Highlights From 2004

A soldier with the Idaho National Guard asked about old and missing equipment. Many in the audience cheered.

"You can have all the armor in the world on a tank, and a tank can be blown up," Rumsfeld replied. "You can have an up-armored Humvee and it can be blown up."

Retired Army general Barry McCaffrey, a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, said it was "outrageous" for a Defense secretary to make such comments to soldiers being sent into harm's way.

Comic Jay Leno related Rumsfeld's comment on NBC's Tonight Show. "Then he got in his armored car and left," Leno said.

How does Rumsfeld survive?

Thank you!
The following information was received by our office.

Ms Donna Salinas (Their examples are Mr and Mrs. I'm sure the Ms sends my letter straight ot the Liberal Scum Pile)

dsalinas@cox.net

Topic of your message: Budget (They didn't have Humanitarian Issues as an option. Also no topic titled The Idiot President)

Your message: Dear Congressman Istook, This is in regards to the administrations budget for the upcoming inauguration. As the the Washington Post reports "The inauguration is expected to be one of the most expensive in history. Inaugural organizers initially estimated that the cost for three days of events would reach $50 million. Last week, the committee said it would spend $30 million to $40 million, all of it paid for by private donations." That is 3 times the amount of aid that President Bush initially offered to the devastated Indian Ocean Nations and still more than his latest offer. In light of world events, don't you think it would be wonderful if President Bush gave the money that has been donated for a party, to the Tsunami victims? I believe it would be the right thing to do. Please won't you suggest a proposal to your fellow Representatives? Sincerely, Donna Salinas

Does this message require a response from Congressman Istook?: yes
I'll let you know if it gets one.

From The Village Voice

"For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press." So said Georgia senator Zell Miller, the Democrat who played keynote speaker at the GOP convention. The crowd at MSG loved it. Unfortunately for journalists killed while doing their jobs this year, what Miller said is not entirely true. Some journos sacrifice as much as soldiers.

This year, 55 of them did, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (cpj.org): Manik Saha, Humayun Kabir, Kamal Hossain, José Carlos Araújo, Juan Emilio Andújar Matos, Deyda Hydara, Ricardo Ortega, Asiya Jeelani, Veeraboina Yadagiri, Duraid Isa Mohammed, Safir Nader, Abdel Sattar Abdel Karim, Ayoub Mohamed, Haymin Mohamed Salih, Gharib Mohamed Salih, Semko Karim Mohyideen, Nadia Nasrat, Ali Abdel Aziz, Ali al-Khatib, Burhan Mohamed Mazhour, Asaad Kadhim, Waldemar Milewicz, Mounir Bouamrane, Rashid Hamid Wali, Shinsuke Hashida, Kotaro Ogawa, Mahmoud Hamid Abbas, Enzo Baldoni, Mazen al-Tumeizi, Karam Hussein, Dina Mohammed Hassan, Dhia Najim, Mohamed Abu Halima, Antoine Massé, Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, Francisco Arratia Saldierna, Dekendra Raj Thapa, María José Bravo, Carlos José Guadamuz, Sajid Tanoli, Antonio de la Torre Echeandía, Ruel Endrinal, Eliseo Binoya, Rogelio Mariano, Arnel Manalo, Romeo Binungcal, Eldy Sablas, Gene Boyd Lumawag, Herson Hinolan, Adlan Khasanov, Paul Klebnikov, Simon Cumbers, Dusko Jovanovic, Aiyathurai Nadesan, and Bala Nadarajah Iyer.

So when I'm screaming at the talking heads on network and cable television I will stop and say a prayer for the brave journalists that really are trying, and succeeding most of the time, to get the truth out.

Yes, he is growing like a weed.
He is so affectionate and funny.
And Sma-a-art, mygod is he smart!

Preznit Bush, who is "not a geologist" by the way, in case any of you thought he must be a geologist since he's obviously not a historian or a mathematician or a humanitarian or a... well, I could go on and on with all the things he's not but the important thing, the thing to remember is what he is and, that is "A war president". So the "war president" who says everything is hunky dory in Iraq and all you schmucks that think otherwise are just being duped by our liberal press, upped the paltry 15 million in aid he was going to send to the Indian Ocean Nations to a less paltry 35 million, after he assumed remarks made about wealthier nations being stingy were directed at him. Not only is he increasing the aid to $35M but he says there's more where that came from. He probably should check with the agency that it came from though.

First, the U.S. Agency for International Development, which distributes foreign aid, will have to ask for more money, since the initial $35 million aid package drained its emergency relief fund, said Andrew Natsios, the agency’s administrator.

Drained it. There is no emergency cash folks. We are going to have to buckle down and not allow any tornados , hurricanes, floods or earthquakes to occur for the next year or so. By "we" I mean you republicans, you "values voters" better start praying for an uneventful year.

Here's the Family Christmas Letter for 2004.

OK, I want to Choose The Blue when I'm shopping but I've got a couple of questions.
If I shop Target, which is red, at Amazon, which is blue, am I shopping blue or red? Can I stop by the Starbucks (Blue), located in the Super Target, and have a latte without supporting the Gee Oh Pee?

I've been enjoying listening to Sirens of Song when I'm at work or on the the computer at home. They have tons of other free streaming stations at Live365.com

Ten signs your sick of the holidays

* You've got red and green bags under your eyes
* You're serving reindeer pot pie
* When you hear, "Sleigh bells ring, are you listenin'?," you scream, "No! I'm not listening!"
* You climb on your roof and start shooting carolers with your air gun
* You think you hear your Christmas tree taunting you.
* Instead of spending time with family, you're watching some guy make photo copies
* You're busted for running through town wearing nothing but mistletoe.
* You've got eggnog coming out of your ears
* Your standard response, "And happy holidays to you too, you bastard"
* Two words: tinsel rash

I have survived the office party. Two more hours and I'm outta here.

Phone, stop ringing. People, people, let it wait till after the holiday already.

Tuesday and Wednesday nights I cooked 50 bags of Christmas Trash. Last night, 4 huge pans of dressing. Tonight is Evil Fiendish Bread Night. I'm cooking all of it in small loaves for my husband to take to work. No saving or sharing the dough. Tonight the evil bread is dead. My friends Dr. Pepper and Jack Daniels are going to help me with the baking. By tomorrow I will have forgotten there is an an oven in my house. I will wonder what that big box in the kitchen is for.

I said, Stop Ringing Already!

I can't keep up anymore. Christmas is such a hassle. My boss is off more often than not, leaving me to do his job AND mine. Plus I have to organize all the Christmas crap at work. Everyone else is goofing off but I have to get payroll out twice in one month! Relatives are visiting and leaving their dogs with me while they take a 10 day cruise! Young women are still having beach weddings and pleading for barefoot sandals. (I tried not taking any orders till after Christmas, but they beg) And to top it off, someone gave me something sardonicly called "Amish Friendship Bread". It's dough with instructions for caring and feeding for 10 days and on the 11th day there's a ridiculously complicated process of separating and sharing and baking that only an Amish Woman with no other life would have time to accomplish! And then you fucking start all over so you're fucking baking this bread every 11th day for the rest of your fucking life! Friendship my ass! The card should have said "Here's another responsibility you can't possibly live up to and our friendship depends on the life of this dough." This is why I don't have friends.

