BBC article
interesting, former aide to colin powell has somewhat accused cheney of war crimes. This is only suprising because he had the balls to say it, no one is suprised to hear that cheney was advocating torture. the part I found interesting was that he said there were two sides, powell and friends wanted to stay within international law and follow the geneva convention in the detention of the accused. Cheney and his posse just wanted to throw out the geneva convention alltogether. So Bush made an agreement to follow geneva except for al-Qaeda and similar to al-Qaeda. Ok to make any exception to the geneva convention is a war crime. great big freakin dot period end of conversation. Ill repeat that, the geneva convention defined what was legal in times of war and what was not. therefore if you make any exception to those laws you have now broken international law. so once again Bush commited a war crime if he allowed the use of tortue on anyone. oh and then the article goes on to say that Cheney agreed to the comprimise and then just turned around and did what he wanted to anyway. but once again I had pretty well assumed Cheney had commited war crimes a while ago so the part I am interested in is that it sounds to me like Bush did as well.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
torture, not just for kids anymore
Torture Article
This is a great article about the effects (or is it affects?) of torture. It ends really stong, if you dont want to read the whole thing thats fine but read the last three paragraphs , they're quite good. One part I particularly liked was talking about José Padilla, a man that apparently has finally been charged with a crime after I believe 3 years in jail. They wanted to try him for attempting to set off a "dirty bomb" (as apposed to a clean one), but they have had to try him on a lesser charge because the witnesses they had against him had been tortured and if they brought them into court their treatment would have been further exposed which the CIA cannot afford. So now we have actually caught an attempted terrorist and we can't even charge them with the real crime because of torture. So we torture "terrorists" in an attempt to stop other "terrorists" and then we cant do any thing with the information because we tortured them. Great plan. Of course this is forgetting about the fact that it is morally reprehensible but really what makes you think that politicians care about morals? Then there is another rather critical part, people will say anything if you torture them enough, in the eloquent words of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, " If you fucking beat this prick long enough, he'll tell you he started the goddamn Chicago fire. Now that don't necessarily make it fucking so! " Its a fairly easy to understand concept that people will admit to almost anything and incriminate anyone to make the pain stop. This was also illustrated in the Orwell’s 1984 as I’m sure you all remember. So we torture people making us look just that much worse in the public eye, we may have alienated our few remaining European allies as the EU is looking to remove voting rights from any country that had these illegal prisons, which most likely will not pass as it would require a unanimous vote from the remaining countries but I may we be enough to stop those countries from wanting to deal with us. And we cant use any of the information we gather thru torture in court, and its hardly reliable enough to use for intelligence, but then again its been a few years since anyone cared if our military intelligence was accurate or not. Most americans seem to agree that one way we can lead the world is with unbreachable morals which the world can look up to. The problem come about when you forget those moral and begin arrogantly bullying other nations. There is no nation today that can stand alone, we must work with the rest of the world not against it.
This is a great article about the effects (or is it affects?) of torture. It ends really stong, if you dont want to read the whole thing thats fine but read the last three paragraphs , they're quite good. One part I particularly liked was talking about José Padilla, a man that apparently has finally been charged with a crime after I believe 3 years in jail. They wanted to try him for attempting to set off a "dirty bomb" (as apposed to a clean one), but they have had to try him on a lesser charge because the witnesses they had against him had been tortured and if they brought them into court their treatment would have been further exposed which the CIA cannot afford. So now we have actually caught an attempted terrorist and we can't even charge them with the real crime because of torture. So we torture "terrorists" in an attempt to stop other "terrorists" and then we cant do any thing with the information because we tortured them. Great plan. Of course this is forgetting about the fact that it is morally reprehensible but really what makes you think that politicians care about morals? Then there is another rather critical part, people will say anything if you torture them enough, in the eloquent words of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, " If you fucking beat this prick long enough, he'll tell you he started the goddamn Chicago fire. Now that don't necessarily make it fucking so! " Its a fairly easy to understand concept that people will admit to almost anything and incriminate anyone to make the pain stop. This was also illustrated in the Orwell’s 1984 as I’m sure you all remember. So we torture people making us look just that much worse in the public eye, we may have alienated our few remaining European allies as the EU is looking to remove voting rights from any country that had these illegal prisons, which most likely will not pass as it would require a unanimous vote from the remaining countries but I may we be enough to stop those countries from wanting to deal with us. And we cant use any of the information we gather thru torture in court, and its hardly reliable enough to use for intelligence, but then again its been a few years since anyone cared if our military intelligence was accurate or not. Most americans seem to agree that one way we can lead the world is with unbreachable morals which the world can look up to. The problem come about when you forget those moral and begin arrogantly bullying other nations. There is no nation today that can stand alone, we must work with the rest of the world not against it.
Monday, November 28, 2005
NOT MY OWN WORDS
ok once again NOT my words they are from the lovely people that bring you t-shirt hell.com
I want to call that harsh, but then again I would almost garantee that by percentage a lot more indians were killed than jews, and actually possibly more killed in general. So really would it be a little harsh towards hitler? anyway that is not the point of this. actually there is no point, or maybe that is the point. im tired. i need to keep working. have a good one.
I can't believe Indian's still take part in Thanksgiving Day parades,
and in
full traditional outfits no less. It always seems to me like Jews
taking
part in a celebration of Hitler's birthday and dressing up in
concentration
camp outfits.
