Monday, October 31, 2005
the "well, DUH" Post Of The Day
why conservatives need to stay out of health care
The WP mentions that a new vaccine against cervical cancer, that could become available as early as next year, has sparked a controversy between health practitioners and conservative groups. The vaccine seems to be almost 100 percent effective in preventing the most serious types of the human papilloma virus that can cause cancer and some want to immunize as many pre-pubescent girls as possible. Because HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, however, some conservatives are concerned that large-scale vaccination among the young could be seen as encouraging pre-marital sex.
Letter Of The Day
I would like to assure Maxine Bechtel (Oct. 24 letter) that there is no law against strong Christians holding public office. Unfortunately, some see this as an invitation to legislate morality, confusing personal beliefs with public interest.attribution
I find it interesting that Bechtel compared President Bush with Thomas Jefferson. While Jefferson was clear on his views concerning the belief that we are "endowed by [our] Creator with certain inalienable rights," his actions spoke otherwise. At least if one considers the slaves he owned until the day he died as "human."
The justification of that act by claiming it happened in another era fails to acknowledge the abolitionists who knew the practice of slavery to be morally reprehensible even then.
-Scott Warner, West Des Moines.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
talk about return on your investment
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Thirty Ohioans who raised a combined $4.1 million for President Bush's re-election campaign have received more than $1.2 billion in public funds for their companies and clients, a newspaper reported.http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1130700843224421.xml&storylist=cleveland
Since Bush took office in 2001, the federal government has given those companies more than $447 million in subsidies, contracts and other payments, according to records analyzed by The Blade. Ohio has awarded them about $800 million in the last six years, the paper reported Sunday.
Business leaders and lobbyists who raised money for Bush were called "Pioneers" if they raised at least $100,000 and "Rangers" if they raised $200,000; some also were given political appointments.
One of the fundraisers, coin dealer Tom Noe, was charged Thursday with illegally funneling $45,400 in contributions to Bush's re-election bid. Noe has denied wrongdoing in his fundraising and in his handling of a state investment fund, which prompted an investigation that led to Gov. Bob Taft's conviction on ethics charges...
itchin for another war is he?
At least 10 people have reportedly been killed in a renewed US military offensive in Iraq's border area with Syria.and as someone pointed out earlier on another board:
The US military said it had killed 10 fighters in the Hsaiba area near the Syrian border, in the latest military operation.
But residents and witnesses told Aljazeera that all the dead were civilians.
Speaking to Aljazeera, Iraqi journalist Atwar Bahjat said US forces pounded the area with heavy artillery.
Many homes and businesses have been destroyed during the shelling, she said.
Residents and witnesses are enraged by the destruction caused by the shelling and confirmed that all those killed in the latest assault were civilians, not fighters, she added.
--al-jazeera
...this is not just the start of any other War. This is the start of WWIII. If we invade Syria, Israel is going to get the itchy trigger finger to go after Iran. Russia will not allow that to happen and Palestine will go after Israel too. WWIII will be uglier than the two other wars combined. Pakistan has a fragile Government with Nukes. If the Taliban gets a hold of a single Nuke, or Iran is close to having one, Israel will be gone from the map. That's IMHO, but my visions have been known to come true.dear Lord, I pray not. but that would be about the way i would see it unfold.
the only way his numbers will climb now
While it agrees with the NYT that Bush faces something of an uphill climb, it does point out that the pundits counted Bush out once before, early in his first term when he appeared to be "bleeding influence," only to be given a new swell of support after Sept. 11.notice the catastrophic event of 9/11 happened during a period of "bleeding influence" by bush. should there be another terrorist event, bush will no doubt enjoy the same lift he got the first time.
ooh, got a Quote from bob schieffer on cbs' face the nation.
"carrying water for anonymous character assassins is not what journalism is about"
Letter Of The Day
By CHARLENE PIPER, Mason City
I just wanted to say that I disagree with the fact that a town wants to ban certain people.
I feel that we need to protect our children. However, I know that not all people on the sex offender registry are on there because of crimes that included kids. So are we to treat them all the same? If we ban them, should we ban all criminals? Drug dealers, speeders and drunk drivers hurt our children every day, so all crimes affect our children.
I feel that people are blowing this out of proportion. We don’t have an island that we can put people on, so we need to find ways to live our lives and protect our children without infringing on someone else’s rights. If they have done what the courts have asked of them, are on the register and following all the rules, we shouldn’t single them out. If we do, what group will be next?
I am definitely in favor of pedophiles or anyone that hurts children being prosecuted to fullest extent of the law and feel that there should be consequences for their actions. But it is for the court to decide what consequences they receive.
