Telegraph UK- How the Chinese helped Iraq fight the US
Filed: December 14, 2003
Beijing know-how was handed over to Saddam as air strikes began

Note of Warning: A source in this article is well-known to be unreliable because of his vested political interests.
In another recent WMD-related controversy surrounding a Colonel al-Dabbagh, it is said:

"....In al-Dabbagh’s case the presumption should be that his evidence is not to be believed, given that he is a man with a definite political agenda. His aim is not only to support Blair’s claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, but also to insist that they are a continued threat that can be employed by remnants of the old regime. In this way he hopes to justify further repression by the occupation forces and their puppet government, for which he functions as an advisor.
As was so often the case, if al-Dabbagh claim of origin is to be believed then the intelligence cited in the September dossier came from forces anxious to bolster the case for war against Iraq and with a vested interest in the Bush administration’s plans for regime change."

Now That Saddam's Officially Gone....

Now that Saddam's Officially Gone...


Read this Toronto Star article from June 7, 2003.
It still rings true.

*I recalled the article because I had used it in my blog of June 7.*

All that...and Dr. David Kelly is still dead.
"Dr. David WHO!??", you say?

William Rivers Pitt on John Kerry

If you take an interest in the Democratic race for the Presidenial nomination, you'll want to read this article by the intuitive William Rivers Pitt.
He sat in Al Franken's living room on Thursday, December 4th, for a pow-wow with (or shall we call it a grilling of) Democratic candidate John Kerry.
The impressive list of guests were:

"Al Franken and his wife Franni;
Rick Hertzberg, senior editor for the New Yorker;
David Remnick, editor for the New Yorker;
Jim Kelly, managing editor for Time Magazine;
Howard Fineman, chief political correspondent for Newsweek;
Jeff Greenfield, senior correspondent and analyst for CNN;
Frank Rich, columnist for the New York Times;
Eric Alterman, author and columnist for MSNBC and the Nation;
Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist/author of ‘Maus’;
Richard Cohen, columnist for the Washington Post;
Fred Kaplan, columnist for Slate;
Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate and author;
Jonathan Alter, senior editor and columnist for Newsweek;
Philip Gourevitch, columnist for the New Yorker;
Calvin Trillin, freelance writer and author;
Edward Jay Epstein, investigative reporter and author;
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., who needs no introduction."

Highlights of Pitt's Thursday-night-with-Kerry observations:

"....The most revealing moment of the entire event came as it was breaking up. Kerry was slowly working towards the door when he was collared by Art Spiegelman. Though Kerry towered over him, Spiegelman appeared to grow with the intensity of his passion. “Senator,” he said, “the best thing you could do is to is to just come out and say that you were wrong to trust Bush. Say that you though he would keep his promises, but that you gave him more credit than he deserved. Say that you’re sorry, and then turn the debate towards what is best for the country in 2004.”

Kerry nodded, bowed his head, and said, “You’re right. I was wrong to trust him. I’m sorry I did.” And then he was gone."

".....In order to regain any momentum and take the nomination, he will have to convince Dean supporters, more than anyone else, to switch to his camp. Dean’s stand on the war is not the central reason for the support he has gained, but it was what drew the attention of so many would-be Kerry people. That attention, with time, became support. With all the time that has passed, and with Dean’s campaign picking up such momentum, engineering a wholesale switch seems highly unlikely."

See Altercation's "Kerry Conundrum Continued" at this cached site...dated December 5, 2003

See a discussion and poll at Daily Kos.

John Kerry Implodes on FOX News Sunday


I hate to say this..I really like John Kerry.

On a day like today (interestingly categorized as "enchanting" by Sen Bill Frist), this is where it all falls out.

On FOX News Sunday, Kerry ostracized Americans who are joyous that Saddam Hussein has been captured with a lot of sad-faced complaint.

This is surely not the time.
As a dyed-in-the-wool liberal myself, even I am feeling satisfaction in the hopes that this capture will turn things
around and cause less death all-around.
We've had enough death.

