Saturday, May 31, 2008

111 nations, but not US, adopt cluster bomb treaty

DUBLIN, Ireland - Chief negotiators of a landmark treaty banning cluster bombs predicted Friday that the United States will never again use the weapons, a critical component of American air and artillery power.

The treaty formally adopted Friday by 111 nations, including many of America's major NATO partners, would outlaw all current designs of cluster munitions and require destruction of stockpiles within eight years. It also opens the possibility that European allies could order U.S. bases located in their countries to remove cluster bombs from their stocks.

The United States and other leading cluster bomb makers — Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan — boycotted the talks, emphasized they would not sign the treaty and publicly shrugged off its value. All defended the overriding military value of cluster bombs, which carpet a battlefield with dozens to hundreds of explosions.

RANT

Definition of a Political Blog:
A political blog is a common type of blog that comments on politics. In liberal democracies the right to criticize the government without interference is considered an important element of free speech. In other jurisdictions bloggers use the uncensored nature of the internet to bypass state controlled news media.

I have seen a lot of hateful comments being left on this blog as of late. I am also getting hate e-mails, yet I am the one being called hateful as well as being misdiagnosed as depressed.

Here are just a few of the Statements I have received: "It as if you are dictating to me that any opposition to what is placed on your blog will not be tolerated, You leave me perplexed as to why you would want speak in misnomers and bogus statements and leading people astray, But then I do know that you are dealing with some pain and I see it getting more intense in you. And this is what is causeing all this consternation in you., It is hard to watch you deal with all this turmiol in your life."

On a personal note here. I have never felt better mentally in my life and I am Happy.

I stated this blog cause I got fed up with the Media spewing their lies and the lies that we have been told by the Bush Administration. Some people may hold my views as unacceptable, some people even hate me for them. Such is life.

For those of you who expect me to change the blog to their views, to cower down to their ideas of whats going on in the world, they are sadly mistaken. If you don't like whats posted here, start your own blog.

I will not tolerate any Sexist Comments or Racist Comments. I will not tolerate any who can not understand that other countries laws, cultures and way of life is different that theirs. This should be celebrated not condemned . I will not tolerate anyone who can't think outside the box who always thinks that the US and Israel are always right.

In ending let me say this:

I have many Muslim friends who have suffered because of the US and Israel. Some have lost their homes, some have family members that have been killed. These folks aren't terrorists or member of any political party in the Middle East. If you wish get out of your box and check out a friends website Window Into Palestine . You just might get a different perception on things.

Do not become the enemy you fear.

Asshole of the Week


Rev Michael Pfleger - More Hate and Sexism from the Obama Camp

Political Cartoon of the Week

Saturday Rock Dedicated to The DNC


Pinball Wizard at Woodstock - The Who
They should seat Fla and Mich. Delegates or its 2000 all over again

Thursday, May 29, 2008

R.I.P. Harvey Korman


Marine removed from duty amid allegations of proselytizing in Iraq

Anonymous said...

Ain't know one gonna tell the Marines hwat yo do

So I guess it doesn't matter if it's against Military Regulations it's ok if it's a Marine. NOT!

.....

The U.S. military removed a Marine from duty today after Iraqi civilians complained that religious material was being distributed at a checkpoint in Fallujah.

“Regulations prohibit members of the coalition force from proselytizing any religion, faith or practices, and our troops are trained on those guidelines before they deploy,” Col. Bill Buckner, a military spokesman, says in a statement e-mailed to USA TODAY.

Commanders say they will take further action if the allegations against this unidentified Marine are substantiated.

"This has our full attention,” Col. James L. Welsh, chief of staff at Multi-National Force-West says in a statement. “We deeply value our relationship with the local citizens and share their concerns over this serious incident.”

McClatchy News reported yesterday that Marines were handing out coins with the following text, which has been translated from Arabic:

Front: "Where will you spend eternity?"
Back: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

Iraqis claim Marines are pushing Christianity in Fallujah

By Jamal Naji and Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers

FALLUJAH, Iraq — At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

"They are trying to convert us to Christianity," said Anad, a Sunni Muslim like most residents of this city in Anbar province. At home, he told his story, and his relatives echoed their disapproval: They'd been given the coins, too, he said.

....


In the markets, people crowded around men with the coins, passing them to each other and asking in surprise, "Have you seen this?"

The head of the Sunni endowment in Fallujah, the organization that oversees Sunni places of worship and other religious establishments, demanded that the Marines stop.

"We say to the occupiers to stop this," said Sheikh Mohammed Amin Abdel Hadi. "This can cause strife between the Iraqis and especially between Muslim and Christians . ... Please stop these things and leave our homes because we are Muslims and we live in our homes in peace with other religions."

A spokesman said the U.S. military is investigating.

...

"The occupier is repeatedly trespassing on God and his religion," said Omar Delli, 23. "Now the occupier is planting seeds of strife between the Muslims and Christians. We demand the government in Fallujah have a new demonstration to let the occupier know that these things are humiliating Islam and the Quran."