NRA Annual Elimination Begins

There were already at least 2 accidental hunting deaths before this happened inWisconsin

4 in Idaho

1 in Maine

other accidents

Oregon

Tennessee

Michigan

Virginia

Colorado

a llama in Minnesota

And This from Montana, where, apparently, the Second Amendment must be protected from the First Amendment.

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Vincent has 6 teeth now!

Have you ever seen anything so gorgeous? Look how happy
he is to see me.

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Hey! Let's all be a pain in Dumya's ass. Co-Sponsor Kerry's bill.

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So sad it's Friday-this week has been great! It's fine that my boss took off 3 days this week:

See Ze to decipher this strange post.

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Oh Yea!! They raised our credit limit! Now maybe we can buy that new War we've been talking about! No interest till 2010!

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Sorry you hate Blogger Comments Daisy, and thanks for the joke.

Q: How many Bush Administration officials does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effort. Why do you hate America?

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Ellen inspires me. I took this last summer.

Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

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From Norbizness

As you may remember, the Houston Chronicle issued the world's most asinine endorsement of the incumbent, concluding with the following laugher:

"The Chronicle believes Bush, if granted a second term and freed of the need to appeal to the extreme factions of his party, will regain his bipartisan effectiveness at solving problems."

I mean, that's like picking the Longhorns over the Sooners while Mack Brown continues to draw breath.

His bipartisan effectiveness at solving problems?!!!? Regain?!!! What a loopy world we live in.
Well, let's see how bipartisan he is with all the new appointments he has to make.

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Happy Fucking Monday
Update: Looks like it's going to be Monday for the next 4 years!

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A Dylan Quote and a laugh.

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Ellen takes such beautiful pictures of sweet non-annoying birds. I call this

Stupid Woodpecker!

Don't even try to find the little fucker.

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Punkinhead

7 months old

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"There's no way we can ever get 60 out of a hundred votes. We'll have to rig it like everything else."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Thursday urged Democrats to stop blocking President Bush's federal court nominees and hinted that he may try to change Senate rules to thwart their delaying tactics.

That's right, "delaying" tactics. Just delaying the inevitable.

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State Takeover Of Free Airwaves Begins
Good to know where KOCO and ABC stands.

KOCO Will Not Air 'Saving Private Ryan'
A Statement From KOCO-TV's
President And General Manager
"It has been a subject of considerable
discussion within our station as to whether 'Saving Private Ryan' is
appropriate for broadcast prior to 9 p.m.
The movie has been recommended by the motion picture industry itself for mature audiences only due to its language and violent content.
Recent discussions by the Federal Communications Commission
have established new legal standards for what broadcast stations may and may not
broadcast prior to 9 p.m.
Until the FCC or the courts clarify those legal standards, we are left guessing as to
whether the artistic, social or historical significance of programs such as
'Saving Private Ryan' is sufficient to insulate us from liability. We have
an obligation to our viewers, as well, to consider our local market and how
best to serve them.
We asked ABC for permission to air 'Saving Private Ryan' at 10:35 p.m. to broadcast it in the 'safe harbor' time period established by the FCC and, to our disappointment, were refused. As
a result, we were left with the only alternative to preempt the show.
We regret that decision by ABC since this movie possesses significant artistic,
social and historical value and its presentation on Veterans Day -- at a time
when our nation is at war -- is a fitting tribute to the coverage and honor of
those who so bravely serve and have served in the defense of our nation’s
freedom."
Brent HensleyPresident, General
ManagerKOCO-TVChannelOklahoma.com

You should have aired it anyway! Have some balls for godsakes!

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Janis has a nice story, complete with Donkey's and Fire.
A couple of nights ago, it was thundering and lightning. I had my grandson and the power went out. I had him in one arm and feeling along the walls to get to the flashlight with the other, and he was just giggling away. Thought I was putting on a great show for him.
A few weeks earlier I showed him an animated hippo (linked from Daisy) singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and it terrified him! I've never seen him afraid of anything else. I can't even hum "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" without getting wary looks now.

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Evangelical Christians flexing post-election muscle

DENVER The Colorado-based head of an evangelical Christian group is meeting this week with White House officials.

The Reverend Ted Haggard of Colorado Springs says he'll discuss the filling of any Supreme Court vacancies.

The president of the National Association of Evangelicals says he doesn't believe Supreme Court justices should be subjected to a "litmus test" on abortion or other issues, but they also shouldn't be constrained by prior court decisions.

The influential Christian ministry Focus on the Family also wants supporters to contact Republican senators and oppose Senator Arlen Specter's appointment as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman.

The Pennsylvania Republican has suggested the Senate won't approve justices who want to overturn legalized abortion. Specter later said he was speaking about the likelihood of Democratic filibusters.

The nation's highest court could see as many as four vacancies during President Bush's second term.

OK, I've been listening and trying to figure out what it is that the 58 million people that voted for Bush want. Before the election I thought that they wanted abortion to be illegal and for gay people to not have the same rights as straight people and they were willing to ignore everything else to express that. It turns out that is exactly what they wanted and it turns out there are a lot more of them than I thought there were.
Evangelical Christians are mighty and powerful. Evangelical Christians, you won. Congratulations.
Evangelical Christians, please use your power to make the President quit running our country into the ground financially so the rich can get richer. Please use your power to make the President stop the raping and polluting of the land that doesn't belong to us but to the future.
Please use your power, Evangelical Christians, to help this country in ways we all want, show we have more in common than not and that we don't have to be a totally divided nation. Don't make concessions to the dark side of your chosen party. You don't have to, you have the power.

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I'm a surfing fool today so I can't remember where I got this but it's freaking me out.

20 Questions

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How would I have behaved if Kerry had won?

A woman at work had been telling everyone how she was going to vote on the various state issues. I asked her why she was going to vote "yes" on #711 (the ban on gay marriage). She said, "Because I'm a Christian." I said "Christ taught that everyone should live with the same dignity and respect and judgment should be left to God.". "Well, that's not what my preacher says." was her reply (and the end of the conversation-this is where I work) So Thursday she comes into the office, says "How'd you like that election?" and starts doing a dance and chanting "I love it, I love it."

I got this today;

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her
altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse
me, can you help me?
I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know
where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air
balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet
above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and
100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically
correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm
still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Democrat."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're
going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot
air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you
expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you
were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my fault."

I mentioned in a earlier comment the fatass loser that called me at work and cackled out a scary Kerry poem on Wednesday.

I can't imagine how readers of this blog must see me, what with all the cussing and ranting but, I will tell you honestly that in my daily life I earn and deserve respect for the work I do and, I take great pains with the way I conduct myself and treat others.
I'm just shaking my head now.
I am at a loss.

