The ethical St. McCain

Spectral 8 (11-0.0.1.7)
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red electric dragon ~ kin 81

ACTIVATE in order to NURTURE,
BONDING BEING
seal the INPUT of BIRTH
with the ELECTRIC tone of SERVICE.
guided by the power of LIFE-FORCE.

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◄ 12.19.15.5.13 ≈ uuc ben ►

with a fresh new thread and an astrology forcast(I think)

making a complete ass of himself again....David Shuster is incredulous...Joe is not there so it is a pretty good discussion.....all talking about why the hell Clinto is staying in...

Hillary Clinton and President Bush are alike...

Neither has an exit strategy!

ABC News' Karen Travers Reports: For the first time this campaign season, Barack Obama has surpassed Hillary Clinton's support among superdelegates, according to the ABC News delegate estimate.

Sen. Obama, D-Ill., picked up two superdelegates this morning giving him a new metric to tout in addition to his current commanding leads in pledged delegates, popular votes, states won, and money raised.

Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., switched his endorsement from Clinton to Obama and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., endorsed Obama. DeFazio was previously uncommitted.

With these endorsements, Obama has the support of 267 superdelegates and Clinton has 265 superdelegates.

Every news organization's superdelegate count is a little different because it is an imperfect science. Since October 2007, the Political Unit has continuously reached out to the nearly 800 superdelegates to determine their candidate preference. We also reach out regularly to the Obama and Clinton campaigns for their superdelegate lists and work to confirm any that they include on their lists.

Clinton’s advantage among superdelegates was once massive and has been dwindling steadily since Super Tuesday, when she was ahead by over 60 superdelegates....

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/05/obama-now-takes.html#com...

Free Democracy

Without Joe!

They could 86 Bushanan and his screechy voice who thinks he has to yell to make a point. His voice, to me, is like nails on a chalk board!

http://www.hillaryis404.org/

Cindy McCain's Business Relationship With Charles Keating and Why She Must Disclose Her Finances

On the Today Show this morning, Cindy McCain defended the McCain campaign's decision to withhold her tax returns, saying they would never make her tax returns public--not even if she becomes First Lady.

I think that's a serious problem and an untenable position for John McCain (R) to maintain. Considering that McCain fashions himself as a fighter for more public transparency, and the fact that both Barack Obama (D) and Hillary Clinton (D) have released their family's tax returns, this will dog McCain for the entire general election. Earlier today, the Democratic National Committee called on McCain to do what his opponents have already done and release his wife's returns.

.....

But even more significant is her involvement in the scandal of McCain's career -- The Keating Five.

In spinning his side of the Keating story, McCain adopted the blanket defense that Keating was a constituent and that he had every right to ask his senators for help. In attending the meetings, McCain said, he simply wanted to make sure that Keating was treated like any other constituent.

Keating was far more than a constituent to McCain, however.

On Oct. 8, 1989, The Republic revealed that McCain's wife and her father had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators......

http://www.politicalbase.com/profile/Mark%20Nickolas/blog/&blogId=2084

are definitely hiding something. She is probably his shelter for all kinds of illicit funds.....I had a client who was a psychiatrist who got caught having sex with a client...he divorced his wife and put all of his assets in her name so that he would not loose his millions...

Unfortunately karma ripened and he died in a plane crash...his own plane and he took his son with him....

My click is bigger than yours
by John Aravosis (DC) · 5/09/2008 08:40:00 AM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: 7 Comments · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!

Ben Smith makes an excellent point as to why the Democrats should emit a large yawn at childish threats from Hillary's donors to boycott the fall congressional races if Herself isn't handed the nomination:
The threat of money, at this point, makes little sense. The most powerful financial force in American politics right now — by very, very far — is the Barack Obama money spigot.
Hillary, the one who is now bankrupt, is threatening to take her nonexistent donors and go home? Ooh, scary.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/Harvey_vs_Pelosi.html

Morning Joe is better
Submitted by toniD on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 8:47am.
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Yep,

Mika is more relaxed without Joe. She should put him in his place. However, he probably has it in his contract that she cannot challenge him. At least not seriously. Let's face it, Joe is dumb as hell.

Yet another shady deal involving McCain, lobbyists and a major campaign donor
by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 5/09/2008 07:57:00 AM ET · Link
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McCain's campaign is rife with D.C. lobbyists. They're running pretty much the whole operation. And, as much as McCain purports to be a guy who isn't influenced by lobbyists, he is. Today's Washington Post has a front page article examining a land deal McCain shepherded through Congress (the "largest" deal of its kind in the history of Arizona, we're told). A lot of former McCain staffers/lobbyist were involved, McCain cut the deal and one of his top fundraisers ended up being a major beneficiary of the whole thing:

McCain initially withheld support for Hayworth's bill, which failed in 2002. Ruskin saw McCain's restraint as an obstacle. He said Senate staff members warned him that the senator was wary of a swap because "he spent some political capital and got some bricks thrown at him" over the Tonto National Forest deal.

Ruskin, who is a pediatrician by training, said he realized he needed to hire lobbyists "to open communications with McCain's office."

He turned to some of McCain's closest former advisers. In 2002, he sought out Mark Buse, McCain's former staff director at the Senate commerce committee, which the senator chaired.

"I had gone to him to see if he had any advice as to how to deal with McCain," Ruskin said. "We had a couple of meetings and I paid him a little bit." Buse's federal lobbying records do not list the ranch as a client.

That year, lobbying records show, Ruskin also paid $60,000 to Michael Jimenez, another former McCain aide. Wes Gullett, who had worked in McCain's Senate office, managed his 1992 reelection bid, and served as deputy campaign manager for his 2000 presidential run, also lobbied on the bill, documents show. The watchdog group Public Citizen lists Gullett and his wife, Deborah, as bundlers who have raised more than $100,000 for McCain's White House bid. Ruskin also hired Gullett's partner, Kurt R. Davis, another McCain bundler and member of the senator's Arizona leadership team, to work with local officials and "to help with McCain if we needed help." Buse, Jimenez and Gullett did not return calls seeking comment.

