| Author |
Message |
    
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Thursday, November 09, 2006 - 10:30 pm: | 
|
"They say it’s a historic moment for women–Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House! Not only will Madame Speaker be in charge of the ”people’s house” of Congress, she will be third in line for the presidency. In the weeks to come, no doubt, breathless pundits will explore whether Pelosi’s ascension is a harbinger of another, more profound turning point: A President Hillary Clinton.
Many female voters may feel vindicated. For two decades, women have consistently voted for more liberal candidates than men. If only women voted, America would have had a President Gore in 2000, a President Kerry in 2004 and a Democratic-controlled Congress. This voting trend sends the apparent message: Women want caring, nurturing, “feel your pain” Democrats running the show on Capitol Hill.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. hugs Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee victory celebration in Washington Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) American women should be careful what they wish for. Over the next two years, they will witness some of the consequences of having liberals in charge, as Democrats push for bigger government, higher taxes, and more regulation—none of which benefit women.
Consider taxes. Democrats have derided the Bush tax cuts as solely rewarding the rich. Yet when the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire, middle class families will learn how much these tax laws have benefited them. In four years, the child tax credits will be cut in half, the marriage penalty will return, and the bottom income tax bracket will rise from ten percent to fifteen percent. Middle class families may be surprised that the Democrat’s agenda of repealing Bush’s “tax cuts for the rich” will put a serious squeeze on their family budget.
American women will also learn how higher taxes hurt the economy. Many of us don’t feel directly affected by investor tax cuts on dividends and capital gains. Yet these cuts have a significant, positive impact on the economy, and their elimination will have the opposite effect. Increased taxes on investment make capital more expensive, which makes it harder for businesses to expand and create jobs. That means slower economic growth and higher unemployment.
One of the few specific items in the Democratic agenda for 2007 is a minimum wage increase. Like most Americans who don’t look closely at the policy, many women see this as economic common sense. The reality is, like all regulations, a higher mandated wage comes with hidden costs like unemployment and higher consumer prices. Liberals portray employers as having an endless supply of money that they could give to employees were they not so coldhearted. The truth is companies forced to increase wages must find ways to cut costs or to increase revenue. This means reducing other salaries, firing workers, hiring less, or raising prices.
Democrats champion numerous, feel-good spending initiatives. They want more government funding for healthcare and welfare programs, and greater subsidies for student loans and daycare. Sounds appealing, but these “giveaways” come with significant costs. They increase taxpayers’ burden, short circuit economic growth, change people’s decisions, and usually result in greater government control over important areas of our lives. Consider if Washington further subsidizes institutional daycare facilities. Many women may find their private daycare providers struggling to compete and closing their doors, leaving women fewer (and often less appealing) options. Similarly, government provision of healthcare invariably means lower quality and less choice.
These domestic policies are only the beginning. Democrats have different priorities for fighting the War on Terror. The incoming Speaker of the House voted against the Patriot Act, opposed the NSA’s Terrorist Surveillance program, and—while a big spender in just about every other area—has supported cutting funds for intelligence programs. Many American women are frustrated by the course of the war in Iraq, but will they feel comfortable with Speaker Pelosi’s tactics of reigning in our intelligence and national security community’s effort to defend our homeland? Intelligence is our only alternative to military campaigns abroad.
Many women may celebrate Speaker Pelosi’s ascension to one of the highest offices in the land as a milestone reached for women. Yet this could be a turning point of another kind. Over the next two years, American women will become reacquainted with the consequences of Democratic policies and may begin rethinking their support of liberal politicians, regardless of their gender. Republicans were far from perfect in their running of Congress, but sadly, all indications are that Speaker Pelosi will fare worse. "
By Carrie Lukas
Carrie Lukas is the vice president for policy and economics at the Independent Women’s Forum and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 03:03 am: |
|
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz9BgpttXd4&eurl= |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 08:57 am: |
|
I didn't know the Liberals knew what allelujah meant... Rejoice while you can Jenn...theres a long hard road ahead.Who says YOUR dreams can't come true,when you wish upon a star.I know Pelosi has the terrorists praising allah for this golden opportunity;or she has them quaking in their sandals....Watch for them in your local neighborhood.Soon to be playing in your theatre of love.Enjoy your victory.Now go back to sleep along with the rest of the country. |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 09:00 am: |
|
lmao...I just recieved an email from a Starlite poet/soldier that is stationed overseas,he said he is not returning home until the republicans are back in control...he made my day. |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 07:47 pm: |
|
Unexcused Absence
Why Don't Elite Americans Serve?
November 10, 2006
When the son of John McCain announced he was joining the Marines a few months ago, it made headlines across the country—not only because his father was famous, but also because his decision was so unusual.
Few sons of senators serve in the military these days, nor—with few exceptions—do the sons of congressmen or presidents or governors, or New York Times editors. They're too busy doing what they consider more important things—like attending Yale, or running their father's company. And yet, these are often the very same people who one day are going to lead our country. This situation is not only inherently unfair, but also deeply dangerous.
Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer are the authors of AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service—and How It Hurts Our Country. They argue in the book that from our country's founding onward, serving one's country in the military has always been expected—especially among the scions of the upper class, what a previous generation called noblesse oblige. As evidence, the authors point to the fact that, as recently as the 1950s, half the graduating classes of Princeton and Harvard—the sons of bankers and businessmen—signed up for a tour of duty, as I myself did after graduating from Brown. Today, fewer than one percent do. Overwhelmingly, those who serve today are from the middle and working class, rural and small town.
Why is this dangerous? Well, the authors write, wealthy elites who avoid military service will someday be running America—and their ignorance about what our military endures or is capable of may cause them to misuse our troops. Studies show that they tend to look down on those who do serve, and they put too small a value on their willingness to serve, why they serve, and on what this service gives in return.
Frank Schaeffer, the son of the late Francis Schaeffer, admits that when his own son announced his plans to become a Marine, he was horrified—and embarrassed. After all, most of his friends' kids were planning to attend elite colleges. But then he met some of the men his son served with.
As Schaeffer writes, "I started to understand that it was degrading to have to justify John's being a Marine to people who struck me as snobs—in other words, to people like me, people who never lifted a finger for anybody. It began to occur to me," Schaeffer concludes, "that maybe something was wrong with me and not with [my son] John."
Ditto, writes Roth-Douquet. When she—a Princeton grad and former Clinton appointee—told friends she was planning to marry a Marine officer, they were shocked. But then, September 11 happened. As Doth-Douquet puts it, "Friends who previously hinted that [my husband] should probably find responsible work in the civilian world were now suddenly glad to have him in the Marine Corps."
Schaeffer and Roth-Douquet are right: It's wrong for an entire class of Americans to consider themselves exempt from serving their country—and then to expect to lead it. Tomorrow—Veterans Day—we ought to reflect not only on the sacrifices made by earlier generations of veterans, but also on how we can spread out the sacrifice more fairly among all classes of Americans.
America's most privileged youth should remember something their ancestors well understood: To whom much is given, much is expected—and that applies to serving their country.
by Chuck Colson |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 07:53 pm: |
|
This just in..."They wont stop until they destroy the White House"....I sure hope Pelosi doesn't hide behind her purse,or her desk.Guess it's time to bring all the troops home from Iraq,just to defend the White House.Still shouting allelujah?
Enjoy your brief moment of fame,and then get prepared to hunker down.That foxhole had better be deep enough to hide your entire family. |
Tess
Starlite Administrator
Username: Tess
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 08:23 pm: |
|
"I sure hope Pelosi doesn't hide behind her purse"
Bubby, that is just plain sexist.
I will not even engage with you on the rest of what you had to say.
Tess
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 09:11 pm: |
|
Okay…I was just re-iterating what several of
my veteran buddies have
e-mailed me about. They
have voiced their concerns that
Ms Pelosi does not have
their best interests at heart.
She has made some pretty heavy statements
about this war and she is now third in line to the Presidency.
Should they not be concerned? I don’t think she
has any experience on what’s required of our troops and
what they have on the line. You can delete this thread if you want.
And like Kerry, I will not apologize for a botched joke…..although
she could probably do a lot of damage with her purse
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 09:49 pm: |
|
Bubby, get over it.
 |
Morning_song
Starlite Member
Username: Morning_song
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 10:20 pm: |
|
Hey Bubby, all us liddle libs are ganging up on you. And Jimbo's not here to help you out until Monday!!!
You in big trouble, BUBBA!!!
(rolling all over the floor laughing and laughing).
Hugs....
Me |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 11:03 pm: |
|
You two dimmies better cool it,or I will hit you with my purse...
 |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 11:35 pm: |
|
 |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 12:07 am: |
|
Dear William,
In answer to a recently received question on this condition...
Dear B,
Concerning your question on flesh eating bacteria or
a strain of Group A streptococcus is a biological transformation of the
skin or tissue cells. Since the skin is the largest elimination
organ for metabolic waste products when the acidity of the skin
builds up the cells begin to transform into streptococcus
bacteria. This phenomenon is called pleomorphism.
The streptococcus is not what eats the skin but the metabolic
acids in combination with exotoxin B, a waste product or acid
from the streptococcus or cysteine protease which destroys
flesh faster than it can be replaced. To treat streptococcus with
antibiotics is like putting kerosene on an already burning fire.
Acid on top of acid excelerates the transformation of the skin
or tissue cells which gives birth to more and more bacteria and
in turn more and more exotoxins. In theory, the streptococcus
is not the cause of the tissue breakdown but the symptom or
the result of the tissue breakdown. The cause of this condition
is the over-acidification of the tissue due to latent tissue
acidosis or the built up of acids in the tissue that are not being
properly eliminated through urination. Check the morning pH
of the urine and you will find that the pH is below 6 when it
should be at least 6.8 and ideally 7.2.
The only solution to the problem I percieve topically is to
alkalize the skin with high pH compounds, (10.5 to 12.5) i.e.,
sodium bicarbonate, potassium hydroxide, magnesium
carbonate and/or sodium chlorite. These compounds can be
applied to the skin by spraying the area of outfection every
hour to raise the pH of the skin and thus reversing or stopping
the cellular transformation of tissue cells to bacteria. This
compound will neutralize the toxic and degenerative effects of
exotoxin B without breaking or destroying the healthy tissue.
Finally, to deal with problems of the skin properly you must
start from the inside out rather than from the outside in. I
would suggest a high alkaline diet and supplement program as
outlined in our book, The pH Miracle for Weight Loss, Chapter
11. Please disregard the fact that I am addressing weight loss
here instead of skin problems but the solution is the same. In
order to have healthy skin you must maintain the alkaline
design of the human organism and the acidic functions of the
body and their associated acidic waste products are better
eliminated through urination instead of through the tissues or
pores of the skin.
Bottom line if you clean up the internal environment with an
alkaline lifestyle and diet you will clear up the skin. The skin is
only an expression of what is happening from within. The good
news here is at least the metabolic acids and the exotoxins are
not breaking down a major organ that sustains life - - at least
for now.
I hope this information will be helpful.
Kindest Regards,
Dr. Robert O. Young
www.phmiracleliving.com
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 04:44 am: |
|
http://mysite.verizon.net/myk15/bush-pelosi-cork-frames.gif |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 09:49 am: |
|
 |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 09:55 am: |
|
John Conyers And The Muslim Caucus
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 11/9/2006
Congress: The likely new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee says he's just fighting bigotry in leading a Democrat jihad to deny law enforcement key terror-fighting tools. But he is in the pocket of Islamists.
John Conyers, son of a leftist Detroit union activist, represents the largest Arab population in the country. His district includes Dearborn, Mich., nicknamed "Dearbornistan" by locals fed up with cultural encroachment and terror fears from a steady influx of Mideast immigrants.
Conyers, who runs an Arabic version of his official Web site, does the bidding of these new constituents and the militant Islamist activists who feed off them. They want to kill the Patriot Act and prevent the FBI from profiling Muslim suspects in terror investigations. They also want to end the use of undisclosed evidence against suspected Arab terrorists in deportation proceedings.
And the 77-year-old Conyers has vowed to deliver those changes for them.
"The policies of the Bush administration have sent a wave of fear through our immigrant communities and targeted our Arab and Muslim neighbors," he growls.
He'll soon be in a position to act on his promises. And he has the full backing of the expected speaker of the House. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wants to criminalize FBI and Customs Service profiling of Muslim terror suspects.
"Since Sept. 11, many Muslim Americans have been subjected to searches at airports and other locations based upon their religion and national origin," she said. "We must make it illegal."
Conyers, a lawyer by trade, last decade pushed through a bill to help stop what he called "DWB," driving while black. He dubs post-9/11 profiling "flying while Muslim."
Pelosi has also promised Muslims she'll "correct the Patriot Act," one of the most valuable tools the FBI has in ferreting out jihadist cells lurking in Muslim communities.
Conyers is one of the top recipients of donations from the Arab-American Leadership PAC. And not surprisingly, he has a long history of pandering to Arab and Muslim voters.
During the first Gulf War, for instance, Conyers fought FBI outreach efforts in the Arab and Muslim community in Detroit that were designed to gather intelligence on potential cells and protect the home front. Conyers and other Detroit-area Democrats at the time, David Bonior and John Dingell, threatened to hold hearings unless the FBI stopped counterterrorism interviews.
The FBI met with them privately to explain the national security benefits of outreach, but could not allay their concerns. In the end, the FBI backed off. Today, Hamas, Hezbollah and the al-Qaida-tied Muslim Brotherhood are all active in the area.
Expect Conyers and Pelosi to kick open the doors of Congress to Islamists from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other militant groups. They will have unfettered access, even though many of their leaders have been tied to terrorism (some CAIR officials have landed in the big house).
In 2003, Conyers hosted the first dinner on the Hill that celebrated the end of Ramadan for such Muslim leaders. It's now a tradition. Incoming Democrat freshman Keith Ellison, a Louis Farrakhan disciple and first Muslim member of Congress, will no doubt expand the invitation list.
Conyers has also sponsored one of the Islamists' favorite bills in Congress. HR 635, which has 40 co-signers, would create a select committee to investigate President Bush for allegedly manipulating prewar intelligence and torturing al-Qaida detainees. The goal of his bill is to build grounds for impeachment.
