the latest picture i saw of al gore looks like he's lost a few lbs..start of the run...?
Posted by dennis at February 11, 2007 03:15 AMNBC is reporting that Bush now has "proof" that the Iranian Government is supplying the insurgents. Here we go, another war for Mr. 28%. Three wars going on at the same time. Amazing.
Posted by Judith at February 11, 2007 05:11 AMgee..ya think anyone on the planet believes anything we have to say anymore..we're so honest and credible
Posted by dennis at February 11, 2007 05:29 AMSo nothing has changed. Congress is already finding ways around the new lobby rules. I love this quote:
“I am not going to hide from the fact that we have to raise money. Only a moron would sell a vote for a $2,000 contribution,” says Representative Devin Mr. Nunes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/us/politics/11trips.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&en=e1bbc0cbbdc25f89&hp&ex=1171170000&partner=homepage
Posted by Judith at February 11, 2007 05:31 AMNow I know why we have to cut the budget for NPR and PBS. We need to spend $2.5 billion on a attack submarine.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/watching-the-submarine-ra_b_40833.html
Posted by Judith at February 11, 2007 05:50 AMWay to go McCain. Just keep beating those war drums. Now if Afghanistan fails, it will be the fault of Europe.
Military recommitment must begin with NATO countries providing an adequate number of troops for the fight," McCain told the Munich Security Conference of senior world politicians, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
"... Yet the international community still falls far short in meeting its prior pledges and in committing the resources Afghanistan needs to avoid failure," he said in prepared remarks.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1026460420070210
Like the loser Ford, Obama has pissed me off by preaching too much. Stick a trident in him, he's done as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by TIKI AL at February 11, 2007 06:43 AMTiki tell us why Ford is a loser. Are you a Repug?
Posted by JohnT at February 11, 2007 07:41 AM"Military recommitment must begin with NATO countries providing an adequate number of troops for the fight," McCain told the Munich Security Conference"
Well Johnny boy, had you Repig sons of bitches done your jobs to start with instead of putting a totally insane draft dodging deserter and his stupid religious fundies in the white house illegally, we might not have been in this mess to start with... Funny how you repigs can manage to tip over the shit pot and expect the rest of the world to clean it up... Fuck a bunch of reich wing 'muricans... The quicker you all find your rapture, the better off the world will be.
Posted by Maheanuu at February 11, 2007 08:14 AMWhen you are a dem and preach too much religion to try to appeal to the evangelical rubes ala GOP, in their eyes you come off as being somewhat insincere and end up getting less votes than your opponent.
Perhaps my term for this was too strong. Dare I say that the negative outcome of his election made him whatever it is that you might in the spirit of political correctness call the opposite of a winner.
Me a republican! Lordy!Lordy! No one ever mistook me for one of those before. I can just see myself in a 12 mpg 07 Escalade with a JohnT vanity tag! That's it, I'm going to buy my first lottery ticket today, I think you brought me luck.
Standby, Mucky, I'll soon be needing investment advice!
Posted by TIKI AL at February 11, 2007 08:46 AMOnly a moron would sell a vote for a $2,000 contribution,”
Well Judith, at least this guy -a Republic- admits what is really happening with lobbyists. Their votes are for sale. Period. We get the pleasure of voting into office the people who will make millions selling special interest votes. I don't think the Founding Fathers realized we wouldn't be hanging our representatives over this kind of behavior. Of course, there are foreign lobbys. Maybe we could nail them under the sedition or espionage laws.
It really doesn't matter, I guess. Unless lobbying and PAC rules change we are screwed. These rules won't change. We are screwed. And the new cheerleaders for selling America to the highest bidder is Princess Sparkle Pelosi, aided by her august companion, Harry Reid.
What I fail to understand is the inability of so many others to see the connection between lobbyists being the primary driver of the current state of affairs. You don't need a tin foil hat to understand that the connection between K Street and Congress is what leads us to our current situation beginning largely during te Ray-gun administration, and this whoredom of Congress has been perpetrated on us through each successive administration including Clinton's. And we can expect few rational outcomes as long as all legislation continues to be filtered through corporate interests. This is a poor situation for the population as well as business as a whole.
You want healthcare reform? You can't have it. Le Hill will filter it through corporate interests as she did in 93, and you will only get super-insurors coming to the fore, driving-out small and mid-level insurors. Edwards will do the same. Obama will do the same. And it will not work. You will simply get the 1/3 of the cost of your healthcare lodged in a few power player's hands.
You want an end to the industrial-military complex? You want an end to corporate welfare? You want fair taxation? You want environmental regulation? You want rational energy policy for the future? You want an America where everyone has the opportunity to succeed? You value education? Sorry, these are all outside of your grasp. Your vote for these things only gave a relative few the ability to wallow in money through the deceit of every two years telling you what wonderful things they will do. But the pinata is empty for you. Their efforts go elsewhere except for the campaign pledges.
Want a change? Lobbys incorporate as business entities. They should maintain an office and staff in the district of those who they wish to contribute to (how can you know what a district needs if you don't have a presence there), and their contribution should be no more than the average entity contributions in a district. Example: You have 100,000 registered voters in a district. The registered voters pony-up $500,000.00 in private contributions, then the lobby entity should not legally donate more than $5.00 per campaign cycle. At least that's the law I want to see.
Back to casting about for a small country where there is no standing Army. A place where there is national healthcare, and education is valued beyond business interests. A place where death and destruction is not the desired outcome in international relations, and fundamentalist christianism doesn't run the morality of the country. And politics? I really don't give a damn. But until then, the first questions at every press conference, every campaign stop, every interview should be: "How much did you take from lobbys and how much was donated to your PAC by special interests other than private donors from your district." Every public engagement should be prefaced by this explanation from legislators.
