the-peoples-patriot, a political Blog

Bush has friends and then, maybe not so much

2009-01-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

No Presidential Pardon For "Two Buck Chuck" Maker

The man behind "Two Buck Chuck" wine will not receive a presidential pardon from George W. Bush for an old zinfandel grape fraud case.

Fred T. Franzia, nephew of Ernest Gallo, pleaded guilty in 1993 to conspiracy to defraud by passing off cheap grapes as more expensive zinfandel. He paid a $500,000 fine and served five years on probation.

The unsuccessful effort to clear his record included intervention by Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.

The 65-year-old Franzia has turned his Ceres-based Bronco Wine Co. into the nation's fourth-largest by making inexpensive varietals sold under many labels, the most popular being Charles Shaw. The wine sells for roughly $2 a bottle at Trader Joe's stores, earning the nickname "Two Buck Chuck."

http://cbs13.com/local/franzia.presidential.pardon.2.904189.html

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Pres. Ele. Obama's video from Dec. 6, 2008 + transcript for those who don't have DSL

2008-12-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

Your Weekly Address from the President-Elect @ Yahoo! Video

Remarks of President-elect Barack Obama
Radio Address on the Economy
Saturday, December 6, 2008

Good morning.

Yesterday, we received another painful reminder of the serious economic challenge our country is facing when we learned that 533,000 jobs were lost in November alone, the single worst month of job loss in over three decades. That puts the total number of jobs lost in this recession at nearly 2 million.

But this isn’t about numbers. It’s about each of the families those numbers represent. It’s about the rising unease and frustration that so many of you are feeling during this holiday season. Will you be able to put your kids through college? Will you be able to afford health care? Will you be able to retire with dignity and security? Will your job or your husband’s job or your daughter’s or son's job be the next one cut?

These are the questions that keep so many Americans awake at night. But it is not the first time these questions have been asked. We have faced difficult times before, times when our economic destiny seemed to be slipping out of our hands. And at each moment, we have risen to meet the challenge, as one people united by a sense of common purpose. And I know that Americans can rise to the moment once again.

But we need action – and action now. That is why I have asked my economic team to develop an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street that will help save or create at least two and a half million jobs, while rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our schools, reducing our dependence on oil, and saving billions of dollars.

We won’t do it the old Washington way. We won’t just throw money at the problem. We’ll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve -- by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more competitive in the world.

Today, I am announcing a few key parts of my plan. First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.

Second, we will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.

Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.

As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m President – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.

In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.

These are a few parts of the economic recovery plan that I will be rolling out in the coming weeks. When Congress reconvenes in January, I look forward to working with them to pass a plan immediately. We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or create at least two and a half million jobs so that the nearly two million Americans who’ve lost them know that they have a future. And that’s exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States.

Thanks for listening.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Your weekly video, Friday 11-21 from change.com

2008-11-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Our President-Elect's first or latest weekly video from http://change.gov

2008-11-17T15:46:00.000-08:00

And you can hear it yourself at http://change.gov

Your Weekly Address from the President-elect @ Yahoo! Video

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Listen to how Nader speaks of Corp America. He right, this is who they are.

2008-11-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

And it not really correct to say "corp America", a truly better why to say it is, "World corporation". Because like Hallaberton corp Amer. is leaving Amer. and taking our money with them so they don't have to pay taxes here anymore. OH! and this is after they shipped our job overseas. Starting to get the big pic. now?

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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For those who may have missed it, the Jon Daily intro from the day after

2008-11-06T08:24:00.000-08:00

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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An Open letter to Senator Barack Obama from Ralph Nader

2008-11-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

November 3, 2008

Open letter to Senator Barack Obama

Dear Senator Obama:

In your nearly two-year presidential campaign, the words "hope and change," "change and hope" have been your trademark declarations. Yet there is an asymmetry between those objectives and your political character that succumbs to contrary centers of power that want not "hope and change" but the continuation of the power-entrenched status quo.

Far more than Senator McCain, you have received enormous, unprecedented contributions from corporate interests, Wall Street interests and, most interestingly, big corporate law firm attorneys. Never before has a Democratic nominee for President achieved this supremacy over his Republican counterpart. Why, apart from your unconditional vote for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, are these large corporate interests investing so much in Senator Obama? Could it be that in your state Senate record, your U.S. Senate record and your presidential campaign record (favoring nuclear power, coal plants, offshore oil drilling, corporate subsidies including the 1872 Mining Act and avoiding any comprehensive program to crack down on the corporate crime wave and the bloated, wasteful military budget, for example) you have shown that you are their man?

To advance change and hope, the presidential persona requires character, courage, integrity-- not expediency, accommodation and short-range opportunism. Take, for example, your transformation from an articulate defender of Palestinian rights in Chicago before your run for the U.S. Senate to an acolyte, a dittoman for the hard-line AIPAC lobby, which bolsters the militaristic oppression, occupation, blockage, colonization and land-water seizures over the years of the Palestinian peoples and their shrunken territories in the West Bank and Gaza. Eric Alterman summarized numerous polls in a December 2007 issue of The Nation magazine showing that AIPAC policies are opposed by a majority of Jewish-Americans.

You know quite well that only when the U.S. Government supports the Israeli and Palestinian peace movements, that years ago worked out a detailed two-state solution (which is supported by a majority of Israelis and Palestinians), will there be a chance for a peaceful resolution of this 60-year plus conflict. Yet you align yourself with the hard-liners, so much so that in your infamous, demeaning speech to the AIPAC convention right after you gained the nomination of the Democratic Party, you supported an "undivided Jerusalem," and opposed negotiations with Hamas-- the elected government in Gaza. Once again, you ignored the will of the Israeli people who, in a March 1, 2008 poll by the respected newspaper Haaretz, showed that 64% of Israelis favored "direct negotiations with Hamas." Siding with the AIPAC hard-liners is what one of the many leading Palestinians advocating dialogue and peace with the Israeli people was describing when he wrote "Anti-semitism today is the persecution of Palestinian society by the Israeli state."

During your visit to Israel this summer, you scheduled a mere 45 minutes of your time for Palestinians with no news conference, and no visit to Palestinian refugee camps that would have focused the media on the brutalization of the Palestinians. Your trip supported the illegal, cruel blockade of Gaza in defiance of international law and the United Nations charter. You focused on southern Israeli casualties which during the past year have totaled one civilian casualty to every 400 Palestinian casualties on the Gaza side. Instead of a statesmanship that decried all violence and its replacement with acceptance of the Arab League's 2002 proposal to permit a viable Palestinian state within the 1967 borders in return for full economic and diplomatic relations between Arab countries and Israel, you played the role of a cheap politician, leaving the area and Palestinians with the feeling of much shock and little awe.

David Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, described your trip succinctly: "There was almost a willful display of indifference to the fact that there are two narratives here. This could serve him well as a candidate, but not as a President."

Palestinian American commentator, Ali Abunimah, noted that Obama did not utter a single criticism of Israel, "of its relentless settlement and wall construction, of the closures that make life unlivable for millions of Palestinians. ...Even the Bush administration recently criticized Israeli's use of cluster bombs against Lebanese civilians [see www.atfl.org for elaboration]. But Obama defended Israeli's assault on Lebanon as an exercise of its 'legitimate right to defend itself.'"

In numerous columns Gideon Levy, writing in Haaretz, strongly criticized the Israeli government's assault on civilians in Gaza, including attacks on "the heart of a crowded refugee camp... with horrible bloodshed" in early 2008.

Israeli writer and peace advocate-- Uri Avnery-- described Obama's appearance before AIPAC as one that "broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning, adding that Obama "is prepared to sacrifice the most basic American interests. After all, the US has a vital interest in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace that will allow it to find ways to the hearts of the Arab masses from Iraq to Morocco. Obama has harmed his image in the Muslim world and mortgaged his future-- if and when he is elected president.," he said, adding, "Of one thing I am certain: Obama's declarations at the AIPAC conference are very, very bad for peace. And what is bad for peace is bad for Israel, bad for the world and bad for the Palestinian people."

A further illustration of your deficiency of character is the way you turned your back on the Muslim-Americans in this country. You refused to send surrogates to speak to voters at their events. Having visited numerous churches and synagogues, you refused to visit a single Mosque in America. Even George W. Bush visited the Grand Mosque in Washington D.C. after 9/11 to express proper sentiments of tolerance before a frightened major religious group of innocents.

Although the New York Times published a major article on June 24, 2008 titled "Muslim Voters Detect a Snub from Obama" (by Andrea Elliott), citing examples of your aversion to these Americans who come from all walks of life, who serve in the armed forces and who work to live the American dream. Three days earlier the International Herald Tribune published an article by Roger Cohen titled "Why Obama Should Visit a Mosque." None of these comments and reports change your political bigotry against Muslim-Americans-- even though your father was a Muslim from Kenya.

Perhaps nothing illustrated your utter lack of political courage or even the mildest version of this trait than your surrendering to demands of the hard-liners to prohibit former president Jimmy Carter from speaking at the Democratic National Convention. This is a tradition for former presidents and one accorded in prime time to Bill Clinton this year.

Here was a President who negotiated peace between Israel and Egypt, but his recent book pressing the dominant Israeli superpower to avoid Apartheid of the Palestinians and make peace was all that it took to sideline him. Instead of an important address to the nation by Jimmy Carter on this critical international problem, he was relegated to a stroll across the stage to "tumultuous applause," following a showing of a film about the Carter Center's post-Katrina work. Shame on you, Barack Obama!

But then your shameful behavior has extended to many other areas of American life. (See the factual analysis by my running mate, Matt Gonzalez, on www.votenader.org). You have turned your back on the 100-million poor Americans composed of poor whites, African-Americans, and Latinos. You always mention helping the "middle class" but you omit, repeatedly, mention of the "poor" in America.

Should you be elected President, it must be more than an unprecedented upward career move following a brilliantly unprincipled campaign that spoke "change" yet demonstrated actual obeisance to the concentration power of the "corporate supremacists." It must be about shifting the power from the few to the many. It must be a White House presided over by a black man who does not turn his back on the downtrodden here and abroad but challenges the forces of greed, dictatorial control of labor, consumers and taxpayers, and the militarization of foreign policy. It must be a White House that is transforming of American politics-- opening it up to the public funding of elections (through voluntary approaches)-- and allowing smaller candidates to have a chance to be heard on debates and in the fullness of their now restricted civil liberties. Call it a competitive democracy.

Your presidential campaign again and again has demonstrated cowardly stands. "Hope" some say springs eternal." But not when "reality" consumes it daily.

Sincerely,
Ralph Nader

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Some fun as things close down on the campaigns, Thank God

2008-11-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Obama's Oct. 29 30 min. Political Message video

2008-10-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Political fun, & that's hard to find.

2008-10-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.palinaspresident.us/ Click everwhere you can there. And click a second time on somethings.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Put your spin on things & see others spin as well

2008-10-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

http://spinspotter.com/

All the news that's fit to de-spin.
Spin doesn't belong in the news. It's like putting motor oil in the mojito. We have tremendous respect for journalists, but who would argue that the media circus isn't out of control? A full 66% of Americans think the press is one-sided. Now there's a website and software tool that exposes news spin and bias, misuse of sources, and suspect factual support. At SpinSpotter, you'll experience the news in a profound new way. Yes, the truth is back in town.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Were 5000 Prisoners Executed by State or Federal Government in New Orleans? Presidential Candidate Says Yes.

2008-10-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

This is Cynthia McKinny, the Green Party Presidential candidate. She is either on to something, or has been led astray. She has been called a crackpot. Well, so have I. So where are the bodies hidden? Whatever the case, you can be sure this will be getting some attention for a while. Start asking question on this and let see what's what here...

Found by Adam Curry.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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You've just got to see this. It's funny and short. And it's fox TV

2008-10-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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A pic is worth a thousand words

2008-10-01T11:54:00.001-07:00

And the word you can't see all of is "paying".

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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From a Friend...

2008-09-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

This idea sounds just crazy enough to possibly work, so naturally it won't be given serious consideration. How great is our bureaucracy!!

Hi Pals,

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals $425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free.

So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.

That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.

A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.

Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads

Put away money for college - it'll be there

Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.

Buy a new car - create jobs

Invest in the market - capital drives growth

Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves

Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( 'vote buy' ) economic incentive that is being proposed
by one of our candidates for President.

If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it.

Sell off its parts.

Let American General go back to being American General.

Sell off the real estate.

Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.

Sure it's a crazy idea that can 'never work.'

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion

We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC

And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Kindest personal regards,

Birk

T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic

PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it's either good for a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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BBC E-mail: World reacts to US bail-out rejection

2008-09-30T06:46:00.001-07:00

lets saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it.

** World reacts to US bail-out rejection **
World leaders react to the rejection of the $700bn US bail-out plan to stabilise the economy by the House of Representatives.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/7643903.stm >

** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/email >

** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have been verified.

If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4162471.stm

Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania of the House Financial services Committee, "Votes are there"

2008-09-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

I just listened to Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania of the House Financial services Committee say It's all over, & we'll be fine.
The votes are there in the House & Senate for the Bills to passage.
The Bill now contains some executive pay-related measures
Tremendous proagress being made on bailout bill

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Tax Relief to 25 Million Middle-class Families

2008-09-25T05:40:00.000-07:00

Today, the House passed Alternative Minimum Tax Relief (HR 7005), to provide critical tax relief to 25 million middle-class families by protecting them from the Alternative Minimum Tax. The bill will provide $62 billion in Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) relief to ease the strain of rising gas and food prices, and is a critical part of our plan to strengthen the American economy.
For the rest of the story:
http://polfeeds.com/item/Tax-Relief-to-25-Million-Middle-class-Families

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Les Misbarack- video

2008-09-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Did you see the Sarah Palin emails?

2008-09-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

http://gawker.com/5051334/palin-emails-reveal-press-hate

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Russian Troops Turn Away U.N. Convoy in Georgia

2008-09-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

KARALETI, Georgia — Russian soldiers prevented international aid convoys from visiting Georgian villages on Monday in a blunt demonstration of power in a tense zone around the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

The ambassadors of Sweden, Latvia and Estonia said they also had been barred from visiting villages beyond Russian checkpoints.

Monday's show of authority came as French President Nicolas Sarkozy tried in Moscow to persuade Russia to honor its pledge to pull its troops back to the positions they held before the fighting broke out Aug. 7.