Conyers led the defense of Bill Clinton in last decade's impeachment hearings and is clearly out for blood. So are many of the constituents he serves.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 10:57 am: |
|
Thank you, Bubby, Jimbo, Shawn, Tess and all Starlite poets who served or are now serving in the military. We salute you.
 |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 11:11 am: |
|
Thank you Jenn,and I salute you for the recognition.If I had it to do all over again,I would do it all over again.It's my country and I love it dearly.There are many thing's I have chosen to forget,but the love of my country is not one of them. |
Juan_carlos
Starlite Member
Username: Juan_carlos
| | Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 03:36 pm: |
|
The important thing to remember here is that it was a good thing for the country to swing so far to the left that even the dumbest Americans got to realize what a hideous thing it is to live in a theocratic fascist state.
By no means can we now say the Democrats are completely in control because the President has veto power, even though he has very limited practice using it.
However, we can say that the Republicans have been totally in control and it is a testament to the power of liberalism that the Republicans were not able to destroy all the institutions of liberalism that were created to protect the weakest members of our society.
It is also of interest that the Republicans did not come through with any of the promises of reducing spending or the size of the government. They shifted the implementation of government services away from the protection of the middle and lower classes to the empowerment of the rich and the excessive edification of the military to protect the assets of the rich. These assets were created on millions of broken backs of exploited labor and this paradigm is maintained by a state of constant war, institutionalized racism, the politicization of religion and the broadcasting of fear of all varieties.
There is more balance in our government now but there is a long way to go to restore America. America, as I see it, was practically erased by the rubber stamp congress in cooperation with the non-vetoeing president.
The beginning of the fight to win back America, the return resources to the middle and lower classes and to stop spreading American resources abroad for the purposes of continuing a foreign policy based on intimidation and death-dealing has just begun.
This is the first major victory of the left. The real work begins now and, luckily, it will be easy. The right wing is so ridiculously corrupt that our new oversight powers will shred the Republicans into pieces too tiny for an electron microscope to begin to consider the possible existence of.
However, they will still be larger than Bubby's brain.
Thank you, my fellow Americans, for starting to realze what I've been saying all along.
CEEJ
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 09:15 pm: |
|
Go back to Florida,Dude...
John Conyers And The Muslim Caucus
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 11/9/2006
Congress: The likely new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee says he's just fighting bigotry in leading a Democrat jihad to deny law enforcement key terror-fighting tools. But he is in the pocket of Islamists.
John Conyers, son of a leftist Detroit union activist, represents the largest Arab population in the country. His district includes Dearborn, Mich., nicknamed "Dearbornistan" by locals fed up with cultural encroachment and terror fears from a steady influx of Mideast immigrants.
Conyers, who runs an Arabic version of his official Web site, does the bidding of these new constituents and the militant Islamist activists who feed off them. They want to kill the Patriot Act and prevent the FBI from profiling Muslim suspects in terror investigations. They also want to end the use of undisclosed evidence against suspected Arab terrorists in deportation proceedings.
And the 77-year-old Conyers has vowed to deliver those changes for them.
"The policies of the Bush administration have sent a wave of fear through our immigrant communities and targeted our Arab and Muslim neighbors," he growls.
He'll soon be in a position to act on his promises. And he has the full backing of the expected speaker of the House. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wants to criminalize FBI and Customs Service profiling of Muslim terror suspects.
"Since Sept. 11, many Muslim Americans have been subjected to searches at airports and other locations based upon their religion and national origin," she said. "We must make it illegal."
Conyers, a lawyer by trade, last decade pushed through a bill to help stop what he called "DWB," driving while black. He dubs post-9/11 profiling "flying while Muslim."
Pelosi has also promised Muslims she'll "correct the Patriot Act," one of the most valuable tools the FBI has in ferreting out jihadist cells lurking in Muslim communities.
Conyers is one of the top recipients of donations from the Arab-American Leadership PAC. And not surprisingly, he has a long history of pandering to Arab and Muslim voters.
During the first Gulf War, for instance, Conyers fought FBI outreach efforts in the Arab and Muslim community in Detroit that were designed to gather intelligence on potential cells and protect the home front. Conyers and other Detroit-area Democrats at the time, David Bonior and John Dingell, threatened to hold hearings unless the FBI stopped counterterrorism interviews.
The FBI met with them privately to explain the national security benefits of outreach, but could not allay their concerns. In the end, the FBI backed off. Today, Hamas, Hezbollah and the al-Qaida-tied Muslim Brotherhood are all active in the area.
Expect Conyers and Pelosi to kick open the doors of Congress to Islamists from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other militant groups. They will have unfettered access, even though many of their leaders have been tied to terrorism (some CAIR officials have landed in the big house).
In 2003, Conyers hosted the first dinner on the Hill that celebrated the end of Ramadan for such Muslim leaders. It's now a tradition. Incoming Democrat freshman Keith Ellison, a Louis Farrakhan disciple and first Muslim member of Congress, will no doubt expand the invitation list.
Conyers has also sponsored one of the Islamists' favorite bills in Congress. HR 635, which has 40 co-signers, would create a select committee to investigate President Bush for allegedly manipulating prewar intelligence and torturing al-Qaida detainees. The goal of his bill is to build grounds for impeachment.
Conyers led the defense of Bill Clinton in last decade's impeachment hearings and is clearly out for blood. So are many of the constituents he serves.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 05:32 am: |
|
 |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 09:09 am: |
|
It's not okay to kill Christians either!! |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 10:34 am: |
|
I agree with you on that, Bubby. How about Muslims, is it okay with you to kill Muslims?
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 10:52 am: |
|
Is it okay for you to ask rhetorical questions?
The answer is......only when necessary.Are you Muslim?If you are,don't worry about me killing you.Now go hug a tree... I'm off to bigger and better things...ciao-ciao.. |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 11:02 am: |
|
You're doing a "cut n run", Bubby? That's ok, I'll be right here hugging my tree until you get back. |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 04:12 pm: |
|
The only war crimes is your wacky left wing rhetoric...I guess 9-11 was not a war crime,and just a figment of our imagination.. |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 06:14 pm: |
|
How very sad that some can so casually dismiss the murder of innocent children.
Did you steal that graphic from Lewis, Bubby?
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 06:42 pm: |
|
and how very sad that some can dismiss the murder of innocent people that were trapped in the twin towers.They must of had children also..just as the surviving members of the USS Cole and the Marine barracks in Beirut..how very sad indeed. |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 07:28 pm: |
|
And those little Iraqi children had nothing to do with any of those events did they Bubby. So what's your point? It's ok to kill innocent Muslims including children because of what someone else did? And you think you're not a racist or a bigot.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 07:32 pm: |
|
http://www.ericblumrich.com/PD.html |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 07:41 pm: |
|
I'm just as much a racist and bigot as you are ,Jenn....p.s. I don't have time to watch video's. |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 07:51 pm: |
|
I'd be willing to bet my Jiffy Pop you already watched the video and it got to you.
There were no flowers in the street, were there, Bubby, just dead and mutilated children.
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 07:59 pm: |
|
You would lose your jiffy pop..... |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 08:24 pm: |
|
The U.N. blamed janjaweed militiamen for killing 50 people, including 27 children, in the Jebel Moon area of West Darfur in late October. A Sudanese government investigation blamed "renegade Arab tribesmen" for the killing.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced since the Darfur conflict began in February 2003, when ethnic African tribesmen took up arms against the Arab-led government in Khartoum.
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 10:43 pm: |
|
 |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 05:49 am: |
|
North Country Ballad
By Peter S. Beagle
My mother took me, some years ago,
To see a woman made all of snow.
A lean, bright woman, made all of snow.
In high, cold places my mother sought her,
And held me up, and said, "North wind's daughter,
What gift for the son of a beggar's daughter?"
"Three gifts I give you, and no gift more,"
Said she, as she stood in her crystal door.
"Be prince or peasant — I give no more."
A fine, bad song that the soldiers sing,
And a coin from far, with the head of a king.
A foreign coin with a gray, mad king.
And a nice wool cap that would keep me warm.
"It will not keep you," said she, "from harm.
But someone must see that the children be warm."
Three gifts she gave, and would give no more,
But my mother cried — we were very poor —
"Snow-lady, snow-lady, one gift more!"
The Snow Woman turned, and the Snow Woman laughed.
"May the son inherit the mother's craft!
I will give once more —" and like rain she laughed.
Now damn that woman in her crystal door,
And damn my mother and her one gift more!
Oh, damn my mother and her one gift more!
For the Snow Woman said a strange word to me,
A word like a bell ringing under the sea,
And a tiger came walking and smiled at me.
A young, small tiger, about my size.
A smoke-pawed tiger with indigo eyes.
Not a big tiger — about my size.
And I grew up, and the tiger too,
Which is what tigers and children do.
And where I walked came the tiger too.
Till I bought new shoes and went off to find
The steep, sharp lands where the winds go blind,
And the tiger padded along behind.
The song of soldiers I gave away
To a dark-haired lass on a windy day.
A song sung to women is gone for aye.
The coin I gave to a man one spring
Who liked the face of the far, mad king,
The sparrow face of the gray, mad king.
And the cap I gave to a boy one storm.
Too thin it was to keep crickets warm,
But a man should try to see children warm.
All that was given I've given again,
For this one's pleasure and that one's pain.
I have given it all — and will give again.
But I wake in bed when the nights are hot,
And see one spot and another green spot
That should be fireflies — and are not.
Down a valley and over a hill,
Smoky paws on the windowsill,
The tiger follows, and follows still.
Till we lie in a gully-gut and are dead,
And the rains fall down on each vagrant head;
Tiger head to my own sad head.
People of Barbary and Bashan,
Find us and riddle us, if you can —
Which was tiger, and which was man?
|
Tess
Starlite Administrator
Username: Tess
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 07:15 pm: |
|
This is getting too personal for my liking.
As you said Bubby, the right and the left may never agree. This does not mean we have to tear one another apart at a personal level at this site. |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 07:26 pm: |
|
I agree with that also...I didn't initiate the name calling,that was done by Ceejay.I can't muffle myself when attacked.It's my fighting spirit that sometimes retaliates.If anyone was offended,please accept my humble apologies.Its time to move on from the gloating and settle down. |
Tess
Starlite Administrator
Username: Tess
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 07:29 pm: |
|
As my mom used to say, I don't care who started it! I am going to finish it.
Thanks for your apologies.
Tess |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 07:40 pm: |
|
Sounds just like something my Mom would have said...You can delete this thread anytime you wish.
Bubz |
Morning_song
Starlite Member
Username: Morning_song
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 08:33 pm: |
|
HUH??? Tess has never been in control????
Oh dear friend. Albert and Tess ARE Starlite. And we're only here by their gracious invitation!!! And Starlite is a beautiful, and peaceable place to be. It's our home, our family. So back it on up, and think that one on over.
Now, being the good liddle lib that I am, I agreed with some of your view points. But when I saw this degenerate from a discussion to a vicious attack on my friends, I quit commenting REAL quick.
And Bubs, no ones gloating. When you've lived as many years as I have, you have seen that pendulum swing too many times. And thats a GOOD thing.
You keep US in check.
We keep YOU in check.
And that's what's so great about our system. It can't swing too far left OR right.
It's not the time to gloat. It's a time to pray for our leaders, that an honorable solution is found. I'm praying REAL hard.
Hugs....
Your Liddle liburul friend.
 |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 08:41 pm: |
|
Now that is hilarious.You are a risk taker? That in itself,is an oxymoron.Have you ever served your country in a meaningful manner? Ever volunteer for duty?Nahh,I didn't think so.Take my advice and join the Army,or the Marines.Are you afraid?If you tied a bat to your tongue,you would beat your brains out.Shades of Carlos Casteneda, the orphan boy has found a home.Good luck with your Tessie comment.She will kick your A$$ seven ways to Sunday.Even Tess served her country...and thats far more than you ever contributed.Don't you have a deadline to meet.Keep spinning,your bound to bounce off of something you recognize. |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 08:43 pm: |
|
Wow!
A sure nuff real live intelligent liberal. That's two I know now. Tess and Jeri.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 08:48 pm: |
|
Yeah Jeri,I lub ya bunches too...here is something interesting to peruse..
"Tensegrity is the name given to the modern version of the magical passes: positions and movements of body and breath that were dreamt and stalked by men and women seers who lived in Mexico in ancient times, and taught to Carlos Castaneda, Florinda Donner-Grau, Taisha Abelar and Carol Tiggs by their teacher, don Juan Matus, a Yaqui Indian from Yuma, Arizona, and Sonora, Mexico, and the heir to a lineage of seers that originates in Mexico of ancient times.
The word Tensegrity is borrowed from an architect, engineer, scientist and dreamer whom Carlos Castaneda admired: R. Buckminster Fuller, who described tensegrity as a combination of tensional integrity, the forces at work in a structure that is formed by a finite network of compression, or rigid elements interconnected through tensile, or elastic elements which give the structure its overall integrity. Due to this elastic property of interconnections, when one element of the tensegrity structure is shifted, this shift is spread throughout the whole structure, and all the other elements shift as well, or adapt for a new configuration, yielding to these shifts without breaking.
Carlos Castaneda found this process, tensegrity, to be a perfect energetic description of the modern practice of the magical passes and of the way of being that don Juan Matus taught him. In the case of the magical passes, Tensegrity refers to the interplay of tensing and relaxing the tendons and muscles, and their energetic counterparts, in a way that contributes to the overall integrity of the body as a physical and an energetic unit. In the case of daily life, Carlos Castaneda said, Tensegrity is an art: the art of adapting to one's own energy, and to each other's energy in a way that contributes to the integrity of the community that we are. "
Are we all mellow now?
|
Morning_song
Starlite Member
Username: Morning_song
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 08:55 pm: |
|
Carlos Castanedos?
Isn't he the one that smoked something? Or ate mushrooms???
Oh Bubs. I DON'T DO MUSHROOMS!!!
(rolling all over the floor laughing and laughing). |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 09:13 pm: |
|
Oh for Pete sakes Jeri,everybody does mushrooms...lol
A vision a day keeps the Dr.away... |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 09:16 pm: |
|
Thats OK Jeri--
Don Juan didn't do those evil mushrooms he did Peyote bulbs and toad from sweat.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Juan_carlos
Starlite Member
Username: Juan_carlos
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 10:08 am: |
|
Kerry is a war hero, by the way. Too smart for you people to follow but a war hero nonetheless. |
Juan_carlos
Starlite Member
Username: Juan_carlos
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 10:09 am: |
|
did anyone read this...
