Howard Always

Gore would be Great!!!!!!!!!

I feel exactly the same way. No one moves my meter except Gore (since we can't have HDean). Hoping for lightning  to strike Feb 25, with the world's biggest audience.

Deans, too.

As for Al Gore, well, he was my choice in the DFA vote a while back.  "Are you better off today, than you were eight years ago, America?"

mprov, it took me a while but I was finally able to respond.

I don't want a Republican president.

I don't even want a Democratic president.

I want an American president.

Whoo hooo.  Just got my stuff for the War Tapes houseparty.  that means that 15 folks responded according to the "rules" to get the tape free.  However, when I went to look, there were only 12.  And since more folks show up than rsvp, i'm expecting a houseful - in my "cozy" living room.

I love it.  I signed up for it under Barbara Whitt and my package was delivered to Mz Little!  Ya think they got my number?

4. 

I don't think I much care for the POTUS horse race. 

What I want is a civil debate season.  Bring on the debates!  Let's hear for ourselves what the Dem candidates have to say.

(mprov, I hope you keep encouraging the creation of the technical capabilities you have bandied about with others - IE graphs, charts, and what not.  You know what I'm writing about?)

I sense WE may get interesting debates from the team of Democrats which, in time (which draws-in Al Gore, and possibly others), will be at a podium speaking about America's future and how WE get there ...together.

After the primary debates and into the general election debates, I bet the Democratic Party will be better off.

Let's sweep in 2008. 

it was almost funny that donna brazil's recent statements that if al appeared to be loosing weight, that he was actually running. and then today there was a little between the lines in the media about al looking to have lost some weight in his appearance at the grammys last night.

what kind of fickle world do we live in?

too funny barbara.

will the chicken watch???

9. ya, i'd really like that to be set up.

5.

~War Tapes houseparty

>

That's great, Mz*Little!
  I wonder who else here is doing that?

paine, no, barbara has a pet chicken. from what she's said, it rules the kitchen. that's funny in and of itself. the chicken rules the kitchen.

sort of like the bush regime.

11.

I've kinda forgot what tools in particular you guys might find useful. 

Beverly Hahn, Could you kindly speak up a bit?

well, my thought was a general url which had separate pages for each candidate. the stuff to be posted would be only actual proven material, i.e., speeches, voting record, resume, etc. then allow for a debate section to value, or weight, the info provided. finally, a general, or overall section, which would make comparasions of the various candidates. therefore: stastical, qualitative, analizational (is that a word?), etc., to attempt to provide an "at-a-glance" view of the candidaes individually and comparatively.

non-bias, as much as possible, serves most.

John McCain sees a possible Tet offensive in Iraq. If so forget the surge John, that will mean 48,000 less Americans to airlift out of there. Heck, get ahead of the curve and start the airlift now.

U.S. helicopter down north of Baghdad: residents Sun Feb 11, 7:52 AM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. Apache helicopter went down north of Baghdad on Sunday, local residents said, but the U.S. military said it was not aware of any such incident.

----

Did this happen? If it did, it would be the 7th to be shot out of the sky in a little over three weeks.....this is a dreadful shock.

oh. actual tools? a stastics program. a web site that accomodates. some graphics tools. people willing to do the research. the thing should be easy past the set up. regular time doing the research would become the task. the general page could be updated weekly or as prominent markers take place.

???

The Real (Mitt) Romney?   Watch him debate Sen Kennedy October, 1994...

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9IJUkYUbvI

The real (Mitt) Romulan

1)  on abortion

2)  on gay rights

3)  on affirmative action

4)  on being in love

If you think Al Gore would be the best candidate as I do, you can do more than just wish.  Sign on to the DraftGore site.  Here's the link:

                               http://www.draftgore.com/

Someone on Dailykos posted about this yesterday, and the response has been tremendous.  In fact, it broke the record:

                        http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/2/11/18837/0944

Well thank you so much Beverly!

charles, i don't see a holiday stand down for islam like the tet situation. what is mc cain talking about?

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0760942.h...

RICHMOND, Va. - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said Monday he fears an offensive by Iraqi insurgents similar to the Tet offensive by the Viet Cong that sent U.S. casualties soaring in Vietnam nearly 40 years ago.

McCain, a Vietnam war veteran who spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war, said in an interview with The Associated Press that it's not the U.S. presence in Iraq that upsets voters but rather the number of casualties and the possibility those numbers could rise.

The U.S. death toll is more than 3,100 in the nearly four-year-old war.

In the GOP presidential field, McCain is one of the strongest proponents of President Bush's plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq by some 21,500.

"By the way, a lot of us are also very concerned about the possibility of a, quote, 'Tet Offensive.' You know, some large-scale tact that could then switch American public opinion the way that the Tet Offensive did," the Arizona senator said.

Mr. McCain is out of touch. The American people are already "switched".

Nite great blog.

John McCain sees a possible Tet offensive in Iraq

>

Don't we all?

The silent (unrelated pun intended) truth is that's (possibly) the weight which tipped the scale for sending more troops. 

Tell you what, both of us (you and I) would defend our troops in theater the best we can. 

I want the troops out in the best fashion - not as I would have the Bush expelled from the WH, if the stars aligned just right, but on the best terms possible.

tragic...

