Bush is President. Obama is not (yet).

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I just saw a story on Headline News Network about the shoe-throwing incident, and they said the people of Iraq are divided on how they feel about it, but nobody feels it was wrong, half of them think it was the right thing to do and half think it was an embarrassment but not necessarily the wrong thing to do.

so if they feel that way, let's bring our precious sons and daughters home, and never go back. Our finances are in crisis, we can't afford to be spending billions where we're not wanted. What's the point of being there and spending all this money we could be using in much better ways. Why keep risking the lives of our troops for people who don't appreciate it at all? I'm no political genius, far from it, but plain old common sense says this is just wrong!

Somebody has to pay for 9/11. Somebody has to pay for the USS Cole. The right people are locked up. Excuse me for not crying about their civil rights or worrying about how they are interrogated. National security is why President Bush locked those terrorists up, national security and justice.

Trying to rehab the terrorists who haven't killed yet and releasing them is better than just letting them all go and dropping charges against the ones who have murdered.

And obviously Bush made his point -- you can't rehab terrorists, you can't reason with them, you can't make peace with them.

I'm surprised Dubya didn't attend this since he recently told Larry King that Lay was such a *good guy.*

By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business WriterWed Jul 12, 7:17 PM ET

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay was a high-powered businessman, philanthropist and family man who didn't succumb to despair despite the scandal that destroyed his company and left him a vilified felon, friends and family members said at a memorial service Wednesday where mourners included former President George Bush.

Lay's 90-minute service drew some of the high-profile guests who were close to him before he was convicted in May of fraud and conspiracy for lying to investors and the public about the energy company's financial health. Enron collapsed in late 2001.

Neither the Bushes nor former Secretary of State James Baker III, Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. and noted heart surgeon Denton Cooley spoke. The Bushes sat directly behind Lay's wife, Linda.

Instead, Lay's family and friends sought to show a kinder view of him than had been seen publicly since the company's collapse. Some expressed bitterness over their � and Lay's � steadfast belief that he was wrongly convicted in one of the biggest corporate frauds in history.

I am angry because of the way he was treated in the last five years of his life, and I think I'll leave it there, leave it at that, said Lay's stepson, David Herrold, who attended much of the four-month trial.

I am glad he's not in a position anymore to be whipped by his enemy, Herrold said to the hundreds in attendance at Houston's First United Methodist Church, which Lay attended for 12 years.

His mother, Linda Lay, dabbed tears with a handkerchief.

Lay died of heart disease July 5 in Aspen, Colo., where he was vacationing with his wife. About 200 friends and family, including his co-defendant, former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, attended a small memorial service there on Sunday.

But Skilling decided not to attend Wednesday's service because of heavy media coverage, said his attorney, Daniel Petrocelli. His wife, former Enron corporate secretary Rebecca Carter, attended both services.

As guests entered the sanctuary, they passed a framed photo of a smiling Lay wearing a red Enron T-shirt, blue athletic shorts and gym shoes. Two large bouquets of sunflowers sat on either side of the pulpit, while two burning candles sat on each side of an open Bible in the center.

The Rev. Bill Lawson, prominent pastor of the African-American Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, said the Lay he knew wasn't the target of late-night TV jokes or a pariah. Lawson called Lay a victim of a lynching and praised mourners for staying friends with him through the scandal.

The folks who don't like him have had their say. I'd like to have mine and I don't care what you think about it, he said, eliciting brief applause. Now his grandchildren won't ask, `Why is Papia in jail?' No more persecution. That is behind him, Lawson said.

Lawson evoked leaders who he said were vilified in life but vindicated by history, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Minutes before Wednesday's service began, shrieks pierced the sanctuary as Lay friend and former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier, 81, collapsed in an aisle. Carter and Lawson comforted Lanier's distraught wife, Elyse, before paramedics whisked him to a hospital, where was in stable condition with an irregular heartbeat.

Lay and Skilling were the faces of Enron throughout the company's meteoric rise from a stodgy pipeline company to a powerhouse energy trader.

Their reputations shattered alongside the company as their images switched from business visionaries to perpetrators of fraud that fueled a spectacular crash that evaporated $60 billion in market value and left thousands jobless.

A jury convicted Lay of six counts of fraud and conspiracy and Skilling of 19 of 28 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors. Lay also was convicted of bank fraud and lying to banks in a separate, non-jury trial related to his personal banking.

Lay died awaiting their Oct. 23 sentencing, and his lawyers are expected to ask a judge to erase his conviction because his death left his case unfinished. Skilling still faces sentencing on that date and could be ordered to serve decades in prison.

Beau Herrold, another Lay stepson who manages the family's finances, read from a letter he had begun writing to U.S. District Judge Sim Lake that he intended to deliver before Lay's sentencing.

In the letter, he described Lay as a devoted husband, father, grandfather and brother who always found a way to make time for family. Lay is survived by his wife, children, two sisters and 12 grandchildren.

___

Associated Press photographers David Phillip and Pat Sullivan, viedographer Rich Matthews and writer Chris Duncan contributed to this report.

The debate should be uncensored in order for the American people to be able to listen to what we say and they should not restrict the American people from hearing the truth.

Bush: New Orleans may need a decade

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- As he headed for the Gulf Coast on Monday, U.S. President George Bush told an interviewer he expects the rebuilding of New Orleans to take a decade.

Bush planned to spend the anniversary of the U.S. Gulf Coast landfall of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans after a visit to Biloxi, Miss. It was his 13th visit to the devastated area.

We can rebuild buildings, the question is can we rebuild its soul, he told April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks. We can. I believe, 10 years from now April, you and I will be thinking about our time here, and trying to remember what it was like 10 years ago

Bush came under fire last year for apparently ignoring Katrina immediately after New Orleans flooded and then flying over the city in Air Force One.

Later White House spokeswoman Dana Perrino said she wasn't aware of a specific time period but that the president has said all along that it would take more than a year to rebuild New Orleans.

In terms of like, 10 years, I don't know about exact time frame, but it's certainly going to take several years, Perrino said.

Bill Ayers and Barrack Obama: Both Obama and Ayers were members of the board of an anti-poverty group, the Woods Fund of Chicago, between 1999 and 2002. In addition, Ayers contributed $200 to Obama's re-election fund to the Illinois State Senate in April 2001. They lived within a few blocks of each other in the trendy Hyde Park section of Chicago, and moved in the same liberal-progressive circles.

1987 William Ayers meets Barack Obama

1988 Ayers solicits Khalid Al-Mansour to raise money for Obama's Harvard law School education

1989 Tom Ayers and William Ayers get Obama a summer job at Sidley & Austin (where he meets Michelle Obama); Ayers' wife Bernadine Dohrn also worked at Sidley at about the same time as Barack and Michelle.

1993 Ayers places Obama on Woods Foundation

1995 Ayers makes Obama Chairman of Annenberg Challenge

1995 Ayers hosts a coffee klatch for Obama's political debut (Obama falsely claims this is when he met Ayers)

Raila Odinga and Barrack Obama: Odinga claims to be Obama's 1st cousin although the Obama campaign denies this. Raila Odinga has, in his own words, a 'close personal friendship' with Barrack Hussein Obama Junior.When Obama went to Kenya in August of 2006, he was hosted by Raila and spoke in praise of him at rallies in Nairobi: Obama's bias for his fellow Luo was so blatant that a Kenya government spokesman denounced Obama during his visit as Raila's �stooge.� When Raila Odinga lost the presidential election to Mwai Kibaki, he claimed the vote was rigged, whereupon his tribal followers went on murderous rampages such as in the town of Eldoret, where on New Years Day dozens of people were burned to death in a church set on fire

Clearly, Obama campaigned for someone who is corrupt, ruthless and has financial ties to terrorists. More importantly, Obama campaigned for a candidate who had the stated objective of dismantling US & Kenyan government efforts to root out AL Queda and other terrorist organizations. Organizations that had already caused the deaths of hundreds of Americans and Africans in embassy bombings. Senator Obama�s actions�intentional or not�were in direct conflict with the efforts and interests of US national security. I think this raises serious questions about the judgment, maturity and readiness of Senator Obama.

Reverend Wright and Barrack Obama: Obama met Wright when he moved to Chicago after college. Here is a quote from Obama, "And that's where I met Rev. Wright and started going to Trinity United Church of Christ and he helped me on another journey and introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. And I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things that I was too weak to accomplish myself, maybe he could accomplish them for me if I placed my trust in him. And I learned that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when they believe in him and they come together and are guided by him." And yet another quote from Obama...."And then I've got to give a special shout out to my Pastor. The guy who puts up with me, counsels me, listens to my wife complain about me. He's a friend and a great leader not just in Chicago but all across the country, so please everybody give an extraordinary welcome to my pastor Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., Trinity United Church of Christ." First of all, for all you people screaming about Sarah Palin being a nut job Christian and praying for our country......what do you have to say about Obama and finding Jesus Christ? Talk about a double standard there. Furthermore, this goes to show that Obama was close to Rev. Wright and his claim that he had no idea about Wright's views are just untrue. You cannot attend a church for 20 years and seek counsel from a man and not know what that man stands for.....pure hatred and racism. Barrack Obama also refused to denounce Rev. Wright stating that he could no sooner denounce a family member. However, as Rev. Wright continued to spew out hatred from his mouth.....in Obama's best political interest...he threw his mentor and pastor of 20 years under the bus to try and save his career.

These are just three associations of Barrack Obama. This doesn't include Rezko and the monies given to Obama's campaign and the help he received in buying his house at a substantial lower price. This doesn't include Obama's association with ACORN and the fact that Obama himself trained ACORN members in Chicago.

But the point is, President Obama made a promise to the American people and he needs to do his best to keep it. Otherwise he did not mean what he said, was only saying something to get elected. Our President needs to put the American people first. He made the promise to help American workers have jobs here in America. I heard him say it.

But the point is, President Obama made a promise to the American people and he needs to do his best to keep it, to change all the offshoring. Otherwise he did not mean what he said, was only saying something to get elected. Our President needs to put the American people first. He made the promise to help American workers have jobs here in America. I heard him say it. We cannot buy if we have no jobs and no money because of offshoring.

who wants to sit down and civilly discuss things without preconditions. Now either he is lying about converting to Christianity and that doesn't bode well for Americans if he sides with the Islamic extremists OR they want him dead too for switching his faith in which case there will be no discussing of anything with those people. So where does that leave us? If Obama converted after being raised Muslim, he should know better than anyone the rule for converting.

So either Obama will turn on us and side with the Muslims or the extremists will do all in their power to try and kill our president for being an infidel. Either way.....how is this good for the US.

Congratulations President Obama! "Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another � a journey that will bring a new and better day to America." I am so happy I lived long enough to be a part of history in the making.

Oh, wait....no...it can't be....the audacity of this man. He isn't even president yet, and just look at how he has changed this country. He has given people hope for a brighter future....the nerve. Things were much better when we could just torture people at will, invade who we want, pi$$ off the world, and not have to deal with those pesky civil rights. Oh, those were the days!

-- hit the ground running. Just got done watching TV to see what his first day was like. Just for fun, I looked up Bush's first day in 2001. Here's what I found:

"On his first day in office, Bush moved to block federal aid to foreign groups that offered counseling or any other assistance to women in obtaining abortions.Days later, he announced his commitment to channeling more federal aid to faith-based service organizations. At the time, critics feared this would dissolve the traditional separation of church and state. Bush created the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to assist faith-based service organizations. In a televised address on Aug. 9, 2001, Bush would announce a national policy on stem cell research that authorized funding and research work, with federal restrictions over the use of human embryos."

Yeah, that whack-job started whacking way at women's control over their own bodies, tried to integrate government and the church (HUGE mistake!), and to outlaw one of the most promising medical breakthroughs. I'm surprised witch-trials and book-burning didn't come back into fashion again under his "leadership".

I think where he belongs is in some isolated, authoritarian religious cult out in the middle of nowhere.

Bush is President. Obama is not (yet).

Bush: New Orleans may need a decade

President Barrack Obama has made a huge list of promises. As you can see, some promises he has already broken and we aren't even into his presidency a whole week yet.

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