Soldiers' widows sue for pagan symbols on headstones
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) -- The Star of David is OK, as are more than a dozen variations of the Christian cross. Even the atomic whirl used by atheists gets the thumbs-up from the federal government.
But a Wiccan symbol representing earth, air, fire, water and spirit isn't recognized by the federal government for veterans' grave markers.
A federal lawsuit filed Monday accuses the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of violating the constitutional rights of Wiccans because the government does not allow its symbol on headstones in national cemeteries.
"I honestly think there must be some people who don't want to acknowledge that the Wiccan religion should be entitled to the same rights as other religions," said Selena Fox, who is senior minister of the Wiccan Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wisconsin.
Roberta Stewart, a widow of a soldier killed in Afghanistan last year, has waged her own personal war to see the Wiccan pentacle placed on the tombstone of her husband, Nevada National Guard Sgt. Patrick Stewart.
Stewart, whose husband was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, was rebuffed by federal veterans' officials when she sought approval to affix the pentacle to the Veterans' Memorial Wall in Nevada, but state officials said they would erect a plaque with the symbol.
Stewart said she had the plight of other families in mind when she decided to file the lawsuit. Joining her are Karen DePolito, of Utah, whose husband, Jerome Birnbaum, is a Korean War veteran who died last year; Circle Sanctuary; and Isis Invicta Military Mission, a Wiccan and Pagan congregation serving military personnel based in Geyserville, California.
The lawsuit claims the VA has made "excuse after excuse" for more than nine years for not approving the pentacle, and argues that constitutional rights of freedom of speech, religion and due process have been violated by the department's not acting on requests to allow the symbol.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Madison and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, seeks an order compelling the VA to make a decision.
The VA issued a statement Monday that outlined the procedure under way to create uniform standards under which new symbols can be accepted, but did not comment on the lawsuit itself.
Legal papers filed by attorneys for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a religious liberty watchdog group, said it makes no sense for Wiccans to be excluded.
The Army allows Wiccan soldiers to list their faith on dog tags, Wiccan organizations are allowed to hold services on military installations and the Army Chaplains Handbook includes an explanation of the religion, attorneys said.
Wiccans worship the Earth and believe they must give to the community. Some consider themselves "white" or good witches, pagans or neo-pagans. Approximately 1,800 active-duty service members identify themselves as Wiccans, according to 2005 Defense Department statistics.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 10:23 am: |
|
Oh boy!!
Another political mine field for midlevel officials to get blown out of the political arena. You know that the officials we elected to handle such things are not going to get branded in a no win situation like this. They will keep pushing it back down until some lower level official decides out of frusteration. Then the elected official will take the credit if it works out or push the blame down if it doesn't.
Politics as usual.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 10:50 am: |
|
Italian Firefighters
One dark night in the small town of Garfield, NJ, a fire started inside the
local sausage factory. In a blink the building was engulfed in flames.
The alarm went out to all the fire departments for miles around. When the
first volunteer fire fighters appeared on the scene, the sausage company
president rushed to the fire chief and said, "All of our secret sausage
recipes are in the vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved.
I will donate $50,000 to the fire department that brings them out and
delivers them to me." But the roaring flames held the firefighters off.
Soon more fire departments had to be called in because the situation became
desperate. As the firemen arrived, the president shouted out that the offer
to extricate the secret recipes was now $100,000 to the fire department that
could save them.
Suddenly from up the road, a lone siren was heard as another fire truck came
into sight. It was the fire engine of the nearby Lodi, NJ volunteer fire
department composed mainly of Italian firefighters over the age of 65.
To everyone's amazement, the little run-down fire engine, operated by these
Italian firefighters, passed fire engines parked outside the plant, and
drove straight into the middle of the inferno. Outside, the other firemen
watched in amazement as the Italian old timers jumped off and began
to fight the fire with a performance that was as if they were fighting to
save their own lives Within a short time, the Lodi old timers had
extinguished the fire and saved the secret recipes.
The grateful sausage company president joyfully announced that for such a
superhuman accomplishment he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked
over to personally thank each of the brave elderly Italian firefighters.
A TV news crew rushed in after capturing the event on film. The 'on camera'
reporter asked the Italian fire chief, "What are you going to do with all
that money?"
"Wella," said Chief Pasquale De Luccinellavanti, the 70-year-old fire chief,
"de fursta tinga we gonnna do isza fixa uppa de brakes on dat fockinna
truck!!" |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 11:42 am: |
|
Looked up several of your articles online, CJ, good to see your work in print. Congratulations, so happy for you.
How's your head, Jimbo, nothing worse than a persimmon wine hangover. Bubby, no fair taking pot shots at CJ instead of me. You know how a liberal/socialist/ACLU loving/PC tree hugger hates to be ignored.
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 12:11 pm: |
|
OMG...the Jenn is back in the house.I bet you still have some bark stains on your blouse....Time to clean up the language.She changed her name to remain anonymous...lol.Hi Helda...welcome back!!
 |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 12:25 pm: |
|
No, haven't changed my name, Bubby, but I have updated my hotmail blocked senders list. Moved your name to the top.
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 12:38 pm: |
|
*Hey Jen--- you are back with us*.
Missed your sharp wit and bubbly personality. But then I haven't been here very much myself.
My hangover is virtual just like the persimmon wine. I haven't actually made my own wine now for a few years. I discovered the "Post Familie Vineyards" winery here in Arkansas a few years ago and decided their products were more then good enough. Besides climbing persimmon trees is not as much fun as it used to be.
Juan--
I couldn't find your poetry posts. I would really like to read some of your work. My favorite poet, Poe, was a manic depressive and he could really write some way out emotional pieces that made one's hair stand up.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 12:42 pm: |
|
Hey Jenn,I know you missed me,Thats why you came back.You love calling me names...where else can you take out your aggressive behavior? You need to take pot shots somewhere outside the kitchen..hunh? I bet your husband/boyfriend/pet's are glad that you are attacking me,and leaving them alone.They should pay me for this.lol |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 12:52 pm: |
|
Yes, CJ, if you're going to use the F word be a class act and do what Bubby did, bury it in a really offensive ethnic joke.
Hi Jimbo. Wine making, haven't done that in a while, but I do have a fantasic recipe for raisin wine. Sweet as honey but packs a punch like you wouldn't believe. Let me know if you're interested.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 01:00 pm: |
|
My husband's dead, Bubby, but I've recently managed to capture the attention of a couple of guys that live in the alley outside the office. They even have their own bottle in a bag, the raisin wine is all mine.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 01:23 pm: |
|
Bubby's really a pretty smart guy, what a shame he was born Republican. He comes on like a steamroller so you always know what he's up to. The one to watch out for is Jimbo, he's really tricky. Just when you think you're winning, he hits you with sucker punch. I find that ever so much more entertaining and challenging.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 01:39 pm: |
|
Poor Tess, even her Calgon won't be enough to take her away from all this. Can't we all do the group hug thing and get back to bashing political figures instead of each other? Tess is gonna pull the plug on this forum if we don't.
Pelosi, Bubby, there's your next target. Let's see you take your best shot at her, when you get back.
I'm off, too.
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 02:19 pm: |
|
Pelosi----
Whoo--- this should be interesting. The Islamic sites are already refering to her as the Wicked Witch of the west or the Whore of Babel. With her sharp tongue and caustic wit she may need a regiment of Marines to keep insulted terrorists from sending an explosive child to blow her away.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Juan_carlos
Starlite Member
Username: Juan_carlos
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 02:28 pm: |
|
Indeed, I'm sure she scares the crap out of Islamic fundamentalists. She means business. |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 02:45 pm: |
|
I hope you are right. Her public stance hasn't been too encouraging so far. If she leads the Democrans to fighting a serious war I might just decide that they are better in office then the Republicrats.
In any event being closer to a Libertarian then any other group I am not particularly happy with either of the major parties.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 06:00 pm: |
|
What Islamic sites are you reading, Jimbo? The only mention of Pelosi on the ones I read was something about her statement that if troops withdraw the insurgency will end, which is something I wish she hadn't said. The only place I've seen that kind of childish name calling is on sites like Free Republic.
What do you mean by a serious war?
|
Tess
Starlite Administrator
Username: Tess
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 06:18 pm: |
|
Jennifer is right. I will pull the plug on the political discussion thread if this keeps up. I have enough on my mind to contend with right now.
Allow me to remind all of you that Albert is gravely ill. Albert doesn't need this crap. I don't care as much about the sponsers as I do about him.
And also, CJ, just so you know, both Albert and I are motivated by more than sponsers. We also want to maintain a personal standard of decency.
I will continue to remove any comments that I deem as being too offensive for this site. Period. I will also remove any thread if it takes too much cleaning. And as I said first off, I will close the entire portion of the site down if we all can't be civil.
Debate. That is fine. BUT PERSONAL ATTACKS ARE NOT ALLOWED, NOR IS OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE.
A special thanks to all of you, both conservative and liberal, who abide by the site's rules in your political debate.
Tess
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 06:31 pm: |
|
Sorry Jen. I tried to retrace my surfing and find them but finally gave up.
I mean placing the war on a higher priority then bashing the opposition for political gain in the coming presidental election.
I don't care if they deadlock over internal politics; in fact the nation seems to prosper when the feuding parties can do nothing to pass new laws that upset everyone's plans and change the business environment. But to not be united in the conduct of the war is inviting disaster.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 07:40 pm: |
|
Not a problem on the site thing, Jimbo, just thought it would be an intersting read.
If not being united on the conduct of the war is inviting disaster, then I guess we had a disaster on our hands even before the first bomb was dropped. Yep, a real disaster, just as many of us thought it would be.
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 08:25 pm: |
|
Thats so sad-----------
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 08:36 pm: |
|
Pelosi - not sure how I feel about her yet. There are some things in her voting record I'm just not comfortable with right now. Maybe I will be after I read more of her speeches and find out her reasons for voting the way she did. But I do like the fact that she's committed to putting a stop to some of the nonsense that goes on in Congress and also to keeping Bush in check. And of course I respect the fact that she opposed the war with Iraq from the very beginning and has never once wavered or flip flopped, like so many others have.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 08:42 pm: |
|
What's so sad, Jimbo? Or is this where you hit me with one of your zingers? Don't make me cry tonight, I'm feeling very fragile and could fall off the Ben and Jerry's withdrawal wagon.
See, already I'm so shaky I can't type and have to do another stupid edit.
(Message edited by jennifer03801 on November 14, 2006) |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 09:49 pm: |
|
I'm back--- but I don't really know how to point out the sadness without starting another endless discussion that goes round and round getting nowhere. I guess I just did in a dumb sort of way.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Juan_carlos
Starlite Member
Username: Juan_carlos
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 07:53 am: |
|
I find the English language offensive altogether. So everybody shut up.
All attacks are personal and political as no man is an island.
Get your philosophy straight Tess.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 08:18 am: |
|
 |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 09:46 am: |
|
Sounds like a personal problem to me Juan. We all have them but most of us learn to avoid imposing them on other folks. Perhaps a few sessions with a good behavioral counslor would be a positive addition to your intellectual data set.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Tess
Starlite Administrator
Username: Tess
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 06:38 pm: |
|
Like the fly swatter, Jen. Can I borrow it? It might come in handy again some day! LOL! |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 07:25 pm: |
|
You’re welcome to borrow it anytime, Tess. I always keep one handy just in case those pesky little bugs discover my crock of raisin wine.
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 08:20 pm: |
|
Hey Jen---
Hand me a swig of that raisin wine.
You mentioned a rescipe a while back. It later came to my rapid genius that one doesn't have to climb trees and pick raisins --- you can buy the dang things. Remarkable huh?
So I am definitely interested in that rescipe.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 09:37 pm: |
|
Sure thing, Jimbo, but show me some ID first. Gotta make sure you’re over 21.
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 10:49 pm: |
|
Well thank you my friend --- or-- wait a minute you have never seen me. You must be judging that I could be a minor by the foolish things I say. Ouch!!!!
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Juan_carlos
Starlite Member
Username: Juan_carlos
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 01:21 am: |
|
Wow, I'm completely unimpressed, how familiar. |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 03:00 am: |
|
 |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 03:11 am: |
|
I’m just getting my flirt on, Jimbo. The boys from the alley moved into the shelter. It’s going to be a long, cold winter here in snow country.
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 08:13 am: |
|
A sad liberal lady in North Race---
Gave old Jimbo warm shelter at her place.
Through the long winter night --
She discovered with delight--
He knew how to put a smile on her face.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 10:07 am: |
|
You never lost a beat, did you, Jimbo? And here I was all puffed thinking maybe I could make you blush or at least take cover.
(Message edited by jennifer03801 on November 16, 2006) |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 10:52 am: |
|
There was a wild cougar from Arkansas
Who was eaten for lunch by a lady southpaw.
Said the lady, "Dang!
You'd be tastier, Fang
If you had been salted not raw!
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 12:03 pm: |
|
Woe to the lady who has begun--
To eat wild cat that isn't cooked done.
With a shock to her heart--
She will jump with a start--
Head for the toilet on the rum.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 01:09 pm: |
|
This lady is far too refined
To pen any potty mouth rhymes
A word like toilet
Won’t cross her lips
It's a wee house flooded with moonshine
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 01:12 pm: |
|
I give up, you win! Please, Jimbo, no more limericks. My brain is turning to mush. |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 01:15 pm: |
|
Just like a Republican's. |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 03:57 pm: |
|
Hehehe-- my plan is working.
Us libertarians are sneaky that way.
We make you smile tickling your toes till we have your money then your clothes.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 05:29 pm: |
|
Speaking of Mush...
Pelosi/Murtha...2008
 |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 05:44 pm: |
|
I should have known. Just mention moonshine and Bubby comes running with a straw and a bib.
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 05:56 pm: |
|
Hot off the press...party time!!! Bring your wine, Jenn...
Blue Dog Dems Rebel Against Pelosi's Pick For Intel Chair; Urge Harman Instead
By Greg Sargent | bio
Election Central has just obtained a letter that has been sent by the conservative Blue Dog Coalition of Dems to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging that she back Rep. Jane Harman to chair the Intelligence Committee.
As the panel's ranking Dem, Harman is the logical choice for the Intel committee. But Pelosi -- who failed today in her bid to install Jack Murtha as House Majority Leader over the Blue Dog-backed Steny Hoyer -- appears to have been pushing Rep. Alcee Hastings for the Intel gig. The letter -- which was voted on and given the necessary 2/3 vote to make it an official Blue Dog position -- suggests that Pelosi may be about to get hit by another revolt against her pick by rank-and-file House members.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 07:29 pm: |
|
Don't worry, Bubby, it's going to be ok. 