During the interview, Kerry went on to rip away at Democrat front-runner Howard Dean.
He chimed in with Chris Wallace's suggestion that Dean's campaign, because of its alleged "anti-war" focus, would be damaged at the capture of Hussein.
Kerry couldn't agree more.

Here's the conundrum...Dean stated in the last debate that the focus should NOT be on the war.
The focus of election 2004 should be about the people taking back this country.

I think we saw the end of the Kerry campaign today. It was an all-around shabby performance and proof he's out of touch with the pulse of the Democrat of tomorrow.

Today has made the Democratic hopes for a 2004 win far, far more competitive.
This is where the rubber meets the road...where champions shine and partisans whine.
Democrats beware.

Wait until you hear Howard Dean's major speech on foreign policy tomorrow.
He will shine.

Comment: I think today's events will gravely impact Bob Graham's chances that he may have been tapped
for VP by Dean. Wesley Clark and John Edwards will probably be 'A'-list.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

From last week's debate in New Hampshire:

Ted Koppel: "In other words, you're saying, given where we are today, a continuing presence of some number of U.S. troops is going to be essential over a period of, what, years?"

Howard Dean: "Over a period of a few years, until the Iraqis really are able to have a democracy which is strong enough not to allow Al Qaida to emerge and has a constitution that's widely enough respected so they will not have a fundamentalist Shiite regime."

Later in the debate:

Howard Dean: "You know, I just did something that George Bush's father did, I looked at my watch during the debate. We have about 12 minutes left. We've spent almost all our time on Iraq.

Now, Iraq and national security are important, but it's not what this debate's about.

I was in a car the other day with a woman who was a teacher. She told me she'd taught for 23 years. She made a decent salary. Her husband had lost his job, but he was able to find another one that was for less pay.

They made too much to get any help sending their kid to college, and they couldn't afford their one child's tuition for college. That's what this election is about.

This president has lost 3 million jobs. He has given tax cuts to people who make $1 million a year of $112,000. Sixty percent of us got $325.

What this election is about is taking back this country for ordinary people. And we can argue all we want about Iraq..."

(APPLAUSE)

"... but average people can't send their kids to college. Average people have health-care payments every month that are more than their house payments.

We need to talk about how to move George Bush back to Crawford, Texas, so ordinary people in this country don't have to worry about their jobs going to China; so that we can have a president of the United States who doesn't think that big corporations who get tax cuts ought to be able to move their headquarters to Bermuda and their jobs offshore.

So that we do something for small businesses in this country that create 70 percent of the jobs in America and keep their jobs in their community.

What this election is about -- yes, national security is important, but I don't think it's an hour and a quarter out of an hour and a half debate.

We need to talk about jobs. We need to talk to about health insurance for every single American. We need to talk about an education system that's different than No Child Left Behind, which has left so many children and so many teachers behind and given huge unfunded mandates to Americans all over this country.

I do not think the president of the United States, for example, ought to be able to run the school systems of New Hampshire and Iowa, for example, from Washington, D.C., and I don't think Tom DeLay ought to be the chief superintendent. Those are things that we need to talk about as well."

(APPLAUSE)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Birth Brothers..or Mere Coincidence?


You decide.

Saddam Hussein Captured

SADDAM HUSSEIN CAPTURED- Iraqis Fill Streets of Capital, Firing Guns in Celebration

Good work by our brave American forces.
This is their shining moment..most deservedly.

The Army 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division-Operation Red Dawn- did us proud.



They found him hiding like a rat in a hole.
Hopefully, our precious troops will be made safer by this capture.

My question..was this rat hole an effective command-center for the Iraqi resistance?
Who is actually running this show?

I commend whoever made the decision that Saddam be taken alive.
He will serve a far better example alive than dead.
This statement from AP today leads us to believe that the White House may have wished it had happened differently: "Without directly saying so, the White House had clearly preferred to see Saddam killed than captured, as having him in custody raises questions about a trial."

