Geico's two rates: white-collar and blue-collar

Using the company's Web site, The Star-Ledger found a 30-year-old single male from Newark would pay $1,686 a year if he is a lawyer with a master's degree.

But the same man living at the same address, driving the same car and having the same coverage would pay $2,880 if he reported being a janitor with only a high school degree.

Geico officials did not respond to several requests for comment.

Because you never ever see a Mercedes or Jaguar in a car accident. Please.

- rob 5:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

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State GOP - nothing but spyware hackers

Privacy Schmivacy

Think Progress - The Minnesota GOP's Stealth Attack On Privacy

This week the Minnesota Republican Party is distributing a new CD about a proposed state marriage amendment. Along with flashy graphics, the CD asks people their views on controversial issues such as abortion, gun control, illegal immigration, and so on.

The problem – the CD sends your answers back to headquarters, filed by name, address, and political views. No mention of that in the terms of use. No privacy policy at all. The story concludes: “So if you run the CD in your personal computer, by the end of it, the Minnesota GOP will not only know what you think on particular issues, but also who you are.”
...
Without a privacy policy, the state party can tell your views to anyone at all. If you give the “wrong” answers on abortion or other issues, they can tell your boss, members of your church, or anyone else.

Wrong thinking is punishable.
Right thinking will be as quickly rewarded.
You will find it an effective combination.

Yep - I'm a geek.

- rob 5:35 PM - [PermaLink] -

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We rightly expressed outrage at the tyrannical laws set forth by the Taliban in Afghanistan - Where an extreme view of a religion was enforced as law.

But don't kid yourself, that is where we are headed.

From states now considering outlawing abortions even in the case of rape and incest to laws defining what a family is - and thus if you can even live in your own home, the beliefs of a few are defining how everyone must live their lives.

Unwed couple, kids face boot by Black Jack

Olivia Shelltrack finally has her dream home. Her family moved into the five-bedroom, three-bath frame house in Black Jack last month. But now she fears she and her fiance face uprooting their children because of a city ordinance that says her household fails to meet Black Jack's definition of a family.

Shelltrack and Fondray Loving, her boyfriend of 13 years, were denied an occupancy permit because of an ordinance forbidding three or more individuals from living together if they are not related by "blood, marriage or adoption." The couple have three children, ages 8, 10 and 15, although Loving is not the biological father of the oldest child.

"I was basically told, you can have one child living in your house if you're not married, but more than that, you can't," she said.
...
At the hearing, Shelltrack said, one board of adjustment member, Norma Mitchell, even pointed at her and asked, "I don't understand why you as a woman didn't exercise your right to marry that man," before being hushed by another board member.

Norma was going to continue, "I mean if he can get the milk for free he ain't never going to buy the cow." And then Norma was going to realize that sitting on the board was very unfeminine of her and she then set about dusting the room. Yes Norma, everyone must live by your beliefs.

It seems to be all the rage - this "defining family" craze. And if you don't fit the definition - move out.

Manassas Changes Definition Of Family

There had been a complaint, he said. The city needed to know not just how many people lived there but how they were related. He handed Leyla Chavez a form and explained that she could be prosecuted for lying.

"Okay," she said and, in a mild state of shock, began filling it out.

There was Chavez and her husband. Their two sons. A nephew. The man who rented downstairs. His girlfriend.

"Your nephew, under our law, is considered unrelated," Purchase said, then delivered the verdict: Two people had to go.

You know how in TV's Little House in the Prarie good Christian Pa takes in poor kid Albert? Sorry Pa, we don't want your Christian ideals here - Albert's gotta go back to the streets.

Okay, that would mean that annoying Cousin Oliver wouldn't have been allowed to stay with the Brady's in the Brady Bunch and we would all be happier if he wasn't allowed to have moved in.

Thanks to Americablog for the links.

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UPDATE: My apologies to Manassas, it looks like Pa could try to save the life of steet urchin Albert.

Anti-Crowding Law Repealed
Latinos Were Focus of Manassas Ban on Extended Families in Homes

The Manassas City Council decided last night to repeal a controversial ordinance that made it illegal for extended relatives such as aunts, uncles and cousins to live together as a family and that targeted the city's growing Latino population.

