August 31, 2006
I'M SPREADING THE NEWS
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
WE MUST NOT CONFUSE DISSENT WITH DISLOYALTY
Last night on Countdown Keith Olbermann had a Special Comment at the end of his program. It was in response to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's speech to the American Legion on Tuesday.
HE SAID IN PART:
Feeling morally, intellectually confused? The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet. Mr. Rumsfeld's remarkable speech to the American Legion yesterday demands the deep analysis-and the sober contemplation-of every American. For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence -- indeed, the loyalty -- of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land. Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants -- our employees -- with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration's track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve. Dissent and disagreement with government is the life's blood of human freedom; and not merely because it is the first roadblock against the kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as "his" troops still fight, this very evening, in Iraq. It is also essential. Because just every once in awhile it is right and the power to which it speaks, is wrong.
I've captured the whole segment here, but it's over 6 minutes long so I've split it into three parts of about 2 minutes each so you can watch one and come back later and watch the others. Or you can just watch them one after another.
This is a great segment and well worth your time.
First Part
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
Keith's Special Comment part 1 of 3. <----( watch the video here )
Second Part
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
Keith's Special Comment part 2 of 3. <----( watch the video here )
Third Part
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
Keith's Special Comment part 3 of 3. <----( watch the video here )
I FEEL GOOD, LIKE I KNEW I WOULD . . .
Yesterday I was listening to the Dave Ross Show on radio. He was talking about Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld speech to the American Legion on Tuesday.
If you go to the KIRO710.COM Web site they have an instant message setup so you can send Dave a quick message. Sometimes he'll read these on the air. I decided to send him the following instant messageHi Dave, Whooa, I feel much better today after Rummy's speech. I was going around with my head down because the OLD TALKING POINTS said I didn't support our troops then changed that to say I wasn't patriotic and finally they went all the way and said I was a traitor. Oh thank you so much RUMMY cause now I'm only an APPEASER. I can hold my head up high once again. Mick in Bremerton
MORE OF THE "R's" BULLSHIT
By using what I call CREATIVE EDITING, by taking things out of context and by using stupid talking points these guys create these ads that the general public has no way of knowing if what they are seeing and hearing is true. The problem is I think most people want to be positive and believe what they see and hear on TV/Radio.
The creators of these ads KNOW EXACTLY what they are doing. They know that when they make a cut here or there that without the full context or follow up it will change the meaning. In other words it CREATES THE LIE I talked about above.
I'm breaking this ad up into a five part series. This is part 2. I'll post a small part of this add and talk about that add. You can always go back to the FIRST part and to review the ad from start to finish to check out what it's says.
As you go through this Rant the BuzzFlash info is in "GRAY" or "RED" my comments are in "BLUE". Ok Here we go.
FAKE REPUBLICAN ADS PART 4 of 5
Rep. John Murtha: "We need to redeploy and let the Iraqis handle this themselves" (Text: Cut-and-Run in Iraq)
Letting the Iraqis take over their own country and taking our troops out? Sounds like a plan so reasonable it could be opposed only by Republicans, who apparently want Americans there forever.
The facts? The Republican record since 9/11
They should have called this garbage "Republican rhetoric since 9/11."
For the record, the measures that were added included one allowing recipients of a law-enforcement request for business records to challenge a gag order preventing them from talking about it. Another removed a requirement that recipients of national security letters, which are like subpoenas but do not require court approval, disclose the name of any attorney they consult or intend to consult. Another ensures that libraries operating in traditional roles and not as Internet service providers are not subject to national security letters.
The ad claims Republicans "created the Department of Homeland Security." In fact the Bush administration spent nearly nine months in 2001 and 2002 rejecting calls for the cabinet-level department.
The President created a White House Office of Homeland Security in October 2001, headed by an assistant to the President but with no direct management authority over security agencies. Soon after, a Democrat, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, introduced one of the first bills calling for a full, cabinet-level department. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said on March 20, 2002 that a Cabinet-level agency was not needed.
The ad also claims that Republicans "Strengthened and Reformed America's Intelligence Agencies," referring to legislation that actually came through a broadly bipartisan effort.
The National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 passed the Senate 89 to 2, with one Democrat and one Republican voting against. It passed the House by a vote of 336 to 75, and most of those who voted for it were Democrats while most of those opposing it were Republicans. President Bush acknowledged the bipartisan nature of the bill when he signed it Dec. 17, 2004 by including both Sen. Lieberman and Democratic Rep. Jane Harman of California among those he credited, as well as Democratic former congressman Lee Hamilton of Indiana, the vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission. That commission, also bipartisan, and also initially resisted by the White House, had urged the reorganization.
Far as I know the "Homeland Security Department" (which Bush didn't want in the first place, see above) didn't exist under Clinton. So that's just more BULLSHIT to confuse the public.
By the way, do you like how the Homeland Security Department is being managed and run?
BILL'S COST TROUBLED ME SAYS TEDDY BOY STEVENS
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) held up a bill that would create a free, searchable database of government contracts and grants because he was worried about the proposal's price tag, his spokesman said this afternoon. Its cost has been estimated at $15 million.
Stevens' office has asked Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), the sponsor of the bill, for "a cost-benefit analysis to make sure this does not create an extra layer of unnecessary bureaucracy," spokesman Aaron Saunders said. The Senator "wanted to make sure that this wasn't going to be a huge cost to the taxpayer and that it achieves the goal which the bill is meant to achieve."
Stevens, who's on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, failed to attend any hearings on the bill, an assertion backed up by vote tallies. "If he had concerns, he should have addressed them in regular order rather than blocking something that will benefit millions of taxpayers," Hart said. He added that after Stevens' office raised the concerns, Coburn's office requested a meeting, but never got one.
So Good Old Teddy Boy was worried about a $15 million data base that ALL AMERICA can use and access but has NO PROBLEM with his $250 million Bridge To No where that serves just 60 people.
The INTERNET TUBES MAN IS NUTS.
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
MEDICAL CHARGES TODATE
These are my medical expense as of June 2006. You can see the trend up as my health was changing and I need some procedures done.
The biggest jump was in June when I went to Harrison for a one day procedure. I haven't received my 3 day stay over at Swedish in Seattle when I had the stent implanted a little over a week ago. Not looking forward to that.
JAN $164.00 FEB $103.00 MAR $22.00 APR $661.00 MAY $2,882.00 JUN $12,820.00
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
WHY WE LOVE CAT AND DOGS
DOGS:
by Alice Oglethorpe
1. Floppy ears
2. Faces that drip with wrinkles
3. They sense it when you're sad
4. Wild rolls in the grass
5. They fearlessly stick their heads
out car windows
6. That quizzical head tilt
7. They go silly with joy when you get home
8. Piglike snorts
9. Ponylike trots
10. They can walk themselves,
leash in mouth
11. Noses that nuzzle
12. They get so excited, they shake
13. The ladylike way they
sometimes cross their paws
14. The spot you can scratch
to make their leg go crazy
15. Their bravery, except during storms
16. They "run" in their sleep, pawing the air
17. Mournful looks when they're hoping for a treat
18. Going belly up for a tummy rub
19. Their enormous, contagious yawns
20. Whenever you look up, they're there
NO WORDS NEEDED
DID YOU HEAR THIS ONE?
Hear about the guy who got fired at the canning factory?
He got caught taking a pea.
August 30, 2006
LIES AND SUGGESTIONS
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
Bush gives us a Mideast update on Letterman. <----( watch the video here )
IS A SUGGESTION A LIE? . . .
Many of the Bush administrations spokes persons have been out on TV, Radio and in the press over the past 3-4 years suggesting there was a CONNECTION between IRAQ and SEPT 11th. They did this by the implanting of the idea, creating the allusion, making the association, implication there was a connection, creating by innuendo, intimation, suggesting the notion, or creating this connection until over 60% of American believed it.
So on his Aug 21, 2006 press conference President Bush had to answer the question directly about "was there a connection between Iraq and Sept 11th." Here is what he said.
QUESTION: What did Iraqi have to do with that? BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with what? QUESTION: The attacks upon the World Trade Center. BUSH: Nothing. Except for it's part of -- and nobody's ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- Iraq -- the lesson of September the 11th is: Take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody's ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq. I have suggested, however, that resentment and the lack of hope create the breeding grounds for terrorists who are willing to use suiciders to kill, to achieve an objective. I have made that case.
The last time I heard the poll about the connection between Iraq and 9/11 about 50% of American still believe it. So when president Bush says "Nobody's ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq" he's technically right , but look at his choice of words "NOBODY'S EVER SUGGESTED THE ATTACKS WERE ORDERED BY IRAQ".
Well GEE how the hell did America get that idea? I wonder. Could it be that they were lied to? Or maybe mislead? Let's look at this just a little closer.
First President Bush:
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
Bush say's NOTHING. <----( watch the video here )
Second VP Cheney:
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
My oh my how you love to lie Mr Cheney. <----( watch the video here )
Third Paul Krugman on lies:
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
Paul Krugman put's it all together. <----( watch the video here )
MORE OF THE "R's" BULLSHIT
By using what I call CREATIVE EDITING, by taking things out of context and by using stupid talking points these guys create these ads that the general public has no way of knowing if what they are seeing and hearing is true. The problem is I think most people want to be positive and believe what they see and hear on TV/Radio.
The creators of these ads KNOW EXACTLY what they are doing. They know that when they make a cut here or there that without the full context or follow up it will change the meaning. In other words it CREATES THE LIE I talked about above.
I'm breaking this ad up into a five part series. This is part 2. I'll post a small part of this add and talk about that add. You can always go back to the FIRST part and to review the ad from start to finish to check out what it's says.
As you go through this Rant the BuzzFlash info is in "GRAY" or "RED" my comments are in "BLUE". Ok Here we go.
FAKE REPUBLICAN ADS PART 3 of 5
Ned Lamont: "I look at the illegal wiretaps. I thought that was a time that Democrats should have stood up and held the President accountable. I think we should have said 'that was wrong,' I think we should have had hearings." (Text: Against Terrorist Surveillance)
The caption should read: "Against illegal wiretaps." That is, after all, what he said. Everyone is in favor of getting intelligence on terrorists. We just don't want the government listening to the private conversations of law-abiding citizens. Apparently that's a problem for Republicans.
Even in the clip shown in the RNC ad Lamont didn't say he was against surveillance, only against the way President Bush ordered National Security Council eavesdropping without judicial orders.
Whether Bush's NSA program is legal, as the White House says, or not, as US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled last week, is a matter still being litigated. But the fact is that it was illegality to which Lamont objected, not surveillance.
Sen. Dick Durbin: "If I read this to you, and didn't tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control." (Text: Against Terrorist Interrogation)
This one should read: "Against illegal torture." That is, after all, what he was talking about. Note that the video doesn't tell you what Durbin had just described, which isn't surprising because it is in fact horrific. The account discusses people urinating and defecating on themselves while they are chained to the floor for days at a time, as well as one man who went so far as to rip out his own hair throughout the night. But the Republicans are all for such barbarity, which was sanctioned by Bush and Rumsfeld, and will accuse you of being soft on terror if you're not. (Click here to read the rest of Durbin's great floor statement - pdf)
Unless the RNC means to endorse such treatment of prisoners as essential to "interrogation" it is mischaracterizing what Durbin said.
Sen. John Kerry: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it..." (Text: Against Funding Our Troops)
We're not going to get into this tired distortion again, except to say Kerry's vote was in protest of a bill which Bush himself threatened to veto. Nonetheless, any votes to restrict funding by Democrats has been for the sole purpose of trying to ensure the money we do appropriate is well spent (that is, not for Halliburton to misplace) or to force an eventual withdrawal altogether. The only people who knowingly let our troops go into harm's way without the best equipment and armor we could provide them were Bush, Rumsfeld, and their clones in the Pentagon.
WATCH THE BRIDGE GROW
They are now laying the deck (roadway) on the new Tacoma Bridge. Click the link below and select one of the cameras to watch all the action.
@ @ Visit the SITE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Watch the deck of the Bridge go up. <----( click here to go to the site )
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
No post today.
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
WHY WE LOVE CAT AND DOGS
CATS:
by Alice Oglethorpe
1. Noses that twitch
2. Supersoft pink paws
3. Their love affair with open boxes. . .
4. . . . and rubber bands
5. Their vigilant surveillance of the front walk
6. Rhythmic purrs
7. Full-body stretches
8. They curl up on your chest-and even put a paw to your cheek
9. Their sloooow eyeblinks
10. Their ability to find the only square of sunshine on the carpet-and fall
asleep in it
11. "Pet me now" nudges
12. Their haughty independence. . .
13. . . . combined with their constant need to be near you
14. Their attention-seeking stunts
15. The way they curl their tails around their feet so tidily
16. The warmth of their bodies
17. Sandpaper kisses
18. Their cranky meows when you keep them waiting
19. They daintily step all over the newspaper you're reading
20. Whenever you look up, they're there
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT?
Question: Why does a retiree often say he doesn't miss work, but misses the people he used to work with?
Answer: He is too polite to tell the whole truth.
August 29, 2006
ONE YEAR AGO TODAY
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
HECKUVA JOB BUSHIE . . .
This is the first anniversary of KATRINA and it's still a huge mess. I heard some one make the follow observation.
"The day after the peace accord was called in the war between
Israel and Hasbla, the Terrorists were out on the street the
next day handing out U.S. dollars to people that had their houses
damaged or destroyed."
Yes I said they are handing out U.S Dollars.
Here we are one year later and it's as big a mess now as it was this day one year ago.
Much of the problem as I see it is that people (the leadership) in much of the various government agencies are more interested in pointing a finger than getting down to work.
It was Bill Maher that made the statement above. Here is what he said.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Bill Maher talks about leadership. <----( watch the video here )
MORE OF THE "R's" BULLSHIT
By using what I call CREATIVE EDITING, by taking things out of context and by using stupid talking points these guys create these ads that the general public has no way of knowing if what they are seeing and hearing is true. The problem is I think most people want to be positive and believe what they see and hear on TV/Radio.
The creators of these ads KNOW EXACTLY what they are doing. They know that when they make a cut here or there that without the full context or follow up it will change the meaning. In other words it CREATES THE LIE I talked about above.