Told to wait, a Marine dies
VA care in spotlight after Iraq war veteran's suicide

By Charles M. Sennott, Globe Staff | February 11, 2007

STEWART, Minn. -- It took two years of hell to convince him, but finally Jonathan Schulze was ready.

On the morning of Jan. 11, Jonathan, an Iraq war veteran with two Purple Hearts, neatly packed his US Marine Corps duffel bag with his sharply creased clothes, a framed photo of his new baby girl, and a leather-bound Bible and headed out from the family farm for a 75-mile drive to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in St. Cloud, Minn.

Family and friends had convinced him at last that the devastating mental wounds he brought home from war, wounds that triggered severe depression, violent outbursts, and eventually an uncontrollable desire to kill himself, could not be drowned in alcohol or treated with the array of antianxiety drugs he'd been prescribed.

And so, with his father and stepmother at his side, he confessed to an intake counselor that he was suicidal. He wanted to be admitted to a psychiatric ward.

But, instead, he was told that the clinician who prescreened cases like his was unavailable. Go home and wait for a phone call tomorrow, the counselor said, as Marianne Schulze, his stepmother, describes it.

When a clinical social worker called the next day, Jonathan, 25, told again of his suicidal thoughts and other symptoms. And then, with his stepmother listening in, he learned that he was 26th on the waiting list for one of the 12 beds in the center's ward for post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articl...

>

And much of his party.   Many Republicans have lost touch with their Party.

Regarding Daily Kos, there seems to be a lot going on there these days that seems...undemocratic.

In Shift, Accord on North Korea Seems to Be Set

By JIM YARDLEY and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: February 13, 2007

Even before the preliminary agreement was signed in Beijing, one of Mr. Cheney’s protégés, John R. Bolton, who left his post as American ambassador to the United Nations just two months ago, denounced the accord. “This is a very bad deal,” he said on CNN, urging President Bush to reject it. He added that “it contradicts fundamental premises of the president’s policy,” and he said that it made the administration “look very weak.”

-----

They are weak...look at Iraq...look at the QUAGMIRE.

(is that a word?)

>  I better not comment on that, mprov.

So you would vote for that snake (Hillary Calculaton) if she got the nomination (very likely) ?

Interesting. 

kimmy ... & hearts!   What a little heartbreaker!

Had hoped my own would choose "Rose" as a middle name.  They didn't, but wouldn't that have been fun!

****************

Yes, I'm for Al ... all the way!  No one else is even close, IMHO.

You're very welcome, Charles in Montana.  As you can see, I originally had an "oops moment" when I hit the submit button accidentally.  I guess it's good that I don't work pushing the buttons for a missile defense system.

kos is a hack. who cares. sorry if that's abrasive, but in reality these guys who operate a blog and then think that they're somebody has always irked me. its like bragging that you're a retail clerk. who cares.

So why are shooting rampages going on in the States?

It's not safe to go shopping or ride trolleys.

==========

http://kgmb9.com/kgmb/display.cfm?storyID=10457&sid=1183

i noticed that too, judy. crazies on the march.

robert, it helps, and is really more polite, to reference who you're talking to if it isn't generally transmitted.

The truly inspiring Bill Moyers ...

============

We are often asked whether our kind of journalism matters. People are curious about why we give so much time to novelists, playwrights, artists, historians, philosophers, composers, scholars, teachers—all of whom we consider public thinkers. The answer is simple: They are worth listening to.

Some years ago I was invited to testify before a House of Representatives committee on funding of the arts and humanities. Opponents were making their skepticism felt toward PBS, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.  I had been present at the creation of all three during my time in the White House with Lyndon Johnson, and now all three were once again in the crosshairs of conservatives like Ronald Reagan who were asking: “Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?” Reading Shakespeare, it was said, does not erase the budget deficit. Plunging into the history of the 15th century does not ease traffic jams. Listening to Mozart or reading the ancient Greeks does not repair the ozone layer.

We had recently produced two series on poetry called “The Language of Life” and “The Power of the Word.” Our series on “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth” was resonating far and wide, much to the displeasure of sectarian dogmatists. We had created a documentary special called “The Power of the Past,” about how Florence valued art for public, and not merely private, consumption. Our series “A World of Ideas” offered conversations from a wide spectrum of voices: Chinua Achebe, Carlos Fuentes, Northrop Frye, Joseph Heller, Thomas Wolfe, Richard Rodriguez, Bharati Mukherjee, Jonas Salk, William L. Shirer, Tu Wei-ming, Toni Morrison, Joanne Ciulla, Ernesto Cortes, M.F.K. Fisher, Mary Ann Glendon, Leon Kass, and so many others who opened viewers to what my old friend and colleague Eric Sevareid once called “news of the mind.”

[...]

As I watch and listen to our public discourse today, it seems to me we are all “institutionalized” in one form or another, locked away in our separate realities, our parochial loyalties, our fixed ways of seeing ourselves and others. For democracy to prosper it requires us to escape those bonds and join what John Dewey called “a life of free and enriching communion”—to become “We, the People.” The late James W. Carey, one of our noted scholars of communication, wrote that the very concept of “public” could once be defined as “a group of strangers who gather to discuss the news.” In early America the printing press generated a body of popular knowledge. Towns were small, and taverns, inns, coffeehouses, street corners, and the public greens—the commons—were places where people gathered to discuss what they were reading. These places of public communication “provided the underlying social fabric of the town and, when the Revolution began, made it possible to quickly gather militia companies, to form effective committees of correspondence and of inspection, and to organize and to manage mass town meetings.”