Davis said that he and Gullett were not hired just to win over McCain. "Each member has issues that are more important to them. You have to be able to address their individual concerns. We had familiarity with the issues important to McCain." In this case, Davis said, "Senator McCain was very, very engaged and concerned about water issues."

More here:

http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/yet-another-shady-deal-involving-mcca...

Obama lets McCain have it: McCain comments "offensive" and he is "losing his bearings"
by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 5/08/2008 05:56:00 PM ET · Link
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This is why the Democratic nomination process has to end. Barack Obama has been very decent to Hillary Clinton, ostensibly, she's on his side. Not so for McCain. On CNN today, Obama, in that way of his, lambasted McCain over the ridiculous attacks the GOP nominee has been making lately. This is a sign of things to come -- and it is going to be fun. John McCain has no idea what he's in for. (More on the interview from CNN.)

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/08/obama/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FnO9ItBaic

Sorry, with the confusion about the threads, I neglected to say Hi.

As gas and crude oil costs jumped to record highs yesterday, USA Today has released a survey showing that these increasing costs are pushing “Americans to drive less for the first time in nearly three decades, squeezing family budgets and causing major shifts in driving habits.” Seventy-one percent say gas prices are a “financial hardship,” up from 47 percent in March 2004.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-05-08-gasprices_N.h...

I just heard, yesterday, that the electric companies will raise their rates as well. At least locally. Why? Greed! It's not like oil, where we have to import it. Something to watch.

The Senate Democrats unveiled the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008, a bill to address the root causes of high gas prices. Major oil companies “are getting away with murder” and “gouging” consumers as the price of oil continues to soar, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) said.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080509/BIZ/805090323...

This will be a hard sell for them....

The American Petroleum Institute, Big Oil’s main lobbying group, “has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign” to convince voters that “rising energy prices are not the producers’ fault and that government efforts to punish the industry, especially with higher taxes, would only make pricing problems worse.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR200805...

Submitted by toniD on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 9:10am.
...I neglected to say Hi.
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Don't be steppin' on my M.O.

Ah Hell No!
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The Nation

Backlash Spectacular
subject to debate
Katha Pollitt

Washington University is giving Phyllis Schlafly an honorary doctorate. Let me run that by you again. Washington University, the distinguished 155-year-old seat of higher learning in St. Louis, is giving an honorary degree to Phyllis Schlafly--archfoe of the Equal Rights Amendment, the United Nations, Darwinism and other newfangled notions, and the promoter of innumerable crackpot far-right conspiracy theories who called the Bomb "a marvelous gift that was given to our country by a wise God." Her eighty-two years haven't mellowed her one bit: last year she blamed the Virginia Tech massacre on the English department; called intellectual men "liberal slobs"; advocated banning women from traditionally male occupations like construction, firefighting and the military; and defended men's property rights over their wives' vaginas ("by getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don't think you can call it rape"). The campus is in an uproar, and no wonder. After four years of hard work, female seniors get to watch their school honor someone who thinks they should park their diplomas in the kitchen sink. Washington U might as well bring in mad misogynist Chris Matthews as commencement speaker. Oh. You mean...? No! Yes.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080526/pollitt

Two months after “the Pentagon announced in March that Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood would become the senior American officer based in Pakistan,” the military “has quietly canceled the assignment. General Hood, a 33-year Army veteran, “was excoriated in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the United States prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/world/asia/09general.html?_r=1&ref=tod...

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, is coming under scrutiny for his “ties to the mortgage industry and the Alabama real estate market, and the generous campaign donations he receives from financial services companies.” Critics say that these interests have “distorted his perspective and led him to delay critical legislative remedies.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/washington/09shelby.html

On Tuesday, 12 nuns in their 80s and 90s fell victim to Indiana’s strict voter ID law when they were turned away from the polls because they lacked a valid photo ID. Time’s Karen Tumulty notes that nuns in Missouri are now basically “rap[ping] the Supreme Court’s knuckles with a great big ruler” and objecting to these ineffective voter ID laws:

“This may sound like a good idea at first,” stated Sister Sandy Schwartz of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary regarding voter ID requirements, “but once you stop to think about who would really be affected, this is going to keep a lot of our loved ones from being able to vote.”

Today, the Missouri House gave final approval to a controversial constitutional amendment that pushes the state a step closer toward adopting a voter ID law. Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) said that if approved, an ID requirement could “put the voting rights at risk for up to 240,000 registered Missouri voters.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/08/nuns-strike-back-against-voter-id-la...

Hi gang...such as it is. I just survived a bout with

bronchitis that slipped into pneumonia. I thought I was

departing this globe there for awhile. I'm back up on my

feet and still breathing but very weak. Hi Toni....R U

feeling OK? Last I heard from you, you were in much pain.

Rumsfeld blames the generals for poor pre-war planning.
In February 2003, Gen. Eric Shinseki famously predicted that “several hundred thousand” troops would be needed for post-war hostilities in Iraq. According to documents recently released by the Pentagon in response to The New York Times’s expose on its propaganda program, however, Donald Rumsfeld claimed in a 2006 briefing that the reason why he did not support a larger invasion force was because commanders did not request it:

RUMSFELD: Now, it turns out he [Shinkseki] was right. The commanders–you guys ended up wanting roughly the same as you had for the major combat operation, and that’s what we have. There is no damned guidebook that says what the number ought to be. We were queued up to go up to what, 400-plus thousand.

Q: Yes, they were already in queue.

RUMSFELD: They were in the queue. We would have gone right on if they’d wanted them, but they didn’t, so life goes on.

In reality, Rumsfeld fought back when generals like Shinseki requested more troops. He said in 2003 that Shinseki was “far from the mark.” As McClatchy reported in 2004, “Central Command originally proposed a force of 380,000 to attack and occupy Iraq. Rumsfeld’s opening bid was about 40,000. … By September 2003, Rumsfeld and his aides thought, there would be very few American troops left in Iraq.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/08/rumsfeld-blames-the-generals-for-poo...