The Guardian asks: How should Saddam's capture be handled? Readers have submitted comments.

Many blogger comments about the Hussein capture can be found at Truth Laid Bear.
And here, TruthLaidBear asks a rather preposterous question, but gets some thoughtful answers.

Now and the near future is the time we will discover what portion of these deadly assaults upon our troops were
Hussein-centered and how much was centered in terrorist-interests. We must remember that these are and always have been two separate entities...the Baathists and the terrorist groups who've swarmed into Iraq since we've begun the pre-emptive campaign. Who are the "dead-enders" and who are the literal suicide-"live wires"?


Let's hope this is true:

"....A Governing Council member, Jalal Talabani, told Iran's official news agency, IRNA, that Saddam's detention will bring stability to Iraq. "With the arrest of Saddam, the source financing terrorists has been destroyed and terrorist attacks will come to an end. Now we can establish a durable stability and security in Iraq," Talabani was quoted as saying."

The President will speak at 12:00 pm (noon) today. It will be broadcast on Dish Network channel 209.

Note: This may save Donald Rumsfeld's job...for the moment.
He really needed this.

AP- Official: Saddam Dug Hole to Hide Himself

Saddam capture good for Bush in many ways


AP- Car Bomb at Iraq Police Station Kills 17

Democratic Candidates' Book List

JOHN EDWARDS


"FOUR TRIALS"


HOWARD DEAN


"WINNING BACK AMERICA"


WESLEY CLARK


"WAGING MODERN WAR"


JOHN KERRY:


"A CALL TO SERVICE-MY VISION FOR A BETTER AMERICA"



DENNIS KUCINICH:


"A PRAYER FOR AMERICA"

December 13, 2003: A look back at this week's News Stories

December 13, 2003:
A look back at this week's News Stories

~~~~~~~~~~
There has been so much happening that it has been hard to keep up.
Below are some recent stories (along with a couple older/relevant ones) to summarize 'the week that was'.
~~~~~~~~~~~

The Dow's up over 10,000!
Soooo....
How Come Jobless claims have risen again?
If things are so sunny, why have 378,000 more Americans lost their jobs?
New claims for unemployment benefits are up a second straight week, exceeding analyst estimates.
"....Continued claims, the number of people out of work for a week or more, rose 11,000 to 3.346 million for the week ended Nov. 29, the latest data available, from a revised 3.335 million the prior week.."

Clift/Newsweek: Why some Establishment Dems Hate Howard Dean
"....the inside-the-beltway elites are terrified that Dean will disrupt their power base and consign Democrats to the wilderness for another four years. Last weekend, Hillary Clinton appeared on all the Sunday shows, insisting President Bush did the right thing in Iraq and defending her vote giving him the authorization. Dressed in soft pink, Clinton's tough line on the war made her the rallying point for Democrats unnerved by Dean's anti-war rhetoric....Two days later at a rally just blocks from President Clinton's office in Harlem, Gore stood with Dean to call the Iraq war a colossal mistake and a quagmire.....the endorsement takes on the trappings of an Oedipal clash..."

Gore's Endorsement of Dean Gives Democrats Back Their Voice...and Their Vote!
"....Republican bullying has been met almost inevitably by Democratic cowering, the ruthless will to power by timid retreat. Before this spectacle, Democratic voters have felt themselves unrepresented and voiceless. Until the presidential candidacy of Howard Dean, their burning sentiments lacked expression. Now, Al Gore's early endorsement of Dean dramatically amplifies them and partly explains them...."

Here's An Example of How the Establishment Democrats Have Fallen Out of Touch With So Many of Their Own Party Members:
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle has actually boasted about the fact that that he has supported Bush 75% of the time.
Dear heavens! When you look long and hard at many of the radical rightwing policies of this President, you have to ask yourself: What in hell IS Senator Daschle thinking?