Brokaw Blows It

Last Night on NBC Nightly News Tom Brokaw was interviewed on The Media and its roll in the lead up to the war. Sorry I can't post the video. As I watched this drivel I wanted to blow up my TV Set. I use to hold Tom in high respect as a newsman. No More! My thinking started to change when Ms C. told me how Tom rewrote history in his book Boomers about the 60's. She and I ought to know, we were there . I wonder what Tom thinks of PBS's Bill Moyers show Buying The War. You can watch Buying The War on PBS's Site. Here is a short clip.


Tom, You Blew It Big Time Last Night

Penquins Win One at Last

After being shut out in the first two games the Pens come home and win a hard fought game. Sidney Crosby scored twice and Adam Hall got the game winner Pens 3 Red Wings 2.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

In Ex-Spokesman’s Book, Harsh Words for Bush

More on this story as it develops... Just saw Tom Browkaw on NBC News supporting the medias lead up to the war. More on this later as well. I am too pissed right now to post anything. -wolf

From the NY Times

PHOENIX — President Bush “convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment,” and has engaged in “self-deception” to justify his political ends, Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, writes in a critical new memoir about his years in the West Wing.

In addition, Mr. McClellan writes, the decision to invade Iraq was a “serious strategic blunder,” and yet, in his view, it was not the biggest mistake the Bush White House made. That, he says, was “a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed.”

Mr. McClellan’s book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” is the first negative account by a member of the tight circle of Texans around Mr. Bush. Mr. McClellan, 40, went to work for Mr. Bush when he was governor of Texas and was the White House press secretary from July 2003 to April 2006.

The revelations in the book, to be published by PublicAffairs next Tuesday, were first reported Tuesday on Politico.com by Mike Allen. Mr. Allen wrote that he bought the book at a Washington store. The New York Times also obtained an advance copy.

Mr. McClellan writes that top White House officials deceived him about the administration’s involvement in the leaking of the identity of a C.I.A. operative, Valerie Wilson. He says he did not know for almost two years that his statements from the press room that Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby Jr. were not involved in the leak were a lie.

“Neither, I believe, did President Bush,” Mr. McClellan writes. “He too had been deceived, and therefore became unwittingly involved in deceiving me. But the top White House officials who knew the truth — including Rove, Libby, and possibly Vice President Cheney — allowed me, even encouraged me, to repeat a lie.”

He is harsh about the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, saying it “spent most of the first week in a state of denial” and “allowed our institutional response to go on autopilot.” Mr. McClellan blames Mr. Rove for one of the more damaging images after the hurricane: Mr. Bush’s flyover of the devastation of New Orleans. When Mr. Rove brought up the idea, Mr. McClellan writes, he and Dan Bartlett, a top communications adviser, told Mr. Bush it was a bad idea because he would appear detached and out of touch. But Mr. Rove won out, Mr. McClellan writes.

A theme in the book is that the White House suffered from a “permanent campaign” mentality, and that policy decisions were inextricably interwoven with politics.

He is critical of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for her role as the “sometimes too accommodating” first term national security adviser, and what he calls her deftness at protecting her reputation.

“No matter what went wrong, she was somehow able to keep her hands clean,” Mr. McClellan writes, adding that “she knew how to adapt to potential trouble, dismiss brooding problems, and come out looking like a star.”

Mr. McClellan does not exempt himself from failings — “I fell far short of living up to the kind of public servant I wanted to be” — and calls the news media “complicit enablers” in the White House’s “carefully orchestrated campaign to shape and manipulate sources of public approval” in the march to the Iraq war in 2002 and 2003.

He does have a number of kind words for Mr. Bush, particularly from the April day in 2006 when Mr. Bush met with Mr. McClellan after he learned he was being pushed out. “His charm was on full display, but it was hard to know if it was sincere or just an attempt to make me feel better,” Mr. McClellan writes. “But as he continued, something I had never seen before happened: tears were streaming down both his cheeks.”

Pres Jimmy Carter Confirms *ISRAEL HAS 150 NUCLEAR WEAPONS!


Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Legendary director, actor Sydney Pollack dies of cancer

(CNN) -- Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack, who achieved critical acclaim with the period drama "Out of Africa" and the romantic comedy "Tootsie," died of cancer Monday, his agent told CNN.

Pollack, 73, died at his home in Los Angeles. He was surrounded by his wife of nearly 50 years, Claire Griswold, their two daughters, Rebecca and Rachel, and his brother, Bernie, agent Leslee Dart said. the Pollacks' only son, Steven, died in a plane crash in 1993.

Pollack, who often appeared on the screen himself, worked with and gained the respect of Hollywood's best actors in a long career that reached prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the Associated Press.

"Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better. A tip of the hat to a class act," actor George Clooney said in a statement issued by his publicist, the Associated Press reported.

