Iran's not Our Boyfriend!

Diplomacy? Too little too late.

How about Ethics?

Now they're offering Ethics training for the military in Iraq.
How about some Ethics training for our country's leaders?
It's so easy to blame the warriors for how the war is conducted.

Sayeth Webster:

DIPLOMACY --

1: the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations

2: skill in handling affairs without arousing hostility

BooshCo has already done a pretty good job of demonstrating its gawd-given gift for artless malpractice, in re definition #1 ...

... and as for definition #2, well ...

Believe it or not, Condoleezza has 2 EEs and 2 ZZs.
Counterintuitive, I know.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview with the British newspaper The Independent that she works out to the acid rock of Cream and rocks out to Kool and the Gang. Elton John's "Rocket Man" reminds her of her first boyfriend.

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=142086

Military Ethics 101:

Don't go around shooting & killing unarmed civilians, women, and/or children.

it's a no-brainer,
Otter

Hey gang!

Just popping in - I've been swamped in local politics of late and haven't been able to find enough brain space for our federal antics as well.

Anyway - in case anyone is interested, if you go here http://home.ourfuture.org/ and check out the finalist list for the "what is a progressive?" contest, you'll find me (Carol S. Amherst, MA)! I don't know if my statement is very good, but if you wanted to vote for me I wouldn't be sad about it! I might just win a trip to the Take Back America Conference.

Thanks, and keep up the good work!

Seattle Funding to Fight Terror Slashed

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/272366_terror01.html

Bay Area - gets less than 1/10th requested for security

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/01/BAGLFJ5ME11.DTL

I wonder what Condo thinks when she sees pictures of herself that look like that. Does it make her feel ...strong? Does it make her feel like one of the men? Does it make her feel like some kind of warrior? Is she ashamed?

To me, it's just ugly and scary and reminds me of someone who is out of control. Hmmm.

Posted by: DiAnne at June 1, 2006 09:30 AM

Homeland Security funding slashed in Boston and Connecticut as well.

http://uspolitics.einnews.com/news/Massachusetts-Homeland-Security

This is one interesting blog.

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/05/two_days_after_the_kabul_riots.php

Well, off to work!

Carol
Ferragamo shoes & Mozart - her rewards.
Strange person, but as a friend of W, that figures.

Occupation of a foreign country is not war, it is a Police Action.

This is why we are having the troubles we do, and they will only escalate. If we wish to have ethical occupation of a Nation, then use the reserve police force.

Attempting to use Military personell, trained to attack, evade, kill, blow things up, etc, as a police force is as ridiculous as thinking that god wants you to invade Iraq.

the Military is used to fight wars, not police action. Its this type of delusion that makes people question the intellect of our current President.

Bill O'Reilly is not their boyfriend.

Neither is Rush Limbaugh. Or Sean Hannity, or virtually any other right-wing blahblahblah-show host in the country.

Neither are the folks responsible for programming rock, pop, country, or other mainstream radio streams across the aether.

No hit single. Practically no airplay to speak of.

Tired old 2003-vintage rabid animosity still pouring out all over the blogospheres and the blahblahblahospheres.

And yet...

..."Taking The Long Way" sold well over half a million copies in just its first week of release. It's totally topping both the Billboard all-genre and country charts. It's the number one seller on Amazon.Com. It's the number one download on iTunes. It's also the sales leader at WalMart, Target, BestBuy, and... well, you get the picture.

To hell with the radio playlists. To hell with the blabbing heads. To hell with the right-wing yammering.

Heartland America has spoken. And still is. It's putting its money where its hearts and minds and ears are.

And three smart, strong, and very talented women who still aren't ready to make nice are back in black... and they're kicking ass and taking names, bigtime.

Wow. It's enough to make one think that maybe there's some hope for all those we-the-sheeple types out there after all.

Way to go, DixChix. You rock. And you make us proud to be on the same side of the fence as you are.

Now North Korea is making overtures about nuclear one-on-one talks with the Unites States (I accidentally typed the "Untied States" first) - the US hold out for 6-party talks only.

To bad we don't have our legitimate President - either John Kerry or else Al Gore in his 2nd term.