A Patriot Steps Forward
Chris Dodd:
Washington- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), an outspoken opponent of the Military Commission Act of 2006, today introduced legislation which
would amend existing law in order to have an effective process for bringing terrorists to justice. This is currently not the case under the Military Commission Act, which will be the subject of endless legal challenges. As important, the bill would also seek to ensure that U.S. servicemen and women are afforded the maximum protection of a strong international legal framework guaranteed by respect for such provisions as the Geneva Conventions and other international standards, and to restore America’s moral authority as the leader in the world in advancing the rule of law.
“I take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting this country from terrorists,” Sen. Dodd said. “But there is a right way to do this
and a wrong way to do this. It’s clear the people who perpetrated these horrendous crimes against our country and our people have no moral
compass and deserve to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But in taking away their legal rights, the rights first codified in our
country’s Constitution, we’re taking away our own moral compass, as well.”
The Effective Terrorists Prosecution Act:
* Restores Habeas Corpus protections to detainees
* Narrows the definition of unlawful enemy combatant to individuals who directly participate in hostilities against the United States who are not lawful combatants
* Bars information gained through coercion from being introduced as evidence in trials
* Empowers military judges to exclude hearsay evidence the deem to be unreliable
* Authorizes the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to review decisions by the Military commissions
* Limits the authority of the President to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions and makes that authority subject to congressional and judicial oversight
* Provides for expedited judicial review of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to determine the constitutionally of its provisions
“We in Congress have our own obligation, to work in a bipartisan way to repair the damage that has been done, to protect our international
reputation, to preserve our domestic traditions, and to provide a successful mechanism to improve and enhance the tools required by the global war on terror,” Dodd said.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 08:34 pm: |
|
Bush to face the ghosts of America's last failed war
Thirty-one years after the US army left Saigon, President Bush flies in for a visit dogged by the unlearned lessons of history
Suzanne Goldenberg
Friday November 17, 2006
Vietnam and Iraq - it is the comparison that the Bush administration has resisted since the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Weeks later, the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, was snapping at reporters for even daring to suggest that America faced an organised resistance. But by last month, one of the bloodiest since the war began, even Mr Bush was forced to concede that there were points of comparison. He likened events in Iraq to the Tet offensive of 1968, which turned US public opinion against involvement in Vietnam.
In reality, the most compelling parallel has little to do with either Iraq or Vietnam. It is about the nature of power: America's view of itself in the world, and its execution of foreign policy.
Once again, America is sending troops to a faraway country that it does not understand, an incomprehension that has led to fatally flawed war plans and policies. Once again, it has committed forces for reasons that seem unclear at best. In Vietnam, it was the August 1964 attack on US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin, which we now know never happened. In Iraq, it was the imminent danger that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And that is why this war has proven so painful - because the lessons of Vietnam were not absorbed.
This is Mr Bush's first overseas trip since the midterm elections, when American anger at the war in Iraq cost the Republicans control of Congress. In the days since then, Mr Bush has worked hard to persuade Americans that he is willing and able to abandon his administration's discredited policies. Mr Rumsfeld - our era's version of Robert McNamara, the Pentagon chief in the 1960s - was sacked. Administration officials argue that Iraq can be fixed. But even if Mr Bush can effect a genuine change of course in the Iraq war, can all the damage of the last three years really be undone? Where will Iraq be 30 years from now, and how will this generation of Americans view this war?
>
Tet offensive
A superpower came undone. The death toll in Iraq has painfully illuminated for many Americans the fact that their country was unprepared - as it was in 1968 when the North Vietnamese army launched the Tet offensive.
>
The attack had a devastating effect on domestic support for the war. "It made the American people aware for the first time that we were not winning the war, and that it was no longer true that if we kept our resolve and did not buckle under our disappointments we would prevail," says Mr Searcy, who now heads a mine clearance programme for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. "The credibility of the American and military leadership was severely undermined and never recovered."
Mr Bush faced that same moment of mass disillusion this month in the punishment US voters inflicted on the Republicans in the mid-term elections. Across the Pacific, the Vietnamese took note. US politics are followed avidly in Vietnam - even if the motivation now is to track developments that could help accelerate economic growth. There is nothing to be gained in dwelling on the pain of the past - still less on identifying too strongly with the suffering of those trapped in another war.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1950228,00.html
(Message edited by Jennifer03801 on November 16, 2006) |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 09:51 pm: |
|
Let me respond to one at a time,before you start throwing the New York Times at me....
Chris Dodd:"I take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting this country
from terrorists," Sen. Dodd said. "But there is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this."....ANY time you follow a statement with the word ..."but",it negates everything you said before that.So ,I'm thinking the rest of his statement is pretty much hogwash.And as far as our MORAL Compass,I didn't think the ACLU allowed us to have one.Isn't morality against the law now? The ACLU thinks so.
As far as the rest of it goes....lets wait and see.You and Jimbo neath a sycamore tree...drinking wine and chewing toe-bakky and dis cussin' pollyticks.My dog now has his own Microbioligist.Are you impressed?
Hey Jimbo,yu gotz enny wine leff over?I'm headin'fur Knotts Berry Farm and that chicken dinner...mmmmmmmmmm good!!
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 10:55 pm: |
|
Democrats Have No Real Iraq Policy:
Has the New York Times gone nuts???
The New York Times: "The Democrats will not be able to savor their victory for long... The Democrats will also need to look forward - and quickly. So far they have shared slogans, but no real policy. During the campaign, their most common call was for a "phased redeployment" - a euphemism for withdrawal - of American troops starting before the end of this year." (Editorial, "Democrats And Iraq," The New York Times, 11/12/06)
The New York Times: "[W]e are sure that even a few weeks more of drift and confusion will guarantee more chaos and suffering once American troops leave. Voters gave the Democrats the floor - and are now waiting to hear what they have to say." (Editorial, "Democrats And Iraq," The New York Times, 11/12/06)
Existing Democrat Policies Are Inadequate:
The New York Times: "We are skeptical of calls, by some Democrats, to divide the country into three ethnically based regions. Most Iraqis - except for the Kurds - show little enthusiasm for the idea. And while there has been horrific ethnic cleansing, it hasn't yet got to the point that boundaries could be drawn without driving many more people from their homes." (Editorial, "Democrats And Iraq," The New York Times, 11/12/06)
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 11:00 pm: |
|
http://www.gop.com/DemFacts/ThenNow.aspx |
Morning_song
Starlite Member
Username: Morning_song
| | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 11:04 pm: |
|
"We are ready for any unforseen event which may or may not happen." ...
 |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Friday, November 17, 2006 - 05:34 am: |
|
Let us be clear. The responsibility for all that has gone wrong lies squarely with Bush.
(Editorial, "Democrats And Iraq," The New York Times, 11/12/06)
Under Republican control, Congress has exercised virtually no oversight of the administration's misconduct of the war, and the new Democratic leadership is eager to conduct extensive hearings. The public deserves a full accounting (backed by subpoenas, if necessary) of how prewar intelligence was cooked, why American troops were sent to war without adequate armor, and where billions of dollars in reconstruction aid disappeared to.
(Editorial, "Democrats And Iraq," The New York Times, 11/12/06)
Threatening to pull out may be the only way to get cooperation from Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, who is thwarting even the most limited U.S. efforts to disarm militias and set timetables for genuine political compromise on the most fundamental issues, like protecting minority rights and fairly apportioning Iraq's oil wealth.
(Editorial, "Democrats And Iraq," The New York Times, 11/12/06)
Such ideas deserve a full discussion, something America has not had since its troops first rolled into Iraq. We are not sure that any shift in strategy can contain the disaster.
(Editorial, "Democrats And Iraq," The New York Times, 11/12/06)
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Friday, November 17, 2006 - 09:39 am: |
|
I have a Bush in my front yard...I suppose he's guilty too...It's a male Bush,by the way.I keep it trimmed when necessary,just as all politicians should be.Now that's the New York Times I've came to suspect.. Off to see the Wizard,don't get my fren Jimbo drunk while I'm gone.You might convert him,or turn him into a liberal frog."Such idea's deserve a full discussion".So where's The plan;other than discussing the war and threatening to cut n run? |
Morning_song
Starlite Member
Username: Morning_song
| | Posted on Friday, November 17, 2006 - 09:52 am: |
|
"With the campaign over, Americans are expecting a bipartisan effort and results. I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals."
 |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Friday, November 17, 2006 - 10:42 am: |
|
You turned Jimbo into a frog? OMG...I better
call Blind Melon Chitlin's and have him sing a anti-hex song....hit it Chitlins's...
 |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Friday, November 17, 2006 - 11:39 am: |
|
The Carlyle White House
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Columnist
Tuesday 14 November 2006
It was bad enough when the Carlyle Group bought Dunkin' Donuts last year, forcing millions of conscientious caffeine addicts to look elsewhere for their daily fix. Now, it appears Carlyle has added 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to its formidable portfolio of acquisitions.
The Carlyle Group achieved national attention in the early days of the Iraq occupation, especially after Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" exposed the firm's umbilical ties to the Bush family and the House of Saud. For the uninitiated, Carlyle is a privately-owned equity firm organized and run by former members of the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations.
Currently, Carlyle manages more than $44 billion in 42 different investment funds, which is an interesting fact in and of itself: Carlyle could lay claim to only a meager $12 billion in funds in December of 2001. Thanks to their ownership of United Defense Industries, a major military contractor that sells a whole galaxy of weapons systems to the Pentagon, Carlyle's profits skyrocketed after the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Some notable present and former employees of Carlyle include former president George H.W. Bush, who resigned in 2003; James Baker III, Bush Sr.'s secretary of state and king fixer; and George W. Bush, who served on Carlyle's board of directors until his run for the Texas governorship. One notable former client of Carlyle was the Saudi BinLaden Group, which sold its investment back to the firm a month after the September 11 attacks. Until the October 2001 sellout, Osama bin Laden himself had a financial interest in the same firm that employed the two presidents Bush.
How has Carlyle managed to acquire the White House? The newest edition of Newsweek begins to tell the tale in a story titled "The Rescue Squad": "Bush Senior has been relegated to watching all those political talk shows his son refuses to watch, wincing each time he hears his son's name being mocked or criticized. George H.W. Bush has been, in effect, sidelined by nepotism. He has repeatedly told close friends that he does not believe it is appropriate or wise to second-guess his son, or even offer advice beyond loving support. This time, however, was different. A source who declined to be identified discussing presidential confidences told NEWSWEEK that Bush 41 left 'fingerprints' on the Rumsfeld-Gates decision, though the father's exact role remains shrouded in speculation."
There is much more to this than Big George simply trying to shove Little George in a different direction, because Big George never travels alone. All of a sudden, two of the elder's main men - James Baker III and Robert Gates - are back in the saddle. Baker has spent the last weeks riding herd over the Iraq Study Group, a collection of old foreign policy hands tasked to come up with a solution to the Iraq debacle. Gates was a member of this group until he was tapped to replace Don Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. The Iraq Study Group is slated to produce some tablets of wisdom come December.
A third member of the Iraq Study Group, former congressman Lee Hamilton, is the rope that ties this curious historical package together. During the Reagan days, Hamilton was chairman of the committee investigating the Iran/Contra scandal that nearly submarined Reagan's presidency and haunted Bush Sr. until his defeat in 1992. In essence, Hamilton took Reagan's people at their word when they assured the chairman that neither Reagan nor Bush were "in the loop" regarding the arms-for-hostages deal.
History and investigation have proven this to be quite separate from the truth, and Hamilton later admitted he should not have bought what Reagan's people were selling. The fact remains, however, that Hamilton let these guys slip the noose during what was, at the time, an investigation into one of the most serious abrogations of Constitutional law in our history. It is worthwhile to note that the man who brought the most pressure upon Hamilton within Congress to be "bipartisan" and avoid a protracted investigation was then-Wyoming representative Dick Cheney.
One of the men spared prosecution in the Iran/Contra scandal, thanks in no small part to the gentility of Mr. Hamilton, was Robert Gates. Gates, then a senior official within the CIA, was widely believed to have been neck-deep in the plot. During the investigation into the scandal, Gates parroted Reagan and claimed not to remember when he knew what he knew about everything that was happening down in Ollie North's office. In 1991, he was nominated and eventually appointed to be the head of CIA by Bush Sr. During his confirmation hearings, according to the New York Times, it was revealed that "Mr. Gates [had] distorted intelligence reports so they would conform to the political beliefs of his superiors."
That sounds familiar.
Gates's nomination to the post of secretary of defense was field-generaled behind the scenes by James Baker III, who has suddenly taken on a muscular role within the Bush White House since the spectacular Republican wipeout during the midterm elections last Tuesday. Baker's return, along with the new prominence of Bush Sr., has been hailed in the mainstream press as a healthy step toward stability and sanity.
One is forced to wonder, however, which masters Mr. Baker is actually serving. Baker's Carlyle Group has profited wildly from the conflict in Iraq, which begs the question: will the bottom line, augmented by Carlyle's defense contracts, trump any attempts to establish a just and lasting peace? It must also be noted that Baker's law firm, Baker Botts, is currently serving as defense counsel for Saudi Arabia against a suit brought by the families of 9/11 victims. The connections between the Bush family and the Saudi royals have been discussed ad nauseam, and Mr. Baker is so closely entwined with the Bush clan that he might as well be a blood relative.
The weakening of George W. Bush, in short, has opened the door for an alumnus of the Iran/Contra scandal, Robert Gates, to gain control of the Pentagon - his nomination, as yet, has met with little Congressional resistance. This process was managed by James Baker, whose Carlyle Group made billions off the Iraq occupation and whose fealty to the American people has all too often taken a back seat to the needs and desires of the royal family of Saudi Arabia. These two, along with Hamilton, have been instrumental in crafting, by way of the Iraq Study Group, what by all accounts will soon be America's foreign policy lynchpin in Iraq and the Middle East as a whole.
Behind it all is George H.W. Bush, former employee of Carlyle, who has somehow managed to refashion his reputation into that of a grandfatherly, level-headed, steady hand, a foreign policy "realist" whose mere presence will soothe and calm the troubled waters we sail in. Unfortunately, his "realism" is a significant reason the United States finds itself in its current mess - until the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was a boon confederate of both the Reagan and Bush administrations in their fight against Iran - and the team of experts he has brought with him have done more to undermine the national security of the country than any other three people one could name.