Last fall, Pollack played Marty Bach opposite Clooney in "Michael Clayton," a drama that examines the life of a fixer for lawyers. The film, which Pollack co-produced, received seven Oscar nominations, including best picture and a best actor nod for Clooney.

Pollack was no stranger to the Academy Awards. His 1985 film "Out of Africa," a romantic epic of a woman's passion set against the landscape of colonial Kenya, captured seven Oscars, including best director and best picture. Watch a glimpse of Pollack's film contributions »


The Way We Were Part 1


Monday, May 26, 2008

ON MEMORIAL DAY

Broken promises to our veterans

by Michael Blecker San Francisco Chronicle

Thousands of Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans are returning home only to become casualties of war - at their own hands. Suffering from psychiatric injuries, 1,000 veterans under Veterans Administration care are attempting suicide each month. Almost 40 percent of the young men and women returning from combat almost have proven mental health injuries that include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, major depression and traumatic brain injury.

But when they seek help, disabled veterans face a claims system so mismanaged and inefficient that they often must wait more than five years for any assistance. The Department of Veterans Affairs is choking on a backlog of some 600,000 unresolved benefits claims. Even after their eligibility has been established, thousands of veterans cannot obtain adequate mental health treatment. While they wait for the care they are owed, veterans are dying. About 126 veterans per week commit suicide. Vast numbers of veterans are living with mental illness, sometimes so severe that they are unable to work. Nationally, about 154,000 veterans are homeless on any given night and twice that many are homeless at some time during the year.

In a federal court lawsuit tried in San Francisco last month, two veterans' organizations asked Judge Samuel Conti to order the VA to streamline its systems for deciding benefits claims and obtaining mental health treatment. A decision is expected within a month.

During the trial, the VA vowed to do better, but history warns us against taking the VA's promises on faith. For example, a year ago, the VA adopted a Mental Health Plan for Suicide Prevention, which included many well-meant resolutions. But, in practical terms, none of the recommendations in this plan has been implemented, and none of its stated goals has been met. The suicides continue.

The VA's mental health professionals who work directly with veterans are skilled and caring, but the attitude of the VA bureaucracy is apparent from an internal e-mail from the VA's head of mental health, Dr. Ira Katz, that surfaced during the trial. At a time when the VA was publicly reporting only 790 veteran suicide attempts in all of 2007, Katz wrote, "Shh! ... Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month ... Is this something we should (carefully) address ... before someone stumbles on it?" The VA seems to rate "damage control" as more important than caring for veterans who have been injured while serving our country.

Nonprofit organizations, such as Swords to Plowshares in San Francisco, try to pick up the pieces of veterans' broken lives, but they cannot possibly meet the overwhelming need. In San Francisco, these nonprofits can provide only a few hundred beds where veterans can receive targeted, residential mental health treatment, while at least 1,200 to 1,500 veterans live on the street, and hundreds more sleep in cars, parks and churches.

We learned from the experience of Vietnam veterans that allowing this situation to persist will lead to epidemics of unemployment and underemployment, homelessness and family breakdown. Sens. Barbara Boxer D-Calif., and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) have introduced the Honoring Our Nation's Obligations To Returning Warriors (HONOR) Act, which would improve efforts to prepare soldiers for the stress of combat, and provide supportive services for families. Please ask your congressional representative to support the Honor Act and to demand that the VA fulfill its mission of caring for our wounded soldiers after they come home.

Some numbers we should not forget

-- The suicide rate of veterans is at least three times the national suicide rate. In 2005, the suicide rate for veterans 18- to 24-years-old was three to four times higher than non-veterans.

-- About 154,000 veterans nationwide are homeless on any given night. One-fourth of the homeless population is veterans.

-- There are more homeless Vietnam veterans than the number of soldiers who were killed during that war.

-- It takes at least 5.5 years, on average, to resolve a benefit claim with the Veteran's Administration.

-- More than 600,000 unresolved claims are backlogged with the Veteran's Administration.

-- Approximately 18.5 percent of service members who have returned from Afghanistan and Iraq currently have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or depression.

-- 19.5 percent of these veterans report experiencing traumatic brain injury.

-- Roughly half of those who need treatment seek it, but only slightly more than half of those who receive treatment receive at least minimally adequate care, according to an April 2008 Rand Report.

Sources: Veterans Administration, U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Rand

Michael Blecker is the executive director of Swords to Plowshares in San Francisco, and Vietnam combat infantryman.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

We Are The World - From Japan


NOT So Cool Facts About Israel


R E A C T


Saturday, May 24, 2008

Think Progress » Dead Kennedys singer responds to Savage:

How the hell does he get away with stuff like this?»