[...]

Yet the salvation of democracy requires a public aroused by the knowledge of what is being done to them in their name. Here is the crisis of the times as I see it: We talk about problems, issues, policies, but we don’t talk about what democracy means—what it bestows on us—the revolutionary idea that it isn’t just about the means of governance but the means of dignifying people so they become fully free to claim their moral and political agency. “I believe in Democracy because it releases the energies of every human being.” So spoke Woodrow Wilson, the namesake of your foundation and, I would suggest, still your guiding spirit.

The only PhD ever to reach the White House was a public intellectual and genuine reformer who understood what a major battleground higher education was. He learned what the political struggle was about while a professor and later the president of Princeton, where he lost his share of institutional battles with wealthy alumni who largely controlled the university’s development, and the nation beyond.

[...]

We cannot build a political consensus or a nation across the vast social divides that mark our country today. Consensus arises from bridging that divide and making society whole again, the fruits of freedom and prosperity made available to the least among us. What we have to determine now, as Wilson said in his day, “is whether we are big enough…whether we are free enough, to take possession again of the government which is our own. We haven’t had free access to it, our minds have not touched it by way of guidance, in half a generation, and now we are engaged in nothing less than the recovery of what was made with our own hands, and acts only by our delegated authority.”

As we face that challenge even today, a story about Helen Keller is worth remembering. Toward the end of her career, as she was speaking at a Midwestern college, a student asked: “Miss Keller, is there anything that could have been worse than losing your sight?” Helen Keller replied: “Yes, I could have lost my vision.” 

[...]

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0212-31.htm

Remember when the DLC had that meeting in 2003 to say Dean was not the one to be president?  I remember that.  It was an ugly thing to do.  

http://journals.democraticunderground.com:80/madfloridian/336

 It was an ugly thing to do.

 Holding out hope for Al Gore  by John Fontana

...I don’t know if I am the only one on this group who feels this way – but I just can’t see myself getting involved for any candidate unless it is Al Gore.

> you are not alone, but  not " getting involved for any candidate unless it is Al Gore" doesn't work.  Don't make that decision, if ever, so soon.  It's so 2004;)

...Some of you who read this may want to assure me that Gore isn't running and I should get behind your pony...

>  Nah!

... If Gore isn't running, I'm sitting things out for the primary campaigning -- and I have a feeling I am not the only one who will take this track.

> I'll use the line again, because it's appropriate IMHO and funny - that is so 2004.

Lively blog tonight ... always good to *see* you, mprov!  :-)

& paine ... waves from across The Pond!  :-)

Bloggie pulled a fast one ... paine's post was up there before my last.

from last thread.

paine, it takes a heck of a lot more than putz, olmert and the ME blowing up to rattle my inner peace.  I may sound "worked up" on the blog, but I eat, sleep and live well; plus I'm prolly the happiest person I know.  I've learned how to discharge my anger before it gets to my inner core.

I'm a Socratic Thorn, not emotionally off center and unhappy.

Not to worry.  Why do you think I post here and go dancing? And paint? And meditate?  :-) 

its been doing that, judy. trick now is to reply to name rather than number. go figure???

putzie-poo's blighted vision and warped version of *freedom* ...

=============

One year of civil war marked by coordinated attacks killing 80 in Baghdad market

It was intended as a period of national reflection. A 15-minute pause at midday to mark the first anniversary of what many consider to be the spark that lit the fuse of Iraq's civil war.

The bombing of the golden-domed Askariya shrine in Samarra last February by suspected Sunni militants killed no one - but since that day 33,929 Iraqi civilians have lost their lives in the ensuing violence. As Baghdad's clocks registered 12.20 yesterday, Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, appeared on state television to appeal for calm, for national unity and for an end to the violence that has devastated the country.

But even as he spoke, the broadcast showed him blink and aides around him flinch with the force of a formidable explosion which thundered across the Tigris towards the prime minister's compound in the Green Zone. Secondary explosions resounded. Smoke billowed into the air.

In the normally bustling Shorja market district dozens of people lay dead, burned beyond recognition, while dozens more were injured. Motorists were charred in their cars, shops were ripped apart and a seven-story building full of wholesale textile merchants was set ablaze. It burned all day.

By last night the toll from the combined force of three car bombs stood at more than 80 dead, and almost 200 wounded.

[...]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329713889-103550,00.html

kos is a hack...in reality these guys who operate a blog and then think that they're somebody has always irked me. its like bragging that you're a retail clerk

>

I think it's simply a manifstation of the innovation phase of an  Industry lifecycle

sea!  &hearts to you too!

************

Sheesh ... hope that his faith is justified!  The problem is that with putzie-poo teleguided by prick ... the *wise people* don't have much of a chance ... particularly when the people they elected to stand up to p-p & pk are too craven to do so.

So far, at least.

=============

· Iranian leader says Bush trying to find scapegoats
· Blair backs claims that arms are going to Iraq

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, yesterday shrugged off the threat of a US attack and said accusations that Tehran was arming insurgents in Iraq represented an attempt to find a scapegoat for American "defeats and failures".

The British government, however, backed Washington's claims of covert Iranian arms supplies to insurgents, including sophisticated armour-piercing roadside bombs. A Downing Street spokesman said Tony Blair had been "at the cutting edge of identifying this problem", first raising the alarm over the alleged influx of Iranian weaponry in October 2005.