A convoy of four vehicles from U.N. aid agencies waited for about an hour at the checkpoint in Karaleti, but was turned away after a brief discussion with a Russian general who arrived to negotiate. The three aid agency SUVs and a World Food Program truck loaded with wheat flour, pasta, sugar and other staples were headed to Georgian villages around South Ossetia.

"We tried to do a preliminary humanitarian assessment mission. It didn't work out today as we would have hoped, and we will make every effort to continue to conduct such missions in the future," David Carden, who was leading the interagency mission by the World Food Program, UNICEF and the U.N. refugee agency, told The Associated Press.
For the rest of the story

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IF your going to screw around, screw around big. It does cost much.

2008-09-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

Breaking News Thursday, September 4, 2008, 1:05 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) Judge sentences disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to 4 years in prison.

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McCain's dangerous choice from "MoveOn" email

2008-09-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Dear MoveOn member,

The other day was John McCain's 72nd birthday. If elected, he'd be the oldest president ever inaugurated. And after months of slamming Barack Obama for "inexperience," here's who John McCain has chosen to be one heartbeat away from the presidency: a right-wing religious conservative with no foreign policy experience, who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people.

Huh?

Who is Sarah Palin? Here's some basic background:
She was elected Alaska 's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.1
Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.2
She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. 3
Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.4
She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.5
She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.6
How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.7

This is information the American people need to see. Please take a moment to forward this email to your friends and family.

We also asked Alaska MoveOn members what the rest of us should know about their governor. The response was striking. Here's a sample:

She is really just a mayor from a small town outside Anchorage who has been a governor for only 1.5 years, and has ZERO national and international experience. I shudder to think that she could be the person taking that 3AM call on the White House hotline, and the one who could potentially be charged with leading the US in the volatile international scene that exists today. —Rose M., Fairbanks, AK

She is VERY, VERY conservative, and far from perfect. She's a hunter and fisherwoman, but votes against the environment again and again. She ran on ethics reform, but is currently under investigation for several charges involving hiring and firing of state officials. She has NO experience beyond Alaska. —Christine B., Denali Park, AK

As an Alaskan and a feminist, I am beyond words at this announcement. Palin is not a feminist, and she is not the reformer she claims to be. —Karen L., Anchorage, AK

Alaskans, collectively, are just as stunned as the rest of the nation. She is doing well running our State, but is totally inexperienced on the national level, and very much unequipped to run the nation, if it came to that. She is as far right as one can get, which has already been communicated on the news. In our office of thirty employees (dems, republicans, and nonpartisans), not one person feels she is ready for the V.P. position.—Sherry C., Anchorage, AK

She's vehemently anti-choice and doesn't care about protecting our natural resources, even though she has worked as a fisherman. McCain chose her to pick up the Hillary voters, but Palin is no Hillary. —Marina L., Juneau, AK

I think she's far too inexperienced to be in this position. I'm all for a woman in the White House, but not one who hasn't done anything to deserve it. There are far many other women who have worked their way up and have much more experience that would have been better choices. This is a patronizing decision on John McCain's part- and insulting to females everywhere that he would assume he'll get our vote by putting "A Woman" in that position.—Jennifer M., Anchorage, AK

So Governor Palin is a staunch anti-choice religious conservative. She's a global warming denier who shares John McCain's commitment to Big Oil. And she's dramatically inexperienced.

In picking Sarah Palin, John McCain has made the religious right very happy. And he's made a very dangerous decision for our country.

In the next few days, many Americans will be wondering what McCain's vice-presidential choice means. Please pass this information along to your friends and family.

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilyse, Noah, Justin, Karin and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Sarah Palin," Wikipedia, Accessed August 29, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

2. "McCain Selects Anti-Choice Sarah Palin as Running Mate," NARAL Pro-Choice America, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17515&id=13661-5516917-wTt264x&t=1

3. "Sarah Palin, Buchananite," The Nation, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17736&id=13661-5516917-wTt264x&t=2

4. "'Creation science' enters the race," Anchorage Daily News, October 27, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17737&id=13661-5516917-wTt264x&t=3

5. "Palin buys climate denial PR spin—ignores science," Huffington Post, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17517&id=13661-5516917-wTt264x&t=4

6. "McCain VP Pick Completes Shift to Bush Energy Policy," Sierra Club, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17518&id=13661-5516917-wTt264x&t=5

"Choice of Palin Promises Failed Energy Policies of the Past," League of Conservation Voters, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17519&id=13661-5516917-wTt264x&t=6

"Protecting polar bears gets in way of drilling for oil, says governor," The Times of London, May 23, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17520&id=13661-5516917-wTt264x&t=7

7 "McCain met Palin once before yesterday," MSNBC, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=21119&id=13661-5516917-wTt264x&t=8

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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FAA outage reveals odd computing practices

2008-08-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

Normally I don't put the hold article in rather a link, but you need to know how inportant your lives are to your Goverment

And yes, it's paying. I know the P is missing

By JOELLE TESSLER and JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writers
Fri Aug 29, 4:08 PM ET
WASHINGTON - When a computer glitch at a Federal Aviation Administration center caused widespread airline delays this week, it served as a reminder that the U.S. flight system is waiting for a modernizing overhaul. But it also appears the FAA's management of its existing technologies falls short of standards in other vital sectors.

By using computing practices that would be considered poor in credit card networks or power plant operators, for example, the FAA was vulnerable to a problem caused when new software was loaded at the Atlanta center that distributes flight plans.

Because the FAA relies on just two computing systems, one in Atlanta and one in Salt Lake City, to handle that chore for the entire nation, the software glitch all but sank the system Tuesday. The Salt Lake center remained up and served as a backup, but it became overloaded by information coming from airlines. More than 600 flights were delayed from Atlanta all the way to Boston and Chicago.

A failure at the same Atlanta center caused major delays across the East Coast in June 2007.

Such breakdowns often can be prevented with sufficient redundancy, or enough different computers and communication channels to handle the same workload in an emergency.

Redundancy is so critical for power and water utilities that they can be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars a day if they're found insufficiently prepared — and $1 million per day if they're found to be willfully negligent.

"In the industries I work in, if you have something that critical, you generally build more redundancy," said Jason Larsen, a security researcher with consultancy IOActive Inc. who previously spent five years at Idaho National Laboratory examining electrical plants' control systems. "If this (FAA outage) happened at a power plant, I'd be telling them to open up their checkbook and expect to be fined."

FAA spokeswoman Tammy Jones stressed that these types of problems "don't happen on a mass scale or a regular basis," and noted that the FAA handles 50,000 to 60,000 fights a day. And flying on U.S. airlines has never been safer.

"The system is working," she said. "We are making sure people are getting from one place to another."

Basil Barimo, vice president of operations and safety for the Air Transport Association of America, a trade association that represents the nation's largest carriers, says the fundamental problem is that the FAA still relies on outdated technology, including a radar-based control system designed in the 1940s and '50s. Barimo is optimistic that the FAA's NextGen modernization program — a $15 billion-plus upgrade to satellite-based technology that will take nearly 20 years to complete — will help make more efficient use of the nation's airspace and safely allow more planes in the sky.

At the Atlanta center that saw this week's failure, the National Airspace Data Interchange Network computer has been owned and operated by the FAA since the 1980s, after the Dutch company that developed it went out of business. The network is being upgraded, and will have much more memory, process data much more quickly and be more robust and "fault-tolerant."

"We should see significant improvements by the end of September ... which should prevent the type of problem we had on Tuesday," said FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown. The agency also is considering adding a third backup site for that and other systems at a technology center in New Jersey, but no final decisions have been made, she added.

However, Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association — a union that has been locked in a contract dispute with the FAA since 2006 — argues that the agency has tried to focus on future technology to deflect its lack of diligence in maintaining its current systems.

Not only did Church cite the agency's lack of a "safety net of redundancy," but he also pointed to its "fix-on-fail" policy of waiting for something to break before addressing a problem.

Indeed, in December, the agency exempted its computer maintenance personnel from having to perform some periodic certification checks as required by government handbooks for technical equipment. The FAA said that would eliminate unnecessary certifications that historically had little or no effect on total system performance and safety. And a 2006 report from the Government Accountability Office had found support for the idea in some instances.

But computing experts say they often advise private companies to reject that approach.

"It's common, you see it in retail too — it's the whole `don't fix it if it ain't broke' thing," said Branden Williams, director of a unit of VeriSign Inc. that assesses the security of retailers' payment systems. "It's unfortunate because it's very reactive, and it typically winds up costing you more. If you do fix-on-fail, it usually costs you more."

Of course, there's a difference between a private company's outage that delays your DVD order, and one at the agency administering airline traffic. And such events have happened to the FAA multiple times.

Communications between an air traffic control center in Memphis, Tenn., which directs planes passing through a 250-mile radius from the city, and an unknown number of airplanes were disrupted this month when a car struck a utility pole, severing a fiber-optic cable. Last September, the same center lost all its communications and some air traffic controllers had to use their personal cell phones to route planes out of the seven-state area. The FAA blamed that outage on the failure of a major AT&T Inc. phone line.

In May, the FAA system that issues preflight notices to pilots about runway, equipment and security issues went down for about a day when a server crashed and the backup operated too slowly to be effective. The database was not able to issue updates or new notices, but pilots continued to receive relevant information from local air traffic controllers and through alternate systems.

After this week's outage, Paul Proctor, a Gartner Inc. analyst focused on security and regulatory compliance for large corporations, said it appeared that the FAA didn't deploy the flight-plan computers with nearly as much redundancy as big companies generally have in systems critical to their operations.

"You need to do a good analysis about whether this is acceptable risk," Proctor said. "One of the things the government is betting on is the fact that if there's ... a failure, it's not a safety issue."

Sid McGuirk, associate professor and coordinator of the air traffic management program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., believes that given the budget realities facing the FAA, the agency has maintained a good balance. It keeps the system running efficiently without compromising safety, said McGuirk, a former air traffic controller and FAA manager for 35 years.

"From time to time, we are going to have a glitch, but it's a tradeoff," he said. "Would I like to see more modern equipment in the system? Sure. But most folks would not want to see their taxes tripled to pay for new technology every two years."

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Just in case you missed this Goverment is never very good at what it does.

2008-08-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

Phreakers seize government phone system
Department of Homeland (in)Security
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco, Published Thursday 21st August 2008 18:41 GMT

Information technology workers at the US Department of Homeland Security are busy scraping egg off their collective faces after unknown hackers broke into their telephone system and racked up $12,000 in calls to the Middle East and Asia.

The hackers made more than 400 calls by accessing the voicemail system of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a subagency of DHS, according to the Associated Press. The system had recently been upgraded, and it appears a "hole" was left open by the unidentified contractor who performed the job. A spokesman didn't identify the hole but said it has been closed.

One of the older tricks in the annals of so-called phone phreaking is breaking into private branch exchange systems by using passwords that are set by default during initial setup. Security-minded admins will see to it that those passwords are changed, but bureaucracy and inertia being what they are, that doesn't always happen.

Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, India and Yemen were among the countries that received calls from the hacked FEMA account. Most of the calls lasted for about three minutes, but some were as long as 10 minutes.

Ironically, DHS, which is responsible for securing US infrastructure against terrorists, issued a warning in 2003 that unsecured PBXes were wide open to intruders.

"This illegal activity enables unauthorized individuals anywhere in the world to communicate via compromised US phone systems in a way that is difficult to trace," the bulletin read.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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McCain pick a woman as V.P. I guess the Republican arin't thou with us.

2008-08-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Till now I thought the Republican did really want to win this election. Now I'm thinking again,

DENVER - John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate, two senior campaign officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
For the rest of the story

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From "Michael Moore", A Note I Sent to You -- Three Years Ago Friday.

2008-08-29T05:27:00.000-07:00

From my email
Friends,

I'm am speechless after listening to Barack Obama's speech last night. So I'm sending you something I wrote to you two weeks after Hurricane Katrina. It remains every bit as relevant today, on Katrina's 3rd anniversary, as when I wrote it on September 11, 2005. Please give it another look. Here it is in full:

A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush... from Michael Moore

Dear Friends,

On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?

How does it feel to know that, the man you re-elected to lead us AFTER we were attacked, went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?

That's right. Horse shows.

I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.

I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.

Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that, after the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have... zero experience in emergency preparedness (!), do you think we are safer?

When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?

When men who never served in the military, and have never seen young men die in battle, send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?

Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?

Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?!

With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?

Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.

That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him at some fundraiser with John McCain. All this while New Orleans sank under water.

It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a "flyover" in his jumbo jet, peeking out the widow at the misery 2,500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"

My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?

And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?

Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.

Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?

I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?

I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MichaelMoore.com
MMFlint@aol.com

(And my idea now, some three years later, is that they seek forgiveness and redemption by voting for Barack Obama -- or just stay home on November 4.)

P.S. An excellent film on Katrina, "Trouble the Water," is currently playing around the country. Go see it!

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Arctic Sea Ice Drops to 2nd Lowest Level on Record

2008-08-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

By The Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Arctic Ocean sea ice has melted to the second lowest minimum since satellite observations began, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Sea ice melt recorded on Monday exceeded the low recorded in 2005, which had held second place.

With several weeks left in the melt season, ice in summer 2008 has a chance to diminish below the record low set last year, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Environmental groups said the ice melt was another alarm bell warning of global warming.

"It's an unfortunate sign that climate change is coming rapidly to the Arctic and that we really need to address the issue of global warming on a national level," said Christopher Krenz, Arctic project manager for Oceana.

"This is not surprising but it is alarming," said Deborah Williams, a former Interior Department special assistant for Alaska. "This was a relatively cool summer, and to have ice decrease to the second lowest minimum on record demonstrates that global warming's ongoing impact is profound."
For the rest of the story

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A link to a post from someone I can believe, John C. Dvorak

2008-08-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/

Biden’s Son, Brother Sued
Published on August 25th, 2008
Posted by John C Dvorak

During the years that Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. was helping the credit card industry win passage of a law making it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, his son had a consulting agreement that lasted five years with one of the largest companies pushing for the changes, aides to Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign acknowledged Sunday.
For the rest of the story, http://www.dvorak.org/blog/

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"Caroline: Pull a Cheney!" An Open Letter to Caroline Kennedy (head of the Obama VP search team) from Michael Moore"

2008-08-20T06:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Caroline,

We've never met, so I hope you don't find this letter too presumptuous or inappropriate. As its contents involve the public's business, I am sending this to you via the public on the Internet. I knew your brother John. He was a great guy, and I know he would've had a ball during this thrilling and historic election year. We all miss him dearly.

Barack Obama selected you to head up his search for a vice presidential candidate. It appears we may be just days (hours?) away from learning who that choice will be.