I want to call that harsh, but then again I would almost garantee that by percentage a lot more indians were killed than jews, and actually possibly more killed in general. So really would it be a little harsh towards hitler? anyway that is not the point of this. actually there is no point, or maybe that is the point. im tired. i need to keep working. have a good one.
awful price of war
The Awful Price
A twisted tale of a west point professor who volunteered for combat duty in Iraq for the experience of it. this goes on to explain what a strong leader he was and how great his morals were and all sorts of stories from his past. This man the then died from being shot with a pistol. the army claims it was suicide which looks very bad for the army, while others believe that he was murdered by someone within the military, which looks even worse. I do not know the details well enought to deliver any real insight here, hell i didnt even finish the article, but the two options are pretty bad, maybe there is a third that Im not thinking of. Either the military had him killed for some reason, which is terrible but really wouldnt shock me in the least these days. Or more disturbing to me is the idea that the man killed himself. he was a religious man, an athlete and highly iteligent, his morals were very strong and has led some to question if he saw things that he simply could not be a part of so he killed himself, or he saw things he could not be a part of and threatend to talk, either way he ended up dead and that is a tragity. It could be that they were just saying nice things about him because he had just died but he seemed like the kind of person that the millitary needs more of, a kind of person that the world needs more of. so at any rate think of it what you will.
A twisted tale of a west point professor who volunteered for combat duty in Iraq for the experience of it. this goes on to explain what a strong leader he was and how great his morals were and all sorts of stories from his past. This man the then died from being shot with a pistol. the army claims it was suicide which looks very bad for the army, while others believe that he was murdered by someone within the military, which looks even worse. I do not know the details well enought to deliver any real insight here, hell i didnt even finish the article, but the two options are pretty bad, maybe there is a third that Im not thinking of. Either the military had him killed for some reason, which is terrible but really wouldnt shock me in the least these days. Or more disturbing to me is the idea that the man killed himself. he was a religious man, an athlete and highly iteligent, his morals were very strong and has led some to question if he saw things that he simply could not be a part of so he killed himself, or he saw things he could not be a part of and threatend to talk, either way he ended up dead and that is a tragity. It could be that they were just saying nice things about him because he had just died but he seemed like the kind of person that the millitary needs more of, a kind of person that the world needs more of. so at any rate think of it what you will.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
bush might have lied
National Journal
Bush made the comment a little while back about how congress was given all the same inteligence information that he was and so if there was any misleading they were as much at fault as he was. This was a cute little story that I personaly dont think anyone with half a brain ever believed for a moment, but now more and more information is coming out that show that not only did he lie back before the war but he is still lying about it. or in this case lying about not lying before.the only reason im not completely in favor of impeachment is that president Cheney scares the living shit out of me. I dont like bush but he at least has morals and emotions, those morals might be twisted and corupt but at least he trys. Cheney has less emotion than a bowl of jell-o, actually jell-o is kinda cool so thats a bad example how about a brick, id put him on the same emotional plane as a brick.
Bush made the comment a little while back about how congress was given all the same inteligence information that he was and so if there was any misleading they were as much at fault as he was. This was a cute little story that I personaly dont think anyone with half a brain ever believed for a moment, but now more and more information is coming out that show that not only did he lie back before the war but he is still lying about it. or in this case lying about not lying before.the only reason im not completely in favor of impeachment is that president Cheney scares the living shit out of me. I dont like bush but he at least has morals and emotions, those morals might be twisted and corupt but at least he trys. Cheney has less emotion than a bowl of jell-o, actually jell-o is kinda cool so thats a bad example how about a brick, id put him on the same emotional plane as a brick.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
carbon dating
Carbon Dating
just wanted to save this page for when i get into an argument about carbon dating with my roomate. hes the right-wing anti-evolution guy. of course hes really not right wing its just that he is right of center and im pretty far to the left. Hes anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage and what not. but its his belief that carbon dating isnt perfect and there for evolution is bogus that kills me. he one time accused me of being to logical, i really didnt have a comeback to that one, other than maybe, thanks?
just wanted to save this page for when i get into an argument about carbon dating with my roomate. hes the right-wing anti-evolution guy. of course hes really not right wing its just that he is right of center and im pretty far to the left. Hes anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage and what not. but its his belief that carbon dating isnt perfect and there for evolution is bogus that kills me. he one time accused me of being to logical, i really didnt have a comeback to that one, other than maybe, thanks?
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
the rude pundit strikes again
Rude Pundit
rips apart the presidents use of quotes from democrats.Bush claims that the democrates were behind the war and now that the war is unpopular they are saying they are against it. the Rude One then fills in the missing parts of the quotes and show that they were all hesitantly for the war so long as the UN was involved and there was public debate and so basicly the democrates were supporting the war if the evidence supported a war. they were giving the president the power if it was required. Reid may have been quite wrong when he said that he didnt think the president was looking for a blank check. Thats what you get for trusting our selected leaders.
rips apart the presidents use of quotes from democrats.Bush claims that the democrates were behind the war and now that the war is unpopular they are saying they are against it. the Rude One then fills in the missing parts of the quotes and show that they were all hesitantly for the war so long as the UN was involved and there was public debate and so basicly the democrates were supporting the war if the evidence supported a war. they were giving the president the power if it was required. Reid may have been quite wrong when he said that he didnt think the president was looking for a blank check. Thats what you get for trusting our selected leaders.