The row over Iraq has added to growing tension over Iran's nuclear ambitions. A UN deadline for Iran to stop uranium enrichment is due to pass next Wednesday, amid simmering speculation that the US is contemplating taking military action against Tehran's nuclear programme.

Mr Ahmadinejad brushed aside the threat. In an interview with America's ABC News, he said: "Why should we be afraid? First, the possibility is very low, and we think that there are wise people in the US that would stop such illegal actions. But our position is clear - our nation has made it clear that anyone who wants to attack our country will be severely punished."

The Iranian president said his government and Iran's revolutionary guards were "opposed to any kind of conflict in Iraq", and he dismissed evidence presented by American military officials at the weekend pointing towards a covert revolutionary guard role behind the insurgency and the sectarian violence in Iraq.

"You are showing us some piece of papers and you call them documents," he said. "There should be a court to prove the case. We think that the US is following another policy, trying to hide its defeats and failures, and that's why it is pointing its fingers at others."

[...]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329713868-111322,00.html

The triumph of the Dixie Chicks is still resounding around these parts ...

==============

· Awards confirm comeback after anti-war controversy
· Recognition for the song glorifying defiant stance

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Tuesday February 13, 2007
The Guardian

"I'm ready to make nice," said Natalie Maines, the country music group's lead singer, as she collected an award. "I think people are using their freedom of speech with all of these awards."

[...]

http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2011932,00.html

Hmmm ... it's not that they're against torture ... it's just that they're against showing it.

=================

In the hugely popular television series 24, federal agent Jack Bauer always gets his man, even if he has to play a little rough. Suffocating, electrocuting or drugging a suspect are all in a day's work. As Bauer - played by the Emmy Award winner Kiefer Sutherland - tells one baddie: " You are going to tell me what I want to know - it's just a matter of how much you want it to hurt."

But while 24 draws millions of viewers, it appears some people are becoming a little squeamish. The US military has appealed to the producers of 24 to tone down the torture scenes because of the impact they are having both on troops in the field and America's reputation abroad. Forget about Abu Ghraib, forget about Guantanamo Bay, forget even that the White House has authorised interrogation techniques that some classify as torture, that damned Jack Bauer is giving us a bad name.

The United States Military Academy at West Point yesterday confirmed that Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan recently travelled to California to meet producers of the show, broadcast on the Fox channel. He told them that promoting illegal behaviour in the series - apparently hugely popular among the US military - was having a damaging effect on young troops.

According to the New Yorker magazine, Gen Finnegan, who teaches a course on the laws of war, said of the producers: "I'd like them to stop. They should do a show where torture backfires... The kids see it and say, 'If torture is wrong, what about 24'?

"The disturbing thing is that although torture may cause Jack Bauer some angst, it is always the patriotic thing to do."

[...]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2264632.ece

~plus I'm prolly the happiest person I know.

>

That was my impression.

~I've learned how to discharge my anger before it gets to my inner core.

/

to be humorous, I have to say "I've seen" LOL

~Not to worry. 

>

Thank you for adding, as I think that's exactly what my Provocationsought, seashell.

Well, Hill ... this should come as no surprise ... and you simply cannot have it all ways.

Either you are against this war or you're not against it ... and if you are not against it, then you've lost the ball game from the get-go, no matter how many worthy stands you may have about other issues.

==================

Hillary Clinton's weekend visit to the key primary state of New Hampshire has made one thing clear - her vote in 2002 to authorise the Iraq war will be the biggest obstacle to her winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

Mrs Clinton was dogged by questions on why she did not admit her vote had been a mistake. But she refused, saying only: "If I had known then what I know now, I wouldn't have voted that way." She then pinned the blame for the débâcle on President George Bush.

[...]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2264633.ece

When you have an administrature that promotes people based on their failures, no wonder such opportunities are missed.

Powell was powerless during his tenure at State with the reins of power held by Bolton & Rummy, teleguided by prick.  After Rice's highly unsuccessful stint as National Security Advisor (letting 9-11 happen on her watch), she has now become a failed SOS.

Of course, putzie-poo is the biggest failure of all.

==============

The evidence put out over the weekend by American military officials in Baghdad - that Iran is supplying Shia extremists groups in Iraq with deadly weapons - has ratcheted up tensions. But as the US continues the biggest naval build-up in the Gulf since the Iraq war, have all the diplomatic options been fully explored?

"Creative diplomacy and leadership" was called for last week by the Atomic Energy Agency chief, Mohamed ElBaradei. He emphasised the dangers of an uncontrolled chain reaction if confrontation with Iran made the Middle East more militant and angry. He called for a three-month time-out period that allowed for a comprehensive settlement covering not just covering nuclear issues but security and trade, which have polarised issues between Iran and the United States for 25 years.

The current crisis could present new opportunities as the political landscape in Iran is changing. There are increasing signs that President Ahmadinejad may have suffered a near fatal blow. In an unprecedented criticism of his bellicose foreign policy rhetoric, and his poor record on promised reforms at home, 150 members of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) signed a letter blaming him for raging inflation, soaring food prices, high unemployment and failure to deliver a budget on time.

[...]

http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2264679.ece

Unfortunately for me at least, Pumpkin Time has arrived.

