Shots Across the Bow

I do not know wether to giggle or throw up.

"A couple of days ago, Americablog reported rumors of another secretly gay Republican congressperson involved in scandal. John Aravosis refused to divulge the name (even in private correspondence -- yes, I was nebby enough to ask), although his published piece cleverly hinted that the "mystery gay" was House Speaker Denny Hastert himself. Now, a number of web sites -- and even Randi Rhodes! -- have reported that Hastert is indeed the man on the hot seat."

Snip.

"Many chiefs of staff are close, very close, to their bosses on Capitol Hill. But none are closer than Scott Palmer is to Denny Hastert. They don't just work together all day, they live together.

There are plenty of odd couple Congressmen who have roomed together on Capitol Hill, but I have never heard of a chief of staff who rooms with his boss. It is beyond unusual. But it must have its advantages. Anything they forget to tell each other at the office, they have until bedtime to catch up on. And then there's breakfast for anything they forgot to tell each other before falling asleep. And then there's all day at the office."

Snip...

"It's a rare D.C. appearence for Mrs. Hastert. She was here a few weeks ago for President Bush's State of the Union address. She was off to an afternoon tea, at an ambassador's residence, sponsored by some international group.

When in Washington, the speaker lives in a group house with his chief of staff, Scott Palmer and top deputy, Mike Stokke.

I asked her if she is bunking with the guys.

She is not. She stays in a hotel."

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2006/10/flaggots.html

From that same link. OMG Somebody call ...SOMEBODY!!!

"WMR's State Department sources have also reported that the visits of Hastert and other congressional leaders and staff members to certain Southeast Asian nations and the Northern Marianas should come under the scrutiny of the House Ethics Committee, now officially investigating "Pagegate." The Northern Marianas became infamous in the scandals involving Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff because of the presence in the US slave labor territory of Asian children being used as prostitutes. Conveniently, Foley co-chaired the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, which would have had authority to investigate charges of child prostitution in the Northern Marianas."

Karen, have a pivo for us!

Posted by: mbk at October 9, 2006 08:56 PM

OK, but I just had a banana and chocolate crepe and I am very happy about it~

Prague is a very different place from the USA. For one thing, the churches are right on the street. No fences. No transitional space. Just right there, next to the theatres and shops. And there is music coming out of them==organs and flutes. In fact, there is music everywhere in this city, not all of it to my taste. But if you just keep going along, something wonderful will come up.

This is a city made for people in interaction. I was walking across the Charles Bridge = just stunning = and there are artists painting, crafts being sold, musicians playing, and marionettes performing. The human imagination is everywhere.

I would like import the sensibility to the US. Or maybe just take everyone at DCP to Prague!

Christy, I hear you about the Post, but one of the challenges of taking over Fox or the Post is that the buildings cannot be surrounded. Too many escape routes...

And I need about 99,999 of you all to help me. They do not understand individual voices. Obviously. Strength makes right, or so they believe.

Suz,

Oy. Just how sorry a state has American politics sunk into that "swiftboating" has been turned into a lower-case verb already?

In any event, it's not surprising that the Repolitburu's apparatchiks in the field are using their puppets & tools to do their swiftboating for them. It's a scut-and-scum strategy that has worked well for their side in the past.

But it's good to see the Dems fighting back fast and hard when the sleazeball swifties come gunning for them this time.

It's unfortunate but true that the Dems now understand the flaws inherent in a stay-the-course, stand-still-and-lose mentality as well as they do because that's the political approach they took back in 2004.

The Dems tried to stay the course they'd set in their own smoke-filled rooms in 2004. They tried to stand still and stay on the high ground, rather than get down in the mud and fight back against the neokonzertruppen attack waves.

And in the long run, that ethical but ineffective strategy came back and bit the Dems -- and, sadly, the rest of the country right along with them -- in their ethical but ineffective butts.

So it's quite an improvement in 2006 to see the Dems being effective even while still remaining ethical (or as ethical as one can be in modern American politics, anyway.)

And it's especially heartwarming to see Senator Kerry leading the counteroffensive this time, too. If anyone has the right to speak out on issues of combat courage and REMF responsibility, he does.

So thanks for keeping us updated on the ugly war that's going on down in the electoral trenches again this year, Suz. With luck and plenty of hard work on our end, it'll be the reich-wing reactionaries that end up with the toothmarks in their trousers this time.

shrubiana delenda est,
Otter

As regards to the thread head: Do what John Kerry says. Kick them in the ass. Don't give them a chance to get away with it. Personally I am sick and tired of cowards who shout fire in a theater and they need to be smacked down without mercy. It will get ugly, but things are ugly now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIF7_P92ORQ

Hastert to speak on Foley scandal at 11 AM EST...

Ben Dover

I guess people who never served in war but became profiteers are more honorable than actual vets, (Rummy Cheney Bush and several others that have been named)It is a sad sad day in this country when cowards get away with hiring or encouraging someone to attack our brave men and women who served in the military, and stand with those hired attack dogs then get to say, I never said that. Its enough to make one puke.

Right on, monkey.

It's time to see the corrupt Rethuglican leaders of the Auction House of Representatives brought to their knees.

Oh, wait... that'd be a little redundant, wouldn't it?

some things are just too hard to swallow,
Otter

Otter,

Upper case Swiftboating verb or lower case swiftboating verb makes no difference to me. What matters is that it's in the lexicon of our language and people know and understand exactly what it is.

If you noticed in the link, when the author described the SBVF__ they did not say "for truth". They said Swiftboat veterans against other veterans!

Also, they made sure they commented on how vets were being used by people running for office.

So it's all the same to me.

All that matters is stopping the lies and stopping the political use of our troops because General Clarke is right--this hurts the troops!

"Christy, I hear you about the Post, but one of the challenges of taking over Fox or the Post is that the buildings cannot be surrounded. Too many escape routes..."

You are not trying to keep them from 'escaping' darlin.

That would be unlawful detainment.

We NEED for them to be able to come and go, it will be election day after all.

What I am talking about is ringing the perimiter and not allowing them to come OR go without having to see your faces.

The whites of your eyes. And the orange of your banner. Make them step over you, around you, THROUGH YOU.

It may just make them stop a moment and think 'Do I really want to help rig an election with all of these people standing here watching me..?' I can assure you the next thought will be 'NO.'

All they have to do is SEEEEE IT.

The symbolic nature of it will do the rest.

As you read them back their own words, only stop now and then to ask them to explain it. When you lose your voice bring up the next reader.

THEY, themselves, can end it all, anytime they wanted too by simply printing the truth about EVERYTHING they have been holding back.

When they print the truth of what has happened here, we will no longer need to demand they do.

Karen
Heard the Dalai Lama on the BBC, speaking from Prague

As far as the numbers...

Lets' say 100,000 people show up to surround the WH in protest.

If the word ripples through that crowd that a sister demonstration is taking place to 'Surround the Washington Post!" there is not a single person there that will not understand that it is perhaps even MORE significant a symbol than the WH itself.

Split the troops and form two fronts that only covers a few blocks between them but shows a focus that is desperately needed on our side.

If you build it, they will come.

It all comes down to a peaceful sit-in. And you are right, they will ONLY see strength in numbers.

You can even plan a simultainious sit in to erupt around Foe in NY at the same time, for those New Yorkers that can not get to DC. They WANT to ignore you. MAKE them see you instead.

Make sure everyone has or wears orange. They will DEFINATELY see that.

The press can no longer deny they are not responsible. But they will keep pretending they're not until you show up and demand answers.

Posted by: Otter at October 10, 2006 10:43 AM

Hastert doesn't have knees, at least not that he's seen or used in quite some time.