I'm breaking this ad up into a five part series. This is part 2. I'll post a small part of this add and talk about that add. You can always go back to the FIRST part and to review the ad from start to finish to check out what it's says.
As you go through this Rant the BuzzFlash info is in "GRAY" or "RED" my comments are in "BLUE". Ok Here we go.
FAKE REPUBLICAN ADS PART 2 of 5
New York Times: "Democrats Asserting Bush Has Diminished U.S. Safety"
Los Angeles Times: "Democrats Go On Offense in Latest Terror Case"
The FrontRunner: "Democrats Hope to Challenge Bush, GOP on Terrorism."
Fantastic. Democrats are paying attention and are making at least some effort. They aren't even doing as much as they should be about this Administration's failure to protect us.
What are Democrats Going to Talk About? Their Record?
Earth to Republicans: You've had total control of Washington ever since the nation started going down the toilet a few years ago. If anything bad happened, IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT! The only record Democrats have is the little they've done to try to temper the Republicans' insane agenda.
Sen. Harry Reid: "We killed the Patriot Act." (Text: Against the Patriot Act)
This is obviously totally out of context. The Democrats DIDN'T kill the Patriot Act: it got approved and then renewed! Besides, there were many good reasons to be opposed to the significant attacks on civil liberties contained in the bill. Maybe that's why 18 Republicans even voted against reauthorization. There is nothing patriotic about taking away our liberties.
Sen. Joe Biden: "This administration's biggest problem in my view, it took its eye off the ball because it focused on missile defense." (Text: Against Missile Defense)
The Republicans are still worried about missile defense? Jeez! Even if you think it would be a fun thing to study as a long-term project for the future (despite the fact that it's ridiculously expensive and doesn't work), it has absolutely been a tragic distraction that offers zero protection from the current terrorist threat. It would also stand to make us less safe from developed states and organizations, like North Korea, who would simply develop new, more deadly ways to attack us.
A NEW FORMULA
Iran responds to the UN demands with a NEW FORMULA. Jon Stewart explains.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Jon Stewart explains the new formula. <----( watch the video here )
NEW BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST 2006 - 2010
Beloit, Wis. - A rite of autumn is under way with the arrival of first-year students at thousands of colleges and universities for registration.
Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. A creation of Beloit's Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today's first-year students.
Over the next few days I'll post the List for each Graduating Class starting with 2007 (they started college way back in 2003). OK this is for all you kids Hold on you kids that are starting college for the first time I'll get to you in a few days.
BELOIT COLLEGE'S
CLASS OF 2010 MINDSET LIST®
Members of the class of 2010, entering college this fall, were mostly born in 1988.
For them: Billy Carter, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Billy Martin, Andy Gibb, and Secretariat
have always been dead.
1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is
about as scary as the student union.
2. They have known only two presidents.
3. For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been
bankrupt.
4. Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S.
5. They have grown up getting lost in "big boxes."
6. There has always been only one Germany.
7. They have never heard anyone actually "ring it up" on a
cash register.
8. They are wireless, yet always connected.
9. A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as
a third-rate burglary was to their parents'.
10. Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents
have always been able to speak freely in the front.
11. A coffee has always taken longer to make than a
milkshake.
12. Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.
13. Faux fur has always been a necessary element of style.
14. The Moral Majority has never needed an organization.
15. They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis
Cardinals baseball and football teams.
16. DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence
in court.
17. They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts
in the supermarket.
18. They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of
communication.
19. "Google" has always been a verb.
20. Text messaging is their email.
21. Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.
22. Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the
most trusted man in America.
23. Bar codes have always been on everything, from library
cards and snail mail to retail items.
24. Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning
coach.
25. Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway.
26. "Boogers" candy has always been a favorite for grossing
out parents.
27. There has never been a "skyhook" in the NBA.
28. Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents'
attics.
29. Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in
the lobby.
30. Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the
fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.
31. They grew up in mini-vans.
32. Reality shows have always been on television.
33. They have no idea why we needed to ask "...can we all
get along?"
34. They have always known that "In the criminal justice
system the people have been represented by two separate
yet equally important groups."
35. Young women's fashions have never been concerned with
where the waist is.
36. They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.
37. Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or
third wedding.
38. Being techno-savvy has always been inversely
proportional to age.
39. "So" as in "Sooooo New York," has always been a drawn-
out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn
modifies something else
40. Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have
always been the subjects of television series.
41. They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions
live on television.
42. Ken Burns has always been producing very long
documentaries on PBS.
43. They are not aware that "flock of seagulls hair" has
nothing to do with birds flying into it.
44. Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.
45. Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.
46. Public school officials have always had the right to
censor school newspapers.
47. Small white holiday lights have always been in style.
48. Most of them never had the chance to eat bad airline
food.
49. They have always been searching for "Waldo."
50. The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with
outlandish birthday parties.
51. Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.
52. They never played the game of state license plates in
the car.
53. They have always preferred going out in groups as
opposed to dating.
54. There have always been live organ donors.
55. They have always had access to their own credit cards.
56. They have never put their money in a "Savings & Loan."
57. Sara Lee has always made underwear.
58. Bad behavior has always been getting captured on amateur
videos.
59. Disneyland has always been in Europe and Asia.
60. They never saw Bernard Shaw on CNN.
61. Beach volleyball has always been a recognized sport.
62. Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti have always been luxury cars
of choice.
63. Television stations have never concluded the broadcast
day with the national anthem.
64. LoJack transmitters have always been finding lost cars.
65. Diane Sawyer has always been live in Prime Time.
66. Dolphin-free canned tuna has always been on sale.
67. Disposable contact lenses have always been available.
68. "Outing" has always been a threat.
69. Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss has always been
the perfect graduation gift.
70. They have always "dissed" what they don't like.
71. The U.S. has always been studying global warming to
confirm its existence.
72. Richard M. Daley has always been the Mayor of Chicago.
73. They grew up with virtual pets to feed, water, and play
games with, lest they die.
74. Ringo Starr has always been clean and sober.
75. Professional athletes have always competed in the
Olympics.
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
No post today.
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
Why do grocery store check-out clerks have such a hard time deciding between paper or plastic?
Becase baggers can't be choosers.
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT?
Question: What's the biggest advantage of going back to school as a retiree?
Answer: If you cut classes, no one calls your parents.
August 28, 2006
WORKING TO GET IT RIGHT
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
AND THE WINNER IS . . .
Back on 8/21/6 I ran a little contest. The winner was to receive their choice of a $25 Costco Gift Card or a $25 personal check from me.
I put up a Quote that I wanted the author identified. The first person to send me an email with the correct answer wins. Pretty simple.
Turns out I don't have a winner. But that's not exactly correct. I actually had two winners. The first winner (based on date and time of email) said the answer was to easy and to give the prize of someone that had to work to get it.
The second winner had the correct answer (Hermann Goering) but gave me a BOGUS email address. So they lost.
I've now closed the contest and have decided to give the money to Pearson Elementary School just up the road from me on Central Valley Road in Kitsap County.
I've been talking to the principle about how I might help them with getting some school supplies and maybe even some used computer equipment.
MORE OF THE "R's" BULLSHIT
I got this from BUZZFLASH.COM. I've taken it just one step further than they by going frame by frame and placing the appropriate comments to each frame. My hope is to make it just a bit clearer to show how these BASTARDS can LIE. YES I SAID LIE.
By using what I call CREATIVE EDITING, by taking things out of context and by using stupid talking points these guys create these ads that the general public has no way of knowing if what they are seeing and hearing is true. The problem is I think most people want to be positive and believe what they see and hear on TV/Radio.
The creators of these ads KNOW EXACTLY what they are doing. They know that when they make a cut here or there that without the full context or follow up it will change the meaning. In other words it CREATES THE LIE I talked about above.
I'm breaking this ad up into a five part series which I'll post over the next five days. I'll post a small part of this add and talk about that add. You can always come back here to the first part to review the ad from start to finish to check out what it's says.
As you go through this Rant the BuzzFlash info is in "GRAY" or "RED" my comments are in "BLUE". Ok Here we go.
FAKE REPUBLICAN ADS PART 1 of 5
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
What Happens When Republicans Try to Campaign on National Security: BuzzFlash's Response to a Ridiculous New GOP Attack Piece.
As they've said, Republicans are trying to make national security their main issue for the upcoming midterm elections. Unfortunately for them, they've been failing miserably on security for years. Accordingly, a recent video advertisement posted on the Republican Party's website, "A Safer America," seems more like a sad, desperate parody of this administration than a reasoned attack on Democrats.
As you will see, the Republicans have simply used the old technique of showing their opponents talking while ominous music plays in the background. Of course, the Democrats shown are all saying completely reasonable things, but that doesn't seem to matter to whoever came up with this garbage.
Watch the video by clicking the IMAGE above, and, as soon as you get done laughing, read BuzzFlash's scene-by-scene response below:
"Democrats say they want to talk about national security and the war on terror. While terrorists are watching..."
That's right. Don't question anything Bush tells us. Al Qaeda's only intelligence on our weaknesses comes from people trying to fix them, so if we don't talk about our vulnerabilities, we'll be totally safe! This isn't just "duck and cover," this is "if you don't move, the terrorists can't see you!"
Howard Dean: "We need a real, tough fight on terror, but we need to be tough and smart, not just talk tough."
That sounds completely reasonable. How could anyone but Republicans question that?
A GOOD CASE TO MAKE
I enjoy watching the McLaughlin Group on PBS. I especially like Eleanor Clift and often feel the others try to shout her down. I wish they would be a little more respectful.
Anyway she got through the night I recorded this little clip. She was talking about Bush and his assertion that we are safer now. BTW, she got it RIGHT. @ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Sometimes the truth hurts. <----( watch the video here )
NEW BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST 2004 - 2008
Beloit, Wis. - A rite of autumn is under way with the arrival of first-year students at thousands of colleges and universities for registration.
Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. A creation of Beloit's Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today's first-year students.
Over the next few days I'll post the List for each Graduating Class starting with 2007 (they started college way back in 2003). Hold on you kids that are starting college for the first time I'll get to you in a few days.
BELOIT COLLEGE'S
CLASS OF 2009 MINDSET LIST®
Most students entering college this fall were born in 1987.
1. Andy Warhol, Liberace, Jackie Gleason, and Lee Marvin
have always been dead.
2. They don't remember when "cut and paste" involved
scissors.
3. Heart-lung transplants have always been possible.
4. Wayne Gretzky never played for Edmonton.
5. Boston has been working on the "The Big Dig" all their
lives.
6. With little need to practice, most of them do not know
how to tie a tie.
7. Pay-Per-View television has always been an option.
8. They never had the fun of being thrown into the back of
a station wagon with six others.
9. Iran and Iraq have never been at war with each other.
10. They are more familiar with Greg Gumbel than with Bryant
Gumbel.
11. Philip Morris has always owned Kraft Foods.
12. Al-Qaida has always existed with Osama bin Laden at its
head.
13. They learned to count with Lotus 1-2-3.
14. Car stereos have always rivaled home component systems.
15. Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker have never preached on
television.
16. Voice mail has always been available.
17. "Whatever" is not part of a question but an expression
of sullen rebuke.
18. The federal budget has always been more than a trillion
dollars.
19. Condoms have always been advertised on television.
20. They may have fallen asleep playing with their Gameboys
in the crib.
21. They have always had the right to burn the flag.
22. For daily caffeine emergencies, Starbucks has always
been around the corner.
23. Ferdinand Marcos has never been in charge of the
Philippines.
24. Money put in their savings account the year they were
born earned almost 7% interest.
25. Bill Gates has always been worth at least a billion
dollars.
26. Dirty dancing has always been acceptable.
27. Southern fried chicken, prepared with a blend of 11
herbs and spices, has always been available in China.
28. Michael Jackson has always been bad, and greed has
always been good.
29. The Starship Enterprise has always looked dated.
30. Pixar has always existed.
31. There has never been a "fairness doctrine" at the FCC.
32. Judicial appointments routinely have been "Borked."
33. Aretha Franklin has always been in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.
34. There have always been zebra mussels in the Great Lakes.
35. Police have always been able to search garbage without a
search warrant.
36. It has always been possible to walk from England to
mainland Europe on dry land.
37. They have grown up in a single superpower world.
38. They missed the oat bran diet craze.
39. American Motors has never existed.
40. Scientists have always been able to see supernovas.
41. Les Miserables has always been on stage.
42. Halogen lights have always been available at home, with
a warning.
43. "Baby M" may be a classmate, and contracts with
surrogate mothers have always been legal.
44. RU486 has always been on the market.
45. There has always been a pyramid in front of the Louvre
in Paris.
46. British Airways has always been privately owned.
47. Irradiated food has always been available but
controversial.
48. Snowboarding has always been a popular winter pastime.
49. Libraries have always been the best centers for computer
technology and access to good software.
50. Biosphere 2 has always been trying to create a
revolution in the life sciences.
51. The Hubble Telescope has always been focused on new
frontiers.
52. Researchers have always been looking for stem cells.
53. They do not remember "a kinder and gentler nation."
54. They never saw the shuttle Challenger fly.
55. The TV networks have always had cable partners.
56. Airports have always had upscale shops and restaurants.
57. Black Americans have always been known as African-
Americans.
58. They never saw Pat Sajak or Arsenio Hall host a late
night television show.
59. Matt Groening has always had a Life in Hell.
60. Salman Rushdie has always been watching over his
shoulder.
61. Digital cameras have always existed.
62. Tom Landry never coached the Cowboys.
63. Time Life and Warner Communications have always been
joined.
64. CNBC has always been on the air.
65. The Field of Dreams has always been drawing people to
Iowa.
66. They never saw a Howard Johnson's with 28 ice cream
flavors.
67. Reindeer at Christmas have always distinguished between
secular and religious decorations.
68. Entertainment Weekly has always been on the newsstand.
69. Lyme Disease has always been a ticking concern in the
woods.
70. Jimmy Carter has always been an elder statesman.
71. Miss Piggy and Kermit have always dwelt in Disneyland.
72. America's Funniest Home Videos has always been on
television.
73. Their nervous new parents heard C. Everett Koop proclaim
nicotine as addictive as heroin.