Otter
I have the Dixie Chicks CD.
I got it from a former Republican from Florida.
I have also downloaded their music.
I would probably never have bothered to investigate them had the lead singer not spoken out against Bush. I like classic country but the genre in general is not my favorite & especially with the image currently cultivated by most. They're very talented but there's alot of music out there. They will be able to laugh - all the way to the bank! (as Pee Wee Herman said). I do really like and appreciate Willie Nelson, including his politics (FarmAid, Kucinich support etc).

Already voted for you Carol. A little bird mentioned that you're a finalist yesterday.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Vote for Carol! Vote for Carol!
Posted by: Carol at June 1, 2006 09:28 AM

And as for diplomacy, I like to think if it as that which goes hand-in-hand with EFFECTIVENESS. What good is one without the other? Effectiveness without diplomacy is a hallucination, and diplomacy without effectiveness is a pipe dream. And you know what kind of pipe I speak of.

Anyone who has raised teenagers knows THAT.

No Iran is not our boyfriend, but the U.S. is quickly becoming everybodies bitch.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/WORLD/meast/06/01/us.iran/story.rice.wed.gi.jpg

World Fangous

Diplomacy: The art of organizing your friends and disorganizing your enemies.

In other words, I think we all learned the basic rules of how things work on the playgrounds as children.

Are we sure the Post didn't Photoshop that photo of Condi? It's hard to imagine her looking any worse. Since the Post seems to be much less enthusiastic about the war than it was when Bush was getting things underway, perhaps the Post photo editors have been getting new instructions. (By the way, the Post is letting go of a lot of reporters and photo editors under an early retirement/buyout program, so maybe editing standards are just slipping overall.) Looking at this vampire-style photo, you can almost hear the photo editors laughing as they passed it around.

Not to feel sorry for Condi though. Whatever else she may have done in her career, she's one of the principal architects and spinners for this illegal war: if there are ever any war crimes trials to be had, she should be in the dock with the rest of the Bush/Blair/Cheney/Rumsfeld neocon crew.

Posted by: Carol at June 1, 2006 09:28 AM

Go Ca-rol! Go Ca-rol! Go Ca-rol!

You got my vote, babe! And I will e-mail the addy around to my peeps (a small weird little group, but we vote!).

I got yer diplomacy right here...

Bush Issues U.N. Threat To Iran
President Says If Iran Continues Uranium Enrichment, World Will Act

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2006

(CBS/AP) President Bush said Thursday that the standoff over Iran's suspected nuclear program is headed for the U.N. Security Council if Tehran continues to refuse to halt uranium enrichment.

"We'll see whether or not that is the firm position of their government," President Bush said after a meeting with his Cabinet at the White House. "If they continue their obstinance, if they continue to say to the world 'We really don't care what your opinion is," then the world is going to act in concert."

With Russian and Chinese support crucial to crafting a deal for Iran that also includes a threat of sanctions, Mr. Bush said that he "got a positive response" from Russian President Vladimir Putin during a conversation on Tuesday.

"We expect to Russia to participate in the United Nations Security Council," Mr. Bush said he told Putin. "We'll see whether or not they agree to do that."

He was less positive about his discussion of Iran earlier Thursday with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

more...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/01/world/main1673692.shtml

If they continue in their obstinance.... sheesh. Takes one to mow one.

"...then the world is going to act in concert."

Oh, really? The world is gonna play music at 'em until they surrender, just on Shrubya's say-so?

Somehow I suspect otherwise.

he'd like to teach the world to sting,
Otter

Posted by: Otter at June 1, 2006 01:26 PM

Sting or stink?

Odor in the Court.

Thanks for the votes, everyone!

And...Ohio's coingate crook Tom Noe pled guilty today to funneling money to Bush campaign. Three felonies and up to 15 years.

http://theohiodemocraticparty.typepad.com/

If it was YOUR picture on the front page of the Post, and they were quoting YOU, what would it look like? What would it say?
Posted by Karen at June 1, 2006 08:41 AM

The headlines would read:

Immediate Withdrawal of Troops from Iraq and Afghanistan

Immediate Closure of Prisoner Facility at Gitmo

The picture wouldn't matter; it could be the size of a postage stamp, for all I care, and looking freaky to boot. Only the headlines above the fold would matter.... 'cuz I'd mean them. The guard and reserve troops would be on the first transport plane out of both countries, with regular troops to follow and stationed elsewhere or brought home to be stationed at bases in the US to be near their families. The prisoners illegally detained at Gitmo would be on the next plane out of there to their home countries.