No Payin', No Gayin'

Hastert: Anyone who knew about Foley 'should go'

RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday October 10, 2006

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) addressed the scandal involving former Representative Mark Foley (R-FL) in a brief press conference this morning, RAW STORY has learned.

Hastert indicated repeatedly that anyone--including people in his own staff--who knew about the Foley messages and did not report them should be fired. He also denied claims that he himself knew about Foley's messages to former pages long before the scandal broke.

Developing...
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Hastert_Anyone_who_knew_about_Foley_1010.html

Gee, kinda like if anyone leaks classified info in the Bush administration, they will be fired too, eh?

Too little, too late... but that's the Republican way anymore. (Sounds like they wanna WAIT to be attacked before acting, too!)

(Sounds like they wanna WAIT to be attacked before acting, too!)

Posted by: monkey at October 10, 2006 11:14 AM

Pretty strange for a party that believes in pre-emptive wars against foreign "menaces."

Posted by: monkey at October 10, 2006 11:14 AM

Any 'boss' or 'supervisor' in any company who doesn't know what his underlings are doing is a piss-poor excuse for a human being.

It's one thing to give employees responsibility and let them carry out their jobs without interfering or being a control freak about how those employees carry out their jobs... but if the employees are derelict in their duties and don't keep the boss informed, then they are not particularly good employees, either.

In any case, the buck still stops with HasTurd, and he 'should' resign anyway, if for no other reason than he apparently didn't see to it that his underlings keep him informed about Foley, and for the simple reason that when he did find out about Foley he did nothing about the situation.... That is the most unforgivable part. HasTurd did nothing when he found out (whichever year that was). He just let Foley continue to be a sexual predator toward the minor pages, which makes HasTurd an accessory to Foley's conduct....

Makes a person wonder what else HasTurd knows about that is immoral, unethical, and/or illegal, and hasn't bothered to stop....

Yes, Ally, but bear in mind that they think *you* are a foreign menace.

and on more than one level too,
Otter

And from the Otterworld Quoted Without Comment Department:

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

October 9, 2006
KERRY AGAIN RIPS SWIFT BOAT VETS
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa - U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) lashed out yesterday against a group that bashed him during his last run at the White House.

Kerry, who made a weekend appearance in northwest Iowa, said he is concerned that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is again resorting to “the politics of fear and smear.”

The group, financed by Texas conservatives, ran commercials questioning his record of being a decorated Vietnam veteran - the centerpiece of his presidential campaign in 2004.

“We’re not going to give them an ounce of daylight,” said Kerry, who is considering another run at the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

The senator said his response to the commercials was not strong enough.

“We thought the fact that the truth was out there was enough,” he said.

“Clearly it wasn’t.”

Those same conservatives have formed another group this year - Economic Freedom Fund - and are attacking Democrats across the country. Part of the campaign includes $500,000 to bash Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), who is seeking re-election in the 3rd District in central Iowa.

Boswell is being challenged by Republican state Senate President Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny in a race that has included significant cash from both parties.

Boswell retired after 20 years in the Army, including two tours in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot.

But the conservative group has chosen to focus on issues ranging from higher taxes to immigration.

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

turn the boats around and charge the shore,
Otter

Yes, Ally, but bear in mind that they think *you* are a foreign menace.

and on more than one level too,
Otter

Posted by: Otter at October 10, 2006 12:17 PM

Well, I am certainly nowhere near being as much of a foreign menace as the TRUE foreign menace who's destroyed America - Reverend Moon.

But the conservative group has chosen to focus on issues ranging from higher taxes to immigration.

Posted by: Otter at October 10, 2006 12:22 PM

Immigration? Bring it on.

It's the Repukes who messed up the country, economically and socially, with their flawed special-interest immigration policies.

As far as I'm concerned, Ally, you are not a foreign menace of any kind.

:-) Some good news for today....