the Graham amendment
Graham Amendment
good article about the myths of the graham amendment. Im not sure if all of the myths that they debunk are actually believed by people, are there people so gulible to think that we are trying to give prisoners abroad greater rights than citizens? No we are trying to make it so that we follow international law and basic decency. We want to make it illegal for the US to hold people without a trial. Habeus Corpus does not set a person free it gives them the right to a trial. All these people are hoping for is their day in court. If they spend many years in jail for a crime thats one thing, but to be in jail for four years and never see a court room and never even be charged with a crime is simply wrong. This is what creates the terrorist mindset, it is actions like these that are making the world more dangerous everyday. It also sets a very bad president around the world. If other nations began holding our soldiers as criminals without a trial and torturing them for information then they now have justification. Who are we to persicute others for torture untill we condem it ourselves.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1114-23.htm
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111405I.shtml
good article about the myths of the graham amendment. Im not sure if all of the myths that they debunk are actually believed by people, are there people so gulible to think that we are trying to give prisoners abroad greater rights than citizens? No we are trying to make it so that we follow international law and basic decency. We want to make it illegal for the US to hold people without a trial. Habeus Corpus does not set a person free it gives them the right to a trial. All these people are hoping for is their day in court. If they spend many years in jail for a crime thats one thing, but to be in jail for four years and never see a court room and never even be charged with a crime is simply wrong. This is what creates the terrorist mindset, it is actions like these that are making the world more dangerous everyday. It also sets a very bad president around the world. If other nations began holding our soldiers as criminals without a trial and torturing them for information then they now have justification. Who are we to persicute others for torture untill we condem it ourselves.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1114-23.htm
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111405I.shtml
chemical weapons in Iraq
Chemical weapons
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4440664.stm
Its sad, extremely sad. The United States the most powerful nation the world has ever seen has been caught using chemical weapons against a people that it was supposedly liberating. Of course we had not signed the treaty not to use the particular chemical weapon, white phosphorus, against civilians. This weapon is used as an incendiary, it burns the flesh of its victims. We used it in Falluja, which of course was a stronghold for the people fighting for their homeland. This is a despicable act but what truly made me sad was when I realized that the only part of the story that surprised me was when I heard that the Bush administration actually admitted to it. How low have we fallen when the only thing left that shocks us is when our leaders Don't lie to us, or lie but then admit to the crime shortly after, of course claiming they didn’t lie they were just misinformed. Why are our top official ALWAYS misinformed? are the people below them that incompetent? if everyone below you is incompetent then you should probably look at who’s doing the hiring, and fire them. If the lower level are competent then there is only a couple of options left, they don’t want to know the truth, which may be criminal in the case of war, or that they are just plain lying, which IS criminal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4440664.stm
Its sad, extremely sad. The United States the most powerful nation the world has ever seen has been caught using chemical weapons against a people that it was supposedly liberating. Of course we had not signed the treaty not to use the particular chemical weapon, white phosphorus, against civilians. This weapon is used as an incendiary, it burns the flesh of its victims. We used it in Falluja, which of course was a stronghold for the people fighting for their homeland. This is a despicable act but what truly made me sad was when I realized that the only part of the story that surprised me was when I heard that the Bush administration actually admitted to it. How low have we fallen when the only thing left that shocks us is when our leaders Don't lie to us, or lie but then admit to the crime shortly after, of course claiming they didn’t lie they were just misinformed. Why are our top official ALWAYS misinformed? are the people below them that incompetent? if everyone below you is incompetent then you should probably look at who’s doing the hiring, and fire them. If the lower level are competent then there is only a couple of options left, they don’t want to know the truth, which may be criminal in the case of war, or that they are just plain lying, which IS criminal.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
we need more people like this
Organ Donation
This mans son was shot to death by isreali soldiers and so his response was to donate the body to israel for organ donation. he said that way his child can live on in every israeli.
if we had a few more people like this brave man who can take one of the worst tragedys that can happen to any parent and turn it into a positive, then just maybe we could have peace on this planet.
This mans son was shot to death by isreali soldiers and so his response was to donate the body to israel for organ donation. he said that way his child can live on in every israeli.
if we had a few more people like this brave man who can take one of the worst tragedys that can happen to any parent and turn it into a positive, then just maybe we could have peace on this planet.
compasionate Rush
Adopt a Soldier
Rush Limbaugh is reaching out to the soldiers in need out there my offering a program to Adopt a Soldier, for your $50 you give the soldiers something that every soldier is hoping for, a subcription to Rush's radio show and newsletter. frickin sweet. I couldnt have thought of this as a joke. how sad is that trying to make a profit by charging people to sent their family a subscription to a syndicated show. people disgust me.
Rush Limbaugh is reaching out to the soldiers in need out there my offering a program to Adopt a Soldier, for your $50 you give the soldiers something that every soldier is hoping for, a subcription to Rush's radio show and newsletter. frickin sweet. I couldnt have thought of this as a joke. how sad is that trying to make a profit by charging people to sent their family a subscription to a syndicated show. people disgust me.
been a few days
well ive been working on the Apt. its coming along well. So the country seems to be catching on to what we've been saying for the last 5 years. USA today's polls say that less than 10% of the country would vote for a congressman who supports Bush and his agenda. This is what we need, the president is powerfull but if we can scare the republican congress into realising that if they stick with Buch they will lose their jobs. This obviously is a huge boost for those of us with morals that did not need to be writen on stone for us to read them.
Found a pretty good webstie http://www.xpressyourview.com/ Ill probably put it in the links but they have t-shirts and typical mugs and what not, they had one shirt i really liked, says Homeland Security then there is a picture of native americans with guns and underneath it says fighting terrorists since 1492. most of the other shirts ive seen before including one i like that says something like protect the environment, more trees, less bush. And an new low for his approval rating and one that I like a new high record for disapproval among republicans.
Ok theres also a new law they are trying to pass to suspend Habius Corpus for foreign nationals. this along with the continued claims that while "we dont torture" but we need an exception from cruel and unusual for the CIA. This is the lamest excuse for a Lie ive ever heard. Come on Rove I know your busy and probably a little nervous right now but damn, we've come to expect a certian level of inginuity with your lies, this just doesnt show any spirt. He's either getting lazy or hes lost his will to fight. Oh so yeah the Mcain law passes and then they turn around and imediatly try to pass a law that would pretty much nullify the last law. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051128/brecher
Another article
One more article
Found a pretty good webstie http://www.xpressyourview.com/ Ill probably put it in the links but they have t-shirts and typical mugs and what not, they had one shirt i really liked, says Homeland Security then there is a picture of native americans with guns and underneath it says fighting terrorists since 1492. most of the other shirts ive seen before including one i like that says something like protect the environment, more trees, less bush. And an new low for his approval rating and one that I like a new high record for disapproval among republicans.