Only after those things were accomplished would I think of "diplomatic" talks with anyone. The US needs to get its own house in order and back on some kind of ethical and moral track before even whispering words that tell other countries what to do. All of DumDum's cowboy playground bullying is a hypocritical moral outrage, and I'm surprised the leaders of other countries don't come out with statements of their own against DumDum's speaking for them when he has no right to do so, especially since he's authorized the illegal torture of people and authorized the illegal invasion and occupation of another country, which are all war crimes. DumDum can't speak for the leaders of other countries and say what they will or won't do about atomic anything in Iran - or about what anyone else does anywhere else in the world. He's not the leader of those countries, and he's only the counterfeit "leader" of this country by virtue of two stolen elections. He has no wiggle-room to be the moral "leader" anywhere except maybe in his own house in TX if Laura is the Stepford Wife I think she probably is....

Carol:

Like many of us, I too went and voted for you yesterday after a little bird hipped us to the happs. On the other paw, if you like I can go back there and re-register under a few more throwaway email addies and vote for you some more. As Chicago's infamous Richard Dailey is reputed to have said: "vote early, and vote often."

:0)

As for the CoinGate scandal, well... let's just say that it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Him having been convicted of illegally funneling around 50 large into the BooshCo presidential campaign is just the tip of the iceberg -- though a rather nice tip it might turn out to be, since now BooshCo has no choice but to deal with the question of exactly where and how they let that funnel get inserted on their end -- but let's don't forget that he's still up for trial on charges of bilking his state's rethuglican-run investment fund out of around 50 large-large in some very hinky deals also.

Hey, ay, way to go, Ohio.

just say noe,
Otter

monkey:

Okay, you're right.

He'd like to preach the world to stink.

smells like boosh spirit,
Otter

So... companies can ignore accounting/disclosure rules/regulations... and names of said companies do not need to be made public? *Invests in manufacturers of jack boots and tin foil hats.*

http://trimurl.com/5D5

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2006/nf20060523_2210.htm



President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations. Notice of the development came in a brief entry in the Federal Register, dated May 5, 2006, that was opaque to the untrained eye.

Unbeknownst to almost all of Washington and the financial world, Bush and every other President since Jimmy Carter have had the authority to exempt companies working on certain top-secret defense projects from portions of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. Administration officials told BusinessWeek that they believe this is the first time a President has ever delegated the authority to someone outside the Oval Office. It couldn't be immediately determined whether any company has received a waiver under this provision.

I'm supposed to feel like eating my lunch?!!

Anger at Oil Chief's $400 Million Retirement Package
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060106M.shtml
Investors and environmental campaigners condemned a $400 million retirement
package for the boss of Exxon Mobil, the man known as the "Darth Vader of Global
Warming," for his denial that carbon emissions cause climate change.

MARK OF THE BEAST

Scott Silverman, Chairman of the Board of VeriChip Corporation, has proposed implanting the company's RFID tracking tags in immigrant and guest workers. He made the statement on national television earlier this week.

Silverman was being interviewed on "Fox & Friends." Responding to the Bush administration's call to know "who is in our country and why they are here," he proposed using VeriChip RFID implants to register workers at the border, and then verify their identities in the workplace. He added, "We have talked to many people in Washington about using it...."

The VeriChip is a very small Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag about the size of a large grain of rice. It can be injected directly into the body; a special coating on the casing helps the VeriChip bond with living tissue and stay in place. A special RFID reader broadcasts a signal, and the antenna in the VeriChip draws power from the signal and sends its data. The VeriChip is a passive RFID tag; since it does not require a battery, it has a virtually unlimited life span.

RFID tags have long been used to identify animals in a variety of settings; livestock, laboratory animals and pets have been "chipped" for decades. Privacy advocates have long expressed concerns about this technology being used in human beings.