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A nightmare I'm having

MSNBC Front Page news


Bush holds the lead
The White House claimed victory Wednesday morning after President Bush won Ohio and Florida, according to NBC News. John Kerry’s campaign refused to concede, insisting he would win Ohio when all the ballots were counted — which might not happen for days.

* Republicans retain Senate
* GOP keeps control of House
* Eleven states ban gay marriage

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To ease the tension a tad.

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ONE MORE DAY!!!!!

I just want to say Good Luck to all Democrats, from Moderates to Liberal Scum,

like me. 24 hours from now we will know that is is time for the hard work of repair and recovery to begin or it is time to pack for camp. I'm thinking that it's going to be time for hard work and I hope we will all be just as diligent at watching our Democratic elected officials as we have been on this faux-Republican administration. I love you guys. Thanks for being great company through this madness. Send us good vibes Daisy.

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Gary Comer paid for this full-page ad, which ran in today’s edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gary Comer - Founder of Lands’ End wrote:


Undecided Voters of Wisconsin

My credential for writing and paying for this ad are that I created thousands of jobs in three cities in southwest Wisconsin during my tenure as leader of Dodgeville’s Lands’ End. I no longer am an owner of that company, but I founded it.

And I have the greatest respect for Wisconsin people who built that company with me. Together we put it on the list of the 100 Best Companies to work for in America. The values and work ethic and honest of Wisconsin people made Land’s End a success.

Knowing your character I understand the loyalties which conflict so many of you in the Presidential race. I have been a Republican and voted Republican most of my life. But in my opinion, this administration has high-jacked the Republican Party I knew and is taking Wisconsin and the United States in dangerous directions. If Bush is re-elected, you and your children and grandchildren and mine will pay dearly in their freedoms and opportunities long after his term of office expires. I believe that four more years of President Bush and the people who surround him is not in our Nation's best interest.

You could very well be the deciding factor in the electoral outcome of this election. Think carefully, vote your heart and head. I think of the debt that we will leave ourselves and everyone who follows, and I question the judgment that caused the deaths of 1100 U.S. friends and neighbors in a war that we didn't need to start.

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A couple of my Grandpuppies

Cottonstien. He is pissed and he will get even.


Sorry Bilbo. I never would have bought it if I had known you'd hate it so much.

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Though I'm thrilled with the message that Pennsylvania is leaning our way, can anyone tell me what's wrong with this paragraph?

The NYTimes: With only 72 hours until the polls begin opening, Pennsylvania, with 21 electoral votes, appeared to be trending Mr. Kerry's way, with most but not all opinion surveys showing him ahead by about three percentage points. Mr. Bush has failed to dent the four suburban Philadelphia counties, whose liberal attitudes on social issues like abortion and gun control have overshadowed their economic conservatism.

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El Diablo Bush

Thanks for the nice comments on my pumpkin expressionism.
I know it's not a perfect likeness but these giant gnats have been feasting on it so, they know who it is.

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GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Law Enforcement:

I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for
driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty,
paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for
30 days.
My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not
available.

Military:

I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went
AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any &n! bsp;
questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air
National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in
Vietnam.

College:

I graduated from Yale University with a low C average.
I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:

I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.

I began my career in the oil business in Midland,
Texas in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't
find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt
shortly after I sold all my stock.

I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a
sweetheart deal that took land ! using taxpayer money.

With the help of my father and our friends in the oil
industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected
governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS

I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil
companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the
Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced LosAngeles
as the most smog-ridden city in America.

I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the
tune of billions in borrowed money.

I set the record for the most executions by any
governor in American history.

With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida,
and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I
became President a! fter losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:

I am the first President in U.S. history to enter
office with a criminal record.

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing
cost of *over one billion dollars per week*.

I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted
the U.S. Treasury.

I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit
in U.S. history.

I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies
filed in any 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a
12-month period.

I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the
history of the U.S. stock market.

In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans
lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.

I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the
richest of any administration in U.S. history. My
"poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron
oil tanker named after her.

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips
by a U.S. President.

I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for
receiving the most corporate campaign donations.

One of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the
largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History,
Enron.

My political party used Enron private jets and
corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S.
Supreme Court during my election decision.

I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton
against investigation or prosecution. More time and
money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky
affair than has been spent investigating one of the
biggest corporate rip-offs in history.

I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S.
history and refused to intervene when corruption
involving the oil industry was revealed.

I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S.
history.

I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals
to be awarded government contracts.

I appointed more convicted criminals to administration
than any President in U.S. history.

I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the
largest bureaucracy in the history of the United
States government.

I've broken more international treaties than any
President in U.S. history.

I am the first President in U.S. history to have the
United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights
Commission.

I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S.
"prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused
to abide by the Geneva Convention.

I am the fir! st President in history to refuse United
Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S.
election).

I set the record for fewest numbers of press
conferences of any President since the advent of
television.

I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in
any one-year period. After taking off the entire month
of August, I presided over the worst security failure
in U.S. history.

I garnered the most sympathy for the U.S. after the
World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later
made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the
largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

I have ! set the all-time record for most people
worldwid e to simultaneously protest me in public
venues (15 million people), shattering the record for
protests against any person in the history of mankind.

I am the first President in U.S. history to order an
unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military
occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the
will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S.
citizens, and the world community.

I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and
support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops
and their families -- in wartime.

In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our
reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on
our British friends.

I am the first President in history to have a majority
of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest
threat to world peace and security.

I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical
Bunker Buster," a WMD.

I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring
Osama Bin Laden to justice.

During the Iraq War and Occupation thousands of
American troops were injured and killed. I did not
have the time to attend any of the funerals for our
fallen soldiers but I did have the time to attend more
than 43 fund-raising events of the Republican party

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now
in my father's library, sealed and! unavailable for
public view.

All records of SEC investigations into my insider
trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in
secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my
Vice-President, attended regarding public energy
policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for
public review.

PLEASE CONSIDER MY EXPERIENCE WHEN
VOTING IN 2004.

PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERY VOTER YOU KNOW

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Triumph the Insult Comic Dog in Spin Alley after the 3rd debate, to Karl Rove.

"You're Bush's brain Karl. I was expecting a much smaller man."

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Bush quietly signs his own Walking Papers

WASHINGTON - Without fanfare, President Bush Friday signed into law a bill containing nearly $140 billion in corporate tax cuts denounced by critics on both sides of the aisle as a giveaway to special interests.

Bush signed the measure into law aboard Air Force One en route to a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, forgoing a public signing ceremony that would have attracted attention to the tax cuts less than two weeks before Election Day. The bill has been heavily criticized by both Democratic presidential rival John Kerry and Republican Sen. John McCain, among others.

The White House had marked the signing of Bush's other major tax bills with lavish public ceremonies. This one was marked with a one-paragraph statement by the press secretary.

Asked why there was no signing ceremony for the corporate tax bill, White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said: "There are a variety of ways the president signs legislation."

Yeah, sometimes "G. W." sometimes "George W." sometimes no W at all. But he always puts in a a hefty dose of greed and corruption in everything he signs.
Don't let this go quietly. Tell everyone!