They are still human and therefore have the right to live where they choose. I have been on the side of the victim and on the side of a person who is registered.
We are all equal. We all deserve justice. So please, look at yourself and see if you should cast a stone. As Jesus said, “If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7 New International Version)
Saturday, October 29, 2005
interesting italian job
(ANSA) - Rome, October 29 - In a television interview to be aired next week, Premier Silvio Berlusconi says he repeatedly tried to convince American President George W. Bush not to invade Iraq .
In the lengthy interview to be shown on private TV channel La7 on Monday, Berlusconi says that: "I was never convinced that war was the best way to make a country democratic and to bring it out of a bloody dictatorship .
"I tried many times to convince the American president not to wage war... I tried to find other ways and solutions, even through joint action with African leader (Libya's Muammar) Gaddafi .
"We didn't succeed and there was a military operation but I believed military action should have been avoided." The comments were released by La7 two days before Berlusconi was due to visit Washington .
The centre-right leader will hold talks with Bush during his one-day Monday visit .
Berlusconi is a staunch ally of Bush and took a pro-US line on Iraq despite opposition from the centre left and strong anti-war sentiment amongst the Italian public .
Italy did not participate in the 2003 war on Iraq but gave Washington permission to use its air space and transport infrastructure, and Italian bases for technical stop-over and refuelling needs .
It now has some 3,000 troops serving there, mainly as part of a British-led multinational stabilization force in the southern part of the country .
The Italian contingent is the fourth largest after those of the US, Britain and South Korea .
The exclusive interview with La7 was the longest interview given by Berlusconi, who is standing for re-election next year, in six months .
GOVT DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN FAKE IRAQ-NIGER DOCUMENTS. His comments on Iraq also came at a time when his government is denying accusations of involvement in the passing on of false documents to the United States which purported to show an attempt by Saddam Hussein's regime to buy uranium in Africa .
The documents, which accused Iraq of trying to buy up to 500 tons of uranium oxide or 'yellowcake' from Niger, were used by the US and Britain to help support the case for the 2003 toppling of the Iraqi strongman .
A series of in-depth articles in the La Repubblica daily this week alleged that Italy's military intelligence service Sismi handed the documents to the United States possibly under pressure from the Italian government .
The daily accused Sismi chief Nicolo Pollari of involvement in the case, saying that he met with America's then-deputy national security advisor Stephen J. Hadley on September 9, 2002 .
The government issued a fresh statement on Saturday denying the daily's allegations .
The statement said that La Repubblica's report on the alleged Hadley-Pollari meeting was "totally false" .
It said that a meeting took place on September 9, 2002 between Pollari and America's then-national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and that Hadley was present as part of the US delegation .
"The dialogue was exclusively between Condoleezza Rice and Pollari. The other people present witnessed the talks but did not speak themselves," the statement said .
"There was no reference, either direct or indirect, to the problems regarding the Iraq-Niger issue," it said .
Earlier this week, the government issued several statements denying any involvement in the case. It also firmly denied any Sismi involvement, saying that it played no "direct or indirect" role in the forging or distribution of the documents .
"There is a fatal limit to the (La Repubblica's) dossier - the news contained is unfounded and inexact," the government said .
{so the government espouses all that is 'unfounded and inexact eh?}
US and British allegations that Saddam Hussein sought to buy uranium for his nuclear weapons programme from Niger was used by the two allies to help support their case for waging war on Iraq .
{hardly}
Bush cited the uranium deal in his State of the Union address in January 2003, saying it was evidence that Saddam Hussein was trying to develop weapons of mass destruction .
The US admitted after the war that the uranium claim was false and Hadley took the blame for including the claim in Bush's State of the Union speech .
According to La Repubblica, the documents were forged in 2000 by a former Carabiniere policeman and ex-Sismi agent Rocco Martino for his own purposes with the help of contacts provided by a Sismi official and friend .
The Italian parliament's intelligence watchdog committee Copaco has announced that it is holding an inquiry into the La Repubblica allegations .
Pollari will be questioned by Copaco on November 3 .
the numbers
More than half the North Carolina military members surveyed in the latest Elon University poll don't like the way President Bush is handling his job and the war in Iraq.
The survey results were released today.
Of the 539 adults surveyed, nearly 53 percent of military members said they strongly disapproved or disapproved of Bush's handling of his job. And 56 percent of that same group said they strongly disapproved or disapproved of his handling of the Iraq war.
Overall, slightly more than 53 percent of those surveyed did not approve of Bush's job performance, while 57 percent didn't approve of his handling of the Iraq war.