Faced with the promise of lawsuits by numerous civil rights groups, the prospect of a federal investigation and pressure from residents, council members unanimously decided to look for a different way to address parking and other problems they associate with crowded housing and, more broadly, illegal immigration.

Good job Manassas - and also my apologies linking that law to religious extremism when it seems like it was just ol' xenophobia.

Thanks to the folks for the alert.

- rob 5:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Republicans want to restrict your rights in the bedroom but if your a corporation feel free to do whatever makes money - even at the cost of lives

U.S. Is Reducing Safety Penalties for Mine Flaws

CRAIGSVILLE, W.Va. Â? In its drive to foster a more cooperative relationship with mining companies, the Bush administration has decreased major fines for safety violations since 2001, and in nearly half the cases, it has not collected the fines, according to a data analysis by The New York Times.
...
With the deaths of 24 miners in accidents in 2006, the enforcement record of the Mine Safety and Health Administration has come under sharp scrutiny, and the agency is likely to face tough questions about its performance at a Senate oversight hearing on Thursday.

"The Bush administration ushered in this desire to develop cooperative ties between regulators and the mining industry," said Tony Oppegard, a top official at the agency in the Clinton administration. "Safety has certainly suffered as a result."

Business trumps all.

Business trumps the safety of workers
Business trumps the safety of our soldiers
Business trumps the safety of our ports
Business trumps the safety of our democracy
Business trumps the safety of our the air we breathe
Business trumps the safety of the water we drink

- rob 4:54 PM - [PermaLink] -

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As you watch the tape that sad realization comes to you that Michael Brown was the brightest and best around of those in charge - by a mile. Bush and Chertoff were just not interested I guess.

"This storm, whatcha call it? Hurricane? yeah, it ain't from some durn terrorist?"

"No"

"oh well, heck carry on then, I gotta do some fund raisin'"

Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina

WASHINGTON - On the eve of Hurricane Katrina's fateful landfall, President Bush was confident. His homeland security chief appeared relaxed. And warnings of the coming destruction — breached or overrun levees, deaths at the New Orleans Superdome and overwhelming needs for post-storm rescues — were delivered in dramatic terms to all involved. All of it was captured on videotape.
...
"My gut tells me ... this is a bad one and a big one," then-federal disaster chief Michael Brown told the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.

The president didn't ask a single question during the briefing but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

- rob 4:49 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Wow - Bush can sure pick 'em

BREAKING: Al-Qaeda Infiltrated UAE Government, According To 2002 Letter

- rob 4:42 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Senator Byrd whispers to Senator Frist: "sound familiar"
Senator Frist responds: "no"

Feingold reads constitution on Senate floor

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) has read the text of the U.S. constitution to the U.S. Senate after the body voted 95-4 approving 3 amendments to 16 controversial provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, set for renewal.

Feingold spent 34 minutes sharing the document with his fellow Senators, stopping to repeat the Fourth Amendment, which he feels the law violates.

The Fourth Amendment reads:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

- rob 4:42 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Not A News Flash: Chenry and Libby Lied

Scooter notes ID'd CIA spy

WASHINGTON - Handwritten notes taken by the CIA show Vice President Cheney's top aide knew the name of CIA spy Valerie Plame a month before her cover was blown.

The filing suggests Cheney may have been present when Libby griped to his CIA briefer about agency officials slamming the veep in the press.
...
Seven officials have testified that Libby raised the CIA spy with them before columnist Robert Novak outed her. In the filing, Fitzgerald also revealed that his investigators also confiscated computers.

It appears to be the first known document in the hands of prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that directly contradicts Lewis (Scooter) Libby's claim he learned from reporters in July 2003 that Valerie Plame was a CIA employee.

- rob 6:39 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush doesn't live in our world.

Our world has pain, suffering, good intentions that go bad. Bad decisions having consequences. I don't know what Bush's world has... besides a lot of brush, but I do know his world has a shield that is impervious to facts.

Yet again America is given an example that his word is worth nothing.