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Oct. 22, 2004 | Friday night brings to a conclusion the fiercest media battle of the presidential campaign, when 40 of the Sinclair Broadcast Group's 62 stations nationwide air a special program about the media and Vietnam War POWs. The show is likely to include generous portions of an anti-Kerry attack film, "Stolen Honor," that Sinclair executives had originally intended to air in its entirety just days before the election. In the face of lawsuits by stockholders, loss of advertising, questions about its abuse of the public airwaves and a falling stock price, however, Sinclair quickly cobbled together a revised program.

I know it's not total victory but, I think my e-mail to Corona must have really scared them. In the face of losing my business, they put the screws to SBG, I just know it. Thank you Corona, we're still friends.

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Happy Autumn!
Vote Democrat!

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Commentator Pam Varkony sounds like a lovely woman and I hope she is enjoying her right to free speech and being able to use it to criticize the President. Since she is voting her fear over her values and morals she should not be surprised when her rights are whittled down and her friends are afraid to stand up for her.

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Jon Stewart bravely and brilliantly in the Crossfire.

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A Ethics Committee made up of 50% Republicans and 50% Democrats unanimously decided that Tom DeLay needed to have his hands slapped publicly, for the 3rd time.
The guy tried to sell his support of a candidate.
He sold his time and attention to the highest bidder under the guise of fundraising.
DeLay is for sale and he pretty much says, That's the way things are done.

"For years, Democrats have hurled relentless personal attacks at me, hoping to tie my hands and smear my name. All have fallen short, not because of insufficient venom, but because of insufficient merit."

So you can buy DeLay's Public Service, like Westar did, and if anyone complains, it's a personal attack.

"He fights hard" says Hastert.
"part of his work" says Mollohan.

There's that "hard work" the prez was talking about.
Ask any prostitute. Whoring yourself is hard work.

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I keep hearing that there's no indication that we would get more assistance from other countries (in IRAQ) if Kerry is elected. No President or Prime Minister has come out and said "We're not lifting a finger to help the U. S. out of this cluster fuck until they get rid of that moron Bush." And thank God they haven't because the spin on that would be devastating. But... isn't this a, not so subtle, message to that effect? Come on, the timing couldn't be more pointed!

Poland said that it aims to withdraw all of its 2,500 troops from Iraq (news
- web sites) during the course of next year, a major disappointment for Washington
which sees Warsaw as one of its staunchest allies in Iraq.

Of course, I read the news at BottleofBlog, it's not one of the headlines on any of the news sources I have on my homepage, (Reuters, AP, MSNBC, Washington Post, NY Times and the Oklahoman) so who's going to get the message? I know B-o-B has a lot of readers but I don't think many of them are the Republicans that need to know this shit.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 - The same intelligence unit that produced a gloomy report in July about the prospect of growing instability in Iraq warned the Bush administration about the potential costly consequences of an American-led invasion two months before the war began, government officials said Monday.
Senior White House officials, including Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, have contended that some of the early predictions provided to the White House by outside experts of what could go wrong in Iraq, including secular strife, have not come to pass.

Yeah, that huge community of "secular" Iraqis are just fine with things. The 3 people in Iraq who have no interest in religion are absolutely experiencing no strife.
What a fucking Dodo! To think, I once had hopes for you Condi. Would you just shut the fuck up and go away now?

___________________________________________________________________________________________

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 - Three years after the Sept. 11 attacks, more than 120,000 hours of potentially valuable terrorism-related recordings have not yet been translated by linguists at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Qaeda messages, saying "Tomorrow is zero hour" and "The match is about to begin," were intercepted by the National Security Agency on Sept. 10, 2001, but not translated until days later, underscoring the urgency of the problem.

With $48 million in "additional" financing, maybe the folks at Babel Fish can help.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Two senior Republican senators yesterday rebuked the Bush administration over its handling of Iraq, saying its proposal to divert $3.46 billion in reconstruction funds to mostly beef up security showed that U.S. policy was in disarray.
The proposal to divert the reconstruction aid "does not add up in my opinion to a pretty picture, to a picture that shows that we're winning," Hagel said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. "But it does add up to this: an acknowledgment that we are in deep trouble."

"We have an emergency problem now," Lugar said. "And we had one in July, and we had one before that."

The bloodshed has exposed as "nonsense" assurances that "blithely optimistic" administration officials gave the committee before last year's invasion that U.S. troops would be welcomed in Iraq and would be there only a short time, Lugar said.

Lugar and Hagel spoke during a hearing at which two senior State Department officials presented details of how the administration wants to spend the $3.46 billion that it's proposing to divert from $18.4 billion in reconstruction funds appropriated last year.

"You have inherited a mess, gentlemen," Hagel told the pair, referring to the Pentagon's handover of Iraq policy to the State Department when Iraq's sovereignty was formally restored in June.

Large-scale reconstruction projects, which the Pentagon awarded mostly without bid to large U.S. corporations, have been delayed by sabotage and attacks. Only $1.1 billion of $18.4 billion in rebuilding funds has been spent.

"The slow pace of reconstruction spending means we are failing to fully take advantage of one of our most potent tools to influence the direction of Iraq," Lugar said.

Hagel said the slow disbursement of the funds "is beyond pitiful. It's beyond embarrassing. It is now in the zone of dangerous."

Four more years of Bush and that phrase will become very familiar and apply to everything he has touched.

___________________________________________________________________________________________The State of the Union
-- OKLAHOMA CITY Delta Airlines has cut all flights from Oklahoma City and Tulsa to Dallas Ft. Worth. Less seats will surely drive the price up, causing more people to find alternate means of travel. (Getting a flight was such a hassle last weekend we put my mother-in-law on a bus). Thus, kicking the airline industry while it is down.
Retail sales are down, car sales are down, the deficit hit a new record of $166.2-billion (U.S.) in the second quarter.
And Alan Greenspan says getting more people to sign up for direct deposit will save Social Security!
What will life be like for my grandson Mr. Bush? Will he be giving half of his wages to Social Security and 1/4 of his wages to his private retirement account because there won't be any social security for him?!
Please God send this Lying, cowardly, Thief back to where he came from so that we can try to recover from this nightmare.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

LEADERSHIP AND COURAGE FROM PRESIDENT BUSH

On Wednesday, reporters asked President Bush's spokesman, Scott McClellan, what the White House was doing to renew the Assault Weapons Ban. Here's the text of the discussion:

Q: The assault weapons ban expires in just a few days. Can you list for us the many things the President might be doing to encourage Congress to send him the bill that he said he would sign?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President's views have been made very clear, and the best way we can reduce crimes committed with guns is to strictly enforce our laws. And prosecutions under this administration are up. I think it's -- well, it's more than 60 percent -- I think 68 percent over the previous administration. That's the best way to crack down on crimes committed with guns. That's an important issue here in terms of the assault weapons ban. He's made his views very well-known.

So,Can you list for us the many things the President might be doing to encourage Congress to send him the bill that he said he would sign?

Q: And his view is he'll sign it if --

MR. McCLELLAN: He's made his views known as recently as this week.