--source
HYHPOCRISY ALERT
Will Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson stick to her guns? Hutchinson has been assailed lately for dismissing potential perjury charges against Libby, while back in 1999 she thought such crimes were a big deal when it was President Clinton being charged. In today's WSJ, she says: "Everyone needs to take a deep breath and not judge those involved. Today's announcement is the middle of the process, not the end."
Quote of the Day
"They should have taken care of this a long time ago. They should have done their own investigation. They're going to get very little sympathy on Capitol Hill, at least from me. . . . They brought this on themselves."it's not often i quote republicans for the honor of having QOTD, but today's a beaut.
--House Government Reform Committee Chairman Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.)
attribution
Friday, October 28, 2005
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Letter of the WeeQ
It is curious that there is such a furor over evolution, creationism and intelligent design. The mechanism through which we became what we are may have scientific interest, but it in no way diminishes the awe we experience when we seriously contemplate ourselves.
Whether we were created in six days, 6,000 years or 60 million years does not in the least concern me, nor will I lose sleep wondering if humans evolved from primitive cells, monkeys or spontaneously appeared in the Garden of Eden.
We are physical and spiritual entities capable of communicating with one another and endowed with self-awareness, emotions and intelligence. This is all that really matters.
-Roger W. Tate, Windsor Heights.
--source
Letter Of The Day
Congressional Republicans want us to believe the federal programs they are trying to cut to supposedly pay for the Katrina rebuilding effort don't affect most of us. But, among other things, they are aiming to cut billions of dollars from student loans, including work-study.
I am a middle-income parent of three children - two of whom are in college. There is no way our children would be getting through the University of Iowa and Georgetown University (combined costs in excess of $50,000 per year) without government-backed loans and work-study funds.
These programs are "hand up" as opposed to "hand outs." They enable millions of Americans to achieve a decent quality of life and a better future.
Congress should reject the Republican budget because it goes against the basic values of the American dream.
-Peggy Huppert, Clive.
--source
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
what's wrong with this picture?
WASHINGTON --The Senate decided Wednesday the money wasn't there for a substantial spending boost for the federal home heating program, deflecting arguments that soaring energy prices could force the poor to choose between heat and food this winter.
--source
ConocoPhillips said today that its third-quarter profits almost doubled after a series of devastating hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico curbed domestic supplies and pushed up oil and natural gas prices to record highs.
--source
and they wonder where the gap is growing.
and speaking of plamegate
i'm not holding out any one person for they could all be X...
THE EX-ADMINISTRATION.
Quote of the Day
My favorite part is the contrast between Fitz, the hero, a working class son of a doorman, who through brilliance and real hard work went on to Harvard and became a principled proscector and then * the blivet, who was born on third, thought he hit a home run, and has, through 'hard work' destroyed and driven into the ground almost everything he's ever touched, and is as incurious and unprincipled as it is possible to be. Wow, it's a novel but it's real.
--bunny planet
from the GOOD NEWS department:
(CNN) -- A majority would vote for a Democrat over President Bush if an election were held this year, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll released Tuesday.In the latest poll, 55 percent of the respondents said that they would vote for the Democratic candidate if Bush were again running for the presidency this year.
--cnn
kudos to the editors at the post
their editorial starts out today with:
VICE PRESIDENT Cheney is aggressively pursuing an initiative that may be unprecedented for an elected official of the executive branch: He is proposing that Congress legally authorize human rights abuses by Americans. "Cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of prisoners is banned by an international treaty negotiated by the Reagan administration and ratified by the United States. The State Department annually issues a report criticizing other governments for violating it. Now Mr. Cheney is asking Congress to approve legal language that would allow the CIA to commit such abuses against foreign prisoners it is holding abroad. In other words, this vice president has become an open advocate of torture.
--source
under the headline: Vice President for Torture
from the 'doesn't it just make you sick' department
With major oil companies set to announce profits in the next few days, the LAT takes a moment to point out that the corporations are rolling in bling. The industry is on pace to net nearly $100 billion this year; more than twice their profits of two years ago.
surprise surprise.
Letter Of The Day
After reading the the Globe Gazette on Sunday, Oct. 23, I was surprised to see a couple of stories on alcohol abuse and binge drinking.attribution
The story cited that the Logos, the student newspaper at NIACC, ran a LogosFOCUS on alcohol use and abuse on college campuses in the Sept. 16 issue. I happen to be the editor of that paper and I have a few feelings to share, as I wrote all four stories that were on the two pages of the LogosFOCUS.