BREITBART.COM - Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina

In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to- be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."
...
Linked by secure video, Bush's bravado on Aug. 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.
...
Some of the footage conflicts with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response:

_Homeland Security officials have said the "fog of war" blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions. "I'm sure it will be the top 10 or 15 when all is said and done," National Hurricane Center's Max Mayfield warned the day Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast.

- rob 5:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Why is it important to end the reign of the Republicans in Congress.

To make Congress to its job.

The Republican Congress doesn't want to provide any check to Bush's imbalance.

Gonzales testified to Congress, but he wasn't sworn in, because the Republicans wanted to give Gonzales the right to lie.

Which he did.

Gonzales Seeks to Clarify Testimony on Spying
Extent of Eavesdropping May Go Beyond NSA Work

"May" is another way of saying "Does"

- rob 5:51 PM - [PermaLink] -

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A culture of corruption knows corruption when it sees it?

Can we read the news any more with a staight face?

House GOP calls corruption report corrupt

The House Republicans’ campaign operation is charging that a recently released Democratic report on Republican corruption violated ethics rules.

The 103-page report, “America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption,” was compiled by the Democratic staff of the House Rules Committee and released by the panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), last week.

- rob 5:39 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Scary days when Negroponte speaks the truth.

I guess that means the President no longer listens to him.

Negroponte: Iraq May Spark Regional Fight

WASHINGTON - A civil war in Iraq could lead to a broader conflict in the Middle East, pitting the region's rival Islamic sects against each other, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said in an unusually frank assessment Tuesday.

"If chaos were to descend upon Iraq or the forces of democracy were to be defeated in that country ... this would have implications for the rest of the Middle East region and, indeed, the world," Negroponte said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on global threats.

Wait I'm so confused.

You see, I watch Fox News and I learned Civil War in Iraq could be a good thing.


Real frame grab - no photoshopping

- rob 5:38 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Yes I guess I could include the Russians and Israelis along with the President, Congressman, Greek Tycoons, Religious leaders, South African army, Presidential advisors, the mob, and terrorists in the Six Degrees of Jack Abramoff post - but we all get the point... the guy was "connected."

Abramoff pushed plan to drill for oil in Israel - The Boston Globe

WASHINGTON -- Lobbyist Jack Abramoff worked with Russian partners to establish a company that envisioned a high-risk plan to drill for oil in Israel, which he hoped would bring him riches and reshape the Middle East, according to documents and his former lobbying partners.

The oil drilling plan, which has not been reported among Abramoff's many other schemes, casts new light on the scope of the disgraced lobbyist's dealings and the possible reach of the federal investigation into links between his clients, business partners, and members of Congress.

- rob 5:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

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One important aspect to the Dubai/Port's story is that it does shine a spotlight on what Bush has done domestically to make us safe.

Nothing.

He really does think that having a strong offense is a good defense. But even if you make touchdown after touchdown, the other guy still gets the ball - and it isn't a game.

An incredibly small percentage of what we're burning away financially in Iraq could do amazing things to make America safer if spent at home.

So - spend money at home. Spend less money. Keep the money in the US. Keep America a little safer.

So - spend money on a war of choice that isn't related to terrorism. Throwing away billions of billions of dollars away. Throwing away thousands of innocent lives - our soldiers. Make America a little less safe.

It should be obvious which one Bush chose.

Here's something a friend posted almost a year ago -

A Letter From the Front Lines

I am writing this from the front lines of the war on terror. It's difficult being here, trying to get through each day without wondering whether some terrorist has decided that today is a good day for me to die. I'm currently located about 15 miles from an area that has recently been labeled as the most dangerous two miles in the entire country, a fact that can be extremely unsettling if one chooses to dwell on it.
Compounding the peril of this situation is the inadequate funding and support that we're receiving from the government. Our explicit and repeated requests for protective measures that would make us safer go unheeded.

You're probably thinking, "Don't worry, soldier. You'll be home from Iraq soon." The thing is, I'm not a soldier. I'm not even in Iraq.
...
I live in Union County, home to an area that terrorism experts have dubbed "the most dangerous two miles in America." David Kocieniewski of the NY Times recently wrote an article that summed up the threat fairly well:

It is the deadliest target in a swath of industrial northern New Jersey that terrorism experts call the most dangerous two miles in America: a chemical plant that processes chlorine gas, so close to Manhattan that the Empire State Building seems to rise up behind its storage tanks.
According to federal Environmental Protection Agency records, the plant poses a potentially lethal threat to 12 million people who live within a 14-mile radius.