Posted by phidipides at February 11, 2007 08:48 AMMe a republican! Lordy!Lordy! No one ever mistook me for one of those before. I can just see myself in a 12 mpg 07 Escalade with a JohnT vanity tag! That's it, I'm going to buy my first lottery ticket today, I think you brought me luck.
J'accuse!
Well, from your statement you obviously aren't a republic. Now, if you had said "I can just see myself in a pearl white 12 mpg 07 Escalade with spinner 22s and projector beam headlamps just like jesus drives with a W-04 vanity tag," then we would know you are a repressed in the closet republic.
Posted by phidipides at February 11, 2007 09:03 AMTIKI, JohnT's a scout lover. Need I say more? And Ford was a loser, so there.
Posted by iamcoyote at February 11, 2007 09:03 AMOh my dear, dear coyote, not the (shudder) L word. God I love it when you talk politically correctless.
Posted by TIKI AL at February 11, 2007 09:19 AMReps Hoyer and Boner on Press the Meat said that "the public doesn’t support public financing of elections."
So it's not just the Senate that is totally out of touch with constituents. Fuckers!
Posted by Sharon at February 11, 2007 09:35 AMokay, tell me where I am wrong here
today's world seems to be dividing sides much like it did in the 1930's. not due to shared ideology, but shared goals. call it imperialism, theft of resources, whatever. the G8 is thrilled that the US will go in and kill the residents of "the oil countries" and lose it's soldiers and identity, polarize a part of civilization against them, and for whose benefit? certainly not for the US. Russia and China, Japan and France, have to be loving not having to annoy everyone, yet reap the benefits.
it doesn't seem that there is much doubt that this is all about oil and who owns it, right? any other reason that anyone can compare would be most welcome, but I haven't found one yet that can stand the light of day. it has been decades that I have been waiting for even a reasonable attempt to counter this argument.
so, instead of trying to free their people of the addiction, they attempt to secure that which belongs to others. perhaps because they are all telling them selves, "well, if cheney can, so can we" these otherwise partially rational countries are committing political suicide, yet again, by appeasement to a dictator. they think they get to keep what george kills a million folks for. bla bla, it goes on and on and you know the story, it is playing out in cinema verite now. pretty soon chamberlain will go make a deal with hitler, 2007
so, it is my retarded observation that;
no government is going to spend money to relieve their people of the addiction to oil. there is no profit in it to them, and thus no means to control their populace.
there is no government that is opposed to religious war, as long as it isn't in their country. the actions of the last several years are meant to start another set of crusades. the new ones, like the last, weren't about religion either. they were about plunder. we are in our what, 3rd new crusade? why? because religion is a tool for hatred, and it has been easily turned to disguise the land and resource grab, that is why there were, and likely to be so many more. religions that do not fit this mold have no influence in the doing of any country in the world
the reason I mention it is that we still have no technology to replace that which we knew would run out in the 1930's. the war of realization that resulted cleared the planet of millions of people. we now have the weapons to remove billions of people.
since no other argument works, they have returned to what was effective in the dark ages, hatred and propaganda. they could have invested in alternative energy, but chose not to. imagine what we might have done. 70 years.
and all this while ignoring the planet getting warmer and warmer, due to their inaction about the original cause, not replacing these fuels with renewable ones. Forest Gump would have been a far better person to listen to for the last 70 years. the character and it's values, was more articulate than any politician I have ever seen, or heard of. that character had ideals. another thing that no politician I have ever heard of possessed.
Posted by oldtree at February 11, 2007 09:38 AMphid, have you seen those purple lights mounted under the slades running boards that cast a shadow of the last supper on the pavement?
The effect is just realistic enough to draw large crowds of the GOP faithful away from their leaking thermopayne images of JohnT Baptist.
Posted by TIKI AL at February 11, 2007 09:42 AMScout said you are a troll and I'm beginning to believe him.
Posted by JohnT at February 11, 2007 11:12 AMHe must have confused troll with tollhouse cookie loving Godless Hedonist.
Posted by TIKI AL at February 11, 2007 12:59 PMThe Pentagon Inspector General Report on Bushco's intentionally misleading pre-war intelligence "assessments" is really being contested by Team Cheney.
They've ordered Feith to appear and contest the story on all cable propaganda "news" stations--very unusual duty for a "retired" wingnut warmongerer.
The Cheneyites REALLY hate these investigations and stories into how they manipulated the pre-war intelligence to falsely sell their Foolish 'n Needless invasion of Iraq.
Keep this story going, Dems. And the more the out of work Repub Rubberstampers decry the "backwards looking" "we've-heard-it-all-before" investigations (that obviously should have been done on their "watch"), the better.
Posted by euzoius at February 11, 2007 02:34 PMMmmm. Tollhouse cookies.
Posted by iamcoyote at February 11, 2007 05:40 PMphid, have you seen those purple lights mounted under the slades running boards that cast a shadow of the last supper on the pavement?
The republi-cons are dirt poor here, so they put them on their Daewoo Lanos(es)and Ford Festivas.
Did someone say the Trollhouse cookies were done?
Posted by phidipides at February 11, 2007 08:48 PMThere is something very spiritual about tailgating at a family planning clinic protest in a Daewoo with freshly baked trollouse cookies washed down with lots of kool-aid.
Posted by TIKI AL at February 11, 2007 09:57 PM