In a related story, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe allegedly remarked to visiting U.S. senators Jeff Sessions (Alabama) and Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania) that microchips could be used to track seasonal workers. "President Uribe said he would consider having Colombian workers have microchips implanted in their bodies before they are permitted to enter the U.S. for seasonal work," Specter told Congress on April 25.

Implanting microchips in human beings for the purpose of monitoring is not exactly news for science fiction fans; Alfred Bester wrote about "skull bugs" in his 1974 novel The Computer Connection:

"...you don't know what's going on in the crazy culture outside. It's a bugged and drugged world. Ninety percent of the bods have bugs implanted in their skulls in hospital when they're born. They're monitored constantly."
(Read more about Alfred Bester's skull bugs)
VeriChips are legal for implantation in people in the U.S.; see VeriChip RFID Tag Patient Implant Badges Now FDA Approved. See also a related story on a Proposed National Worker DNA Fingerprint Database. Read more at RFID implants for guest workers, Latin leader keen on ID chips and Chip implants for migrant workers?.

http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/060531_rfid_chips.html

Who at the Whitehouse is behind today's bogus lawsuit against Michael Moore. It looks like and smells like Karl Rove is back at his dirty work. Lets hope that someone in the media uncovers the Whitehouse connection although Rove would be happy to hear the story and Moore's name repeated over and over again before Nov, Michael Moore, Michael Moore, Michael Moore...

Yes, DiAnne, but you live in Seattle and therefore must be politically correct.

Please be sure to invest in manufacturers of jill boots, too.

to fetch a pail of, well, you know,
Otter

Just in case you might want to read a brief, unbiased, fair and balanced news report on the riff Ira just referred to:

http://tinyurl.com/qsuus

my furry otter asterisk,
M. Loutre

Damon's lawyer, Dennis Lynch, said Damon believes the film portrays him as "clearly against the war effort." Damon did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.

"It's upsetting to him because he's lived his life supportive of his government, he's been a patriot, he's been a soldier, and he's now being portrayed in a movie that is the antithesis of all of that," Lynch said.

Damon is seeking $75 million in damages for emotional distress and loss of reputation. His wife is suing for an additional $10 million in damages because of the mental distress caused to her husband, Lynch said.

http://tinyurl.com/m6fgj

The lawyers quote is ratlike, eh?

Hmmmm, can the country file a class action (upper excluded) suit against the Republican party for emotional distress and loss of reputation as well?

Mr. Precedent

Mebbe so. It's certainly worth a shot. Or maybe two shots. In fact, it might even require an entire bottle's worth. Let's ask Shrubya, I'm sure he knows.

rat bastids,
Otter

John Kerry, today in LA, on the topic of the thread header:

We used to value as a national treasure the international alliances and institutions that enhanced our strength, amplified our voice, and reflected our traditions and ideals in maintaining a free and secure world.

We used to measure America's strength and security by our moral authority, our economic leadership, and our diplomatic skills, as well as by the power of our military.

We used to say politics stopped at the water's edge--we used to call on our people to share in the sacrifices demanded by freedom, and our leaders used to raise hopes and inspire trust, not raise fears and demand blind faith...

more to come...

Rolling Stone article is online now.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen

Lawsuit Abuse, Karl?

Quoted without comment:

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

deep inside I've been force-fed lies
and only lead astray
I've been nailed to the wheel
and left behind and only cast away
now you can never break me
never take me
the lines that crack my face are real... blind
blind... my obsession drifts away
my obsession is my blind faith
my obsession drifts away
it is only my blind faith
abuse is the name of the ghost I ride
and I'm battered and not broke in
I've survived it all and never crawled
to rise back up in the end
now you can never break me
never take me
the lines that crack my face are real... blind
blind... my obsession drifts away
my obsession is my blind faith
my obsession drifts away
it is only my blind faith

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

and he's wasted and he can't find his way home,
Otter

My Republican Uncle just forwarded me the famous Bush resume. It was sent out en masse by another elderly disgruntled Republican from the upper midwest.