Ok theres also a new law they are trying to pass to suspend Habius Corpus for foreign nationals. this along with the continued claims that while "we dont torture" but we need an exception from cruel and unusual for the CIA. This is the lamest excuse for a Lie ive ever heard. Come on Rove I know your busy and probably a little nervous right now but damn, we've come to expect a certian level of inginuity with your lies, this just doesnt show any spirt. He's either getting lazy or hes lost his will to fight. Oh so yeah the Mcain law passes and then they turn around and imediatly try to pass a law that would pretty much nullify the last law. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051128/brecher
Another article
One more article
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
chemical weapons story
i havent had time to watch it yet but this is supposed to be a story on italian news about the US using chemical weapons. it is available in English, of course if you want to watch it in italian or arabic you can if you want.
chemicals
chemicals
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
more quotes
http://www.buzzflash.com/perspectives/quotes.html
"Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945)
"The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out."-- Chinese proverb
"Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945)
"The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out."-- Chinese proverb
Monday, November 07, 2005
Chavez
"The great loser today was George W. Bush. The man went away wounded," a
triumphant Chavez told reporters here, alluding to the president's quick
departure. "You could see defeat on his face."
I love this guy. serious balls on this guy, although I think his talk of selling f-16's to Cuba and China was just trying to piss us off. I dont know all of his politics but the majority of what I've heard says that I really like this guy. If he was an american Id vote for him for president. Chavez for President I dont think congress will repeal that part of the constitution for a man who would try to take away much of their fortunes.
"The conditions do not exist to attain a hemispheric free-trade accord that is
balanced and fair with access to markets [and] free of subsidies and distorted
commercial practices," the dissenters wrote.
never go against the family
I usually find it appropriate to put politics into gang/mafia terms because their business practices are quite similar. Both launder money, both control the judicial system so that petty crimes are punished but the real criminals remain above the law, the two biggest gangs have the same colors as the two biggest political parties, I’m not sure how that factors in but it does. So here’s this Democratic mayor from St. Paul, Minn did a little campaigning for George Bush in 2004. See the problem is that George is a republican. So that’s like one of the crips tagging along for a drive by with the bloods. So now of course the bloods, including the ones who were badly injured in the drive-by, kerry and edwards, they're getting into the act when they jumped his ass at the next time he was vulnerable. They want to put a serious beat down on this guy, teach him that you don’t go against the family.
thats odd
this site seems to work much better with mozilla than with internet explorer. the links always end up at the bottom with explorer. explorer does run the War Costs much smoother but its way at the bottom. i wonder if i have to shorten all the links, I remeber solving this problem before by doindg that. the font is much larger in explorer than with firefox and so the links run into more problems.
Friday, November 04, 2005
wha..? not fox
why would an independent news outlet, that is not supposed to have any political ties give Tom Delay $14,000 dollars to travel? whats his name got in trouble for attending a democratic convention.
Fox pays for travel
Ok I can see that they would pay for his flight and hotel room but where'd the other lets say ten grand go? At first I thought they were saying that this was an official trip as in political official not a trip to fox news. I suppose this isnt that unusual and my level of concern is pretty much nill now, sorry for wasting the time of anyone who bothered to read this which is probably no one.
Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) "filed a report with
the Clerk of the House of Representatives indicating he received free travel
valued at $13,998.55 from Fox News Sunday for 'officially connected travel' on
October 1-2, 2005, from Sugarland, TX to Washington, D.C. and back to Sugarland, TX. Rep. DeLay appeared on Fox News Sunday on October 2, 2005, the weekend after his indictment on September 28, 2005."
Fox pays for travel
Ok I can see that they would pay for his flight and hotel room but where'd the other lets say ten grand go? At first I thought they were saying that this was an official trip as in political official not a trip to fox news. I suppose this isnt that unusual and my level of concern is pretty much nill now, sorry for wasting the time of anyone who bothered to read this which is probably no one.
aproval ratings
somehow I missed this when I spoke of bush at 35%
Cheney is down to 19%
Thats gotta take work to piss off that much of the country.
CBS news
Cheney is down to 19%
Thats gotta take work to piss off that much of the country.
CBS news
Vatican believes in science
Faithful should listen to science/
The cardinal makes some good points, that science without religion gave us the atomic bomb, but religion without reason becomes fundamentalism.
Aparently the church believes in evolution too.
Man they need to tell their people in this country that. The inspiration for this was the 1992 appology for the church attacking galileo for proposing that the earth circles the sun, not the other way around as the church taught. hmm.. the pope can admit that the church made a mistake and that science has proven its point. I wonder when all of our evangalists will grow-up and be able to admit that?
The cardinal makes some good points, that science without religion gave us the atomic bomb, but religion without reason becomes fundamentalism.
Aparently the church believes in evolution too.
Monsignor Gianfranco Basti, director of the Vatican project STOQ, or Science,
Theology and Ontological Quest, reaffirmed John Paul's 1996 statement that
evolution was "more than just a hypothesis."
"A hypothesis asks whether
something is true or false," he said. "(Evolution) is more than a hypothesis
because there is proof."
Man they need to tell their people in this country that. The inspiration for this was the 1992 appology for the church attacking galileo for proposing that the earth circles the sun, not the other way around as the church taught. hmm.. the pope can admit that the church made a mistake and that science has proven its point. I wonder when all of our evangalists will grow-up and be able to admit that?
Torture traced to Cheney
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/11/4/1368/26797
no wonder they keep trying to kill pbs.
oh story saying that there is clear evidence that the torture scandal go all the way to Cheney, not to shocking, theres so many things to be mad at the republicans about, who has the energy to fight all these battles?
no wonder they keep trying to kill pbs.
oh story saying that there is clear evidence that the torture scandal go all the way to Cheney, not to shocking, theres so many things to be mad at the republicans about, who has the energy to fight all these battles?
health care
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/11/4/85946/8608
Article about how many people have lost their health care since 2000 and mentions the 35 billion dollars that the congress wants to slash from medicaid whic is the only thing many americans have. This is offset by the possitive side which mentions that our congress receives excellent health care, thats good I wouldn't want any rich people to have to pay those outrageous medical bills.