After this Foley scandal and Patty Wetterling's speech (I haven't heard it except for a few sound bytes, but it was in rebuttal to DimWit's last radio speech), Wetterling's only three points behind the neoCon Rethuglican woman who was in the lead, and Independents are now favoring Wetterling, but I don't know if that was figured in that three point trailing figure or not (the Indy candidate has only 7% in the last poll). Wetterling's son, Jacob, disappeared several years ago, his body was never found, and Wetterling has gotten lots of legislation enacted to protect kids, so she has some real experience and the voice of authority on children's issues. I was hoping she would pull ahead, but I'll take a statistical dead heat since the district she's running in is heavily Republican. That info was just on noon snooze.
~~~~

Amy Klobuchar (prosecuting attorney for Hennepin Co) is still way ahead in the polls against Mark Kennedy (he's a slimeball, has horrible swiftboating ads). Police associations in this state have endorsed Klobuchar, and they've endorsed Mike Hatch, former attorney general, running against the current Rethuglican governor Pawlenty who cut funds for law enforcement in several areas. Hatch and Pawlenty have been only one point apart in polls for a while, but I suspect the current ads I've seen in the last couple of days where the law enforcement associations have openly endorsed both Hatch and Klobuchar will help a lot.

Klobuchar has been heavily favored for the senate seat vacated by Dayton for a long time (think she was 15 points ahead in the last polls), so likely she'll win it easily. If Hatch wins for governor, I suspect the neoCons won't be happy they've selected Minneapolis for their '08 convention, even if Pawlenty has been mentioned as a VP potential for them. Now that some of the representative seats are in statistical dead heats, things are looking up for possible Dem wins, too....

I'll take good news as I find it. We have paper ballots in this state (although most counting is done on optical scanners), so accurate recounts can be done without any problems, if necessary, if any races are close enough to be contested. MN has been a mostly Democratic state for many decades, so with any luck we should be a (mostly) blue state again this time around....

Speaker vows to fire anyone involved in Foley cover-up

House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Tuesday he'll dismiss anyone on his staff found to have covered up concerns about ex-Rep. Mark Foley's approaches to former pages.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/10/congress.pages.ap/index.html

What's wrong with that story??? I'll tell you what's wrong...

It epitomizes this whole friggin' republican party & administration: accept no responsibility or accountability & blame the underlings.

Man, I hope some of those staffers rat big time on this fat Hasturd & his cronies.

Posted by: madame defarge at October 10, 2006 01:13 PM

Not only taking no responsibility, but ALWAYS in discovery and so-called action mode WAY AFTER THE FACT.

Ahem...

9/11
Katrina
Foleyage
North Korea

Johnny Dumb Lately

From brother Indy in NOLA...

The law protecting US citizens from the armed forces has been violently breeched in NOLA.

"But I thought the cell phone was a gun..." said the veteran of the Iraq war patrolling the streets of New Orleans...with his AR-15.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/neworleans/index.ssf?/base/news-6/116046782628690.xml&coll=1

More from the Reverend...

Has anyone heard of Congress passing a law allowing National Guardsman to shoot civillians? Anyone hear when Fuerer Bush instituted the Insurrection act?

Damn...does my Motorola Razor look like a gun?!?!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act

McCain vs. the Clintons on North KoreaPosted: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 12:07 PM
by Mark Murray

From NBC's Ken Strickland

Are we beginning to see the contours of a possible Clinton-McCain presidential race? In remarks today, Sen. John McCain (R) said the Clinton Administration's policy on North Korea "was a failure," calling it a "carrots and no sticks policy that only encouraged bad behavior." He also called on Senator Hillary Clinton (D) to stop blocking legislation that would accelerate missile defense. These remarks were released in a written statement today to compliment a news conference McCain held in Michigan where he was expected to make the same points.

"I would remind Sen. Clinton and other critics of the Bush Administration's policies that the framework agreement of the Clinton Administration was a failure," McCain said. "The Koreans received millions of dollars in energy assistance. They diverted millions in food assistance to the military. And what did the Koreans do? They secretly enriched uranium." He added, "When one carrot didn't work, we offered another." McCain also threw his support behind President Bush and his handling of the North Korea situation, including Bush's calls for action by the UN Security Council. And while he didn't call for immediate military action against North Korean, McCain said "it is obvious" the United States needs a larger active duty Army and Marine Corps.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/

Hillary fires back
Posted: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 3:05 PM
by Mark Murray

From NBC's Ken Strickland

A spokesperson in Sen. Hillary Clinton's office fired off this written response to McCain's criticisms of the Clinton Administration's North Korea policies -- although it's more directed at President Bush than John McCain. "Now is not the time to play politics of the most dangerous kind -- with our policy on North Korea. History is clear that nothing the Bush Administration has done has stopped the North Koreans from openly testing a nuclear weapon and present a new danger to the region and the world. President Bush has been in charge of North Korea policy for six years, and two days ago we saw the brazen result."

More from the statement: "Senator Clinton supports a National Missile Defense System that has been tested and actually works. She supports an approach that protects us from the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons, as the Clinton Administration successfully did for eight years."

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/

Posted by: monkey at October 10, 2006 02:40 PM

I didn't even know the Guard troops were still in NOLA, although I do remember mercenaries with Blackwater or one of the Halliburton subsidiaries was there for a while, but I thought the Guard troops had already been pulled, and that's why the mercenaries were there...?

Make sure your cell phone is a flaming feminine color, like neon hot pink, and can't possibly be confused with anything resembling any color associated with a gun!!!

The last cell phone I saw was my neighbor's, and it's one of those little things that flips/folds in on itself, fits inside the palm of a small feminine hand. There's not the slightest possible way that little silver thing could ever be confused with looking like a gun. A woman's compact, maybe, but most certainly not a gun.

Someone either desperately needs glasses, is daft... or is lying.

simple point: has anyone bothered to remind McCain and the RNC that Bill Clinton has now been out of office for 5 1/2 years and that Bush was officially responsible for our foreign policy and the nuclear codes when he was sworn in the last week of January 2001? Perhaps McCain is confusing his Clintons and thinks that he may be running against Bill or maybe that he should just simply ask Fox to put Republican under her name the next time they show her image on Fox. Kind of funny they now want their Republican candidades to have D's under their name. Are Republicans now running from their own party label. Next thing you know it will be a 4 letter word to be called a conservative or Republican.

karen we hope you have a safe trip home soon.visit the Kondikaris and let us know about Vienna when you return

From May 2004...

Rolling Blunder
How the Bush administration let North Korea get nukes.

By Fred Kaplan
May 2004
Washington Monthly

On Oct. 4, 2002, officials from the U.S. State Department flew to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, and confronted Kim Jong-il's foreign ministry with evidence that Kim had acquired centrifuges for processing highly enriched uranium, which could be used for building nuclear weapons. To the Americans' surprise, the North Koreans conceded. It was an unsettling revelation, coming just as the Bush administration was gearing up for a confrontation with Iraq. This new threat wasn't imminent; processing uranium is a tedious task; Kim Jong-il was almost certainly years away from grinding enough of the stuff to make an atomic bomb.

But the North Koreans had another route to nuclear weapons--a stash of radioactive fuel rods, taken a decade earlier from its nuclear power plant in Yongbyon. These rods could be processed into plutonium--and, from that, into A-bombs--not in years but in months. Thanks to an agreement brokered by the Clinton administration, the rods were locked in a storage facility under the monitoring of international weapons-inspectors. Common sense dictated that--whatever it did about the centrifuges--the Bush administration should do everything possible to keep the fuel rods locked up.

Unfortunately, common sense was in short supply. After a few shrill diplomatic exchanges over the uranium, Pyongyang upped the ante. The North Koreans expelled the international inspectors, broke the locks on the fuel rods, loaded them onto a truck, and drove them to a nearby reprocessing facility, to be converted into bomb-grade plutonium. The White House stood by and did nothing. Why did George W. Bush--his foreign policy avowedly devoted to stopping "rogue regimes" from acquiring weapons of mass destruction--allow one of the world's most dangerous regimes to acquire the makings of the deadliest WMDs? Given the current mayhem and bloodshed in Iraq, it's hard to imagine a decision more ill-conceived than invading that country unilaterally without a plan for the "post-war" era. But the Bush administration's inept diplomacy toward North Korea might well have graver consequences. President Bush made the case for war in Iraq on the premise that Saddam Hussein might soon have nuclear weapons--which turned out not to be true. Kim Jong-il may have nuclear weapons now; he certainly has enough plutonium to build some, and the reactors to breed more.