Yet on a recent Friday afternoon, it remained loosely guarded and accessible. Dozens of trucks and cars drove by within 100 feet of the tanks. A reporter and photographer drove back and forth for five minutes, snapping photos with a camera the size of a large sidearm, then left without being approached.

That chemical plant is just one of dozens of vulnerable sites between Newark Liberty International Airport and Port Elizabeth, which extends two miles to the east. A Congressional study in 2000 by a former Coast Guard commander deemed it the nation's most enticing environment for terrorists, providing a convenient way to cripple the economy by disrupting major portions of the country's rail lines, oil storage tanks and refineries, pipelines, air traffic, communications networks and highway system.

Nothing has changed: freedom is on the march!

- rob 5:17 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The US Government releases its plan on how to deal with the Avian Flu Pandemic.

If you've got avian flu - stay home.

Encourage sick leave in flu pandemic, firms urged

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Businesses need to plan on having 40 percent of their workforces out if a flu pandemic strikes and need to start rewarding employees for staying home when they are sick, U.S. government advisers told a conference on Tuesday.

The H5N1 avian influenza virus will almost certainly spread to birds in the United States eventually, and if it mutates into a form that easily infects people it will spread globally within weeks, they noted.

If that happens, up to a third of people will be sickened by the virus in the space of a few weeks, another third will have to stay home to care for ill relatives or children kept out of school, and others will be afraid to come to work or may have trouble getting in if mass transit systems break down.

In 2007 after tens of thousands are dead in America from the pandemic Michael Chertoff is asked why America wasn't prepared and says "The news said we dodged a bullet." Condoleezza Rice says defensively "no one could have imagined that when the avian flu mutated to become transferable from human to human that people would get sick."

Meanwhile Bush has been on extended vacation, Scott McClellan defends the President by noting that the President doesn't believe in evolution and therefore doesn't believe that a flu virus could mutate. Ergo God is making people sick - QED.

- rob 10:30 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Thanks to Duke Cunningham we now know how much a Congressman will cost you.

Start at $140,000 for a $16 million Pentagon Contract, then for only $50,000 you can increase your pentagon contract by a million - but what is great that when you get to 20 million you get a frequent buyer discount of only $25,000 per million dollar increase.

Act now before this offer is withdrawn!

ooops too late - looks like you'll have to find a different Republican Congressman to buy this one has encountered a mandatory recall due to its way too obvious ethic malfunctions.

ABC News: From Cash to Yachts, Convicted Congressman Set Bribery Rates

- rob 5:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Because they can see with their own eyes

Kristof: Poll Finds U.S. Troops in Iraq Urge Pullout

NEW YORK A poll of U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq—reportedly the first of its kind—shows that 72% advocate a U.S. pullout within a year, with only 23% for staying as long ”as necessary,” reports Nicholas Kristof in his New York Times column today. Some 29% urge withdrawal “immediately.”

- rob 5:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

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HuffPo's Cenk Uygur: WE GOT HIM
Cenk predicts that the whole Bush administration is coming unravelled.

At this point, there is a chance that this administration does not make it to 2008. The card has been pulled, this house is coming down. And we might all be surprised at how quickly that comes about.

Hopefully a day of reckoning is approaching. The next big question is: For 2008, who in the Democratic party has what it takes to clean up the mess of this administration?

- Edoc 9:14 AM - [PermaLink] -

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But Bush told me that depleting man power and equipment from our National Guard would make America safer.

I'm so confused.

Bush Policies Are Weakening National Guard, Governors Say

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 — Governors of both parties said Sunday that Bush administration policies were stripping the National Guard of equipment and personnel needed to respond to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies.

"We should be increasing the number of National Guard combat brigades, not reducing it," Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said.
Tens of thousands of National Guard members have been sent to Iraq, along with much of the equipment needed to deal with natural disasters and terrorist threats in the United States, the governors said here at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association.

