Owner: Bring It On URL:http://www.teambio.org/ Join Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:53:19 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: Progressive snarky brilliance served fast and hot, 24/7. Site statistics:Click here
It Figures 2006-10-22 20:17:33 I know that the announcement pasted below from Sunday’s LA Times will not be shocking in the least bit. And that, in and of itself, is a dismal statement about the connection between politics and big business.
The lesson: If you are fortunate enough to snag a political seat of some substantial authority in our government, you can make serious sums of cash for you and yours by constructing new policy. “Make hay while the sun shines,” they say. But ethically, this cuts across the moral grain straight to the heart of the rotten moral core of the US Government.
A company headed by President Bush’s brother and partly owned by his parents is benefiting from Republican connections and federal dollars targeted for economically disadvantaged students under the No Child Left Behind Act.
With investments from his parents, George H.W. and Barbara Bush, and other backers, Neil Bush’s company, Ignite! Learning, has placed its products in 40 U.S. school district Read more:Figures
Obama might run in 2008 2006-10-22 18:51:17 Shorter Barack Obama
: “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog-gone-it, people like me.”
‘’Given the response I’ve been getting the last several months, I have thought about the possibility'’ although not with any seriousness or depth, he said. ‘’My focus is on ‘06. … After November 7, I’ll sit down and consider it.'’
…
On Sunday, Obama dismissed notions that he might not be ready to run for president because of his limited experience in national politics. He agreed the job requires a ‘’certain soberness and seriousness‘’ and ‘’can’t be something you pursue on the basis of vanity and ambition.'’ [Emphasis added]
So, Patrick Kennedy is out?
And the job requires seriousness but the thought approaching this decision hasn’t?
In all (cough) seriousness, I’m not particularly excited by Obama’s announcement. He has failed to be t
Holy Shit — Jesus in a Barcode!!! 2006-10-22 14:47:15
If you don’t see him, then you need to spend more!!!
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, Holy Shit
, Jesus
More Violence Rather Than Less: Seems Counter Intuitive If You Listen To The President 2006-10-22 06:02:39 I might be wrong to feel this way, but when the president says things like the following, I get very disgusted and feel like there is no way at all to win the war in Iraq the current way we are fighting it. Have a look at another snip from yet another President
ial Radio Address (that no one seems to listen to, so why do we spend the cash to have him do them?):
There are a number of reasons for this increase in violence. One reason is that Coalition and Iraqi forces have been conducting focused operations to bring security to Baghdad.
This is a lot like when there is a serious round up of bad guys and the terror level goes up instead of down. It seems counter intuitive. Shouldn’t there be less violence if they are conducting more “focused operations?”
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, Intuitive
, Listen
, Rather
, Violence
Senator Olver Supporting our Veterans Where Bush Lies and Fails Again! 2006-10-22 06:00:43 Veterans
Congressional Update
Knowing of your support for members of our military and veterans, I am writing to share with you a number of important issues facing our veterans and actions I have taken during the 109th Congress to address these problems.
Despite rhetoric calling for Americans to support our troops, the current Administration’s actions fail to deliver for veterans returning from the Iraq war and veterans of previous conflicts. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I continue to fight against the Administration’s chronic under-funding of veterans healthcare programs. Despite efforts by Democrats and veterans service organizations to increase funding levels in Fiscal Years (FY) 2005 and 2006, the Republican Congress blocked these amendments. As a result, a financial shortfall threatened a shutdown of the Veterans Administration and forced Congress to appropriate an additional $1.5 billion in emergency funds for FY2005 and $3 billio Read more:Again
, Senator
How to Set-Up a Propaganda Machine 2006-10-22 03:16:07
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, Propaganda
May we Criticize Israel? 2006-10-22 02:29:35 Or is everyone afraid of being labeled an anti-semite?
A reader of The Star-Ledger sent me from the Kingston, N.Y., Daily Freeman a commentary by John J. Neumaier, a Jewish holocaust survivor, philosopher and former university president. The press has left unreported, he writes, the peace-minded Israel
i Jews and Arabs demonstrating against Israel's ruthless waging of the war. Yes, Hezbollah receives aid from Syria and Iran, but the United States has given Israel over $6 billion in armaments in four years. [emphasis added] Dr. Neumaier's experience of Nazi persecution has sensitized him to "cherish and defend the equal worth and dignity of all human beings and the right of everyone's child to grow up and live a healthy and happy life"
Some of those armaments remain in Lebanon in the form of cluster bombs which are exploding and killing or wounding three people a day.
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Don't we all feel like this? 2006-10-22 02:04:28 I know some of you are tired of me making political posts. I am, too. Really. But I don’t think I have the luxury of ignoring politics any more. We are on the verge of losing our country, and I refuse to stay silent because I might alienate some people by yelling about it. It’s time to yell about it. On October 18th, two days after my birthday, Bush signed a law throwing habeas corpus to the winds, and explicitly ALLOWING Americans to torture their unlawful prisoners: “enemy combatants” which *he* is allowed to define.