Yet Bush has neither threatened war nor pursued diplomacy. He has recently, and halfheartedly, agreed to hold talks; the next round is set for June. But any deal that the United States might cut now to dismantle North Korea's nuclear-weapons program will be harder and costlier than a deal that Bush could have cut 18 months ago, when he first had the chance, before Kim Jong-il got his hands on bomb-grade material and the leverage that goes with it.

The pattern of decision making that led to this debacle--as described to me in recent interviews with key former administration officials who participated in the events--will sound familiar to anyone who has watched Bush and his cabinet in action. It is a pattern of wishful thinking, blinding moral outrage, willful ignorance of foreign cultures, a naive faith in American triumphalism, a contempt for the messy compromises of diplomacy, and a knee-jerk refusal to do anything the way the Clinton administration did it.

more...
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0405.kaplan.html

Posted by: monkey at October 10, 2006 04:34 PM

I DO so WISH the neoCons and Lamestream Media would STOP pushing Hillary down our throats as the next Democratic presidential nominee...!!!

As long as Hillary remains pro-war, she'll lose, so IMHO setting her up as the next Democratic presidential nominee guarantees the neoCons will stay in power.... (McCain is NOT a moderate anything! He's a traitor to the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights because he voted for the Torture Bill....)

I desperately want a woman to be president in my lifetime, but Hillary is not a woman I can support as a presidential nominee as long as she's pro-war.

Posted by: monkey at October 10, 2006 04:58 PM

The schizophrenic policy toward North Korea, with the only common denominator being the hatred of all things done by the Clinton administration, smacks me of only one thing.

Reverend Moon is in control of our North Korean policy.

Strip this bastard of his US citizenship, and put him on the next Korean Air flight home. This tax evader probably naturalized through fraud anyway.

Quit waffling and tell monkey how you really feel about the guy, Ally.

moon over miami,
Otter

... and btw, N Korea never said anything like THIS to the Clinton administration...

In a statement issued through the official KCNA news service, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said "nuclear weapons will serve as reliable war deterrent for protecting the supreme interests of the state and the security of the Korean nation from the U.S. threat of aggression."

THE THREAT OF U.S. AGGRESSION!!!!

Gee, now who the F*CK do you think THAT reference was directed toward, huh Sen McCain?????

This country makes me wanna puke.

Posted by: monkey at October 10, 2006 02:40 PM

Except that Posse Comitatus and the Insurrection Act don't come into play when a governor has requested National Guard troops be detailed to the state and under state control, which they were in this case.

This seems a propos for today...

A splendid achievement

George Bush should be congratulated - he has surely earned the right to join the ranks of despots

Terry Jones
Tuesday October 10, 2006
The Guardian

Dear President Bush,

I write to you in my capacity as secretary of the World League of Despots.

It is with great pleasure that I am finally able to extend an official invitation to you to join our ranks. For many years, we have watched your efforts to fulfil the requirements necessary to join our number. From the start, we were greatly impressed by your disdain for democratic principles - the way you wrested power from the democratically elected candidate in the 2000 election, and again in 2005 when you managed to swing what was clearly going to be a victory for your opponent.

Contempt for human life has always been a priority requirement for membership of the league, and I and my fellow adjudicators were well aware of your record as governor of Texas when you quadrupled the number of state executions. But your record since seizing power has surpassed even our expectations. The thousands of innocent people in Iraq, who have died so that you could fulfil your declared political objective of establishing "an American force presence in the Middle East", attest to your eligibility to join our ranks.

I cannot, however, disguise the fact that we adjudicators were extremely anxious when you announced your intention to remove from office one of our most stalwart members, Mr Saddam Hussein. However, we need not have worried. According to a recent UN report, you have ensured that there are now even more human rights abuses in Iraq than there were under Saddam. No less than 10% of those in custody are being physically or psychologically abused. Well done!

Of course, your unstinting efforts to make torture an internationally accepted aspect of human life have surpassed everything we could have ever hoped for. I don't think there is a single member of the league who could have imagined, six short years ago, that our activities in tormenting our fellow creatures would once again be recognised as acceptable, civilised behaviour, as it once was in the middle ages.

Despite these achievements, we had, until now, felt unable to extend our invitation to you because you had been unable to fulfil one of our basic requirements: the ability to carry out arbitrary arrests, imprisonment without trial, secret torture and executions at will.

We approved of your attempts to establish the principles of arbitrary arrest under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, but unfortunately it was still restricted to terror suspects. We appreciate that you were hampered by the US constitution, but the restrictions this imposed on your arbitrary powers kept you below the threshold requirements for qualification as a despot.

Now, however, all that has changed. At the end of last month you persuaded the Senate to pass a bill regarding the treatment of detainees. Illegally obtained evidence can now be used against suspects, even if it has been gathered abroad under torture. Anyone you care to accuse can be thrown into prison without the right to a trial or the right to represent themselves.

Officially the legislation is restricted to "enemy combatants", but you have skilfully adapted this definition to include anyone who has "purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the US". This presumably means that anyone who publicly criticises your conduct can be defined as supporting hostilities to the US. You are now free to arrest and imprison anyone you don't like. You've got it in the bag!

It is with great pleasure that we in the World League of Despots note that you have now appropriated to yourself all the powers of arbitrary arrest and torture that Saddam once enjoyed. You are now one of us. Congratulations!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1891707,00.html

Posted by: madame defarge at October 10, 2006 06:01 PM

Hey, ya wanna send that to my fundie, Bushbootlickin inlaws? Anonymously, of course.

Home Despot

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's hard-line leaders said Tuesday their country would not retreat from its controversial nuclear program despite international demands that it do so.

The announcement from both Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came a day after North Korea said it conducted a nuclear weapons test.

"Our policy is clear: progress, offering transparent logic and insisting on the rights of the nation without retreat," Khamenei said, according to state-run television.

Ahmadinejad echoed his defiance, affirming that Iran would continue its nuclear program, which the country says is solely for peaceful purposes.

"The Iranian nation will continue its path of dignity based on resistance, wisdom and without fear," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

On Monday, North Korea declared it conducted an underground nuclear weapons test. Iran stood apart Tuesday from the chorus of global criticism condemning North Korea, instead blaming Washington for the test.

Many analysts said the North Korean test could embolden Iran to pursue its program, especially if the United States fails to reach consensus on how to react against the Asian country.

Khamenei said Iran would not bow to international demands that it suspend uranium enrichment. Tehran had rejected an August 31 deadline set by the U.N. Security Council that it suspend enrichment or face possible sanctions.

The supreme leader said because Iran had previously voluntarily suspended its desire to enrich uranium three years ago, it would not consider doing so again.

"If we had not experienced that path, perhaps we would have criticized ourselves today. But now, we will pursue with a strong heart," Khamenei said.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/10/iran.nuclear.ap/index.html

All because Furious George is a gun totin' moron.

Nice werk, jerk.

Report: Foley story was 'supposed to drop just before election'

RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday October 10, 2006
(Updated.)

A story appearing in the American Spectator claims that news of then-Congressman Mark Foley's (R-FL) inappropriate communication with pages was supposed to be released by Democratic "party operatives" at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington or American Family Voices just ten days prior to the election.

C.R.E.W. has contended that they received Foley emails many months ago, and turned what they had over to law enforcement, rather than passing it along to journalists. The organization plans to release a "fact sheet" detailing their account of involvement in the affair later today.

Republican rebuttal?