The media is reporting that Senator Obama has narrowed his alternatives to three men: Joe Biden, Evan Bayh and Tim Kaine. They're all decent fellows, but they are far from the core of what the Obama campaign has been about: Change. Real change. Out with the old. And don't invade countries that pose no threat to us.

Senators Biden and Bayh voted for that invasion and that war, the war Barack ran against, the war Barack reminded us was the big difference between him and Senator Clinton because she voted for the war and he spoke out against it while running for Senate (a brave and bold thing to do back in 2002).

For Obama to place either of these senators on the ticket would be a huge blow to the millions that chose him in the primaries over Hillary. He will undercut one of the strongest advantages he has over the Hundred-Year War senator, Mr. McCain. By anointing a VP who did what McCain did in throwing us into this war, Mr. Obama will lose the moral high ground in the debates.

As for Governor Kaine of Virginia, his big problem is, well, Obama's big problem -- who is he? The toughest thing Barack has had to overcome -- and it will continue to be his biggest obstacle -- is that too many of the voters simply don't know him well enough to vote for him. The fact that Obama is new to the scene is both one of his most attractive qualities AND his biggest drawback. Too many Americans, who on the surface seem to like Barack Obama, just don't feel comfortable voting for someone who hasn't been on the national scene very long. It's a comfort level thing, and it may be just what keeps Obama from winning in November ("I'd rather vote for the devil I know than the devil I don't know").

What Obama needs is a vice presidential candidate who is NOT a professional politician, but someone who is well-known and beloved by people across the political spectrum; someone who, like Obama, spoke out against the war; someone who has a good and generous heart, who will be cheered by the rest of the world; someone whom we've known and loved and admired all our lives and who has dedicated her life to public service and to the greater good for all.

That person, Caroline, is you.

I cannot think of a more winning ticket than one that reads: "OBAMA-KENNEDY."

Caroline, I know that nominating yourself is the furthest idea from your mind and not consistent with who you are, but there would be some poetic justice to such an action. Just think, eight years after the last head of a vice presidential search team looked far and wide for a VP -- and then picked himself (a move topped only by his hubris to then lead the country to near ruin while in office) -- along comes Caroline Kennedy to return the favor with far different results, a vice president who helps restore America to its goodness and greatness.

Caroline, you are one of the most beloved and respected women in this country, and you have been so admired throughout your life. You chose a life outside of politics, to work for charities and schools, to write and lecture, to raise a wonderful family. But you did not choose to lead a private life. You have traveled the world and met with its leaders, giving you much experience on the world stage, a stage you have been on since you were a little girl.

The nation has, remarkably (considering our fascination with celebrity), left you alone and let you live your life in peace. (It's like, long ago, we all collectively agreed that, with her father tragically gone, a man who died because he wanted to serve his country, we would look out for her, we would wish for her to be happy and well, and we would have her back. But we would let her be.)

Now, I am breaking this unwritten code and asking you to come forward and help us in our hour of need. So many families are hurting, losing their homes, going bankrupt with health care bills, seeing their public schools in shambles and living with this war without end. This is a historic year for women, from Hillary's candidacy to the numerous women running for the House and Senate. This is the year that a woman should be on the Democratic ticket. This is the year that both names on that ticket should be people OUTSIDE the party machine. This is the year millions of independents and, yes, millions of Republicans are looking for something new and fresh and bold (and you are the Kennedy Republicans would vote for!).

This is the moment, Caroline. Seize it! And Barack, if you're reading this, you probably know that she is far too humble and decent to nominate herself. So step up and surprise us again. Step up and be different than every politician we have witnessed in our lifetime. Keep the passion burning amongst the young people and others who have been energized by your unexpected, unpredicted, against-all-odds candidacy that has ignited and inspired a nation. Do it for all those reasons. Make Caroline Kennedy your VP. "Obama-Kennedy." Wow, does that sound so cool.

Caroline, thanks for letting me intrude on your life. How wonderful it will be to have a vice president who will respect the Constitution, who will support (instead of control) her president, who will never let her staff out a CIA agent, and who will never tell her country that she is "currently residing in an undisclosed location."

Say it one more time: "OBAMA-KENNEDY." A move like that might send a message to the country that the Democrats would actually like to win an election for once.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Ark. Dem. Party Chairman Shot At Headquarters

2008-08-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

Ark. Dem. Party Chairman Shot At Headquarters
Suspect Shot After Police Chase; Condition Unknown
LITTLE ROCK, Ark (CBS) ― Chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, Bill Gwatney, in critical condition following a shooting at the Democratic headquarters in Arkansas. A gunman walked into his building and fired multiple shots, according to CBS affiliate station KTHV-TV.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/5dm86g

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From the Giz Wiz, Dick DeBartolo

2008-08-13T08:20:00.001-07:00

http://www.gizwizbiz.com/

Dick's gadget spots are low to medium-tech and light hearted. The light-hearted part stems from his second career as MAD Magazine's MADDEST Writer. For more than forty years he's been writing many of those famous off-the-wall movie, tv and ad take-offs. He started his MAD writing career in high school when he submitted an article. He thought it had been returned when his own envelope came back. The envelope was stuffed with cardboard, a check and a note: "ha, ha, thought you were rejected, but we bought your piece. Dick wrote the book GOOD DAYS AND MAD, which is all about the insane way MAD founder William M. Gaines ran his multi-million dollar empire. (No secretaries, no switchboard, even white wine in the water cooler one day!)

Dick appears regularly on WORLD NEWS NOW, the overnight ABC Network news program showing the latest gizmos and gadgets. He also appears on http://www.twit.tv/DGW Leo Laporte's, the tech guy, webcast website and has appeared several times on the HAPPY HOUR on the Fox Business Channel.
It's fun and so is he.

See and hear him:
GizWiz.Biz USB Smart Button

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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The truth well out.

2008-08-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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A Picture = one thousand words.

2008-08-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Paris Hilton's reply to McCain in video

2008-08-06T06:56:00.000-07:00

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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You just lost more of your Rights, again.

2008-08-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

You've got to listen to the first part of this, one of Leo Leporte - the Tech guys. He, Leporte and some of his tech friends talking about your loosing your laptop to Gov. agents.
http://aolradio.podcast.aol.com/twit/TWiT0154H.mp3 . It doesn't take that long, and you need to know what your Gov. is doing to you again.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Unemployment at 4-year high, there better not be anyone out there that doesn't know why.

2008-08-01T08:47:00.001-07:00

Not since 2004 have so many people been out of work. Employers cut jobs again in July, according to a government report Friday that showed the seventh straight month of job losses. Losses spread far beyond the battered construction and auto industries. Retailers cut 17,000 jobs, and professional services lost even more than that -- 24,000 postions.

For the rest of thestory

Vote better and have a better live.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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The Servants are ordering the Bosses around again...

2008-08-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

Workers Going To Court To Stop Job Cuts
SACRAMENTO (AP) ― Thousands of state government employees will find themselves out of work today as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's money-saving executive order takes effect.

Those workers also will be backed by California's largest state employee union, which plans to challenge the governor's order.

Service Employees International Union said it planned to file a lawsuit today in Sacramento County Superior Court seeking to block the order, which Schwarzenegger signed Thursday amid a budget stalemate.
END

For the rest of the story

This happens ever time someone from So. Cal gets into the Gov.'s office. They try and screw the people. I don't understand why we keep voting so badly.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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A JibJab Sendables eCard for you...

2008-07-30T06:51:00.001-07:00

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Is Obama legal

2008-07-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

I'm wondering.........

Think about this...... I always thought that Ms. Clinton had something on Obama. A birth certificate is a matter of public record. I wonder where it is. We know that Obama refuses to release his birth certificate, and for some reason it is not on file in Hawaii, that makes this VERY interesting!

So is Obama Legally Eligible to Serve as President?

SOME TIME AGO HILLARY SAID SHE HAD SOMETHING ON OBAMA THAT WOULD CHANGE THE ELECTION AND THAT'S WHY SHE ONLY "SUSPENDED" HER QUEST FOR THE PRESIDENCY, WELL HERE IT IS:

This came from a USNA alumnus. It'll be interesting to see how the media handles this... Barack Obama is not a legal U.S. natural-born citizen according to the law on the books at the time of his birth, which falls between December 24, 1952 , to November 13, 1986. Federal Law requires that the office of President requires a natural-born citizen if the child was not born to two U.S. Citizen parents. This is what exempts John McCain, though he was born in the US Panama Canal Zone. US Law very clearly states: ". . . If only one parent is a U.S. Citizen at the time of one's birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for minimum ten years, five of which must be after the age of 16".

That Barack Obama's father was not a U.S. Citizen is a fact. Obama's mother was only 18 when Obama was born. This means even though she had been a U.S. Citizen for 10 years, (or citizen of Hawaii being a territory), his mother fails the test for at-least-5-years- prior-to Barack Obama's birth, but-after-age-16.

In essence, Mother alone is not old enough to qualify her son for automatic U.S. Citizenship. At most, 2 years elapsed from his mother turning 16 to the time of Barack Obama's birth when she was 18. His mother would have needed to have been 16 + 5 = 21 years old at the time of Barack Obama's birth for him to be a natural-born citizen. Barack Obama was already 3 years old at the time his mother would have needed to be to allow him natural citizenship from his only U.S. Citizen parent.

Obama should have been naturalized as a citizen . . . but that would disqualify him from holding the office. The Constitution clearly declares: Naturalized citizens are ineligible to hold the office of President. Though Barack Obama was sent back to Hawaii at age 10, any other information does not matter because his mother is the one who must fulfill the requirement to be a U.S. Citzen for 10 years prior to his birth on August 4, 1961 , with 5 of those years being after age 16.

Further, Obama may have had to have remained in the USA for some time frame to protect any citizenship he might have had, rather than living in Indonesia.

This is very clear cut and a glaring violation of U.S. Election law. I think the Governor Schwarzenegger of California should be very interested in discovering if Obama is allowed to be elected President without being a natural-born U.S. Citizen, since this would set a precedent. Stay tuned to your TV sets because I suspect some of this information will be leaking through over the next several days.

If this is true? This needs to spread rapidly.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Don't tell me that the price of oil isn't Political.

2008-07-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

As of 10:09 GMT+8 oil is at $123.56 down anothe $1.93. And Gas is at 3.0275 down 0.0319 as of this same time.
It's been a good week

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Same might think this should be in my TECH blog, but no.

2008-07-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

FEATURE from Yahoo.com Games, http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/playstation-2-component-incites-african-war/1231745

Playstation 2 component incites African war
Console war reaches past the couch and into the Congo, claims report.

By Ben Silverman

Has the video game industry dug up its very own blood diamond?

According to a report by activist site Toward Freedom, for the past decade the search for a rare metal necessary in the manufacturing of Sony's Playstation 2 game console has fueled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.

Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country's coltan mines.

"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.

So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the 2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills known for being ripe with coltan.

Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of mines in several different countries.

But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.

"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese coltan."

Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time, having sold through over 140 million units.
END

These kinds of thing well come home to hurt us and has...

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letslets sent you a video: "Simon's Cat 'TV Dinner'"

2008-07-24T06:48:00.001-07:00

	help center \| e-mail options \| report spam
letslets has shared a video with you on YouTube: The Cat is back in #3 the "TV Dinner" Simon's Cat 'TV Dinner' A hungry cat resorts to increasingly desperate measures to gain its owner's attention.
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

ABCNEWS.com: Who's Next? List of Troubled Banks Worring Wall Street, and DC

2008-07-21T17:10:00.001-07:00

Who's Next? List of Troubled Banks Worries Wall Street, and DC.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5374205&page=1

INTERESTING DATA JUST RECEIVED ON TAXES - Ouch!!

2008-07-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

INTERESTING DATA JUST RECEIVED ON TAXES - Ouch!!

Spread the word.....

This is something you should be
aware of so you don't get blind-sided.
This is really going to catch a lot
of families off guard. It should
make you worry.

Proposed changes in taxes after 2008 General election:

CAPITAL GAINS TAX

MCCAIN
0% on home sales up to $500,000
per home (couples) McCain does not
propose any change in existing
home sales income tax.

OBAMA
28% on profit from ALL home sales

How does this affect you?
If you sell your home and make a profit, you
will pay 28% of your gain on taxes.
If you are heading toward retirement
and would like to down-size your
home or move into a retirement
community, 28% of the money you
make from your home will go to taxes. This
proposal will adversely affect the
elderly who are counting on the income
from their homes as part of their retirement income.

DIVIDEND TAX

MCCAIN 15% (no change)

OBAMA 39.6%

How will this affect you?
If you have any money invested in stock
market, IRA, mutual funds,
college funds, life insurance, retirement
accounts, or anything that pays
or reinvests dividends, you will now
be paying nearly 40% of the money
earned on taxes if Obama become president.
The experts predict that 'higher
tax rates on dividends and capital gains
would crash the stock market yet
do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.

INCOME TAX

MCCAIN (no changes)

Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $31,250

OBAMA
(reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)
Single making 30K - tax $8,400
Single making 50K - tax $14,000
Single making 75K - tax $23,250
Married making 60K - tax $16,800
Married making 75K - tax $21,000
Married making 125K - tax $38,750

Under Obama your taxes will
more than double!
How does this affect you? No explanation
needed. This is pretty
straight forward.

INHERITANCE TAX

MCCAIN 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)

OBAMA Restore the inheritance tax

How does this affect you? Many families
have lost businesses,
farms and ranches, and homes
that have
been in their families
for generations because they could not
afford the inheritance tax.
Those willing their assets to loved
ones will not only lose them to
these taxes.

NEW TAXES BEING PROPOSED BY OBAMA

* New government taxes proposed on
homes that are more than
2400 square feet

* New gasoline taxes (as if
gas weren't high enough already)

* New taxes on natural resources
consumption (heating
gas, water, electricity)

* New taxes on retirement accounts
and last but not least....

* New taxes to pay for socialized medicine
so we can receive the same
level of medical care as other
third-world countries!!!

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Barbara Boxer on the soap box, she a US Senator. Their the ones that just this week OK'ed off shore drill for oil

2008-07-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Friend:

For most Californians, the term “long, hot summer” seems all too real right now. Records have been set for high temperatures, and now we are learning of possible power outages because of high electricity demands. These power outages can be avoided if we all act to reduce the use of electricity.