- rob 7:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Given the peril and haste of war, some warprofiteering and corruption is expected from an American Company.

Wow are expectations really this low, or is it just how it works for company's that are listed in Dick "shoot them when they aren't looking" Cheney's resume?

Army to Pay Halliburton Unit Most Costs Disputed by Audit

The Army has decided to reimburse a Halliburton subsidiary for nearly all of its disputed costs on a $2.41 billion no-bid contract to deliver fuel and repair oil equipment in Iraq, even though the Pentagon's own auditors had identified more than $250 million in charges as potentially excessive or unjustified.

The Army said in response to questions on Friday that questionable business practices by the subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, had in some cases driven up the company's costs. But in the haste and peril of war, it had largely done as well as could be expected, the Army said, and aside from a few penalties, the government was compelled to reimburse the company for its costs.
...
Later that year auditors began focusing on the fuel deliveries under the contract, finding that the fuel transportation costs that the company was charging the Army were in some cases nearly triple what others were charging to do the same job.

- rob 6:35 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Port Security - Bush has been ignoring the security of the ports all along. How beautiful that his own arrogance shines a spotlight on yet another example of how he has failed to make the nation more secure.

Paper: Coast Guard Has Port Co. Intel Gaps

AP) Citing broad gaps in U.S. intelligence, the Coast Guard cautioned the Bush administration that it was unable to determine whether a United Arab Emirates-owned company might support terrorist operations, a Senate panel said Monday.

The surprise disclosure came during a hearing on Dubai-owned DP World's plans to take over significant operations at six leading U.S. ports. The port operations are now handled by London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company.

"There are many intelligence gaps, concerning the potential for DPW or P&O assets to support terrorist operations, that precludes an overall threat assessment of the potential" merger," an undated Coast Guard intelligence assessment says.

Also good to see that the media is starting to say it is a UAE owned company rather then just a company from the UAE. There is a big difference and with that fact out there it looks even worse for Bush.

A lot of what is coming out of this story looks bad for Bush. It isn't even 6 ports - it is a lot more:

UAE terminal takeover extends to 21 ports

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported.

I'm not saying the United Arab Emirates is a terrorist loving nation. In fact from many reports they are helping a lot in supplying intelligence to help find terrorists.

But here's the thing: They have so much intelligence because they have had so many contacts with terrorists. Heck they have had more contact with 9/11 involved terrorists with Iraq. Iraq we go to war with, UAE we give the key to our ports. Bush logic - its about money.

Meanwhile it looks like Bush is going to have another week of bad spin because of this as we learn that Homeland Security was against the deal before it was for it:

Homeland Security Objected to Ports Deal
Homeland Security Objected at First to Ports Deal, Then Went Along With Others

WASHINGTON Feb 25, 2006 (AP)— The Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company's taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent.

The department's early objections were settled later in the government's review of the $6.8 billion deal after Dubai-owned DP World agreed to a series of security restrictions.

Glad to know they actually had some objections that were possibly dealt with rather than just caving to peer pressure.

- rob 6:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Living in a police state or living in Florida?

Station Intimidation-Parts 1 and 2

CBS4 News found that, in police departments across Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, large and small, it was virtually impossible to walk in the door, and walk out with a complaint form.

The I-Team conducted an extensive hidden camera test, carried out by a police abuse watchdog group called the Police Complaint Center. Remarkably, of 38 different police stations tested around South Florida, all but three had no police complaint forms.

Florida City P.D. and Homestead P.D. had them, as did the City of Miami, in three languages -- English, Spanish, and Kreole.

The transcripts of the encounters with the police officers are amazing. Here's one:

[officer]: We don't give you -- we don't give you a form. Where do you live?
tester: I don't want to say.
officer: You don't want to say?
tester: Where are you going?
officer: You want to play hardball? We'll play hardball. I want ID.
tester: For what?
officer: I'm asking you for ID right now, that's why. Here, hand it to me. Hand it to me.
tester: Are you kidding me? Here.
officer: I said, hand me your ID. What are you doing here? This is --
tester: I came to ask you how to file a complaint.
officer: This is very suspicious.
tester: Asking how to file a complaint is suspicious?
officer: Why don't you shut up?
officer: I say this is very suspicious, that you pull in here at this time of night --
tester: Eight o'clock?