Earlier this week, after Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) was diagnosed with a brain tumor, right-wing talker Michael Savage offensively mocked Kennedy’s condition by playing the Dead Kennedys song “California Ãœber Alles” and reading aloud its lyrics on his radio show. In an expletive-laden interview with the Boston Phoenix, Dead Kennedys lead singer Jello Biafra responded to Savage’s use of his song, saying he took the “song way the hell out of context and did it deliberately.” From the interview:

But the bigger issue is Savage himself and how the hell he gets away with stuff like saying this, and saying that people with AIDS should be put in concentration camps. And then when people protest at the station, he calls on his own listeners to come down and beat them up.

Rock'n Saturday with the Stones


Gimme Shelter - One of My Favorite Stones Tunes

Saturday Fun


Asshole of the Week


Political Cartoon of the Week

Thursday, May 22, 2008

James Baker Talks Appeasement


H. W. Bush's Former Secretary of State

IMPEACH THEM!!


Jesse Ventura & Katrina Vanden Heuvel SMACK DOWN Mike Reagan


The Evolution of Mobile Phones


Tuesday, May 20, 2008

DNC: Fractured Fairly Tales


Another Video From IndyRobin & GeekLove08 :)
Check out their blog http://shutthefreudup.blogspot.com

A Brief History of Internet Trolls


An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion

Monday, May 19, 2008

Flyers @ Penguins 5/18/08 Game 5


Highlights of Game five against Philly. Some of you might be wondering why Crosby didn't hold the Prince of Wales Cup. Reason is he didn't want to Jinx the Pens chances of winning the Stanley Cup. It's a long standing tradition in the NHL. Players won't even wear the Conference Championship hats or shirts till the battle for the Stanley Cup is over. LETS GO PENS AND BRING THE STANLEY CUP BACK HOME!!!!

AIM - "Wooden Indians No More"


Blackfire x FR*A - Music & Politics


Interview with the Navajo Band Blackfire

The Real McCain

First President In History To Veto Benefits For Vets


On NBC’s “Meet the Press” this morning, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) discussed his 21st Century GI Bill, which would dramatically expand educational benefits for returning veterans. President Bush, however, has vowed to veto the bill. Webb blasted Bush for this unprecedented action.

Bush Admin. negotiates with Lybia, N. Korea, and Iran


Sunday, May 18, 2008

Penguins rout Flyers, 6-0, en route to Stanley Cup final


Marc Andre-Fleury, 23, recorded his third shutout of the playoffs

The Penguins' Marian Hossa (center) celebrates goal against the Flyers at the Mellon Arena.
The victory marked the Penguins' eighth in these playoffs at home and 16th consecutive inside Mellon Arena without a loss, a streak dating to an overtime loss to San Jose in late February.

Their 12-2 record through three rounds also marked a franchise high; the 1992 club and captain Lemieux won their final 11 in a row, but entered the Finals with a 12-5 record through the then-Wales Conference Finals.

Larry Norman | Only Visting This Planet (1947 - 2008)


See the Post below, short clips of many of his songs

R.I.P. Larry Norman


Larry Norman- Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music?
Larry was one of those good Xians that the church really disliked cause he brought modern rock and folk into the church. He was a great Guy and will be missed.
His website:
http://www.larrynorman.com/

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Iraq Veterans Against The War Testify To Congress


Funny Video of The Week


I think I'll start a New Topic. Found this Video awhile ago. Looks more like a Terrier than an Evil Chihuahua

Baby Tiger Rejected By Mother


A newborn Amur tiger at the Pittsburgh Zoo is being raised by humans after his mother showed no interest in nursing him.

Obama takes on McCain/Bush


Speaking before an audience in Watertown, South Dakota, Barack Obama responded to President Bush's extreme attacks yesterday.

Hillary Clinton: Mad As Hell/Bitch


I am posting this Video to show folks how your supposedly impartial media has portrayed Hillary during the Primaries. It's sad when some of my so called Feminist friends on other blogs have trashed Hillary using some of the same comments found in this video. And thanks once again to GeekLove for her comment and Video below :)

GeekLove said...

GeekLove Left this comment and I am posting it here in case you missed it as well as the Video.
Thank You Geek Love:)

I helped create the "Mad is Hell" video (re. media bias against HIllary Clinton) along with IndyRobin.

I created a NEW VIDEO: "We've Come a Long Way, Baby!"


It's about Obama's silence on sexism against Hillary Clinton and his own sexist remarks.

If you approve of the video, I'd appreciate your help in spreading the video by creating a post on the video and ask that you and your readers go to youtube to RATE, COMMENT & mark FAVORITE the video.

Thanks.



Friday, May 16, 2008

Chuck Berry & Keith Richards - Oh Carol


Saturday with The Sisters of Mercy


The Crow - Sisters Of Mercy

Political Cartoon of The Week



Asshole of the Week


Congrats Ellen and Portia De Rossi


Chris Matthews Stumps Right-Wing Radio Host: ‘Tell Me What Chamberlain Did?’ ‘I Don’t Know’



from thinkprogress.orgposted with vodpod

For the Brainwashed and Bushwhacked

Bush Tries To Distract From The Conservative Record On Terrorism

by Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
From The Wonk Room

Reaching into the same old bag of tricks of politicizing national security, President Bush used a speech on the floor of the Israeli Knesset to divert attention from his administration’s record on terrorism and attack his political opponents in the United States.