The winner in all this, of course, is the Carlyle Group. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Friday, November 17, 2006 - 12:27 pm: |
|
Hmmmm....very interesting Jenn...I will peruse this with caution.Sounds tantamount to some of Clintons deals.All a politician is,is a multi-tasker using our money to make themselves rich.
Maybe it's time for another Boston Tea Party. |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Monday, November 20, 2006 - 08:35 pm: |
|
More than Peace in Our Time
By Suzanne Fields
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Just when you think no one can come up with a genuine modern analogy to Nazi Germany, someone does. Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the conservative Likud Party in Israel, offers a scary and wholly plausible comparison. "It's 1938 and Iran is Germany," he told the annual General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities the other day in Los Angeles. "When someone tells you he is going to exterminate you, believe him — and stop him."
No sooner than he completed his speech the Iranian newspapers reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was boasting that "we will soon witness [Israel's] disappearance and destruction." Ahmadinejad and his men are preparing a Holocaust that Hitler would envy, not limited to a tiny fledgling democracy in the Middle East. The Iranian nuclear program poses a threat to the entire West.
"Israel would certainly be the first stop on Iran's tour of destruction, but at the planned production rate of 25 nuclear bombs a year . . . [the arsenal] will be directed against 'the big Satan,' the U.S., and the 'moderate Satan,' Europe,'" Mr. Netanyahu told the assembled Jewish communities. But the ordering of events has changed. Hitler started a war first and began work on the atomic bomb; Ahmadinejad is building nuclear weapons first.
To do nothing is to appease, which is yet another allusion to the careless international diplomacy before World War II: "No one cared then and no one cares now." Hitler went on building a formidable military machine while the world pretended not to notice. Winston Churchill was the lonely prophet whose warning went unheeded. Appeasement, he said, is "a bit like feeding a crocodile hoping that it would eat you last." This time everyone notices what Iran is doing, but wants to go about business as usual: "What, me worry?" The first missiles will have Europe in range, then America. Israel will be the canary in the coalmine, the first to disappear as a warning to everyone else.
Ahmadinejad isn't trying to sell a Holocaust analogy; he insists the original never happened. But the 5 million Jews in Israel understand that rhetoric precedes the reality. Erasing Israel from the map is real to them. "Because Auschwitz really happened, it has permeated our imagination, become a permanent part of us," says Nobel Prize-winning novelist Imre Kertesz. "What we are able to imagine — because it really happened — can happen again."
While Netanyahu was speaking on the Left Coast, the man who now represents "the little Satan," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel, met President Bush in Washington. They talked for several hours and mostly about what to do about Iran. Both men have been weakened since the last time they met. Mr. Olmert suffered because he was slow to react with enough ground troops for the war in Lebanon. George W. Bush had a really bad hair day on Nov. 7.
Thus, their rhetoric rings a little hollow now, suggesting that their countries have deeper divisions than they're ready to admit. Israel worries that the American weakness in Iraq might compel the president to press Israel to make unwise concessions to the Palestinians in order to organize a coalition of Arab states to support sanctions against Iran. The United States worries that Israel's military image was tarnished in the war in Lebanon, making it appear less fearsome. This war in Lebanon was not exactly the Six-Day War.
Israel has strong friends in America, particularly among evangelical Christians. Nearly everyone has known this for a long time, but some people always find out late. The New York Times discovered it only last week, and put the news of its late discovery on Page One. These Christians frequently invoke Biblical references, but they're quick to draw analogies to the Third Reich. "Hitler told everybody what he was going to do, and Ahmadinejad is saying exactly what he is going to do," says Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, the faith-and-family advocacy organization. "He is talking genocide."
The Rev. John Hagee, pastor of a megachurch in San Antonio, says the Iranian leader's remarks about a second Holocaust prompted him to establish Christians United for Israel. He compared the Ahmadinejad Iranians to an biblical villain: "Pharaoh threatened Israel and he ended up fish food."
After President Bush and Prime Minister Olmert concluded their private meeting in the Oval Office, they spoke in a unified voice that they cannot accept a nuclear-armed Iran. The question of how they would stop it remains unaddressed — in public. But both men obviously know that taking a nap is not the route to peace in our time.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 03:02 am: |
|
Nov. 21, 2006, 12:05AM
U.S. to accept all but one of Iran's nuclear work requests
By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press
VIENNA, AUSTRIA — The United States said Monday it would accept Iran's request for U.N. aid on seven nuclear projects but urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to deny assistance for a plutonium-producing reactor that can be used to make a bomb.
The decision reflected U.S. recognition that it was futile to try to block IAEA help to Iran on all eight projects because of opposition by most of the agency's 35-nation board. It also appeared prompted by an IAEA ruling that neither the reactor nor the other projects posed a proliferation threat.
Some diplomats accredited to the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog agency also suggested it could reflect a U.S. decision to tread relatively lightly while Washington weighs the possibility of direct dialogue with Iran on reducing violence in Iraq.
The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the closed meeting.
U.S. officials declined comment.
"We are prepared to join consensus" on approving the seven other requests from Iran if the agency's board agrees to deny aid to Iran on building the Arak research reactor, said Gregory Schulte, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA.
But Schulte suggested there would be no compromise on Arak, describing it as "capable of producing plutonium for one or more nuclear weapons each year" once completed, likely in the next decade.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 03:25 am: |
|
The Twilight Zone / After the rain of death
By Gideon Levy
This is Islam al-Atamna. A girl of 14. She is sitting in her black mourning clothes. Eight close relatives - including her mother, grandparents, uncles and aunts - were all killed before her eyes, one after the other. They were killed in the street after they awoke at home in horror at the sound of the first shell that exploded and then fled outdoors, where the next shells caught them. About 11 fell on a residential neighborhood, one shell a minute, a rain of death, pursuing them in their flight. Fatherless for some time already, the girl is left alone in the world with her two little sisters and her 3-year-old brother Abdullah, whose legs were severed and who is hospitalized in the Al-Hilal Hospital in Gaza.
What should we say to Islam? What can we say to Islam? That the chip in the radar system is to blame? That the electronic component is responsible? Perhaps that the Palestinians are to blame?
Since the accident the girl has not fallen asleep for even a moment, which one can see in her frozen face. Islam is now a girl in shock, whose entire world was destroyed last Wednesday morning, with a total of 22 relatives dead and dozens wounded.
Islam's town is upside down. The roads are full of open pits, crushed electricity poles, smashed cars, torn houses and a sewage system whose effluents flow quietly in the streets.
After the six-day war waged by the Israel Defense Forces against Beit Hanun during Operation Autumn Clouds - when soldiers also took over Islam's house, imprisoning on the first floor the 104 people who lived in the eight apartments in the building, all relatives - people here expected to wake up last week to a new dawn, a dawn without soldiers. The day before, IDF had left Beit Hanun after "completing its mission" - nobody knows exactly what that mission was - and the residents awoke to freedom. But just then the volley of shells landed. Between 6:30 and 7 A.M., on the row of houses in the street that ends in a recently planted orchard, a gift from the Japanese government.
Now the survivors are sitting in the street of death, all of whose fatalities are members of one family, the Al-Atamna family. There has never before been such killing, of 22 members of one family, not even under direct Israeli occupation.
In the hospitals in Gaza, Egypt and Israel the wounded, about 40 in number, are moaning, many of them with amputated limbs and head injuries, quite a number of them children. The dead also include children, and mainly women: The mass poster that was printed presents the portraits of the men and the children who were killed, whereas the pictures of the women are replaced by paintings of red roses, as is the custom.
Flowers and children. A boy in a suit, a tie and glasses, Saad, 9 years old at his death; a boy in sunglasses, Mohammed, 11 years old; and a boy without glasses, Mahdi, 13. And there are the little ones: 3-year-old Maram and 8-month-old Maisa. All victims. Mothers and their children, grandfathers and their granddaughters, brothers and sisters, one after another, one shell after another. The IDF regrets ...
The entrance to Beit Hanun is horrifying. It is a town that is half destroyed and half deserted. Some of the residents, those who had a place to go, fled while they were still able to do so and have yet to return. Those who remain are walking around the streets like victims of shell shock, trying to assess the damages. A few people with initiative have already begun reconstruction: One is building a new fence, another is clearing the ruins from his yard, and technicians are repairing electricity and telephone cables, until the next invasion. An old woman is drying loofa in her ruined yard, as though nothing has happened.
A disaster area. The roads have turned into sandy paths, the sewers bubble up in them, uprooted trees are scattered alongside and there are overturned carts with their contents spilling out. There is virtually no house whose fence was not hit. The ancient mosque, Um al-Nasser, which was destroyed except for its minaret and was the hiding place of the armed men, is surrounded by a row of houses that were almost totally destroyed. The clinic opposite the mosque was also damaged. "Kill, destroy, crush - you won't succeed in breaking us," is the message on a yellow fabric poster, in the name of the Fatah cell at the Al-Quds Open University.
The yard of the agriculture department is a mess, the playground of the high school for girls is torn up. "You are the members of the stronger nation," thunders the voice of the dead leader Yasser Arafat from a loudspeaker mounted on a car that circulated in the town on the second anniversary of his death. In no other place did Arafat's words sound as pathetic as they did this week in Beit Hanun. The same is true of the sight of the old woman who emerges from the ruins of her home, sits on the sand and makes a "V" with her fingers, a heartbreaking sign of an illusory victory.
The new cemetery: Here in the sands the people buried 16 of the victims of the shelling and inaugurated a new city of the dead for themselves. A row of graves decorated by palm branches, two gray bricks on each grave and the pictures of the dead scattered among them. One improvised sign was once a cardboard box from Angel's bakery, regular white bread.
The pervasive atmosphere in the town is gloomy. The mourners' tents are already empty, and the plastic chairs have been piled up, until the next time there is mourning. The mourners are only sitting now for Bassam Al-Atamna, Bassam who died late. He died of his wounds last Friday at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, after efforts to save him failed.
The mud-sewer road leads to the street of death. A short distance before the end of that street the apartment house is still standing, four stories, where most of the victims of the shelling lived. At least three shells hit this house, 16 of its tenants are no longer alive. But most of the residents were killed in the street, after managing to flee from the building.
On the fourth floor, in the apartment of the family of Amjad Al-Atamna, where two shells fell on two children's rooms, tearing not-very-large holes in their ceilings, signs of the killing are still in evidence. The children were crushed here to pieces by the shells that landed on their heads while they were sleeping the peaceful sleep of little children. The Arabic notebook of Khalil Al-Atamna, wrapped in a cover with colorful cartoons, is among the ruins. Kahlil is hospitalized in serious condition. A third shell hit the wall of the stairwell, killing a mother and her two daughters while they were fleeing. The three were catapulted from the stairwell into the street.
The white IDF reconnaissance balloon looks down from the sky straight into the yards of the homes on this street. Did the balloon record the horror? Didn't they see up there what the Artillery Corps was doing for about 15 minutes?
The IDF Spokesman told us this week that the army does not know how many of the 11 shells that were fired hit the houses and the street. The residents counted more than 10 shells that hit and can show the evidence: on ceilings and walls and in the craters that were created in the street.
Survivor Majdi Al-Atamna is most upset of all: He says that one of the soldiers beat him - despite the pacemaker in his heart - when they took over his house. He asked for an ambulance and recalls that the soldier replied: "Let him die. It doesn't interest me." A day after the soldiers and their dogs evacuated the house, he lost a son and two brothers, and another son is hospitalized in serious condition. "What did we do? They wanted to kill our family. Our entire family."
Omar Al-Atamna woke up early Wednesday morning in order to listen to the news on the radio. The IDF had left a day earlier and he wanted to know what was new. Looking respectable in his suit, he talks about how he was drinking tea when he heard the sound of an explosion on the street. That was the first shell. Omar opened the window on the second floor and saw black smoke rising from one of the houses down the street. He quickly ran downstairs, but by the time he reached the first floor he already heard another explosion. The second shell. By the time he reached the street the next had already landed.
"I understood then that shells had hit my family," he recalls. Horrified, he ran in the direction of the smoke that was now coming out of three houses, passed the home of his relatives, a couple who are the town's dentists. It is important to Omar to explain that four doctors lived in the first house, in order to emphasize that they were "good families" - the kind that were not involved in anything. The doctors' house was not hit, but the next one, that of his cousin Saad, a taxi driver, suffered a direct hit. Saad is now hospitalized in Egypt, with a serious neck injury. Four of the taxi driver's children were wounded and are now amputees.
Omar removes from his jacket pocket a list written in pencil, with many erasures and scribblings. The list of dead and wounded. He reads the names of the former, one after another, like a shopping list: Abed Majdi, 9; Arafat Saad, 17; Mahdi Saad, 16; Mahmoud Saad, 15; Mahmoud Amjad, 9; Naama, 56 and her daughter Sanaa, 33; Massoud, 55; Manal, 29; Samir, 25; Fatma Massoud, 16; and Fatma Ahmed, 84, the grandmother of them all. Afterward he found another two names jotted down in the margins - Maram, 3, and Maisa, 8 months. But that was still not all of them.
Fourteen-year-old Islam recounts dryly: "We were sleeping in the house, on the third floor. We woke up to the noise of the first shell. The shell fell on the house of my Uncle Saad. We thought that they wanted to fire more shells and fled in the direction of the street. There another two shells fell on us; many were killed and many were wounded. We remained in the street. I saw my Grandma and my Mom collapsing in the street. When the ambulance came to evacuate my aunt, another two shells fell. Some of us were killed and some of us stayed alive. We saw how bodies were cut up before our eyes. Another ambulance came and more shells fell. The ambulance took my brother, whose two legs were cut off. He's 3 years old. I saw Mom dead."
Taxi driver Raad Al-Atamna, a member of the family and an old acquaintance of ours from the Erez checkpoint: "Her uncle was also killed, and another uncle is in a hospital in Egypt. Now she has nobody. What can I tell you, only God will look after her and help her. Gideon, I'm begging God not to harm either a Muslim or a Jew - no person should be harmed like us. It's a tragedy, a Holocaust such as we have not had since 1956. I hope that what happened to us doesn't happen to anyone else in the world."