74. Lever has always been looking for 2000 parts to clean.
75. They have always been challenged to distinguish between
news and entertainment on cable TV.
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
No post today.
On a side issue
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
ANNOYANCE:
----- Click on this link and you will see a man. Put the cursor of your mouse on his nose and leave it there and see what happens... this is cool!!
@ @ Visit the SITE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Help this guy out. <----( click here to go to the site )
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT?
Question: What is the best way to describe retirement?
Answers: The never ending Coffee Break.
August 27, 2006
ONLY 1 TO GO
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
WEEKEND VACATION NOTICE
PRESIDENT BUSH IS ON VACATION
CHENEY IS IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.
I'M STILL SLEEPING.
August 26, 2006
ONLY 2 TO GO
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
WEEKEND VACATION NOTICE
PRESIDENT BUSH IS ON VACATION
CHENEY IS IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.
I'M STILL SLEEPING.
August 25, 2006
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
A LOOK BACK
This is in honor of my 3 year of BLOGGING and President Bush. I read an article that said he enjoys a fart or two. I need to find that article.
MISSED THESE VIDEOS
I noticed that on my Rants for 8/17 and 8/18 I didn't load the video I had made. Going to all that work and not using them is stupid Mick so fix ok.
This first video talks about the Donut Hole, that part of the Prescription Drug program that gets applied when you reach a certain cost. This doesn't make any sense to me, but than I'm not a Drug Company.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @The Donut Hole. <----( watch the video here )
The second video covers the inability of Medicare to negotiate for better prices. You just need to ask yourself if you went to buy a car would you expect to negotiate or would you say what ever price the dealer wanted was ok to know how STUPID this law is.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Right to negotiate for drug costs. <----( watch the video here )
MEET THE PRESS ANNOUNCES 2006 SENATE DEBATES
Award-winning Tim Russert-hosted series continues with six contests
As the longest running program on television, NBC's "Meet the Press" has a proud history of presenting its viewers with the very best in political debate. This election year will be no exception.
Starting September 3rd and continuing throughout October 2006, "Meet the Press" will again devote a portion of the broadcast to a special series of Senate Debates with candidates from some of the most interesting and competitive races in the country. The debates will be moderated by Tim Russert and will originate live, from the NBC Studios in Washington, D.C.
The debate series will kick off Sunday, September 3rd, with one of the most closely watched races this year -- Pennsylvania. Tim Russert will moderate the live debate between Senator Rick Santorum (R) and State Treasurer Bob Casey (D).
The complete schedule is as follows:
September 3rd - PENNSYLVANIA Incumbent Senator Rick Santorum (R) vs. State Treasurer Bob Casey (D)
September 17th - VIRGINIA Incumbent Senator George Allen (R) vs. former Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb (D)
October 1st - OHIO Incumbent Senator Mike DeWine (R) vs. Rep. Sherrod Brown (D)
October 8th - MISSOURI Incumbent Senator Jim Talent (R) vs. State Auditor Claire McCaskill (D)
October 15th - MINNESOTA OPEN SEAT - Sen. Mark Dayton (D) is retiring. Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar (D) vs. Rep. Mark Kennedy (R)
October 29th - MARYLAND OPEN SEAT - Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D) is retiring. Candidates to be determined in Sept. 12th Primary
"Meet the Press" created its "Senate Debate Series" in 2002, hosting debates from Colorado, South Carolina and Louisiana. The series was well received and went on to win the prestigious USC Annenberg Walter Cronkite Award for "Excellence in Television Political Journalism."
I wish they would have included the Tennessee between Harold Ford (d) and Bob Corker (r).
Now you can watch "Meet the Press" wherever and whenever you want. With our "Meet the Press Webcast", You can now watch the show in its entirety, free of charge, on-demand and online beginning at 1:00 p.m., ET on Sunday afternoons at www.mtp.msnbc.com. You can also get the latest "Meet the Press Podcast" downloaded for free to your computer or MP3 player at: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8132577/#mtp.
"Meet the Press" is regularly seen from 9-10 a.m. ET, except in Washington D.C. and New York City where the broadcast is seen from 10:30-11:30 a.m ET. Please check local listings or the "Meet the Press" Web site for airtimes in your area.
NEW BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST 2004 - 2008
Beloit, Wis. - A rite of autumn is under way with the arrival of first-year students at thousands of colleges and universities for registration.
Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. A creation of Beloit's Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today's first-year students.
Over the next few days I'll post the List for each Graduating Class starting with 2007 (they started college way back in 2003). Hold on you kids that are starting college for the first time I'll get to you in a few days.
BELOIT COLLEGE'S
CLASS OF 2008 MINDSET LIST®
1. Most students entering college this fall were born in
1986.
2. Desi Arnaz, Orson Welles, Roy Orbison, Ted Bundy,
Ayatollah Khomeini and Cary Grant have always been dead.
3. "Here's Johnny!" is a scary greeting from Jack
Nicholson, not a warm welcome from Ed McMahon.
4. The Energizer bunny has always been going, and going,
and going.
5. Large fine-print ads for prescription drugs have always
appeared in magazines.
6. Photographs have always been processed in an hour or
less.
7. They never got a chance to drink 7-Up Gold, Crystal
Pepsi, or Apple Slice.
8. Baby Jessica could be a classmate.
9. Parents may have been reading The Bourne Supremacy or It
as they rocked them in their cradles.
10. Alan Greenspan has always been setting the nation's
financial direction.
11. The U.S. has always been a Prozac nation.
12. They have always enjoyed the comfort of pleather.
13. Harry has always known Sally.
14. They never saw Roseanne Rosannadanna live on Saturday
Night Live.
15. There has always been a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
16. They never ate a McSub at McD's.
17. There has always been a Comedy Channel.
18. Bill and Ted have always been on an excellent adventure.
19. They were never tempted by smokeless cigarettes.
20. Robert Downey, Jr. has always been in trouble.
21. Martha Stewart has always been cooking up something with
someone.
22. They have always been comfortable with gay characters on
television.
23. Mike Tyson has always been a contender.
24. The government has always been proposing we go to Mars,
and it has always been deemed to expensive.
25. There have never been any Playboy Clubs.
26. There have always been night games at Wrigley Field.
27. Rogaine has always been available for the follicularly
challenged.
28. They never saw USA Today or the Christian Science
Monitor as a TV news program.
29. Computers have always suffered from viruses.
30. We have always been mapping the human genome.
31. Politicians have always used rock music for theme songs.
32. Network television has always struggled to keep up with
cable.
33. O'Hare has always been the most delay-plagued airport in
the U.S.
34. Ivan Boesky has never sold stock.
35. Toll-free 800 phone numbers have always spelled out
catchy phrases.
36. Bethlehem has never been a place of peace at Christmas.
37. Episcopal women bishops have always threatened the
foundation of the Anglican Church.
38. Svelte Oprah has always dominated afternoon television;
who was Phil Donahue anyway?
39. They never flew on People Express.
40. AZT has always been used to treat AIDS.
41. The international community has always been installing
or removing the leader of Haiti.
42. Oliver North has always been a talk show host and news
commentator.
43. They have suffered through airport security systems
since they were in strollers.
44. They have done most of their search for the right
college online.
45. Aspirin has always been used to reduce the risk of a
heart attack.
46. They were spared the TV ads for Zamfir and his panpipes.
47. Castro has always been an aging politician in a suit.
48. There have always been non-stop flights around the world
without refueling.
49. Cher hasn't aged a day.
50. M.A.S.H. was a game: Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House.
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
No post today.
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT?
Question: What do retirees call a long lunch?
Answer: Normal.
August 24, 2006
OH DO I LOVE THE COOL DAYS OF SUMMER
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
A LOOK BACK
This is a FLASH BACK to Sept. 16, 2003 in honor of my 3 year BLOG birthday.
This one is interesting and what is neat about it is now we don't need to use our spell checker we just need to be close. Whooh.
ONE QUICK QUESTION
You've seen the BP ads where regular folks get to ask BP a question, right. Well Jon Stewart has just one quick, short question for them. Watch the video.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Stewart asks a question for BP. <----( watch the video here )
ALL-ELECTRIC SPORTS CAR
It seems to me if you design a nice car it will sell regardless of what it uses for it's power source. WAKE UP GM.
It seems the Tesla Roadster's hefty price tag hasn't scared away buyers. Less than a month after unveiling its new all-electric sports car, Tesla Motors' CEO Martin Eberhard announced that the company has already sold all 100 of its limited-edition Roadsters.
Tesla Motors introduced the world to the Roadster at its "Signature Hundred Event" on July 19th. The Tesla Roadster reaches top speeds of 130 mph with a 0-to-60 time of about 4 seconds. It travels 250 miles on a single charge of its whisper-quiet electric motor.
Among early buyers were Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and eBay co-founder Jeff Skoll, all of whom are investors in Tesla Motors. While Tesla has received one-hundred $100,000 deposits, each of which guarantees a Tesla Roadster for the depositor, only a few of these vehicles have been completed.
Get this car down to around $25k and I'm ready to buy baby.
NEW BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST -
Beloit, Wis. - A rite of autumn is under way with the arrival of first-year students at thousands of colleges and universities for registration. Most 18-year-old students entering the class of 2010 this fall were born in 1988. They grew up with a mouse in one hand and a computer screen as part of their worldview. They learned to surf the internet as they learned to read. While they were still in their cribs, the 20th century started to close as the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet bloc disintegrated, and frequent traditional wars in Latin America gave way to the uncontrolled terrors of the Middle East.
Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. A creation of Beloit's Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today's first-year students.
According to McBride, this year's entering students form "a generation that has always been 'connected' and is used to things happening in 'real time,' like live satellite coverage of revolutions and wars, instant messaging and movies on demand. They expect solutions for every problem, from baldness to diseased organs. To the chagrin of teachers and parents, they've developed their own generational means of communication."
The Beloit College Mindset List is used by educators and clergy and by the military and business in their efforts to connect with the new generation. Beloit creates the list to share with its faculty in anticipation of the first-year seminars and orientation. "It is an important reminder to faculty, some of whom are only a Ph.D. older than their students, that what we call 'hardening of the references' can set in quickly," according to Nief. "It is meant to be thought-provoking and fun, yet accurate. It often provides the base for good opening seminar discussions as faculty and students address the challenges of examining important issues from differing perspectives."
Over the next few days I'll post the List for each Graduating Class starting with 2007 (they started college way back in 2003). Hold on you kids that are starting college for the first time I'll get to you in a few days.
BELOIT COLLEGE'S
CLASS OF 2007 MINDSET LIST®
1. Ricky Nelson, Richard Burton, Samantha Smith, Laura Ashley, Orson
Welles, Karen Ann Quinlan, Benigno Aquino, and the U.S.Football
League have always been dead.
2. They are not familiar with the source of that "Giant Sucking Sound."
3. Iraq has always been a problem.
4. "Ctrl + Alt + Del" is as basic as "ABC."
5. Paul Newman has always made salad dressing.
6. Pete Rose has always been a gambler.
7. Bert and Ernie are old enough to be their parents.
8. An automatic is a weapon, not a transmission.
9. Russian leaders have always looked like leaders everyplace else.
10. The snail darter has never been endangered.
11. There has always been a screening test for AIDS.
12. Gas has always been unleaded
13. They never heard Howard Cosell call a game on ABC.
14. The United States has always had a Poet Laureate
15. Garrison Keillor has always been live on public radio and
Lawrence Welk has always been dead on public television.
16. Their families drove SUVs without "being fuelish."
17. There has always been some association between fried eggs and
your brain.
18. They would never leave their calling card on someone's desk.
19. They have never been able to find the "return" key.
20. Computers have always fit in their backpacks.
21. Datsuns have never been made.
22. They have never gotten excited over a telegram, a long distance
call, or a fax.
23. The Osmonds are just talk show hosts.
24. Undergraduate college athletes have always been a part of the NBA
and NFL draft.
25. They have always "grazed" for food.
26. Three-point shots from "downtown" have always been a part of
basketball.
27. Test tube babies are now having their own babies.
28. Stores have always had scanners at the checkout.
29. The Army has always driven Humvees.
30. Adam and PC Junior computers had vanished from the market before
this generation went online.
31. The Statue of Liberty has always had a gleaming torch.
32. They have always had a PIN number.
33. Banana Republic has always been a store, not a puppet government
in Latin America.
34. Car detailing has always been available
35. Directory assistance has never been free.
36. The Jaycees have always welcomed women as members
37. There has always been Lean Cuisine.
38. They have always been able to fly Virgin Atlantic.
39. There have never been dress codes in restaurants.
40. Doctors have always had to deal with "reasonable and customary
fees" and patients have always had controls placed on the number
of days they could stay in a hospital.
41. They have always been able to make photocopies at home.
42. Michael Eisner has always been in charge of Disney.
43. They have always been able to make phone calls from planes.
44. Yuppies are almost as old as hippies.
45. Rupert Murdoch has always been an American citizen.
46. Strawberry Fields has always been in New York.
47. Rock and Roll has always been a force for social good.
48. Killer bees have always been swarming in the U.S.
49. They have never seen a First Lady in a fur coat.
50. Don Imus has always been offending someone in his national
audience.
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
This is now one week later and I'm home with my dogs and doing my Blog. I feel fine. I'd hoped that with a fresh new supply of blood rushing to my brain I would give old Einstein a run for his money I'm not sure it's happening. Maybe I just need to give it a little more time.
On a side issue I keep all my medical statements and since this has been a major year in terms of my medical issues I think I'll add up the Dr. charges by month and post them here. This will be only raw data ie: what the Dr. charged not necessarily what he was paid. It might be of interest and perhaps some value. We'll see.
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT?
Question: Why are retirees so slow to clean out the basement, attic or garage?
Answer: They know that as soon as they do, one of their adult kids will want to store stuff there.
August 23, 2006
SUMMER SLOWLY GOING SOUTH
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
LOOKS TO ME HE BOUGHT IT
THE 9/11 REPORT: A GRAPHIC ADAPTATION
I ordered this book from Amazon because I think it's something I'll read and get through. I have the 600 page 9/11 Report and doubt that I've read more then a dozen pages of that very thick book.