It’s a little jarring to see an American president use a speech while visiting a major ally to engage in politics at home, but there’s nothing new in this approach -– President Bush has used national security as a domestic wedge issue unlike any president in the history of the United States. It was a winning formula politically for conservatives for a while in 2002 and 2004, but by 2005 the approach ran out of steam, collapsing under the weight of the Bush administration’s steady stream of failures around the globe, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this speech is that President Bush seems not only disconnected from the harsh realities of today’s Middle East -– he also seems disconnected from his own policies and their impacts on three counts:

1. Bush forgets that his own administration and other countries have engaged Iran. A focus of Bush’s speech was Iran and the very real threat it poses to stability in the Middle East. Ironically, the Bush administration itself has sent key officials on numerous occasions to meet with Iranian officials –- whether it was most recently sending U.S. diplomats to meetings on numerous occasions with Iranian officials to discuss Iraq, or coordinating closely with Iran in the early years of the Afghanistan war. Moreover, key U.S. allies like Britain, Germany, and France all engage Iran on a regular basis and in fact have embassies in Tehran. Did President Bush really mean to call these allies appeasers too? For example, should the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who met recently with Iranian officials, ask for an apology from Bush? What about most of the leaders of the Iraqi government, which is closely aligned with Iran? Should they be offended too?

2. Bush tries to avoid the fact that his policies have strengthened the hands of groups like Hezbollah and Hamas and undermined Middle East security. A second irony in Bush’s speech is linked directly with today’s headlines –- that the Lebanese government was forced to reverse itself in the face of a violent takeover last week by the terrorist group Hezbollah. This comes less than a year after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip violently. These events are directly related to numerous policy failures by the Bush administration – including the failure to deliver support to pragmatic allies in the Palestinian Authority and Lebanon. As a result, the Lebanese and Palestinian people have suffered from violence, instability, and economic stagnation. And as a result, Israel’s security has been weakened -– another irony given that Bush was speaking on the floor of the Israeli parliament.

3. Bush ignores the 2002-2008 conservative record on terrorism. A broader blind spot that comes crystal clear from Bush’s speech today –- he is incapable of acknowledging that his administration’s policies have been ineffective in responding to the threats posed by global terrorist groups. This blind spot is perhaps understandable, because Bush has invested so much of his legacy in a strategy that has led to a more than four-fold increase in global terrorist attacks by 2005, a trend that has only increased in the three years since.

It might have been easier for President Bush to point the finger at his domestic critics in the early years of his administration and get away with it. But in the last nine months of a lame duck administration, it is time that President Bush stopped running away from his own record and face the reality of his own dismal record on terrorism. Al Qaeda remains a threat, its top leadership like Ayman Zawahiri regularly taunts the United States, and Iran has seen historic expansion of its influence throughout the Middle East –- all national embarrassments that no number of speeches by President Bush can cover up.

Misogyny I Won't Miss

From The Washington Post

By Marie Cocco
Thursday, May 15, 2008; Page A15

As the Democratic nomination contest slouches toward a close, it's time to take stock of what I will not miss.

I will not miss seeing advertisements for T-shirts that bear the slogan "Bros before Hos." The shirts depict Barack Obama (the Bro) and Hillary Clinton (the Ho) and are widely sold on the Internet.

I will not miss walking past airport concessions selling the Hillary Nutcracker, a device in which a pantsuit-clad Clinton doll opens her legs to reveal stainless-steel thighs that, well, bust nuts. I won't miss television and newspaper stories that make light of the novelty item.

I won't miss episodes like the one in which liberal radio personality Randi Rhodes called Clinton a "big [expletive] whore" and said the same about former vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. Rhodes was appearing at an event sponsored by a San Francisco radio station, before an audience of appreciative Obama supporters -- one of whom had promoted the evening on the presumptive Democratic nominee's official campaign Web site.

I won't miss Citizens United Not Timid (no acronym, please), an anti-Clinton group founded by Republican guru Roger Stone.

Political discourse will at last be free of jokes like this one, told last week by magician Penn Jillette on MSNBC: "Obama did great in February, and that's because that was Black History Month. And now Hillary's doing much better 'cause it's White Bitch Month, right?" Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski rebuked Jillette.

I won't miss political commentators (including National Public Radio political editor Ken Rudin and Andrew Sullivan, the columnist and blogger) who compare Clinton to the Glenn Close character in the movie "Fatal Attraction." In the iconic 1987 film, Close played an independent New York woman who has an affair with a married man played by Michael Douglas. When the liaison ends, the jilted woman becomes a deranged, knife-wielding stalker who terrorizes the man's blissful suburban family. Message: Psychopathic home-wrecker, begone.