The Washington Post reported that the Republican National Committee has issued "talking points" to conservatives which focus on Democratic connections to both groups, in an attempt to push back against the public outcry regarding the scandal which has concentrated on GOP leaders. Polls indicate that many believe that Republican House leaders engaged in a "cover up" for the former Florida Congressman.

"The RNC is shipping reams of information to conservative radio hosts, television commentators and bloggers," Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza wrote for the Post. "Those GOP talking points detail the Democratic connections of groups including the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and American Family Voices, which are working to turn the scandal into an issue with national implications."

more...
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Report_Foley_story_was_supposed_to_1010.html

Group fires back Spectator claim they held Foley emails

RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday October 10, 2006

A non-profit group at the center of the Foley scandal has responded to a report in the American Spectator that it held and released the story for political gain by Democrats by issuing a summary of what they contend are media misrepresenations of the group's involvement.

A number of CREW's contentions can be verified as true. Others, at this point, cannot be verified or refuted.

The list, as released by CREW, follows:

#
LIE:

The email messages between Rep. Foley and a former page have been in CREW’s possession as far back as April.

FACT:

CREW received the emails on July 21, 2006 and promptly sent them to the FBI, and no one else, that same day. CREW did not discuss the email messages or their content with anyone else. The only call CREW’s Executive Director Melanie Sloan made regarding the matter was to the Washington FBI agent to whom she sent the emails to confirm receipt of the messages.

LIE:

CREW provided the FBI with incomplete information and heavily redacted emails. CREW refused to disclose the page’s name and contact information to the FBI.

FACT:

The emails Ms. Sloan sent to the FBI were not edited or redacted in any way. The page’s full name and email address were in the emails, as was the name and email address of the Congressional staffer to whom the page was sending the emails.

LIE:

The FBI investigation into Rep. Foley was hampered because CREW refused to comply with the agency’s request for additional information.

FACT:

After CREW sent the emails to the FBI, CREW’s only subsequent contact with the Bureau was one telephone call from the special agent to whom CREW had sent the material confirming that the emails were from Rep. Foley. CREW had no further contact with the FBI.

According to several government officials, the FBI sent the emails to three squads: a public corruptions squad, a criminal squad and a cyber-squad. After reviewing the matter, the FBI determined that there wasn't enough evidence at the time to suggest any criminal activity and did not move forward with an investigation.

LIE:

Fox News’ Sean Hannity said on October 5, 2006 that CREW had “been bragging about [the emails] on its website as early as July 21st.”

FACT:

CREW first posted the emails to www.citizensforethics.org on September 29, 2006, one day after ABC News reported them.

LIE:

CREW has been working with ABC on the Foley story and was reporter Brian Ross’ source for the emails.

FACT:

Ross told The New York Times he received the emails from Republicans. CREW was not involved in the broadcasting of his story. In fact, Ross didn’t even know that CREW had the emails until after he broke the story.

LIE:

Rep. Mark Foley resigned from Congress after CREW posted some of his email exchanges with a former page.

FACT:

Brian Ross has reported that Foley resigned hours after ABC questioned him about the sexually explicit internet messages.

LIE:

The blog Stop Sex Predators is owned and operated by CREW.

FACT:

CREW does not own, operate, or have any connection or involvement with the Stop Sex Predators blog. CREW first heard of the blog in media reports after the Foley scandal broke.

LIE:

One of CREW’s funders, George Soros, was behind the Foley scandal and has been directing CREW’s involvement in the case.

FACT:

George Soros had no knowledge that CREW had the Foley emails, nor does he have any input over CREW's day to day activities. CREW has not discussed the emails with any donors or Democratic operatives, strategists or staffers. All CREW did was send the messages to the FBI. After ABC broke the story, CREW posted the messages to its website.

LIE:

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) called CREW a “partisan 527 organization” on the October 8, 2006 edition of Fox News Sunday.

FACT:

CREW is a nonpartisan and nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Group_fires_back_Spectator_claim_they_1010.html

I'm so glad to see that our candidates are ready for the cowards & swiftboaters. Maybe a lightbulb will go on in the heads of voters who were confused the first time or 2 they saw these shills in action.

Take no crap... amen.

monkey at October 10, 2006 07:36 PM

Turn on a powerful fan & blow it back in their faces :p

McCain criticizes Bill Clinton on North Korea
Remarks may be first involving party's potential 2008 frontrunner

-snip-

McCain's criticism elicited a strong response from Democratic Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 presidential nominee and a potential 2008 candidate.

"He must be trying to burnish his credentials for the nomination process," said Kerry, who labeled McCain's comments "flat politics and incorrect."

"The truth is the Clinton administration knew full well they didn't have a perfect agreement. But at least they were talking. At least we had inspectors going in and we knew where the (nuclear fuel) rods were. This way, we don't know where the rods are, the rods are gone. There are no inspectors. Ask any American which way is better," Kerry said.

-snip

McCain also called on China to "step up to the plate" and vote for sanctions and rejected calls for one-on-one talks between the United States and North Korea.

"The worst thing we could do is to accede to North Korea's demand for bilateral talks," McCain said. "When has rewarding North Korea's bad behavior ever gotten us anything more than worse behavior?"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15210254/

Posted by: monkey at October 10, 2006 05:32 PM

Its all Clintons fault every bit of it, never mind he has not been in office for almost 6 years. It amazes me the same jerks claiming Saddam was a bad man were his friends sold him bomb making materials and all that rot. No One Has made a big deal out of it and the Media ignored that part of the story no one blamed Bush Sr or Reagan. Who were in my opinion to blame but every freak'n thing in the world is Clintons fault.

The embarrassing thing -- well, okay, so one embarrassing thing among any -- is that the North Korean leadership seems to have been handling itself with far more dignity lately than the American leadership has.

As for the cowards and swiftboaters, they're trying to blame the messenger in order to deflect responsibility for the message. Even if some secret sneaky Democrat-loving operatives had someone managed to hold onto the emails and IMs in order to release them at a particularly damaging time -- and every bit of evidence so far clearly indicates that no such Machiavellian conspiracy does or even could exist -- the point still remains that the content of these electronic messages, the conduct of the congressman who exchanged them with underage boys, and especially the party leadership that every bit of evidence so far seems to indicate knowingly and deliberately engaged in an ongoing cover-up of this congressman's activity for a period of years opn end constitute actionable proof of crimes and misdemeanors that did occur and do exist no matter when or how the evidence of said crimes and misdemeanors came to light.

All of which is long-winded legalistic geekspeek for the incontrovertible fact that this congressman and those around & above him are, in the memorable words of Garry Trudeau's "Megaphone Mark Slackmeyer" character: guilty, *guilty*, GUILTY!!

And aimzzz is quite correct in applauding the fact that the Dems That Be aren't going to, um, er, turn the other cheek to these entrenched political skanks any more.

Go, go, git 'em, Donkeys, go, *go*, GO!

BOOYAH!

not that I feel strongly about this one way or the other you understand,
Otter

I have been looking into this, am I reading this wrong? light water reactors are not used to produce weapons grade Plutonium, and isnt that the kind RUMSFELD sold to N Korea when Clinton was president? So how in the hell did they become something else who sold them the equipment required? Does anyone know anything about uranium enrichment I know we have a lot of really bright people here someone help me please.

Republicans:

The party of never taking any responsibility for anything - ever.

I had someone bring up the Clinton health care proposal today.

Wasn't that like 12 years ago? What the hell is up with that?

... and btw, N Korea never said anything like THIS to the Clinton administration...

In a statement issued through the official KCNA news service, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said "nuclear weapons will serve as reliable war deterrent for protecting the supreme interests of the state and the security of the Korean nation from the U.S. threat of aggression."

THE THREAT OF U.S. AGGRESSION!!!!

Posted by: monkey at October 10, 2006 05:32 PM

Unfortunately, this is the "strong" approach favored by the Korean-American bastards here, instead of the carrots-and-sticks approach that Clinton and the South Korean administrations have used.

I say that a war is a foregone conclusion in Korea - the only question is when. My answer: as soon as the draft is reinstated and we have enough manpower again.

On another tangent, I don't think the Korean and Korean-American right-wingers would appreciate the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and those pesky homos guarding their country. But then, if you wanna give up your sovereignty, you don't get to have a say in this - you take what we give you.