That was some bout you had! Take care of yourself. I bet PP was worried too! Glad to hear you are getting better. I was wondering.

Still in pain and need knee surgery.

Guess what tonight is? Pre Teen Dance night. I don't know if I am up to it today but it is the last til the fall. Thank heaven!

Oh boy...have I been sick.
Submitted by Peter Dragon on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 9:47am.
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Glad you are doing better.

Getting old is NOT all it is cracked up to be! LOL!

and what they are dealing with right now, we are doing okay.

Make me want to crush the Junta.

Junta Confiscates UN Myanmar Aid
The UN has suspended relief supplies after the military government seized their first shipment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/world/asia/10myanmar.html?hp

Toni...PP was really scared this time. We both have been

busting butt with this new house...trying to sell the other

house, etc. I might have overdone it a little. Time to slow

down for awhile. I hope every day that you will feel better.

Love ya!

Still in pain and need knee surgery.
new
Submitted by Peter Dragon on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 9:54am.
Getting old is NOT all it is cracked up to be! LOL!

so far!

Hope you keep feeling better Peter & ToniD.

thanks for the post toni. its all in how you spin it. our rabid friend the wolf posted coverage of the same incident from the clinton - right wing neocon perspective and came up with a conclusion 180 degrees out of phase.

LOL!!!!!!!!! And...a BIG....NO SHIT!

Being dead is boring! No dancing, and...who buys the drinks?

Time to take it easy and take care of yourself.

Things will get done eventually.

Hope things all come together for you soon so that worry is gone!

have to post this nonsense from today's Akron Beacon Journal

about what went on here yesterday. This is part of the

story.

By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal

Published on Friday, May 09, 2008

Northeast Ohioans lined up Thursday — some waiting up to three hours and even skipping work — as Papa John's served up its 23-cent pizza penance.

The crush of customers wanting to cash in on the pizza deal overwhelmed the chain. Customers could phone in or walk in and order a large, one-topping carryout pizza for 23 cents.

Walk-ins had to stand in two long lines, the first to order and the second to collect their pizzas.

At one point in the afternoon, nervous officials warned that stores — which had geared up to make 75,000 pizzas — could run out of cheese and dough before the promotion ended at 10 p.m.

Things got shaky at some stores by late afternoon.

By dinnertime, the East Waterloo store warned a crowd of several hundred snaked around the building that it would close if it ran out of ingredients. As the day grew colder and wetter, many in the ranks defected a few feet away to CiCi's Pizza, which advertises large, one-topping pizzas for $5.99.

Customers said the East Market Street Papa John's closed around 4 p.m., sending a crowd of several hundred scrambling, then reopened several hours later.

The one-day deal — offered at 76 franchise stores in Ohio — was an apology to Cavaliers fans for a promotion by a Washington, D.C., area Papa John's that included T-shirts portraying Cavs star LeBron James as a ''Crybaby.''

Some customers started waiting in line at breakfast time Thursday.

At 8:30 a.m., Geneva King, 62, was first in line outside the store on West Market Street in Akron's Wallhaven neighborhood.

''Where can you go today to get a meal for 23 cents, unless it's sardines?'' King, a retired nursing assistant who lives in Akron, asked shortly before the store opened at 11 a.m.

Traffic jams

After the pizzapalooza began, Akron police reported traffic was at a standstill on southbound state Route 8 because of drivers trying to exit at Buchtel Avenue/Carroll Street to get to the East Market Street store.

Lines were so long by midafternoon at the East Market Street store that police were stationed outside to maintain order and control traffic.

The diverse crowd — teens, women with children, older men and an elderly woman in a wheelchair — wrapped around the building.

Some customers said they waited three hours. Others waited 90 minutes.

Customers said there were some small scuffles and others complained of people cutting in line, a complaint heard at other stores throughout the early evening.

''The response has been overwhelming,'' said Chris Sternberg, Papa John's corporate vice president of communications, in Louisville, Ky.

''The lines were unbelievable. Our team members worked all day, feverishly, answering phones and making pies.''

Asked about people complaining of long lines, Sternberg said, ''We felt we made a lot of people happy today . . . plus we raised a lot of money for the LeBron James Family Foundation.''

Proceeds from Thursday's promotion will benefit the foundation, started by James in 2004. Papa John's corporate is chipping in another $10,000 to the Cavaliers Youth Fund.

Alicia Brown, 37, standing outside the West Market store shortly before noon, had waited 90 minutes. But she urged patience.

''At this deal — this is expected,'' she said.

Bill Hauser, a professor of marketing at the University of Akron, said the promotion works because people will associate Papa John's with the Cavaliers, putting the pizza ''top of mind.''

''In the short term,'' he said, ''they may have some customer frustration issues.''

Complaining customers won't find much sympathy, he said. ''One of their friends or somebody will say, 'It's only a 23-cent pizza.' ''

Instant party

At the Wallhaven store, two Akron moms, Erin Dennison and Laura Rogers, used the opportunity to cater a preschool party — at the principal's suggestion.

''Hopefully two pizzas will be enough,'' said Dennison, 25. She pointed to her son, Nathan, 21 months, in a stroller. ''We're hoping he counts for one.'' (He didn't.)

As the moms waited for their cheese pizzas, Nathan repeated: ''Pizza, pizza, pizza.''

Rogers' son, 3-month-old Cayden, slept through the whole thing.

The store started the day with seven people working, up from the usual two, all wearing maroon Cavaliers ''Rise Up!'' T-shirts.

''We're looking at upwards of 2,000 pies,'' Jim Vonspiegel, assistant manager, said as workers hurried to answer one phone call after another. That's up from 100 for a typical Thursday.

Walk-in customers far outnumbered those who called ahead. Customers outside this and other stores said phones lines were jammed.

The Wallhaven store started with 80 pounds of pepperoni on hand, up from the usual 20, and 450 trays of dough.

Workers folded more than 1,000 boxes before the opening, and were relying on a two-tier conveyor oven to get the pies cooked in 61/2 minutes each.