Can you list for us the many things the President might be doing to encourage Congress to send him the bill that he said he would sign?

Q: His view is he'll sign it if it comes to him. Is he doing anything to make sure he --

MR. McCLELLAN: The President supports the reauthorization of current law.

So,Can you list for us the many things the President might be doing to encourage Congress to send him the bill that he said he would sign?

Q: What is he doing to actively make sure is he doing anything to make sure he --

MR. McCLELLAN: The President doesn't set the congressional timetable.

Q: No, but he can lobby for it.

So,Can you list for us the many things the President might be doing to encourage Congress to send him the bill that he said he would sign?

MR. McCLELLAN: Congress sets the timetable. And the President's views are very clear.

OK, I'll make it simpler for you...

Q: Has he made any calls or anything to encourage this to happen?

MR. McCLELLAN: What we've continued to do -- because this issue does go to the issue of crimes committed with guns, as well -- and what we've continued to do is step up our efforts to prosecute crimes committed with guns and strictly enforce our laws. And that's the best way we can deter violence committed with guns.

So the President is blocking the renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban, after he said he would support it?

Q: But he did something this week?

Q: But he's not doing anything to make sure this doesn't lapse on the 13th?

MR. McCLELLAN: We'll continue to make our views known.

Q: You said he had done something this week.

MR. McCLELLAN: No,

he hasn't done a damn thing this week,

I said we've continued to make our views known. This week, as well.

Q: To who?

Yeah. To who? We weren't privy to the phone call to Cheney where he asked what his views were and then practiced repeating them.

MR. McCLELLAN: Publicly.

Q: Did he speak about it publicly?

MR. McCLELLAN:

No, I told you, he did nothing this week.

We have, the White House has.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

I love it when Sweetmom reads me
Bottle of Blog Bedtime stories.
He's so much funnier than the blowhard Rush Limbaugh
that my other grandparents listen too.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

All we need to know about the Killian documents;

On Wednesday evening, the White House e-mailed reporters copies of the documents, as supplied by CBS, as well as the transcript of a CBS interview with White House communications director Dan Bartlett rebutting allegations that Bush had shirked his military duties. While Bartlett described the emergence of the documents as "dirty politics," he did not dispute their authenticity.

Why didn't he stomp his feet and say it was all lies? Because it's all true.
But still, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!!!!!!
Nothing sticks to this guy! I am getting freaked out. He should be so behind now. He should be the lamest duck ever.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
It feels like the beginning of the end. Why have we stopped evolving and started going backwards?

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me to express your thoughts on the semi-automatic
assault weapon ban. It is an honor to serve you in the Senate and a
privilege to respond to your concerns.

Gun control is a controversial issue. People acting in good faith will
very often disagree on the most effective way to address violent crime
while recognizing the rights of law abiding gun owners, and I respect the
diversity of views on this important matter.

I have long believed that further federal regulation of gun ownership is
not the best answer to preventing violent crime, and I am a strong
supporter of the Second Amendment. Our enemy is the criminal, not the
weapon. A person intent on committing a violent crime will not be stopped
by more gun control laws. Instead, Congress and the States should work to
ensure that violent crimes are vigorously prosecuted, to keep guns out of
the hands of criminals and to better enforce our existing laws. Through
this common sense approach, we can continue to reduce violent crime across
the nation and protect the rights of law abiding gun owners.

A few statistics concerning law abiding gun owners, well, until they broke the law.
In 2000, firearms were responsible for the deaths of 1120 white women, 615 African-American women, 220 Hispanic women and 104 others.[3]

Most women are killed by their intimate partners and over two-thirds are killed by guns.
#

In 2000, 1,776 children and teenagers were murdered with guns, 1,007 committed suicide with guns, and 193 died in unintentional shootings. A total of 3,042 young people were killed by firearms in the U.S., one every three hours.[2]
#

Each year from 1993 to 1997, gun murders were committed by 1,621 killers under the age of 18.[3]
#

In 2000, 80% of murder victims aged 13 to 19 years old were killed with a firearm.[4]
#

During 2000, 62% of all murders of those under age 18 in the U.S. involved firearms. In 1986, guns were involved in 38% of such offenses.[5]
#

Firearms are the second-leading cause of death (after motor vehicle accidents) for young people 19 and under in the U.S.[6]
#

The rate of firearm death of under 14-years-old is nearly 12 times higher in the U.S. than in 25 other industrialized countries combined.[7]
#

For every child killed by a gun, four are wounded.[8]
#

From 1990 to 1998, firearms were responsible for 21% of deaths for Caucasian teens ages 13-19 in the United States, 64% of deaths for African-American teens, 46% of Hispanic teens, 24% of Native American/Alaska Native teens, and 35% of Asian/Pacific Islander teens.[9]
#

In a study of inner-city 7-year-olds and their exposure to violence, 75% of them reported hearing gun shots.[10]
#

"The firearm injury epidemic, due largely to handgun injuries, is 10 times larger than the polio epidemic of the first half of this century.

Again, thank you for contacting me. As the Senate continues to face many
complex and challenging issues, I hope you will continue to give me the
benefit of your thoughts and advice.

Sincerely,
William H. Frist, M.D.
Majority Leader
United States Senate

And you know what? The second amendment doesn't say that every idiot has a right to stock his home with semi automatics! It say's that every State should have it's own military unit independant of the federal government. You know, in case a bunch of fucking ideologists turn the place into a Goddamn Theocracy!

___________________________________________________________________________________________

A graphic protest against abortion can be seen on the streets of Oklahoma City this week on the sides of a fleet of box-body-trucks displaying aborted human embryos and early fetuses.

The group responsible calls themselves the "Center for Bio-Ethical Reform." Oklahoma is the 14th state of 22 the organization plans to visit. They're hoping voters will choose the presidential candidate they say will bring an end to abortion.


"We get a lot of shocked looks and the reaction we want is one that provokes deep thought and discussion in one's mind," said Stephanie Gray, spokeswoman for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform. "We're hoping people will change their minds."

You think the 4 year old leaving the park with her mom will change her mind about voting for Kerry because of your sick, perverted, egocentric display. Seriously, what are you doing here? Are you idiots that you don't know Oklahoma votes Republican or did you just want center stage among your peers?
The people here aren't as stupid as you obviously think they are. They don't need you to tell them who they should vote for with your hateful campaign. Even the Bushies think you are a sick waste.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
The price of a winning team.



A student ticket to the Texas-OU Game
costs $120.00!

___________________________________________________________________________________________

40 Final 24
No. 2 Oklahoma (1-0) Bowling Green (0-1)

___________________________________________________________________________________________

NEW YORK - Republicans portrayed President Bush as a strong wartime leader at their national convention Monday, adopting a platform endorsing his agenda and repeatedly recalling his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks just a few miles away.

You'd think they'd want us to forget his response.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Vice president calls gay marriage a state issue
I can't believe he is pulling this again! Mary, Mary,(shaking my head) Mary. Don't let them use you like this. And DON'T ANYONE FORGET where he stood on this WHEN IT MATTERED! Remember when Bush and his right wing fanatic base wanted to add Discrimination to the Constitution? Just a few months ago, for cryin out loud!!