Industry veterans Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón have collaborated to produce "The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation," which is being published by Hill and Wang, the nonfiction imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
The book condenses the nearly 600-page federal report released by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States to fewer than 150 pages, and the creators say they hope their book will help attract young readers and others who might be overwhelmed by the original document. With sans-serif captions, artist renderings, charts and sound-describing words such as "Whooom!" and "R-rrumble," the adaptation recounts the attacks with parallel timelines of the four hijacked planes.
But can a topic as massive and sobering as Sept. 11 be dealt with effectively in the pages of a comic book?
NSA PROGRAM UNCONSTITUTIONAL
This Wiretap CRAP pisses me off. It's like the White House wants to pick a fight on everything they do.
Why the hell can't Bush go to congress and tell them he needs this program, they would do it in a heart beat . . . problem solved.
That DAMN STAY THE COURSE BULLHEADEDNESS is stupid, unnecessary and just doesn't make sense.
What ever happened to the "I'M A UNITER not a DIVIDER".
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Jack Cafferty nails this one. <----( watch the video here )
ARE YOU SAFER TODAY
I saw the following two letters to the editor in the Kitsap Sun the other day and had to reply. I don't know if my letter will make it into the paper so I show it here.
The question before the house is ARE WE SAFER?
LETTER ONE FROM V.J.
WAR ON TERROR: Do We Really Feel Safer Now? - 8/13/6 Kudos to the Brits for foiling a terrorist plot with fine police work. They recognize that terrorism is not a military problem but one requiring a coordinated law enforcement operation. While we waste billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives occupying an uninvolved country in a hopeless war which only creates more terrorists and lessens our standing in the eyes of the world, the Brits are doing their homework and finding real threats. While our security agencies are tapping Aunt Betty's phone calls, checking on our Internet clicks and peeking at what library books we're reading, the Brits are using experience and finesse to stop attacks. When terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, the New York Police Department and Clinton administration were on the ball and had the bad guys in jail within a month. All four were later convicted. Where is bin- Laden? How many convictions have we had for the 9/11 attack after five years of political chest-pounding? Meanwhile, the president who was asleep at the helm on 9/11 is on vacation again. Do you REALLY feel safer today than you did six years ago? I really miss Clinton. V. J. PORT ORCHARD
LETTER TWO FROM J.G.
WAR ON TERRORISM: Why I Feel Safer With Bush - 8/16/6 Mr. V. J.'s letter expressing kudos to the British police for foiling the attempt to destroy several aircraft in route to the U.S. was timely and thoughtful. He achieved this in the first paragraph. The rest of his letter was a senseless rant against George Bush in particular and the U.S. in general. The total absence of facts would be amusing if it weren't so sad. What Vern Jenkins and all like him fail to understand is that the British used telecommunication intercepts provided by the United States' National Security Agency. They tracked money using techniques leaked by the New York Times. The British armed forces are actively assisting our forces in democratizing Iraq. The death toll in Iraq is nowhere near "tens of thousands." The first attack on the World Trade Center failed. It was NOT stopped by Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton gave us military successes such as Somalia, bombs in our embassies, and a CIA/FBI hamstrung by politically correct constraints. Bill Clinton let Osama bin Laden escape. To answer his question: I certainly feel safer with George Bush in charge than I would with any Democratic presidential candidate who ran for office in the last two election cycles. J. G. QUILCENE
MY LETTER
To the Editor:
Mr. J. G. (8/16) needs to stop drinking the cool-aid and using the talking points and do a little research. You criticize Mr. V. J. letter (8/13) by saying "The rest of his letter is a senseless rant against Geo Bush and the U.S. in general" with "total absence of fact".
So let's see. . . he says and I'm paraphrasing "WE WASTE MONEY AND LIVES ON AN UNINVOLVED COUNTRY IN A HOPELESS WAR WHICH ONLY CREATES MORE TERRORISTS AND LESSENS OUR STANDING IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD".
Those sir ARE FACTS. Where is he wrong?
NSA? Would that be the same group that said there where WMD's in Iraq? And as to the "Tracking Money Techniques" leaked by the NYT in your words is laughable.
I believe you did not understand what Mr. Jenkins meant when he said "tens of thousands of lives" he was talking about ALL LIVES not just American. Perhaps you don't think the Iraqis lives are important.
So can you tell us all about the great success that this administration has had on it's fight against terror?
Did I miss something in the past 5 or 6 years? Has Bush caught old Bin-e-Boy? Are the troops coming home today?
M. H. - Bremerton, Wa
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
In part three my daughter explains (in my opinion ) exactly what is going on in my body. I can't say that I hurt or was in pain during this time, I wasn't. It's just that you feel so DAMN uncomfortable.
Hi All,
Well my Dad didn't get to go home today like we thought. He has had a problem with his blood pressure it has been too low and they have been giving him Dopamine which is suppose to raise the blood pressure but even with the medication it has remained low, it will go up a bit and then back down. So they need to keep him in the ICU and monitor him. We will try again tomorrow. . . the doctor said this can be normal for the blood pressure to be low because the artery is receiving more blood flow through it (which it isn't use to) and the stent is a self expanding stent so it is pushing up against the artery wall (which it is suppose to do) but there is an internal pressure sensor on the neck wall which it is basically massaging the entire time. The doctor said they use a massage technique to lower blood pressure by massaging on the neck artery so that is kinda what is going on.
It will just take a little bit of time for his body to adjust to the flow and not think it should be lowering his pressure. I'm sure that doesn't make sense. . . but it made sense to me when the doc explained it. . . I'm just not that good at repeating it! :-)
His heart rate would also drop pretty low as well, but he does have sleep apnea so they aren't super concerned with that right now. The doctor will be in tomorrow morning to check him out again and see if he will be able to get released, it will all depend on if they can get him off the dopamine and stabilize his blood pressure by himself.
He also hasn't been up to walk around yet, he just sits up at the edge of the bed or moves to the chair next to the bed with a lot of help. So the doctor wants to make sure he can stand and walk around without getting dizzy or light headed.
The doctor mentioned he hoped my Dad wouldn't have to stay in the hospital a week. . . I guess there has been a patient or two that it did take their body that long to adjust to the stent. . . let's pray Dad's body will adjust to the stent tonight and he can go home tomorrow.
Speaking of prayers our good friend Pete Petersen needs some prayers as he is having some kidney problems again and really isn't feeling too well. We love our Pete & Sandy and they have always kept us in their prayers so please say some extra prayers for them as well. (me: for the folks that live in Kitsap, Pete is a well known drag racer from this County. He is at the University Of Washington Hospital right now).
I will update again tomorrow. . .
Love you all,
Channy :-)
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
Now, what do you see?
You may not see it at first, but the white spaces read the word optical, the blue landscape reads the word illusion. Look again! Can you see why this painting is called an optical illusion?
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT?
Question: Why do retirees count pennies?
Answer: They are the only ones who have the time.
August 22, 2006
ARE MY RANTS GETTING LONGER OR WHAT
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
Letterman catches Bush on tape. <----( watch the video here )
A LOOK BACK
Back on Sept 6, 2003 I posted the above Rant. It's quite appropriate that yesterday when I went to COSTCO to pick up my new glasses that as I wondered around the warehouse I saw this long row of XMAS GIFT WRAP . So it looks like they will break that 2003 record of putting out Christmas stuff early. ARE YOU READY FOR CHRISTMAS?
YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY
For years, especially when I was working I would save my lose change in a jar and after a while I'd spend some time sorting, counting, wrapping them and writing my credit union account number on each roll.
Well it takes me a little longer to save my change now that I'm retired and I don't use much "REAL" money. I use my debit card and Credit card. Play my bills electronically and write maybe 12 checks a year. So it's been maybe 3-4 years since I last took my coins to the credit Union for deposit.
I had $147.50 of various wrapped coins so I figured I'd take them in and make a deposit. To my surprise the teller said I would need to run my coins through the automatic coin counting machine that would count the coins, reject any foreign or damaged coins and finally print me a receipt.
Well I did that and found that it's faster to unwrap coins than it is to wrap them in the first place. By the way as you can see by the picture above I have some leftover coin wraps you can have. . . FOR FREE.
Life goes on.
WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU
IT'S EASY TO START A WAR. . . paying for the consequences seems hard for congress. I came across this article in the New York Times a few days ago. This kind of stuff just pisses me off.
These BASTARDS can vote on sending our troops off to war. And don't kid yourself if they voted to give the president what he wanted then in my mind THEY VOTED FOR THIS WAR.
This is the kind of CRAP congress loves. On the surface they make it look like they are providing some support buy giving survivor benefits but then they make a little change that does just the opposite.
READ THIS.
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ - New York Times As many as 61,000 military widows whose husbands died of causes relating to their military service lose out on thousands of dollars a year in survivor benefits because of a law that dates from the 1970's. Widows and retirees have spent decades trying to persuade Congress to change the law, which hits hardest at the widows of lower-ranking service members and is referred to by many critics as the "widow's tax.'' The Senate passed such a change last year and again this year as part of the military authorization bill. But House Republican leaders oppose the change because of its steep price tag, nearly $9 billion over 10 years, Senate legislative aides from both parties say. A change was not in the military bill that passed the House, but lawmakers who support the change are hoping to make it part of the bill's final version, which is now being worked on by a bipartisan Congressional committee. "My husband thought he was securing my future," said Edie Smith, a member of the Gold Star Wives, a group of military widows who are lobbying to change the law. "He didn't realize his own disability would void the benefit he purchased for me." A 1972 law created the Survivor Benefits Plan, a Department of Defense retirement income fund similar to a life insurance policy. The plan, in turn, pays benefits calculated according to a dead service member's rank and length of service. In addition, widows of veterans who died of service-related causes receive monthly cash stipends from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Known as the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation stipend, it is currently $1,033 plus $257 for each child. But under the law, which placed restrictions on the plan that it created, the payment to widows enrolled in the Survivor Benefits Plan is reduced, dollar for dollar, by the amount of the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation stipend. For example, a widow who would be entitled to $1,000 from the Survivor Benefits Plan and the $1,033 Dependency and Indemnity stipend receives $1,033, not $2,033. Widows whose husband paid into the plan are reimbursed their premiums, without interest, but the amount is taxed and does not make up the losses from the plan. The Department of Defense opposes changing the law to allow both payments, arguing that survivors should not receive two separate benefits for a single death. But widows and their supporters say that the Pentagon's opposition to a change in the law really stems from its cost, especially at a time of rising expenses for the war in Iraq.
As I recall there was a big out cry at the start of the Iraq war about the low death benefit for troops I think it was about $12,000. The out cry forced congress to raise it to $100,000. (but it took some prodding).
I do find it hypocritical of the Republicans that say it's unpatriotic of anyone to oppose the Iraq war and yet they vote down any legislation to fix this mess for our fallen troops.
As I said "It's easy to start a war" and "Widows and orphans are made as a result of war." "They are victims of war. They are giving the ultimate sacrifice, and the nation has an obligation to care for them."
JOHN KERRY HAD IT RIGHT
I remember when Kerry made this statement. It was dead on then and is dead on now.
Do you need proof just look at the attack in Spain, London. The Canadian arrest of suspected terrorists a few months back and the more recent arrest in England of suspected terrorists.
Yes Spain and London was not stopped but the following recent arrests shows us that this is the best way to get these BASTARDS.
Even some well known conservatives have grudging admitted Kerry was right. Check this clip from This Week where George Will make this point. . . reluctantly.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Sometimes it's hard to admit your wrong. <----( watch the video here )
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
Part two of my recent surgery as told by my daughter (nurse, score keeper and general pain in the butt. . . just kidding).
Hi All,
My Dad's surgery was a success, he has the stent in his neck now. I just got home from the hospital about 20 minutes ago and will go back there tomorrow morning around 7am to hopefully get there before Dr Vogelzang comes in to talk to him and see if they are going to release him tomorrow.
The doc said it went well, they did have to give him some medication during the surgery because his blood pressure dropped pretty low...of course Dad and his joking self said well I thought that is what you want is my blood pressure to be low. . . I guess I can start smoking again and bring it back up. . .ha ha ha! YUCK - no way to the smoking deal it has been 21 years since he has smoked and he certainly doesn't want to start that horrible habit all over again! (me: haven't had a drink since then as well)
What they did today was went in through an incision in the groin area and put a little bit of tubing thru the incision then sent a balloon and an umbrella like device up to his neck and deployed the umbrella to catch any debris that might break loose then they deployed the balloon and stent and another balloon inside of the stent to open up the stent. . .this is how I understood what happened, I may be off by just a bit but you get the jest of how all this amazing medical technology works! And that is how the stent came to be in his neck!
My Dad is in the ICU recovery overnight and just as I got home tonight at 10:00pm they should have finally let him sit up. Which is what he was wanting to do so badly for hours. He has been laying flat on his back ever since about 10:30am when they started prepping him for his surgery and had to remain flat on his back all the way up until 10pm. I personally think and I bet my Dad would agree that the catheter that they put in was the worst part of today. . .along with the almost 10 times he was poked trying to get the IV needles in him and the blood drawn. Man do I feel for my Dad, he thinks he is a big baby and kept apologizing to the nurses any time he said Owww even when they put the catherter in. . .when he had every right to say owww and a lot more than that! :-) He is just the sweetest guy there is! That's MY DADDY!!! (me: gee thanks Channy, now how much do I owe you).
So tomorrow morning around 6 or 7am the neurologist will come in and ask my Dad a few questions like we went thru on Monday for the Medicare study and then Dr Vogelzang should be in. The plan is we get to take him home tomorrow and me and Larry and Alexis will stay the night with him. I believe he isn't suppose to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk, but other than that he should be back to normal. We just need to keep an eye on his incision area to make sure it doesn't start bleeding internally or externally. Then he should be able to have his open heart surgery in a month. The Doctor wants to give the stent a month to really settle in and get a little tissue layer over it.
That's all for now, thank you all for your emails of well wishes and prayers...it really means a lot and I truly appreciate all the kind words. The prayers brought on another successful surgery! I will update you all tomorrow once we get to my Dad's house just to let you know he was released!
Love you all, Channy :-)
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT?
Question: Among retirees what is considered formal attire?