Alternative fare

Andrea Hummell, manager of CiCi's Pizza at 352 E. Waterloo Road just behind Papa John's, said her sales grew phenomenally on Thursday. New customers started filing in when she opened at 9 a.m., she said. The eat-in pizza, pasta, salad and dessert buffet, which costs $4.99, was packed all day. Takeout pizza orders more than tripled.

Jennifer Noesner of East Akron was partaking of the buffet with her boyfriend, Jermaine Scott. They were disenchanted after being turned away from Papa John's and ended up at CiCi's. The chain will lose more business by sending customers away empty-handed than it will gain by selling 23-cent pizzas, she said.

''They put the idea of pizzas into everybody's head,'' she said, scooping up a salad from the buffet.

In Springfield Township, Niki Kavadas-Bealer, manager of Theo's Bar & Grill on Massillon Road, heard of long waits outside Papa John's stores and decided to offer 23-cent beers (domestic only) from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday as the Cavs played the Celtics.

''We feel bad people are waiting . . . If they're irritated, they can come in for a drink,'' she said.

Donald Payne of New Jersey. That makes 3 this AM.

From The Peace team at The Pen:

We Can Stop The Latest War Funding Cave In, But You Have To Know Who To Call

We all know the routine by now. The Democratic so-called leadership
makes a feeble attempt to attach something else to the latest emergency war appropriation, like a half-hearted stipulation for a
withdrawal date, or some crumbs of a desperately needed social program, like this time.

And the President stomps his feet demanding a "clean" bill, clean of any kind of assertion of Congressional power or meaningful oversight, that is. And the Democrats end up caving in, out of fear of being accused of not supporting the troops, if "supporting" really means leaving them in mortal harm's way for no justifiable strategic reason, that is.

Should we call Congress yet again, to send them the same message again . . . stop the funding, bring our troops home now. We'll make our calls. Here are the toll free numbers yet again 800 828-0498, 800 614 2803 and 866 340 9281. And of course you should call too. Never let them be able to honestly say they didn't hear from you.

But we need a back up plan, folks. And we've got one. This is all just one big game of "what'cha gonna do?" What will we do if they completely ignore us again, because they think they are esconced in safe districts where they can never be seriously challenged? We have to challenge them in those districts in contested primaries. . . and win. At some point we must understand that is the only message they are actually going to take seriously.

And that is exactly what is happening in San Francisco right now,
where a political miracle is taking place in the primary challenge against Nancy Pelosi June 3. Thanks to you, Shirley Golub's "Rubber Chicken" TV ad started running on all 3 major network TV stations this very morning. And before the end of the day at least one of their news departments was clamoring to interview her for the evening news. Here is that amazingly powerful TV spot.

Rubber Chicken TV Spot: http://www.shirley08.com/rubber_chicken.php

So call Congress again, please do it, and tell them to bring the troops home. It costs you nothing. But then help to send the most powerful message of all, by donating whatever you can to empower Shirley Golub to put more and more spots like these on the air, to send Nancy Pelosi herself, the queen of the cave in, packing before even the general election.

Or maybe you like the radio spot where Shirley also calls Pelosi a political coward, with sound clips of Pelosi saying "I'm afraid" over and over.

Pelosi Afraid Spot: http://www.shirley08.com/pelosi_afraid.php

So pick up the phone and call your member of Congress again. Only this time tell them you are making the most generous donation you possibly can from the page above, to defeat Nancy Pelosi herself, and that they will be next if they don't start listening to the people quick, fast and in a hurry. Tell them that what they do now will determine whether they will lose to a primary challenger of their own the very next chance the people get.

It all comes back to the same thing. With exception of a handful of valiant souls, most politicians only consider the voice of the people if they are actually afraid it will cost them their own seats. Only defeating Pelosi, and doing it now, can send a message that they can no longer ignore.

More and more primary challengers are springing up all over the country, like Mark Welyczko (OR-01), Joe Walsh (OR-03) and Nancy Moran (OR-05), who are running at a team in the Portland, OR area in an impeachment now platform.

We need more of these valiant souls, and we surely have one in Shirley Golub, who has worked her heart out for other progressive candidates for years. Check out the rest of her site from one of pages above. Cindy Sheehan is also one of those valiant souls, but Cindy cannot defeat Pelosi on June 3, because she is not running until the general election in November. Only Shirley Golub can do that. And with your courageous help, she surely will.

don't worry, in my corner of hell you can dance all you want and drinks will be on the house. not to mention you might run into some old friends...

there was somebody opining on bill press this morning that the sense among the supers is that clinton really stumbled with her hard working whites comment the other day and that is the driver behind the supers declaring for obama.

Oil is at 124.81 right now. Almost $1 over yesterday!

It's over $4 a gal in Cook County, our tax is lower here so it's $3.96.9 here in my county.

to the world of the living Peter...glad you are back....

In my humble opinion....I am amazed that more liberals are

not able to see through Clinton for who she really is and

who she is benefiting. I have never had a lot of respect

for either Clinton. They are not liberals....never have

been....and they use what bona fides they pick up from the

mistaken impression that they are...to their personal

advantage. I wish she would just go back to the senate and

do her job.

Has some good points here. Damn!

Damsel of Distress
May 9, 2008
This is an amazing story. The Democratic Party has a winner. It has a nominee. You know this because he has the most votes and the most elected delegates, and there's no way, mathematically, his opponent can get past him. Even after the worst two weeks of his campaign, he blew past her by 14 in North Carolina and came within two in Indiana.

He's got this thing. And the Democratic Party, after this long and brutal slog, should be dancing in the streets. Party elders should be coming out on the balcony in full array, in full regalia, and telling the crowd, "Habemus nominatum": "We have a nominee." And the crowd below should be cheering, "Viva Obamus! Viva nominatum!"

Instead, you know where they are, the party elders. They are in a Democratic club on Capitol Hill, slump-shouldered at the bar, having a drink and then two, in a state of what might be called depressed horror. "What are they doing to the party?" they wail. "Why are they doing this?"

You know who they are talking about.