Today, Daddy loves me.

February 26, 2004

He (Cheney) recently has said he would support Bush's decision on the matter.Cheney's office says that like Bush, the vice president is concerned that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act -- which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman -- is under attack because of actions by officials in certain states.

The Human Rights Campaign, the leading gay rights lobbying group, issued an enthusiastic statement after Mr Cheney's remarks. "President Bush must be feeling the heat," the group's president, Cheryl Jacques, said. "Millions of Republican families, like the Cheneys, have gay friends and family members and are offended by President Bush's efforts to put discrimination in the constitution."

If any one of those families decides to vote for Bush based on Cheney's recent acknowledgement of his daughter's humanity, they deserve everything they get when he shoves her ass back in the closet.

Cheney's campaign press secretary, Anne Womack, said the vice president's position had not changed.
.
"That's been his position for the past four years - his position has been completely consistent," she said. "The idea that he broke new ground or broke with the president today, people are just ignoring the reality of his statements over the past three and a half years."

Jesus Christ!! These people will look right at you while they are lying and tell you if you don't believe it you are a moron. Do you hear that GOP Base? Anne Womack, speaking for Vice President Dick Cheney, just said you have been "ignoring reality"!!
Well I certainly believe that you have been ignoring reality but now that your dear Dick has said it, maybe you'll believe it.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The Flip Flopper in Chief

Moveon PAC should seriously consider this as it's next ad.
Thanks Daisy

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Proof, that People Don't Change!

George Bush in 1968


John Kerry 1966-1970

Feb 1966
Formally enlists in U.S. Navy

Feb 1968
Deployed to Western Pacific aboard the USS Gridley and requests duty in Vietnam

Nov 1968
Reports for duty in Vietnam

Dec 1968
Experiences first intense combat and earns first Purple Heart

Feb 1969
Earns second Purple Heart & the Silver Star

Mar 1969
Earns the Bronze Star for saving the life of a fellow soldier

Mar 1970
Separated from active service

___________________________________________________________________________________________

ATHENS, Greece - Iraqi soccer players reacted angrily Friday after being told that their nation's Olympic participation was mentioned in TV commercial by the re-election campaign for President Bush.


The players called on Bush to stop using them to win votes in the United States.

“Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign,” midfielder Salih Sadir was quoted as saying. “He can find another way to advertise himself.”

“Our purpose is not to politicize the football team in any way,” Mark Clark, a consultant for the Iraqi Olympic Committee, said. “It seems the story was engineered.”
“It is a little naughty,” he said. “The players are not very sophisticated politically; they are a little naive. Whoever posed these questions knew that the reaction would be negative.

I'm guessing those soccer players just totally blew Clarks chance at getting an invite to the Ranch.

Another Iraqi player asked: “How will (Bush) meet his God having slaughtered so many men and women? He has committed so many crimes.”

Now that really is naive. Bush will meet his God with a bottle of bourbon and a ton of your oil money dude. And Mark Clark was going to to take you to the Ranch with him but no-o-o, you had to go and be naive.

“It is possible something was lost in translation. It’s a free, new Iraq, and the players are entitled to their opinions but we are disappointed.”

Iraq’s soccer players once lived in fear of Uday Hussein, son of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, who used to beat the soles of their feet or throw them in prison for slip-ups on the pitch.

Under current coach Adnan Hamd, they have defied the odds to reach the quarterfinals at the Athens Olympics, where they will play Australia on Saturday.

Hamd said, “The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the stadium and there are shootings on the road?”

Abbas, the swimmer, finished his military service two weeks before the war began in March 2003. "Thanks to God," he said.

He was sitting in his family's home in a quiet section of Baghdad when the bombing began. No one he knew was killed or injured. When the war ended, he trained for one week in Iraq's Olympic-size indoor pool. But then, he said, U.S. soldiers took over the pool and he no longer could swim there. He attended the world championships in Barcelona without training, he said, and didn't get a chance to swim again until this February, when he moved to Canada. Clearly, this was not the preferred way to prepare for the Games.

I think Clark is probably right about something being "lost in translation" I think what was actually said was "FUCK NO! That lying, murdering, weaselly thief, Bush may not use as a campaign tool!" Really, I wonder how "whoever posed these questions knew that the reaction would be negative."

___________________________________________________________________________________________


This made me laugh

_____________________________________________________________________________________
I went to Joe's funeral this morning. It was nice.
Joe would have been proud to have Coach Ogelsby speak
for him. He did a good job. I feel bad for all the
people that would have liked to have been there but,
due to the lack of information in the press, didn't
know when or where.
I feel sad and, angry and, guilty but, a new feeling has
joined in. I feel defeated.
I know we can still defeat Bush. I have made lists of
the damage he has caused that need to be reversed
by the next administration. Now I know that some
damage can't be reversed.
I always knew it but now I know it in my soul.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
I started taking Joe to school when he was 6 years old. Circumstances separated us for a few years and then when he was 15 he started riding my bus again. He was still as sweet and gentle as he had been in 1st grade. Through high school, when his car was broke (which was most of the time), he would almost always sit up front and talk to me about what was going on and his plans. He didn't have it as easy as a lot of kids do but, I swear, he never complained and I never heard him say a bad word about anyone. He worked hard and did everything he needed to do to make a good life. I had all the hope for him and I'm sure his family did too.

No. 747-04
IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 5, 2004

DoD Identifies Marine Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Cpl. Dean P. Pratt, 22, of Stevensville, Mont., died Aug. 2 due to enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Gunnery Sgt. Elia P. Fontecchio, 30, of Milford, Mass., died Aug. 4 from injuries received from enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Lance Cpl. Joseph L. Nice, 19, of Nicoma Park, Okla., died Aug. 4 due to enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.

19. He was 19. This is not right.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Entry in G.W. Bush's personal Blog

July 8, 2004: "Another long day of speeches and fundraisers. Met with all these phony media company execs. Had to promise them some bill next term and shake a lot of stupid hands, but they did bring in two or three million or so. Whatever. Karl keeps a list. I got big laughs during my speech, so I'm happy."

Leave it The Onion

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Minister of Fear

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Mrs. Betty Bowers
America's Best Christian
explains Republican Paradoxes


The United States should get out of the United Nations because it is a useless institution that furthers anti-American policies. In the meantime, however, our national raison d'etre is spending thousands of lives and billions of dollars to enforce U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

Support for our troops is best shown by bumper stickers, festooning trees with yellow, ridiculing people who are sticklers for a justification for getting Marines killed, and using aircraft carriers and the enlisted as photogenic backdrops for partisan political opportunities. Cold, unsentimental cash, such as for veterans' benefits and combat pay, cheapens our affection for our brave boys and gals in uniform.

It is the coming together (marriage), not the rending apart (divorce) that is most likely to undermine a marriage. After all, the biggest threat to marriage is allowing people to do it.