The airwaves will at last be free of comments that liken Clinton to a "she-devil" (Chris Matthews on MSNBC, who helpfully supplied an on-screen mock-up of Clinton sprouting horns). Or those who offer that she's "looking like everyone's first wife standing outside a probate court" (Mike Barnicle, also on MSNBC).

But perhaps it is not wives who are so very problematic. Maybe it's mothers. Because, after all, Clinton is more like "a scolding mother, talking down to a child" (Jack Cafferty on CNN).

When all other images fail, there is one other I will not miss. That is, the down-to-the-basics, simplest one: "White women are a problem, that's -- you know, we all live with that" (William Kristol of Fox News).

I won't miss reading another treatise by a man or woman, of the left or right, who says that sexism has had not even a teeny-weeny bit of influence on the course of the Democratic campaign. To hint that sexism might possibly have had a minimal role is to play that risible "gender card."

Most of all, I will not miss the silence.

I will not miss the deafening, depressing silence of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean or other leading Democrats, who to my knowledge (with the exception of Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland) haven't publicly uttered a word of outrage at the unrelenting, sex-based hate that has been hurled at a former first lady and two-term senator from New York. Among those holding their tongues are hundreds of Democrats for whom Clinton has campaigned and raised millions of dollars. Don Imus endured more public ire from the political class when he insulted the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

Would the silence prevail if Obama's likeness were put on a tap-dancing doll that was sold at airports? Would the media figures who dole out precious face time to these politicians be such pals if they'd compared Obama with a character in a blaxploitation film? And how would crude references to Obama's sex organs play?

There are many reasons Clinton is losing the nomination contest, some having to do with her strategic mistakes, others with the groundswell for "change." But for all Clinton's political blemishes, the darker stain that has been exposed is the hatred of women that is accepted as a part of our culture.

Joe Biden On Bush's Hitler Comment


Vanessa Paradis - Tandem


For Ms C.

"Dance Me To The End of Love" Leonard Cohen


Thursday, May 15, 2008

CNN - In veiled attack, Bush criticizes Dems for terrorist 'appeasement'



Sent from wolfs mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.


In veiled attack, Bush criticizes Dems for terrorist 'appeasement'


President Bush launched a sharp but veiled attack Thursday on Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats, suggesting they favor "appeasement" of terrorists in the same way some Western leaders appeased Hitler in the run-up to World War II.

The president did not name Obama or any other Democrat, but White House aides privately acknowledged to CNN that the remarks were aimed at the presidential candidate and others in his party.

After Bush's comments were widely reported, the White House denied they were an attack aimed at Obama.

According to Obama's Web site, he favors "tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions, and is willing to meet with the leaders of all nations, friend and foe."

He does not favor talks with Hamas, which the U.S. government has listed as a terrorist group.

Former President Jimmy Carter recently wrapped up a trip to the Middle East, which included talks with leaders of Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist group that controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said at Israel's 60th anniversary celebration in Jerusalem.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to Israel's parliament, the Knesset.

"As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Doubts about Obama with Jewish Americans were earlier stoked by Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2008 presidential election, when he recently charged that Obama is the favored candidate of Hamas.

Obama last week called the Hamas allegation a "smear" and lashed out Thursday at Bush's speech in Israel.

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack," Obama said in a statement released to CNN by his campaign. "It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel. ...

"George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel," Obama's statement said.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush's comment was not a "slam" aimed at Obama.

"There are many who have suggested these types of negotiations with people that the president, President Bush, thinks that we should not talk to," she told reporters after the president's comment was widely reported.

The Bush administration held three rounds of discussions with Iran about security in Iraq last year, including two at the ambassadorial level, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday said Washington needed to "figure out a way to develop some leverage ... and then sit down and talk with" Iran.

Bush largely focused his speech in Jerusalem on highlighting the American-Israeli partnership. "The alliance between our governments is unbreakable, yet the source of our friendship runs deeper than any treaty," he said.

Bush said the United States and Israel are locked in an ideological struggle with radicals in the Middle East, using the speech to tie al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to the terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

"That is why the founding charter of Hamas calls for the 'elimination' of Israel," Bush said. "That is why the followers of Hezbollah chant 'Death to Israel, Death to America!' That is why Osama bin Laden teaches that 'the killing of Jews and Americans is one of the biggest duties.' And that is why the president of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages and calls for Israel to be wiped off the map."

Bush then made his transition to Obama and other Democrats without naming names, raising the specter of the Holocaust to make his point.

"There are good and decent people who cannot fathom the darkness in these men and try to explain their words away," said Bush. "This is natural. But it is deadly wrong.

"As witnesses to evil in the past, we carry a solemn responsibility to take these words seriously. Jews and Americans have seen the consequences of disregarding the words of leaders who espouse hatred. And that is a mistake the world must not repeat in the 21st century," the president said.