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 03:56 am: |
|
"Taxi driver Raad Al-Atamna, a member of the family and an old
acquaintance of ours from the Erez checkpoint: "Her uncle was also
killed, and another uncle is in a hospital in Egypt. Now she has
nobody. What can I tell you, only God will look after her and help
her. Gideon, I'm begging God not to harm either a Muslim or a Jew - no
person should be harmed like us. It's a tragedy, a Holocaust such as
we have not had since 1956. I hope that what happened to us doesn't
happen to anyone else in the world."
I believe the israeli soldiers are numb from fear.This was indeed another tragedy.When will it stop Jenn? When all of Israel is annihilated? When all of the Palastinians are killed? How would you feel,knowing THEY(meaning IRAN) want your tiny country completely wiped off of the face of the earth? I'm trying to look at this from both sides and I haven't heard Israel making those types of threats.It wouldn't suprise me to see Israel engage Iran in the next few months because of this nuclear threat.I pray that it doesn't happen.The middle east is a boiling pot and the ingredients are ready to explode.Israel will try to survive at all costs.They have no choice but to fight.Too many people want them dead.
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 04:43 am: |
|
There is an answer to all this insanity but human nature being basically insane will always react to threat and stress in aggressive ways.
Dosen't it seems a strange and crazy sort of thing that most folks make many important decisions concerning their own well being without recourse to principles and standards.
This is particularly remarkable when considering that awareness of the existence of fundamental principles and the value of consistent standards is almost universal among humans.
A common example of this is that nearly any person anywhere can articulate a consistent relationship between the height of an object and the length of its shadow. However nearly no one anywhere will use that awareness to calculate the height of an object by some consistent standard of height without first being trained to do so.
This insanity seems to have a high resistance to situational stress of any sort even to the point of being fatal to an individual or group of individuals. A common example of resistance to stress is the situation where a person living in an abusive relationship continues to believe that the most recent episode of abusive behavior is the final one and remains in the relationship, often to the point of death.
Not one of these individuals would behave as though the last episode of sunrise, storm or change of season was the final one. {Well, not many of them would}. They are all aware of the principle of cyclic phenomena and have access to units of time that are consistent standards with which to measure such things and most important have been trained to do so. Yet they remain in the abusive relationship; which is an obvious example of cyclic phenomena in behavior and seem unable or unwilling to apply the principles and standards which they use so competently in other areas.
In recognizing the fundamental insanity if the human species, (particularly in groups), it is foolish to try to assign notions of right and wrong.
Violence breeds violence until most of the Hatfields and McCoys are killed off and all a sane person can do is try to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 05:44 am: |
|
You gentlemen are up bright and early this morning.
Bubby, which country currently has nuclear weapons, Iran or Israel?
Jimbo, does it seem to you like our 140,000 plus or minus troops in Iraq might be caught in the crossfire if Israel does attack Iran?
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 05:55 am: |
|
They are in the crossfire now much the same as the marshals and rangers in the old west.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:12 am: |
|
Jenn,its too early for multiple choice questions.You know I always pick the wrong one.I like Jimbo's mathamatical equations of height and length....I vaguely remember that formula from elementary school...There was another one that I invented and called it a dual theory.Perception is validated by time and Time is validated by perception.And the Hatfield and McCoys analogy is most paramount here.Except now its the Goldsteins and the Mohammeds.Jimbo,wasn't the McCoys and the Hat's feud started over something trivial,and was it ever resolved?I bet Jenn knows.She knows everything... |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 12:06 pm: |
|
Yeah Bubby, all feuds are over things trivial at least as compared to the suffering they bring about. Sane resolution of insane ideation is a contridiction in terms. Kind of like insisting on drinking water only from a dry cup.
Jen-- I understand the implication of the rhetorical question about who has the bomb but I don't understand the point of asking such a question. Please enlighten me.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 12:33 pm: |
|
Which country currently has nuclear weapons, Israel or Iran? It's a very simple question, don't you know the answer?
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 01:07 pm: |
|
Jen-- come on -- of course all of us know that it is Isreal. What I don't know is "so what?"
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 01:12 pm: |
|
You agree with Jimbo's answer, Bubby? |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 01:48 pm: |
|
Actually I think they both have them.As far as Israel is concerned,I compare them
to a Chihuahua with a big bite— in a surrounding neighborhood of pit bulls.I believe its the only thing that has kept them from being obliterated from the face of this earth—Something that was tried once before.Remember?Do you believe the Holocaust actually happened ,Jenn? Do you see the need for Israel to worry,being a Chihuahua with a big bite? Do you see the need for Israel to defend itself when threatened with annihilation? Should they dismantle their nukes and let the Arab world slaughter them? Your question was a loaded statement and I'm sure you didn't bring a knife to a gun fight... |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 02:57 pm: |
|
The whole thing is crazy. We have the means to end this insane cycle of blood and suffering in a couple of months.
The solution to the puzzle is so simple that a teenage chess player could solve it in about five minuets.
The first thing is quietly and privatly to let the mulhallas in Iran know that we really need to test out tactical nukes to make sure that they work as designed. From our point of view their nuclear sites are the perfect place to do such testing. So if they havn't opened their sites for inspection and reconfiguring in a week that we will begin testing. In all fairness they should farther know that unless they withdraw their insurgents from Iraq we will continue testing on their bomb factories, palaces and headquarter complexes until the insurgents have gone home. As soon as we ascertain that all or most of the mercenary insurgent forces have been withdrawn we should pubically announce that we are covering all ammunition with pork fat for lubrication purposes. Then we go to hell home and let them sort out their own insanity.
Sometimes you must fight fire with fire --------
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 04:32 pm: |
|
checkmate... Sounds like a damn good idea Jimbo.Makes me wanna be a Libbytarian.In fact,I think I was just converted....I salute your tactical genius and will notify the corporal of the guard.Of course with our new congress and senate intact,we will await the enemys first volley of nukes and then ask them why they did that.Being P.C. and all.Lack of parental love? Spousal abuse? PMS? The Bush Family? Playboy Magazine?Kramer? Chris Rock? I'll bet its because we smoke camels.
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 04:38 pm: |
|
Jimbo...Bubby...
Don't make me get my whip out!!!
 |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 06:28 pm: |
|
Wheee---
Fer a minit there I thought it was Tess?
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 07:30 pm: |
|
lol...nope..juss Peelosi.. |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 07:40 pm: |
|
A poetry reading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNc0CM5HJFU
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 08:55 pm: |
|
No thanks...I've seen enough of that kind of stuff to last a life time.As soon as I saw torture and children and the warning,I closed it.Maybe you like watching that kind of stuff,but I don't,and stop your false advertisement.Poetry indeed...How about if I send you some pictures of the Holocaust? Would you watch those too? |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 09:11 pm: |
|
Here is something to soothe your angry mind..
http://www.dailymotion.com:80/tag/age/video/xl7x7_scrat-in-no-time-for-nuts |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 09:19 pm: |
|
or this might float your boat...
http://www.dailyhaha.com/_vids/Relentless_Legs_Syndrome.htm |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:00 pm: |
|
I'm with you on this one Bub---
That is the major difference between the official policy of our military and the official policy of the terrorists. They send children to kill and be killed. As my professor would say it during my medical training, "our policy is Suffer the little children to come first to our healing for they are the future of our species".
When a group stoops to using children as delivery mechanisms for bombs they lose any chance of sympathy from me for their political goals. Whale sh** at the bottom of the ocean is higher on the moral sanity scale then is such low lifes.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:15 pm: |
|
I don’t know what you call it when a poet reads one of his/her poems, Bubby, but I call it a poetry reading.
There were no children in that video, Bubs. The pictures and videos of children being held and abused at Abu Ghraib haven't been released yet. The Pentagon is still withholding them in violation of a Federal Court order. So you can stick your head in the sand a little while longer and live with the hope that laughter from your daily haha’s will block out the children’s screams. Night, Bubby, pleasant dreams.
And Jimbo, great plan, drop a few nukes on Iran and show them who’s got the biggest cojones! Bombs away - the heck with moral sanity and a few thousand Iranian kids! Night, Jimbo.
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:15 pm: |
|
They did it in Nam and they are doing it in the Arab world.Life means nothing to them.Its the hereafter that they are here after....and Pallywood gives them no credibility in my eyes. |
Morning_song
Starlite Member
Username: Morning_song
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:23 pm: |
|
Let it now be known that I am now officially a LiBraritarian or a RepebliKan and am no longer anti-war. I don't wanna be in NO DATA BASE!!!!
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — An antiterrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks against military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations, newly disclosed documents show.
One tip in the database in February 2005, for instance, noted that “a church service for peace” would be held in the New York City area the next month. Another entry noted that antiwar protesters would be holding “nonviolence training” sessions at unidentified churches in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The Defense Department tightened its procedures earlier this year to ensure that only material related to actual terrorist threats — and not peaceable First Amendment activity — was included in the database.
The head of the office that runs the military database, which is known as Talon, said Monday that material on antiwar protests should not have been collected in the first place.
“I don’t want it, we shouldn’t have had it, not interested in it,” said Daniel J. Baur, the acting director of the counterintelligence field activity unit, which runs the Talon program at the Defense Department. “I don’t want to deal with it.”
Mr. Baur said that those operating the database had misinterpreted their mandate and that what was intended as an antiterrorist database became, in some respects, a catch-all for leads on possible disruptions and threats against military installations in the United States, including protests against the military presence in Iraq.
“I don’t think the policy was as clear as it could have been,” he said. Once the problem was discovered, he said, “we fixed it,” and more than 180 entries in the database related to war protests were deleted from the system last year. Out of 13,000 entries in the database, many of them uncorroborated leads on possible terrorist threats, several thousand others were also purged because he said they had “no continuing relevance.”
Amid public controversy over the database, leads from so-called neighborhood watch programs and other tips about possible threats are down significantly this year, Mr. Baur said. While the system had been tightened, he said he was concerned that the public scrutiny had created “a huge chilling effect” that could lead the military to miss legitimate terrorist threats.
Mr. Baur was responding to the latest batch of documents produced by the military under a Freedom of Information Act request brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. The A.C.L.U. planned to release the documents publicly on Tuesday, and officials with the group said they would push for Democrats, newly empowered in Congress, to hold formal hearings about the Talon database.
Ben Wizner, a lawyer for the A.C.L.U. in New York, said the new documents suggested that the military’s efforts to glean intelligence on protesters went beyond what was previously known. If intelligence officials “are going to be doing investigations or monitoring in a place where people gather to worship or to study, they should have a pretty clear indication that a crime has occurred,” Mr. Wizner added.
The leader of one antiwar group mentioned repeatedly in the latest military documents provided to the A.C.L.U. said he was skeptical that the military had ended its collection of material on war protests.
“I don’t believe it,” said the leader, Michael T. McPhearson, a former Army captain who is the executive director of Veterans for Peace, a group in St. Louis.
Mr. McPhearson said he found the references to his group in the Talon database disappointing but not altogether surprising, and he said the group continued to use public settings and the Internet to plan its protests.
“We don’t have anything to hide,” he said. “We’re not doing anything illegal.”
The latest Talon documents showed that the military used a variety of sources to collect intelligence leads on antiwar protests, including an agent in the Department of Homeland Security, Google searches on the Internet and e-mail messages forwarded by apparent informants with ties to protest groups.
In most cases, entries in the Talon database acknowledged that there was no specific evidence indicating the possibility of terrorism or disruptions at the antiwar events, but they warned of the potential for violence.
One entry on Mr. McPhearson’s group from April 2005, for instance, described a protest at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces at which members handed out antimilitary literature and set up hundreds of white crosses to symbolize soldiers killed in Iraq.
“Veterans for Peace is a peaceful organization,” the entry said, but added there was potential that future protests “could become violent.”
Source: New York Times 11-21-06 (found on AOL)
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:34 pm: |
|
It really puzzles me ----
What is this strange thing that blinds us to obvious peril when we have all the information and skills needed to recognize and deal with the situation?
Consider the history of military tactics. It has been a long time since the sheer power of weapons of war rendered such things as shields, armor, forts, large concentrated groups of soldiers and so on obsolete at best and into virtual death traps for the individuals so constrained when opposed by a competent enemy. Yet the military of all nations continue to expend most of their resources acquiring tanks, armored vehicles, forts, military bases, and in the training of individuals to man such obsolete and dangerous contrivances.
Only in the subjugation and control of large masses of unarmed civilians do such systems have a rational function.
One would reasonably speculate that a culture sincerely dedicated to the principle of "Equality/Freedom", would concentrate their military expenditures on de-centralized, light militia type units that were armed with fast highly maneuverable vehicles. Some designed for air, some for land and some for sea; that would be capable of being fitted with a variety of weapons as needed to repel an invasion.
Obviously a culture dedicated to the principle of "Equality/ Freedom", would not invade another state for the purpose of subjugation and control; nor would they impose such things on their own citizens. Yet, sometimes slowly and insidiously, always inevitably; throughout recorded history any culture that has maintained powerful centralized military/police forces has done so at the cost of "Equality/Freedom", for it's ordinary citizens.
Without Equality and Freedom and the respect for diversity that such an environment encourages; a culture's citizens loses trust in one another and their leaders. Without a significant level of citizen trust a culture will surely deteriorate into pseudo-tribal factions whose only dependable characteristic will be xenophobic response patterns of fear, mistrust and violence
Look around you. Read the news reports. Do you see more or less xenophobic patterns of fear, mistrust and violence?
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:39 pm: |
|
I don't know about you Jeri...didn't I see you a few years back at a love in that was promoted by a bunch of Socialists? Didn't you have a flower in your hair while listen to Donovan? I thought that was you..Morning Song...its all coming back to me like deja vu....lmao |
Morning_song
Starlite Member
Username: Morning_song
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:48 pm: |
|
Who??? ME????}
 |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:55 pm: |
|
Come on now Bub-- Give Jeri a break. I was there too with flip flops and a loin cloth. That wasn't political. I just wanted to get laid.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 11:01 pm: |
|
oh Jenn,Heaven forbid we have some humor in our life.Haven't you heard? Laughter is good medicine.Don't be a stick in the mud.The world doesn't revolve around this tiny space we occupy.You are words upon a screen and so am I.