The Touch-Screen Vote Debacle: Diebold Says "Charge Maryland out the yin-yang if we're forced to add paper trail!"
"....The Gazette of Maryland reports, "An e-mail found in a collection of files stolen from Diebold Elections Systems' internal database recommends charging Maryland 'out the yin-yang,' if the state requires Diebold to add paper printouts to the $73 million voting system it purchased... The e-mail has been cited by advocates of voter-verified receipts, who say estimates of the cost of adding printers -- as much as $20 million statewide -- have been bloated. 'I find it appalling,' said Del. Karen S. Montgomery (D-Dist. 14), who plans to file a bill mandating a voter-verified paper trail... "

-Send in the inspectors? -
BBC News - 'Scrap nuclear arms' Israel urged
"...."Frankly, I am not happy with the status quo, because I see a lot of frustration in the Middle East due to Israel's sitting on nuclear weapons or [its] nuclear weapons capability, while other parties in the Middle East are committed to the Non-Proliferation Treaty," [ElBaradei] said.

September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows - Statement on the Second Anniversary of 9/11


Yahoo! News - Mortars Pound U.S. Headquarters in Baghdad
**You know it's getting bad when you're not even safe in your own fortified enclave.**


CNN - Climate change 'cost $60b' in 2003
"..."Climate change is not a prognosis, it is a reality that is, and will increasingly, bring human suffering and economic hardship," UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said."

ITV News - MP Meacher: 'US bent on world domination'
"...Mr Meacher, MP for Oldham, claimed that "the truth may well be a great deal murkier", citing a document called Rebuilding America's Defences, written in September 2000 by neo-conservative think tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which was set up by a group including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Lewis Libby (Mr Cheney's chief of staff). The PNAC plan "is a blueprint for US world domination" which "provides a much better explanation of what happened before, during and after 9/11 than the global war on terrorism thesis", he wrote.
"From this it seems that the so-called `war on terrorism' is being used largely as bogus cover for achieving wider US strategic geopolitical objectives." He said the PNAC document stated that making the US "tomorrow's dominant force" would be a long process without "some catalysing event - like a new Pearl Harbour".

Bush Says He Expects Halliburton to Repay Iraq Overcharges
and....as you might expect...
MSNBC - Halliburton denies Iraq overcharge
And, as you might expect, yesterday "shares of Halliburton advanced 75 cents, or 3 percent, to $25.44 in afternoon trading."

Aljazeera.Net - Shia demand UN decides on elections
"..Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's highest-ranking Shia cleric, wants the United Nations to rule if early elections can take place in the country, in a new embarrassment to the US occupation authorities.."

t r u t h o u t - "Been, a long, long time comin..." : McCollum, ERA

United Press International - Global View: China and U.S. symbiosis by Ian Campbell
"...Within the world economy (or indeed any economy) players always rely on one another. That is how economics works. But there are healthy equilibria and unhealthy ones, and for now the equilibrium is unhealthy and dangerous. The U.S. economy has huge imbalances in the fiscal and trade accounts. It needs capital from the rest of the world. The willing provider is the country that is selling a big surplus of goods to it: a fast-developing giant of a country with an unpleasant, authoritarian government, a vast, poor population, ready to work for very low wages, and a banking system that is creaking dangerously..."

YES! Magazine - The End of Empire and the Step to Earth Community; a speech by David Korten
"...Many of us engaged in these struggles have been inclined to think of ourselves as representatives of an alternative fringe. It is a self-defeating way of thinking that is both unnecessary and contrary to fact, for we represent the majority values of the people in America and beyond. Our work is to midwife the birth of an emerging new mainstream."

DESPERATION CENTRAL: David Brooks Calls Bush's clumsy bungling of foreign policy "Honesty"and "Candor", then rips Al Gore a new one for backing the Democratic candidate of his own free choosing.

NY Times - A Deliberate Debacle by Paul Krugman
"... James Baker sets off to negotiate Iraqi debt forgiveness with our estranged allies. And at that very moment the deputy secretary of defense releases a "Determination and Findings" on reconstruction contracts that not only excludes those allies from bidding, but does so with highly offensive language. What's going on?.....In the end the Bush doctrine — based on delusions of grandeur about America's ability to dominate the world through force — will collapse. What we've just learned is how hard and dirty the doctrine's proponents will fight against the inevitable."