Answer: Tied shoes and a fastened Fly.
August 21, 2006
IT'S HARD TO GET MY GROVE BACK
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
MISSED MY BLOG BIRTHDAY
The other day after I got home from the hospital I was cleaning up one of my hard drives of some old files. You know in the early days of the PC (which turned 25 years old last week) you didn't have that problem for example I didn't have any storage on my TRS-80 it used a tape recorder.
Anyway I came across the above image of a screen shot of a page from my original Blog. That got me to thinking that I have been doing this Bloging stuff for over three years now, which in Blog terms is a life time.
All this week I'll be showing Rants I made in the past just for the heck of it.
Finally I'm running a REALLY BIG CONTEST, with a REALLY BIG FIRST PRIZE (actually there is only one prize). The winner gets their choice of a $25 gift card from COSTO or a $25 personal check from me (I'm going for the Costco card if I win cause I've seen Mick's checking account balance :).
THE REALLY BIG CONTEST
This is a contest that you can win. As I said above you can win a $25 gift card from Costco or a $25 check from me (your choice).
I'll announce the winner as soon as I have one on my next Daily Dose.
To win all you need do is be the FIRST to tell me who made the below QUOTE. Just click on the ANSWER RANT below the quote give me your answer and be sure to provide an email address I can use to get mailing instructions should you win. I'll use the date/time stamp of your message. If there are two exact date/time stamps the message that is in my inbox wins. (I might give two prizes if that happens, I'm still thinking about that. Wonder what the odds of that happening are.).
* * * THE BIG QUOTE CONTEST * * *
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the
leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's
always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's
a democracy, a fascist dictator ship, or a parliament, or a
communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can
always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy.
All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and
denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing
the country to greater danger."
* * Send your answer here. * * * * * *
WHO SAID THAT? <----( click here to send your answer )
A LOOK BACK
Speaking of looking back. . . I said the above back on Aug. 23, 2003, three years ago.
I got the above off of one of the Sunday shows (Meet The Press I think) just yesterday and this guy is a conservative. Man Mick you sure know how to call them.
NANCY GILES ON FEAR
Man oh man, she nailed it.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @It's the FEAR stupid. <----( watch the video here )
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
Well since today is the first time I've updated my Blog in a week and my typing skills are what they are I think I'll use my daughters updates that she did last week to family and friends.
This will be like real time one week later. . . how cool is that.
Hi All,
My Dad goes in for his neck surgery tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:30am. His surgery should begin around 10:30 or 11:00am....say an extra prayer please! We went in for his pre-op appointment on Monday for his study program. Medicare will only pay for this procedure if he is in a study. So the study he is in consists of 3 appointments with the neurologist in which the doctor asks him a few questions and has him do a few motor skills tests. Both me and Dad were laughing during the exam (our smart alec sense of humor), but we especially laughed when the doctor asked him to show him his teeth. . . we both imagined my Dad pulling out his dentures and showing the doc. It was quite funny. . . but I guess you probably had to be there to get the true feeling of the humor! The doctor will then come back to the hospital Wednesday morning the day after his surgery and ask him some questions and do the motor tests again and then once more 30 days after the surgery and that concludes his study. Pretty easy!
Dad said he hopes the neck stent allows for more oxygen to his brain so he will get smart again! :-)
After he has this stent put in his neck then we should be able to have the heart surgery done. He will be at Swedish tomorrow overnight for sure . . . could be a longer stay in the hospital but we won't know until they finish his surgery. I hope to send out another email as soon as I get home tomorrow night and let you know how the surgery went. If you can't wait for my email (like I know I wouldn't be able to) you can give me a call on my cell and I will either answer if I can or will call you back if you leave me a message.
Love you all,
Channy :-)PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
Read out loud the text inside the triangle below.
More than likely you said, "A bird in the bush," and. . .
if this IS what YOU said, then you failed to see that the word THE is repeated twice!
Sorry, look again.
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT?
Question: Why don't retirees mind being called Seniors?
Answer: The term comes with a 10% percent discount.
August 20, 2006
ONLY 3 TO GO
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
WEEKEND VACATION NOTICE
PRESIDENT BUSH IS ON VACATION
CHENEY IS IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.
I'M STILL SLEEPING.
August 19, 2006
ONLY 4 TO GO
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
WEEKEND VACATION NOTICE
PRESIDENT BUSH IS ON VACATION
CHENEY IS IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.
I'M STILL SLEEPING.
August 18, 2006
FREE AT LAST
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
WHO'S LOOKING OUT FOR SENIORS? PART 2 OF 2
In part two Ron Pollack talks about what the VA pays for drugs because they are allowed to negotiate for lower prices. See the chart above.
This comparison will blow you away and you will ask yourself who benefits by this? That of course is a very easy answer and we all know who it is.
Just one more reason to KICK THE DAMN LOBBYISTS OUT OF WASHINGTON NOW ! ! !
Send a post card or e-mail to your member of Congress today! You can use any or all of the below points, they are true and valid.
Congress needs to immediately eliminate the donut hole in the Medicare prescription drug plan. The Kaiser Family Foundation projects that nearly 7 million Medicare beneficiaries will fall into the donut hole in 2006. Please support Part D reform now.
Congress needs to immediately lift restrictions on Medicare from negotiating directly with the pharmaceutical companies to secure a fair price for prescriptions. Direct negotiations will maximize prescription drug savings and help close the donut hole. Please support Part D reform now.
Congress needs to immediately direct that Medicare Part D insurance company profits be used to fill the donut hole. Part D partially privatizes Medicare. Companies marketing drug insurance policies approved by Medicare should have limits put on profits they can make on these policies. Please support Part D reform now.
Congress needs to immediately eliminate the Medicare Part D late enrollment penalty and extend the sign-up period. A confusing array of drug insurance policies is being offered. Medicare beneficiaries or their guardians need time to carefully review available plans before May 15, 2006. Please support Part D reform now.
Congress needs to immediately prohibit prescription drug plans from changing their benefits during the plan year. Current law allows plans to change their formularies and prices during the plan year, but prevents beneficiaries from switching plans. Plans should be required to notify beneficiaries within 30 days of any plan change and allow beneficiaries to change plans without penalty. Please support Part D reform now.
Support legislation (H.R. 676) creating a single payer universal health care system. Our heath care system is the most expensive in the world yet it is ranked 37th (after Costa Rica) by the World Health Organization in overall performance. The U.S. spends 24% of its health care dollars on administration - twice that of countries which cover all their people. A single payer system will provide effective solutions to Americans' health care needs.
LETTERMEN TALKS SPANISH
It seems that David Letterman think Spanish Shows are better than American. Watch the video and you tell me.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @So Spanish Shows are better than American. <----( watch the video here )
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
What are three words a woman never wants to hear when she's making love? "Honey, I'm home!"
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT
Question: When is a retiree's bedtime?
Answer: Three hours after he falls asleep on the couch.
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"Safe for use around pets." -- On a box of Arm & Hammer Cat Litter.
August 17, 2006
GOING HOME
Thur_8_17_6THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
WHO'S LOOKING OUT FOR SENIORS?
On January 1, 2006, Medicare started to provide private prescription drug insurance policies to beneficiaries under Part D, a complex system fraught with problems. While Medicare Part D is beneficial to drug and health insurance companies, its problems will affect up to 40 million older and disabled persons now and will affect every American in the future. Medicare Part D prescription drug program is seriously flawed and needs to be reformed.
There are a whole series of problems with Medicare Part D and great confusion among the beneficiaries, in particular those in low-income brackets. While still required to pay premiums for their coverage, most people will be forced to pay 100% of drug costs from the time they have spent $2,251 until reaching expenses of $5,100. This gap is known as the DONUT HOLE. It is obvious that the real big winners under this system are the drug companies as represented by their lobbying organization, PhRMA, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Last week there was a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing on Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage. It was shown on CSPAN where I recorded the whole thing which ran almost 3 hours. But I want to show you about 8 minutes in two 4 minutes clips today and tomorrow.
In the first part Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA talks about the connection between the very high prices in the Medicare program and what could be done about that and filling the "DONUT HOLE".
This is such a bunch of BULLSHIT we need to vote these BASTARDS all out of office that voted for this program. I wish I could have put the whole three hours on my BLOG but I know I don't have the space and you don't have the time, so PLEASE take just 4 minutes today and tomorrow and watch these short clips.
You'll get just as mad as me and YOU WILL REMEMBER THIS COME NOVEMBER 2006 and 2008.
@ @ Visit the SITE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Learn more about Families USA. <----( click here to go to the site )
BUBBLICIOUS
What's in a word? Watch the video and find out.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Very, very interesting. <----( watch the video here )
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
I've been in love with the same woman for 49 years. If my wife ever finds out, she'll kill me!
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT
Question: How many retirees to change a light bulb?
Answer: Only one, but it might take all day.
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"Remove plastic before eating." -- On the wrapper of a Fruit Roll-Up snack.
August 16, 2006
THE DAY AFTER YESTERDAY
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
YOU KNOW ANYBODY WHO NEEDS AN "ANTI-STUPID" PILL?
A German scientist has been testing an "anti-stupidity" pill with encouraging results on mice and fruit flies, Bild newspaper reported Saturday.
It said Hans-Hilger Ropers, director at Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, has tested a pill thwarting hyperactivity in certain brain nerve cells, helping stabilize short-term memory and improve attentiveness.
"With mice and fruit flies we were able to eliminate the loss of short-term memory," Ropers, 62, is quoted saying in the German newspaper, which has dubbed it the "world's first anti-stupidity pill."
HALF OF AMERICANS STILL BELIEVE IN WMDS
THEY SAW THEM ON TV
A recent Harris Poll reports found that while "the U.S. and other countries have not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, surprisingly more U.S. adults (50%) think that Iraq had such weapons when the U.S. invaded Iraq. This is an increase from 36 percent in February 2005."
This is terrible news. Even President Bush has been forced to admit that his administration's number one justification for attacking Iraq was wrong, because in fact there were no weapons of mass destruction.
The Harris Poll didn't attempt to analyze why the number of misled Americans has actually increased in the past year, but perhaps it is because Senator Rick Santorum held a news conference not long ago in Washington and announced that WMDs had just been found in Iraq.
A bit like announcing that, science be damned, the Sun is revolving around the Earth! Pentagon officials quickly dismissed the Senator's claims, which were based on the discovery of some leftover, nonfunctioning weapons from more than a decade ago.
Maybe these people need that "anti stupid pill above"
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
I just got back from a pleasure trip. I took my mother-in-law to the airport.
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT
Question: What's the biggest gripe of retirees?
Answer: There is not enough time to get everything done.
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"Not to be used as a personal flotation device." -- On a 6x10 inch inflatable picture frame.
August 15, 2006
ARE WE HAVING FUN YET
Tue_8_15_6THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
CONGRESS PROPS UP PENSION PLANS
The Defined Benefit Plan, a.k.a. "Pension." R.I.P.
Last week the U.S. Senate ratified the 907 page "Pension Protection Act of 2006" - legislation already passed by the House of Representatives and soon to be signed by President Bush. Among other things (you can cover a lot in 900 pages), this law is aimed at making companies which have promised future retirement benefits to employees fork over the money so that those benefits are actually received.
Some 44 million American workers are covered by a so-called "defined benefit" plan, typically called a "pension." Once an employee retires, this type of plan pays a pre-determined amount of income based on your salary and years with your company. Employers providing these benefits are required to contribute enough to the firm's pension "fund" to ensure that future obligations can be met.
For a variety of factors, including overly optimistic projections, lower than expected market returns, longer life expectancies, and economic reality, this is proving more difficult than companies projected. The financially struggling airline industry is just the latest one that has attempted to either eliminate or scale back the size of the benefits promised and many other well-know companies (GM and IBM, for instance) have taken legal steps to reduce what they now realize is a benefit they cannot afford to pay. It's estimated that, in total, pension plans are under-funded to the tune of $300 billion.
If a company defaults on its pension obligations, American taxpayers - you and I - are left holding the bag. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is the government entity that steps up to the plate and pays retirees a minimum benefit when their former employer defaults. While companies are required to pay premiums to the PBGC to cover the cost of this government-provided "insurance," these payments aren't nearly enough to cover the deficit.
The new legislation attempts to close the gap by creating a uniform way to calculate the minimum level of funding required to meet a pension plan's liability. Without going into the technicalities, employers have seven years to eliminate the funding shortfalls in their plans. (Airlines have from 10 to 17 years).
Traditional pension plans have been on the decline ever since the advent of the 401(k) plan, which is both less costly and less of an administrative burden.
401(k)s are clearly the dominant retirement savings vehicle offered by employers, but they're not perfect. This Act also introduces a number of requirements designed to strengthen them and other defined contribution plans, such as 403(b)s.
REBATES. . . I HATE THEM
The other day I went to Staples to look around not expecting to buy anything.
Turns out I did buy some stuff and one of the products was Quicken 2007 for what I thought was $39.00. I thought it said instant $20.00 rebate which would be taken at the cash register. I continued shopping and then went to check out.
When the gal rang everything up it was over $80.00 and I was surprised I asked why I didn't get the $20.00 rebate and she said it was a mail in. It pissed me of and I said "I'm not dealing with that nonsense" and told her to take back the Quicken.
I then went to Costco and bought the same Quicken 2007 for $39.00 period no rebates no nothing.
I was glad I did. I hate rebates. Even Costco which I think does the best job of dealing with rebates by allowing you to do it on-line without any mail in.
I think ALL REBATES should be taken at the register.
DEPENDABILITY BY BRAND
Study finds improvement in overall auto dependability
DETROIT - Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. won top honors in eight categories of a closely watched vehicle dependability study, more than any other company, while mainstream brands closed in on luxury nameplates, J.D. Power and Associates said Wednesday.
For the study, J.D. Power questioned owners of 3-year-old vehicles about problems they experienced. This year's survey questioned 47,620 original owners of 2003 model-year cars and trucks.
On average, vehicle owners reported 227 problems per 100 vehicles this year, 10 fewer than last year. The study gives all problems equal weight; the most common ones reported were wind noise and loud brakes.