Christ told us that if an enemy strikes us, we are required to forgive them and turn the other cheek. This is why savvy Christian nations work around Jesus' girly-man approach by preemptively attacking first.

If you want to provide the people of Iraq with health care, police, roads, sewers, a new power grid and education, irrespective of cost, you are a fiscally sound conservative. If, on the other hand, you want these same things for Americans, you are a tax-and-spend liberal.


Read the rest and much more here.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks for this Daisy!

How to start your week with a positive outlook:

1. Open a new file in your PC
2. Name it "George W. Bush" *
3. Send it to the trash
4. Empty the trash
5. Your PC will ask you: "Do you really want to get rid of George W. Bush?"
6. Answer calmly, "Yes" and press the mouse button

* Replace with the politician/public servant/football manager/tv presenter of your choice.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Bush Finally Speaks the TRUTH.

Aug 6, 2004

US President Bush has told a roomful of top Pentagon brass that his administration would never stop looking for ways to harm the United States.
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we," Bush said.
No one in Bush's audience of military brass or Pentagon chiefs reacted.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Job Fair 2023

Texas educators are debating what will be taught in new sexual education textbooks for its high school students. The 15-member Texas Board of Education is considering and will likely approve four books, all of which extol the virtues of abstinence. Three make no mention of contraceptives at all while one makes passing reference to condoms.

The battle in Texas has national implications because the state is the second-biggest market for textbooks in the United States. Books approved by the state's school board are typically marketed nationally.
According to Centers for Disease Control figures, Texas has been among the top five states in the country for teen-age pregnancies for several years.
When he was governor of Texas, George W. Bush pushed for an abstinence-based sexual education curriculum. He raised his concerns to a national level when he said in this year's State of the Union address: ''We will double federal funding for abstinence programs, so schools can teach this fact of life: Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.''

If approved, the texts are likely to appear in classrooms in August 2005 -- where they could be the standard text for about 10 years.
Local school districts are not required to use one of the new books but they receive state funding to buy them if they do.

Why bother? Let's save the money and don't teach any sex ed at all. While we're at it, let's have Good Shepherd Catholic School devise the curriculum for everyone. Look at it this way, with the baby boom that is sure to come, there'll be enough workers to support Social Security when we need it. Of course there will have to be jobs......

___________________________________________________________________________________________

(CBS) During California's rolling blackouts, when streets were lit only by head lights and families were trapped in elevators, Enron Energy traders laughed, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales.

One trader is heard on tapes obtained by CBS News saying, "Just cut 'em off. They're so f----d. They should just bring back f-----g horses and carriages, f-----g lamps, f-----g kerosene lamps."

Before the 2000 election, Enron employees pondered the possibilities of a Bush win.

"It'd be great. I'd love to see Ken Lay Secretary of Energy," says one Enron worker.

That didn't happen, but they were sure President Bush would fight any limits on sky-high energy prices.

(Well, it didn't officially happen.
Invoking executive privilege, Vice President Dick Cheney refuses to disclose details of meetings he held last year with Enron officials.)

"When this election comes Bush will f------g whack this s--t, man. He won't play this price-cap b------t."

Crude, but true.

"We will not take any action that makes California's problems worse and that's why I oppose price caps," said Mr. Bush on May 29, 2001.

Both the Justice Department and Enron tried to prevent the release of these tapes. Enron's lawyers argued they merely prove "that people at Enron sometimes talked like Barnacle Bill the Sailor."

I don't know about Barnacle Bill but they certainly speak the language of the vice-president. Not a sailor, a raping, thieving, murdering pirate.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
In the race for the U.S. Senate the GOP runs one of it's
nuttiest cases in Oklahoma. Tom Coburn.
Tom doesn't believe in his own spirit and would have deprived his Grandmother of the right to choose after she was raped.

He was greatly helped by the television ads purchased by Club for Growth.(The Club for Growth is a self described extremist organization who have vowed to take on John Kerry's centrist message to create jobs, provide health care and protect America's national security.)
The 56-year-old Muskogee doctor set himself apart from other candidates. "My desire is not to be a U.S. senator. My desire is to change the Senate," he said.
On the death penalty, he said: "I favor the death penalty for abortionists and other people who take life."

He said he performed two abortions to save the lives of mothers who had congenital heart disease, but opposes the procedure in cases of rape.

"Under the mores we live under today, my lineage wouldn't exist," Coburn said, explaining that his great-grandmother was raped by a territorial sheriff.

Coburn's plan to attack rising medical costs includes an emphasis on prevention.
Cutting down on diabetes by using less sugar and controlling weight could save billions of dollars in the next 20 years, he said.
I see National Weigh In Day coming.
He said more money could be saved if people took over-the-counter drugs that reduce the risk of getting colon cancer.

Besides bringing competition to the pharmaceutical marketplace, he supports creating a competitive environment in medicine.
"The guys who do the worst job in heart bypass get paid the same as the guys who do the best job. Why's that?"
I'm sure my insurance will only pay for the Walmart Price Cut Bypass.

Voice America issued a statement criticizing Coburn for saying in an Associated Press interview that he would favor the death penalty for abortionists.
“This is just one example of the length to which the far-right is willing to go to take away a woman’s right to choose and to criminalize a very personal, private decision between a woman and her doctor,” the acting president of the group said. “I am appalled that as a physician, Dr. Coburn would make such a statement about his colleagues.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________

CHICAGO, Aug. 3 — Laws passed by 18 states requiring guns to be safely stored away from children have reduced the rate of teenage suicides, researchers said Tuesday. The child access prevention laws implemented since 1989 may have prevented more than 300 suicides among 14- to 17-year-olds through 2001, according to the study by Daniel Webster of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore.
Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among American teenagers, accounting for 1,883 deaths in 2001.
''There were 63,954 suicides among youth aged 14 through 20 years during the 1976-2001 study period, 39,655 (62 percent) of which were committed with firearms,'' according to the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Laws that raised the required age of gun buyers and owners, however, did not significantly reduce suicide rates, the study said.

Of 40,000 teenagers that wanted to shoot themselves in 12 years,
300 of them couldn't find the gun. The other 39,700 died. Or is it 20,000 and 19,700?
I don't know, this article is a little fuzzy to me but you can bet your ass that the only thing the NRA will see is that there is no good reason why 12 year olds should not be allowed to buy guns.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

As they start, Kerry has 14 states and the District of Columbia in his column for 193 electoral vote while Bush has 25 states for 217 votes, according to an Associated Press analysis of state polls as well as interviews with strategists across the country.

Both candidates are short of the magic 270 electoral votes. The margin of victory will come from:

* Tossups: Bush and Kerry are running even in 11 states with a combined 128 electoral votes. Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan and West Virginia are the toughest battlegrounds. Two other tossups, Pennsylvania and Oregon, could soon move to Kerry’s column.
* Leaning to Kerry: Maine, Minnesota and Washington (a combined 25 electoral votes) favor Kerry over Bush by a few percentage points. Gore carried them in 2000.
* Leaning to Bush: North Carolina, Colorado, Louisiana, Arizona, Virginia, Arkansas and Missouri (a combined 73 electoral votes) give Bush modest leads. He won all seven in 2000.Al total, 21 states are in play. Some will bounce between "lean" to "tossup" throughout the campaign.