Also, from Center for American Progress:

Repealing the Paris Hilton Tax: So Not Hot

The estate tax (or, The Paris Hilton Tax) was "first adopted in the nineteenth century to fund various wartime government revenue shortfalls" (much as we have today), and "has been on the books continuously since 1916" when reformers were grappling with how to deal with the Gilded Age's growing income inequality. One such reformer of that era, President Teddy Roosevelt, said he believed in a "graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes" because Americans "are bound in honor to refuse to listen to those men would make us desist from the effort to do away with the inequality, which means injustice."

This year, the exemption level is $2 million ($4 million per couple), which means only 5 out of every 1,000 people who die will pay the estate tax. Nevertheless, the Senate leadership soon will take up legislation to repeal the estate tax completely in an effort to soothe its disenchanted base.

CongressDaily reported yesterday that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) could bring the bill to the floor next week, but "it is widely expected that repeal legislation will not garner the 60 votes needed." The decision to bring up repeal comes at a time when Americans rank terrorism, Iraq, gas prices, and the economy as national priorities, while only 23 percent of Americans support full repeal of the estate tax.

"It's a little unseemly," estate tax opponent Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said in Katrina's aftermath, "to be talking about eliminating the estate tax at a time when people are suffering." Given the ongoing war in Iraq and the continuing Gulf Coast reconstruction, the Senate should heed his words.

CNN BREAKING NEWS Major international powers agree on a package of incentives and penalties for Iran to halt nuclear program.

The Stolen Election article is now here:

http://tinyurl.com/q3pl3

"The AP reports that counterterrorism funding to Washington and New York will be slashed this year in favor of more spending on local response units."

snip
"Rep. Peter King (R-NY), the always-subtle chairman of the House Homeland Security, said, "It's absolutely indefensible, it's disgraceful. As far as I'm concerned the Department of Homeland Security and the administration have declared war on New York."

So much for the Republican mantra that voters need to re-elect Republicans to keep them safe. What is disgracedul Congressman King is that you recently voted to make Bush tax cuts and inheritance tax repeal permanent. Wouldn't that money have been much appreciated to secure D.C. and New York Congressman?

"John Kerry plans to send an e-mail appeal to supporters in Southern California asking them to volunteer for the Busby campaign over the course of the next six days. "The eyes of the nation and the national Republican party are on San Diego," writes Kerry.

Once again Senator Kerry is absolutely right. Busby's victory in the 50th Congressional District will create a tsunami across the media and strike fear in the RNC.

Who is this Nami person, and why does everyone want to sue him anyway??

oooh, Otter, THAT one hurts.......

Oh, but Karen, remember -- you only hurts the ones you loves...

:0)

Posted by: Otter at June 1, 2006 04:54 PM

Bolton: ‘This is Put Up or Shut Up Time For Iran,’ Unilateral Military Action Is ‘On The Table’

Yesterday on Fox’s Your World with Neil Cuvuto, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton explicitly said that unilateral military action against Iran was “on the table.” Bolton diplomatically added, “This is put up or shut up time for Iran.”

more...
http://tinyurl.com/qwkjd

US rejects North Korea invitation

1 hour, 43 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday rejected an invitation from North Korea for the chief U.S. envoy to stalled nuclear talks to visit Pyongyang.

"The United States is not going to engage in bilateral negotiations with the government of North Korea," said White House spokesman Tony Snow, saying Washington was sticking to its position that any negotiations be conducted through a six-nation format.

North Korea invited the chief envoy, Christopher Hill, to visit Pyongyang to directly explain whether the United States has a "true political intention" to implement a joint agreement aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons program.

North Korea has refused to return to six-party talks -- involving North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia -- since the last round in November because of a U.S. crackdown on firms suspected of aiding Pyongyang in illicit financial activities.

"The United States sticks by its position, which is North Korea has to return to the six-party talks," Snow said.

more...
http://tinyurl.com/n7gjd

Duhplomacy

Maybe I'm being the "duh" one here... but aren't those six-party talks we're so sword-rattlingly insisting that North Korea return to participating in the very same six-party talks that we fought tooth and nail not to participate in ourselves just a short several months ago??

(I use the word "we" quite loosely in this context, of course... but I really do hope that one of you will be able to correct my failing old mind-like-a-steel-sieve memory and tell me that no, "we" really have been pursuing this six-fold diplomatic path right from the very get-go...)

say it ain't seoul joe,
Otter

growing legs

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. | Was the 2004 Election Stolen?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060106R.shtml
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. writes about how in the 2004 election Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted - enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.