The improvement in dependability is good news both for consumers shopping for used vehicles and - since the vehicles retain more of their value - for owners planning to trade in their cars and trucks, said Neal Oddes, director of product research and analysis for J.D. Power.
J.D. Power and Associates ranks vehicle brands by the number of problems reported per 100 vehicles.
Ratings from left to right, top down. Lexus 136 Mercury 151 Buick 153 Cadillac 163 Toyota 179 Acura 184 Honda 194 Jaguar 210 BMW 212 Infiniti 215 Lincoln 220 Ford 224 Oldsmobile 224 Average 227 Chrysler 232 Pontiac 232 Subaru 232 GMC 239 Mercs-Benz 240 Chevrolet 241 Nissan 242 Mazda 243 Porsche 248 Hyundai 253 Dodge 258 Mitsubishi 260 Jeep 264 Volvo 272 Audi 279 Mini 280 Isuzu 283 Saturn 289 Volkswagen 299 Hummer 307 Kia 310 Suzuki 318 Saab 326 Land Rover 438
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
Today I'll be over in Seattle having a Stent inserted in my neck. I need to stay over night but because I can schedule my Rants you won't miss a beat. How lucky can you get :) . .
Say a prayer for me if you think about it.
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
A car hit an elderly Jewish man. The paramedic says, "Are you comfortable?" The man says, "I make a good living."
NO WORDS NEEDED
AND THEY ASK WHY PEOPLE LIKE RETIREMENT
Question: How many days in a week?
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"Turn off motor before using this product." -- On the packaging for a chain saw file, used to sharpen the cutting teeth on the chain.
August 14, 2006
ONLY ONE TO GO
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY
I'm putting this together Sunday morning so I can schedule my post in advance because I'll be in the hospital in Seattle.
Today Meet The Press had Chairman of the DNC, Howard Dean and Ken Mehlman Chairman of the RNC. These two have been on MTP a number of times and it seems to me that Dean is always scheduled first which gives Mehlman an advantage. Wonder why that is.
SO YOU DON'T WANT GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS
You've heard it said before "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE" while at the same time you hear "WE HAVE TO MUCH GOVERNMENT REGULATION". This last one deals mostly with regulating Corporations and business.
Well the next couple of stories will point-out the very real need for these regulations. Lets start with BP.
BP MOTO: SAVE A PENNY MAKE A MILLION
I'm watching Robert Malone, BP President talk to Matt Laure on the Today show. Matt just asked him since they found the corrosion problem and shut down the Pipe Line and in light of the fact they just came off a $10 billion profit last quarter "WHO'S GOING TO PAY TO GET THIS LINE BACK UP AND WORKING".
His answer: "WE WILL WORRY ABOUT THAT LATER"
Now that is a non-answer, answer if I've ever heard one. But here let me translate it for you. YOU WILL PAY. This is a good overview of the problem. <----( watch the video here ) Listen to the bottom line, this tells the tail. <----( listen to the audio here )
In 2003, a whistle-blower forced San Diego to reveal that it had been shortchanging its city workers' pension fund for years, setting off a wave of lawsuits, investigations and eventually criminal indictments. The city has fallen behind on its maintenance of streets, storm drains and public buildings. Retirees are still being paid, but a portion of their benefits is in doubt because of continuing legal challenges. Maybe someone should be paying closer attention in New Jersey. And in Illinois. Not to mention Colorado and several other states and local governments. Across the nation, a number of states, counties and municipalities have engaged in many of the same maneuvers with their pension funds that San Diego did, but without the crippling scandal - at least not yet. It is hard to know the extent of the problems, because there is no central regulator to gather data on public plans. Nor is the accounting for government pension plans uniform, so comparing one with another can be unreliable. Some Corporations are not in any better shape as we have seen with several of the Airlines going bankrupt which allows them to DUMP their pension plans. I know that congress did some work in fixing some of the problems (notice I said SOME) and I'll cover them in a later post. For now we have a problem in this area with NO OVERSIGHT and so the working class takes it in their shorts.
Take a look at the chart above. It lists the Fuel Economy Standards for Cars and Light Trucks from 1987 to 2007 model years in MPG. In the 29 years of this chart the average has gone up 9.5 MPG, about .32 MPG per year on average. To me that is just not impressive. In fact it's lame. A country that can land a man on the moon in 10 years can surely improve it's MPG by at least 1 or 2 MPG per year if not more in 29 years. It's called the WILL TO DO IT. To invest a little of your bottom line in the USA. I started this post with "SO YOU DON'T WANT GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS"
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
PENSION PLANS FACE BILLIONS IN SHORTAGES
FUEL EFFICIENCY TODAY
WRAP IT UP MICK
What they don't want is anything that makes Big Business become accountable, to do the right thing.
Congress must make them do the pipe inspection, make them pay their share of a pension plans and not hide behind bankruptcy, make them improve the MPG on cars. There is a REASON and a NEED for Government Regulations and America deserves a Congress that will work for the people. To me that is what the Connecticut election is all about. . . CHANGE. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is just nuts. We need real change in this country.
I DO NOT HATE THE PRESIDENT NOR DO I HATE OUR COUNTRY. Suggesting that BULLSHIT as some on the right like to do is just nuts and they need to look for a new line of crap.
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
I'll be in Seattle tomorrow to have a Stent put in my neck, but I've worked all weekend so you all may not skip a beat on getting your Daily Dose.
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
There was a beautiful young woman knocking on my hotel room door all night! I finally had to let her out.
NO WORDS NEEDED
THE GOOD OLD DAYS, COMMENTS MADE IN THE YEAR 1955:
"If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it."
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"Do not put lit candles on phone." -- On the instructions for a cordless phone.
August 13, 2006
ONLY 5 TO GO
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
WEEKEND VACATION NOTICE
PRESIDENT BUSH IS ON VACATION
CHENEY IS IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.
I'M STILL SLEEPING.
August 12, 2006
ONLY 6 TO GO
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
WEEKEND VACATION NOTICE
PRESIDENT BUSH IS ON VACATION
CHENEY IS IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.
I'M STILL SLEEPING.
August 11, 2006
MAN WHAT A DEBATE
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
SUCH A KIDDER
COMMISSIONER CANDIDATES SET TO SPEAK TONIGHT
All five candidates for county commissioner in Kitsap County's District 3 accepted an invitation to speak tonight at a forum organized by the Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners (KAPO).
The meeting started at 6:30 pm. The candidates were incumbent Patty Lent (I voted for her last time) and Jack Hamilton, both Republicans, and Josh Brown, Wally Carlston and Nels Rosendahl, all Democrates.
There was a series of 11 written questions that each member could address with a 1 minute answer and a 30 second follow up if they wanted. Each member had a 3 minute opening statement and a 2 minute closing statement. I decided that I would keep score using a scale of 0 to 10 for how I felt each did when they answered the question. They got a 0 if they chose not to answer the question. The final totals are below.
I've gone to a few of these debates but I swear tonight's was a bit unusual, no tonight's was very unusual but not in the way that I expected.
The folks that put on this debate KAPO, are mad as hell at Patty Lent. They are property rights folks that don't like the way she has voted since she was elected. They feel that she owes them because they are the ones that elected her. Guess my vote doesn't count. Any way Jack Hamilton also a Republican, is so mad he is running against her. Say's she broke her word.
So I expected to see a lot of give and take between the two of them. I had no clue as to who the Democrats were so had no expectation one way or the other.
The first question started with Rosenthal and right out of the box he makes a snide remark, but that was just the first of what was to come. On my score keeping he came in dead last.
Patty Lent held her own. She talked with the authority of someone that has been doing the job and doing it quit well. On my score card she came in second.
Hamilton was next and while he kept it mostly civil there where times he talked in a condescending tone. You knew who he was directing his remarks at and it just struck me as being a little over the top at times. He was much more in control than Rosendahl. I put Hamilton in 3rd place. I think he let his ideology get in the way of his common sense.
Next in line was Wally Carlston. This guy looks like a farmer. I guess he's a homebuilder. I just didn't get the feeling that his heart was in this race. He sure as heck didn't come across as someone that is on top of the issues. He was funny at times and for that I ended up putting him is fourth place.
The last candidate was dressed for success. He's a young guy in his mid thirties I'd guess. He was not afraid to say that he didn't have all the answers, that he didn't understand every single issue, that he would seek the opinion of experts. He said he would listen to both sides of the issue with an open mind. He was very respectful. He knew going in that the majority of this audience was basically hostile to his point of view, that they had just one issue, but he still talked to them and not down to them. He did the best job of all the candidates in my opinion and that's why he came in first on my score card by a large margin.
A little over view. I estimate that about 150 to 200 people where there. Sadly the average age looks to be about 65 plus. A few young folks where there but that not that many (must be the Jon Stewart Daily Show effect at work).
At the end each candidate was given two minutes to give their closing remarks. They started with Josh Brown, then Wally Carlton, followed by John Hamilton and Patty Lent and finally Nels Rosendahl.
They first four pretty much said the same thing by saying thank you for coming and listening and I would like your vote.
That is everyone except Nels Rosenthal. He went into ATTACK mode against his fellow democrat Josh Brown. I and a large number of other people in the audience where surprised, no I'd say shocked by his RANT. It just seemed out of place and not connected to anything that had been said by anyone during the debate. It was very strange and out of place. He was attacking Josh personally not on anything Josh had said. I've never seen anything like it. You might have expected that from a republican (not the folks that were here tonight) but say a republican that got caught up in the heat of the debate. It was totally out of place and uncalled for.
The facilitator was Larry (I didn't get his name) and he should have stopped this tirade by ruling him out of order. But I think he is a part of the KAPO group and wants Hamilton to win so he was not that interested in stopping the bashing of Josh Brown.
They were each given 2 minutes to close and by this time I'd say Nels was at the three or more minute mark and I yelled out "YOU'VE HAD YOUR TWO MINUTES" (hate when I do that). That seemed to work and he stopped his rant.
Nels then announces that he was getting out of the race. All the way home I kept scratching my head asking myself why did he sit through that whole debate just to announce he was no longer running.
HELL I STILL DON'T GET IT! ! !
My SCORES: Rosenthal=37, Lent=63, Hamilton=50, Carlston=38, Brown=83
SANTORUM LOOKS YELLOW IN GREEN
I've been reading this guy for some time. I even sent him an email when Bill O'Reilly slammed him after he wrote an article that disagreed with good old Billy-Boy.
This article just makes me laugh. His HIGH REPUBLICAN MORALISM IN NO WAY WILL GET IN THE WAY OF HIS CHEATING. Rick Santorum is the Poster Boy for this kind of behavior.
By Gil Smart, Associate Editor - Sunday News
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - So you might have seen that Rick Santorum and Bob Casey Jr. are going to have a little company on the ballot this fall.
Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli of Wilkes-Barre collected a whopping 100,000 voter signatures, qualifying for the Senate race. That's 33,000 more than required, and more than twice what Ralph Nader collected in Pennsylvania when he ran for president in 2004.
You might even call it amazing. You might, that is, if you didn't know who funded the petition drive.
Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News reported on his blog, Attytood, last week that the $66,000 raised by the liberal Green Party and used to pay the private company to collect signatures was donated by "Republicans or strident social conservatives who oppose the very pillars of the Green Party platform."
All told, 20 conservative donors ponied up the money to get a guy on the ballot who is diametrically opposed to everything they hold dear.
And you know, maybe this proves that I've misjudged Republicans. Maybe they are turning over a new leaf, seeking to shed their reputation for narrow-mindedness by taking a serious, honest look at a candidate on the other end of the spectrum.
Or maybe this is all a bunch of chicanery.
Indeed, a cynical person might see this as an attempt to siphon votes from Casey - and an implicit admission by Santorum and his party that the only way he can win a third term is by cheating.
No no no, insists Santorum: "Democrats, Republicans and independents all agree that the democratic process should be open and welcoming to people of differing positions," his campaign manager Vince Galko told the Philadelphia Inquirer last month.
This from a candidate who refused to debate third-party challengers last time around, in 2000.
And in any event, isn't Santorum supposed to be Mr. Morality? How dirty tricks square with that I have no idea, but then I'm often confused about how our New Republican Moralism is supposed to work.
Now, in one respect I have no problem with a Green on the ballot. I'm firmly of the opinion that a viable third party would be a good thing for the country. Whether the Greens are or could be viable is another discussion for another day, but suffice it to say that Romanelli will be the only truly liberal candidate in this race.
But beneficial as that might be for democracy itself, it most definitely reflects poorly on Santorum, even if his gambit is successful.
Here's a two-term senator and standard-bearer for the conservative movement, the reddest of Senators, who is having so much trouble in his blue state that his backers have to underwrite a Green whom they probably consider a pinko.
It's all rather yellow-bellied.
But I suppose you could say this is just the Santorum camp showing its true colors.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS CURRENT TERROR ALERT
My Oh My, how we love our SPIN
Q. On Lieberman, are you telling us you now want to make the November election a referendum on the Democrats' position on the Iraq war?
MR. SNOW: No, I'm saying that there are some Democrats who have said that the key issue is leaving, and that there are some elements within the Democratic Party who are pushing hard to say, look, if you don't agree with us, you no longer belong in the party. You know, you take a look at the blogs today, they're pretty hot.
And the real question for the American people to ask themselves is, do you take the war on terror seriously, with all the developments going on around the world? And, if so, how do you fight it to win? There seem to be two approaches. And in the Connecticut race one of the approaches is ignore the difficulties and walk away.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @My how we love our spin. <----( watch the video here )
THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING
Opinion of Television Personalities
Among Those With Opinions of Each Person
July 24-27, 2006
Favorable Unfavorable
% %
Diane Sawyer 88 12
Charles Gibson 87 13
Brian Williams 87 13
Bob Schieffer 85 15
Anderson Cooper 83 17
Meredith Vieira 81 19
Matt Lauer 81 19
Lou Dobbs 78 22
Regis Philbin 75 25
Dan Rather 73 27
Katie Couric 72 28
Barbara Walters 70 30
Larry King 66 34
Bill O'Reilly 56 44
Geraldo Rivera 37 63
Rosie O'Donnell 35 65
Star Jones Reynolds 30 70
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
Q: What do you get when you cross a pirate and a Lutheran?