Have good ones!

mprov

Yes, mprov. It is more polite that way and I do it without fail of late. In this case, my comment was directed at the original post itself. The part which says that the author would vote for whoever was nominated.

This "party uber alles" attitude is troubling at many levels. Last time, Most Democrats wanted their nominee to denounce the Iraq war. Yet when Kerry, with some underhanded tactics and quite a bit of help from Dean scream and DLC, won, the same Democrat hummed and hawed but ultimately meekly voted for him.

Such surrender to the lure of the "lesser of the two evils" tautology is an open invitation to unprincipled candidates who have insider support in the party hierarchy. Witness Clinton.

If folks here are really serious about getting pseudo-Democrats out of the system (as an increasingly committed Independent, I could care less about the party affiliation, if the candidate's stance on issues I care about is convincing to me) then there have to be consequences for blunders like voting for the Iraq war (later contortions when extracted under pain of coming primary season are immaterial). Consequences such as not getting 60% of the vote of your party.

Right now, Kerrys and Clintons pillage the Democratic party with impunity because they count on the supine surrender of the Democratic issue voters come general election time.

To borrow a phrase, you get the party you deserve. 

Its paradoxical and stupid to vote against your principles one election and expect unprincipled candidates to not show up in increasing numbers next election.

12 weeks = 3 months

24 weeks = 6 months

>

Well Fred, do you feel the Portuguese abortion law is OK as it stands?

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

I don't like the part that incarcerates victims of abortion, but I think it is interesting that it is perceived that there is nothing remarkable about the fact that people can vote on such laws.  There is no divine right to a surgical procedure that takes a life, as we tend to believe here, but people should have the right to define the law in a democratic fashion.

I have no opinion on what is good for the Portuguese.

If the military wants the torture scenes in "24" scaled down becuz they're illegal, how come the putzes in the WH aren't behind bars? Oh that's right.  It's OK if the president says it is.

Anybody see Keith tonight?  He mentioned cheney as being a shadow or co-prez or maybe even the prez and he just let's putzie get up every day thinking HE'S the prez.  But then, we all know that, don't we? I love Keith's humor.  And he did a very funny segment on who the father might be and every day more men claim to be daddy.  Perhaps it's not nice to laugh at the dead, but I was roaring.    Tomorrow I may claim that I'm the father.  LOL

Blowing kisses to lurkers and Judy. 

59.

~There is no divine right to a surgical procedure that takes a life, as we tend to believe here

> 

I don't think of a devine right to a sugical procedure -  I don't believe in devine rights (least I don't think so).  So, the last part fails in it's foundation. 

I'll agree with something else you wrote, though:

 ~but people should have the right to define the law in a democratic fashion.

/

that point was what interested me when I wrote:

~ @ 54(last thread) in response to your

 48.

~At least 50 percent of eligible voters needed to cast ballots for the results to be legally binding.

>

That is a smart electorate guided by savy opponents of abortion, or a favorably narrow law

This from a very astute member of our Democracy for Washington, in my inbox. 

"But there's something else that gets surprisingly little mention in this nomination contest, and that's the "Senate virus." You know, the fact that nobody since John Kennedy moved directly from the Senate to the presidency. Seems to be something about the language learned in that body that impairs a candidate's ability to communicate with ordinary people. Little noted also is that the last candidate previous to Kennedy to go to the presidency from the Senate was Warren G. Harding! All the same, I'm going with Obama for the moment, because he appears to have the best chance of derailing Hillary. The ideal would be an open convention, giving Gore or Dean another chance to run.

Like you, Lois, I once admired Hillary, until the details started coming out about her health care finance reform package. It was such a big giveaway to the big drug companies, I dropped my membership in AARP because they supported it. Also, she ran a secrecy routine in her task force that would have done Dick Cheney proud. I have read that she lied under oath in answers to interrogatories in the lawsuit filed to break through that secrecy. A correspondent who worked for her in that period has described her to me as "Dick Cheney in drag." But it was also at that time I began to admire Jim McDermott, who offered a full-coverage, single-payer plan, which of course never got to the House floor.

As for Kerry, I've always thought he was lying in his several explanations for his pro-war vote, and he was certainly no hero in his campaign against Bush.

Edwards? Has everyone forgotten that in addition to voting for the war, he co-authored the Patriot Act?"

Not very appealing, are they.

Doris Duke

Song: "I Don't Care Anymore"

http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/

I was talking with a pharmacist today who said that the big pharma are nixing the cure for cancer and other deadly diseases and that cancer could have been cured years ago.

Isn't greed just dandy? 

Feb 8th 2007 | WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition

http://tinyurl.com/29bppx

[...]

Congress controls the purse. The Democrats in charge could, in theory, end America's participation in the war in Iraq by refusing to pay for it. There is little chance they will do so, however, for then they would be blamed for the civil war that might follow. So for now, the only bills likely to pass either the House or the Senate will be non-binding, symbolic ones, and the dollars will keep flowing.

[..]

Total military spending for 2008 is projected at 4.4% of GDP. That is a lighter burden than during previous large conflicts: America spent more than 9% of GDP on defence at the height of the Vietnam war, 14% during the Korean war and 37% during the second world war.

[...]

a measure of peace ... Failing that ... Democratic presidential candidates are sounding more anti-war than ever... Hillary Clinton ... Barack Obama ... John Edwards

[...]