Josh M Marshall: Incompetent White House Blows off Its Allies, then Begs Them to Cancel Iraqi Debt
"....."Read this lede from an article in the Times and tell me with a straight face that these guys have any idea what they're doing: 'President Bush found himself in the awkward position on Wednesday of calling the leaders of France, Germany and Russia to ask them to forgive Iraq's debts, just a day after the Pentagon excluded those countries and others from $18 billion in American-financed Iraqi reconstruction projects. White House officials were fuming about the timing and the tone of the Pentagon's directive, even while conceding that they had approved the Pentagon policy of limiting contracts to 63 countries that have given the United States political or military aid in Iraq.' I mean, it defies ridicule (what will I do?). The tone? How were they supposed to sugar-coat it? And you wonder why they're bringing Jim Baker into the mix? Forget about Rove's phone records. I want the last month's phone records between Dubya and Pops."

TOMPAINE.com - Feeling The Sting by David Corn
".... How can one act reasonably or rationally in a situation borne of delusion? Some things broken cannot be repaired. Yes, moaning will not make things better (unless, of course, it leads to Bush's replacement). And non-delusional minds ought to try to find a path out of this mess. But it never should be forgotten that Bush waged an elective war based on a phony rationale, that he did not prepare for the easy-to-foresee aftermath, that he rushed in with his stick, and that the unleashed hornets are his fault..."

DEXTER FILKINS/NY Times: "Tough New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns"
"....As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire..."

The Atlantic Monthly - A Post-Saddam Scenario by Robert D. Kaplan
*see my comments to blogger Anonymoses about Mr. Kaplan*


Washington Post - Is Dean Doomed? by Howard Kurtz
"...He will be, in a word, McGovernized. Smart primary candidate, but no chance of winning. Too liberal, too northern, too angry, too antiwar, too blunt, too short, too whatever.
But what if that's wrong? "

TIME Magazine - Operation February by Karen Tumulty
"....Confident about winning Iowa and New Hampshire next month, Howard Dean is already setting his sights on the rest of the nation.."

TOMPAINE.com - A Populist Tide by Steven Rosenfeld
"....there is something going on in the country's political psyche that is being tapped by these various and seemingly diverse political insurgencies. They are all prompting new and fervent participation in politics—and it is participation driven by a perception that these campaigns will restore governance that's in line with core and defining principles.."

Yahoo! News - AP: U.N. May Have to Abandon Afghan Effort
"....Lakhdar Brahimi said his team could not continue its work unless security improves.."


Misleader.org - More Presidential Deficit Deceit
"...Because the President has decided to focus on dishonest rhetoric - instead of action - the deficit now sits at $374 billion - the highest in history.."

Medford Mail Tribune - Panel Boss: Muslims Hurting French Values By John Leicester
"..."Secularism has worked until now," said Monsignor Jean-Michel di Falco, auxiliary bishop of Gap, in southeastern France. "In my opinion, a law risks making this problem even harder to manage."
About 7 percent of France's 60 million people are Muslims; Jews make up 1 percent of the population...."

‘The System Needs Significant Changing’
by Jonathan Darman
"..With Kerry and Dean opting out of public financing, is the idea dead? One activist says no."

Village Voice Defies Media Blackout of Ellen Mariani's 9-11 Lawsuit Against Bush
I read this at Democrats.com:
"James Ridgeway of the Village Voice is the first major reporter to discuss the RICO lawsuit against Bush filed by Ellen Mariani, widow of Louis Neil Mariani, who was aboard Flight 175 when it hit the south tower on 9-11. As written by attorney Phil Berg, "The suit claims [Bush & Co.] 'abetted the murder of plaintiff's husband,' so he is suing the Bushies, under the RICO Act, for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and wrongful death. The suit documents detailed forewarnings from foreign governments and FBI agents, what it calls the unprecedented delinquency of our air defense, and the inexplicable half-hour dawdle by Bush himself at an elementary school after hearing the nation was under deadly attack. Berg's suit also notes the administration's incessant invocation of national security and executive privilege to withhold documents and accuses the government of obstructing the investigation." How will the Bush-controlled corporate media scrub this historic lawsuit? Stay tuned..."