A: Someone who makes you say your pray-arrrs!
NO WORDS NEEDED
THE GOOD OLD DAYS, COMMENTS MADE IN THE YEAR 1955:
"No one can afford to be sick any more; $35 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood."
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"Warning: May contain small parts." -- On a frisbee.
August 10, 2006
I JUST WONDER WHY
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK
Bill O'Reilly accuses Liberal Blogs of Anti-Semitic attacks on Lieberman. He used his commentary the other night, 8/8/06, to accuse Daily Kos and Huffington Post of posting "anti-Semitic rants" against Lieberman. The two statements he displayed were not authorized blog posts but actually reader comments. The one from the Daily Kos dated back to 12/7/05 so O'Reilly must have sifted through thousands of comments to make his case.
O'Reilly claimed that the mainstream media has ignored the hatred directed at Lieberman adding, "I wonder how Mel Gibson feels?"
Then O'Reilly began his own hate filled rant against his sworn enemy the radical, far left which seems to be anyone left of Joe Lieberman or Zell Miller. He claimed the far left is DOMINATED BY HATERS who " despise their country" adding that they are " spreading like lice on the net."
The solution O'Reilly told viewers could be found in his new book, " Culture Warrior" where he exposes the enemy. At the end of the show he made a sales pitch to viewers who may want to learn how to combat the spreading left wing lice before the book is released in September.
So the O-man has it all figured out, according to him some readers comments speak for the BLOG that allows comments and the WHOLE Democratic party. He doesn't have a clue who posted the comment, hell it could be a right wing goof-ball. . . the O-man doesn't know. Yet he can make these value judgments, it's that special.
If you have watched the O-man over the years that is about the level of background he goes through to put on each of his shows. He has such bias even though he CLAIMS to be INDEPENDENT.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Listen to the O-man rant. <----( watch the video here )
THE BLOGGERS GET IT
Much of the media and even some so called DEMOCRATS (Lenny Davis for example) fear the BLOGS because they lose their power. Lenny did what the O-man did, he tried to mislead the reader sighting the same comments and tried to suggest that it was the view of that BLOG. What BULLSHIT.
So, if the media and their GOP handlers and others are correct that bloggers are to the far-left of the Democratic party, and we all opposed Joe Lieberman because we supposedly hate conservative Democrats who support the war on terror, then why is it that we really like Harry Reid (a pro-life, white guy, who supports the flag burning amendment), but we aren't shedding a lot of tears over last night's defeat of Cynthia McKinney (a black woman and flaming liberal who was highly critical of George Bush)?
And why is it that other Democrats who were supporters of the war in Iraq, and have significant progressive constituencies, and who are up for re-election this year, aren't facing serious criticism from us, and aren't facing serious primary challengers?
If we're all flaming liberals who hate anyone who supported the war in Iraq, then why is Lieberman the only guy we're upset with?
Or maybe: the Republicans are lying; the media, as usual, fell for their lies hook, line and sinker; and Joe Lieberman lost because he was George Bush's love child and the American people have had it with this administration; their incompetence; and anyone who blindly enables it.
Just a thought.
There is change coming wait and see.
TO BAD TOM
The United States Supreme Court dealt a final blow on Monday to efforts by the Texas Republican Party to replace former Representative Tom DeLay on the Congressional ballot in November, leaving him the reluctant party nominee from his longtime district.
Three state and federal courts had already ruled that Mr. DeLay had to remain the party's choice despite his assertions that he had moved to Virginia from Texas. In April, he announced he would give up his re-election campaign and resign his seat to allow the party to select another candidate while he battled legal charges.
On Monday, Republican lawyers filed a final appeal to the Supreme Court, but it was rejected hours later without comment by the circuit justice, Antonin Scalia.
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
Love may be beautiful, love may be bliss But I only slept with you, because I was pissed.
NO WORDS NEEDED
THE GOOD OLD DAYS, COMMENTS MADE IN THE YEAR 1955:
"There is no sense going to Vancouver anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $15 a night to stay in a hotel."
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"Always drive on roads. Not on people." -- From a car commercial which shows a vehicle "body-surfing" at a concert.
August 09, 2006
GOT THE RESULTS
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
WHAT DOES LIEBERMAN'S DEFEAT MEAN?
The defeat of Senator Joe Lieberman in yesterday's Democratic primary in Connecticut is a big deal I think. It's the first real shot at the war in Iraq and the BUSH policies.
While I think Joe is a really poor looser blaming his opponent for HACKING his WEB Site was a stupid move. See the video from Countdown below for why it happened.
Also his decision to run as an independent is a bad move. He's had his turn and needs to move on. I sure would love to see a big turn over in congress. I think much of the problem with congress is that they know that 90 to 95 percent of the time they will be voted back into office so they aren't risking much when they run.
We need fresh, new ideas and people that don't make it a life time career, I sure would like to see Term Limits.
As far as I can see Joe made his own bed by going overboard in his support for President Bush and the war. In its decision to officially endorse Ned Lamont, the New York Times editorial board cited a list of outrages that included Lieberman's disregard for the Geneva Conventions and his support for the administration's holding of foreign citizens without due process.
STAY THE COURSE IS NOT A PLAN. BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME NOW IS A PLAN. . . NO IT'S A GREAT PLAN.
HERE IS WHAT THE HACKING IS ALL ABOUT
Ok, so Joe say's he was HACKED. Listen and watch this video to this and you'll know what really happened. I personally know this is true because for a few weeks last year I was using a huge amount of bandwidth. I was having thousands of visitors every day. I was lucky on the one hand because my Hosting Service is a big time operation and has the equipment to handle it. I did end up fixing the problem but I also paid for an upgrade to help avoid the problem in the future.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @This is the charge. <----( watch the video here )
This is the answer. <----( watch the video here )
MCKINNEY BEATEN
Rep. Cynthia McKinney is controversial and outspoken, independent and unrepentant, all of which have endeared her to a dedicated corps of supporters in her metro Atlanta district, but not to a majority of her fellow Democrats who turned out in Tuesday's primary runoff.
For the second time in three election cycles, McKinney was defeated in a Democratic primary in Georgia's 4th District, this time by Hank Johnson, a former DeKalb County commissioner who thumped her 59 percent to 41 percent.
Despite her defeat, McKinney was unbowed, unleashing a stemwinder of a concession speech in which she barely mentioned her opponent but praised leftist leaders in Cuba and Venezuela, took aim at the efficacy of electronic voting machines and offered several swipes at the media.
"Members of the press, as well as our political leaders, don't give us explanations that explain, or conclusions that conclude," McKinney said. "There comes a time when people of conscience are compelled to dissent."
After being forced into a runoff by Johnson in the July 18 primary, McKinney went on the offensive, accusing him of accepting money and votes from Republicans who wanted to drum her out of Congress. He called her charges "desperate" and vowed to be a less divisive figure.
Given the 4th District's Democratic tilt, Johnson will be a prohibitive favorite in the fall against the Republican nominee, Catherine Davis, a human resources manager from Stone Mountain making her third bid for the seat.
Without mentioning Johnson by name, McKinney concluded her remarks by saying, "I wish the new representative of the 4th Congressional District well."
Like Joe McKinney is a SORE and a POOR LOOSER. Congress is the winner here as are we all.
OHIO REPUBLICAN TIED TO ABRAMOFF WILL RETIRE
Representative Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican entangled in the corruption scandal centered on the former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, announced Monday that he would abandon his bid for re-election.
The Justice Department has signaled for months that criminal charges against Mr. Ney, and possibly other Republican members of Congress and aides who were close to Mr. Abramoff, were only a matter of time.
"Ultimately this decision came down to my family," Mr. Ney said in a statement announcing his decision not to seek a seventh term. "I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal."
Funny how he want's to protect his family now but not when he was doing the crime.
Another win for America.
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
THINK ABOUT IT
My dad used to say, 'You wouldn't worry so much about what people thought about you if you knew how seldom they did. - - - Phillip C. McGraw
NO WORDS NEEDED
THE GOOD OLD DAYS, COMMENTS MADE IN THE YEAR 1955:
"The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on."
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"For a limited time only." -- From a Rally's commercial that described how their burgers were fresh.
August 08, 2006
BIG VOTE DAY
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
YOU GO GIRLS
The Dixie Chicks kicked ass last night at a packed Madison Square Garden, for a crowd so pumped they were screaming at Natalie Maines' tambourine solos.
The Dixie Chicks sent out "White Trash Wedding" to Mel Gibson. "You know how it is," Natalie said. "You get drunk, you say things … All our controversies probably would have gone away if I checked into rehab the next day."
One fan held up a sign that said, "I'm gay but I love Chicks." "Aw, that's sweet," Natalie said. "I'm straight, but I love gay people!"
HOW DOES THAT WORK AGAIN
So you get hired as CEO of a BIG ASS Oil Company, say BP. They pay you a $ Ga-Zillion dollars a year for doing your CEO stuff. Your company makes HUGE billions in profit last quarter. You get to take all the credit and the Board votes you a multi million dollar bonus. Life is good.
In a sudden blow to the nation's oil supply, half the production on Alaska's North Slope was being shut down Sunday after BP Exploration Alaska, Inc. discovered severe corrosion in a Prudhoe Bay oil transit line.
BP officials said they didn't know how long the Prudhoe Bay field would be off line. "I don't even know how long it's going to take to shut it down," said Tom Williams, BP's senior tax and royalty counsel.
HELLO!!! It's called INSPECTING the damn pipe line. They need to take back the big pay and bonus from this CEO and fix the pipe, NOW
NOTHING WRONG WITH KANSAS
FOR THE SECOND time in less than a year, voters have turned out of office policymakers who insisted on teaching kids bad science. Last year, the people of Dover, Pa., got rid of a group of school board members who injected the theory of "intelligent design" into high school biology.
Last week, Republican primary voters in Kansas ousted the conservative majority on the state Board of Education, which had adopted science standards embracing intelligent design and casting doubt on Darwinian evolution. Moderate Republicans replaced two conservatives -- giving those supporting science at least a 6-to-4 majority, even if the other conservatives hold on in the general election. The vote, which should lead to changes to those embarrassing standards, is an encouraging sign that even in conservative jurisdictions, most people want kids to be taught biology, not religion.
How do bacteria become drug-resistant? Why do birds, bees and bats all have wings? Intelligent design can lead only to unintelligent students, or at least badly educated ones. In the seesawing of Kansas politics on this issue, it is too early to declare victory. It is, however, encouraging that voters seem to be insisting, at least for now, that when students study biology, they learn the real thing.
RICKY IS A CHEAT
I guess when your losing in your bid for re-election it's OK to twist the truth. But you know when you go to this length to mislead it just speaks volumes' about your characters.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Just a play on words. <----( watch the video here )
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
My daughter and I went to Seattle yesterday for the interview with the folks that run the Stent Study. We signed the papers and the doctor did some basic tests that I will repeat after the surgery next week and again in about 30 days. This will help them measure any change between each test.
We are moving forward one step at a time.
We had some trouble getting there first because there was an accident on I-5 and traffic was moving at a crawl. Once we got through the traffic we got to the building for the appointment but they didn't have the name of the Dr I thought I was to see. Turns out I mixed the Drs. name up and so my daughter was on her Cell phone trying to find out where we should go and who we should see.
Anyway we figured it all out and we are moving forward.
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
Modern Medicine
A Japanese doctor says, "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him looking for work in six weeks."
A German doctor says, "That is nothing; we can take a lung out of one person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in four weeks."
A British doctor says, "In my country, medicine is so advanced that we can take half of a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have them both looking for work in two weeks."
The Texas doctor, not to be outdone, says, "You guys are way behind. We took a man with no brains out of Texas, put him in the White House, and now half the country is looking for work."
NO WORDS NEEDED
THE GOOD OLD DAYS, COMMENTS MADE IN THE YEAR 1955:
"Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people ?
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"No stopping or standing." -- A sign at bus stops everywhere.
August 07, 2006
MOVIN ON DOWN THE ROAD
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
ALL HAT
WHAT A DEAL
I don't drive much anymore. I have two vehicles a 1984 Dodge truck and a 2002 Mazda SUV. For the past 6 years I have written down the mileage on both of these the first day of the new year so it's easy for me to figure out the total miles I've driven each year.
As I said I don't drive much any more. . . for my truck I've averaged 172 miles per year while on my SUV I drive 3560 on average. I use my truck to go to the dump only so I figured I didn't need to carry insurance on it, dumb as hell wouldn't you say.
Well that was back in 2004 that I didn't renew my 2005 Insurance. The other day I was listening to The Dave Ross Show and he was talking about his producer being off that day to take care of a traffic ticket. It turns out she had to go to court to fight a $200 fine because she didn't have that piece of paper that says she had insurance in her glove box (she indeed had the insurance, just forgot to put that proof in her car).
Well that gave me a wake up call. I better get insurance or I'd be paying that big ass fine hands down.
I have my car and house with the same company because it saves me some money. I called them and talked to a very helpful gal. I told her I drive my truck fewer that a 200 miles per year and what would it cost to add my truck back on my insurance.
She said their rates go down to 1000 miles a year so she would check for that rate. After a short hold she came back up and said well it looks like we would owe you $5.00 for the full year but since we are through over half a year they only would owe me $2.00. I said what a deal, would you add my truck today, she said yes.
Well yesterday in the mail I got a check for $2.00 and the amendment to my policy. Now I have to remember to put my Proof of Insurance in my truck. That's the hard part.
I NEED YOUR HELP
I FORGOT TO UPDATE THIS LAST Friday so here it is.
The list is growing, but I know there are more SCREW UP out there.
With your help we can identify all the SCREWS UPS that Bush and the Republicans have made over the past 6 years.
If you have some to add please click the link below and send them to me. I'll update the list each Friday.