Article about how many people have lost their health care since 2000 and mentions the 35 billion dollars that the congress wants to slash from medicaid whic is the only thing many americans have. This is offset by the possitive side which mentions that our congress receives excellent health care, thats good I wouldn't want any rich people to have to pay those outrageous medical bills.
good news on the energy front
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/11/4/94748/0848
the US is installing a record number of wind power plants. sounds like a good plan to me, helps rural areas, reduced energy costs, reduced dependence on foreign energy. I like hearing good news coming from the energy sector.
the US is installing a record number of wind power plants. sounds like a good plan to me, helps rural areas, reduced energy costs, reduced dependence on foreign energy. I like hearing good news coming from the energy sector.
Might have found an apartment
Well my friend and I found a pretty nice place that we should be able to afford. Its a large upstairs place with two bedrooms, one of the bed rooms is pretty shitty, its small and you have to walk through the other bed room or the bathroom to get to it. I think it was a large walk-in closet originaly. But my friend seems to have no problem with the little room and I am cool witht the big room so hey sounds like a plan. I have a lot of furniture available because my parents are moving out of their house. I thought I was going to have more furniture than I knew what to do with but this place can easily absorb everything that I have. we might get the ping pong table from my grand parents house. we are also already plan on building a bar. Im pretty pyched about it. Its a lot cooler place than I was expecting to end up in. the neighbor hood is about average for the town, of course this town has pretty low standards these days. A friend of a friend lives basicly right across from me, im not sure if thats a good thing or a not, he's alright but his girlfriend is fucking stupid. I'm not much of one to judge people but damn this girl is dumb. I mean a girl I know is being put into "special" classes at school and shes a rocket scientist compared to that girl. Ok thats off subject. oh wait I dont pay attention to what topic I started on. The only real concern I have about he place is that my friend is extreamely conservative, he was angry that another friends girlfriend (now wife) had an abortion because the Doc told her that her and the child would die if she tried to have the baby. that and the father was in absolutly no position to be a father but the quality of life has never mattered to the christian fundamentalists only that the child is not aborted. If the child is born into horrible conditions and dies two weeks latter because the family cant afford medical care thats fine but a rape victim wants to make sure they dont get pregnant after the attack well thats moraly reprehensible. yeah this is why my friend and I try to avoid any political talks. Its difficult to avoid all social commentary, especialy when neighter of us are into sports, well he likes hockey, we both like cars, but eventually someone make a rouge comment about something in the world and its on after that. they are usually very calm and civilized arguments or debates. He gets upset because he is used to talking to people that agree with him and so hes not used to having to prove his point. He says the few times he talks to liberals other than me they are usually un-educated people who are mostly just angry at the system and dont really have any background on the issues. talking with people like that are not a good primer for even mild debate. There is also the fact that my friend/ roomate to be is about to lose his job, thats not really the most reasuing prospecct but im sure he will find something. actually with a little help he should be able to find a better job than the ones he's had lately. He is very hard working and yet he is to timid to demand a raise from the place he has worked the last several summers. Oh well. I want to look into getting a second job myself, a bit of extra cash would be handy. I knew a kid that worked at verizon doing bullshit work making decent money, I might try cingular and see if I can save money on my cell phone too. oh I hadnt thought of that, my buddy doesnt have a cell phone. I wonder if he'll get one or if he is going to want a land line. Holy crap TV and internet are expensive, god damn monopolies. $100 a month for TV and Internet? good lord thats a lot of money. They dont even list a price for regular cable, the only prices are for digital cable. I dont need all that digital crap. How am I going to sneek out of work early today? I wish I could but I think I have too much going on. I could really use a break, oh well it is lunch time. I may take a long lunch and leave at the normal time. No I better not. I might go get an oil change though. The poor old truck could use it.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
mile HIGH city
Denver has legalized marijuana, sorta, the city passed an ordinance saying that it is legal for a person over the age of 18 to posess under one ounce of marijuana. It is mostly a symbolic act because state law over rides it and it is still illegal in Colorado. I suppose its up to the cop then to an extent as to which law to enforce. This is still a major step in the right direction of more sensible drug laws. There is no logical argument that can be made as to why alcohol is legal and marijuana is not. Hell theres even a passage in the bible that can be used to say that god condones using marijuana, it something to the effect of "and I give unto you all the fruit bearing plants in the forest" and that would include marijuana. I knew stoners that were big fans of that passage. You could ask the inteligent design folks about that, its to strange a coincidence that this plant, and others, have such interesting effects on humans, there must have been a "higher" power involved. Im not sure that all drugs should be legal, that may cause more problems than it solves but law enforcment needs to look at the causes of drug abuse and treatment more than simple punishment. And seriously how can you really be all that against marijuana? If you've ever been stoned or been around people who are, its not a dangerous drug. The happy giggling lazy hungry people really aren't that great a risk to society, are they? Treat it like alcohol illegal to drive under the influence and they would have to find a way to gauge how high one is, similar to a breathalizer. These are not unreasonable requests. Way to go Denver.
missle shield
Well i was curious what the conservative media would have to say about all that has been going on as of late. So i simply looked up conservative news and started poking around. I came across an article that states that the russians are already testing a missle that can penetrate our missle defence shield that we haven't built yet. A few things imediatly popped into my head, one was that this pretty much makes the shield that doesnt work an even more obvious waste of money, then I thought wait the russians aren't our enemy's any more why would they waste thier money building a missle to defeat a sheild that dosen't work and hasn't been built? Then I wondered if this was going to be used as an excuse to build an even more expensive and equally unnessasary shield. Now im realising that the russians actually follow the international treatys on nuclear proliferation and I highly doubt that they would be building any new nukes. aw crap i closed the page where I found this. oh well.
a time to give thanks, to Harry Reid
AmericaBlog
Great idea, send thank you notes and flowers and gift baskets to Harry Reid for finally standing up to the republicans. I think this is a great way to show our support for the dems. Thanks AMERIAblog for the idea.