International Herald Tribune - Afghanistan's stories, in a ripening voice
"....Akbar's two broadcasts side by side is to witness the evolution of a young man thrown into a situation that would be unimaginable for most Americans - a cauldron of old grievances, precarious accords and surprise attacks. Akbar exudes both overconfidence (refusing to get vaccines because Afghans don't have them) and wide-eyed wonder (gaping at a loaded AK-47 in a host's living room)..."

HYPOCRISY CENTRAL: For all his talk of democracy,( as so many shiny-eyed Bush lovers have babbled on about since his November 6 National Endowment for Democracy Speech), Taiwan doesn't seem to be on Bush's democracy-in-reality-list.
Taiwan Leader Rattles Bush With Referendum
"...."No democratic country should describe Taiwan's efforts to realize democracy as provocation."
-Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian -

Transcript: Howard Dean on Fox Sunday Dec 7

A Gentle Wind

A gentle wind fans the calm night;



A bright moon shines on the high tower.


A voice whispers, but no one answers when I call:



A shadow stirs, but no one comes when I beckon.


The kitchen man brings in a dish of lentils:



Wine is there, but I do not fill my cup.


Contentment with poverty is fortune's best gift:



Riches and Honour are the handmaids of Disaster.


Though gold and gems by the world are sought and prized,



To me they seem no more than weeds or chaff.


~Fu Hsuan translated by Arthur Waley

Chinese poetry

Meet our Future First Lady:
Judy Dean

Philosophy and Me

Baruch Spinoza is allegedly my philosophical soulmate

I took the Ethical Philosophy Selector test today.
The following is a list of my personal results:

1. Spinoza (100%) "Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice."
2. Stoics (96%) "Steel your sensibilites, so that life shall hurt you as little as possible."
3. Kant (84%) "The bad thing of war is, that it makes more evil people than it can take away."
4. Nietzsche (84%) "The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
5. Aquinas (80%)
6. Ayn Rand (69%)
7. Jean-Paul Sartre (68%)
8. St. Augustine (65%)
9. Ockham (60%)
10. David Hume (55%)
11. Plato (51%)
12. Cynics (42%)
13. Epicureans (42%)
14. John Stuart Mill (41%)
15. Thomas Hobbes (38%)
16. Nel Noddings (36%)
17. Aristotle (34%)
18. Prescriptivism (31%)
19. Jeremy Bentham (25%)

My Bloginality is INFP.

Just thought I'd give that a mention.
Go and take the test if you'd like.
It's along the lines of the Keirsey tests.

~~~~~

What Christmas Carol are you?

While you're at it, go and take this test...find out which Christmas Carol you might be.
My result:



"You are 'Adam Lay Y Bounden'! Ah, you appear to be something of a Christmas snob. Whether you are a musician who has sung one carol service too many, or merely someone with very highbrow views on music and culture, you shudder at the thought of piped music in lifts, wince at endless repetitions of Jingle Bells and have put out a contract on Rudolph. While you agree that some of the well-known carols are lovely, you are more drawn by the really obscure
medieval carols, or the ones arranged by Bach. You also know parodies of several carols - a legacy of excessive carolling, or perhaps just the product of an enquiring and slightly cynical mind... Try to enjoy Christmas, anyway."

**Actually, I think my favorite is the Coventry Carol. (Especially when sung by Loreena McKennitt). **

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What Christmas Ornament are you?

My Result:

They tell me I am the 'Christmas Angel'.
Hmmm....I thought for sure I'd be the 'Lump O' Coal'.