I’m happy to offer some solutions that all Californians can take to help us avoid power outages due to high demand, and that may also help to reduce your power bills. You can find some suggestions by clicking here or you can visit my Senate website for more tips about energy conservation and links to several sites including California’s "Flex Your Power" website and information about possible power outages. While we are all hoping for a cooler summer, it is time to prepare for hot days to come.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

To respond to this message, please click here. This link will take you to a webpage where you can reply to messages that you receive from Senator Boxer’s office.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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And on a more local note, see what CBS found about what goes on in Sac. these days.

2008-07-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

And us without a budget in place,again.
CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE THE VIDEO cbs13.COM TOOK.

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"T. Boone Pickens Explains His Plan on OIL"

2008-07-16T20:41:00.001-07:00

	help center \| e-mail options \| report spam
letslets has shared a video with you on YouTube! T. Boone Pickens Explains His Plan T. Boone gives a four-minute presentation about his plan to save America's energy future. Find out more at http://www.pickensplan.com
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

Who is T.Boone?
Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr. (born May 22, 1928) is an American businessman who chairs the hedge fund BP Capital Management. He was a well-known takeover operator during the 1980s. With an estimated current net worth of about $3 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 117th-richest person in America and ranked 369th in the world. Pickens has given more than $700 million away to charity. Find out more on T. Boone as Wikipedia®

A picture is worth a thousand words

2008-07-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

And just in case you don't know the lady she's his little misses. Michelle.

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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You've got to see this! And yes I know there code problems, get the message!

2008-07-10T15:10:00.000-07:00

Texas DOT Vehicle stopped by an alert DPS Trooper on I-10 between San Antonio and Seguin , TX

The Mexicans cloned a Texas DOT Truck and got busted smuggling drugs..
I wonder how long they got away with it before they got busted?
Let's give them more welfare money, more of our Social Security money, and raise your taxes to fund their free-ride... !

BELOW ARE PICTURES TAKEN AFTER A RAID ON A DRUG DEALER'S HOUSE IN MEXICO ..
ARE YOU READY FOR THIS???

And our Government wants to give ILLEGAL ALIENS amnesty and not build the border fence because of funding!?!?!?

I wonder how long they got away with it before they got busted?

Some of the illegal aliens we're letting in can afford anything at any cost!!! And for the ones who cannot........ we'll give it to them anyway!!!

AND WE HAVE TWO BORDER PATROL AGENTS IN PRISON FOR SHOOTING AND WOUNDING A WELL DOCUMENTED MEXICAN DRUG DEALER

SEND EVERYONE here, INCLUDING YOUR LOCAL CONGRESS REPRESENTATIVE. Our country is bleeding from the outside in!!! Don't you think it's time we take back what WE (NOT the Government) have sacrificed for over 140 years for??? I do. Build the fence higher and deeper, tighten border control, and send EVERY illegal alien home!!!

Texas DOT Vehicle stopped by an alert DPS Trooper on I-10 between San Antonio and Seguin , TX

BELOW ARE PICTURES TAKEN AFTER A RAID ON A DRUG DEALER'S HOUSE IN MEXICO ..
ARE YOU READY FOR THIS???

JUST LOOK AT HOW WELL IT'S PAYING OFF........

WHO, BY THE WAY, WAS ARMED AND ALSO HAPPENS TO BE A CONVICTED (BY MEXICO ) MURDERER.

MAKES A LOT OF SENSE, DOESN'T IT??? AUTOMATICS, SILENCERS...... THEY'RE ALL HAVING A NICE LAUGH ABOUT THIS STUFF AT OUR EXPENSE!!!

"Joe, American" Challenges the Presidential Candidates

2008-07-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

link to what you should hear Joe say

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Fw: Update: FOX smears Obama

2008-07-09T15:51:00.001-07:00

--- On Wed, 7/9/08, Adam Green, MoveOn.org Political Action <moveon-help@list.moveon.org> wrote:

From: Adam Green, MoveOn.org Political Action <moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
Subject: Update: FOX smears Obama
To: "D" <stelguard-moveon@yahoo.com>
Date: Wednesday, July 9, 2008, 1:54 PM

Dear MoveOn member,
Over 428,000 people have signed a petition telling FOX to stop their racist and hate-filled smears against Barack Obama. If we hit half-a-million signatures, we can draw media attention and put pressure on FOX's advertisers.
Plus, Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films released a video this morning documenting FOX's ongoing smears against Michelle Obama. Please check out the video, and then sign the petition calling on FOX to stop peddling racism—and then tell your friends. Just click here:

Click here
Here's the link: https://pol.moveon.org/donate/foxsmears.html?id=13181-3646104-QdSoZrx&t=3
FOX is shameless: in the last several weeks alone, they've "confused" Obama's name with Osama's, referred to Michelle as "Obama's Baby Mama," and called an affectionate fist bump by Barack and Michelle a "terrorist fist jab."
Our partners at ColorOfChange.org will hold a major event next week to deliver boxes and boxes of petition signatures to FOX's headquarters. If we can deliver half-a-million signatures, other media outlets will have a powerful story to report—and FOX's advertisers will get the hint that it's not a good idea to associate their products with FOX's hate-speech.
Thanks for helping to fight the right-wing smears.
–Adam G.
P.S. Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) has a new book out, and we thought you might be interested. The Nation called Wexler the country's "Most Valuable Congressman," and he's stood with MoveOn on numerous causes, from ending the war to stopping warrantless wiretapping in FISA. Now he's written "Fire Breathing Liberal," a fascinating account of life as an outspoken progressive in the House of Representatives. Says Comedian Stephen Colbert, "I enjoyed Congressman Wexler's book even more than I enjoy cocaine and prostitutes." You can check it out here:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3906&id=13181-3646104-QdSoZrx&t=4
You can also sign up for Wexler's email list here:
http://www.wexlerforcongress.com/join.asp

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to D on July 9, 2008. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Think on any of these or all. Please all.

2008-07-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.

Winston Churchill
************
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

George Bernard Shaw
************

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
************

"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."

Mark Twain
************

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself.

Mark Twain
************
Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.

Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
************

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian
************

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.

Frederic Bastiat, Economist (1801-1850)
************

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Ronald Reagan (1986)
************
I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

Will Rogers
************
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!

P.J. O'Rourke
************

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.

Voltaire (1764)
************

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!

Pericles (430 B.C.)
************

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.

Mark Twain (1866)
************

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.

Unknown
************

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.

Ronald Reagan
************

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.

Mark Twain
************

There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress.

Mark Twain
************

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.

Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)
************

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.

Thomas Jefferson
*************

D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/

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Gen.Patton, a comedy or is it? You tell me...

2008-07-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

You do remember Gen. Patton, right?

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More on Political Correctness, if that's what you want to call it.

2008-07-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

OH! OR, your getting to be so CA.

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You got love TX on Political Correctness. GD

2008-07-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

The following is the winning entry from an annual contest at Texas A & M
University calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary
term. This year's term was 'Political Correctness'.

The winner wrote:

'Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical
minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which
holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd
by the clean end.'

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Yahoo! News Story - Obama bypasses public money 1st since Watergate - Yahoo! News

2008-06-20T08:30:00.001-07:00

------------------------------------------------------------
Obama bypasses public money, 1st since Watergate. He thinks he can rise more money by himself. And as I understand it if Obama for goes public money John McCain will have as well. For the rest of the story, click on this link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080620/ap_on_el_pr/obama_money

============================================================
Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/

Old Obama, New Obama

2008-06-20T08:07:00.001-07:00

Nader for President 2008 -- June 20, 2008

June 20, 2008
www.votenader.org
www.officialnaderstore.com

Ralph Nader stands for shifting the power from the big corporations back to the people.
Period.
Full stop.
End of story.
Contrast that with Senator Obama.
The old Obama said that he thought NAFTA was a "big mistake."
The new Obama isn't so sure.
The old Obama said he would abide by public spending limits in this election.
The new Obama he says he won't.
The old Obama said he was for a change in foreign policy and surrounded himself with innovative thinkers with a chance to make a difference.
The new Obama has surrounded himself with veterans of the military industrial complex status quo.
The old Obama talked economic populism.
The new Obama talks corporate-speak and surrounds himself with economists from the Chicago School.
You know where Nader and Gonzalez stand on corporate power.
And that isn't changing.
We're at six percent nationwide in the most recent CNN poll.
We're going to be on ten state ballots by the end of June.
And we're shooting for 40 by the end of the summer.
Together, we are moving forward.
And together, we will make a difference in November.
Onward.
The Nader Team
PS: We invite your comments to the blog.
Your contribution could be doubled. Public campaign financing may match your contribution total up to $250.

Paid for by Nader for President 2008
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Nader for President 2008 P.O. Box 34103 Washington, D.C. 20043 (202) 471 5833

You can't have him

2008-06-17T10:29:00.001-07:00

MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

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Can you tell them apart Bush & McCain that is...

2008-06-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

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Will Obama Let Big Corporations Buy the Democratic Convention?

2008-06-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Posted by Greg Kafoury on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 10:38:00 AM

For most thoughtful observers, John McCain's pretensions to independence from corporate power dissolved in the face of his initial decision to stock his campaign from stem to stern with lobbyists.

Yet Obama's pledge to refuse special interest money and his ability to raise vast amounts from small contributors have led many to overlook the fact that his seed money of several million dollars came from Wall Street.

For The Rest of The Story

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Let yourself hear from everyone you can

2008-06-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

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Don't Run

2008-06-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

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Do you know what happened this week back in 1850, 158 years ago?

2008-06-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

What happened this week back in 1850, 158 years ago?

1. California became a state.
2. The state had no electricity.
3. The state had no money.
4. Almost everyone spoke Spanish.
5. There were gunfights in the streets.

So basically, it was just like California is today, except the women had real breasts and the men didn't hold hands.

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The History of AT&T or your goverment failed you

2008-06-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

And look how fare back it goes. Stop labbiest! They're truned "For the People" into "For the corporations".

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An Opinion - The Democrats' Reagan

2008-06-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

Bob Beckel
Tue Jun 10, 9:30 AM ET

Question: Name the presidential candidate described below.

An unpopular incumbent president sits in the Oval Office. His party's brand is badly tarnished. The economy is in shambles, unemployment on the rise. The housing market is in crisis. Gasoline has become a major issue. America is enmeshed in a protracted crisis in the Middle East with no end in sight. We are near war footing with Iran. The reputation of the United States is diminished world wide. In historically high numbers, voters believe the country is on the wrong track.

The opposition party has nominated a charismatic candidate for president whose oratorical skills are compared to JFK, perhaps better. He had been introduced to the majority of Americans by way of a spellbinding keynote speech at a previous national party convention.

He has a fervent core of supporters and has emerged as the leader of his party through an insurgency that challenged and ultimately defeated his party's establishment. He runs against Washington and the special interests that control the Capitol. His message is change and hope.

If ever the public demanded change in Washington, it is in this presidential year. It could not be a better political environment for the party out of power. Yet with all the stars aligned perfectly for a party change in the White House, national polls show the opposition candidate barely ties, and often trails, his opponent.

There is little doubt about the voter's desire for change, but there is plenty of doubt about this candidate who pledges to deliver it. Who is the candidate?

Answer; A) Barack Obama B) Ronald Reagan C) Both

The correct answer is C.

Barack Obama's current political circumstance is eerily similar to that of Ronald Reagan in his 1980 campaign for president. Both Obama and Reagan, from the beginning of their insurgent campaigns, were viewed as transformative political figures. Both enjoyed passionate grassroots support.

Both men had defeated centrist establishment candidates for their party's nomination. Reagan defeated George H.W. Bush, who was viewed by the growing conservative base of the Republican Party as too moderate. Obama beat Hilary Clinton whose husband had been elected twice by moving away from his party's traditional progressive roots and running as a centrist, a path Clinton herself followed (at least at the beginning of her campaign).

In 1980 most conventional political observers failed to recognize the growing grassroots power of the rock solid conservative activists who propelled Reagan to his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential campaign supporters of Hillary Clinton failed to recognize the growing assertiveness of the Democrats progressive base, especially over the Iraq war which she initially supported and Obama opposed.

The failures of the Bush Administration convinced many progressives that the conservative cycle, deep into its third decade, had run its course. These activists believed the country was ready to tack back toward more progressive and transparent government. Barack Obama recognized and embraced this growing progressive movement.

Obama's message that it was time to "turn the page" on politics as usual (a not very subtle reference to both the Bush and Clinton years) resonated with progressives. That message coupled with his message of post-partisan, anti-polarization politics, so attractive to independent voters, provided Obama with a core of progressive activists along with a solid base of black voters and young voters energized by his youth and oratorical gifts.

But insurgency campaigns by definition run counter to the established order. Even in years when voters clamor for change, insurgent candidates must prove that neither they nor the change they offer is perceived as too far from the mainstream. It is this potential fear that opponents of insurgent candidates seek to exploit.

For most of the general election in 1980 Democrats succeeded in raising doubts about Reagan's brand of conservatism. They charged that he was too far right, and questioned his past conservative associations with the John Birch Society which, like Reagan; had been strong supporters of Barry Goldwater in 1964. Democrats argued that Reagan's brand of virulent anti-Communism coupled with his lack of foreign-policy experience was a dangerous mixture for the man whose finger would be on the proverbial "button."

For most of the 1980 general election the attacks on Reagan raised enough doubt about him to neutralize the public's strong desire for change. I was managing Carter's campaign in Texas that fall, and even in that conservative bastion, Carter led Reagan in the polls until mid-October. Our strategy was simple: On a risk scale of 1 to 10 (one being no risk, 10 being far too risky) we had managed to keep Reagan in the 7 to 8 range. Then came the only Carter/Reagan debate and the flood gates opened.

On stage with the President of the United States, Reagan did not come across as a threatening mad bomber. He was collegial, surefooted, and calm. His performance shattered expectations that he was a risk, which allowed Reagan, at the end of the debate, to pivot to the state of the economy with his devastating question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" Reagan was elected in a landslide and proceeded to transform politics in America well beyond his two terms.

The Republicans are employing the same "risk" strategy against Barack Obama in 2008. McCain and company have used Obama's willingness to meet with avowed enemies of the United States like Iran as a sign of naivetÃ© and weakness. Republican operatives and their radio talk show allies have sought to tie Obama to the anti-American rants of his former pastor Jeremiah Wright and his neighbor William Ayers, a former '60s radical.

Republicans have even dragged Obama's wife Michelle into the fight. They cite her Princeton senior thesis, selected campaign comments, and Obama's failure to wear an American flag lapel pin as evidence of passive patriotism.