Great idea, send thank you notes and flowers and gift baskets to Harry Reid for finally standing up to the republicans. I think this is a great way to show our support for the dems. Thanks AMERIAblog for the idea.
interesting CBS story
CBS new Polls
ok so the story is good for pointing out how the american public feels about the president and his administration, or at least the public opinion of the public that gets polled. But then again theres that damn liberal media that buries the fact that his approval rating is down to 35% the lowest of his presidency, on the second page of the article. 9 percent thats all we need is another 9 percent and he will be the lowest rated of any president since the polls have started. Nixon holds that record now at 27%. of course his favorablity is down to 33% so there's 2 percent that think unfavorably of him but approve of the job he's doing. Its terrible that we need to endure 3 more years of this but at this rate he should have no trouble becoming the least liked president ever. Hell there were as many pro-lincoln people in the south as there are non-republicans that like bush.
ok so the story is good for pointing out how the american public feels about the president and his administration, or at least the public opinion of the public that gets polled. But then again theres that damn liberal media that buries the fact that his approval rating is down to 35% the lowest of his presidency, on the second page of the article. 9 percent thats all we need is another 9 percent and he will be the lowest rated of any president since the polls have started. Nixon holds that record now at 27%. of course his favorablity is down to 33% so there's 2 percent that think unfavorably of him but approve of the job he's doing. Its terrible that we need to endure 3 more years of this but at this rate he should have no trouble becoming the least liked president ever. Hell there were as many pro-lincoln people in the south as there are non-republicans that like bush.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
USA is Pro-Choice
Not to surprising, I'd say remind me to stay out of Utah. But then I realized, Why the hell would I go to Utah?
Survey USA Abortion by State
So the moral of the story is 56% of the country is pro-choice and 38% is anti-abortion,
I’m sorry I can’t use the term pro-life to describe anti-abortion because there’s a lot more to being pro-life than just being against abortion. If your truly pro-life then you are against capital punishment and against all wars and you are for universal health care and providing food for all who need it in every country, If you believe in pro-life then you would be furious with anyone who dares to attack a sovereign nation, you would be appalled by sanctioning the medical supplies of a country that would lead to half a million babies dying unnecessarily, pro-life means helping immigrants to get established in this nation, if your concerned about life then your probably against torture and nuclear proliferation and landmines and chemical weapons and depleted uranium, if one is truly pro-life then you must accept all these things and probably many more that I didn’t think of. If you are truly pro-life and accept all of these terms then that is OK by me and while I disagree I will happily accept your decision. Of course if you call your-self pro-life and you don’t agree with this rant then you are most likely simply a hypocrite, or you simply have listened to others and never really thought about it. I can accept the latter of those two so long as you are still willing to listen, because then they can still make a choice and I am pro-choice.
Survey USA Abortion by State
So the moral of the story is 56% of the country is pro-choice and 38% is anti-abortion,
I’m sorry I can’t use the term pro-life to describe anti-abortion because there’s a lot more to being pro-life than just being against abortion. If your truly pro-life then you are against capital punishment and against all wars and you are for universal health care and providing food for all who need it in every country, If you believe in pro-life then you would be furious with anyone who dares to attack a sovereign nation, you would be appalled by sanctioning the medical supplies of a country that would lead to half a million babies dying unnecessarily, pro-life means helping immigrants to get established in this nation, if your concerned about life then your probably against torture and nuclear proliferation and landmines and chemical weapons and depleted uranium, if one is truly pro-life then you must accept all these things and probably many more that I didn’t think of. If you are truly pro-life and accept all of these terms then that is OK by me and while I disagree I will happily accept your decision. Of course if you call your-self pro-life and you don’t agree with this rant then you are most likely simply a hypocrite, or you simply have listened to others and never really thought about it. I can accept the latter of those two so long as you are still willing to listen, because then they can still make a choice and I am pro-choice.
Holy Harry Reid
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
well put
from http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/
Shakespeare's Sister writes:
You know, the thing that makes me angriest about this is that Bush is still playing to his base, that 30% or so who think that Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs to church, as if he’s still running for something. It’s always, always politics; it’s all they know how to do. Never has there come a time when he has seemed to recognize that he needs to govern instead of campaign, or that he’s president of the entire United States.
Liberal Avenger points out that Alito, a man worth a little over a half a million dollars, was the fortunate recipient of a buttload of stock last year:
I want to know WHO "bequested" a quarter-million dollars worth of Exxon-Mobil stock to Alito and I want to know WHY. These are legitimate questions for a Supreme Court nominee. We'll accept no bullshit obfuscation from the White House on this front -- "a nominee's personal finances are exactly that -- personal..."
Dear right wing militarist,
Posted by Evan Derkacz on October 31, 2005 at 11:19 AM.
Caesar crosses the Rubicon into Empire. Cool!Pointing to a passage from a National Review column in which the writer counsels Bush to "cross the Rubicon" in a number of areas in which he's tanking, Jonathan Schwarz writes:
I would be more comfortable if people like Victor Davis Hanson—i.e., right-wing militarist historians beloved by Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby—didn't write columns calling on George Bush to "cross the Rubicon..."
He continues:
You might think a National Review editor would tell Victor Davis Hanson: "Uh, Vic... here's the thing. Most people remember that the moment Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army is seen as the point at which the Roman Republic died and the Roman Empire was born. So, as a right wing militarist, you might be better off using a different figure of speech. Just, you know, so people don't think you actually want Bush to destroy republican government in the U.S."
But apparently the National Review has never had such editors. Either that or they did, but then Hanson stabbed them all to death with his gladius.
Shakespeare's Sister writes:
You know, the thing that makes me angriest about this is that Bush is still playing to his base, that 30% or so who think that Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs to church, as if he’s still running for something. It’s always, always politics; it’s all they know how to do. Never has there come a time when he has seemed to recognize that he needs to govern instead of campaign, or that he’s president of the entire United States.