The Democratic Party can't celebrate the triumph of Barack Obama because the Democratic Party is busy having a breakdown. You could call it a breakdown over the issues of race and gender, but its real source is simply Hillary Clinton. Whose entire campaign at this point is about exploiting race and gender.

Here's the first place an outsider could see the tensions that have taken hold: on CNN Tuesday night, in the famous Brazile-Begala smackdown. Paul Begala wore the smile of the 1990s, the one in which there is no connection between the shape of the mouth and what the mouth says. All is mask. Donna Brazile was having none of it.

Mr. Begala more or less accused the Obama people of not caring about white voters: "[If] there's a new Democratic Party that somehow doesn't need or want white working-class people and Latinos, well, count me out." And: "We cannot win with eggheads and African Americans." That, he said, was the old, losing, Dukakis coalition.

"Paul, baby," Ms. Brazile, who is undeclared, began her response, "we need to not divide and polarize the Democratic Party. . . . So stop the divisions. Stop trying to split us into these groups, Paul, because you and I know . . . how Democrats win, and to simply suggest that Hillary's coalition is better than Obama's, Obama's is better than Hillary's -- no. We have a big party, Paul." And: "Just don't divide me and tell me I cannot stand in Hillary's camp because I'm black, and I can't stand in Obama's camp because I'm female. Because I'm both. . . . Don't start with me, baby." Finally: "It's our party, Paul. Don't say my party. It's our party. Because it's time that we bring the party back together, Paul."

In case you didn't get what was behind that exchange, Mrs. Clinton spent this week making it clear. In a jaw-dropping interview in USA Today on Thursday, she said, "I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on." As evidence she cited an Associated Press report that, she said, "found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

White Americans? Hard-working white Americans? "Even Richard Nixon didn't say white," an Obama supporter said, "even with the Southern strategy."

White Americans? Hard-working white Americans? "Even Richard Nixon didn't say white," an Obama supporter said, "even with the Southern strategy."

If John McCain said, "I got the white vote, baby!" his candidacy would be over. And rising in highest indignation against him would be the old Democratic Party.

To play the race card as Mrs. Clinton has, to highlight and encourage a sense that we are crudely divided as a nation, to make your argument a brute and cynical "the black guy can't win but the white girl can" is -- well, so vulgar, so cynical, so cold, that once again a Clinton is making us turn off the television in case the children walk by.

"She has unleashed the gates of hell," a longtime party leader told me. "She's saying, 'He's not one of us.'"

More here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121027865275678423.html?mod=opinion_colu...

Oh boy...have I been sick.
Submitted by Peter Dragon on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 9:47am
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Paint fumes and other pervasive evaporative or aerosol contaminates can instigate or aggravate mucous production due to individual sensitivity. It might be helpful to breathe clean air for as many of the hours of the coming days as possible.

News of your ailment has improved my attitude about being an old guy. Somewhat. In a misery and company sorta way.

I am in the early stages of Phase #68 of the eternal hell of remodeling my house. Yesterday whilst laying on my side, reaching around an obstruction, and attempting to lift a heavy object with my right arm, I heard a portion of a ligament in the acromioclavicular joint tearing like a barbecued chicken leg being twisted from the thigh.

I immediately ate some ibuprofen and fretted about the coming weeks...not to mention the coming morning.

The coming morning is now and my right shoulder is okay as long as I let my arm hang or lift it into a weight-supported position with my left hand. In other words, I'm fucked for the next three weeks...if I'm lucky.

The outer tip of the clavicle isn't obviously swollen and there is no visible bruising yet, but it is tender enough to make me wet my pants if I apply pressure.

So it goes.

pot97 has never come around since you been gone...someone blamed me for that

i wonder which one of us should be crowned

feel better

Thanks mhappen....and so am I!

dentist time

He will show up. I'm a believer that he is the War Dog. He

vacations now and then but always shows back up here because

we are what little life he has. I think we are his only

"friends." and that is kind of sad.

As usual, it has been moist around here. We benefit from

what is known as Lake Effect. It rains a lot here as many

of you know. I wish you could see this place right now. It

is so lush and green and flowered that it is mind boggling.

I walked down by the Cuyahoga River this morning for a few

minutes and was astonished that in spite of all the horrors,

the world is still beautiful and I am still grateful to be

on the surface of it. Life is what it is all about.

teeheehee---

May 9-11, 2008 -- US continues establishment of new airbase in northern Lebanon

WMR was the first to report on the establishment of a major US airbase at Kleiaat (or Qlei'at) in northern Lebanon to facilitate logistics for America's planned long-term stay in the Middle East, including the occupation of Iraq. We have now learned from our intelligence sources in Lebanon that on May 5, a representative from the US Embassy in Beirut spent three hours at Kleiaat surveying the airport and meeting with local officials. The secretiveness of the embassy official's visit was highlighted by the prohibition of cameras at the airport.

The United States has made an agreement with the pro-US, Israeli, and Saudi government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to gradually transform the Kleiaat airbase from a civilian airport to a military airbase. The base will function under a NATO umbrella but will be controlled by the United States.

The recent move by Siniora against a private Hezbollah telecommunications network that extended from Beirut International Airport, south Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, Mount Lebanon, and greater Beirut to pro-Michel Aoun Christian enclaves in Jbeil and Keserwan is seen as a way to ensure that the Hezbollah-Aoun March 14 Alliance cannot securely communicate. The fact that the Lebanese opposition to the pro-US government was able to evade total electronic surveillance by the Israelis, the US National Security Agency, and the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) prompted pressure on the Beirut government to act against the Hezbollah network. That triggered a Hezbollah retaliation and the outbreak of warfare between Hezbollah and its allies and the central government.

The outbreak of warfare between Hezbollah and the central government comes after a planned Israeli Mossad assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on April 25. That would have triggered an environment for the outbreak of a general war involving Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. That possibility prompted a leak from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert is now under pressure to resign for accepting bribes from Orthodox Jewish Long Island businessman Moshe (aka Morris) Talansky, dubbed the "Laundry Man," between 1999 and 2003 when Olmert served as Jerusalem's mayor.