Democrats in 1980 charged that Reagan would rip apart the social safety net for the poor, while Republicans in 2008 accuse Obama of inciting class warfare and suggest as president he will undertake a classic liberal redistribution of wealth by increasing taxes on wealthy Americans and profitable US corporations.

It is incumbent on Obama to diffuse the "risk" issue. In some ways his will be an easier job than Reagan's. Reagan ran against an incumbent president, always a difficult race, while Obama faces a 71-year-old Senate veteran. (McCain turns 72 on Aug. 29.) Reagan faced a president preoccupied with 52 American hostages in Iran while Obama's opponent supports an unpopular war in Iraq that has already cost over 4000 American lives.

The "risk" factor for insurgents can best be addressed in direct candidate to candidate debates. Insurgents tend to have low expectations in these matchups, and hence a greater upside potential. Ronald Reagan had only one debate opportunity to counter his "risk" problem. Obama is likely to have a minimum of three encounters with John McCain and potentially several other town hall joint appearances.

John McCain will not be irrelevant in these face-offs, but only Barack Obama can confront the question of risk. It is an enviable position for Barack Obama Only he can win the race for the White House, and only he can lose it.

If Obama has proved one thing in his short political career, it is that he is far more likely to win than to lose.

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An Opinion - It's Congress, not a king's court.

2008-06-11T05:20:00.000-07:00

By Mickey Edwards
Tue Jun 10, 4:00 AM ET

The central feature of American government, the one that made the United States "exceptional" and preserved our freedoms for more than 200 years, is in the process of being destroyed. The enemy is not in Iraq or the hills of Pakistan but in Washington and in cities and towns throughout the United States.

America's Founders, it turns out, were not as smart as we thought. They assumed that if they put most of the nation's real powers – over war, taxes, and spending – in the hands of the people themselves, through their representatives, those representatives would do their duty and prevent an American president from acting as though he were king.

Congress was not to be a copy of the British Parliament but its exact opposite: Whereas Parliament is essentially an extension of the executive (the prime minister's party always controls Parliament and its members are expected to enact his or her proposals) and members need not have any connection to the "constituencies" they allegedly represent, the American system requires members of Congress to come from the states they represent and to serve as a check on – not enabler of – the president.

It's a simple enough concept, but one apparently hard for members of Congress to grasp.

Rep. Peter King (R) of New York was quoted recently bemoaning the fact that legislators were going to have to fend for themselves in November's elections.

"You are going to run on who you are and establish some independence," he told The New York Times, "and that is going to be tougher for some than others."

Having served in Congress myself, I feel sad for those members who are going to find it tough to run as who they are and "establish some independence," but I had assumed that was precisely what they were supposed to do.

The opposite, of course, would be to pretend to be someone other than who one really is or to have no convictions other than to obey somebody else's directives (presumably those of the president or party leaders). Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D) of California, has a similar confusion. Interviewed on National Public Radio, she said part of her job as House speaker was to ensure that there would be a Democratic majority in the next Congress. That, of course, is likely to happen regardless of what she does, but that is actually the job of the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; Ms. Pelosi's job is to legislate and to see to it that the House fulfills its constitutional duties as a separate, independent and equal branch of the federal government.

Tom Cole, the Oklahoma congressman who chairs the Republican Campaign Committee in the House, inherited a mess, including a deeply unpopular president and a host of GOP incumbents heading for the hills, and has been unfairly blamed for the party's losses in this year's special elections. (Full disclosure: He is a friend who once worked on my congressional staff.)

But even Mr. Cole, who holds a doctorate and is one of the smartest members of Congress, sometimes loses sight of what it means to be a member of the legislative branch. Asked about the desirability of distancing oneself from George W. Bush, Cole told The Washington Post that "it's not for me to second-guess the president of the United States."

Yes, it is. That is precisely the constitutional obligation of a member of Congress – to second-guess, challenge, question, and, when necessary, serve as a check on a president.

In November, voters will elect every member of the House and one-third of the members of the Senate. In January, each successful candidate will take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Perhaps it would be good for each of them to get a crash course in exactly what that means.

• Mickey Edwards is a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma. His new book is "Reclaiming Conservatism." He is now a lecturer at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. ©2008 Los Angeles Times.

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2008-06-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

Breaking News Saturday, June 7, 2008, 12:26 PM PDT
ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) Ex-SNL writer Al Franken wins Democratic nod for U.S. Senate.

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Cuba approves free sex-change operations

2008-06-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:29 pm PDT
AP - Cuba has authorized sex-change operations and will offer them free for qualifying citizens, an official said Friday. The move is the latest in a series of changes implemented by President Raul Castro since he succeeded his elder brother, Fidel, in February. Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela, heads Cuba's National Center for Sex Education, which strongly backs the new policy

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For anyone still trying to make sense of Political Science

2008-06-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

> , here is a
> simple guide.
>
> DEMOCRATIC
> You have two cows.
> Your neighbor has none.
> You feel guilty for being successful.
> Barbara Streisand sings for you.
> REPUBLICAN
> You have two cows.
> Your neighbor has none.
> So?
> SOCIALIST
> You have two cows.
> The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
> You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.
> COMMUNIST
> You have two cows.
> The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
> You wait in line for hours to get it.
> It is expensive and sour
> CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
> You have two cows.
> You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
> BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
> You have two cows.
> Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot
> one, milk the
> other, and
> then pours the milk down the drain.
> AMERICAN CORPORATION
> You have two cows.
> You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on
> the 2nd one.
> You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows.
> You are surprised
> when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the
> analysts stating
> you have downsized and are reducing expenses.
> Your stock goes up.
> FRENCH CORPORATION
> You have two cows.
> You go on strike because you want three cows.
> You go to lunch and drink wine.
> Life is good.
> JAPANESE CORPORATION
> You have two cows.
> You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an
> ordinary cow and
> produce twenty
> times the milk.
> They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
> Most are at the top of their class at cow school.
> GERMAN CORPORATION
> You have two cows.
> You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of
> beer, give excellent
> quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
> Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per
> year.
> ITALIAN CORPORATION
> You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
> While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.
> You break for lunch.
> Life is good.
> RUSSIAN CORPORATION
> You have two cows.
> You have some vodka.
> You count them and learn you have five cows.
> You have some more vodka.
> You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
> The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you
> really have.
> TALIBAN CORPORATION
> You have all the cows in Afghanistan , which are two.
> You don't milk them because you cannot touch any
> creature's private parts.
> You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find
> alternatives to
> milk production
> but use the money to buy weapons.
> IRAQI CORPORATION
> You have two cows.
> They go into hiding.
> They send radio tapes of their mooing.
> POLISH CORPORATION
> You have two bulls.
> Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to
> milk them.
> BELGIAN CORPORATION
> You have one cow.
> The cow has split-personality disorder.
> Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times
> he's Flemish.
> The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow.
> The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk.
> The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
> The cow dies happy.
> FLORIDA CORPORATION
> You have a black cow and a brown cow.
> Everyone votes for the best looking one.
> Some of the people who actually like the brown one best
> accidentally vote
> for the black one.
> Some people vote for both.
> Some people vote for neither.
> Some people can't figure out how to vote at all.
> Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which
> one you think is
> the best-looking cow.
> CALIFORNIA CORPORATION
> You have millions of cows.
> They make real California cheese.
> Only five speak English.
> Most are illegals.
> Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.
>

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The cost of War

2008-06-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

click here to learn more

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

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The cost of the Iraq war

2006-02-17T07:07:00.000-08:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Cost of the War in Iraq

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To see more details, click here.

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Sounds more like a chat between our gov. and one ouf us. Just change the names around

2005-06-06T07:46:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

A fleeing Taliban,
desperate for water,
was plodding through
the Afghanistan desert
when he saw something
far off in the distance.
Hoping to find water,
he walked toward the object,
only to find
a little old Jewish man
sitting at a card table
with neckties
laid out on it.

The Arab said,

"My thirst is killing me.
Please, do you have water?"

The Jew replied,
"I have no water.
Would you like to buy a tie?
They are only $150.
This one goes very nicely
with your robes.

"The Arab shouted,
"Idiot! I do not need
your overpriced tie.
I need water!"

"OK,"
said the old Jew,
"it does not matter
that you do not want
to buy a tie. I will show you
that you have not offended me.
If you walk over that hill
to the east for about four miles,
you will find a lovely restaurant.

Go! Walk that way!
The restaurant has
all the water you need!"

The Arab
staggered away
toward the hill
and disappeared.

Eight hours later
the Arab came crawling back
to the Jewish man's table.

The Jew said, "I told you,
the restaurant with the water
is about four miles over that hill.

Could you not find it?"

"I found it," rasped the Arab.
"But your brother
wouldn't let me in
without a tie."

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Me too, said the Lord

2005-05-31T15:49:00.001-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Jewish businessman in Chicago sent his son to Israel for a year to absorb
the culture. When the son returned, he said, "Papa, I had a great time in
Israel. By the way, I converted to Christianity."

"Oy vey," said the father, "what have I done!"

He took his problem to his best friend. "Ike," he said, "I sent my son to
Israel, and he came home a Christian. What can I do?"

"Funny you should ask," said Ike. "I, too, sent my son to Israel, and he
also came home a Christian. Perhaps we should go see the Rabbi."

They explained their problem to the Rabbi.

"Funny you should ask," said the rabbi. "I, too sent my son to Israel, and
he also came home a Christian. What is
happening to our young people?"

They prayed, telling the Lord about their sons.

As they finished their prayer, a voice came from the heavens: "Funny you
should ask," said the voice,
"I, too, sent my son to Israel

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Me too, said the Lord

2005-05-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

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Interesting Fact:

2005-05-31T15:43:00.001-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

There have been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq
theater during the last 22 months; that gives a firearm death rate of
60 per 100,000. The rate in Washington, D.C. is 80.6 per 100,000. That means
that you are 25% more likely to be shot and killed in our Nation's Capitol,
which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, than you are
in Iraq.

CONCLUSION : We should immediately pull out of Washington, D.C

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Interesting Fact:

2005-05-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

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A link for Memoridal Day

2005-05-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

http://www.usmemorialday.org/

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Be afraid by very afraid cause this is the way they think

2005-05-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

http://goldengirls03.org/Texas_Future.htm

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Andy Rooney's tips for telemarketers

2005-05-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Andy Rooney's tips for telemarketers

Three Little Words That Work !!

(1)The three little words are: "Hold On, Please..."
Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off
(instead of
hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so
much more
time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's
"beep-beep-beep" tone,
you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which
has
efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone
soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the
other
end?
This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone
calls and
records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a
"real" sales
person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one
there, is to
immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7
times, as
quickly as possible . This confuses the machine that dialed the
call and it
kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to
have your
name in their system any longer !!!

(3) Junk Mail Help:
When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill,
return these
"ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their
own junk
mail away.

When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the mail for
everything from
credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw
away the
return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right?
It costs them more than the regular 37 cents postage "IF" and
when they
receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was
around 50
cents before! the last increase and it is according to the
weight. In that
case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it
in these
cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas.
Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express.
Send a pizza
coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day,
then just
send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't
on anything
you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to
keep them
guessing! It still costs them 37 cents.

The banks and credit card companies are currently
getting a lot of their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we
need to
OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of
junk
mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying
that e-mail
is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need
to
increase postage costs again. You get the idea !

If enough people follow these tips, it will work----
I have been doing this for years, and I get very little
junk mail anymore.

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Try, adventure of a lifetime...

2005-05-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

...If you are ready for the adventure of a lifetime in
MEXICO, TRY THIS.

Enter Mexico illegally. Never mind immigration quotas, visas
, international law, or any of that nonsense.
Once there, demand that the local government provide free
medical care for you and your entire family.

Demand bilingual nurses and doctors.
Demand free bilingual local government forms, bulletins,
etc. Procreate abundantly.
Deflect any criticism of this allegedly irresponsible
reproductive behavior with, "It is a cultural U.S.A. thing.
You would not understand, pal."
Keep your American identity strong.
Fly Old Glory from your rooftop, or proudly display it in
your front window or on your car bumper.
Speak only English at home and in public and insist that
your children do likewise.
Demand classes on American culture in the Mexican school
system.
Demand a local Mexican driver license.
This will afford other legal rights and will go far to
legitimize your unauthorized, illegal, presence in Mexico
Drive around with no liability insurance and ignore local
traffic laws.
Insist that local Mexican law enforcement teach English to
all its officers.
Good luck! You'll be demanding for the rest of time or soon
dead. Because it will never happen.
It will not happen in Mexico or any other country in the
world except right here in the United States. Land of the
naive!
If you agree, pass it on.

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You've got to see this...

2005-05-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

http://upchucky.com/flash-george-girl.html

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Beware

2005-05-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

The 14th is Mother-In-Law day.

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Government-funded Researchers Tested Drugs on Foster Kids

2005-05-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Researchers Tested Drugs on Foster Kids
By JOHN SOLOMON Link to the story, http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2005/05/04/ap/headlines/d89sig500.txt
Last updated: Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - 01:05:12 pm PDT

WASHINGTON - Government-funded researchers tested AIDS drugs on hundreds of foster children over the past two decades, often without providing them a basic protection afforded in federal law and required by some states, an Associated Press review has found.

The research funded by the National Institutes of Health spanned the country. It was most widespread in the 1990s as foster care agencies sought treatments for their HIV-infected children that weren't yet available in the marketplace.

The practice ensured that foster children _ mostly poor or minority _ received care from world-class researchers at government expense, slowing their rate of death and extending their lives. But it also exposed a vulnerable population to the risks of medical research and drugs that were known to have serious side effects in adults and for which the safety for children was unknown.

The research was conducted in at least seven states _ Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Colorado and Texas _ and involved more than four dozen different studies. The foster children ranged from infants to late teens, according to interviews and government records.

Several studies that enlisted foster children reported patients suffered side effects such as rashes, vomiting and sharp drops in infection-fighting blood cells as they tested antiretroviral drugs to suppress AIDS or other medicines to treat secondary infections.

In one study, researchers reported a "disturbing" higher death rate among children who took higher doses of a drug. That study was unable to determine a safe and effective dosage.

The government provided special protections for child wards in 1983. They required researchers and their oversight boards to appoint independent advocates for any foster child enrolled in a narrow class of studies that involved greater than minimal risk and lacked the promise of direct benefit. Some foster agencies required the protection regardless of risks and benefits.

Advocates must be independent of the foster care and research agencies, have some understanding of medical issues and "act in the best interests of the child" for the entirety of the research, the law states.