~~~~~~~~~~~

Wes Pruden: Professional [Angry] Poop-Hurler


"hrraagwwwarllgobbleplllurrghhhhh!"

~~~~~~~~~~~
Before reading this, remember why I read twerps like Pruden:
"Every man should periodically be compelled to listen to opinions which are infuriating to him. To hear nothing but what is pleasing to one is to make a pillow of the mind." --St. John Ervine
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pruden has totally melted down in the past month.

Let's face it, he's been the least professional news editor in the business, anyhow.
But lately he's reduced himself to a walking, talking poop-hurler.

He's gone from whatever tattered, shat-upon shred of journalistic respectability onto which he was barely hanging to a whining, hating, bubbling bowl of steaming hyperbolic brainfart.

Examine the hateful accusations...imagine the man's blood pressure.
I think he may be ready to pop an artery.
Could it be because his Moonie-floprag-excuse for a newspaper is no longer able to get away
with their vitriolic and partisan pukery because every blogger and alternative internet news-site "has their number" and calls them on their lies every time?
Heavens, that must be frustrating for Wes Pruden.
And, ohhh, man....it's showing!

"....yesterday the Democrats thought such gods as they believe in were smiling on them, with Americans dying in Iraq ..."

(PRUDEN TALKS ABOUT HIMSELF HERE:) "..You could ask some of the Republicans who thought they could dispatch Bill Clinton to oblivion if only they hated him hard enough...."

"...No one has ever described the Clintons as a class act — many Bubbas are classy, but not this one, and not his *moll."

*Defition of moll
Pronunciation: 'mäl, 'mol
Function: noun, Etymology: probably from Moll, nickname for Mary, Date: 1604
1 : PROSTITUTE

Pruden's a real class act himself, no?

".....This is old-home week in London, where the lefties, crazies and *doofuses from several continents are massing to protest George W. Bush's excellent adventure."

And an angry little man named Wes-wee Pwuden feels an uncontwollable need to rage like a hormone-cwazed adolescent because someone's pickin' on his totally incompetent l'il buddy.

Definition of: doofus
Pronunciation: 'dü-f&s, -fis
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural doo·fus·es /-f&-siz/
Etymology: perhaps alteration of 1goof
Date: 1970
slang : a stupid, incompetent, or foolish person

Wes Pruden's a DOOFUS.
Nah-nah.
Poopyhead.

I see London, I see France,
I see Wes doin' the *blather-dance.

Definition: blath·er
Pronunciation: 'bla-[th]&r
Function: intransitive verb
Etymology: Old Norse blathra; akin to Middle High German blOdern to chatter
Date: 1524
: to talk foolishly at length

-----
WASHINGTON TIMES! WASHINGTON TIMES! HIRE ME!
SEE? I'M A GOOD POOP-HURLER, TOO!
Your Pal,
Iddy
------

World Net Daily: Fascist Mouthpiece for Bush

Still attempting to question our patriotism and squelch good old fashioned (and very American) free speech,
World Net Daily dares to ask the facist-style question:
"Was Hillary's Iraq ploy treason?
Officials say Clinton's 'badwill tour' plays into hands of enemies"

There is no reasoned case for this ugly belch and squirt from the hacks at World Net Daily.

A particularly laughable attempt by WND to impugn Clinton's patriotism and loyalty is the fact that Al Jazeera covered the story of her recent trip to the region.

I suggest all intelligent and free-thinking Americans watch Omar Al-Issawi, founder of Al Jazeera speak about the network.

They are not terrorists or terrorist sympathizers, although I'm sure Bush, his radical Christian conservatives, and
World Net Daily would just love you to believe it.

Scientists freeze light!

A Scientific First

Harvard University physicists say they have brought light to a complete halt for a fraction of a second and then sent it on its merry way! The light was frozen in a Hall of Atomic Mirrors. The discovery may have applications for quantum communications and photonic technologies.


In more Science/Physics News, see this article (with photos) about the work Dr. Giovanni Fazio has been doing with his creation of an infrared array camera over the past 20 years. As you read this, new stars and, possibly, planets are forming behind black curtains of dust and gas in our galaxy. These births are attended by bursts of infrared radiation that are visible to the instruments when physicist Fazio's cameras are cooled to near 450 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.



"If you look directly at the Orion constellation on a dark night, you see a peppering of bright and dim stars. But peer at the same scene through an infrared telescope, and you see something totally different. The famous constellation explodes into a vast celestial tapestry of glowing dust lit up by newborn stars."