Talansky is CEO of Globes Resources Group, an investment firm. Olmert and Talansky co-founded the New Jerusalem Fund, a charity for public works projects in Jerusalem. Talansky has also donated money to New York's former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Bill Clinton, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and George W. Bush. and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY).

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/articles/20080509

I think we got a little too caught up in the Presidential election.

I don't think any of the candidates will do a thing about it.

I'm just saying.

May 8, 2008 -- Militaristic US policies expand

The US Navy has announced that it is reconstituting the Fourth Fleet, which was used during World War II to combat German naval forays into Latin American and Caribbean waters. The Fourth Fleet was disbanded by the Harry Truman administration in 1950. However, faced with the growth of progressive governments in Latin America that are opposed to US economic and military hegemony in the hemisphere, the Bush administration has decided to resurrect the Fourth Fleet and locate its headquarters in Mayport, Florida. Furthermore, the move has the support of a Democrat, Florida Senator Bill Nelson.

Cuba's Fidel Castro responded to the decision to re-create the Fourth Fleet by stating,'the aircraft carriers and nuclear bombs our countries are threatened with serve to spread terror and death, but not to combat terrorism and illegal activities."

In addition, the Pentagon has announced that it is creating a major intelligence support center for the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) that will be located at RAF Molesworth, a NATO intelligence base in the United Kingdom. It is expected the AFRICOM intelligence center will be particularly focused on the intercept of Africa satellite telecommunications currently conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) outstation at Menwith Hill, UK; the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham, UK; and the satellite interception station at Morwenstow in Cornwall.

The AFRICOM intelligence center will also have a significant "cyber command" element. The Air Force Cyber Command is at the nexus of a parallel chain of command operated out of Vice President Dick Cheney's office and involves a penetration of the U.S. command and control and intelligence systems by Israeli moles. It is not surprising that the Air Force Cyber Command wants a stake in the AFRICOM intelligence center. The entire idea for AFRICOM was an Israeli one. WMR previously reported that the Israeli Institute for Advance Strategic and Political Studies advocated the creation of a U.S. Gulf of Guinea Command headquartered at a new U.S. naval base on Sao Tome. That idea blossomed into AFRICOM, which covers the entire African continent.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/articles/20080508_2

UNICEF ambassador?

she is normally up and about this time of the morning

May 8, 2008 -- Renewed Iran war signs

There are renewed signs that the Bush regime is planning a military strike on Iran. On May 6, there was a reported secret meeting at the Pentagon to discuss a U.S. military strike on Iran. The range of U.S. options include everything from attacking alleged training camps in Iran for Iraqi Sh'ia insurgents to a massive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

There are some signs that the Bush administration is gearing up for a military attack on Iran. On May 6, the same day that Iran war planners were huddling inside the Pentagon, the Pentagon abruptly canceled its organized tours. The move, which affected school and other organized groups, was unprecedented in recent years.

In addition, Air Force Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) members have been told to muster for possible call-back to active duty in July. This is the first time that Air Force IRR members have received such notification. The Army's IRR members have previously been called back to active duty. The IRR are ex-active duty members who must serve two years in the IRR and are subject to recall to active duty.

in spite of the fact that a majority of people want that, i think its the so called third rail. it will kill any candidate that touches it.

so am i
as a obama supporter...they are straight up and down to busy sucking AIPAC's ass and heaven knows why

May 8, 2008 -- Rove circling the wagons

Yesterday, FBI agents raided the offices and home of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) Scott Bloch in an investigation of Bloch's malfeasance in office. Agents seized documents and computers from Bloch's office and home. FBI agents raided the OSC office in Washington, DC and its branch office in Dallas.

There have been calls over the past five years for Bloch to step down for politicizing the OSC, an agency that is tasked with investigating whistleblower cases. A January 18, 2008, draft OSC memo points out that Bloch stymied or sidelined investigations of Karl Rove, violations of the Hatch Act prohibiting government employees from involvement in political campaigning at government expense, the misuse of government resources by then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to engage in political campaigning in 2004 on behalf of George W. Bush's re-election campaign, and the post-2004 election firing of US Attorneys.

More importantly, Bloch ignored his own task force's request for an investigation of the political prosecution of former Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman. Rove reportedly pressured Bloch to drop the investigation. Rove's fingerprints are found all over the political prosecution of Siegelman.

WMR has learned from its sources in Florida that a series of events in northern Florida point to Rove circling his political wagons to fend off his prosecution over the Siegelman, US Attorneys firings, and other political crimes. On May 3, Rove was reportedly at his Rosemary Beach, Florida home mapping out a survival strategy with his political friends. Oliver North was also in town at the same time Rove was strategizing a "stay out of jail" plan. On May 5, the US Attorney for Northern Florida, Gregory Miller, abruptly announced his resignation. Miller has also failed to investigate Rove for pressuring Miller's office from investigating criminal activity by some of Bush's top northern Florida political supporters.

I'm just saying.
new
Submitted by Lucille on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 10:47am.

so am i
as a obama supporter...they are straight up and down to busy sucking AIPAC's ass and heaven knows why

whats that mean?

yes i can "old money"

later

he wandered off course on his message. more importantly its a sign of senility. the nature of the criticism is to say that mccain is simply too old and feeble minded to be president.

By not supporting candidates that won't do anything about it. I agree that it's a little late for that now in the Presidential election. But, if we pulled ourselves away from the Presidential election and redirected that energy into other campaigns where there were candidates supporting the end to the occupation and strong anti-war messages - we might send the right message.

Obama is not a progressive on the issues, and certainly not a liberal. We need grass roots action. Change is bottom up, not top down.

At this point, I don't care who wins for President. It's frankly a crap shoot. Support your local candidates.

how true. the real element of change will come from getting an un vetoable majority in congress. the more progressive the better off for the country in the hard times that are coming.

Did you see the Saturday Night Live skit they did about him being old? Made me laugh.

Can you say "money" ?
Submitted by Catharine on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 10:48am.
------
I can't afford to.
------
For some reason I am reminded of the lyric confusion:

Papa was a rolling stone.
Wherever he laid his hat was his home.
And when he died, all he left us was a loan.