Washington Post Mobile - Polar Bear Is Named 'Threatened' Species

I Just Love all this new technology. Sent this from my Cell Phone. Neat Huh?

wolf sent this to you from http://www.washingtonpost.com

Polar Bear Is Named 'Threatened' Species
By Juliet Eilperin
Updated: 05/15/2008

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne listed polar bears as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act yesterday, saying the loss of Arctic sea ice in a warming climate could drive them to the brink of extinction in less than four decades.

Although the Bush administration handed environmentalists a victory they had sought for more than three years, Kempthorne said he would ensure that his decision did not "open the door" for activists to force the adoption of limits on greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming.

The act "is not the right tool to set U.S. climate-change policy," he said in a news conference. "This has been a difficult decision. But in light of the scientific record and the restraints of the inflexible law that guides me, I believe it was the only decision I could make."

The decision to list polar bears, which have become the iconic symbol of global warming's impact, highlights how an administration opposed to mandatory cuts in emissions has begun to acknowledge the growing evidence of their effects. Kempthorne pointed to satellite images of shrinking Arctic sea ice that has outpaced scientists' most dire projections. Polar bears use sea ice as a platform to hunt ringed seals and other prey.

"The fact is that sea ice is receding in the Arctic," he said. "As you can see, when we have looked at what is actually happening in the Arctic, we have found considerably less sea ice than the models are projecting. Because polar bears are vulnerable to this loss of habitat, they are, in my judgment, likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future -- in this case, 45 years."

Under the law, the federal government is now required to draft a recovery plan for the species, which entails assessing the population and its habitat. The ruling also compels federal agencies to consult with the Interior Department when considering decisions that could further imperil the polar bears.

Administration officials, however, sought to minimize the policy consequences of the decision -- the first time the Endangered Species Act has been invoked to protect an animal principally threatened by global warming. Kempthorne made clear that the decision would not justify regulating emissions from power plants, vehicles or other human activities.

Dale Hall, who directs the Fish and Wildlife Service, which decides how to protect listed species, said such regulations would be justified only if the administration could prove a direct connection between the emissions and the polar bears' predicament.

"We have to be able to connect the dots," Hall said. "We don't have the science today to be able to do that."

But environmentalists, who by and large praised the decision, said the administration would have no choice but to curb greenhouse gases.

"The law says what it says, not what the administration wishes it says," said Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity. "This is great news for polar bears. . . . It's also a watershed moment, the strongest statement we've had to date from this administration about global warming."

Conservative and business groups, however, hailed Kempthorne's intention to limit the regulatory fallout.

"We must safeguard our environment while also protecting our economy," said William Kovacs, vice president of environmental affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Today's decision will protect the polar bear while also protecting American jobs and businesses."

Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), a leading congressional skeptic on climate change, said that "the decision to list the polar bear as 'threatened' appears to be based more on politics than science," adding: "With the number of polar bears substantially up over the past 40 years, the decision announced today appears to be based entirely on unproven computer models."

Part of the uncertainty surrounding the polar bears' fate stems from the fact that there are 19 sub-populations in five different countries -- Norway, Russia, Canada, Denmark and the United States -- and these groups are faring differently.

Researchers estimate that the world population of the bears ranges from 20,000 to 25,000, although the exact figure remains unknown. In Canada's western Hudson Bay, their numbers are declining, but in Norway they are on the rise.

Still, climate scientists are increasingly concerned that melting sea ice could lead to the polar bears' demise within decades. Northern latitudes are warming twice as rapidly as the rest of the world, according to a 2004 assessment, and some computer projections forecast that ocean temperatures in the Arctic may rise 13 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century.

In September, reports by the U.S. Geological Survey suggested that polar bears living in two of the four regions under analysis would be extinct by 2050, and in a third by 2075.

Steven C. Amstrup, a senior polar bear researcher at the USGS's Alaska Science Center, said scientists are beginning to see signs that polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea -- which stretches from Barrow, Alaska, to the Canadian border -- may be mirroring earlier declines in Canada's western Hudson Bay.

"We're seeing declining physical stature, declining survival in cubs," Amstrup said in an interview.

Yesterday's decision marked the resolution of a lengthy battle between environmental groups and the Bush administration, though it is not likely to be the last one over the issue. The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council petitioned to list the polar bear in 2005. When the Interior Department took no action, the groups sued. As part of a settlement, the administration proposed listing the polar bear as threatened in late 2006, but it delayed finalizing the rule until the groups took the government to court again and won a ruling setting a deadline of today.

Siegel, at the Center for Biological Diversity, said it remains unclear how the administration will implement the decision -- the first time in more than two years that it has added a species to the protected lists -- but she said the organization would "challenge any attempts to reduce any protections to the species."

"The administration has been brought kicking and screaming to this decision," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, who headed Fish and Wildlife under President Clinton and is now executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife. "This decision isn't over by a long shot."