You percieve my behavior as insouciant,and I perceive yours as Mother Teresa.G'night and pray for the world. |
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 11:43 pm: |
|
Oh well Jen --- I guess that clinches it. Hit and run tactics are all you have. I'm kind of disappointed. I fancied that you might be on an intellectual level with Tess or even Kevan. See you my friend.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 03:56 am: |
|
Thats exactly why there are not more women starting wars.What? I carried him for nine months and now you wanna shoot him?Before initiating a war,the women and children should all be removed to a safe area,and then let the warriors have at it.To fight behind the womens dress's and the small childrens locale is complete insanity.But they realize in our P.C. mode they will win the favor of the drive by media.I would like Jenn to spend a week in Iraq driving around town in a humvee with the soldiers.Maybe she could talk some sense into those crazy Americans defending our country.She would be up close and most attentive,rather than watching video clips at home.WE have video clips of the suicide bombers and the carnage and death they have administered.Children were killed there also.....and then we have Pallywood.Jimbo,are you familiar with Pallywood?If not,I will introduce you.Its a whole new spin on death and destruction. |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 03:59 am: |
|
Just for you Jimbo,
http://www.break.com/index/what_really_happens_pallywood.html |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 04:47 am: |
|
Keeping Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer: Operational Design for a Nuclear-Armed Iran
Authors: Robert K. Umstead; ARMY COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLL FORT LEAVENWORTH KS SCHOOL OF ADVANCED MILITARY STUDIES
Abstract: The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) has pursued a nuclear program since 1985. By February 2006, with the last round of international negotiations having failed, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) having reported the dossier to the United Nations Security Council, Tehran was on the precipice of being able to field a nuclear weapon at a time convenient to the IRI. A nuclear-armed Iran will change the strategic calculus in the Middle East and Central Asia and present new risks to U.S. interests in the region. This monograph addresses the issue of a nuclear-armed Iran from four perspectives: historical patterns of Iranian behavior with respect to foreign influence, a Western perspective of these patterns, a technical review of Iran's nuclear program, and a methodology called Systemic Operational Design (SOD). SOD is an application of Systems Theory to Operational Art that focuses on the relationships between the entities within a system to translate strategic direction and policy into an Operational Design. This systemic approach synthesizes the Iranian historical pattern of balancing one foreign power against another while simultaneously seeking to limit foreign influence. The author recommends an Operational Design to manage the risks posed by a nuclear-armed Iran that seeks to "keep our friends close and our enemies closer" by simultaneously pursuing economic growth and regional stability through the reopening of the U.S. embassy in Iran. This should occur simultaneous with disrupting the foreign networks that support the proliferation of nuclear technology in Iran as well as those that finance and support the foreign activities of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah.
|
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 05:45 am: |
|
LIE #1: "The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program ... Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons." -- President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in Cincinnati.
FACT: This story, leaked to and breathlessly reported by Judith Miller in the New York Times, has turned out to be complete baloney. Department of Energy officials, who monitor nuclear plants, say the tubes could not be used for enriching uranium. One intelligence analyst, who was part of the tubes investigation, angrily told The New Republic: "You had senior American officials like Condoleezza Rice saying the only use of this aluminum really is uranium centrifuges. She said that on television. And that's just a lie."
LIE #2: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." -- President Bush, Jan.28, 2003, in the State of the Union address.
FACT: This whopper was based on a document that the White House already knew to be a forgery thanks to the CIA. Sold to Italian intelligence by some hustler, the document carried the signature of an official who had been out of office for 10 years and referenced a constitution that was no longer in effect. The ex-ambassador who the CIA sent to check out the story is pissed: "They knew the Niger story was a flat-out lie," he told the New Republic, anonymously. "They [the White House] were unpersuasive about aluminum tubes and added this to make their case more strongly."
LIE #3: "We believe [Saddam] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." -- Vice President Cheney on March 16, 2003 on "Meet the Press."
FACT: There was and is absolutely zero basis for this statement. CIA reports up through 2002 showed no evidence of an Iraqi nuclear weapons program.
LIE #4: "[The CIA possesses] solid reporting of senior-level contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda going back a decade." -- CIA Director George Tenet in a written statement released Oct. 7, 2002 and echoed in that evening's speech by President Bush.
FACT: Intelligence agencies knew of tentative contacts between Saddam and al-Qaeda in the early '90s, but found no proof of a continuing relationship. In other words, by tweaking language, Tenet and Bush spun the intelligence180 degrees to say exactly the opposite of what it suggested.
LIE #5: "We've learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases ... Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints." -- President Bush, Oct. 7.
FACT: No evidence of this has ever been leaked or produced. Colin Powell told the U.N. this alleged training took place in a camp in northern Iraq. To his great embarrassment, the area he indicated was later revealed to be outside Iraq's control and patrolled by Allied war planes.
LIE #6: "We have also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We are concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] for missions targeting the United States." -- President Bush, Oct. 7.
FACT: Said drones can't fly more than 300 miles, and Iraq is 6,000 miles from the U.S. coastline. Furthermore, Iraq's drone-building program wasn't much more advanced than your average model plane enthusiast. And isn't a "manned aerial vehicle" just a scary way to say "plane"?
LIE #7: "We have seen intelligence over many months that they have chemical and biological weapons, and that they have dispersed them and that they're weaponized and that, in one case at least, the command and control arrangements have been established." -- President Bush, Feb. 8, 2003, in a national radio address.
FACT: Despite a massive nationwide search by U.S. and British forces, there are no signs, traces or examples of chemical weapons being deployed in the field, or anywhere else during the war.
LIE #8: "Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets." -- Secretary of State Colin Powell, Feb. 5 2003, in remarks to the UN Security Council.
FACT: Putting aside the glaring fact that not one drop of this massive stockpile has been found, as previously reported on AlterNet the United States' own intelligence reports show that these stocks -- if they existed -- were well past their use-by date and therefore useless as weapon fodder.
LIE #9: "We know where [Iraq's WMD] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat." -- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003, in statements to the press.
FACT: Needless to say, no such weapons were found, not to the east, west, south or north, somewhat or otherwise.
LIE #10: "Yes, we found a biological laboratory in Iraq which the UN prohibited." -- President Bush in remarks in Poland, published internationally June 1, 2003.
FACT: This was reference to the discovery of two modified truck trailers that the CIA claimed were potential mobile biological weapons lab. But British and American experts -- including the State Department's intelligence wing in a report released this week -- have since declared this to be untrue. According to the British, and much to Prime Minister Tony Blair's embarrassment, the trailers are actually exactly what Iraq said they were; facilities to fill weather balloons, sold to them by the British themselves.
So, months after the war, we are once again where we started -- with plenty of rhetoric and absolutely no proof of this "grave danger" for which O.J. Smith died. The Bush administration is now scrambling to place the blame for its lies on faulty intelligence, when in fact the intelligence was fine; it was their abuse of it that was "faulty."
Rather than apologize for leading us to a preemptive war based on impossibly faulty or shamelessly distorted "intelligence" or offering his resignation, our sly madman in the White House is starting to sound more like that other O.J. Like the man who cheerfully played golf while promising to pursue "the real killers," Bush is now vowing to search for "the true extent of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs, no matter how long it takes."
On the terrible day of the 9/11 attacks, five hours after a hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon, retired Gen. Wesley Clark received a strange call from someone (he didn't name names) representing the White House position: "I was on CNN, and I got a call at my home saying, 'You got to say this is connected. This is state-sponsored terrorism. This has to be connected to Saddam Hussein,'" Clark told Meet the Press anchor Tim Russert. "I said, 'But -- I'm willing to say it, but what's your evidence?' And I never got any evidence.'"
And neither did we.
...........................................................
Those were the lies that started a war. Those were the lies that started a war that killed thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children, and thousands of our own troops. Those were the lies that started a war that wounded thousands and thousands of innocent people. Those were the lies that started a war that put this country so far in the red our grandchildren will still be paying for it long after we're gone. Those were the lies that started a war that no one can end.
Iraq did not have WMD, but there is one tiny country that does have nuclear, chemical and biological weapons at the ready to use on its neighbors. Name that country and win a free yarmulke.
(Message edited by Jennifer03801 on November 22, 2006) |
Morning_song
Starlite Member
Username: Morning_song
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 07:44 am: |
|
Hey Jen, what's the problem???
At least he didn't lie about having s*x with "THAT WOMAN."
Give him a break, here.
 |
Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 09:38 am: |
|
What is the point of Iraq deaths?
November 24, 2006
BY ANDREW GREELEY
My mother used to tell me when I was very young a story about the last American to die on Nov. 11, 1918, at 10:59 in the morning. It was an urban folk tale of that era, doubtless, though indeed there was an American who was the last victim of the war. His death was pointless, that was the sentimental irony of the story. But so was the death of everyone else who died in that absurd, insane mass murder. The "Great Powers" of Europe stumbled into the war because of a toxic mix of arrogance and ignorance and couldn't find a way out of it. Nothing was settled, the war went into a recess to be renewed 20 years later with even more demonic fury.
I found myself pondering as I watched the heartbreaking Veterans Day ceremonies on television, what the government will tell the family -- parents, spouse, children -- of the last American to die in Iraq. Or the families of all the men and women who have died there. What was the point in their deaths? They fought bravely for their country. They did their duty. They will be missed. Their courage is an honor to their sacrifice. That should be enough and that's all there is.
They died defending American freedom? But American freedom was never at issue. They died to protect the country from weapons of mass destruction, to create a democracy in the midst of the Arab world, to win a victory that would enhance American credibility, to keep faith with those who had already died, to get rid of Saddam Hussein, because the president said it was the right thing to do, because Iraq was the central front in the war or terror?
Or should they be told the real truth? Their young person died because of the arrogance and the ignorance of the American government, because of mistakes and blunders, because some of our leaders thought the war was a good thing, because it would take pressure off of Israel, because of Arab oil.
What can we say to the additional survivors between now and the day the last American dies there, all those lives erased in a lost war our leaders could not end? Should we tell them what Henry Kissinger said of Vietnam casualties after President Nixon took office -- they died in the name of American credibility?
Every time I hear on the radio of new casualties or see bereaved families on television, or open newspapers with massed photos of those who have died, I want to scream "all these losses, all this suffering, all these shattered families were unnecessary." I sense from a great distance the pain and the grief.
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney killed them.
Most Americans agree that the war was mistaken in its inception and mismanaged in its execution. If some of that majority do not also feel the grief and the pain and the rage, the only reason is that they have hardened their hearts in the name of patriotism or party loyalty or the words of the bible. God have mercy on those with hard hearts.
The issue now is whether the new coalition of leaders can find the quickest, safest way out. We must hope and pray that they can, that the hubris that led the country into the war will not prevent us from getting out.
Will God punish the United States for all the deaths, both Iraqi and American? I don't believe that God works that way. However, our intervention in that chaotic, broken country will certainly have created hundreds, perhaps thousands of would-be martyrs who will seek vengeance. We will have brought it on ourselves.
God forgive us for the war, especially those who voted for it in 2004, and especially the pundits, the commentators, the editorial writers who supported the war until almost the last moment and are still willing to accept more casualties so this country and its president can escape with some dignity.
It's a shame there will be no war crimes trials.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tZRQNnXN80}
|
Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 12:02 pm: |
|
It must be very comforting to have a devil to blame for life's misfortunes.
I remember when I was eleven years old and my dog was bitten by a rattle snake. That was my dog. He was my constant companion since I was six. I loved Skipper more then I loved most of my family. I begged my father to take him to the vet for antivemon shots. We didn't have money to pay the vet.
Skipper died in terrible misery. In a few days his neck had swollen bigger then his head and begin to seep a foul smelling discharge. He was in constant pain whining and moaning until I thought my heart and head would burst with the need to do something.
The time came when my father loaded the shotgun and handed it to me stating; Skipper is your dog and it is your responsibility to end his pain and suffering. It took me a half day to work up the courage to do the morally right thing to do.
A couple of my older sisters and one of my younger brothers blamed me for Skipper's death. They accused me of sicing Skipper on the snake just for the entertainment of watching the fight. I was outraged. They were'nt there. How could they even think such a thing. For a while I blamed my father; then I blamed God and finally I realized it wasn't a matter of blame. It was a matter of the facts of life.
For a while I spent most of my spare time hunting rattlesnaks. I don't know if I ever actually killed the spicific rattlesnake that bit my dog but I severly thinned out the rattlesnakes in the general area of our house. My father cautioned me to not take it out on all snakes. He explained that poisionous snakes were dangerous and it was a good thing to kill them on sight. Sometimes it was necessary to spend time and efforts on a campaign to wipe out most of the poisonous ones if they became too numerous. But if we killed off most of the snakes we would have a plague of rodents eating up our crops and spreading disease.
The same principle of reality operates in world politics. It is long past time that we hunt down the terrorists wherever they may be and eliminate them like rattlesnakes.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 04:29 pm: |
|
Jimbo,don't you know terrorists don't exist?They don't exist because the Liberals refuse to recognize them.Its too easy just to condemn Bush and Cheney.Once they convince everyone that those two individuals are the root cause of ALL terrorist activities and we eleminate them,we can go back to our big srcreens and watch REAL Hollywood hero's.Like Sean Penny and Smart Alec Baldwin and Michael Moorebutt.The Terorists will then go away -sulking, into the fading sunset.I truly believe Jenn and the rest of the Liberals would like nothing better than to hang GW and Cheney by the gonads,and then burn them alive.Only then will they ever be happy.....and the war against the terrorists would still rage on and on and on and on...
want to see whats really happening in OUR world?....go here...http://www.fulldisclosure.net |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 05:39 pm: |
|
Even eleven year olds are taught to have a hardend heart...I don't recall our eleven year olds being trained with an AK47.I don't recall any teachers instructing us on the art of suicide bombing.I don't recall our religion demanding us to slaughter all non believers...damn that Bush and Cheney...its the Liberal way.Get on board.I think we have chemistry here,don't you? |
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 - 07:23 pm: |
|
Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities in America
Morgan Quitno Press recently published its 13th annual
rankings of the safest and most dangerous cities in America.
The list is based on a city’s rate for six basic
crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated
assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft. All cities
of 75,000+ populations that reported crime data to the
FBI for the six crime categories were included in the
rankings.