Four years ago, Bush won 30 states and their 271 electoral votes — one more than needed. Gore, who won the popular vote, claimed 20 states plus the District of Columbia for 267 electoral votes.

Since then, reapportionment added electoral votes to states with population gains and took them from states losing people. The result: Bush’s states are now worth 278 electoral votes and Gore’s are worth just 260.

Reapportionment? Wasn't that called "redistricting" when we last heard of it? I guess the neocon press (I don't think they get irony, so I'm calling a spade a spade here) didn't want us to remember the GOP's, led by tom delay, big party power grab the last few years. Remember when the Texas democrats spent some time in Oklahoma In May 2003 to deprive the real evil-dooers (GOP members)a quarum in the Texas State House of Reps. It worked for a while then in August Texas became a true Banana Republic.

Eleven of the twelve Democrats in the state senate refused to attend the special session, convening instead in Albuquerque, New Mexico July 29, outside the jurisdiction of the Republican-controlled Texas state government. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat, has rebuffed requests that the legislators be extradited.

The Democrats refused to return, defying the fines, which took effect on Thursday, August 14, starting at $1,000 each, doubling to $2,000 on Friday, $4,000 on Saturday and $5,000 on Sunday and every day following until the special session ends August 26. The total fine for boycotting the entire special session would amount to $57,000, and the Republican senators specified that this be paid from personal and not party funds.

Several Republican senators suggested that Democrats who do not pay the fines would be deprived of their votes in the state Senate, an action that would deprive as many as 8 million people of representation (each Senate district has about 700,000 residents). Neither Governor Rick Perry nor state Attorney General Greg Abbott have yet taken a position on disenfranchisement of senators, which has no precedent under the state constitution.

The boycott by the Democratic state senators repeats the tactic employed by Democratic members of the lower house who left Texas as a group three months ago. They waited at a hotel in Oklahoma until the regular session of the legislature ended, frustrating the initial Republicans effort to push through the redistricting plan.

Governor Perry called a special session of the legislature and the redistricting plan was passed through the lower house, but the bill failed in the state Senate for lack of a two-thirds majority. Perry then called a second special session of the legislature, for which the Republicans imposed new rules ending the traditional two-thirds requirement for a bill to pass the Senate.

Kerry’s best prospects may be in the five tossup states won by Bush in 2000: Ohio, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire and West Virginia.

Winning either Ohio’s 20 electoral votes or Florida’s 27 would do the trick.

Come on Ellen, you can do it! Save the country. Get out the vote, call all your friends! Put notes on all the cars in the grocery store parking lot that say "bottleofblog.com". That should do it.

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Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 - President Bush on Monday generally endorsed the two main recommendations of the 9/11 commission, saying he would support creation of a potentially powerful post, national intelligence director, and the establishment of a counterterrorism center to coordinate intelligence analysis and efforts to thwart attacks.

Maybe the new organization can be staffed with all the whistleblowers fired from the FBI.

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Quite a few years ago I was flipping stations on the radio trying to find some Christmas music and something this preacher said made me stop and listen. It was something about boring people being the biggest sin he could commit. I listened to the whole sermon and was thinking "No way is this guy in Oklahoma, he's too good, too liberal." I never was the kind of person that could sit through church and take what I could and leave the rest. I felt like a hypocrite. I'm amazed that Rev. Meyers exists and the fact that he is here in Oklahoma makes me believe in miracles. And I don't have to feel like a hypocrite at church.

Commentary
Perhaps we prefer the lie?
Eight years ago, when I began writing for the Oklahoma Gazette, I named my column for the essential tension in life, as in any democracy: the difference between rhetoric and reality. I teach a class by the same name at Oklahoma City University because students need to learn the difference between spin and fact, between what Orwell called linguistic “insincerity” and the often painful truth. But this summer, there is no need to enroll in such a class to know the difference. All you have to do is pay attention.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, headed by a Republican, says that not only were there no weapons of mass destruction, and no links to al-Qaida, but that Congress might also not have authorized the war against Iraq if they had known what they know now — which is the truth.

The so-called “defense of marriage” amendment failed, not because we are all of one mind about homosexuality, but because it has become abundantly clear that the whole thing has nothing whatsoever to do with marriage and everything to do with the politics of division — which is the truth.

When the British report exposed the big lie about the threat posed by Iraq, Tony Blair did what real leaders do and took “full personal responsibility.” Bush, on the other hand, in the words of syndicated columnist Maureen Dowd, “took full personal irresponsibility” and continues to press “the preposterous case that he has made America safer”— which is not the truth.
Facts are such pesky things to a true believer. Whether it’s global warming or the case for evolution, the true believer just winks at the evidence and claims that it’s all a test of faith. There are fundamentalists, for example, who believe that God placed ancient fossils in the earth to see whether we would choose science or Genesis. Meet God the trickster. And whatever you do, don’t let it slip that one can believe in both evolution and God — which is the truth.

We are all guilty of bias, of course, and prone to our prejudices and predispositions. But we are approaching a time when truth has absolutely nothing to do with anything. In other words, one can become a legend in one’s own mind and develop a complete immunity from either the truth or basic logic.

Bush continues to defend the extraordinary (and by the international standards we established, illegal) war against Iraq by saying, “So I had a choice to make: either take the word of a madman or defend America.” Any student in Critical Thinking 101 knows that this is a classic false dichotomy — and that’s the truth.

Once more comes the tired rhetoric of us against them: “We will confront them overseas so we do not have to confront them here at home.” That might fly if any reasonable person still believed that we were threatened by the mighty nation of Iraq. Remember the “elite Republican Guard,” which Bush called the fourth-most fearsome fighting force in the world? Turns out, they were pathetic — and that’s the truth.

It is possible, and this is the scary thing, to become flawless in one’s illogic. That is, it is sometimes a great comfort to believe the lie and to avoid the painful truth. This is true in politics, in religion and in the family — where all dysfunction is masked by the pretense of perfection.

On the day after you read this column, John Kerry and John Edwards will accept the nomination of the Democratic Party to oppose the policies and the record of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Immediately, the character assassination will begin, and we’ll be told it’s God and country over trial lawyers and Eastern liberals.

But that’s just one more lie in a long list of lies. The truth is a senator from Massachusetts with a lifetime of public service (and actual military service) will ask Americans to choose between four more years of what we have or a bloodless chance of direction at the ballot box — which is the genius of our democracy.

The debate should not be about whether you are “with us or against us,” “red or blue,” patriotic or peculiar. It should be about deficits, education, judges, women’s rights, gay rights, decent jobs, racism, help for the beleaguered middle class and America’s reputation around the world.

But we will not survive if we prefer the lie. And we will not survive if we don’t bother to vote.

And that’s the truth.

Meyers has been senior minister of Mayflower Congregational UCC Church since 1985 and is a professor of rhetoric at Oklahoma City University.