- rob 6:17 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush wants to make America's military presence in Iraq permanent.

Thanks to his incompetence Iraq is unable to have its own army.

Maybe Bush's incompetence is all going according to plan.

Pentagon: Iraqi troops downgraded

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday.

The battalion, made up of 700 to 800 Iraqi Army soldiers, has repeatedly been offered by the U.S. as an example of the growing independence of the Iraqi military.

The competence of the Iraqi military has been cited as a key factor in when U.S. troops will be able to return home.

"As we see more of these Iraqi forces in the lead, we will be able to continue with our stated strategy that says as Iraqi forces stand up, we will stand down," President Bush said last month.

- rob 6:12 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Shame is one of the strogest cornerstones of civilization.

Shame is why many don't commit crimes, not because they are scared of jail - it is because they are afriad of what others will think of them if they are caught. Jail they can handle, their disappointed mom, neighbor, friends are the true deterrents.

When the culture fails to look down on crime, crime becomes more common. Whether the laws or enforced or not.

We have mentioned often in this site how many conservatives need laws to keep themselves in check. They're own belief in right and wrong is not enough incentives to do what they think is the right thing.

But when you have no shame, laws have no meaning.

GOP and the culture of corruption - shame does not enter into the equation

Governor Fletcher Appointments Campaign Contributors As Special Justices To Kentucky Supreme Court To Hear His Own Appeal

Can you imagine?

Of all the shameless and offensive acts that Governor Fletcher has pulled on us in the two years he's been in office, I don't think any of them compare to the sham he pulled at 5:25 pm on Friday when he appointed two campaign contributors as Special Justices to the Kentucky Supreme Court to hear just one case -- his own desperate appeal in the Merit System criminal investigation.

How does he think he can get away with it?

Haven't you read the news? If you have a little (R) near your name you can do as you please.

- rob 5:53 PM - [PermaLink] -

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DoD Staffer's Notes from 9/11 Obtained Under FOIA
Dept. of Defense staffer Steven Cambone's Sept. 11th meeting notes strongly implicate Donald Rumsfeld in fudging the case for war with Iraq from the get-go. For the most part, it's nothing we didn't already know-- it's one more of many datapoints that implicate this rotten administration. Some tidbits new and old:

Rumsfeld to Gen. Myers: find the "best info fast... judge whether good enough to hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] at same time - not only UBL [Usama Bin Laden]"

Rumsfeld: "Go massive... Sweep it all up. Things related and not." And: "judge whether good enough to hit S.H. at same time"

Cambone muses: "Hard to get a good case."

Emphasis mine, high crimes theirs.

- Edoc 10:51 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Harper's Magazine Takes The Lead (DailyKos)
Kudos to Harper's magazine and their March 2006 cover.



For those of you in the NYC area: on March 2nd, Harper's is presenting a forum at Town Hall titled: "Is There a Case for Impeachment?" Tickets are available online for $10.

- Edoc 10:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Bush Presidency: a Text Misadventure Game
(DefectiveYeti) Hopefully you're familiar with or have at least heard of the text adventure games which were popular in the 80's. In that vein, I just came across this-- yes, I know it's nearly a month old.

Oval Office
You are standing inside a White House, having just been elected to the presidency of the United States. You knew Scalia would pull through for you.

There is a large desk here, along with a few chairs and couches. The presidential seal is in the middle of the room and there is a full-length mirror upon the wall.

What do you want to do now?

> INVADE IRAQ
You are not able to do that, yet.

> LOOK MIRROR
Self-reflection is not your strong suit.

> PET SEAL
It's not that kind of seal.

> EXAMINE CHAIRS
They are two several chairs arranged around the center of the room, along with two couches. Under one couch you find Clinton's shoes.

> FILL SHOES
You are unable to fill Clinton's shoes.

The gag follows the trajectory of Bush's Iraq war trainwreck. It would be the pinnacle of comedy if only it weren't so grounded in reality.

- Edoc 9:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

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"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make fitting response."
 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt



"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson



"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree."
- James Madison



"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy



"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

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"There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America." - Bill Clinton.