBM, or General Motors to mess with the employee pension plans. But for a hugely successful company like ExxonMobil to do the same, is not only greedy, it's immoral, especially when the CEO is walking away with the largest severance pay ever in the history of US corporations.

If this isn't proof that employee pensions have becom a thing of the past in the US, I don't know what is. How pathetic.

Ally in San Francisco (and meeting Fe later today)

This may seem out of context, but WHAT is Sensennbrenner's problem?!!!!

Posted by: DiAnne at May 26, 2006 05:59 PM

DiAnne you are kidding, right? He is intent on destroying any Immigration Reform. Thanks for the gift, that will certainly hand us the House and maybe the Senate.

Posted by: Ira at May 26, 2006 06:15 PM

We'll see. I know that back home in Los Angeles, Korean and Vietnamese votes going Republican have been big problems. Sensenbrenner is a sure way to make sure these guys won't vote Republican in the future. They've been running scared like headless chickens lately. (I've even been told that one out of seven Korean-Americans is an illegal.)

(Though special-interest politics from Senator Brownback *could* keep some Korean immigrants in the Republican camp...)

Ally in San Francisco

Posted by: Christy at May 26, 2006 10:58 AM

Christy,

I know how fed up you are with Israel.

But one thing that keeps Israel going, and funded by the West (especially the US), is the Muslim world's current sad affair of things, especially in regards to human rights.

While I do not condone Israel in many cases, I cannot condone the Palestinians and other Muslim cultures' sexism and homophobia either. When I know that I will be at least tolerated in Israel but butchered in the rest of Palestine, I can't find much of a reason to sympathize with the Palestinians.

Ally in San Francisco

The last two weeks in a cartoon nutshell, courtesy of Nick Anderson of the Houston Chronicle:
http://cagle.msnbc.com/politicalcartoons/PCcartoons/andersonNICK.asp
(then go to May 25)

The theme is (what else?) congress and executive power

Art for breakfast--new thread!

Chuck in Houston

Tina Turner?