However, researchers and foster agencies told AP that foster children in AIDS drug trials often weren't given such advocates even though research institutions many times promised to do so to gain access to the children.

Illinois officials believe none of their nearly 200 foster children in AIDS studies got independent monitors even though researchers signed a document guaranteeing "the appointment of an advocate for each individual ward participating in the respective medical research."

New York City could find records showing 142 _ less than a third _ of the 465 foster children in AIDS drug trials got such monitors even though city policy required them. The city has asked an outside firm to investigate.

Likewise, research facilities including Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said they concluded they didn't provide advocates for foster kids.

Some states declined to participate in medical experiments. Tennessee said its foster care rules generally prohibit enlisting children in such trials. California requires a judge's order. And Wisconsin "has absolutely never allowed, nor would we even consider, any clinical experiments with the children in our foster care system," spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said.

Officials estimated that 5 percent to 10 percent of the 13,878 children enrolled in pediatric AIDS studies funded by NIH since the late 1980s were in foster care. More than two dozen Illinois foster children remain in studies today.

Some foster children died during studies, but state or city agencies said they could find no records that any deaths were directly caused by experimental treatments.

Researchers typically secured permission to enroll foster children through city or state agencies. And they frequently exempted themselves from appointing advocates by concluding the research carried minimal risk and the child would directly benefit because the drugs had already been tried in adults.

"Our position is that advocates weren't needed," said Marilyn Castaldi, spokeswoman for Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York.

If they decline to appoint advocates under the federal law, researchers and their oversight boards must conclude that the experimental treatment affords the same or better risk-benefit possibilities than alternate treatments already in the marketplace. They also must abide by any additional protections required by state and local authorities.

Many of the studies that enrolled foster children occurred after 1990 when the government approved using the drug AZT _ an effective AIDS treatment _ for children.

Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said advocates should have been appointed for all foster children because researchers felt the pressure of a medical crisis and knew there was great uncertainty as to how children would react to AIDS medications that were often toxic for adults.

"It is exactly that set of circumstances that made it absolutely mandatory to get those kids those advocates," Caplan said. "It is inexcusable that they wouldn't have an advocate for each one of those children.

"When you have the most vulnerable subjects imaginable _ kids without parents _ you really do have to come in with someone independent, who doesn't have a dog in this fight," he said.

Those who made the decisions say the research gave foster kids access to drugs they otherwise couldn't get. And they say they protected the children's interest by carefully explaining risks and benefits to state guardians, foster parents and the children themselves.

"I understand the ethical dilemma surrounding the introduction of foster children into trials," said Dr. Mark Kline, a pediatric AIDS expert at Baylor College of Medicine. He enrolled some Texas foster kids in his studies, and doesn't recall appointing advocates for them.

"To say as a group that foster children should be excluded from clinical trials would have meant excluding these children from the best available therapies at the time," he said. "From an ethical perspective, I never thought that was a stand I could take."

Illinois officials directly credit the decision to enroll HIV-positive foster kids with bringing about a decline in deaths _ from 40 between 1989 and 1995 to only 19 since.

NIH, the government health research agency that funded the studies, did not track researchers to determine if they appointed advocates. Instead, the decision was left to medical review boards made up of volunteers at each study site.

A recent Institute of Medicine study concluded those Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) were often overwhelmed, dominated by scientists and not focused enough on patient protections. An ethicist who served 22 years on such boards said they lack the resources to ensure the safety of foster children.

"Over the last half century, IRBs have basically broken under the strain of some of the structural changes in research," said Gregory E. Pence, a University of Alabama-Birmingham bioethicist.

The U.S. Office for Human Research Protections, created to protect research participants after the infamous Tuskegee syphilis studies on black men, is investigating the use of foster children in AIDS research. The office declined to discuss the probe.

NIH said it considers patient safety its top priority and awaits the outcome of the investigation. "If we find that patient protections need further strengthening, we will take action to do so," spokesman John Burklow said.

AP's review found that if children were old enough _ usually between 5 and 10 _ they also were educated about the risks and asked to consent. Sometimes, foster parents or biological parents were consulted; other times not.

"Our policy was to try and contact the (biological) parents because it was fairly common when we got done the foster kid would go back to the parents," said Dr. Ross McKinney, a pediatrics AIDS expert at Duke University.

Research and foster agencies declined to make foster parents or children in the drug trials available for interviews, or to provide information about individual drug dosages, side effects or deaths, citing medical privacy laws.

Other families who participated in the same drug trials told AP their children mostly benefited but parents needed to carefully monitor potential side effects. Foster children, they said, need the added protection of an independent advocate.

"I don't believe a foster care parent can do it," said Vinnie DiPoalo, a New Jersey woman whose 10-year-old adopted son has participated in three AIDS drug trials. "There are informed consents that have to be signed. There are follow-up blood appointments.

"I think that's the role the advocate should take, because a foster parent may only have this child for three months and then the child moves on and someone needs to be watching all the time," she said.

Many studies that enlisted foster children involved early Phase I and Phase II research _ the riskiest _ to determine side effects and safe dosages so children could begin taking adult "cocktails," the powerful drug combinations that suppress AIDS but can cause bad reactions like rashes and organ damage.

Some of those drugs were approved ultimately for children, such as stavudine and zidovudine. Other medicines were not.

Illinois officials confirmed two or three foster children were approved to participate in a mid-1990s study of dapsone. Researchers hoped the drug would prevent a pneumonia that afflicts AIDS patients.

Researchers reported some children had to be taken off the drug because of "serious toxicity," others developed rashes, and the rates of death and blood toxicity were significantly higher in children who took the medicine daily, rather than weekly.

At least 10 children died from a variety of causes, including four from blood poisoning, and researchers said they were unable to determine a safe, useful dosage. They said the deaths didn't appear to be "directly attributable" to dapsone but nonetheless were "disturbing."

"An unexpected finding in our study was that overall mortality while receiving the study drug was significantly higher in the daily dapsone group. This finding remains unexplained," the researchers concluded.

Another study involving foster children in the 1990s treated children with different combinations of adult antiretroviral drugs. Among 52 children, there were 26 moderate to severe reactions _ nearly all in infants. The side effects included rash, fever and a major drop in infection-fighting white blood cells.

New York City officials defend the decision to enlist foster children en masse, saying there was a crisis in the early 1990s and research provided the best treatment possibilities. Nonetheless, they are changing their policy so they no longer give blanket permission to enroll children in preapproved studies.

"We learned some things from our experience," said Elizabeth Roberts, assistant commissioner for child and family health at the Administration for Children's Services. "It is a more individualized review we will be conducting."

Researchers likewise defend their work, saying they often sat with foster families to explain the risks and benefits, and provided them literature and 24-hour phone numbers.

"We talk about it. Then they come the next time. There is no rush," explained Dr. Ram Yogev, the chief pediatric AIDS researcher in Chicago whose patients include a large number of foster children.

Kline, the Texas researcher, added: "I never wanted a parent or guardian to ever say 'yes' simply because they thought that it was what I wanted them to do. I wanted it to be the right choice for them. I think there is not any single right answer for any family."

Researcher Rachel Landau in Washington and reporter Carla K. Johnson in Chicago contributed to this story. On the Net:

Documents associated with this story are available at:

http://wid.ap.org/inv/foster.html

National Institutes of Health: http://www.nih.gov

A service of the Associated Press(AP)

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Bush Wins Papal Vote

2005-04-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Found this in my email box today... Thought we needed the chuckle...

Reuters - 14 April 2005 0953 GMT

VATICAN CITY - In a turn of events that stunned Vatican officials, U.S. President George W. Bush has been named to succeed John Paul II as the next leader of the Catholic Church.

For the first time in history, the College of Cardinals employed electronic voting machines to select the next Supreme Pontiff.

Bush won by a margin of 2,528 votes, despite the fact that only 115 Cardinals took part in the process.

The machines, which were last used in the 2004 presidential election, also registered 27 votes for Democratic candidate John Kerry.

"It's a miracle!" cried Kenneth Blackwell, spokesperson for voting machine manufacturer Diebold Corporation. "God has spoken."

Supporters of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, whom early exit polls had leading by a comfortable margin in the voting, demanded a recount.

Blackwell said there was no need for a recount, because the voting machines, which had been modified to emit a plume of white smoke when a plurality was reached, would produce the same count again. "That's how they were programmed," he assured reporters. "Diebold machines are infalible."

When informed of his victory, President Bush expressed surprise. "I was not aware I was running for the popecy," he said. "I wish people would tell me these things."

However, he added that he would be "honored and privileged to serve as Supreme Pontoon for the rest of my natural life, or until I die, whichever comes first

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Comments for the patriot blog - And thank you for them

2005-04-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

From M.Elaine

Did you know on the night of,"Republican
Convention", the purple heat
was on the check
with a bandage over it.

All the republican's were making fun of, John
Kerry, because he serve
in, Vietnam War, and
came back home to stop the war so more men
would not be killed.
Tony Frank's, said"That it's so easy to get a
purple heart.

Not only was, John Kerry, made fun of but all
the Vet's who served their country in War.

Did you ever see the movie,"Going Up The River The
Long War..
It was blacked out only one place showed it.
No one heard of it.
It show John Kerry, with his swift boat crew.
He saved one man who fall in the water with
bullet's coming at the.
Plus he saved his whole swift boat crew.

He came back to speak up against the war.
Vietnam War V et's, pick him to talk because
he was clean and a soft talking voice.
It was the Vietnam War Vet's take talk to the news.
Vietnam War Vet's, ask John Kerry, please
tell the congressmen, what happen in Vietnam
War, and so he did.

The W.BUSH, told the people he was a bad
person because he dare talk against the Vietnam
War.

But here we had a man that could of stay away
from war but instead he went.
Would you believe they would cut down a War
Hero and make fun of his purple heart.

Find the movie,"Going Up The River The Long War.

W.BUSH, didn't show up at, "National Guard",
when he was to turn up.
He never went to War.

But they play him up as a hero.
Michael Moore and Going up The River The Long War,
was blackout.

Michael Moore, did get some movie companies
to show it.

I am sad because all our troop's who died, limb's
blown off etc.

I know men from, Gulf War plus Wars, in between
wars that people don't
know of.
I know a man who was a Lt`, Col. Of Air Force.
What he did was top secret for 15 years.
What he had to do does give him alot of flash
back's.
He call himself damage goods.

These are our Vet's who need us more than ever.

When I hear college kids talk about supporting
our troops I ask them to sign up so are men can
come home because they need to come home and rest
and get all the help.

I was shocked that, W.BUSH, is cutting the Vet's
benefit's.

Follow your bliss!

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Ralph Nader and Patti Smith "Return Bring Our Troops Home * End the Iraq War * Rebuild Our Communities"

2005-04-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Last month marked the two year anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, in over 765 cities across the U.S., thousands called for an end to the U.S occupation of Iraq. Mired in the Iraqi quagmire with casualty tolls rising, and billions of dollars wasted by Bush, 2004 Independent Presidential candidate Ralph Nader and his associates are launching a series of rallies against the Iraq war and occupation. Nader continues to urge President Bush to withdraw the troops from Iraq under a deliberate policy that leaves Iraq for the Iraqis with continued humanitarian assistance. Rock legend, Patti Smith will join Nader and perform at these events.

On the ballot in 34 states and Washington, DC, after a fierce and costly battle with Democrats, who abused, often with corporate Republican law firms, restrictive ballot access laws, Nader and his running-mate Peter Miguel Camejo were the only major anti-war presidential candidates in 2004. Proceeds from this tour will go toward retiring 2004 campaign expenses.

Maintaining his principled pre-election anti-war stance post-election, Nader has already completed a 15-city East and West Coast tour in the last two months. Through these rallies, coupled with other work he and other speakers will detail at the event, Nader is helping to reinvigorate the U.S. anti-war movement and bring the soldiers back home. Nader will also speak about the lack of attention to economic development in Upstate, NY by federal politicians.

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Scientists Call on EPA to Reassess Health Risk of Widespread Chemical

2005-04-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Controversy over the human health impacts of low doses of endocrine disrupting chemicals escalated to a new level yesterday with publication of an analysis in Environmental Health Perspectives. In a follow-up teleconference with journalists, Drs. Fred vom Saal and George Lucier called on the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a new risk assessment of the ubiquitous chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA).

The new report, co-authored by Dr. vom Saal, a neurobiologist at the University of Missouri, and Claude Hughes, a biologist at East Carolina University, evaluated 115 scientific studies of the health impacts of BPA, a chemical used in most plastic containers, food and beverage cans, dental sealants, plastic baby toys and bottles, and other consumer products.

BPA leaches from these containers and into the food and drink they contain. Water used in bathing and drinking is another source of exposure. Large quantities of BPA leach into the soil under landfills, and hence into the water supply.

The authors found that 94 of the studies showed harmful effects from BPA in laboratory animals. They further found that of the 21 studies finding no health effects, 11 were funded by industry.

The new study contrasts with a study completed in 2002 (but released in 2004) by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, which concluded that the "evidence for low-dose effects is very weak." [1] The Center's study was funded by the American Plastics Council.

The debate over BPA has become so intense that it has reached the California state legislature, which is considering a ban on its use in all products for children age three and under.

BPA is so widespread that it has been found in almost every American, and, for that matter, most people in developed countries around the globe. The critical health issue, said vom Saal, is that "the level in humans is consistent with the level in animal studies" that find BPA causing harm. Dr. Lucier, former director of the National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, added that "findings in rats and mice were extremely predictive" for determining health effects in humans.

Studies have found that BPA mimics the female sex hormone estrogen, and can interfere with such body processes as reproductive and brain functions. Babies and infants are especially at risk since they are irreversibly damaged by BPA. According to vom Saal, impacts can range from hyperactivity to increased aggressiveness, learning disabilities, and altered sex behavior as adults. BPA also decreases the male sex hormone testosterone. BPA, says vom Saal, is "an extremely potent sex hormone-like drug."

Pointing out that regulatory responsbility for BPA is the purview of many federal agencies--EPA, the Food and Drug Administration, Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, among others--Drs. Lucier and vom Saal called for a new risk assessment coordinated among all the involved agencies.

###

NOTE: Extensive background materials on the BPA issue are available at EMS.org.

###

SOURCES:
[1] Harvard Center for Risk Analysis study.