This is the first time I’ve heard “freedom of speech” described as a luxury but I guess in our little pampered world called America “freedom of speech” has become a luxury because so many people refuse to use it. Somewhere within that statement lies an irony can you spot it?
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O'Reilly's angel light 2006-10-21 23:19:32 Did you ever watch the show Touched By An Angel?
I was never a big fan of the show. To me it followed a very predictable formula and it’s main goal seemed to wrench tears out of the viewers by the time the episode ended. My mom loved the show.
One thing the show could always be counted on was the appearance of the “angellight
.” The angel light was a light that would appear over and behind the angel characters when the main guest for that week was ready to accept that she or he’d been helped b angels. The light would create a glow over the head and shoulders of one or more of the angels.
The first time I saw the cover art for Bill O’Reilly
’s new book I couldn’t help but think
Damn! Now Billo’s gone and given himself an angel light!
Some people have poked fun at Bill’s attire but I really do think that the angelic glow deserves more derision.
See for yourself.
Here’s a picture of one of the angel characters all l
Licking Their Lips Over Victory 2006-10-23 07:05:34 The Dems are already licking their lips over possibly winning one or both houses of Congress in November. Much of that lip polishing is justified. They’ve been marginalized as the minority party and haven’t been able to do much except cluck about Republican shenanigans. Their impact on legislation has been virtually nill. They now look forward to the day when they can rake the other side over the coals like a circus fat man looks forward to a Thanksgiving dinner.
They’d be well advised to think about what they’re contemplating though.
Temptation is high to launch a tsunami of probes into Republican behavior, start impeachment proceedings, and generally whomp their sudden inferiors as hard as possible. If the partisan vitriol is bad now, it’s sure to get worse if the most extreme Democratic measures go ahead. There is much they can do to harm not only their party but also the nation.
First, their majority may be fragile. They’d do well to remember Read more:Licking
, Victory
Dick Cheney Is Big Brother 2006-10-23 02:14:44
BUSH: Okay…uh…now that Big Broth…uh…the Vice-President is…er…here with us…I guess we can…uh…start the meeting. Is that okay, Dick? Er…I mean…uh…Mr. VeeP….
Tags: Bush, White+House+meeting, Cheney
, Big+Brother
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, Dick Cheney
Retraction or Coercion - State Department official claims he mispoke. 2006-10-23 16:45:38 Did you hear about the StateDepartment
official who claimed on Al-Jazeera that history may show that the United States was arrogant and stupid in it’s handling of the Iraq war? Well suddenly he’s changing his tune.
Alberto Fernandez now say’s that he want's to take it all back. According to an E-mail sent from the State Department
to reporters (allegedly from him) Mr. Fernandez states that “Upon reading the transcript of my appearance on Al-Jazeera, I realized that I seriously misspoke by using the phrase ‘there has been arrogance and stupidity’ by the U.S. in Iraq.” The E-Mail further states that “This represents neither my views nor those of the State Department. I apologize.”
Now I don’t know about you, but when I use words like arrogance and stupidity I normally don’t mean brilliance and humility. Those are some pretty straightforward, hard to good up kind of words. Their meaning isn’t at all subtle. For Read more:claims
, Retraction
Shocking New Torture Information 2006-10-23 19:35:54 And no laughing, you sick F#$%!
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Falling Down Instead of Standing Up 2006-10-23 21:22:15 Since the beginning of the Iraq war, the administration as stayed the course with this line - “we’ll stand down as the Iraqis stand up”. Obviously, the Iraqification of the war isn’t working. This report demonstrates some of the reasons why the Iraqis are falling down instead of standing up and why the American troops pay the price.
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, Instead
, Standing
So, When The Administration Does It, The Time Line Is Not "Artificial?" 2006-10-23 23:57:53 The Whitehouse has said ad nauseum that they were not about to set some kind of “artificial time line,” but usually in response to some query from the press. You may ask yourself how do they define “artificial?” A legitimate question given the vagaries of the politicians in charge of our government these days.
It appears that when other folks would wish a time line upon them, it would be politically beneficial to suggest it was “artificial.” What exactly are they doing at the Whitehouse today and the next few? Hmmm…set a few “time tables?” What differntiates that from the “artificial” variety they have been balking at for so long?
You be the judge:
Q The Times story reported that top generals and Ambassador Khalilzad were crafting a timetable of sorts for disarming militia. Do you dispute the story –
MR. SNOW: No, the Iraqis themselves have set a timetable for trying to disarm the militia. They want to do Read more:Administration
, Artificial
Do you think this is Iran? 2006-10-23 23:04:23
If you do then you are wrong.
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Dem vs. Repug Spoofs Mac vs. PC ads 2006-10-23 22:50:37
You can find more at Americablog.