The war's remaining advocates worry...“For the Senate to take up a symbolic vote of no confidence on the eve of a decisive battle is unprecedented,” said Joe Lieberman, a Democratic-turned-independent senator. “But it is not inconsequential. It is an act which, I fear, will discourage our troops, hearten our enemies, and showcase our disunity.”

Ike and Tina Turner

http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/

Song: "All I Can Do is Cry"

The budget

Feb 8th 2007 | WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition

What's 'American' About the American Israel Public Affairs Committee?

by Michael Flynn

The FBI's decision in early May to arrest Lawrence Franklin, the Pentagon analyst accused of disclosing classified information about U.S. forces in Iraq, has put in the spotlight the work of an influential pro-Israel lobbying outfit, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), as well as its many supporters in and outside government, including Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, and Douglas Feith.

...According to the New York Times (May 5, 2005), supporters of the "influential circle in the Pentagon," whose members were leading advocates for war in Iraq and have long-standing ties to AIPAC, blame the FBI's investigation on "the continuing struggle inside the administration over intelligence," arguing that individuals who supported the Iraq war have been unjustly targeted.

...Of all the U.S. lobbies, few wield more influence than the pro-Israel interest groups. According to some estimates, there are about 500 national and local organizations that collectively make up the pro-Israel lobby. And of those, AIPAC arguably carries the most weight – "the most effective general interest group over the entire planet," Newt Gingrich once said of AIPAC. Extremely active in securing weapons deals for Israel, in lobbying for sanctions against the country's Middle East rivals, and in promoting the political agenda of whatever government happens to be in power in Israel, AIPAC has long played a highly public role in American policymaking in the Middle East.

AIPAC has also been active in pushing U.S. intervention in the region. In fact, its efforts to persuade U.S. lawmakers to go after Iraq date back to the first Gulf War.

I
According to press reports, in 1990 alone pro-Israel groups gave nearly $8 million in campaign contributions. Among those on the Democratic side of the aisle who received PAC cash and later supported the decision to go to war was Sen. Harry Reid, an influential Democrat who had received $150,000 from pro-Israel PACs during his Senate election bid (a dozen years later, in 2002, Reid would again support the use of force against Iraq).

...A key AIPAC supporter at the time who actively worked to get congressman onboard the war resolution was Rep. Stephen Solarz.  Solarz also pushed AIPAC to play a more public role in supporting the use of force, as well as several other pro-Israel lobbies, including the Reform Jewish Movement.


Despite these setbacks, AIPAC was again in the thick of things during the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. According to press reports, AIPAC membership jumped nearly 50 percent, to some 70,000, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, in part through ties the group had made with the Christian Right, which reflected a key strategy promoted by many neoconservatives and foreign policy hardliners during the 1990s. In late 2002, as talk about war heated up in Washington, AIPAC held a "national summit" in Atlanta to discuss the possible war and to strategize with supporters. Among the speakers at the conference were Paul Wolfowitz, Tom Ridge, and Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition.

Commenting on the burgeoning relations between the Christian Right and the pro-Israel lobby, Reed said: "I don't think there's any question that since September 11 and the attack on the United States there's been a renewed dialogue and a new relationship between the Jewish community and the Christian community because of their shared friendship to Israel and their mutual opposition to terrorism."

Not long after President Bush declared an end to the war in Iraq in May 2003, AIPAC focused its attention on a new target – Syria. AIPAC helped lobby for passage of new U.S. sanctions against Syria, long a key goal of neoconservatives and Likud supporters both in the United States and Israel. Reported the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (Nov. 14, 2003):

"In his speech this month about the need for the Middle Eastern countries to move toward democracy, U.S. President George W. Bush won some praise but his words were also met with apprehension among Arab countries in the region. … The basis for such worries … was that Bush's speech was preceded by suggestions from the so-called neoconservatives. They were the spearhead of the drive that led to the invasion of Iraq. For example, one of them, Richard Perle, chairman of the Defense Policy Board, talked [while in Israel] about the Syrian government's failure to stop infiltration of guerrillas into Iraq. He coupled that with the observation that Syria's military strength was feeble. This occurred at the same time that the Israeli lobby in Washington, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), was using its muscle on the U.S. Congress to pass the Syria Accountability Act. This would impose U.S. sanctions on Syria unless Syria ended its occupation of parts of Lebanon, cut its ties to Palestinian groups the United States regards as terrorists, and stopped its alleged developments of chemical and biological weapons."

AIPAC has also lobbied heavily for U.S. funding of various Israeli weapons programs, including its Arrow missile defense system.

....After the Senate voted in 2002 to include money for the Arrow system and other Israeli military priorities in a defense spending bill, AIPAC proudly reported, "In a vote of 95-3, the Senate last week passed the fiscal year 2003 Defense Appropriations bill, which provides substantial funding for U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation. The Arrow Missile Defense Program received $80 million above the administration's request for a total of $146 million. Additional funding includes the following: $23.5 million for the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL); $64.9 million for the Litening II Targeting Pod; $35 million for Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles; $22 million for the Hunter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle; and $20 million for the Improved Tactical Air-Launched Decoy (ITALD). Learn more about these defense programs by visiting our interactive strategic showroom."

Several high-profile Bush administration folks have had financial interests in many of the weapons systems pushed by AIPAC, including Jay Garner, the former "mayor of Baghdad," whose SYColeman produced parts for the Arrow missile system. Garner also has strong ties to the neoconservative Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=5078

Can't help myself.  Everytime someone mentions a  key figure in the Libby trial, I easily find an AIPAC connection.