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Just How Safe Are Our Nations Highways??? Another Bush helping other but not the people of this country

2005-04-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

WASHINGTON, DC (NS/OOIDA) - The Bush Administration can now allow tens of
thousands of Mexican trucks on U.S. highways without conducting an extensive
study of the environmental effects, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
The justices unanimously overturned a U.S. appeals court ruling that federal
environmental law required the U.S. Department of Transportation to study
the impact from the trucks on air quality.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the administration would move
forward with the initiative. This means you can expect to see LOTS of 'rate
cutting' Mexican Trucks on United States highways, SOON. Don't forget the
American jobs that go back South with them...

"We are committed to a comprehensive approach to guarantee that trucks and
buses operating within the United States are in compliance with all
applicable safety and environmental standards," he said in a statement.

President Bush said in November 2002 that Mexican trucks should be allowed
on roads throughout the country, which would bring the United States in
compliance with a key provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement,
otherwise known as NAFTA. I say, leave them AT the Border!

The move was aimed at ending a 1982 moratorium, under which Mexican trucks
have been able to operate only in certain narrow commercial border zones,
where goods must be transferred to U.S. trucks for transport across the
nation.

Environmental, labor, consumer and trucking groups sued. The current Mexican
rules applying to Commercial Truck Drivers and their equipment do NOT even
come 'close' to the ones we have in the United States. MOST of them can NOT
comply with our American rules...

They said the Transportation Department had underestimated the impact 'older
diesel Mexican trucks would have on air quality in border states,
especially in cities like Houston and Los Angeles that have struggled to
reduce pollution to comply with the federal clean air law.

The Transportation Department did an initial environmental review and
decided an extensive study was not required.
This even though ANYONE who has seen an older Mexican Truck has also seen
the thicker black smoke that American Trucks are NOT allowed to emit anymore
under our 'Clean Air Laws'.
Mexico said the ruling would not end the dispute because U.S. rules still
discriminate against Mexican trucks. This is only because MOST of the
Mexican Drivers and their Trucks can NOT pass a CVSA Safety Inspection,
which is REQUIRED on ALL Commercial Trucks operating on our Nation's
highways. Let's not forget about Section 391.11 of our own FMCSA Drivers
Qualifications Rule Book that say a Driver "must be able to read, speak and
write English" to be able to qualify to DRIVE a Commercial Motor vehicle...

"This decision by the Supreme Court only resolves an internal conflict in
the United States, between the Department of Transport and a group of
environmentalists and (truckers) in the United States," Mexico's transport
and trade ministries said in a statement.

Jonathan Weissglass, an attorney for the coalition that brought the lawsuit,
called it a "narrow and procedural decision," based on the Transportation
Department's limited legal powers.

"The ruling did not address the serious air pollution concerns posed by tens
of thousands of trucks coming over the border. Nor did the court address how
border states will be able to comply with federally mandated air quality
standards," he said.

Mexican trucks make about 4.5 million border crossings each year, according
to the U.S. government. Mexico has said it has suffered billions of dollars
in economic damages from the moratorium. Has anybody done s study to find
out how many people have DIED on our nations Highways as a result of these
same Mexican Trucks?

The U.S. government argued the appeals court ruling prolonged a significant
trade dispute with Mexico, which Bush sought to resolve under the trade
agreement that took effect in 1994.

Government lawyers said the delay in compliance with the agreement has
caused Mexico to continue parallel restrictions on U.S. trucks and to
threaten new trade sanctions. I say, WHO CARES? Let the Mexican Drivers and
their Trucks STAY along the Border inside the International Trade Zone and
NOT allow them to travel throughout the United States. How about Winter
Driving in the Rockies or East Coast? Are ANY of these Mexican Drivers
QUALIFIED as '4 season Drivers'???

The groups that brought the lawsuit estimated that 34,000 trucks from Mexico
would be on U.S. highways in the first year alone. By 2010, trucks from
Mexico would likely emit twice as much of certain pollutants as U.S. trucks,
they said. This is not to mention the 'language barrier' posed by Truck
Drivers who do NOT speak English, nor do they 'understand' our Highway
Roadsigns, because Mexican rules do NOT require the Truck Drivers know what
the Roadsigns mean.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the court's opinion that the Transportation
Department did not violate the law or environmental regulations and that it
did not have to do a full environmental review.
*SAFETY* is the KEY issue in dealing with Mexican Drivers and their Trucks.
Many of the Trucks used by Mexican Companies have come from the United
States and have been BEATEN into the ground BEFORE they ever got to Mexico!
Trucks with HIGH mileage and in MOST cases, in need of REPAIR, are what find
their way TO Mexico. Old Schneider, J B Hunt, Werner, and other Trucks with
close to a million miles on some, wind up for sale in Mexico and driven back
into the United States by Mexican Carriers. I and many other drivers have
seen more than 2 drivers climb OUT of these Trucks before. Whether or not
they were all CERTIFIED Drivers, who knows??? Because they don't follow our
American Rules even though they're 'supposed to'. The other day at a Seaport
on our East Coast, one of my Drivers told me a Mexican Truck (Juarez, MX on
the Door) entered the Port he was sitting in line at and used a 'different'
Company name to obtain a 'Bar Code' to be able to pick up a Container and
leave the Seaport with. he was actually ABLE to do this! You are NOT
supposed' to be able to do this under ANY circumstances! Makes you wonder
just how SAFE our Seaport's are and what was IN that Container, doesn't it?
These cheaper paid and less qualified Mexican Truck Drivers and their Trucks
WILL and DO pose BIG problems for Americans as they hit our Nation's
Highways! I say if you don't SPEAK, READ & WRITE ENGLISH, you shouldn't be
able to drive a Truck on our Nations Highways! On April 1, 2005 that's just
exactly what the FMCSA agreed on as they announced they would start
enforcing the provisions of section 391.11 in the Drivers Qualifications
Rule Book. It's about TIME!

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"A Living Will" for ya and it's free

2005-04-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

I, _________________________ (fill in the blank), being of sound mind and

body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means.

Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of peckerwood

ethically challenged politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if

their lives depended on it.

If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to sit up and ask for a

cold beer, it should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such

a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my other half, children and

attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day.

Under no circumstances shall the hypocritical members of the Legislature

(State or Federal) enact a special law to keep me on life-support

machinery. It is my wish that these boneheads mind their own damn

business, and pay attention instead to the health, education and future

of the millions of Americans who aren't in a permanent coma.

Under no circumstances shall any politicians butt into this case.

I don't care how many fundamentalist votes they're trying to scrounge for

their run for the presidency, it is my wish that they play politics with

someone else's life and leave me alone to die in peace.

I couldn't care less if a hundred religious zealots send e-mails

to legislators in which they pretend to care about me. I don't know these

people, and I certainly haven't authorized them to preach and crusade on

my behalf. They should mind their own business, too.

If any of my family goes against my wishes and turns my case into a

political cause, I hereby promise to come back from the grave and make

his or her existence a living hell.

_____________________
Signature

DATE__________

__________________
Signature of Witness

DATE__________

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Stronger Conflict of Interest Policies Urged for EPA, NIH

2005-04-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report states that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) need to strengthen their conflict of interest policies in order to address the potential for industry influence on government-led research and development (R&D) projects.

The report examines how American Chemistry Council (ACC) financial donations to EPA and NIH research projects may pose a conflict of public and private interests. The GAO investigation focuses on studies that examine the health effects of chemical exposure, and are partially funded by the ACC. The GAO report found that funding by the ACC could potentially influence regulatory rules that are based on the studies.

The ACC is an industry trade group that represents several chemical manufacturing companies. It has funded 17 NIH proposals and 2 EPA-related projects. [1]

The GAO report noted that neither the NIH nor the EPA had "specific policies requiring officials to evaluate or manage potential conflicts of interest when they entered into the ACC arrangements." [2]

However, both agencies and the ACC reported to the GAO that despite the lack of a formal evaluation policy, they believe agency officials are able to manage the ACC arrangements through normal research processes.

The GAO disputed the agencies' faith in these processes, noting that "because the agencies' research management processes are not designed to address conflict of interest issues, they are not a substitute for formal evaluation of such conflicts." [3]

Although ACC contributions to the EPA and NIH are legal, the GAO report suggests that the current system provides inadequate assurance that these contributions will not present a conflict of interest. The report's final recommendation was that the agencies develop formal policies to manage potential conflicts.

In a response to the report, EPA spokeswoman Suzanne Ackerman said EPA will review it, but did not say whether the agency would actually follow its recommendations. Ackerman said the agency already has a "strict, rigorous, and transparent process for ensuring our research agreements and grants meet the highest ethical standards." [4]

###

SOURCES:
[1] GAO Report, Apr. 1, 2005.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] "Agencies need conflict-of-interest policies -- GAO report," Greenwire, Apr. 4, 2005.

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Check this out for yourself

2005-04-05T15:48:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Greg Palast

Investigative journalist Palast here collects his best work, which appeared in British and American publications. He exposes corruption worldwide, and his targets include the WTO, Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris, Tony Blair`s administration, Exxon, Pfizer, Hillary Clinton, and the IMF.

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Man Sells Device That Blocks Fox News

2005-04-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

By EMILY FREDRIX, Associated Press Writer

It's not that Sam Kimery objects to the views expressed on Fox News. The creator of the "Fox Blocker" contends the channel is not news at all. Kimery figures he's sold about 100 of the little silver bits of metal that screw into the back of most televisions, allowing people to filter Fox News from their sets, since its August debut.

The Tulsa, Okla., resident also has received thousands of e-mails, both angry and complimentary — as well as a few death threats.

"Apparently the making of terroristic threats against those who don't share your views is a high art form among a certain core audience," said Kimery, 45.

Formerly a registered Republican, even a precinct captain, Kimery became an independent in the 1990s when he said the state party stopped taking input from its everyday members.

Kimery now contends Fox News' top-level management dictates a conservative journalistic bias, that inaccuracies are never retracted, and what winds up on the air is more opinion than news. "I might as well be reading tabloids out of the grocery store," he says. "Anything to get a rise out of the viewer and to reinforce certain retrograde notions."

A Fox spokeswoman at the station's New York headquarters said the channel's ratings speak for themselves. For the first three months of this year, Fox has been averaging 1.62 million viewers in prime-time, compared with CNN's 805,000, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Kimery's motives go deeper than preventing people from watching the channel, which he acknowledges can be done without the Blocker. But he likens his device to burning a draft card, a tangible example of disagreement.

And he's taking this message to the network's advertisers. After buying the $8.95 device online, would-be blockers are shown a letter that they can send to advertisers via the Fox Blocker site.

"The point is not to block the channel or block free speech but to raise awareness," said Kimery, who works in the tech industry.

Kimery doesn't use the device himself; his remote is programmed to only a half-dozen channels. Plus he occasionally feels the need to tune into Fox News for something "especially heinous."

Business could pick up since the blocker was alluded to in a recent episode of the ABC drama "Boston Legal." The show's original script mentioned Fox News, but ABC had the references removed.

The boisterous conversations on Fox News may be why the station is so popular, said Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media watchdog group. And despite a perception that Fox leans to the right, Felling said, that doesn't mean people who lean left should tune out.

"It's tough to engage in an argument when you're not participating in it," Felling said. "It's just one more layer in the wall that the right and the left are building in between each other."

Fox Blocker: http://www.foxblocker.com

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Colorado Landowners Lose Crucial Battle to Oil and Gas Industry

2005-04-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Private landowners in Colorado lost a controversial legal battle to the oil and gas industry last week. At issue was a bill that would have given private landowners more say in dealing with oil and gas companies drilling on their land.

The bill aimed to ensure fair negotiations between landowners and oil companies in order to address conflicts between landowners and oil and gas companies over "split-estates:" when one person owns the surface land, but another owns the resources beneath it. Currently, federal rules are in industry's favor as they grant priority to mineral or resource owners.

Adding an increased sense of urgency to the matter, loosened regulations and weakened public health laws have enabled a dramatic boost in oil and gas drilling throughout the Rocky Mountain States over the past four years.

Earlier this year Wyoming passed a law similar to the Colorado bill that died in the Colorado Legislature. The law requires oil and gas companies to notify landowners prior to drilling, and calls for mineral property owners to enter into good-faith negotiations to reach agreement on reclamation of disturbed areas and payment for damages.

Although nine other states have established surface owner protection laws, Colorado allows oil and gas companies to enter private property without permission from the landowner, where they can set up industrial equipment, emit air pollution, and occupy acres of private land without negotiating with the landowner. [2]

Environmental damage incurred by this process has infuriated landowners all over the state and brought together an unusual coalition of homeowners, environmentalists and farmers.

Jared Fiel of the Colorado Corn Growers Association, a group that strongly supported the bill, described how such damage has harmed corn farms: "Waste water from oil wells seeps into an area where we grow our crops, which can interrupt the entire process," Fiel said. "Sometimes an oil company will show up during harvest time and place a pump right in the middle of your field with no warning."

Such instances are increasingly leading to disputes between farmers and oil companies. They eventually reach the Oil and Gas Commission, which according to Fiel, "generally favors industry."

To back up his claim, Fiel described one case where an oil company built a pump on the land of two corn farmers in Eaton, Colorado. "A realtor said that the pump decreased their property value by $20,000, but the oil company only paid them $2,000 for the use of their land," said Fiel. "When the case went to the oil and gas commission, they said, well, that sounds fair to us."

The Oil and Gas Commission isn't the only place industry has been able to flex its power. Rep. Kathleen Curry, who drafted the Colorado bill, told BushGreenwatch that oil and gas interest groups intensely lobbied state legislators. "The industry lobby launched a massive e-mail and telephone campaign throughout the state," said Curry. "The industry also called hundreds of constituents in all 11 Committee members' districts, telling them that if 1219 passed, their gas bill would immediately sky-rocket."

###

CORRECTION
An article in BushGreenwatch on March 31 misstated the date of the reintroduction of Senator Jon Corzine's Chemical Security Act. The bill is schedule to be reintroduced as soon as a week. Take action on this issue through OMBwatch.

###

SOURCES:
[1] BushGreenwatch, Oct. 27, 2004.
[2] Colorado Landowners press release, Mar. 30, 2005.

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Abolish the IRS???

2005-04-05T11:44:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

The Tax Plan To Kill K Street
by George Will

The power to tax involves, as Chief Justice John Marshall said, the power to destroy. So does the power of tax reform, which is one reason why Rep. John Linder, a Georgia Republican, has a 133-page bill to replace 55,000 pages of tax rules.

His bill would abolish the Internal Revenue Service and the many billions of tax forms it sends out and receives. He would erase the federal income tax system — personal and corporate income taxes, the regressive payroll tax and self-employment tax, capital gains, gift and estate taxes, the alternative minimum tax, and the earned-income tax credit — and replace all that with a 23 percent national sales tax on personal consumption. That would not only sensitize consumers to the cost of government with every purchase, it would destroy K Street.