I put the entire RFK Jr piece in the Forum:

http://tinyurl.com/q3pl3

Read and enjoy, copy and distribute

MSNBC just announced a poll naming Bush as the worst President in the last 100 years, or as he would the worser President.

Ira,

That poll is definately accurate. Just like the polling done in Ohio on Nov. 2, 2004.

This new law in Florida is definately anti-democracy!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1331730

and Republican (no more?) Jack Rafferty gets it:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/06/01.html#a8535

"Cafferty: Don't kid yourself. This stuff isn't happening accidentally. These are calculated moves by people in power to corrupt the system in such a way that they are able to remain in power.

Wolf..get ready for a lot of angry emails from our viewers I suspect..."

Is CNN losing their Republican support and switching to real news and truthful commentary or is Cafferty the only one who sometimes speaks up in his grouchy old way?

(I know he's said some things that offend the liberals about immigration so it's not like they're completely liberal.)

CNN and the swifties, united again.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2657010&mesg_id=2657010

Another massacre?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5039420.stm

Karen
I printed out the entire RFK piece for a Texan who recently went to see RFK Jr almost by accident & who has been a life-long Republican.

It's good to know that Jerry Falwell's candidate can only win elections by cheating.

This just confirms my theory that the fundies' real cosmic connections are with that kid in The Omen.

Just got The Nation piece about the Dixie Chicks being number one - from the very happy guy who sent me the CD! He can't wait to get the hell out of his part of Florida.

(Pssst: what DiAnne said... at http://tinyurl.com/neg6j )

Once upon a time, we'd have assumed this was just so much more deliberately dishonest tub-thumping. But now, when what's good for BooshCo's goose keeps turning out to have been cooked up into sauce for the...

http://tinyurl.com/qu5xh

proper gander,
Otter

Gimpeach? Why, soitenly!

http://tinyurl.com/mgnls

going going gonzales,
Otter

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/spelling_bee
N.J. girl wins 1st prime-time spelling bee
WASHINGTON - The winner of the first national spelling bee on prime-time network television didn't display any made-for-reality-TV theatrics. She didn't write imaginary letters in the air, scream her letters into the microphone or punch her fist when she got a word right.
~~~~~
Katharine's modest but disarming smile turned into a gasp of joy Thursday when she aced "ursprache" — which means a parent language — to claim the Scripps National Spelling Bee title. She is the first girl to take the top prize in seven years.

"I couldn't believe it. I knew I knew how to spell the word and I was just in shock," said Katharine, who won more than $42,000 in cash and prizes. "I couldn't believe I would win."
~~~~~
At least the drama was compelling. Katharine and runner-up Finola Mei Hwa Hackett, a 14-year-old Canadian, were the last two standing for seven rounds, both confidently spelling words such as "maieutic," "poiesis" and "tmesis."

Finally, Finola, from Edmonton, Alberta, stumbled on the intriguing word "weltschmerz," which essentially means a kind of sentimental pessimism.

Third-place went to Saryn Hooks, a 14-year-old from West Alexander Middle School in Taylorsville, N.C., who was disqualified earlier in the evening, then returned to competition after the judges corrected their mistake. Saryn eventually fumbled on "icteritious," an adjective describing a jaundiced color.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Full story on link....

Additional info: http://www.spellingbee.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I interrupt the flow of this thread for a bright spot of feel-good news amidst the rest of the horrors and 'normal idiocy' we've been reading about..... (Sometimes one just needs to smile about something that's just essentially and only good...! Normally one can only take joy in bringing down the criminal politicians and I smile until I realize Lamestream Media will ignore the story....)

I watched the spelling bee last night. The commercials were irritating, as was the ABC morning show host and the guy who won the spelling bee years ago (my fervent wish was that both of them shut the hell up), and if they run the spelling bee next year, I hope they find sponsors who will be willing to make it commercial-free, or at least only break for commercials between rounds, not interrupt for idiotic and irritating commercials in the middle of the rounds. The full article on the link talks about the interruptions, and I wonder if that didn't disturb the concentration level of some of the kids. Better yet, if the spelling bee is aired next year, they should broadcast it on PBS, which is delightfully commercial-free....