I had someone bring up the Clinton health care proposal today.

Wasn't that like 12 years ago? What the hell is up with that?

Posted by: Carol at October 10, 2006 07:54 PM

Besides, the Clinton healthcare proposal - call it socialist universal healthcare if you must - is still vastly superior to the "Ownership Society" healthcare system anyway.

Remember, there are people like me, who can afford the healthcare premiums, but who will continue to be turned down by the insurers anyway for "prior conditions." And honestly, I want the Dems to have a proposal directed at the likes of me, not just the poor.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061010/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_nkorea_37
White House rejects North Korea talks
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration rejected anew Tuesday direct talks with North Korea and said it would not be intimidated by a reported threat from Pyongyang that it could fire a nuclear-tipped missile unless the U.S. acts to resolve the standoff. "This is the way North Korea typically negotiates by threat and intimidation," said U.S. Ambassador John Bolton. "It's worked for them before. It won't work for them now."
{{{So.... it's okay for Bu$hCo and/or Bolton to use threats and intimidation (or start illegal and unconstitutional wars) to get other countries to comply with their demands, but it's not okay for anyone else to do the same thing to the Bu$h administration...?}}}

Control of the Governors' Mansions in Play
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/100906X.shtml
For the first time since the 1994 Republican landslide, Democrats are poised to attain a majority of the nation's governorships, giving the party an important political toehold regardless of who wins the battle to control Congress.

{{{So.... it's okay for Bu$hCo and/or Bolton to use threats and intimidation (or start illegal and unconstitutional wars) to get other countries to comply with their demands, but it's not okay for anyone else to do the same thing to the Bu$h administration...?}}}

Posted by: NonnyO at October 10, 2006 08:03 PM

Yes. Didn't you know that the US is above international law, always was, always will be? :)

Olbermann getting ready to do a piece on the death of Habeus Corpus. After the break.

Watch it now on msnbc. (eastern and central, anyway)

Posted by: Carol at October 10, 2006 08:14 PM

If I wasnt Happily Married I would marry that man goodness do I love him lol. Am Watching :)

From the Otterworld Quoted Without Comment Department, this excerpt from a Washington Post article that you can read at http://tinyurl.com/zj9hx :

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

"GOP officials are urging lawmakers to focus exclusively on local issues and leave it to party leaders to mitigate the Foley controversy by accusing Democrats of trying to politicize it. At the same time, the White House plans to amplify national security issues, especially the threat of terrorism, after North Korea's reported nuclear test, in hopes of shifting the debate away from casualties and controversy during the final month of the campaign. These efforts are aimed largely at prodding disaffected conservatives to vote for GOP candidates despite their unease."

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

why I am shocked shocked I tell you,
Otter

I watched Olbermann's thing on Habius Corpus, it seems to me if the President signs that Bill into Law it is immediate grounds for Impeachment maybe that is why he hasnt signed it yet, maybe good old Gonzales hasnt been able to find him a loophole yet though I am sure he is looking really really hard for one as are others in the Administration.

Not that I did not realize this before. But it never occured to me he would put off signing the thing, I thought maybe they had a manufactured loophole all ready to go.

Randy Newman knows.

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

No one likes us, I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money, but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us, so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them

Asia's crowded and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada's too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one left to blame us

We'll save Australia
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an All American amusement park there
They got surfin', too

Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono
And there'll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

Holiday
by Green Day

Say, hey!

Hear the sound of the falling rain
Coming down like an Armageddon flame (Hey!)
The shame
The ones who died without a name

Hear the dogs howling out of key
To a hymn called "Faith and Misery" (Hey!)
And bleed, the company lost the war today

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday

Hear the drum pounding out of time
Another protester has crossed the line (Hey!)
To find, the money's on the other side

Can I get another Amen? (Amen!)
There's a flag wrapped around a score of men (Hey!)
A gag, a plastic bag on a monument

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday

(Hey!)
(Say, hey!)

"The representative from California has the floor"

Sieg Heil to the president Gasman
Bombs away is your punishment
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government
Bang bang goes the broken glass and
Kill all the fags that don't agree
Trials by fire, setting fire
Is not a way that's meant for me
Just cause, just cause, because we're outlaws yeah!

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives

This is our lives on holiday

This one's 40 years old, but it sure doesn't seem like it, does it? WTG Tom Lehrer, Clairvoyant.

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

When someone makes a move
Of which we don't approve,
Who is it that always intervenes?
U.N. and O.A.S.,
They have their place, I guess,
But first -- send the Marines!

We'll send them all we've got,
John Wayne and Randolph Scott;
Remember those exciting fighting scenes?
To the shores of Tripoli,
But not to Mississippoli,
What do we do? We send the Marines!

For might makes right,
And till they've seen the light,
They've got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
Till somebody we like can be elected.

Members of the corps
All hate the thought of war;
They'd rather kill them off by peaceful means.
Stop calling it aggression,
Ooh, we hate that expression!
We only want the world to know
That we support the status quo.

They love us everywhere we go,
So when in doubt,
Send the Marines!

I've been contributing to fund drives for public radio because I depend on it. I get much of my news from NPR, BBC and also catch Democracy Now, Jim Hightower & more. For music, I never miss WoPop by Darek Mazzone, at http://www.kexp.org, where you can listen to his show on Tuesday nights from 6-9 PM PST. What he does is play music from all over the world.

I just heard Iraqi music that was recorded during Saddam's regime but the CD was put together right here in Georgetown, which is in the industrial district of Seattle, but being taken over by artists & musicians being chased out of Pioneer Square by expensive rents.

Darek is originally from Vienna, Austria but has lived here long enough to start losing his accent. He was at the station and the phone kept ringing and ringing persistently. He finally picked it up and it was a cab driver - Eritrean, Ethiopian or Egyptian - can't remember exactly, but he started crying, screaming and telling Darek he loved him. Darek has been playing music from the guy's country and he couldn't believe he was here in America, driving his cab, & hearing his favorite artist from his home country.

Read Darek's bio and see why I admire him very much. He also lists his current world music favorites & you can hear his show, live and archived, right on-line.

http://www.kexp.org/programming/djpage.asp?DJID=285

Consider joining KEXP - they now have members from all over the world. I remember when it was a small college station.

Ally
Seattle Times and Everett Herald both have front page articles on the local Korean community response to recent events. You might be interested. I was.

Rice: Bilateral talks won't work

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday defended the Bush administration's refusal to hold bilateral talks with North Korea in the face of Pyongyang's claim of a successful nuclear test. She told CNN the Clinton administration tried that approach in the 1990's and it had failed.

PHUCK YOU, CONDI!

Oh my furs and whiskers, but Jon Stewart is just absolutely *immolating* the Rethuglicans' pathetic attempts to reverse-spin the Foley's Follies scandal into a vast Dem-wing conspiracy tonight!

If you're not watching it right now, *do* absolutely make sure you watch the reruns of tonight's 'Daily Show' at 1 am, 2 pm, and 8 pm EST tomorrow.

Either that, or just snag some of the inevitable YouTube video rips of it as soon as they're posted.

:0)

jon for john's chief of staff in 2008,
Otter

Need some otterlore,

As a fan of Tom Lehrer, do you know the lyrics to Who's Got the Bomb? Familiar, and as clairvoyant?

I had a bootleg Harvard version, somewhere between a 33 and 78, but no longer.

If you can.

"Who's Next?", by Tom Lehrer

First we got the bomb, and that was good,
'Cause we love peace and motherhood.
Then Russia got the bomb, but that's okay,
'Cause the balance of power's maintained that way.
Who's next?

France got the bomb, but don't you grieve,
'Cause they're on our side (I believe).
China got the bomb, but have no fears,
They can't wipe us out for at least five years.
Who's next?

Then Indonesia claimed that they
Were gonna get one any day.
South Africa wants two, that's right:
One for the black and one for the white.
Who's next?

Egypt's gonna get one too,
Just to use on you know who.
So Israel's getting tense.
Wants one in self defense.
"The Lord's our shepherd," says the psalm,
But just in case, we better get a bomb.
Who's next?

Luxembourg is next to go,
And (who knows?) maybe Monaco.
We'll try to stay serene and calm