Liberal Avenger points out that Alito, a man worth a little over a half a million dollars, was the fortunate recipient of a buttload of stock last year:
I want to know WHO "bequested" a quarter-million dollars worth of Exxon-Mobil stock to Alito and I want to know WHY. These are legitimate questions for a Supreme Court nominee. We'll accept no bullshit obfuscation from the White House on this front -- "a nominee's personal finances are exactly that -- personal..."
Dear right wing militarist,
Posted by Evan Derkacz on October 31, 2005 at 11:19 AM.
Caesar crosses the Rubicon into Empire. Cool!Pointing to a passage from a National Review column in which the writer counsels Bush to "cross the Rubicon" in a number of areas in which he's tanking, Jonathan Schwarz writes:
I would be more comfortable if people like Victor Davis Hanson—i.e., right-wing militarist historians beloved by Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby—didn't write columns calling on George Bush to "cross the Rubicon..."
He continues:
You might think a National Review editor would tell Victor Davis Hanson: "Uh, Vic... here's the thing. Most people remember that the moment Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army is seen as the point at which the Roman Republic died and the Roman Empire was born. So, as a right wing militarist, you might be better off using a different figure of speech. Just, you know, so people don't think you actually want Bush to destroy republican government in the U.S."
But apparently the National Review has never had such editors. Either that or they did, but then Hanson stabbed them all to death with his gladius.
tangled web we weave
Fitzgerald doesnt want to use the espeonage act against libby because it might turn a unclear law into a national secrets law. Maybe hes right and that we shouldnt allow such a president to be set, but oh wait it already is being used in that fassion right now.
Find Law
That link came from here
http://billmon.org/archives/002311.html
And I got there from here
http://www.cursor.org/
and Im pretty sure I got to cursor from the Rude Pundit.
Oh and I think we should have stuck with the term TreasonGate instead of PlameGate, just has a lot stronger ring to it.
So Fitz is unwilling to hit them with the treason charges but he did stop plea bargin talks saying that Libby must see serious jail time. I cant remeber where I read that and its obviously not an exact quote but it was close enough.
Acording to Fitz he cant try Libby on some of the serious crimes because he doesnt know the motive, state of knowledge, or intent of the leak, of course he doesnt know much of this because Libby lied. So if you murder someone, then just lie about it the whole time in court and all they can charge you with is perjury and false statements, What The Fuck kind of legal president is that? The other factor here is that the espionage act does not care about intent or motive, if you out an agent you broke the law. The Fact that a CIA operative died because of this leak doesnt seem to be effecting anyone in the slightest. They are still only charging him with lying about the crime not the crime itself.
Find Law
That link came from here
http://billmon.org/archives/002311.html
And I got there from here
http://www.cursor.org/
and Im pretty sure I got to cursor from the Rude Pundit.
Oh and I think we should have stuck with the term TreasonGate instead of PlameGate, just has a lot stronger ring to it.
So Fitz is unwilling to hit them with the treason charges but he did stop plea bargin talks saying that Libby must see serious jail time. I cant remeber where I read that and its obviously not an exact quote but it was close enough.
Acording to Fitz he cant try Libby on some of the serious crimes because he doesnt know the motive, state of knowledge, or intent of the leak, of course he doesnt know much of this because Libby lied. So if you murder someone, then just lie about it the whole time in court and all they can charge you with is perjury and false statements, What The Fuck kind of legal president is that? The other factor here is that the espionage act does not care about intent or motive, if you out an agent you broke the law. The Fact that a CIA operative died because of this leak doesnt seem to be effecting anyone in the slightest. They are still only charging him with lying about the crime not the crime itself.
Ailto
Well theres one point that keeps coming up in the fight against the new nominee and that was his decision to allow police to strip search a ten year old girl to look for drugs, and I'm not sure how much weight this should have but she was not named on the search warrent. That makes it an illegal search and he up-held it. This is great insight into his line of thinking. Now in his deffence he points out that children are sometimes used by parents to hide drugs to avoid being caught. Ok I can see that case and that may well be true, therefore it is the job of the police to name the children on the search warrent or else they cannot be touched. I also am against strip searching a ten year old for the most obvious of moral reasons, but admitedly there may be cases where this is nesasary. Once again if the police dont do their jobs and fail to name everyone prior to the search then they have no rights to search them. I cannot go up to a random person and just start feeling them up looking for drugs or guns, so why should a cop? Are the police above the law? Maybe the police don't need to go to jail for illegally searching a child, but the evidence MUST be thrown out or the police will continue to break the law.
This is only one of many cases that will come under the scruitiny of the blogs, the question is wither or not the MSM will look into these cases. Fox will call it protecting the rights of the police to prosicute crimes, as apposed to violation of privacy.
This is only one of many cases that will come under the scruitiny of the blogs, the question is wither or not the MSM will look into these cases. Fox will call it protecting the rights of the police to prosicute crimes, as apposed to violation of privacy.
A democrat with balls?
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/leak30.html
"There has not been an apology to the American people for this obvious problem in the White House," Reid said. He said Bush and Cheney "should come clean with the American public."
Reid added, "This has gotten way out of hand, and the American people deserve better than this."
Reid, D-Nev., also said Bush should pledge not to pardon any aides convicted as a result of the investigation into the disclosure of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity
Im not sure how I didnt think of this but its a great point after all of this there is still the chance that bush will just pardon everyone involved. Im not even sure what I would want to do if that happened, crazed shooting spree, nah not my style, Nuke the white house? I dont have money for a nuke, maybe just move to australia. Im pretty lazy, Ill most likely just sit here and bitch about it for a while.
Well three cheers to Reid for finialy coming after the White house.