First, second, and third place all went to girls this year! Go, Girls! :-) I did see a photo of one of the boys who was eliminated before tonight's competition in the montage of kids eliminated before tonight's final rounds, and the boy (whose name I can't remember) who won the geography bee competition sponsored by National Geographic which was aired on PBS a week or two ago was in it. It was mentioned a couple of times at the geography competition that he was going to be at the spelling bee in a few weeks.

The only word I knew how to spell when I heard it was 'poiesis'... only because I wrote a college essay on it years ago. I did guess correctly on one or two of the Hawaiian words, and a couple of the Greek words (and I stress: guess!), but most of the words were a total mystery to me. Gads, those kids are good!!! :-)

Dubya stinks? Try worst Prez since WWII, poll sez

Voters aren't just dissatisfied with President Bush - they think he's the worst President since World War II, according to a shocking new Quinnipiac University poll.

Bush has sunk so low in the public's estimation that Richard Nixon, who resigned in disgrace after Watergate, looks good by comparison.

While 34% of the poll participants rated Bush the worst President, Nixon got the thumbs down from 17% of 1,534 registered voters polled nationwide from May 23 to 30.

- more -

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/423020p-356962c.html

At least Ulysses S. Grant was drunk during most of his Presidency. What's Dubya's excuse?

More to the point, what's the excuse of the 59 million idiots who voted for him?

Posted by: Cyrano at June 2, 2006 07:07 AM

Gee, I never thought I'd paraprhase Barbara Bush, but why would I want to clutter my beautiful mind thinking about such ugly things?

Crosscut Saw.

I fail to see why Reagan was/is popular in people's memories....

The man was quite clearly senile when he was in office, and it showed every time someone asked him a question and he got that awful look of confusion in his eyes. Even Nancy answered a question for him at a vacation press thing once and got criticized for giving him the simple answer because he was just standing there like a confused old fart who wondered what was going on. If the look of confusion passed after someone asked him a question, he never answered any question directly, but countered with some silly old joke from his third-rate acting days. It was also pathetically obvious at the Iran-Contra hearings; he genuinely didn't know answers and that tell-tale look of confusion swept across his face. (I figured at the time that Bushie Sr. was running the show, and also masterminded the whole Iran-Contra scandal.) I felt sorry for Reagan, but we certainly didn't deserve to have a senile old man running this nation either.

Or, did one have to have a grandparent going senile at the same time to be able to see the obvious signs of Alzheimer's/senility in the so-called "leader" of this country...?

Haven't we had enough of jovial and senile old farts and juvenile joksters running this country as "someone the common man can identify with and want to have a beer with"???

I'm ready to go back to a sophisticated, intelligent Rhodes-scholar type of president again.... At least when someone like that lies it sounds good and the sentences are constructed properly....

Posted by: NonnyO at June 2, 2006 07:33 AM

I had the same smack myself in the forehead while shaking skull from side-to-side feeling about Dutch as I do about Dubya Dutch Wannabee. I just never got it.

Hell, when Shrub finally fessed up to makin' a mistake, he actually SAID he wished he's been more "s'fistigaded" instead of using "tough talk". WISHED.

If that isn't the flip-flop of all-time, I don't know what is. An endorsement of nuance... the very thing Kerry was villified and ridiculed for.

Yes, and go forth and fornicate thyself.

monkey, you have such a way with words!

Good to wake up to a solid round of articulate bashing of morons-in-chief who deserve to flip burgers in hell. It's only 5:30 AM here!

It's impossible to understand Reagan's appeal without factoring in the impact of movies and television on the American imagination. The American people, collectively speaking, routinely confuse image and reality.

Reagan was a kind of surrogate father figure - a reminder for some of an America they feared was quickly vanishing. That America may never have actually existed - or if it did exist, it certainly wasn't the halcyon time that they wished to remember.