MY FRIDAY LIST UPDATE
BUSH/REPUBLICAN SCREW UPS
1. STEM CELL 2. BANKRUPTCY 3. TAX CUTS 4. IRAQ 5. INTELLIGENCE 6. KATRINA 7. GITMO 8. GLOBAL WARMING 9. PRESCRIPTION DRUGS 10. FLAG BURNING 11. GAY MARRIAGE 12. MINIMUM WAGE 13. HOMELAND SECURITY 14. FEMA 15. DEFICIT 16. ECONOMY STUPID 17. ACCOUNTABILITY 18. NO CHILD LEFT (behind) 19. SOCIAL SECURITY 20. WMD'S - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 21. STUDENT LOANS 22. VETERANS BENEFITS 23. COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATIVES 24. CUTS ON VA SERVICES 25. CUTS ON VA DISABILITY 26. MEDICARE 27. BOARDER SECURITY 28. CULTURE OF CORRUPTION 29. ETHICS REFORM 30. OIL DRILLING 31. FOREIGN POLICY 32. ENVIRONMENT 33. LOBBY REFORM 34. MILITARY LIFE INS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 35. HIGHER TAXES 36. STAY THE COURSE 37. RUMMY 38. THIS IS A PLAN? 39. SCREWED UP AGENDA 40. VP OUT HUTNING 41. VP SHOOTING FRIENDS 42. FAITH BASED 43. DOMESTIC POLICY 44. AND EVERY THING ELSE@ @ Contact me here. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
SEND ME THOSE Bush/Republican SCREW UPS HERE. <----( click here to go to the site )
AS DUMB AS THEY COME.
I've come to believe that for some reason conservative Talk Show host are the most hateful people in the country. Like Ann Coulter they really don't care what they say or who it may hurt. Today we give you Neal Boortz.
As you may know the GOP Senate tried to pull a fast one on the dems with this minimum wage issue and vote. In stead of having an up and down vote they tried to link it to the Estate Tax. It didn't work and both where voted down.
Now comes this Boortz guy on his talk show saying some really stupid things about first who is really earns minimum wage and second what knid of people they are.
Watch the video first as Keith will provide some background and then listen to Dave Ross as he plays exactly what BOORTZ says. . . What a jerk.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Keith should have made him the WORST. <----( watch the video here )
From Dave Ross talk show. <----( watch the video here )
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
I was in the local Wal-Mart yesterday buying a large bag of Purina for my Labrador Retriever and was in line to check out.
A woman behind me asked if I had a dog.
On impulse, I told her that no, that I was starting The Purina Diet again. I commented that I probably shouldn't, because I'd ended up in the hospital the last time; but since I'd lost 50 pounds (before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms) I thought that it was probably worth the risk.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets, and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry, and that the food is nutritionally complete; so I was going to try it again.
I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story; particularly a tall guy behind the lady.
Horrified, she asked if I'd been poisoned and was that why I ended up in the hospital.
I said, No.....that I'd been sitting in the street, licking my balls, and a car hit me.
I thought the tall guy was going to have to be carried out the door!
NO WORDS NEEDED
THE GOOD OLD DAYS, COMMENTS MADE IN THE YEAR 1955:
"I'm just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business."
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"Do not sit under coconut trees." -- A sign on a coconut palm in a West Palm Beach park circa 1950.
August 06, 2006
ONLY 7 TO GO
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
WEEKEND VACATION NOTICE
PRESIDENT BUSH IS ON VACATION
CHENEY IS IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.
I'M STILL SLEEPING.
August 05, 2006
ONLY 8 TO GO
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
WEEKEND VACATION NOTICE
PRESIDENT BUSH IS ON VACATION
CHENEY IS IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.
I'M STILL SLEEPING.
August 04, 2006
MORE TO DO
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
AS DUMB AS THEY COME.
This video is from the Colbert Report. Stephen Colbert asks Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, the one who sponsored the bill to display the 10 commandments in Congress, to name the 10 commandments. Listen to his answers, this is amazing. . . there are ONLY TEN of them for Gods sake is that to many to remember.
He represents Georgia's 8th congressional district, south of Atlanta through Macon and Warner-Robbin and south. He's been in cahoots with all the big players in the Republican Culture of Corruption, taking dirty money from DeLay, Boehner, Blunt, etc. He's been a quintessential do-nothing rubber-stamp imbecile for the last 2 years but is eager to continue doing nothing and making good money for it.
Here are some comment's I found on the WEB
Yeah. But his answers were one word answers. He should know the commandments verbatim. People. . . the people who elect these idiots are idiots. Birds of a feather.... This is not about liberals or conservatives. Do you not see the irony in this piece. If he were a democrat, he would have faced the same amount of ridicule. This is about the inaptitude of our leaders. Do you think is the only piece of legislation where a congressman did not know what he or she was talking about? Both sides are driven by special interests and propaganda machines.@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
This is really funny. <----( watch the video here )
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
The cops found a man dead, squeezed to death by his pet boa constrictor. They listed the case of death as "a reptile dysfunction."
NO WORDS NEEDED
THE GOOD OLD DAYS, COMMENTS MADE IN THE YEAR 1955:
"Marriage doesn't mean a thing any more; those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat."
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"For lifting purposes only." -- On the box for a car jack.
August 03, 2006
MAN IT'S LATE
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
IT TAKES A FARMER.
I've talked about my Blackberry bush before here on my Blog. So now that the berries are starting to get ripe and ready to pick and eat I thought I'd talk about it again.
This bush is in my backyard and grows around a big cedar tree stump. I'm not a gardener and so I go at pruning with the biggest sheers I have. I've been taking care of this blackberry bush for a few years now and it always comes back in the spring bigger and better than before.
The pictures I took this morning show the bush and my first basket of berries. I'll be picking berries for most if not all of August. I'll end up freezing some for use later this year.
I need to get a cow and some chickens, maybe a pig and . . .
THIS SHOULD HELP??? IS HE NUTS?
Well it seems that good old Tom Delay has finally thrown his considerable support in the much talked about and hotly contested CT senatorial race. He announced his support for (drum roll please) Joe Lieberman over Ned Lamont.
It must be the endorsement that means the most to Joe and will most likely be the one that turns this race around. It's always nice to be endorsed by someone that is viewed by many people as one of the most corrupt people in congress. Oh did I mention that he is under indictment in Texas.
Would you want Delay's endorsement?
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
NO WORDS NEEDED
THE GOOD OLD DAYS, COMMENTS MADE IN THE YEAR 1955:
"It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work."
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"Do not use house paint on face." -- In a Visa commercial that depicts an expecting couple looking for paint at a hardware store.
August 02, 2006
BEST OUT WEST
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
BUSH IN CHARGE
NICE WEATHER IF YOU CAN GET IT.
Man I'm glad I live in the Great Pacific Northwest. Seems like the rest of the country is dying from the heat.
Sure we had a few days of 95 Plus degrees (that picture above is just outside in kitchen) but not like they get in many other parts of the country.
It looks nice and cool today here but it sounds like it's HOT HOT HOT in most of the east coast.
FALSE INFORMATION ON ABORTION
Federally funded "pregnancy resource centers" are incorrectly telling women that abortion results in an increased risk of breast cancer, infertility and deep psychological trauma, a minority congressional report charged yesterday.
The report said that 20 of 23 federally funded centers contacted by staff investigators requesting information about an unintended pregnancy were told false or misleading information about the potential risks of an abortion.
The pregnancy resource centers, which are often affiliated with antiabortion religious groups, have received about $30 million in federal money since 2001, according to the report, requested by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.). The report concluded that the exaggerations "may be effective in frightening pregnant teenagers and women and discouraging abortion. But it denies the teenagers and women vital health information, prevents them from making an informed decision, and is not an accepted public health practice."
Those studies are at odds with mainstream medical opinion. An expert panel of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), for instance, concluded in 2003 that an "abortion is not associated with an increase in breast cancer." The experts said their conclusion was "well established" by the evidence.
Last year, Waxman initiated a study of a government Web site intended to help parents and teenagers make "smart choices" about sexual activity. A team of medical experts who reviewed the Web site said it included inaccurate or misleading information that could alienate some families or prompt riskier behavior.
It's almost like the lead up to the Iraq War. They used the same pack of lies to mislead America and now they are doing the same thing to women and girls that need the truth the most.
YOU CAN'T TRUST THESE BASTARDS
The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it was moving toward endorsing sale of the morning-after pill without a prescription for women 18 and older, signaling what may be the end of one of the most stubborn health policy debates of the Bush administration.
In 2003, an F.D.A. advisory committee voted 23 to 4 to allow the drug's over-the-counter sale without age restrictions. But a top official of the agency overruled that committee and agency staff members, raising concerns that young teenagers might engage in riskier sex if the morning-after pill was easily available. The company revised its application, asking that over-the-counter sale be allowed for women older than 16.
In the letter sent yesterday, Dr. Von Eschenbach said the agency would not approve that request but that, if the company met certain restrictions, it would allow over-the-counter sales to women 18 or older.
Under that program, Plan B would not be available in convenience stores or at gasoline stations, but only in places where there is a pharmacy. Rather than being placed on drugstore shelves, the contraceptive would be behind a pharmacy counter. To buy it, women would have to show photo identification to prove their age. Many women's groups expressed cautious optimism that the announcement meant that the drug's over-the-counter sales would finally be approved.
The drug is most effective when taken soon after intercourse, the reason its supporters have argued that it should be available without a prescription.
Planned Parenthood, which has supported the drug's over-the-counter availability, issued a statement saying that the agency's announcement "holds the potential for improving women's health if the F.D.A. keeps its word this time."
But the timing of the announcement -the day before Dr. von Eschenbach's confirmation hearing in a Senate committee - raised skepticism on Capitol Hill about whether it might be intended to deflect criticism about delays in the drug's application without a clear guarantee of action.
Assuming that the committee approves Dr. von Eschenbach's nomination, Mrs. Clinton and Ms. Murray said they would block a floor vote on his confirmation until the F.D.A. made a final yes-or-no decision on the drug's sale. Under Senate rules, any senator may place a "hold" on a floor vote to approve a nominee.
To be effective, the first pill must be taken within 72 hours after intercourse. The second pill is supposed to be taken 12 hours after the first.
Plan B was first approved for sale in the United States as a prescription drug in 1999. Barr moved in 2003 to make it available without age restriction over the counter, but its approval has been the subject of a series of F.D.A. delays.
As I said YOU CAN'T TRUST THESE BASTARDS. So Clinton and Murray are correct to keep the pressure on them until they make these happen.
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
NO WORDS NEEDED
THE GOOD OLD DAYS, COMMENTS MADE IN THE YEAR 1955:
"It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet."
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"Choking hazard: This toy is a small ball." -- On the label for a cheap rubber ball toy.
August 01, 2006
LOOKING LIKE RAIN TODAY
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!
THEY SHOOT SCIENTIST DON'T THEY
ONE OF THOSE DAYS
Some days it doesn't pay too get up.
My sister-in-law is having a problem with her computer. I told her I'd order her a new one and come out and set it up when I get it. Well it came last week and today was the day I go and set it up.
My sister-in-law lives about 50-60 miles from me so it's a day's trip for me. I hit the road at 8 and figured I'd get there around 9 am. About half way there I had a flat. That's the first flat I've had in 50 years and I'm not kidding.
Luckily the flat was on my front right tire so I wasn't out on the street side because there were lots of 18 wheelers zipping by.
I got the jack out and tried to figure out where it was supposed to go. I guessed wrong, but it seemed right. I jacked the car up as far as the jack would go but not enough to get the tire off the ground.
I decided to hitch a ride to a service station. The first car that stopped the guy said he'd look at it before we took off. I said ok.
He said I had the jack in the wrong place (which I kind of thought was the problem). But when he put it in the right spot he did something with the tools that came with the jack that I would never have thought of. The location of the jack was well under the car on the frame. The tool to crank the jack was made by joining two of the tools to allow the tool to crank the jack.
This guy that stopped to help (I didn't get his name, how awful is that) changed the tire and when I offered to pay him $20.00 he wouldn't take it. He just said do something nice for someone else when you can. How nice is that.
I went to Les Schwab in Gig Harbor but they didn't have the size tire I needed, seems my tire was damaged beyond repair. He checked the one in Bremerton and said they had some. So off I went to Bremerton (I've written about this Les Schwab Center a few days ago in my Blog) to get my tire fixed.
Within a half hour I was back on the road. What's strange is that I only have 17,000 miles on that bad tire.
I'm going to give it another shot today and hope I make it all the way out to my sister-in-laws house.
SURPRISE, SURPRISE
A few years back I was one of several folks in the Bremerton/Kitsap area that was against what became known as the GOLDEN TUNNEL or BREMERTON'S BIG DIG. The $27.3 million, 970-foot tunnel is designed to take drivers leaving the ferry and making a quick exit from Bremerton out of downtown without blocking pedestrians by going north on the regular street.
The City Council will consider Wednesday whether to accept a maintenance agreement for the tunnel between the ferry terminal and Burwell Avenue - something at least one council member believes represents a broken promise.
The agreement calls for the city to handle most short-term maintenance and the state to handle the long-term issues. That means the city would spend $55,000 on maintenance each year beginning in 2008.
City Councilman Mike Shepherd said when the tunnel was proposed, city officials were assured that they wouldn't have to pay any costs for it.
He's considering filing a public document request with the city to see the minutes from an Aug. 13, 2003, meeting in which U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, urged the council to proceed with a study of the tunnel idea. Shepherd believes he heard assurances during that meeting that said the city would never pay.
I think he's right. But you know politicians they will tell you what they think you want to hear.
When I was ranting about this tunnel I did my own little test and counted the number of cars just going North off the ferry vs those that would use the tunnel and by my count 75% went north.
I myself will never use the tunnel as I go north so I think one day after the tunnel is opened we'll all see an ordnance that says you must use the tunnel.
You heard it here first.
EVIL, CRAZY BITCHES
Here is David Letterman's take on Ann Coulter.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @Bill Clinton answers Ann Coulter. <----( watch the video here )
THE WRONG CHOICE
I think Keith should have given this award to old Ricky-Boy. Listen to what he is trying to do . He has no shame.
@ @ Watch the VIDEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @The wrong pick. <----( watch the video here )
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
PRETTY GOOD JOKES
NO WORDS NEEDED
THE GOOD OLD DAYS, COMMENTS MADE IN THE YEAR 1955:
"I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now."
PRODUCT WARNINGS:
"All cups leaving this store, rather full or empty, must be paid for." -- A sign in a Cumberland Farms in Hillsboro, New Hampshire.