That was longer than  I intended, sorry.  And I edited out scads of text.  It's a very good article.

Impeach President Cheney! 

The Neo-cons both here and in Israel benefitted greatly from 9/11.

We really need to stop these people before they do more harm.  The Iranian prez thinks that sensible good people here in the States will stop putzie from attacking.  He doesn't know putzie and he certainly doesn't know olmert.  

Onward to Monday and the rattling of cages.  I can't wait to bother Sen. Smith again!  

Let's understand what our military faces

~  >

Hundreds of Taliban massing to attack dam:

http://tinyurl.com/ys6fly
 

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - At least 700 Taliban fighters have crossed from Pakistan into Afghanistan to reinforce guerrillas attacking a key dam, a major source of electricity and irrigation...

...NATO-led troops have been conducting operations in the area for several months to allow reconstruction on the dam and the power transmission lines...

...A spokesman for the NATO-led force confirmed rebel movements in the dam area, including across the border...

..NATO, U.S. and Taliban commanders warn a major offensive will come in spring when the snows melt in a few months, after the bloodiest year since the hardline Islamists were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001..

I don't like this one bit.  There have been reports that these noble intelligent creatures get blown up in the process,  not understanding exactly what they're being USED for and dolphins are very eager to please and love humans.   I hate the way we use animals for either our pleasure or to make money or to blow things up.  We are poor poor caretakers of the innocent animal kingdom which gives up so much unconditional love.

Abort the military.  Save the animals!

Navy May Deploy Anti-Terrorism Dolphins... 

Ouch!  Wasn't circumcision enough ?

http://tinyurl.com/2frjsd
: Aussies urged to get Valentine vasectomy

SYDNEY, Feb 13, 2007 (AFP) - Australian men are being urged to eschew the traditional gifts of chocolates and flowers this Valentine's Day in favour of ... a vasectomy.

... safe, effective, cost-effective ...

...

But the unusual gift may be a hard sell for most men.

Research indicates that men are afraid to undergo the surgical procedure because they fear it will hurt, affect their sexual performance and their testosterone levels. ...

"......In the interview with ABC Television in Tehran, Mr Ahmadinejad was asked if he feared a US military attack.

"Fear? Why should we be afraid?" he asked.

Mr Ahmadinejad said he thought the possibility of such an attack was "very low".

"We think there are wise people in the US who would stop such illegal actions," he said.

And he stressed that Iran's position was clear, saying, "Anyone who wants to attack our country will be severely punished."

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6355169.stm

Oh, just chop them off if they're friends of John Howard!

Nite, PaineSweet!  And all lurkers!

Good morning, Monica and AM bloggers.

See you in the spring if you get thru the mattress! :-)

Wait! Stop!  I couldn't possibly sleep until I know what that hole is in putzie's neck?

Is that where the hand sock comes out from the back? LOL

Petulant Puss, isn't he?

OK, now zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Disapproving of the decision of the President announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That—
(1) Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq; and
(2) Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.

Good morning, everybody

Running from pillar to post and not eating regular results in weight loss. If Barack Obama gets any skinnier, there will be nothing there. And that's all I'll say about that here today.

73.

As I said, I think the carriers are intended to "protect" the troops on the bases--just in case Iran decides to try their new missiles.

The rule of law should be one of our regular topics. There are some people who define the rule of law and gtovernment (that section of society empowered to use force against humans and other forces of nature, should follow a regular regimen in doing so--i.e. give no consideration to the characteristics of those against whom that force is directed. There are others who define the rule of law as a restraint on the use of force which limits its application to a few specific situations.
One is permissive and the other is restrictive. One says to the governed, "here's what you can do without my coming down on you;" the other says "if you do this and that, you will be stopped."

So, a permissive use of force or coercion is actually very restrictive of human rights. And limited government supports individual freedom.

Weird, isn't it?

A permissive government, in this sense, ends up being very cumbersome because the list of premitted behaviors has to be constantly expanded as it becomes obvious that the restriction of human rights is pernicious. The Old Testament was able to make do with just ten commandments and two of those stated the obvious.

Republicans nowadays are in favor of permissive government because when everyone's told what to do by someone else, they don't have to take responsibility for their own behavior.

Democrats support self-government.

Democrats are self-governing
Republicans rely on leaders.

I almost missed this story. The spouse alerted me to it the other day.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articl...

My LTE to the Globe and WaPo:

Sonya Geis' report (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articl...) on the proposed weapons test in Nevada misses the point almost entirely. While "Divine Strake" will undoubtedly disturb radioactive particles deposited in the desert a long time ago, the chemicals planned to be detonnated this time are not radioactive and not confined in a bomb.
The purpose of this particular test is to create an explosion that would be as large as that produced by a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons, referred to as bunker busters because they will be designed to destroy facilities under ground. The purpose of this planned explosion is to calibrate the equipment that will be used to measure the intensity of the planned nuclear explosions--to find out whether the measurements of these man-made earthquakes are accurate.
In other words, the people who design and build nuclear weapons are getting ready to bring out a new version of the weapons of mass destruction we already have too many of.
The new version will be less powerful than those that spew radioactive material all around the globe; they will be smaller and more easily transportable on a plane or truck; and they'll be somewhat easier to store. And cheaper.
Also, they'll give our budding nuclear engineers something to do.
Not to worry. If more people get cancer, we'll just build more cancer institutes.

good morning and omg you just have to check out these videos of Howard's scream!   3 vids:

the real Howard

the wannabe Howard

the cartoon Howard

too funny - great job!

http://kennedyconspiracy.blogspot.com/2007/02/classic-political-moments-ii-howard.html

...Republicans rely on leaders.