Alcohol abuse is a large problem among college students, not just in North Iowa, but around the U.S. It is also a dangerous drug that has many effects such as OWI, higher rate of committing sexual abuse, assaults and even death.
But one of the main points for this letter is what I found on another section of the same edition of the Globe; an article on Halloween alcoholic drinks. I believe this is sending a mixed message and I don’t believe those two stories should have been run together. If you are going to list the negative affects of alcohol abuse and binge drinking, don’t put recipes for alcoholic “fun” Halloween drinks on another page of the same paper. That is just not smart.
--By BENJAMIN J. BUCK, Clear Lake
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
incompetence defined
After spending nearly $1 million, here's what they got: Six vehicles with bad armor and run-down mechanics. They also were a little more than slightly used: The newest model was a 1996; the oldest a 1994.
According to the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, the seventh auto is missing.
In a report released Monday, the inspector general said the Pentagon couldn't get its money back because it did such a bad job negotiating the no-bid deal.
--yahoo
the new medicare drug plan
Even the government doesn't seem to understand what's going on. It recently mailed millions of copies of a Medicare handbook containing a mistake in explaining the drug benefit. Last week, a consumer service group called Medicare Rights Center warned seniors to avoid using the government Medicare drug-plan finder. "The tool is misleading at worst, useless at best," said the group's president Robert M. Hayes.you're damned right it's congress' fault. because congress is led by republicons who have nothing better to do than enjoy all their perks and spend their contributions from insurance agents.
And just wait until these drug benefits get rolling. Nursing homes, for example, could end up with patients on many different plans with different insurers, suppliers and rules. The poor on Medicaid will be assigned a drug plan if they don't choose one themselves. Maybe that plan will cover their drugs. Maybe it won't. Doctors and pharmacists will need to wade through patients' plans to figure out what drugs are covered.
It's a mess. It's Congress' fault.
--source
Letter Of The Day
By JACK PAGE, Plymouth
What is wrong with the Democrats? George “Bring ’em On” Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court is a counterfeit nomination, probably thought up by Karl Rove.
The White house wants her voted down so that Bush can then nominate Alberto “Torture ’Em” Gonzales, the attorney general, for that position.
Wake up, America. Support Miers and turn the tables on Bush, and wipe that smirk off his face.
--source
Monday, October 24, 2005
incompetence defined
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon paid $20 apiece for plastic ice cube trays that once cost it 85 cents. It paid a supplier more than $81 apiece for coffeemakers that it bought for years for just $29 from the manufacturer.
That's because instead of getting competitive bids or buying directly from manufacturers like it used to, the Pentagon is using middlemen who set their own prices. It's the equivalent of shopping for weekly groceries at a convenience store.
And it's costing taxpayers 20 percent more than the old system, a Knight Ridder investigation found.
--source
who can doubt that rummy is running amok with the people's money.
we created al-zarqawi
U.S. intelligence officials say Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has expanded his terrorism campaign in Iraq to extremists in two dozen terror groups scattered across almost 40 countries, creating a network that rivals Osama bin Laden's.
--source
Letter Of The Day
Talk about flip-flopping and being immoral and hypocritical, consider the debate over the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers.attribution
During previous judicial confirmation debates, especially including the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts, right-wing leaders insisted that any mention of a nominee's faith — or even indirect implication that his or her faith might influence judicial opinions — would be evidence of rank religious bigotry. But now, President Bush and leaders of the religious right rallying around the nomination of Miers cite her religious beliefs and the church she attends as reasons to believe she will oppose abortion rights — and to bolster support for her among activists on the far right.
What's wrong for John Roberts can't be right for Harriet Miers.
-Frank P. Belcastro, Dubuque.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Quote of the Day
"I hear you, I understand your concerns. Times are tough, but we're going to get through it."
--Senator William Frist (speaker at the Iowa Republican Party's annual Ronald Reagan dinner on 10/22/05
he couldn't hear our concerns if he was standing right next to you. he doesn't give a flying fuck about anything other than himself, the republicon party (he's not your father's republican), and money. i'd sure like to know where the rumor of him being a cat killer came from.
Paragraph of the Day
Government auditors found that Unisys, the company building the Transportation Security Administration's airport-to-airport communications system, billed the government in allegedly unauthorized ways. For example, the company requested and received $131/hour in reimbursement for workers that it actually paid about $50/hour. It billed thousands of hours of overtime "at a 100 percent profit" and altered timesheets months after workers filled them out. The company admitted to the Post that it lumped "hard-to-categorize" workers in the highest-wage category but claims that the overtime was proper and that it was correcting worker errors in the timesheets. For its part, the TSA admitted that, in its rush to get the contract moving, it didn't monitor expenses well. (In 2003 the government had only 25 people overseeing the $1 billion contract; today there are 242 people.) Elsewhere in the piece, anonymous government officials admit that they deliberately low-balled the contract's price (it will eventually cost $3 billion) to please Congress.--today's papers
so she's 'judy' miller now? and not 'judith'?
oh it's "i'm a victim, i'm a victim" time again
If, however, it embraces those who do not endorse a homosexual lifestyle, and welcomes them to the table at its forums to preach a similar message, then bullying, on all levels, will be seriously addressed.