When Alabama gets the bomb.
Who's next?
Who's next?
Who's next?
Who's next?

I hear los alamos singing,
Otter

(Watching Colbert now)

Wow! Gloria Steinem is still a seriously hot babe! Who knew?

and her galpal little janie fonda ain't half bad there neither,
Otter

::ducking, running, and dodging brickbats from all the left-wingnut angry feminazi clintonista moonbats in the reading audience::

Did Reuters really fire a guy for writing a book that was critical of Anne Coulter?!

http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2006/10/post_397.html#013877

Same guy Reuters fired will be featured 10 / 22 on Firedoglake book Salon - just a coincidence

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/10/10/fdl-book-salon-welcomes-joe-maguire/#comments

Nah. Reuters was just standing up for fair and balanced egalitarian principles by empowering women everywhere to emulate Ann Coulter's sultry good looks and witty bons mots so that they, too, could aspire to become highly-paid professional ballbusting reich-wing sociopathic egotist witches someday.

I just love a mann in uniform,
Otter

Lancet will come out with a study saying at least 600,000 Iraqis have been killed

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/10/20737/582

Reuters is supposed to have a liberal bias but only 10% of what they do is news anyway - they mostly do research for financial markets. Not many news outlets willing to stand up against pressure frrom the rightwing any more. We (US) have a bland spineless corporate media, but in fact Murdoch's tentacles now reach all over the planet. When there is a protest somewhere, there isn't a country that doesn't have citizens going to Indymedia to document police brutality and poor coverage.
This is not a populist planet.

Just thinking of Mann Coulter, Denny Hastert & any others like them:

You Dropped the Bomb - Gap Band

You were the girl that changed my world
You were the girl for me
You lit the fuse, I stand accused
You were the first for me
But you turned me out, baby

You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me (But you turned me on, baby)
You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me

You were my thrills, you were my pills
You dropped a bomb on me
You turn me out, you turn me on
You turned me loose, then you turned me wrong

You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me (But you turned me out, baby)
You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me

Just like Adam and Eve, said you’d set me free
You took me to the sky, I’d never been so high
You were my pills, you were my thrills
You were my hope, baby, you were my smoke
You dropped a bomb, hey, babe

You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me (But you turned me out, baby)
You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me (But you turned me on, baby)

You dropped a bomb on me, baby (Mmm)
You dropped a bomb on me (You dropped a bomb on me, baby)
You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me

We were in motion, felt like an ocean
You were the girl for me
You were the first explosion, turned out to be corrosion
You were the first for me
But you turned me out, baby

You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me (Whoa...whoa...oh...oh...baby)
You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me (I won’t forget what you done to me, babe)

You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me
You dropped a bomb on me, baby
You dropped a bomb on me

This one's for Foley, Santorum, Ralph Reed & Karl Rove

Sex Bomb - Tom Jones

w, aw baby, yeah, ooh yeak, huh, listen to this
Spy on me baby use satellite
Infrared to see me move through the night
Aim gonna fire shoot me right
Aim gonna like the way you fight
And I love the way you fight

Now you found the secret code
I use to wash away my lonely blues well
So I cant deny or lie cause youre a
Sexbomb sexbomb youre a sexbomb uh, huh
You can give it to me when I need to come along give it to me
Sexbomb sexbomb youre my sexbomb
And baby you can turn me on baby you can turn me on
You know what youre doing to me dont you. ha ha,
I know you do

No dont get me wrong aint gonna do you no harm no
This bombs made for lovin and you can shoot it far
Im your main target come and help me ignite ow
Love struck holding you tight hold me tight darlin

Make me explode although you know the route to go to sex me slow slow baby
And yes
I must react to claims of those who say that you are not all that huh, huh,
Huh

Sexbomb sexbomb youre a sexbomb
You can give it to me when I need to come along
Sexbomb sexbomb youre my sexbomb
And baby you can turn me on turn me on darlin
Sexbomb sexbomb youre my sexbomb sexbomb
You can give it to me when I need to come along
Sexbomb sexbomb yourre my sexbomb
And baby you can turn me on

You can give me more and more counting up the score
Yeah
You can turn me upside down inside out
You can make me feel the real deal uh uh
I can give it to you any time because youre mine
Ouch, sexbomb, aw baby

Sexbomb sexbomb youre my sexbomb
And you can give it to me when I need to be turned on
No, no
Sexbomb sexbomb youre my sexbomb
And baby you can turn me on turn me on
And baby you can turn me on turn me on
Baby you can turn me on turn me on
Ooh baby you can turn me on turn me on
Baby you can turn me on oh
Baby you can turn me on oh
Baby you can turn me on
Well baby you can turn me on

Thank you, Otter.

If all the media corporations that are supposed to have a liberal bias actually *had* a media bias, then John Kerry would be president, the Constitution would still be intact, and Iraq wouldn't be a horrorshow charnel house today.

and fox news really would be fair and balanced too,
Otter

for Condi & John Bolton, Jack Straw too

I'm A Bomb Lyrics
Natasha Bedingfield
MP3 Downloads

Taxi ride, going downtown
Me an my girls, going out
Counting down, to detination
Ten to zero, mushrom cloud
Little angel, I've been too good
Ditch the halo, for a while
Dress to kill, I'll be causing
Mass destruction, so shield your eyes

I'm all steamed up and I'm ready to blow
The pressure mounts need a red overload
To get release
I gotta explode, explode...

I'm a bomb, can u hear me tick
Beware if u turn me on ,there is no safety switch
I'm a bomb use only steady hands
To mess with me you must be a brave man
I'm a bomb yeah bomb bomb bomb bom bom I'm a bomb*2

Bass so loud I can't hear u
Can't diffuse me now I'm wired?
Do not disturb while I'm dancing
Watch me set this house on fire

I'm a bomb, can u hear me tick
Beware if u turn me on ,there is no safety switch
I'm a bomb use only steady hands
To mess with me you must be a brave man

I'm a bomb, can u hear me tick
Beware if u turn me on ,there is no safety switch
I'm a bomb use only steady hands
To mess with me you must be a brave man

Club Crescendo getting loud
Run for cover underground
What you doing showing me no fear
You must be crazy hanging round here

I'm all steamed up and I'm ready to blow
The pressure mounts need a red overload
Need to get release
I'm gonna explode, explode

I'm a bomb, can u hear me tick
Beware if u turn me on, there is no safety switch
I'm a bomb use only steady hands
To mess with me you must be a brave man

I'm a bomb, yeah yeah yeah, can u hear me tick
Beware if u turn me on, there is no safety switch
I'm a bomb, use only steady hands
To mess with me you must be a brave man

I'm a bomb
I'm a bomb
I'm a bomb
I'm a bomb

Otter

yeah the liberal bias thing is a big joke

Hmm.

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

NEW YORK (AP) - A controversial new study contends nearly 655,000 Iraqis have died because of the war, suggesting a far higher death toll than other estimates.

The timing of the survey's release, just a few weeks before the U.S. congressional elections, led one expert to call it "politics."

[snip]

like it wouldn't be "politics" if the white house had leaked it now because it made them look good instead,
Otter

http://www.whatliberalmedia.com/

about the book

The question of whose interests the media protects—and how—has achieved holy-grail-like significance. Is media bias keeping us from getting the whole story? If so, who is at fault? Is it the liberals who are purported to be running the newsrooms, television and radio stations of this country, duping an unsuspecting public into mistaking their party line for news? Or is it the conservatives who have identified media bias as a reliably inflammatory rallying cry around which to consolidate their political base as they cynically “work the refs?” The media has become so pervasive in our lives that regardless of exactly where on the ideological fence you sit, the question of media bias has become all but unavoidable.

Most of the criticism (and anger) has so far emanated from the political Right, which has offered us the rather unconvincing argument that a systematic Left bias is destroying the quality of news and debate in our country today. Journalist and historian Eric Alterman begs to differ.

What Liberal Media? confronts the question of liberal bias and, in so doing, provides a sharp and utterly convincing assessment of the realities of political bias in the news. In distinct contrast to the conclusions reached by Ann Coulter, Bernard Goldberg, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly, Alterman finds the media to be, on the whole, far more conservative than liberal, though it is possible to find evidence for both views. The fact that conservatives howl so much louder and more effectively than liberals is one significant reason that big media is always on its guard for “liberal” bias but gives conservative bias a free pass.

Otter
Isn't Lancet British? They had a story on civilian deaths before - a study rather - & they were accused of using too high of figures. I heard a long interview on radio about how the study was done. I tend to believe them. I doubt very much the figures are released because of our elections.

I thought it was like Science or Nature - I doubt Lancet published anything to support our elections - it takes time for peer review.

acc/Wikipedia