Oh and on a semi-related topic. Here is a piece about how Fitzgerald missed an important part about how illegal it is to even mention the name of CIA agent even to other people with Top Secret clearance, unless it is a need to know basis. This was clearly not a need to know situation and their for anyone who spoke her name has broken the law. There is almost nothing that the CIA hides more closely than the names of its NOC agents, these are the agents who are on spy missions without the protection of the government. Remeber the movie Mission Imposible? Tom Cruise coming in throught the increadible security? He was after the NOC list. It was only a movie but when they were writing it they must have tried to think of the most sensitive piece of information they could come up with and they came up with the NOC list. So then we have White House personel using that information for political gain. They need to go to jail for a very long time, there are certain things that are simply off-limits to using for political gain over a rival, If this is allowed then they might as well allow political assasination. Rather than have debates we could just have duels, two canidates 20 yards apart with pistols, but we need to keep it exciting so maybe have it like a paint ball arena and they can run around untill one of them is killed.
"There has not been an apology to the American people for this obvious problem in the White House," Reid said. He said Bush and Cheney "should come clean with the American public."
Reid added, "This has gotten way out of hand, and the American people deserve better than this."
Reid, D-Nev., also said Bush should pledge not to pardon any aides convicted as a result of the investigation into the disclosure of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity
Im not sure how I didnt think of this but its a great point after all of this there is still the chance that bush will just pardon everyone involved. Im not even sure what I would want to do if that happened, crazed shooting spree, nah not my style, Nuke the white house? I dont have money for a nuke, maybe just move to australia. Im pretty lazy, Ill most likely just sit here and bitch about it for a while.
Well three cheers to Reid for finialy coming after the White house.
Oh and on a semi-related topic. Here is a piece about how Fitzgerald missed an important part about how illegal it is to even mention the name of CIA agent even to other people with Top Secret clearance, unless it is a need to know basis. This was clearly not a need to know situation and their for anyone who spoke her name has broken the law. There is almost nothing that the CIA hides more closely than the names of its NOC agents, these are the agents who are on spy missions without the protection of the government. Remeber the movie Mission Imposible? Tom Cruise coming in throught the increadible security? He was after the NOC list. It was only a movie but when they were writing it they must have tried to think of the most sensitive piece of information they could come up with and they came up with the NOC list. So then we have White House personel using that information for political gain. They need to go to jail for a very long time, there are certain things that are simply off-limits to using for political gain over a rival, If this is allowed then they might as well allow political assasination. Rather than have debates we could just have duels, two canidates 20 yards apart with pistols, but we need to keep it exciting so maybe have it like a paint ball arena and they can run around untill one of them is killed.
Drop it like its hot
Wow Bush's approval is still falling, hehe.
Washington Post
-------- Approve -------- ------- Disapprove ------ No
NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opin.
10/29/05 39 22 17 58 13 45 3
And they had him as fairly high before this, so other polls will probably put him a few points lower.
Oh and here a little article about the new Supreme Court nomine, Alito
http://www.vermontguardian.com/national/102005/Alito.shtml
I havent been able to read the whole thing yet but it starts right out attacking bush for picking a person who is so far to the right just to pacify one segment of his party while dividing the country even further.
A Free Press, hmm.. interesting concept.
Editor and Publisher
Why is it that calling a person a liberal is an insult? they reference mcarthyism and say that liberals are the new communists. But why? How is it that the right has gained so much power and yet is so disliked by the country? how can a few extreamists control our government? and what can we learn from them? should we start using their tactics? Should we just make up stories and spread them around so quickly that everyone just assumes they are correct, so that by the time the truth comes out no one is even paying attention? It might not be an ethical plan but it works, and its funny the people so well versed in this are the ones who are trying to save the morals of this country. Is it irony, or is it cold and calculated? It is a little frightening when almost every major television news has the same thing to say about an issue. I will agree with them, its no watergate, no one died as a result of watergate. Watergate was illegal trespassing and stealing, treasongate on the other had is outing a CIA agent, also called treason, and lying about reasons to go to war. so they are right watergate isnt shit campared to what is going on now.
I do have to say though that Rove is an increadibly smart man, we is doing an amazing job of keeping the media focused on the Supreme court nomines and not on treasongate, or plaimegate or whatever you feel like calling it. http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/05/11/edi05068.html
The only person that I fear right now is our president. He will destroy this nation if he is not stopped imediatly.
Washington Post
-------- Approve -------- ------- Disapprove ------ No
NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opin.
10/29/05 39 22 17 58 13 45 3
And they had him as fairly high before this, so other polls will probably put him a few points lower.
Oh and here a little article about the new Supreme Court nomine, Alito
http://www.vermontguardian.com/national/102005/Alito.shtml
I havent been able to read the whole thing yet but it starts right out attacking bush for picking a person who is so far to the right just to pacify one segment of his party while dividing the country even further.
A Free Press, hmm.. interesting concept.
Editor and Publisher
Why is it that calling a person a liberal is an insult? they reference mcarthyism and say that liberals are the new communists. But why? How is it that the right has gained so much power and yet is so disliked by the country? how can a few extreamists control our government? and what can we learn from them? should we start using their tactics? Should we just make up stories and spread them around so quickly that everyone just assumes they are correct, so that by the time the truth comes out no one is even paying attention? It might not be an ethical plan but it works, and its funny the people so well versed in this are the ones who are trying to save the morals of this country. Is it irony, or is it cold and calculated? It is a little frightening when almost every major television news has the same thing to say about an issue. I will agree with them, its no watergate, no one died as a result of watergate. Watergate was illegal trespassing and stealing, treasongate on the other had is outing a CIA agent, also called treason, and lying about reasons to go to war. so they are right watergate isnt shit campared to what is going on now.
I do have to say though that Rove is an increadibly smart man, we is doing an amazing job of keeping the media focused on the Supreme court nomines and not on treasongate, or plaimegate or whatever you feel like calling it. http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/05/11/edi05068.html
The only person that I fear right now is our president. He will destroy this nation if he is not stopped imediatly.
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