This year’s survey considered 371 cities, using final
2005 FBI statistics that were released Sept. 18, 2006.
10. Gary, Ind.
Mayor in 2005: Scott King, Democrat (became
independent in April 2005)
U.S. Representative: Peter Visclosky, Democrat
9. Youngstown, Ohio
Mayor in 2005: George M. McKelvey, Democrat
U.S. Representative: Tim Ryan, Democrat
8. Oakland, Calif.
Mayor in 2005: Jerry Brown, Democrat
U.S. Representative: Barbara Lee, Democrat
7. Cleveland, Ohio
Mayor in 2005: Jane L. Campbell, Democrat
U.S. Representatives: Dennis Kucinich, Democrat, and
Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Democrat
6. Birmingham, Ala.
Mayor in 2005: Bernard Kincaid, Democrat
U.S. Representative: Artur Davis, Democrat
5. Camden, N.J.
Mayor in 2005: Gwendolyn A. Faison, Democrat
U.S. Representative: Robert Andrews, Democrat
4. Compton, Calif.
Mayor in 2005: Eric J. Perrodin, Democrat
U.S. Representative: Juanita Millender-McDonald, Democrat
3. Flint, Mich.
Mayor in 2005: Donald Williamson, Republican
U.S. Representative: Dale Kildee, Democrat
2. Detroit, Mich.
Mayor in 2005: Kwame M. Kilpatrick, Democrat
U.S. Representatives: Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick,
Democrat, and John Conyers, Democrat
1. St. Louis, Mo.
Mayor in 2005: Francis G. Slay, Democrat
U.S. Representatives: William Lacy Clay, Democrat,
and Russ Carnahan, Democrat
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Thursday, November 30, 2006 - 10:29 pm: |
|
congressman takes his oath on
By Dennis Prager - Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.
He should not be allowed to do so -- not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization.
First, it is an act of hubris that perfectly exemplifies multiculturalist activism -- my culture trumps America's culture. What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book.
Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison's favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress. In your personal life, we will fight for your right to prefer any other book. We will even fight for your right to publish cartoons mocking our Bible. But, Mr. Ellison, America, not you, decides on what book its public servants take their oath.
Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath? And if not, why not? On what grounds will those defending Ellison's right to choose his favorite book deny that same right to a racist who is elected to public office?
Of course, Ellison's defenders argue that Ellison is merely being honest; since he believes in the Koran and not in the Bible, he should be allowed, even encouraged, to put his hand on the book he believes in. But for all of American history, Jews elected to public office have taken their oath on the Bible, even though they do not believe in the New Testament, and the many secular elected officials have not believed in the Old Testament either. Yet those secular officials did not demand to take their oaths of office on, say, the collected works of Voltaire or on a volume of New York Times editorials, writings far more significant to some liberal members of Congress than the Bible. Nor has one Mormon official demanded to put his hand on the Book of Mormon. And it is hard to imagine a scientologist being allowed to take his oath of office on a copy of "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard.
So why are we allowing Keith Ellison to do what no other member of Congress has ever done -- choose his own most revered book for his oath?
The answer is obvious -- Ellison is a Muslim. And whoever decides these matters, not to mention virtually every editorial page in America, is not going to offend a Muslim. In fact, many of these people argue it will be a good thing because Muslims around the world will see what an open society America is and how much Americans honor Muslims and the Koran.
This argument appeals to all those who believe that one of the greatest goals of America is to be loved by the world, and especially by Muslims because then fewer Muslims will hate us (and therefore fewer will bomb us).
But these naive people do not appreciate that America will not change the attitude of a single American-hating Muslim by allowing Ellison to substitute the Koran for the Bible. In fact, the opposite is more likely: Ellison's doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal -- the Islamicization of America.
When all elected officials take their oaths of office with their hands on the very same book, they all affirm that some unifying value system underlies American civilization. If Keith Ellison is allowed to change that, he will be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11. It is hard to believe that this is the legacy most Muslim Americans want to bequeath to America. But if it is, it is not only Europe that is in trouble. (End Commentary)
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Saturday, December 02, 2006 - 09:21 am: |
|
And they wonder why we're suspect!
Some cheerful Yuletide stuff in case you think you're
comfortable living amongst a growing Islamic society.
Note: I fully admit to Islam-phobia. Merry Christmas
Ugly stuff!
*************
The Brussels Journal offers an interesting(terrifying)
piece http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1183 on the
progress Muslims have made in their demographic
conquest of Western Europe. The initial focus has
been in cities, from which they are rapidly
displacing the native inhabitants. As the author
Fjordman predicts, soon, you will travel from
London to Paris, Amsterdam or Stockholm and find
that you have left one city dominated by burkas and
sharia to find yet another city dominated by burkas
and Sharia.
Absurdly, the politically correct Left is
celebrating the replacement of Europe's diverse
cultures by a single grim Islamic one in the name of
"cultural diversity." Here are a few examples of
what this so-called diversity entails:
In England, Muslims are creating no-go areas for
native Europeans. Signs indicate that whites can
enter only at their own risk. Hindus are also
subjected to ethnic cleansing. Caucasians are
fleeing Londonistan in droves.
In France, there were 818 of these "no-go" zones
when the presumably horrified government stopped
keeping track - which was way back in 2002.
Anything representing Western civilization,
including post office trucks and fire engines, is
routinely attacked with Molotov cocktails in these
areas.
The welfare checks go in; only violence and Islam
come out. In French math classes, Muslim students
refuse to write "plus" signs because they remind
them of the Christian cross. Following last year's
riots, the police announced that the situation had
returned to normal when a day passed with only 98
vehicles set on fire by Muslim hooligans.
In Holland, Muslims will soon make up the majority
in all major cities.
Forty percent of Moroccan Muslims in the Netherlands
explicitly reject Western values and democracy.
Thirty-two percent of native Dutch already want out
of what's left of their country.
In Germany, at least 50 women have been killed in
the past decade in "honor killings" - i.e., for
trying to live Western lifestyles. Germans are
considered by the Muslim colonizers to be "stinking
people" who are "doomed to go to hell" for being
"useless creatures and infidels."
In Denmark, Muslim taxi drivers spy on female
immigrants, so they can be hunted down and killed
if they attempt to escape from Muslim society.
In Norway and Sweden, protection money must be paid
to bloodthirsty Muslim gangs.
It is becoming increasingly impossible to deny that
the bleak and brutal culture of Islam is in the
process of destroying European civilization.
Yet Islam is only an opportunistic infection.
Muslims have wanted to destroy the West for well
over a millennium. If they are only now beginning
to succeed, it is because only now is the West
willing to let itself be destroyed.
As Dutch politician Frits Bolkestein puts it, Muslim
conquest by immigration has to do with the loss of
confidence in one's own civilization. .. There is
no clear European identity today.
This has a real impact on foreign policy.
In other words, Europe is dying because it doesn't
believe in itself. Where once pride acted as an immune
system to protect from external threats, now there is
only the sanctimonious self-hatred known as
liberalism.
|
Bubby
Starlite Member
Username: Bubby
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - 05:16 pm: |
|
and another opinion..
Terrorists returning to Bethlehem and other signs of progress in the stalled peace process
By Caroline B. Glick
Why Christians — as well as Jews — should be furious at Olmert
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | You have to wonder what thoughts passed through the minds of Bethlehem's Christians as Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah commander Mahmoud Abbas appeared at the Church of the Nativity for Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
On April 2, 2002, as IDF forces swept into Bethlehem to root out the terrorists who had taken control of the city, between 150 and 180 Fatah terrorists under Yasser Arafat's command shot their way into the Church of the Nativity. For the next 39 days they held the sacred site and some 150 clergymen hostage.
Three weeks into the siege, three Armenian monks escaped from the church through a side entrance and revealed what was happening inside. Friar Narkiss Koraskian told reporters: "They stole everything. They stole our prayer books and four crosses. They didn't leave anything."
When the siege ended, the released hostages told of frequent beatings of clergymen. The terrorists, they told The Washington Times, "ate like greedy monsters," gorging themselves on food and slurping down beer, wine and Johnny Walker scotch they stole from the rectory as their hostages went hungry.
CATHOLIC priests said that the terrorists used their bibles as toilet paper. Franciscan priest Nicholas Marques from Mexico reported: "Palestinians took candelabra, icons and anything that looked like gold." Thirteen of the ring-leaders of the siege were deported to Cyprus and then dispersed to European countries. Twenty-six were sent to Gaza.
Bethlehem's Christians could not hide their relief at the expulsions. They spoke of a "reign of terror," of rape, murder and extortion that the men had waged against them over the previous two years. Helen, a Christian woman, told The Washington Times, "Finally the Christians can breathe freely. We are so delighted that these criminals who have intimidated us for such a long time are going away."
On Saturday night, as part of his massive effort to "strengthen" Abbas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to convene a joint committee to discuss the return of these terrorists to the city.
Speaking of his good friend Mahmoud on Sunday afternoon to a Kadima audience in Ashkelon, Olmert allowed that "Abu Mazen [Abbas] is an adversary." But, he explained, he is an enemy Olmert can do business with.
IT IS TRUE that business sometimes can be done with enemies. But what business can Olmert do with Abbas? And how does any of this business advance Israel's national interests?
At the cabinet meeting Sunday, Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin embraced Olmert's decision to "strengthen" Abbas, by, among other things, giving him $100m. and agreeing to release terrorists from Israeli prisons even without receiving so much as a sign of life from IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who has been held hostage by Abbas's underlings and their Hamas pals in Gaza for the past six months.
Diskin warned the ministers that if elections were held today in the PA, Hamas would win hands down. Not only would they retain their control over the PA government, they would no doubt rout Abbas himself and take over his presidency.
In light of the Palestinians' apparent satisfaction with their lot at being governed by genocidal jihadists from Hamas as opposed to corrupt genocidal jihadists from Fatah like the ones who took over the Church of the Nativity, the government believes that it needs to make the PA irrelevant — a mere school district — as one government official put it. In the meantime, the real power will be placed in the hands of the Fatah-controlled PLO.
There are of course, two problems with this. First, that "mere school district" will be armed to the teeth and controlled by an Iranian- (and Saudi-) trained, funded and armed regime that is overwhelmingly popular among its "students." This little backwater will continue to serve as a nexus for global jihad that is little different from Somalia.
Hamas has made clear that it will fight to the last man to protect its regime. Yet in the interest of "strengthening Abbas," Israel is doing nothing to weaken Hamas either militarily or politically.
THE SECOND problem with the "school district" strategy is that the edifice of power the Olmert government seeks to replace the PA with has no interest in making peace with Israel. To the contrary, far from seeking to transform the PA into a liberal, pacific democracy committed to peaceful coexistence with Israel (or for that matter, just freeing Shalit from captivity), Abbas seeks to strengthen the terrorist character of Palestinian society.
Abbas's demands of Olmert make this fact perfectly clear.
If Abbas were interested in peace he would not be demanding that Israel release terrorists from prison; stop arresting wanted terrorists; make it easier for terrorists to operate in Judea and Samaria by suspending IDF counterterror operations and taking down roadblocks; bring more terrorists into the areas from Jordan; arm terrorists through Egypt; and give him money to pay the salaries of terrorists.
If Abbas wanted peace he would be asking the IDF to escalate its fight against the terrorists. He would prefer that they rot in jail and not be released to enjoy the freedom to kill again.
In other words, if Abbas were interested in peace he would be doing precisely the opposite of what he is doing.
THERE ARE three reasons why Olmert and his government are acting as they are. First, they are doubtless bowing to pressure from the Bush administration. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated several times over the past week alone that the US has decided that its interest is advanced by Israel giving things to Abbas. But is US pressure a reasonable justification for Olmert's treatment of Abbas?
Olmert justifies his refusal to negotiate with Syrian dictator and Iranian toadie Bashar Assad by noting that the Bush administration strenuously objects to holding such talks. Yet this is a flimsy excuse for not negotiating with Syria. Even if the US were pressuring Israel to negotiate with Syria it would make no sense to engage Assad because Israel has absolutely nothing to gain from doing so.
As is the case with Abbas, by holding talks with Syria Israel would be conferring unwarranted legitimacy on Assad while receiving nothing of value in return. If Syria agreed to the handover of IDF hostages Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser and to ending Syrian sponsorship of Palestinian terror groups and Hizbullah in return for negotiations with Israel, it might make sense to confer such legitimacy on Assad even if the US objected. But Assad will do no such thing, and so there is nothing to be gained from talking to him.
So too, were Abbas to agree to fork over Shalit and end Fatah terrorism and indeed cooperate with the IDF in fighting Hamas and Islamic Jihad, there would be something to be gained by meeting with him — regardless of the US's position.
Although US pressure is real, it would be relatively easy to brush off simply by publicly pointing out the obvious. Aside from Washington's carping, Olmert's decision to "strengthen" Abbas stems from the fact that his government has no strategic vision whatsoever. Cast adrift, Olmert is moved by the prevailing winds.
FOR THE PAST two weeks or so, since Assad began chirping about his wish to negotiate, the leftist-controlled Israeli media has been excoriating Olmert for bowing to Washington by refusing to meet with Assad. The weekend papers were full of condemnations by the chief diplomatic commentators in the major papers demanding that Olmert give the Golan Heights to Assad regardless of what the fuddy duddies in Washington think.
And so, Saturday night's kissy-kissy meeting with Abbas was aimed, among other things, at shutting them up. And it worked quite nicely. Both Ma'ariv and Yediot Ahronot merrily proclaimed in their Sunday editions that Abbas was a stand-in for Assad — but he'd do for now.
Finally, it is impossible to ignore the contribution the apparent stupidity of Israel's leaders made to Olmert's decision to embrace Abbas.
Sunday morning, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni exposed this idiocy when she asked Diskin whether he thought that Hamas was strong enough to stop the rocket attacks on Sderot and the Western Negev. In response, Diskin gently pointed out that Hamas is a terror group that is dedicated to destroying Israel, and so while it could stop the rockets, it has no interest in doing so.
GEE, HOW COME she didn't think of that? But then Diskin inanely opined that if Israel responds to the rocket attacks on Sderot's kindergartens, elementary schools and apartment blocks, Hamas will get really mad at us for breaching the cease-fire that only the IDF upholds and will continue to attack us.
In light of his schoolhouse analysis, Diskin concluded that there's nothing we can do except pretend that the terrorists will change their minds about attacking us after we reward them for doing so by giving them money to pay themselves, bullets and rifles to shoot us with, send their terrorist buddies home from prison to join them in attacking us, and maintain the imaginary ceasefire to enable them to shoot at us with impunity.
In the meantime, while Olmert is planning to spring terrorists from prison next week in honor of the Islamic holiday, Gaza's Christians were too terrified to go to their Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. So the mass was cancelled.
And in Bethlehem, as the dwindling Christian population reeled with the news that their tormentors may soon return to rape, murder and extort them again, Manger Square stood near-empty on Christmas.
But at least the peace process is getting back on track.
|
|