The Lancet is one of the oldest and most respected peer-reviewed medical journals in the world, published weekly by Elsevier, part of Reed Elsevier. It was founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley, who named it after the surgical instrument called a lancet, as well as an arched window ("to let in light").
The present editor-in-chief is Richard Horton. The Lancet takes a stand on several important medical issues - recent examples include criticism of the WHO, rejecting the efficacy of homoeopathy as a therapeutic option and its disapproval of Reed Elsevier's links with the arms industry.

The Lancet has a significant readership throughout the world with a high impact factor. It publishes original research articles, review articles ("seminars" and "reviews"), editorials, book reviews, correspondences, amidst other regulars such as news features and case reports. The Lancet is considered to be one of the "core" general medical journals, the others being the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the British Medical Journal.

Mann left "gender" blank when she registered to vote in wrong district

http://www.pageoneq.com/news/2006/full_041306.html

I'm inclined to believe the higher figures too, DiAnne, especially since the methodology used in this M.I.T./Johns Hopkins study seems more likely to be realistic than just the 'official' body counts and other easily-manipulated statistics.

And yes, The Lancet was founded and first published in England back in 1823. But its focus is global and its reputation as a valid medical journal is enviable, so I'm also inclined to trust its coverage of the study in question.

BTW, y'all... since this is a top-headline AP news headline story, I didn't bother giving a link to one of the hundreds of places it's available online at the moment. I figured that those who cared enough to want to read more about it could find the rest of the article for themselves, as DiAnne obviously did.

However, I also tend to forget that not everyone has the time, the knack, or the bandwidth to keep track of all the stories that come pouring out of AP, Reuters, et al on a daily basis. My bad.

So here's the link to the rest of the article on the 655,000 dead Iraqis that Cheneysfeld, Rovebush, & Co. have to accept a lion's share of the responsibility for (in my humble otter opinion, of course; your mileage may vary):

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061011/D8KM6H900.html

read it and weep,
Otter

Thanks for the link, Otter.

No matter how bored anyone is or how late they stay up, don't open this link unless you want to feel rage:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ann_Coulter

I wasn't looking for it specifically but was trying to find out how Wikipedia works. This is one mean entity.

Mann left "gender" blank when she registered to vote in wrong district

http://www.pageoneq.com/news/2006/full_041306.html

Posted by: DiAnne at October 11, 2006 12:35 AM

That's old news... :) But it does make us wonder.

I say - it's a MAN baby.

Ally
Seattle Times and Everett Herald both have front page articles on the local Korean community response to recent events. You might be interested. I was.

Posted by: DiAnne at October 10, 2006 10:22 PM

I'll check - thanks for the reminder.

Los Angeles Times front page: a photo of a right-wing protest in Seoul calling for a complete cessation of any inter-Korean deals.

In terms of current inter-Korean deals, South Korea sends tourists to North Korea, and runs an industrial park on the northern side of the border. And there is the issue of food and financial aid.

In fact, South Korea is in free trade talks with the US right now (something the LSM will never mention - even though this is the biggest free trade agreement for the US since NAFTA), and would like the industrial park's products to be considered South Korean - something the US is steadfastly refusing.

Good Morning, DCPers, another beautiful day here in Prague. Thank you all for my midday catch-up from the reality-based community, small as we are. Actually, it's clear to me we have many compadres, but the USA looks pretty bad as a whole from here. People clearly just don't LIKE us anymore.

And with over 600,000 Iraqis dead, who can blame them?

That said, I know the issues around Mulims in Old Europe are evident as well. Czech Republic does not have an evidentiary downtown population of Muslims, but we are told to be careful of the gypsies, people of (probably) Afghani or Pakistani origins.

The centuries of conquering and colonialism that is the human heritage are coming to roost i this age of globalization. When you open up boundaries, you don't get to choose what crosses the space. And that often leads to a closing down of the INTERNAL boundaries. Which makes one afraid of those OUTSIDERS who are coming into the internal structures. And then you can't tell who belongs and who doesn't, can you? And maybe you shoot them, because their cell phone looks like it might be a gun... But really, you're just afraid of your own shadow and the guy coming down the street just might be standing IN for that shadow...

Did I mention that I am staying across from the US Embassy? And that the policie are everywhere==but only on the street I am on...

McCain was on Today sprouting the Clintons fault line, its election Season for sure, he is evidently gearing up to run against Hilary funny I hadnt heard she was our candidate yet for 2008 maybe he knows something we do not or maybe he has been hearing God's voice in his head to.

I love the article nolie wrote here.

http://www.progressiveu.org/024133-tough-on-security-habeus-corpus-has-to-go-but-no-inspectors-for-north-korea

Good Morning, karen...it's been great hearing from you.

Rest and be at Peace over there. Hopefully you're getting some quiet time and recoup. time

Posted by: karen at October 11, 2006 06:16 AM
Oh, this is really good, Karen. The second great post from you that I've read, in just the last 10 minutes!
Your astute comments on globalization actually have relevance to my professional life; I'm going to save it in my files. (If I do use it for something, I'll be sure to credit you, of course!)

I was in Prague in 1969, when we landed on the moon. The mood was so different then. . Czechs were so HAPPY for us, they were ROOTING for us, they were PROUD of us (more than we ourselves were, back in the US). . Our embassy was giving out souvenir pins and the like, and the line of Czechs waiting outside to pay tribute (and get their pins) was very very long. .

Gosh, so much has changed since then. . sigh.
Be sure to check out our embassy in Vienna for comparison.

Posted by: april at October 11, 2006 07:23 AM
April, also spot-on! No doubt that election season is involved here. I"d wondered whether both McCain and Hillary had worked on the choreography of this exchange

One in 40 Iraqis killed

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1920166,00.html

If true, this beats my estimate of one in 50.
Remember those stories about how every Russian family had at least one death from WW2? & US has never known exceedingly high death rates since the Civil War.

Then there was Vietnam. Is this Wikipedia entry predictive of the sort of thing that will be written in the future re the Iraq war? DIDN'T WE LEARN ANYTHING?!!!

Casualties
Main article: Vietnam War casualties
Estimating the number killed in the conflict is extremely difficult. Official records from North Vietnam are hard to find or nonexistent, and many of those killed were literally obliterated by bombing. For many years the North Vietnamese suppressed the true number of their casualties for propaganda purposes. It is also difficult to say exactly what counts as a "Vietnam war casualty"; people are still being killed today by unexploded ordnance, particularly cluster bomblets. More than 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed or injured so far by landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Environmental effects from chemical agents and the colossal social problems caused by a devastated country with so many dead surely caused many more lives to be shortened.

North Vietnamese Casualties
The lowest casualty estimates came out immediately after the war and North Vietnamese claimed that over 600,000 of its troops were killed and based on North Vietnamese statements (now discounted by Vietnam), are around 1.5 million Vietnamese killed. The number gradually increased over the years, and the Vietnam's Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs released figures on April 3, 1995, reporting that 1.1 million fighters—Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese soldiers—and nearly 2 million civilians in the north and 2 million in the south were killed between 1954 and 1975. Robert McNamara, in his regretful memoir of the war, references a figure of 3.2 million. The number of wounded fighters was put at 600,000. It remains even more unclear how many Vietnamese civilians were wounded. The Vietnamese list over 200,000 of their own soldiers as missing in action.

However, according to declassified informations by the Vietnamese government in the late-1990's, as well as the admission of the Vietnamese government officials who participated in the war, the actual number is much higher. In the documentary aired by The History Channel in the early 2000's, numerous Vietnamese officials confirmed the latest number from the declassified information during interviews, and the North Vietnamese casualty is around 5 million, including 2 million killed in action, 300,000 missing in action. However, the non-combat related death is greater than MIA & KIA combined: nearly 2 and half a million North Vietnamese troops died as a result of disease (malaria was the major cause) and non-combat related accidents (such as falling, drowning, and snake bites). The number of POWs was uncertain, because during the war, defections were common. The number of wounded was also uncertain because many fighters were wounded multiple times and it was difficult to track by keeping historical records especially for the communist forces in the southern Vietnam.

U.S. Casualties
58,226 U.S. soldiers were killed in action or classified as missing in action. A further 153,303 U.S. military personnel were wounded, for a total casualty count of 211,529.