Press Release
Whistleblower Week in Washington - W3tm
May 12- 14, 2008
Capitol Hill
www.w3conference.org
Distribute widely

Exposed: Crimes in Iraq and New Orleans - Opening Speakers at W3

Ø May 12 – Monday 9:30- 12 noon: Plenary Session with Members of Congress, Whistleblower and Civil Rights Organizations:
Ø Convenor, the Honorable Walter E. Fauntroy
Ø Chairwoman, The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee
Ø Keynote Speakers:
Ø Adam Kokesh, Iraq Veterans Against the War &
Ø Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Hip Hop Caucus

Adam Kokesh, Iraq Veterans Against the War - served seven months as a Sergeant on a Marine Corps Civil Affairs team in the Fallujah area. He will expose the lies that led the country to war and blow the whistle on the Petreus congressional testimony. Adam can be reached at: adam@ivaw.org

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr is a former United States Air Force chaplain, and president of the Hip Hop Caucus. He will discuss the government's continuing neglect of Hurricane Katrina survivors Both, Adam and Rev. Yearwood have been active in efforts to bring unimpeded reports home from the occupations, and both are members of Iraq Veterans Against the War

One goal of the tribunal is to focus the Capitol's attention on the need for strengthening Whistleblower protection in pending legislation.

"This could very well represent the first time veterans who do not toe the line about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan will receive the full respect and honor these courageous whistleblowers deserve," said Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, president of the No FEAR Coalition hosting the 3 day event in the Capitol. "The No FEAR Coalition is proud to provide veterans a forum—within the seat of power that sent them there —who have the courage to speak the difficult truth about what they witnessed first hand in post 9-11 era."

May 13 – Tuesday – Library of Congress – Members Room -
Ø Issues impacting the medical community of conscience by the Semmelweis Society

Ø May 14 - Wednesday - No FEAR Tribunal: Chaired by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee/Convenor: Rev. Walter E.Fauntroy - scores of courageous federal government employees, medical doctors, nurses, Black Farmers, military personnel, veterans, whistleblowers, and civil rights activist will testify. Testimonies will start in the House of Representatives in the morning from (9-12 noon). The testimonies will conclude in the Senate from (2-4pm)

Ø Evening, May 14th - The Walter E. Fauntroy No FEAR Awards Reception from 6-8pm. Please come and support Members of Congress and courageous individuals who fight for a government free of corruption, discrimination and abuse. (Awardees to be announced). Please see website for details.

For more information on registration and activities:
The No FEAR Institute -- www.w3conference.org
(301) 320-3021
Please send your donations to: Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy,
c/o No FEAR Institute - 1739 9th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001

DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

Today's Must Read
A second land swap deal takes a little more luster off the McCain myth.

--David Kurtz

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_334.p...

tell me about it.

I used to be more 'liberal' with my campaign contributions. Not so much anymore.

Get it? Liberal?

Heh.

?

Clinton's campaign loans raise concerns about Bill's income
By Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, May 8, 2008 email | print tool nameclose
tool goes here

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton's decision to lend her presidential campaign $6.4 million from assets she holds jointly with her husband is rekindling questions about millions of dollars that special interests have paid Bill Clinton for speeches and other work since he left the White House.

In tapping some of that cash, "the Clintons have effectively bypassed campaign finance reform in a manner that's ingenious — using Bill Clinton effectively as a front for the fundraising," said Lawrence Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political science professor.

Beginning days after he left the White House in 2001, the ex-president has been crisscrossing the globe, speaking roughly 250 times on tours that brought him more than $40 million in six years.

The sponsors have included investment banks that later suffered billions of dollars in losses in the sub-prime mortgage debacle and now have a big stake in any regulatory changes; an insurance group with an interest in any overhaul of the nation's health care system; a group that favors the reunification of Taiwan with mainland China; a Colombian business development group that backs a free-trade agreement and more than two dozen Jewish groups, synagogues and museums.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/36441.html

blog one day..."sometimes you can be in a good mood by just

choosing to do so!" I'm going with that one for awhile. I

liked that one.

I've been saying that for a long time. From the ground up. Local elections are important because they go on to county, State, National.

If there is to be a change, we have to support it on the way up and get the young involved.

We are never going to agree 100%. None of us. But we have to support the person that shows that he/she has the same passion about issues that we have, or at least a majority of the issues.

I have a confession to make guys....I hope you will still like me but, every Fri. morning after Steve goes to work, I make my second cup of coffee, get in bed and watch last nights version of Grey's Anatomy on my computer...I wept thru the whole thing today....

read Peggy Noonans article....she is right on...mealy mouthed politicians need to finally stand up!

this is what I do not like about democrats...and Paul Begala made me sick with that smile while he was being a traitor to the party...And I love Donna Brazile and think she is soooooo beautiful....

could write!

the accompanying cartoon also very a propos

Cable Broadband Users, Get Ready For Overage Fees
Clear caps? Great. $1.50/GB Overage fees? Wait a !@$% minute...

What seemed like a vague industry possibility just a few months ago now seems like an inevitable certainty. Multiple carriers in North America are now either employing or considering monthly caps where users pay per gigabyte should they "over eat." But the move begs a number of questions. Not least of which is whether opening the door to overage fees invites a broadband future where ISPs use the nebulous specter of "excessive use" as a new piggy bank -- and as a pre-emptive weapon against competing content.

Earlier this week I broke the news that Comcast is considering implementing a 250GB monthly cap, with a $15 penalty for each 10GB over that cap you travel. I've been reading through the various subsequent coverage (Associated Press, New York Times, CBC) , and came across this Business Week report. In it, Time Warner Cable spokesman Alex Dudley confirms they're still on track to begin testing their own overage system. If you recall, we also broke the news of that system, which could come with caps as low as 5GB per month.

The public backlash apparently didn't scare Time Warner Cable away from the project. While Time Warner Cable and Comcast are still cooking their overage plans, Canadian cable operator Rogers just became the first major North American broadband operator to implement such a system (60GB cap, between $1.25-$5 per additional gigabyte). Some smaller U.S. cable broadband providers like Oregon based BendBroadband have also embraced the idea (10-50GB cap, $1.50 per additional gigabyte).

If the caps are generous (and Comcast's 250GB cap is), being clear about them is certainly a welcome shift. However, many caps won't be so generous. And the sudden decision by the U.S. broadband industry to adopt a system where "excessive use" is punished by per-GB charges raises a lot of new questions.

snip

What Will Keep Caps And Overage Fees Reasonable?
Honestly, what's to keep investor pressure from constantly forcing caps downward and overage fees upward? Unless you're living in denial, we can generally agree that most broadband markets in the United States consist of a largely uncompetitive duopoly. In order to please investors and create consistent quarter over quarter growth, ISPs have been selling everything that isn't nailed down (your personal browsing data and even your typing mistakes).

Does anyone really believe that once overages become commonplace, the general trend won't be consistently lower caps and consistently higher overage fees? Once we've agreed to the monetization of "excessive consumption," what stops ISPs from constantly lowering their definition of "excessive," while hiking user penalties? The highly lobbied FCC? A bickering Congress? A cap that begins as reasonable can quickly become oppressive.

http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/Cable-Broadband-Users-Get-Ready...

Blind man, 78, bowls perfect game

ALTA, Iowa (AP) -- A 78-year-old legally blind man from northwest Iowa has bowled a perfect game.

Alta resident Dale Davis nailed 12 consecutive strikes for a 300 score Saturday night during league play. Davis has limited peripheral vision but can't see straight ahead.

Century Lanes owner Clem Ledoux said Thursday that Davis' game didn't draw much attention until he reached 10 strikes. That's when folks poured out of the bar to watch his final two shots.

Ledoux said Davis threw a "Brooklyn," where a right-hander strikes the left side of the head pin, for his final strike. The feat brought wild cheers from Davis' fellow bowlers and onlookers.

It's the first 300 Ledoux could recall at the alley since he took over in 1984.

Letterman: Clinton ‘has substantial lead in the state of denial’

Last night, David Letterman joked about the Democratic Presidential nomination.

Partial Transcript

LETTERMAN: Are you folks sick and tired of the Democratic Presidential primary campaign? (cheers and applause)

LETTERMAN: That’s what i say. bllphh! Hillary Clinton by the way, and my gosh, talk about a fighter. A fighter. But too bad her campaign is running out of money. That’s right. And is very expensive. And they are not paying their bills. As a matter of fact, Today and this very sad, a collection agency repoed her pant suit. (laughter)

LETTERMAN: That is a true story. You can look that up. You can — bblllpphh. So here is what happened on Tuesday. Hillary Clinton barely won my home state of Indiana. And she lost in the State of North Carolina. But here is the good news. She has a substantial lead in the state of denial. Thank you so much. (applause)

LETTERMAN: I was thinking about this. And i’m no political genius. I’m no pundit but it occurred to me that Hillary Clinton has one thing in common with President Bush. Neither of them has an exit strategy. There you go. (laughter)

This video is from CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast May 8, 2008.

http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=1020

Submitted by toniD on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 11:17am.
...We are never going to agree 100%. None of us...
------
Yes we are.

As you have heard, most of us will be getting a rebate check to stimulate the economy.

If we spend the money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China .

If we spend it on gasoline, it will go to the Arabs.

If we purchase a computer, it will go to India .

If we purchase fruits & vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras , & Guatemala .

If we purchase a good car, it will go to Japan .

If we purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan .

None of which will help the American Economy.

We need to keep that money here in America . The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it at Yard Sales since those are the only businesses left in the U.S.

of confidence

Bolivian President Evo Morales said Thursday he was ready to withstand a national vote of confidence that was pushed through the opposition-run upper house of parliament.

"This decision will give back to the Bolivian people the decision to say whether they are in favor of the process of change and justice or for the return to the past," said Morales, who was elected Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2005.

The referendum would require Morales, who won the presidency with 53.7 per cent of the vote, and Bolivia's nine state governors to win both more votes and a greater percentage of support than they did in 2005 ballot. If they fall short, they will have to run again in a new general election.

President Morales had first proposed a nationwide recall to Congress in January, as a means of solving the political crisis in the country amid disputes with several provinces.
...

Think about it. Even at yard sales, doesn't guarantee that the person giving the yard sale won't take those earnings and spend it at Wal Mart.

I would use it to pay down debt or put it right in savings. The way the economy is going, savings would be great. Cash it and put the money in a sock. There's not alot of interest to be made if you put it in the bank anyway.

Someone got into my house while I was loading stuff into my car. Stole my desktop compputer, modem, router, speakers, and printer.

I think they hid in my closet until I left.

I also think it was someone I know. Or atleast someone who knows me and Peanut from our walks around the neighborhood. They'd know how sweet he is and how all you have to do is say "Hey Peanut!" and pet him and he loves you for life.

Just another kick in the head. Thank dog I have rental insurance.

________________________________

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.
-Thomas Jefferson

don't they know the internets belong to the people? i'm sure it would be just like cell phones where they don't tell you when you go over your limit, they just send you a helluva a bill.

Plame files appeal to resurrect lawsuit against Bush Administration

The lawyers for outed CIA officer Valerie Plame have filed suit in federal court to appeal a decision to quash her lawsuit against those in the Bush administration she says illegally outed her as a CIA operative in 2003.

Plame says her CIA cover was blown as retribution for her husband's criticism of the Iraq war. She says that violated her constitutional rights.

The ex-career CIA officer is also set to attend will an annual "power lunch" to benefit Illinois congresswoman Jan Schakowsky with the wife of presidential candidate Barack Obama, Michelle.

A federal judge dismissed Plame's lawsuit last year on procedural grounds. Her lawyers asked a federal appeals court Friday to force the judge to consider the merits of the case.

Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, sued Vice President Dick Cheney; his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; former White House political adviser Karl Rove and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Plame_files_appeal_to_resurrect_lawsuit_05...