~~~~~~~~~~~

FYI:



In Science news 102 years ago today... December 11th, 1901... the first transatlantic radio signal was sent by Italian Guglielmo Marconi in Cornwall and was received by Percy Wright Paget in St. Johns, Newfoundland.

I have cast my votes for this week's TTLB Showcase.
Political and Non- Political Best of luck to all.
It's Craptastic!: What is the Point?

Trying this link again.

Georgia: Was the 'Velvet Revolution' a Myth?

Georgia: Was the 'Velvet Revolution' a Myth?
Violence Erupts in Georgia

This is a follow-up story to my blog of December 8th.

Who?
Bush?
Worry?
Bush Needs to Worry

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"FLORIDA: H.U.D. SECRETARY RESIGNS Mel Martinez, who has been urged by the White House to run for the Senate in Florida, said he was resigning as secretary of housing and urban development. Mr. Martinez, a Cuban-born former chief executive of Orange County, Fla., has been near the bottom in polls for the Senate seat being vacated by a Democrat, Bob Graham. Bush political strategists have asked him to run, concerned that the candidacy of another Republican, Representative Katherine Harris, Florida's secretary of state during the disputed 2000 presidential voting, may hurt the president." (AP)
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The word is out that Bush is afraid. He's worried...with good reason.
A Katherine Harris Senate-campaign in Florida will strike a nasty blow to his chances for 2004 Presidential re-election. Her run might cause a blood-boiling mental regurgitation of Election 2000 and spur all of us 'irrational mouth-frothing' Democrats to actually come out and vote. (As if we've forgotten 2000, anyhow).
It's rumoured that Karl Rove is pushing for HUD's Mel Martinez to run a Senate campaign in Florida to edge Katie out.

Some thanks, eh, Ms. Harris?
You're their sweetheart one day, their dirty scourge the next.

Kate-how she looked to the GOP in 2000:


How she looks to the GOP in 2004:

"Get thee away, o pestilent augury of shame!"

Bush should be worried.
Unless the GOP can get away with another blatant heist of democracy, he's going to lose another Presidential election..and this time he won't get to pretend he won (unless he pretends in front of his mirror back in Crawford).

We the People (and the rest of the world) have our eyes trained on Diebold, all electoral processes, the dire need for fair elections, the partisan Supreme Court, the virtual road blocks created by partisans to prevent citizen participation,

....and the angry red-faced GOP men-mobs with totally non-metrosexual conservative coifs sporting neatly pressed dockers and uniform sweaty white shirts screaming intimidatingly while blocking County canvassing-board doors.



(I can't help it. When I think about the great already-existing powers-that-be behind their machinery, these GOP intimidators reminded me of those nice clean-cut blonde haired blue-eyed Jew-hating men in 1940s-Nazi Germany..or 2000's Italy...only they are liberal-haters).



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Here is a related article about Florida and National Politics from a hometown 'Treasure-Coast' columnist -Joe Crankshaw:
Florida Democrats this time around ready for the fight

Persepolis

A Graphic Novel You Shouldn't Miss
"Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi




This book reminds me of the old "Classics Illustrated" comics I read as a child.
Educational, entertaining, thought-provoking, socially relevant, simple form.


Remember these?

See samples from PERSEPOLIS at the website (click on the photo).

Robert Kennedy Jr. On NPR's "Fresh Air" Dec 4 2003

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On NPR's "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross

In case you missed the show on December 4, here's your chance to hear it.
Kennedy thinks Bush will be considered the worst environmental president in history and is concerned that Bush will dismantle 30 years of pro-environmental legislation.