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Happy Talk 2006-10-24 06:00:37 There’s something to be said for optimism. It’s a great way of approaching difficult tasks, and it makes you feel good. Of course, there’s a time and a place for everything - optimism and pessimism, courage and fear, fantasy and reality. Of course, optimism, in and of itself, accomplishes nothing. You have to do something to make something happen. Sir Isaac Newton proved that. Smiling at a problem, if anything, will probably make a problem worse, rarely better. After all, there’s a fine line between Optimism and Fatalism. But sometimes optimism has a real physical value, and it’s not good. It is cynical optimism. The GOP uses these cynical optimisms, like patriotism and laizzez faire corporatism, to sway voters to their causes.
Spiro Agnew, the Nixon Veep who resigned in disgrace and yet is still regularly quoted by the Riff-Raff of the Right, once made this observation of those he felt were not cowing enough to the whims of the American Elite: Read more:Happy
War Between the Generations 2006-10-24 08:32:22 This isn't talking about generations of people. The generations in question are the generations of warfare itself. Part of the problem we're facing right now in Iraq and Afghanistan is that our leadership is trying to fight a third generation war against a fourth generation enemy.
Although the use of the word "generation" implies a more sequential and linear progression than we actually see in the history of warfare, it is an evolutionary process. In simple form, here are the differences between generations:
To begin with, war has apparently been around since prehistoric bands of hunter-gatherers skirmished over turf or food. Archeological evidence shows that people have been killing each other for as long as we've been around. Some of the oldest human remains ever found, including the neolithic hunter found frozen in the Alps and various bodies found preserved in bogs, had wounds made by weapons. Amid the ruins of the Anasazi culture in the American southwest are bones w Read more:Generations
It's Never Been "Stay The Course" 2006-10-24 08:29:29
Never say never! One more gleeming example of the lies and the lying liars who tell them.
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Desperate Times, Desperate Measures 2006-10-24 08:16:11
The RJC is doing a nation-wide “Joementum” advertising campaign in Jewish newspapers that challenges Jewish Democrats to re-examine the Democratic Party and see if it’s still right for them.
Because, you know, their only other alternative is a party that harbors racists and neo-conservative nazis.
Tags: campaign news, Lieberman, Republicans
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, Measures
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Bush says he uses "the Google" 2006-10-24 09:25:10 Go watch it over at Think Progress.
No wonder he can’t get one piece of accurate intelligence. If you’re using thegoogle.com, you’re not going to get many accurate search results. You will get a lot of pop-ups though.
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The Worst Congress Ever 2006-10-24 14:02:42 No matter how much hatred and contempt you already have for this 109th Congress
, your opinion will take a nosedive when you read this article. If you're the most jaded and cynical person in the world, you'll still be blown away when you learn about the sleazy, corrupt, incompetent assholes who are "representing" you.
This is a long article, but it's well worth bookmarking. The author (Matt Taibbi) has a riveting style; you'll be at the end before you know it. There'll never be another Hunter Thompson, but Matt Taibbi has that same white-knuckle, edge-of-your-seat prose that'll have you reaching for the Wild Turkey.
This article doesn't spare anybody. The Republicans get torn to shreds for being nothing but a rubber stamp for King George. But after you've read about how lazy, braindead and useless they all are, you'll be ready to vote out every last one of these overpaid, underworked bloated shitbags.
As the author says: "If a hairy-necked, raincoat-clad frea
Quote of the Day 10/24/06 2006-10-24 13:37:47
According to Bishop Ussher’s now-famous calculation, God created the earth on October 23, 4004 bc. Which makes today the 6010th birthday for the planet. Unfortunately, she hasn’t aged well. She looks like she’s about 4.55 billion years old. - Ed Brayton, Dispatches from the Culture Wars
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Taxpayer Funded Terrorism 2006-10-24 19:47:51 How do you like this? Senator Carl Levine visited Iraq on Oct 1-3 and notes this on his official Senate website:
Our Marine leadership in al Anbar advises that 30 percent of all contracts, including U.S. Government let contracts paid for with U.S. taxpayer dollars, goes to al Qaeda. — Carl Levine
The deliberate refusal of this congress to exercise their obligation of oversight allowed this administration to pull out of Afghanistan without vanquishing Al Qaeda , begin an illegal war in Iraq, grossly mismanage billions of dollars in Iraq, ignore the rise of Al Qaeda in Iraq as a direct result of our actions within that country, and now allow AMERICAN TAXPAYER MONEY TO FUND OUR SWORN ENEMY.
Fire the traitorous bastards who decline to exercise oversight. Put somebody in there who will do their damn job.
Taxpayer
funded Al Qaeda. Christ.
Hat Tip to Altercation
Terrorism
, Al Qaeda, Levine, Iraq
Tags: Terrorism, Al Qaeda, Levine, Iraq
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