I wouldn't call them that! 

How can the terrorists get a suitcase nuke unless we design, test, and build one for them to steal Monica?

just think how many people they can disappear and torture when one of those puppies comes up missing

some oil company probably needs new deep seismographic data for finding potential deep drilling sites 

I don't like this one bit.  There have been reports that these noble intelligent creatures get blown up in the process,  not understanding exactly what they're being USED for and dolphins are very eager to please and love humans.

+++

seashell -

Speaking of cetaceans, at least on the subject of whales, America is on the correct side of the ledger:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070213/ap_on_re_as/japan_whaling_conference

Japan opens whaling conference

By KAORI HITOMI, Associated Press Writer Tue Feb 13, 3:31 AM ET

TOKYO - Japan opened an international whaling conference Tuesday by blasting a boycott by dozens of anti-whaling nations, saying their absence would block much-needed reforms of the International Whaling Commission.

The conference, which Japan called as part of its push to resume commercial whaling, was attended by only about 35 of the 72 members of the IWC. The boycotters included anti-whaling countries Britain, Australia and the United States.

The boycott illustrates the intense divide over Japan's whaling program as anti-hunt protesters have clashed — sometimes violently — in recent days with Japanese whaling ships in the South Pacific.

Minoru Morimoto, Japan's IWC representative, told the conference that the boycott made it "almost impossible" to have a worthwhile discussion on reforming the IWC, which Japan argues should manage commercial whaling rather than banning it outright.

A global moratorium on commercial whaling has existed since 1986, but Japan kills hundreds of whales each year under a scientific whaling program conducted within the commission's rules. The meat from the program is sold as food.

Tokyo maintains that whaling is a national tradition and a vital part of its food culture, and argues that whale stocks have sufficiently recovered since 1986 to allow a resumption of limited hunts of certain species.

The conference is taking place amid stepped-up clashes between whalers and protesters on the high seas. On Monday, a Sea Shepherd protest ship collided with a Japanese whale spotting ship, the Kaiko Maru. Both claimed they were rammed by the other. There were no injuries.

...

Many environmental groups claim Japan's research program is merely an excuse to keep Japan's tiny whaling industry alive. Opponents also allege that Japan provides aid to friendly nations in the IWC in exchange for their support.

Representatives at the conference denied their support had been purchased with Japanese assistance.

"We are not a whale-hunting country, but the matter of resources within our sea is very important to us," said Cedric Liburd, the fisheries minister of St. Christopher-Nevis. "No country can buy our vote."

...

Wow, what a great way to start the day.

Good Morning Blog and Good Morning John Fontana and thank you for a great post.

John, I am right there with ya. And that is because we want the best candidate possible for the job and that IS Al Gore. There are only a few surprises out of the list of current candidates, one-just never thought of that way and the other, no one really expected they would jump so soon in.

No more Anybody But _____________(Republican, for the Dems). And I don't want just to vote the Anti Hillary...or Anybody But Hillary, We gave their majority, as long as the D was next to their name. This time I want the best candidate possible and will not be settling for less.

Time for a Cool Change
Al Gore
2008

Roy Neel, I hope you are perusing these blogs. :)

Run, Al, Run.

Al Gore In Works To Announce Global Warming Concert Event

February 12, 2007 4:54 p.m. EST

Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer

Chicago, IL (AHN)-Al Gore is taking his fight to raise awareness about the dangers of global warming to the next level. After his Academy Award nominated global warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" received critical acclaim for its attempt to shed light on pressing environmental concerns such as climate change, Al Gore is hoping to launch a series of concerts he predicts will be "bigger than Live Aid."

The former U.S. vice president and current Nobel Peace Prize nominee is reportedly in the works to announce the worldwide musical event, which is slated for July 7 and will feature a unique blend of film, music, and television.

According to the Financial Times report, the global warming concert is scheduled for a variety of cities, including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto, with the concerts being broadcast across the world.

Organizers, who are apparently slated to announce the concert in London on Tuesday, hope to involve up to 2.5 million people in the world-wide concert event hoping to bring attention to the dangers of global warming.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/...

I guess this is why Mr. Gore was at the Grammys. Well, at least a big reason.

new thread

There's a lot to be said about holding out hope for a candidate that plays coy about the wishes of his supporters that he or she run.  I drive around town with the Dean '08 sticker on my car that's been there since the 2004 election ended.  In all candor, I disbelieve Dean will be nominated, but I hope the message is clear.

Speaking of Dublin a few threads back, I still remember reading awhile ago 

Waiting for Goredot

oops, typing too fast, s/b - re: Waiting for Godot

...

Waiting for Godot (French: En attendant Godot)... by Samuel Beckett, written in the late 1940s and first published in 1952.

...

The plot concerns Vladimir (also called Didi) and Estragon (also called Gogo), who arrive at a pre-specified roadside location in order to await the arrival of someone named Godot.

...

Again the boy arrives in order to announce that Godot will not appear. The much-quoted ending of the play goes as follows: