S/l you've been reading BMW press releases....
Posted By: Evelyn on 2009-05-14
In Reply to: No. You ought to read up - Trigger Happy
I was being facetious ...
Sure it would be great for emissions if the world drove hydrogen vehicles - but have you checked the cost of maintaining the hydrogen vehicle? The cost of replacing a fuel cell battery?
Where does hydrogen come from? Water, natural gas, plants, coal, other fossil fuels are big sources - all expensive and coveted, and potentially in short supply. To produce no pollution it must be pure hydrogen - and you must have enough electricity to separate the hydrogen from say water, without using fossil fuels. The electrical generating capacity in the country will have to double in order to take on the demands of transportation, and then it will all have to convert from fossil fuels to renewable sources.
A lot of sacrifice of comfort and convenience will have to take place - I'm willing do it, how about the rest of the world?
The DOE is funding a billion to produce a hydrogen car - but it will be years away and the expense out of reach for most folks. Recently Obama's cut hydrogen fuel cell funding in the 2010 budget. Such vehicles for now anyway will remain the toys of celebrities and folks who can afford one to run around the neighborhood.
Also, factor in the cost of extracting and producing hydrogen, and the fact that the rest of the car from tires to dashboard, and almost everything we touch in the modern world, is produced from oil - a hydrogen car will do little to reduce pollution. The main problem with hydrogen-powered fuel cells involves the storage and distribution of hydrogen - which no one has answered yet, not on the scale of the masses. And who will build the refueling stations if there are no customers? Who will buy the vehicle if there is no where to refuel? Or if you can plug your care in your garage - is that coal firing the electric plant?
Have you seen the Mini Cooper? It is 5-1/2 feet wide and 4-1/2 feet in height. There's a reason it's called mini.
The best way to stop pollution is curb consumption - and that doesn't seem to be on the political agenda in any nation.
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I see you've been reading the junk science
mags, watching AL Gore movies. You really are being disingenous here. There are 692 scientists who have declared that global warming is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on humanity. Now, we are talking scientists with pedigress a mile long after their names. You make that insidious claim that the ice caps are melting, and yes, they are, like they usually do, but you neglect to speak to the fact that as they melt, bigger ice caps form that are not melting.
If you have the intelligence to read the report on Fox News, you will see that this is a UN initiative that has been in the works for years. It goes right along with their plan to strip property rights, huddle the masses in "villages," and only those in power will be the land owner barons.
Law of Logical Argument - Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
I've been reading up on your illness. I apologize. I realize now how truly ill you all are. I wi
pray for your souls. Seriously. I'm not laughing, and I'm not joking because I truly feel sorry for you. I won't answer you any more because that seems to only make you sicker.
Religious Addiction: a mental illness with deadly social consequences.
by TrysDan Roberts
I do believe there is a Great Spirit responsible for the creation of the universe, but unfortunately, there have been those who have been the victims of the exploitation of this higher power.
When George W. Bush and the Christian Reich took control of the most powerful country in the world, The United States of America, a very dangerous virus began spreading throughout the country.
The virus: Christian Fascism.
This lethal threat to democracy is now infecting the world, ie...the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
To understand the Right Wing Zealots, it is important to acquire an understanding of what it means to be a religious addict. The following identifies important signs of religious addiction:
SYMPTOMS OF RELIGIOUS ADDICTION as written by Paschal Baute
Paschal Baute is a co-founder and facilitator of the Spiritual Growth Network of Kentucky. He is an organizational psychologist working with leadership and team development and personnel screening. His business web page will be found at www.paschalbaute.com
• Inability to think, doubt, or question religious information and/or authority
• Black-and-white, good/bad, either/or simplistic thinking: one way or the other
• Shame-based belief that you aren't good enough or you aren't doing it right
• Magical thinking that God will fix you/ do it all, without serious work on your part
• Scrupulosity: rigid obsessive adherence to rules, codes of ethics, or guidelines
• Uncompromising judgmental attitudes: readiness to find fault or evil out there
• Compulsive or obsessive praying, going to church or crusades, quoting scripture
• Unrealistic financial contributions
• Believing that sex is dirty; believing our bodies or physical pleasures are evil
• Compulsive overeating and/or excessive fasting
• Conflict and argumentation with science, medicine, and education
• Progressive detachment from the real work, isolation and breakdown of relationships
• Psychosomatic illness: back pains, sleeplessness, headaches, hypertension
• Manipulating scripture or texts, feeling specially chosen, claiming to receive special messages from God
• Maintaining a religious high, trance-like state, keeping a happy face (or the belief that one should...) (1.) © Paschal Baute 1993
Condensed 'Characteristics of a Religious Addictive System.' Dr. Thomas Edgington is the principle author and contributed 90% of the following:
• God is seen as impersonal and vindictive: members tend to have a grace- deficit theology. (Their religion and experience are based totally on fear, not on relief.)
• Emphasis on theological correctness to the neglect of relationships and of loving others.
• Demonstrates a spiritual arrogance [considers those from outside as less spiritual].
• You will hear comments like I pride myself on my humility.
• Majors on minor theological issues and ignores or minimizes major ones.
• Scripture is said to be of primary importance, but in reality it is the leader's interpretation of Scripture that has primary importance.
• Traditions often overrule Biblical truth.
• Scripture is often misquoted, used out of context, or is degraded to the level of trite, pat answers in order to prove a point or to exact obedience to a system.
• Intellectual development is limited to what fits the system; we think the way we do because we are right; the thoughts and opinions of others are not considered.
• Dogmatism is common: the point under discussion is often explained by the quotation of a Bible verse, again, usually out of context.
• Members attempt to impose their personal opinions upon outsiders or upon those still within the system but under suspicion.
• There is a lack of objective accountability: leadership is accountable to itself ONLY. [Often explains why the religious fear and despise psychology... fear of exposure by outsider]
• Leadership is viewed as infallible and beyond reproach.
• Undue/over-emphasis upon submission to authority.
• Expression of certain emotions, particularly anger, is seen as unspiritual.
• Low self image, hyperactive conscience, undue guilt, and an inability to forgive, either others or oneself is very common.
• Communication often centers around theological issues; personal issues are rarely discussed. When they are, two phenomena find expression: shredding people,setting up and knocking down straw men.
• Interpersonal intimacy is often lacking.
• Poor ability to relate to hurting people; offers pat answers instead of demonstrating loving care (2.)
Religious Addiction preys on the Weak and Vulnerable
After reading and processing the above characteristics of a religious addict, it is very to easy to find incidents of religious addictions since George W. Bush took power:
A while ago, I was watching the news stories about the Ten Commandments Monument being removed from a Government building in the United States. As I watched the protests, I thought how twisted right wing Christian zealots are; the way they whined and moaned lying on the ground reminded me of a religious addicted cult. There is so much hate and mental defects within the Christian Coalition. It is scary.
It is important for all countries to separate government from Organized Religion. Christian Right Wing Organized Religion is a very dangerous political institution. They have decided how people should live and those choosing a different way of life are viewed as deviant or enemies.
When looking at two men, George W. Bush and Mel Gibson, it is easy to see how dangerous Religious addiction can be to the rest of the population. Both these men are recovered drug addicts and drunks. What lead to their recovery was replacing their chemical addictions with Christian addiction. Like a cult, Christian Extremists target people when they are at their weakest; both men have weak minds which made them easy prey. They should not be respected, but looked at as very weak little creatures.
As President of the United States, the mentally feeble man, George W. Bush, has been given the power to flex his religious addicted muscles: supported challenging affirmative action, proposal to ban gay marriage, increase funding to religious groups that help alcoholics and drug addicts recover, invading and taking over Iraq, funding the promotion marriage (push women in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, eh Georgie?)
The Christian Right seeks to oppress those who don't conform to their way of life. In order for society to evolve, Right Wing Religion must be kept out of positions of political power.
Religious addicted Mel Gibson is now a right wing fundamentalist. He believes he knows God personally, and has a whole lot of money, giving him the power to push his beliefs on the rest of us. There is nothing more dangerous than a rich right wing fundamentalist. About Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, Movie Reviewers and News Commentators did not have the courage to give Mel Gibson's movie a real review. It is probably like during the invasion of Iraq; people who spoke against it were intimidated, and the media was very biased toward the bullies.
Religious addiction is a serious mental illness in our society. Religious addicts, when given power, have the ability to do some serious damage to the world and its species.
Religious Addiction: a mental illness with deadly social consequences.
Endnotes:
1. Paschal Baute, Symptons of Religious Addiction http://www.lexpages.com/SGN/paschal/religious_addiction.html
2. Dr. Thomas Edgington, Characteristics of a Religious Addictive System. Nimbus.org http://www.nimbus.org/Academics/ReligiousAddiction.html
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Symptons of Religious Addiction by Paschal Baute
http://www.lexpages.com/SGN/paschal/religious_addiction.html
Retrieved April, 1st 2004
Characteristics of a Religious Addictive System. Nimbus.org
http://www.nimbus.org/Academics/ReligiousAddiction.html
Retrieved April, 1st 2004
Copyright 2004 © TrysDan Roberts
I've been reading up on you creatures. Never even knew you existed before
reading this thread. (Haven't been visiting these boards that long). You seem to proudly wear the title like some kind of badge. From what I've read, those of your ilk are involved in all sorts of deceptive practices. Doesn't sound like much to be proud of, but it explains a lot regarding your frequent aversion to the truth and your relentless intrusion on this board.
I read an interesting article about you entitled, God Sees The Freepers. http://www.apj.us/20010609GodFreepers.html
Indeed.
MY LAST POST TO YOU.
Bush releases Hijacker Sought by U.S.
Hijacker Sought By U.S. Released
Germany Frees Hezbollah Member Who Killed Md. Sailor in '85 Plot
By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; A23
BERLIN, Dec. 20 -- The German government disclosed Tuesday that it had freed a Hezbollah member who had been convicted of hijacking a TWA airliner in 1985, allowing him to return to his native Lebanon despite long-standing requests from the United States to hand him over for trial.
Mohammed Ali Hammadi, 41, walked out of a German prison on Thursday after a parole board concluded that he was eligible for early release, German officials said. His parole prompted a protest from the State Department.
Hammadi served nearly 19 years of a life sentence for air piracy, possession of explosives and the murder of Robert Dean Stethem, a U.S. sailor from Waldorf, Md. Stethem, a passenger on board TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome, was singled out for brutal treatment by the hijackers because of his military service.
Organized by the radical Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, the hijacking was one of the most publicized terrorist attacks on a U.S. target in the 1980s. It lasted for 17 days as the plane, with dozens of hostages aboard, shuttled between airports in the Mediterranean.
The German government said Hammadi's parole had nothing to do with the case of a German hostage in Iraq who was let go by her captors on Sunday. A brother of Hammadi was convicted in the 1980s of kidnapping Westerners in the Middle East in an attempt to pressure German authorities to release him.
The family of the American petty officer, who was beaten and fatally shot by the hijackers, expressed disappointment Tuesday that one of his killers was free. To have commuted his sentence -- it just doesn't make sense, his mother, Patricia Stethem, said in a telephone interview. They're dealing with terrorists. They've released him back to Lebanon. . . . He's back where he can join up with the Hezbollah organization again.
The State Department said Tuesday that the U.S government still wanted to put Hammadi on trial, based on a 1985 indictment. Three other Lebanese men named in the indictment remain at large and are on the FBI's most wanted list of terrorist suspects, with $5 million rewards for their capture.
Current and former American officials said they had pushed for two decades to gain custody of Hammadi and try him in a U.S. courtroom, but they ran into political and legal resistance from Germany. U.S. prosecutors originally sought Hammadi's extradition after he was arrested at the Frankfurt airport in 1987, but Germany denied the request and put him on trial locally instead.
We were certainly disappointed at the time that we didn't get our hands on him then, and we are disappointed now that he has been released before the end of his full sentence, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington. We have demonstrated over the years that when we believe an individual is responsible for the murder of innocent American civilians, that we will track them down and that we will bring them to justice in the United States.
A spokeswoman for the German Justice Ministry said there were no pending requests for Hammadi's extradition at the time of his release. McCormack turned aside questions about that, saying he was not a lawyer. He said the State Department was notified of Hammadi's release before he reached Lebanon, but the spokesman did not specify when.
Legal experts said it was doubtful that Germany could have transferred him to U.S. custody. Under German law, defendants cannot be retried for crimes for which they have already been convicted, even if they are prosecuted in another country.
Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. McCormack was asked if the United States would seek to obtain custody of Hammadi through a process known as rendition, in which the CIA apprehends suspects and flies them out of the country without judicial procedures. He replied that he could not answer the question from this podium.
Court officials in Frankfurt said Hammadi was freed after a regularly scheduled review of his case by parole officials. They would not say why they waited until after he had returned to Lebanon to make the decision public.
The German hostage freed in Iraq on Sunday was Susanne Osthoff, an Arabic-speaking archaeologist who had lived there for years. There is no connection between these two cases, said Martin Jaeger, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry. The identity of Osthoff's kidnappers remains unclear, and German officials have not divulged any details about her time in captivity.
Hammadi is a member of an influential Lebanese family that is active in Hezbollah, which was blamed for a wave of kidnappings in the 1980s, including those of several Germans.
Hammadi's brother, Abbas, was arrested in Germany in 1987 and charged with helping to kidnap two German businessmen in a bid to use them as bargaining chips for Mohammed Hammadi's freedom. Abbas Hammadi was released in 1993 after serving half of his sentence.
At the time, German news media reported that he was let go as part of a deal between the German government and Hezbollah to release two other Germans held hostage in Lebanon. German officials denied that assertion.
Mohammed Hammadi was charged with being one of two hijackers who seized the TWA plane in Athens. He escaped after the hijacking but was arrested at the Frankfurt airport on Jan. 13, 1987, after security agents discovered liquid explosives in his luggage.
In his trial, witnesses testified that after the hijackers discovered that Stethem was a U.S. sailor, Hammadi and an accomplice beat him until he collapsed. Hammadi was seen carrying the handgun that was used to fatally shoot the 23-year-old American. Prosecutors said they never established who pulled the trigger.
A panel of German judges sentenced Hammadi to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 15 years.
Victoria Toensing, a former Justice Department official in the Reagan administration who oversaw efforts to extradite Hammadi in 1987, said German authorities threw obstacles in the way of U.S. prosecutors at that time and only reluctantly cooperated.
They were not open at all, she recalled. We knew he would be released early, way back then.
Staff writers John Burgess and Glenn Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001615_pf.html
What the heck? U.S. releases secret list
GOD!! LET'S JUST HAND OVER OUR COUNTRY NOW AND GET IT OVER WITH.
U.S. Releases Secret List of Nuclear Sites by Accident
Document that gives detailed information about civilian nuclear sites and programs, marked "highly confidential," was accidentally made public by the federal government.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
WASHINGTON -- The government accidentally posted on the Internet a list of government and civilian nuclear facilities and their activities in the United States, but a U.S. official said Wednesday the posting included no information that compromised national security.
The 266-page document was published on May 6 as a transmission from President Barack Obama to Congress. According to the document, the list was required by law and will be provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Some of the pages are marked "highly confidential safeguards sensitive."
Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the document had been reviewed by a number of U.S. agencies and that disclosure of the information did not jeopardize national security. He said the document is part of an agreement on nuclear material inspection under the IAEA's nuclear nonproliferation effort.
"While we would have preferred it not be released, the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Commerce and the NRC all thoroughly reviewed it to ensure that no information of direct national security significance would be compromised," LaVera said in a statement.
An Energy Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly, said none of the sites on the list are directly part of the government's nuclear weapons infrastructure.
Included in the report, however, are details on a storage facility for highly enriched uranium at the Y-12 complex at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and some sites at the Energy Department's Hanford nuclear site in Washington state, this official acknowledged.
The publication of the list was first reported in an online secrecy newsletter Monday. The document had been posted on the Government Printing Office Web site, but has since been removed from that site.
The document includes both government and civilian nuclear facilities, all of which have various levels of security, including details and location of nation's 103 commercial nuclear power reactors, information readily available from various sources.
The document details the location of the nuclear sites and what is being done there.
For instance, there are nuclear reactors at the Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh, Pa. This facility is currently working on research into what happens when there are accidents with the nuclear reactors. The project started in 2006 and is expected to end in 2012, according to the document.
There are "zero" national security implications to the publication of this document, said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Government's Project on Government Secrecy. Aftergood found the document on the GPO Web site and highlighted it in his online bulletin.
"I regret that some people are painting it as a roadmap for terrorists because that's not what it is," Aftergood said.
"This is not a disclosure of sensitive nuclear technologies or of facility security procedures. It is simply a listing of the numerous nuclear research sites and the programs that are under way," Aftergood said. "And so it poses no security threat whatsoever."
The White House releases pieces of the speeches
nm
Are you reading the same thing I am reading? sm
Did you read Mein Kampf? Would that be good enough evidence for you, because he wrote about it in there. Good grief, you people won't admit when you are wrong and frankly, that is pretty darned frightening!
And Associated Press
They have both been caught doctoring pictures. Another example of how you can't trust the MSM.
I haven't seen the photos, but I'm going to look them up tonight when I get home.
How about the Associated Press?
then select news.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jkwn9iRCwdE76BB6ClH6Qmw8NcFQD938KQSO0
Will you believe Associated Press then?
Had to look hard for it, no surprise there.
New House rules reflect Democrats' election win
By LARRY MARGASAK – 2 days ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats unveiled internal rules Monday that would end Republican-imposed, six-year term limits on committee chairmen and make it harder for GOP lawmakers to offer alternative legislation.
In changing how the House operates, Democrats sent a message that they will use the huge majority they won in November to overpower Republicans any time they wish. GOP leaders complained to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that they were being marginalized, but there is little they can do.
The changes are set for approval Tuesday after the 111th Congress takes office.
Not all of the new rules were partisan, but they reflected only the Democratic view of how the House should be run.
The Democratic majority will be 256 to 178 with one vacancy when the new House is sworn in, compared to 235-198 with two vacancies at the end of the previous Congress.
One rule would have a longer disclosure requirement for House members negotiating a post-government job. Under the change, negotiations must be reported until the lawmaker leaves office. Previously, the disclosure directive ended when a successor was elected.
It also would be easier to object to so-called "air drop" earmarks: special projects added to legislation by House-Senate conferees after both houses already approved legislation.
For Republicans, however, the changes were a reminder that the majority rules in the House, unlike the Senate, where it takes 60 of the 100 senators to pass controversial legislation because of filibuster rules.
"President Obama has pledged to lead a government that is open and transparent. This (rules package) does not represent change; it is reverting back to the undemocratic one-party rule and backroom deals that the American people rejected more than a decade ago," Republican leaders wrote Pelosi.
When Republicans won control of the House in 1994, they adopted rules to limit the terms of committee chairmen to three terms, or six years.
That change followed four decades of Democratic rule, when committee chairmen ruled by seniority and built up unchallenged power to pass or block legislation. The powerful chairmen also built up a system of perks for themselves, including a special bank that allowed lawmakers to overdraw their accounts without penalty. That helped lead to the Democrats' downfall in 1994.
Republicans said the term limits they established were designed to reward new ideas, innovation and merit rather than longevity.
However, the limits also generated huge fundraising efforts by chairmen-to-be, moving them closer to special interests in the legislative areas they controlled.
Republicans also objected to a proposal that governs how alternative legislation can be offered. Republicans said this would prevent the minority from trying to eliminate hidden tax increases added to larger pieces of legislation.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gnHMsHdiW-mG_jKo8vvmIqcdmKMQD95HAAJG1
Not according to the Associated Press. nm
hammered press sec
I thought it was great how the journalists finally yesterday started hammering the press secretary about Rove. Yesterday I read where Hiliary Clinton equated Bush with Alfred E. Neuman, LOL. Today I was thinking, what cartoon would be Rove. Elmer Fudd. So, we have Elmer Fudd, Alfred E. Neuman and **death warmed over Cheney** running the country. Oh my, we sure are in good shape..NOT..and they we have the dinosaur backward thinking conservatives backing up whatever this administration wants to do/say..
Press conference
Gee, none of the stations out here covered it, LOL.
WH press secretary would
I do almost feel sorry for Scott. Rove made his 4th trip to testify today as well. Scott better get ready for some major 'splainin' or catapultin'
There is a rumor going through the press that........ sm
Rahm Emanuel turned him in. I'm not reporting this as fact because I haven't checked it out yet, but I have seen that mentioned.
and let's press charges
someone who kills someone who is pregnant for a double homocide but WAIT A MINUTE...... that is not an actual life...
Another press conference going on now
If I didn't lose count, that's #8 since he was elected. Do I have to listen to 4 years of this? Or is this just about chosing his cabinet and if so, did he fill all the spots yet?
I can read. I don't need to see him except when he takes questions from reporters.
FYI, I never listened to GW's press conferences either. I can't stand canned speeches.
Looks like BO's press honeymoon
The press might finally be wising up to a fact that's even more important (to their bosses) than playing suck-face with BO - namely, that even Americans who voted for this President are starting to really, really dislike his policies. The last issue of Newsweek to feature an Obama (was it number 19?) barely sold enough copies to pay for the printing, and it's more or less a rule in the news business (and it IS a business) that "if they don't sell, they smell". Obama is starting to sell less, and smell worse. Lots worse.
If the most recent news conference with BO is any indication, the honeymoon might just be over...and BO didn't like it one bit. In fact, he got downright surly - and he is really one UGLY man when he gets surly. Tsk - such a thin veneer.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/columnists/goodwin/index.html
Pres just had a press conference..
listened very discernibly, heard nothing different from his other press conferences... Feel like I'm watching "Groundhog Day" starring Bill Murray, only Bill Murray is much more funny and quite a bit smarter! When will get some real leadership? We desparately need LEADERSHIP!!!
Palin not ready for the press
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/259517
Todd Harris, a GOP strategist, and McCain aide Nicole Wallace both said Sarah Palin won’t be available to the press. They said might make a mistake and American people don’t care about Palin talking to the press. Todd Harris, GOP Strategist who is also close to the McCain campaign, told Chris Matthews, MSNBC that Palin won’t be available to the press for about two weeks. He said she might make a mistake in the show.
If she goes out and makes a mistake, that is something that voters will] care about, and that's something that will haunt McCain for awhile, so I think this is a smart move.
And the GOP is proud in making such a decision, despite telling everyone she has more experience than Obama and Biden.
In the second video, McCain aide Nicole Wallace told Time’s Jay Carney and Joe Scarborough, MSNBC that the press will not be given a chance to take shots at Palin. She said American people don’t care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. She said the public will know about her from Palin’s scripted speeches and appearances on the campaign trail and in political ads.
Jay Carney responded with the following statement:
Wallace's bash-the-media exercise has its merits as a campaign tactic. It certainly rallies the base. But the base won't lift McCain to 50% in November. More importantly, in her smug dismissal of the media's role in asking questions of the candidates, Wallace was really showing contempt not for reporters, but for voters.
If she is not ready now, how can we expect that she will be ready in the next few months? Is there a two-month crash course for Presidency?
Meet the Press at 6 pm EDT. Watch
for the answers to these allegations.
A press conference is where reporters ask...sm
the candidate questions. The candidate does not know what questions are going to be asked. Hence, a teleprompter would be useless at a press conference. Teleprompters are for SPEECHES. Get it?
Watching press release
Could our president be double-standard? Reporters are asking really good tough questions. No confidence in this new administration whatsoever.
Interesting how it was leaked to the press
These types of studies are typically not for public consumption, but the timing of this one was just perfect for some manufactured outrage based on intentional misconstruing of the contents of the study.
I saw the press conference. Sad. Feel bad for the
nm
From the way Fitzgerald spoke in the press conference...sm
S. Libby has A LOT to be worried about. It seems he's a bald face liar, and I think what would be interesting to find out is why would he lie and say he didn't even know who Plame was under oath having been briefed on her at least 4 times before coming to court. I smell smoke...
Kiss freedom of the press goodbye
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@herald.com
Thomas Jefferson understood.
He said that if asked to choose between government without newspapers
or newspapers without government, ''I should not hesitate for a moment
to prefer the latter.'' Jefferson knew that a free and adversarial press
was the people's best defense against the excesses of their government
and a fundamental building block of healthy democracy.
Unfortunately, that was 40 presidents ago.
The present president has a decidedly different view of the news
media's role. His administration sees the press as a thing to be bought. In
fact, while political manipulation of the news is hardly new, Team Bush
has a long and singularly sordid record of trying to turn the media
into a wholly owned public relations subsidiary.
Now they're taking their act on the road. And get this: They're doing
it under the guise of building democracy. Which is rather like stealing
from the collection plate under the guise of giving to the needy.
I refer you to last week's Los Angeles Times report that the Pentagon
has been secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories, written by
American troops, that reflect favorably upon the U.S. mission in that
country. The stories, while basically factual, are reportedly written so
as to flatter U.S. forces and the Iraqi government and to omit
information or perspectives either might find embarrassing. These press
releases are presented to the Iraqi people as independent reports by
independent reporters.
One is appalled, but hardly surprised. After nearly five years of
watching these folks' truth-optional approach to dealing with the public,
one is seldom surprised anymore.
BUYING PRAISE
This is, after all, the same Bush administration that was caught buying
praise from an ethically challenged columnist -- in violation of
federal laws against propagandizing the public, according to a September
report by the Government Accountability Office. It's the same
administration that allowed into the White House press room as a reporter an
Internet porn entrepreneur who wrote for a GOP website. The same one that
issues video reports favorable to its policies to be broadcast without
attribution as TV news. The same one that censors and quashes its own
scientific studies when they conflict with its preferred worldview.
So this is just more of the same in a new ZIP Code.
It will be argued by the usual sycophantic Bush enablers that what's
being done is justifiable. We are at war, they will say, and in war it is
perfectly acceptable to propagandize the enemy.
So it is. But the flaw in that logic is this: We are not at war with
Iraq. We are at war in Iraq against insurgents seeking to topple the
government. At least, that's the line put forth by Team Bush. Iraq, they
say, is a sovereign nation to which we are simply helping bring the joys
of democracy -- one of which would be a free press.
That being the case, you cannot justify telling covert lies to its
people any more than you can justify telling them to ours. You want to
communicate something to them? Buy an ad. Drop leaflets. Put up posters.
But don't produce a commercial and tell people it's news.
CREDIBILITY AT STAKE
Doing so undermines both the message and the medium. It could also
conceivably encourage Iraqis to question how seriously they should take --
how seriously we ourselves take -- this whole notion of a free and
independent press.
Indeed, one can only guess how this is playing with Iraqi journalists.
After all, the messages could hardly be more mixed. On the one hand,
U.S. officials are offering them workshops in media ethics. On the other
hand, U.S. officials are violating the most basic media ethics with
blithe indifference.
But then, it's a sour joke in the first place that the Bush
administration purports to teach Iraqis how democracy works.
You can't teach what you don't understand.
James Montgomery, Esq. is holding a press
conference. Jesse Jackson, Jr. is "candidate #5" and he thinks Blagojevich should step aside and resign and let the Lt. Gov. take over. He states JJ, Jr. is qualified for the position.
He states JJ, Jr. is not guity of anything. He is not worried about any consequences of this except the media frenzy that is being created by this. If the meeting between the Gov. and JJ, Jr. was taped, they have no concern over it.
He (JJ, Jr.) will be speaking with the investigators on Friday or Monday. He will be holding a press conference in 15-16 minutes.
St. Paul Police Protest the Press
Be careful of your constitutional rights - they are rapidly disappearing.
http://www.truthout.org/article/st-pauls-police-protest-press
I just saw Nancy Pelosi in a press conference...
and I was reminded of the interviews I have seen her in...and frankly...Palin does a HECK of a better job than she does....and nobody seems to mind that. Bear in mind, if, God forbid, something happened to both Pres and VP guess who we get: NANCY PELOSI. She is TWO heartbeats away from the Presidency no matter who gets elected. Good grief, no wonder they send the VP to an undisclosed location and don't let Pres and VP travel together. lol.
Obama press conference coming up...sm
Is it just me? Or don't we usually only have one president at a time. I thought for sure he didn't take office until January 20th.
Just an observation...Obama supporters -- no need to flame me for stating the obvious.
Valerie Jarrett on Meet the Press-Did you know?
Born in IRAN. Worked for Richard Daley, was her mentor? She is co-chair of the Obama-Biden transistion team. She hired Michele in 1991.
She will not give any info on whom he may choose for his team. "Everything is a possibility." She is not ruling out anything. "Obama is selecting the best team for the job."
Rahm Emanual: She knew him for over 15 years. He embraces O's philosophy.
Will she take the Rich Daley model and implement it? Roundabout answer.
What are his flaws? "That's what is nice about being his friend. I can talk about his strengths, not his flaws."
I recall Bush on a train with the press
not long after the 2004 election stating that he had 3 1/2 years to go...with a heavy sigh, thoroughly disgusted me. He should have recused himself then, and we would have been much better off.
press conference aftermath prediction
FOX news offers Ed Henry a multimillion dollar contract. ;-)
Associated Press (!) Catches Obama in Lies
Amazing. Maybe some in the press actually are beginning to wise up to Obama. Read it here:
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WASHINGTON (AP) - "That wasn't me," President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One.
It actually was him - and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years - who shaped a budget so out of balance.
And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.
Obama met citizens at an Arnold, Mo., high school Wednesday in advance of his prime-time news conference. Both forums were a platform to review his progress at the 100-day mark and look ahead.
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(AP) President Barack Obama speaks at a town hall meeting at Fox Senior High School in Arnold, Mo.,...
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At various times, he brought an air of certainty to ambitions that are far from cast in stone.
His assertion that his proposed budget "will cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term" is an eyeball-roller among many economists, given the uncharted terrain of trillion-dollar deficits and economic calamity that the government is negotiating.
He promised vast savings from increased spending on preventive health care in the face of doubts that such an effort, however laudable it might be for public welfare, can pay for itself, let alone yield huge savings.
A look at some of his claims Wednesday:
OBAMA: "Number one, we inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit.... That wasn't me. Number two, there is almost uniform consensus among economists that in the middle of the biggest crisis, financial crisis, since the Great Depression, we had to take extraordinary steps. So you've got a lot of Republican economists who agree that we had to do a stimulus package and we had to do something about the banks. Those are one-time charges, and they're big, and they'll make our deficits go up over the next two years." - in Missouri.
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(AP) President Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting Wednesday, April 29, 2009, at Fox Senior...
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THE FACTS:
Congress controls the purse strings, not the president, and it was under Democratic control for Obama's last two years as Illinois senator. Obama supported the emergency bailout package in President George W. Bush's final months - a package Democratic leaders wanted to make bigger.
To be sure, Obama opposed the Iraq war, a drain on federal coffers for six years before he became president. But with one major exception, he voted in support of Iraq war spending.
The economy has worsened under Obama, though from forces surely in play before he became president, and he can credibly claim to have inherited a grim situation.
Still, his response to the crisis goes well beyond "one-time charges."
He's persuaded Congress to expand children's health insurance, education spending, health information technology and more. He's moving ahead on a variety of big-ticket items on health care, the environment, energy and transportation that, if achieved, will be more enduring than bank bailouts and aid for homeowners.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated his policy proposals would add a net $428 billion to the deficit over four years, even accounting for his spending reduction goals. Now, the deficit is nearly quadrupling to $1.75 trillion.
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OBAMA: "I think one basic principle that we know is that the more we do on the (disease) prevention side, the more we can obtain serious savings down the road. ... If we're making those investments, we will save huge amounts of money in the long term." - in Missouri.
THE FACTS: It sounds believable that preventing illness should be cheaper than treating it, and indeed that's the case with steps like preventing smoking and improving diets and exercise. But during the 2008 campaign, when Obama and other presidential candidates were touting a focus on preventive care, the New England Journal of Medicine cautioned that "sweeping statements about the cost-saving potential of prevention, however, are overreaching." It said that "although some preventive measures do save money, the vast majority reviewed in the health economics literature do not."
And a study released in December by the Congressional Budget Office found that increasing preventive care "could improve people's health but would probably generate either modest reductions in the overall costs of health care or increases in such spending within a 10-year budgetary time frame."
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OBAMA: "You could cut (Social Security) benefits. You could raise the tax on everybody so everybody's payroll tax goes up a little bit. Or you can do what I think is probably the best solution, which is you can raise the cap on the payroll tax." - in Missouri.
THE FACTS: Obama's proposal would reduce the Social Security trust fund's deficit by less than half, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.
That means he would still have to cut benefits, raise the payroll tax rate, raise the retirement age or some combination to deal with the program's long-term imbalance.
Workers currently pay 6.2 percent and their employers pay an equal rate - for a total of 12.4 percent - on annual wages of up to $106,800, after which no more payroll tax is collected.
Obama wants workers making more than $250,000 to pay payroll tax on their income over that amount. That would still protect workers making under $250,000 from an additional burden. But it would raise much less money than removing the cap completely.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
WH Press Release & Background Sotomayor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2009
Family members of Judge Sotomayor in attendance at today’s East Room announcement:
Celina Sotomayor (mother)
Omar Lopez (stepfather)
Juan Sotomayor (brother)
Tracey Sotomayor (sister-in-law)
Kylie Sotomayor (niece)
Conner and Corey Sotomayor (nephews)
Judge Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor has served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since October 1998. She has been hailed as “one of the ablest federal judges currently sitting” for her thoughtful opinions,i and as “a role model of aspiration, discipline, commitment, intellectual prowess and integrity”ii for her ascent to the federal bench from an upbringing in a South Bronx housing project.
Her American story and three decade career in nearly every aspect of the law provide Judge Sotomayor with unique qualifications to be the next Supreme Court Justice. She is a distinguished graduate of two of America's leading universities. She has been a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator. Before she was promoted to the Second Circuit by President Clinton, she was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H.W. Bush. She replaces Justice Souter as the only Justice with experience as a trial judge.
Judge Sotomayor served 11 years on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, one of the most demanding circuits in the country, and has handed down decisions on a range of complex legal and constitutional issues. If confirmed, Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed for the Court in the past 70 years. Judge Richard C. Wesley, a George W. Bush appointee to the Second Circuit, said “Sonia is an outstanding colleague with a keen legal mind. She brings a wealth of knowledge and hard work to all her endeavors on our court. It is both a pleasure and an honor to serve with her.”
In addition to her distinguished judicial service, Judge Sotomayor is a Lecturer at Columbia University Law School and was also an adjunct professor at New York University Law School until 2007.
An American Story
Judge Sonia Sotomayor has lived the American dream. Born to a Puerto Rican family, she grew up in a public housing project in the South Bronx. Her parents moved to New York during World War II – her mother served in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps during the war. Her father, a factory worker with a third-grade education, died when Sotomayor was nine years old. Her mother, a nurse, then raised Sotomayor and her younger brother, Juan, now a physician in Syracuse. After her father’s death, Sotomayor turned to books for solace, and it was her new found love of Nancy Drew that inspired a love of reading and learning, a path that ultimately led her to the law.
Most importantly, at an early age, her mother instilled in Sotomayor and her brother a belief in the power of education. Driven by an indefatigable work ethic, and rising to the challenge of managing a diagnosis of juvenile diabetes, Sotomayor excelled in school. Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian of her class at Blessed Sacrament and at Cardinal Spellman High School in New York. She first heard about the Ivy League from her high school debate coach, Ken Moy, who attended Princeton University, and she soon followed in his footsteps after winning a scholarship.
At Princeton, she continued to excel, graduating summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. She was a co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. At Yale Law School, Judge Sotomayor served as an Editor of the Yale Law Journal and as managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order. One of Sotomayor’s former Yale Law School classmates, Robert Klonoff (now Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School), remembers her intellectual toughness from law school: “She would stand up for herself and not be intimidated by anyone.” [Washington Post, 5/7/09]
A Champion of the Law
Over a distinguished career that spans three decades, Judge Sotomayor has worked at almost every level of our judicial system – yielding a depth of experience and a breadth of perspectives that will be invaluable – and is currently not represented -- on our highest court. New York City District Attorney Morgenthau recently praised Sotomayor as an “able champion of the law” who would be “highly qualified for any position in which wisdom, intelligence, collegiality and good character could be assets.” [Wall Street Journal, 5/9/09]
A Fearless and Effective Prosecutor
Fresh out of Yale Law School, Judge Sotomayor became an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan in 1979, where she tried dozens of criminal cases over five years. Spending nearly every day in the court room, her prosecutorial work typically involved "street crimes," such as murders and robberies, as well as child abuse, police misconduct, and fraud cases. Robert Morgenthau, the person who hired Judge Sotomayor, has described her as a “fearless and effective prosecutor.” [Wall Street Journal, 5/9/09] She was cocounsel in the “Tarzan Murderer” case, which convicted a murderer to 67 and ½ years to life in prison, and was sole counsel in a multiple-defendant case involving a Manhattan housing project shooting between rival family groups.
A Corporate Litigator
She entered private practice in 1984, becoming a partner in 1988 at the firm Pavia and Harcourt. She was a general civil litigator involved in all facets of commercial work including, real estate, employment, banking, contracts, and agency law. In addition, her practice had a significant concentration in intellectual property law, including trademark, copyright and unfair competition issues. Her typical clients were significant corporations doing international business. The managing partner who hired her, George Pavia, remembers being instantly impressed with the young Sonia Sotomayor when he hired her in 1984, noting that “she was just ideal for us in terms of her background and training.” [Washington Post, May 7, 2009]
A Sharp and Fearless Trial Judge
Her judicial service began in October 1992 with her appointment to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H.W. Bush. Still in her 30s, she was the youngest member of the court. From 1992 to 1998, she presided over roughly 450 cases. As a trial judge, she earned a reputation as a sharp and fearless jurist who does not let powerful interests bully her into departing from the rule of law. In 1995, for example, she issued an injunction against Major League Baseball owners, effectively ending a baseball strike that had become the longest work stoppage in professional sports history and had caused the cancellation of the World Series the previous fall. She was widely lauded for saving baseball. Claude Lewis of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that by saving the season, Judge Sotomayor joined “the ranks of Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams.”
A Tough, Fair and Thoughtful Jurist
President Clinton appointed Judge Sotomayor to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1998. She is the first Latina to serve on that court, and has participated in over 3000 panel decisions, authoring roughly 400 published opinions. Sitting on the Second Circuit, Judge Sotomayor has tackled a range of questions: from difficult issues of constitutional law, to complex procedural matters, to lawsuits involving complicated business organizations. In this context, Sotomayor is widely admired as a judge with a sophisticated grasp of legal doctrine. “’She appreciates the complexity of issues,’ said Stephen L. Carter, a Yale professor who teaches some of her opinions in his classes. Confronted with a tough case, Carter said, ‘she doesn’t leap at its throat but reasons to get to the bottom of issues.’” For example, in United States v. Quattrone, Judge Sotomayor concluded that the trial judge had erred by forbidding the release of jurors’ names to the press, concluding after carefully weighing the competing concerns that the trial judge’s concerns for a speedy and orderly trial must give way to the constitutional freedoms of speech and the press.
Sotomayor also has keen awareness of the law’s impact on everyday life. Active in oral arguments, she works tirelessly to probe both the factual details and the legal doctrines in the cases before her and to arrive at decisions that are faithful to both. She understands that upholding the rule of law means going beyond legal theory to ensure consistent, fair, common-sense application of the law to real-world facts. For example, In United States v. Reimer, Judge Sotomayor wrote an opinion revoking the US citizenship for a man charged with working for the Nazis in World War II Poland, guarding concentration camps and helping empty the Jewish ghettos. And in Lin v. Gonzales and a series of similar cases, she ordered renewed consideration of the asylum claims of Chinese women who experienced or were threatened with forced birth control, evincing in her opinions a keen awareness of those women’s plights.
Judge Sotomayor’s appreciation of the real-world implications of judicial rulings is paralleled by her sensible practicality in evaluating the actions of law enforcement officers. For example, in United States v. Falso, the defendant was convicted of possessing child pornography after FBI agents searched his home with a warrant. The warrant should not have been issued, but the agents did not know that, and Judge Sotomayor wrote for the court that the officers’ good faith justified using the evidence they found. Similarly in United States v. Santa, Judge Sotomayor ruled that when police search a suspect based on a mistaken belief that there is a valid arrest warrant out on him, evidence found during the search should not be suppressed. Ten years later, in Herring v. United States, the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion. In her 1997 confirmation hearing, Sotomayor spoke of her judicial philosophy, saying” I don’t believe we should bend the Constitution under any circumstance. It says what it says. We should do honor to it.” Her record on the Second Circuit holds true to that statement. For example, in Hankins v. Lyght, she argued in dissent that the federal government risks “an unconstitutional trespass” if it attempts to dictate to religious organizations who they can or cannot hire or dismiss as spiritual leaders. Since joining the Second Circuit, Sotomayor has honored the Constitution, the rule of law, and justice, often forging consensus and winning conservative colleagues to her point of view.
A Commitment to Community
Judge Sotomayor is deeply committed to her family, to her co-workers, and to her community. Judge Sotomayor is a doting aunt to her brother Juan’s three children and an attentive godmother to five more. She still speaks to her mother, who now lives in Florida, every day. At the courthouse, Judge Sotomayor helped found the collegiality committee to foster stronger personal relationships among members of the court. Seizing an opportunity to lead others on the path to success, she recruited judges to join her in inviting young women to the courthouse on Take Your Daughter to Work Day, and mentors young students from troubled neighborhoods Her favorite project, however, is the Development School for Youth program, which sponsors workshops for inner city high school students. Every semester, approximately 70 students attend 16 weekly workshops that are designed to teach them how to function in a work setting. The workshop leaders include investment bankers, corporate executives and Judge Sotomayor, who conducts a workshop on the law for 25 to 35 students. She uses as her vehicle the trial of Goldilocks and recruits six lawyers to help her. The students play various roles, including the parts of the prosecutor, the defense attorney, Goldilocks and the jurors, and in the process they get to experience openings, closings, direct and cross-examinations. In addition to the workshop experience, each student is offered a summer job by one of the corporate sponsors. The experience is rewarding for the lawyers and exciting for the students, commented Judge Sotomayor, as “it opens up possibilities that the students never dreamed of before.” [Federal Bar Council News, Sept./Oct./Nov. 2005, p.20] This is one of many ways that Judge Sotomayor gives back to her community and inspires young people to achieve their dreams.
She has served as a member of the Second Circuit Task Force on Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts and was formerly on the Boards of Directors of the New York Mortgage Agency, the New York City Campaign Finance Board, and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.
John Murtha to appear on Meet the Press today!
I set my VCR! 
Amnesty International's press release on Lebanon....sm
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/lbn-220805-feature-eng
Summation of today's presidential press conference
Here is NPR's write up of today's press conference by the president for those who would like a quick run down. I just listened to it. Made me nauseous.
WASHINGTON December 4, 2007, 1:04 p.m. ET · President Bush said Tuesday that the international community should continue to pressure Iran on its nuclear programs, asserting Tehran remains dangerous despite a new intelligence conclusion that it halted its development of a nuclear bomb four years ago.
"I view this report as a warning signal that they had the program, they halted the program," Bush said. "The reason why it's a warning signal is they could restart it."
Bush spoke one day after a new national intelligence estimate found that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003, largely because of international scrutiny and pressure. That finding is in stark contrast to the comparable intelligence estimate of just two years ago, when U.S. intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear weapons capability and was continuing its weapons development program.
It is also stood in marked contrast to Bush's rhetoric on Iran. At his last news conference on Oct. 17, for instance, he said that people "interested in avoiding World War III" should be working to prevent Iran from having the knowledge needed to make a nuclear weapon.
Bush said Tuesday that he only learned of the new intelligence assessment last week. But he portrayed it as valuable ammunition against Tehran, not as a reason to lessen diplomatic pressure.
"To me, the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) provides an opportunity for us to rally the international community — to continue to rally the community — to pressure the Iranian regime to suspend its program," the president said. "What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear weapons program."
He also asserted that the report means "nothing's changed," focusing on the previous existence of a weapons program and not addressing the discrepancy between his rhetoric and the disclosure that weapons program has been frozen for four years.
Bush said he is not troubled about his standing, about perhaps facing a credibility gap with the American people. "No, I'm feeling pretty spirited — pretty good about life," Bush said.
"I have said Iran is dangerous, and the NIE doesn't do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world."
Bush said the report's finding would not prompt him to take a U.S. military option against Tehran off the table.
"The best diplomacy — effective diplomacy — is one in which all options are on the table," he said.
The president also said that the world would agree with his message that Iran shouldn't be let off the hook yet.
In fact, Europeans said the new information strengthens their argument for negotiations with Tehran, but they also said that sanctions are still an option to compel Iran to be fully transparent about its nuclear program. European officials insisted that the international community should not walk away from years of talks with an often defiant Tehran that is openly enriching uranium for uncertain ends. The report said Iran could still build a nuclear bomb by 2010-2015.
In Kabul, Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates reinforced the U.S. position that the new U.S. intelligence assessment shows that Tehran remains a possible threat. He said it shows that Iran has had a nuclear weapons program and that as long as the country continues with its uranium enrichment activities, Iran could always renew its weapons program.
The U.S. intelligence assessment "validated the administration's strategy of bringing diplomatic and economic efforts to bear on Iran," Gates said Tuesday, speaking at a news conference with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai.
Bush called the news conference, his first in nearly seven weeks, to intensify pressure on lawmakers amid disputes over spending and the Iraq war. Taking advantage of his veto power and the largest bully pulpit in town, Bush regularly scolds Congress as a way to stay relevant and frame the debate as his presidency winds down.
Democrats counter that Bush is more interested in making statements than genuinely trying to negotiate some common ground with them.
Specifically, Bush again on Tuesday challenged Congress to send him overdue spending bills; to approve his latest war funding bill without conditions; to pass a temporary to fix to the alternative minimum tax so millions of taxpayers don't get hit with tax increases; and to extend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
"Congress still has a lot to do," Bush said. "It doesn't have very much time to do it."
On another matter, Bush was asked about a rape victim in Saudi Arabia who was sentenced to prison and 200 lashes for being alone with a man not related to her — a violation of the kingdom's strict segregation of the sexes. Saudi Arabia has faced enormous international criticism about the sentencing.
"My first thoughts were these," Bush said. "What happens if this happens to my daughter? How would I react? And I would have been — I'd of been very emotional, of course. I'd have been angry at those who committed the crime. And I'd be angry at a state that didn't support the victim."
Bush, however, said he has not made his views known directly to Saudi King Abdullah, an ally. But he added: "He knows our position loud and clear."
The president said the U.S. economy is strong, though he acknowledged that the housing crisis has become a "headwind." He said administration officials are working on the issue, but he is wary of bailing out lenders. "We shouldn't say, 'OK, you made a lousy loan so we're going to go ahead and subsidize you.' "
Asked about the 2008 election, Bush steered himself back out of commenting on politics. "I practiced some punditry in the past — I'm not going to any further."
On other issues, Bush said:
—"The Venezuelan people rejected one-man rule" when they rejected a constitutional provision that would have enabled Hugo Chavez to remain in power for life and drive changes throughout Venezuelan society. "They voted for democracy."
—He talked by telephone Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and briefed him on the new Iran intelligence estimate. Bush also said he told Putin that "we were sincere in our expressions of concern" about irregularities in the voting that produced a sweeping parliamentary victory for Putin's party.
—He has "cordial relations" with Democratic leaders of Congress despite the sharp words between the White House and Capitol Hill. He blamed Democrats for the lack of compromises, saying, "In order for us to be able to reach accord, they got to come with one voice, one position."
Well now when he shows up on Meet The Press like that I'll start to worry!
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T.Boone PIckens will be on Meet the Press tomorrow morning (nm)
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Can't chew gum. Would've if I could've.
Even got hypnotized. Supposedly guaranteed to quit. Lasted 5 hours. Thank heavens I never smoked anything stronger. 
I'm not reading it and here's why. SM
*Breaking News from the Progressive Community* is not exactly unbiased now is it?
Yes, and while you are reading it...
look very closely at "here is where things get murky. Bill CLinton, Sandy Berger, and Richard Clarke all denied..."
Good grief. Bill Clinton committed felony perjury. Yes, i am going to believe him...NOT. Sandy "socks" Berger...am I going to believe him...not hardly. Richard Clarke...you have GOT to be kidding. The man who confessed that HE was the one who first outed Valerie Plame.
Factcheck.org left a lot out of their fact checking. And saying it doesn't matter anyway because they couldn't prove he had not done anything wrong yet...the three above obviously aren't concerned about truth. Fact remains, he had the chance, he did not take it, and if bin laden had been in jail or a CIA prison somewhere he could not have plotted and financed 9-11.
Nice try, but I don't buy it. Didn't then, don't now.
Okay, Sam, I did some reading....
I read your response and I thought maybe I don't know the difference so I went looking and everything I can find makes those two out to be the same thing...
**McCain has made opposition to pork-barrel spending a central theme of his 2008 campaign. "Earmarking deprives federal agencies of scarce resources, at the whim of individual members of Congress," McCain has said.
**Three times in recent years, McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time -- Sarah Palin.
**"So while Sen. McCain was going after cutting earmarks in Washington," said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense, "Gov. Palin was going after getting earmarks."
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-earmarks3-2008sep03,0,2482434.story
Now, I am sorry, but to me they are the same thing. Again, as I have said before, I am not being hateful - I am truly trying to grasp what the difference is.
Reading what he says is..
more enjoyable than listening to him. I sometimes want to listen to what he has to say, but he sounds so whiney and preachy I can't stand it. He's kind of way out there, but I do see his point on some things. So, thanks for posting the link.
And yet....there you are reading...LOL.
You guys are so petty its ridiculous.
Oh, believe you me not into reading about her
I saw this on CNN's front page as I scanned over some stories. Let me explain why you think she scares the loonies. Anyone who does not seem to have the intelligence of a dingbat and yet has people voting for her because of her looks, her clothing, whatever the cause was, now that is the scary part.I answered email from lady in Tennessee, a bible-thumping rightwinged holy-roller and she was almost scary in her adoration of Palin. From her first news interviews (well, the 1 or 2 that she actually did, the camp tried to keep her under lock and key) I certainly thought what in the world was that old white only mostly repubs trying to do. I never thought she was any kind of political heavy and now with her tit and TAT back and forth with her almost son-in-law, just proves it even further. I fully think before long they will be more at each other's throats with lawsuits and what have you. Just sitting back watching the implosion.
Have you not been reading? NO I SM
DO NOT SUPPORT my son in this lifestyle. I made that plain. If there are kids who have been killed by homosexuals and not getting any press, that is the fault of the press, not your fault or mine. I agree there is an agenda to push homosexuality down our throats. I don't want it. By the same token, AGAIN, there are homosexuals being killed because they are homosexuals. Are the kids being killed because they are kids or because the sickos (whether straight or homosexuals) just want to kill them, anybody, child adult whatever.
I do not say anything because I have a son who is homosexual, he knows how I feel and his father and I make no bones about it so you have no right to even come across like that lady. I do not have my head in the sand. I believe my son is committing a sin. He does not bring that lifestyle around his father and I or the rest of his family.
Hmmmmmmm let me guess, you are one of the parents who would disown your child because he was gay? Would you disown him for any other sin or would you tell him you don't want taht around you and make sure he knows exactly how you feel.
You are a hippocrit Patty!
I cannot believe that I'm reading such
ignorance as I am from some of you people. You talk about how torturing terrorists is serious and how horrible. Poor wittle terrorists.....tear. Yet you seem to forget that these terrorists want YOU dead and would sooner cut your head off than look at you. Give me a break and spare me your pathetic comments. I'm done talking to you terrorist sympathizers. God forbid any of these terrorists should bomb any place you are at because you might think differently when you are being blown up...that is if you have the time to think about it. Goodnight. I'm tired of this BS.
Actually, the way I am reading it is the media is DOING it. SM
Looking for some dirt. That's the way I read the article. Time will tell I guess.
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