"K Street" is shorthand for Washington's lawyer-lobbyist complex. It exists to continually complicate and defend the tax code, which is a cornucopia from which the political class pours benefits on constituencies. If the income tax were replaced — Linder had better repeal the 16th Amendment, to make sure the income tax stays gone — everyone and all businesses would pay their taxes through economic choices, and K Street's intellectual capital, which consists of knowing how to game the tax code, would be radically depreciated.

Under his bill, he says, all goods, imported and domestic, would be treated equally at the checkout counter, and all taxpayers — including upward of 50 million foreign visitors annually — would pay "as much as they choose, when they choose, by how they choose to spend." And his bill untaxes the poor by including an advance monthly rebate for every household equal to the sales tax on consumption of essential goods and services, as calculated by the government, up to the annually adjusted poverty level.

Today the percentage of taxpayers who rely on professional tax preparers is at an all-time high. The 67 percent of tax filers who do not itemize may think they avoid compliance costs, which include nagging uncertainty about whether one has properly complied with a tax code about the meaning of which experts differ. But everyone pays the cost of the tax system's huge drag on the economy.

Linder says Americans spend 7 billion hours a year filling out IRS forms and at least that much calculating the tax implications of business decisions. Economic growth suffers, because corporate boards waste huge amounts of time on such calculations rather than making economically rational allocations of resources. Money saved on compliance costs would fund job creation.

Corporations do not pay payroll and income taxes and compliance costs; they collect them from consumers through prices. So the 23 percent consumption tax would allow taxpayers to stop paying the huge embedded cost of corporate taxation. Linder says the director of the Congressional Budget Office told him it costs individuals and businesses about $500 billion to remit $2 trillion to Washington. And studies show that it costs the average small business $724 to collect and remit $100.

In 1945 corporations paid more than one-third of the government's revenue. Now they pay only 11 percent, because corporations, especially multinationals, are voluntary taxpayers. In a world increasingly without borders that block capital movements, corporations pay where the burden is lowest. Linder says $6 trillion in offshore accounts would have an incentive to come home under his plan.

Furthermore, by ending payroll and corporate taxes, the United States would become the only nation selling goods with no tax component — such as Europe's value-added tax — in their prices. With no taxes on capital and labor, multinationals would, Linder thinks, stampede to locate here, which would be an incentive for other nations to emulate America. "This," Linder says, "would unleash freedom around the globe."

Critics argue that ending the income tax, with its deductibility of charitable contributions, would depress giving. Linder says: Piffle. In 1980, when the top personal income tax rate was 70 percent, a huge incentive for giving, individual charitable contributions were $40.7 billion. In 1986 the top rate was reduced to 28 percent, and by 1988 charitable giving was $86.7 billion. The lesson, says Linder, is that we give more money when we have more money.

When Speaker Dennis Hastert published a book last year, he was startled to find that interviewers were most interested in talking about Linder's bill, which then had 54 co-sponsors. This year Hastert added Linder to the Ways and Means Committee. Linder cheerfully says his bill would reduce Ways and Means to "a B committee" by ending the political fun of making the tax code ever more baroque for the benefit of K Street's clients. Bliss.

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Now here is some real new news

2005-04-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

WASHINGTON (AP) The State Department will require passports for Americans re-entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, Panama and Bermuda, government officials have told The Associated Press.

THIS IS HOW WELL YOUR GOVERMENT DOES IT'S WORK. WHAT YEAR WAS 9/11 IN AGAIN?

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$82 billion more for Iraq: Demand an exit strategy.

2005-04-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Congress has barely debated the war in Iraq or its aftermath since it voted to authorize the use of force in October 2002. Now, the Bush administration is skipping the normal budget process to ask for an additional $82 billion to fund the American presence in Iraq. Among the big-ticket items, a $600 million embassy and some 14 "enduring" bases.[1] Those bases, and the absence of an exit strategy, will worsen, not improve the situation in Iraq.

And, remember the last $87 billion Congress authorized for the war: a whopping $9 billion of it is missing because of corrupt contracting.[2] We must root out the corporate corruption that has undercut the rebuilding efforts and lost billions of taxpayers' money.

As it considers another $82 billion for Iraq, Congress needs to insist that America has an exit strategy from Iraq with a timeline, that we do not construct permanent bases in Iraq and that we end war profiteering by corporations. Please sign our petition urging Congress to act today.

http://www.moveonpac.org/iraq?id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

So far we've spent at least $200 billion invading, policing and now trying to rebuild Iraq. There are more than 150,000 U.S. troops there, yet the situation continues to worsen. In February of this year there was an average of 70 attacks per day by insurgents. A year ago, the average number of attacks per day was 14. Similarly, the number of insurgents has more than tripled over the last year.[3]

Things haven't been improving much for Iraqis health and welfare, either. They have, on average, only 8 hours of electricity per day. Unemployment is between 28 and 40 percent. More than 700,000 children have dropped out of school and malnutrition rates among children in Iraq have nearly doubled since Saddam was in power.[4] And, in January the National Intelligence Council confirmed that Iraq is now a breeding ground for terrorists.[5]

Many of the challenges we face in Iraq are because our posture is one of a permanent presence. The lack of an exit strategy and the construction of permanent bases are provocative signals to Iraqis, implying an occupation that could last for generations.

War profiteering by dozens of firms in Iraq is draining the reconstruction effort. One firm, Custer Battles, was paid approximately $15 million to provide security for civilian flights at Baghdad International Airport, even though no planes flew during the contract term.[6]

While all of this is going on Congress remains silent on the war, refusing to debate its conduct or how to exit the country.

Please sign our petition. Insist that Congress does its job.

http://www.moveonpac.org/iraq?id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

Congress needs to hear from you.

Thanks for all you do.

--Tom Matzzie and the MoveOn PAC Team
Monday, April 4th, 2005

P.S. Here is a helpful resource.

Iraq by the Numbers, Center for American Progress, March 18, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=678&id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

Footnotes:

1. 14 'enduring bases' set in Iraq, Chicago Tribune, March 23, 2004
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=679&id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

2. Audit: U.S. lost track of $9 billion in Iraq funds, CNN, January 31, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=680&id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

3. Iraq Index, The Brookings Institution
http://www.brookings.edu/iraqindex

4. Iraq Index, The Brookings Institution
http://www.brookings.edu/iraqindex

5. Iraq New Terror Breeding Ground, The Washington Post, January 14, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=681&id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

6. Lawmakers Told About Contract Abuse in Iraq, The Washington Post, February 15, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=682&id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

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Save the Sierra Club from Hostile Takeover

2005-03-31T13:13:00.000-08:00

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Are you a Sierra Club member? The future of the Sierra Club is at stake.

Last year, Sierra Club members voted in record numbers to defeat a hostile takeover attempt by outside groups hoping to use the Club's democratic processes to push their own anti-immigration agenda. Now, these groups have forced an anti-immigrant measure onto the 2005 Sierra Club ballot that would require the Club to advocate for new restrictions on immigration into the U.S.—a policy that will do nothing to protect the global environment but will cripple the Sierra Club at a time when all progressives need them to be powerfully focused on righting the environmental wrongs of the current administration.

Why are we getting involved? Groundswell Sierra, a network of Sierra Club members and former staff, asked us to tell the hundreds of thousands of Club members in the MoveOn community, many of whom are in the dark because by-laws keep Club staff from discussing this issue. It's such a serious threat to the progressive movement we felt we needed to pass it on.

If right-wing anti-immigrant groups succeed in their stealth drive to change the Club's agenda, it would drive a wedge between environmental groups and millions of Americans, including Latinos who have led the environmental justice movement and are an important part of the progressive community. It would be a serious setback for the larger progressive coalition, and make the Sierra Club, the largest grassroots environmental organization, much less effective in blocking President Bush's anti-environmental agenda.

These outside groups are also running stealth candidates for the board of directors without declaring their true anti-immigrant agenda. But a decisive defeat could end their efforts to take over the Sierra Club.

If you are a Sierra Club member, you'll receive your ballot in the mail any day now. Groundswell Sierra recommends:

1. Vote "No" on the ballot question on immigration.

2. Vote for only 5 of these 6 experienced Sierra Club candidates for the Board:
Jim Catlin Chuck McGrady
Barbara Frank Jennifer Ferenstein
Joni Bosh Jim Dougherty

Please vote for only 5 of these candidates—voting for all 6 will disqualify your ballot!

3. You can vote online but must have your paper ballot in hand. For info on voting and a sample ballot, go to:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=677&t=1

4. Let us know you're voting, so we can track our impact. Click here:
http://www.moveon.org/sierra/?id=5296-5459864-phG86nWTwRXt5BPKoJPKow&t=1

5. Please pass this on to your Sierra Club member friends.

Who's behind the attempt get the Sierra Club to oppose immigration? Some supporters are environmentalists who believe that ending immigration will reduce environmental damage (though world-renowned scientists Anne and Paul Ehrlich, who wrote the seminal book The Population Bomb, disagree and oppose this takeover). But much of the impetus comes from long time, extreme-right immigration opponents who've adopted a strategy of "greenwashing" their arguments to gain mainstream support for denying immigrants basic human rights like health care or education.

Opponents of the anti-immigrant measure and board candidates include Robert Kennedy, Jr., former Environmental Protection Agency head Carol Browner, and every living current or former Sierra Club president.

During last year's fight, the New York Times editorialized, "Adding such a toxic issue as immigration to the Sierra Club's agenda would simply divert the organization from its primary responsibility, which is to keep real environmental problems in the public consciousness."1 Robert Redford wrote, "Blaming immigrants will not solve any of our environmental problems. Refocusing the Sierra Club on stopping President Bush will... America needs the same Sierra Club that kept the Grand Canyon from being dammed and flooded, that helped create the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, that is working tirelessly to stop the Bush administration from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, back at full strength and on the front lines in the fight against Bush and his administration. It's a fight we won't win without the Club."2

The Sierra Club board has worked to educate Club members about this issue: you can read the organization's policy on the issue at http://www.groundswellsierra.org/migration011405.pdf, and read an argument against the current ballot proposal at http://www.groundswellsierra.org/immigration_nov2004.php.

Sources:
1. "Rumble at the Sierra Club," New York Times, March 17, 2004
http://www.groundswellsierra.org/nyt_rumble.php

2. "Redford's Plea for the Sierra Club," San Francisco Chronicle, April 17, 2004
http://www.groundswellsierra.org/sf_redford.php

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the-peoples-patriot, a political Blog

Bush has friends and then, maybe not so much

Pres. Ele. Obama's video from Dec. 6, 2008 + transcript for those who don't have DSL

Your weekly video, Friday 11-21 from change.com

Our President-Elect's first or latest weekly video from http://change.gov

Listen to how Nader speaks of Corp America. He right, this is who they are.

For those who may have missed it, the Jon Daily intro from the day after

An Open letter to Senator Barack Obama from Ralph Nader

Some fun as things close down on the campaigns, Thank God

Obama's Oct. 29 30 min. Political Message video

Political fun, & that's hard to find.

Put your spin on things & see others spin as well

Were 5000 Prisoners Executed by State or Federal Government in New Orleans? Presidential Candidate Says Yes.

You've just got to see this. It's funny and short. And it's fox TV

A pic is worth a thousand words

From a Friend...

BBC E-mail: World reacts to US bail-out rejection

Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania of the House Financial services Committee, "Votes are there"

Tax Relief to 25 Million Middle-class Families

Les Misbarack- video

Did you see the Sarah Palin emails?

Russian Troops Turn Away U.N. Convoy in Georgia

IF your going to screw around, screw around big. It does cost much.

McCain's dangerous choice from "MoveOn" email

FAA outage reveals odd computing practices

Just in case you missed this Goverment is never very good at what it does.

McCain pick a woman as V.P. I guess the Republican arin't thou with us.

From "Michael Moore", A Note I Sent to You -- Three Years Ago Friday.

Arctic Sea Ice Drops to 2nd Lowest Level on Record

A link to a post from someone I can believe, John C. Dvorak

"Caroline: Pull a Cheney!" An Open Letter to Caroline Kennedy (head of the Obama VP search team) from Michael Moore"

Ark. Dem. Party Chairman Shot At Headquarters

From the Giz Wiz, Dick DeBartolo

The truth well out.

A Picture = one thousand words.

Paris Hilton's reply to McCain in video

You just lost more of your Rights, again.

Unemployment at 4-year high, there better not be anyone out there that doesn't know why.

The Servants are ordering the Bosses around again...

A JibJab Sendables eCard for you...

Is Obama legal

Don't tell me that the price of oil isn't Political.

Same might think this should be in my TECH blog, but no.

letslets sent you a video: "Simon's Cat 'TV Dinner'"

ABCNEWS.com: Who's Next? List of Troubled Banks Worring Wall Street, and DC

INTERESTING DATA JUST RECEIVED ON TAXES - Ouch!!

Barbara Boxer on the soap box, she a US Senator. Their the ones that just this week OK'ed off shore drill for oil

And on a more local note, see what CBS found about what goes on in Sac. these days.

"T. Boone Pickens Explains His Plan on OIL"

A picture is worth a thousand words

You've got to see this! And yes I know there code problems, get the message!

"Joe, American" Challenges the Presidential Candidates

Fw: Update: FOX smears Obama

Think on any of these or all. Please all.

Gen.Patton, a comedy or is it? You tell me...

More on Political Correctness, if that's what you want to call it.

You got love TX on Political Correctness. GD

Yahoo! News Story - Obama bypasses public money  1st since Watergate - Yahoo! News

Old Obama, New Obama

You can't have him

Can you tell them apart Bush & McCain that is...

Will Obama Let Big Corporations Buy the Democratic Convention?

Let yourself hear from everyone you can

Don't Run

Do you know what happened this week back in 1850, 158 years ago?

The History of AT&T or your goverment failed you

An Opinion - The Democrats' Reagan

An Opinion - It's Congress, not a king's court.

Cuba approves free sex-change operations

For anyone still trying to make sense of Political Science

The cost of War

The cost of the Iraq war

Sounds more like a chat between our gov. and one ouf us. Just change the names around

Me too, said the Lord

Me too, said the Lord

Interesting Fact:

Interesting Fact:

A link for Memoridal Day

Be afraid by very afraid cause this is the way they think

Andy Rooney's tips for telemarketers

Yahoo! News Story - Obama bypasses public money 1st since Watergate - Yahoo! News