This inability to distinguish between image and reality was highlighted during the '04 campaign – during which a majority of Red State Americans were unable to distinguish between Dubya's counterfeit expression of masculinity vis-à-vis Kerry's lifelong embodiment of it. Nothing so highlighted this strange dynamic than the public's reaction to Kerry's windsurfing. Rather than seeing JK as a character out of Hemmingway, who at sixty continued to test himself against the imposing power of nature, this activity was successfully painted as near effeminate – in comparison to the behavior of a President who nearly choked eating a pretzel, and whose physical challenges were limited to jogging and raking leaves. And this is leaving aside the issue of both mens' respective military records.

We’re living in an America where a substantial percentage of the population has lost the ability to recognize authentic masculinity, and yet still insists on a restoration of “patriarchal values”!

Iraqi citizens:

Thaer Juma, a lawyer and director of a non-government organisation in Baghdad, said: "These crimes are happening every day in [the western Iraqi cities of] Haditha and Ramadi, but the international community knows nothing about them because there are media blackouts on the operations, and there are no international humanitarian NGOs to record these transgressions."

Omar Saed, 55, a university lecturer in Baghdad, said: "We'd like to send a brief letter to all the world: 'Please stop the American troops killing any more people.' We need full cooperation from all to help us avoid any more incidents like what happened in Haditha and Ramadi and all the [other] Iraqi cities."

Omar al-Hadi, a businessman in Baghdad's affluent Mansour district, said: "Why are the Americans making a big deal of this now? Don't they know how many thousands of Iraqis have died at the hands of the foreign forces, the terrorists and the militias, and how nothing is ever done about it - apart from occasional expressions of regret?"

Hussein al-Jassim, a baker in the capital's Karrada district, said: "I don't care who was responsible - the Americans or the terrorists. All I know is their deaths and all the deaths are for nothing.

"Iraq was finished the minute Saddam took over, and then the minute the Americans thought they could come and save us from him."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1788624,00.html

Matthew Carnicelli
Riding a Segway (falling off) is masculine?!

It's hard to fathom.

Michael Moore is getting Swift Boated like crazy.
Must be that new film about the pharmaceutical industry he's working on.

File under "Support Our Troops"?!

Veterans Warned of Possible Virus Exposure

MILWAUKEE (AP) - More than 2,000 veterans were advised they might have been exposed to deadly viruses such as HIV when they underwent prostate biopsies at a medical center for veterans, a newspaper reported Friday.

The Department of Veterans Affairs sent letters dated May 8 to 2,075 men who had the biopsies between 1989 and 2003 at the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said.

The letter cautions that equipment may not have been properly sterilized and encourages the veterans to return to the center for a free blood screening.

The risk was described as ``very small,'' and officials said they have ``no evidence that any patient who had a prostate biopsy ... has acquired an infection.''

``We want to do the right thing here,'' medical center spokesman Chris Houterman told the newspaper. ``We want to allay concerns.''

Houterman said 304 men have gotten blood tests so far and none turned up positive for hepatitis C, hepatitis B or HIV, the three viruses being screened.

Zablocki is among 21 VA medical centers in the nation where potential sterilization problems were found with prostate biopsy equipment. It upgraded its equipment in 2003 and no longer is using the device in question.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-5861107,00.html

Gore movie opens here tonight at 2 theaters & I think it'll be packed, despite the Film Festival going on. This is the report on the preview last night.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/272558_warming02.html

Posted by: Matthew Carnicelli at June 2, 2006 08:39 AM

Matt, assuming your actual email is posted here, you have mail. Otherwise...can you email me?

~V

DiAnne, I've ridden Segways. I know Segways. Segways were a ride of mine. Mountain bikes, they're no Segways.

Ahem.

but then the booshwheels keep falling off anyway,
Otter

Matthew:

That America did actually exist. And it still does. It always has. And we ignore that at our own political peril.

*Highly* recommend that you -- and everybody else ahem ahem -- make a specific point of reading James Webbs' book, "Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America" asap.

Clarifies a lot of otherwise confusing and apparently contradictory assumptions about we-the-sheeple, it does.

And its insights also add up to a very useful guide to understanding how we-the-DCPeeple can help in the fight to take back our country in '06 and '08.

I may be a bleeding-heart liberal but I'm still a by-blood american-highlands boy too,
Otter