Until it does, the school districts, the businesses, the civil rights commissions and the newspapers that endorse these forums have, in essence, joined the task force in saying that those in the conservative community are not welcome.
—Mike Hartwig, vice president, community affairs, Iowa Family Policy Center, Pleasant Hill.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
my morning routine
the globe gazette
the des moines register
slate's today's papers
democratic underground
checking the weather
finding out what's on tv (not really, i'm jus reading my link bar)
dear LORD, how do they expect people to be helped by this?
there's gotta be a hundred and eleven different items available to 'set' and would you believe it, not one is what i want. cancel account. nope not in there.
surprise surprise
an entry to my diary:
%1007%
well, i'm shocked, to the point of being frozen for 5 minutes. i mean, shocked!!!.... i changd my password on vonage. going through all the steps it takes to accomplish the task, and end up remembering to put it into azz cardfile. well, i opened THAT file, and punched in vonage expecting to see my account as i had it prior to the password change, and guess what i see? the way it is AFTER hte password change. wow.
complete with spelling error.
in PLAME-gate....
Both the WP and the NYT report on a memo from NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller to his staff. The WP runs the headline, "A Split Between The Times & Miller" and emphasizes that Bill Keller accused Judith Miller of misleading the newspaper's Washington bureau chief. In covering itself, the NYT runs the headline "Times Editor Expresses Regrets Over Handling of Leak Case," noting that Keller wished he had "sat her down for a thorough debriefing." Miller misled the Times, Keller said, in her response when she was asked if she was one of the Washington journalists told that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA. The WP calls the memo "the first public split between Miller and the management."
the obligatory blub about it in today's papers notes that there's a riff between the nytimes and judith miller. frankly at this point, i don't care one way or another. come '08, and things will undoubtedly change. whether they change for the better or not is still the million dollar question. got an answer?
well.DUH.
FARPOINT.FACTOID
Whereas most public-safety structures are designed to last 10,000 years, the levees were designed to last 50 or 100.--source
and later in today's papers, they talk about harriet miers again. this time they point out the most obvious aspect to the whole thing, one that obviously missed the MAINSTREAM press:
"... Miers misunderstands "equal protection," say the experts, since, "There is no proportional representation requirement under the Equal Protection clause." The White House says she was referring to the "one person, one vote" rule, in which case, the scholars say, she misused the phrase "proportional representation." Either way, they are surprised the White House didn't fact-check Miers' work before forwarding it to the Senate."
Letter of The Day
Regarding "A Call to Action on Science" (Oct. 17 editorial): I do basic research in physics and lately have trouble finding university funds to support even one physics student doing novel research. Our country spends nearly $1 billion per day fighting wars, equivalent to throwing away all three state universities every day.
-John Hauptman, Ames.
Friday, October 21, 2005
ever notice the subliminal way the networks try to get over on you?
but just where is cbs in all this access?
huh?
from the voices in my head department
think now, sounds only tell you where you are in the timeline, not where everybody else IS, simply because nobody can occupy the same timeline at the same time. i think. there's sound. it travels. it gets picked up by you, you think. where does it decay?
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
deLay WATCH
http://democraticleader.house.gov/pdf/Delay.pdf
it just gets better everytime i push the keyboard away, something new and fresh keeps coming up.
and when they eat their own?
Vice-President Dick Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the government's foreign policy apparatus, deciding in secret to carry out policies that had left the US weaker and more isolated in the world, the top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed on Wednesday.
In a scathing attack on the record of President George W. Bush, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: “What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.
--source
*GIGGLE*
hey NBC:
you'll know when they got their heads so far up their asses
The military announced two Marines were killed Monday in Iraq. The military also stuck by its story that it killed insurgents in Ramadi. "We have no indications that the allegations of civilian casualties is accurate," said a spokesman. (The APhas video of children apparently killed in the airstrikes.)--source
so bush KNEW!!!
WASHINGTON - An angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Rove two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair, sources told the Daily News."He made his displeasure known to Karl," a presidential counselor told The News. "He made his life miserable about this."