One immediate result of the new rule is that sportsmen who hunt polar bears in Canada can no longer bring their trophies into the United States. Jeffrey Flocken, who directs the District office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, called the change significant. "Closing the trophy hunting loophole removes an unnecessary threat to the polar bear's survival," Flocken said.

Interior spokeswoman Tina Kreisher said the ruling will still allow energy exploration in Alaska and will not affect power plants and other greenhouse gas emitters in the contiguous United States, but that the department would establish a management plan for polar bears and monitor their populations.

"There isn't a power plant right next to these bears," Kreisher said. "That's the quandary here."

Staff researcher Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.

(c) 1996-2007 The Washington Post Company

Olbermann Special Comment *Mr Bush SHUT THE HELL UP!!!


Do Not Attack Iran


RATM -Killing in the name


The Late Great Waylon Jennings


Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Dog, the Cat and the Rat


Boston Chapter Members talk to WBZ about Winter Soldier


Reminding People Why We Invaded Iraq


Scott Ritter: Weapons of Mass Delusion

The Magic Touch by The Platters

Pittsburgh pulls to within one win of Cup final

PITTSBURGH - MAY 13: Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Pittsburgh Penguins makes a save with Hal Gill #2 and MArian Hossa #18 in the third period of game three of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs against Philadelphia Flyers at Wachovia Center on May 13, 2008 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Penguins lead the series 3-0. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Monday, May 12, 2008

March Of The Penguins


Pittsburgh Penguins forward Maxime Talbot, left, celebrates his goal as Georges Laraque congratulates him during the third period in Game 2 of the NHL Eastern Conference hockey finals against the Philadelphia Flyers in Pittsburgh, Sunday, May 11, 2008. Pittsburgh won 4 -2. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Cost of the Iraq War


Saturday, May 10, 2008

Saturday with Dan Bern


Dan Bern - Jerusalem

Asshole of the Week


Pastor Hagee Blames Homosexuals For Katrina! AGAIN!

Political Cartoon of the Week

Malkin scores twice in Game 1 win over Flyers

The Penguins' Evgeni Malkin celebrates his first period goal with teammate Kris Letang last night. And you should have seen his breakaway shorthanded goal. WOW!


Friday, May 9, 2008

John McCain's Spritual Guides


RIP Eddy Arnold


Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Dan Bern - President

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes


No Political Message Here, Just a Wonderful Love Song

Smoke And Ashes by Tracy Chapman


Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Cross State Rivals Pittsburgh VS Philly


I hope all games are as easy as this one was for the Pens but don't count on it, those Broad Street Bullies from Philly are tough

What's The Matter Now? by Lightnin' Hopkins


George Carlin: American Bullshit

The True Cost Of War Tribute.. Very Sad


Monday, May 5, 2008

In Memory Of Sophie

SummerLand Dreaming
by Emma Mavin

I would dance within the Northern Lights
And shine my shadow upon the seas
And fly on scented wings of gold,
Windswept on the summer breeze.

I would fly to the land beyond the seas
Where the North wind cannot blow
With a jewelled casket upon my arm
And the essence of the summer glow.

To that land where neither Pain nor Fear
Has a murky footprint left
Nor Anger shed his borrowed cloak
To weave a path for Death.

Where the Star Queen watches through the night
Her children laugh and play
And covers them with her shining gaze
Until the break of day.

Where the Summer Maid, with golden hair,
Laughs and sings with us
Where all cares are forsaken,
In pleasure wonderous.

Winter does not stalk beneath
Her jewelled eyes that shine
It is summer there for evermore
In the land where lives this heart of mine.

And this is Summerland afar
Where I spent a childhood dreaming
Flying on swift silvered feet
With jewelled brow gleaming.

Long lost it is to me now
Gone back from whence it came
I search through all the clouded skies
'Till I find my land again.

Then will I dance upon the skies
And sail a silver ship
Through seas as yet untravelled
And with waters yet undippt.

One day soon I will find the path
Which Summer trailed before
And follow to its scented shores,
There to live for evermore.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Bye Bye Rangers Quins Win 3 - 2 in OT

Pittsburgh Penguins' Marion Hossa (18), of Slovakia, is congratulated by New York Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr (68), of the Czech Republic, after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime of Eastern Conference semifinal NHL playoff hockey action at Pittsburgh, Sunday, May 4, 2008. The Penguins won the game 3-2 and won the series 4-1. The Penguins advance to face the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Finals. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

4 Dead in Ohio May 4 1970


Saturday, May 3, 2008

Sisters Of The Moon (Live)

White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane


R.I.P. Albert Hoffman

The Cost of a War


Down With The Sickness Saturday


Disturbed - Down With The Sickness

Asshole of the Week


Just Blame Everything on Congress, It's all their Fault...... NOT!

Political Cartoon of the Week

Thursday, May 1, 2008