law forbids more than three people from living together unless they're related by "blood, marriage or adoption."

On that basis, the city denied an occupancy permit to Olivia Shelltrack and her
fiance, Fondray Loving. In January, the couple moved into their five-bedroom
home with their three children. But city officials have repeatedly ruled that
the household fails to meet its definition of family.

How can we get back to shame without groupism?

FEMA Wants $4.7 Million Back From Katrina Victims

What america could be capable of:

vibe on 70 comments:

We must exert pressure on the Mexican government

Thisis jacked up.

welcome to the future

Just imagine if this were on every phone.

No more wondering about the location of your child or teen. Keep an up-to-the-minute progress on their location.

Locate your child on any computer with Internet Access or call our toll free hotline and they can do a remote locate for you 1-877-229-2287.
Currently, locate and tracking information is stored indefinitely.
Set safe zones to alert parents when loved one enters or leaves designated areas.
Restrict incoming and outgoing calls to pre-selected numbers.
Phone locations updated every 60 seconds.
Locate loved ones on city map or aerial view.
View tracking path of phone.
Know speed and direction phone is traveling.
Now you can know your children are safe, even when they’re out of your sight.


But wait! It's everywhere!

Giving McCain benefit of the doubt, for now

Senator John McCain’s Liberty University Address to be Televised Nationally via Sky Angel Family and Christian Television Service



I like John McCain and I'm willing to wait and see what he actually says to the graduating clas at Jerry Falwell's university. I hope he will be able to draw enough of the less extreme away from the Christian right. Assuming of course that he will be the nominee in 2008. Who knows?

Watchdog contends budget bill broke law

The issue is bizarre, with even constitutional scholars saying they could not think of any precedent for the journey the budget bill took to becoming a law. Opponents point to elementary school civics lessons to make their case, while Republicans are evoking an obscure Supreme Court ruling from the 1890s to suggest a bill does not have to pass both chambers of Congress to become law.

WHAT IS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF GLOBALIZATION

Answer: Princess Diana's death.
>> Question: How come?
>> Answer: An English princess
>> with an Egyptian boyfriend
>> crashes in a French tunnel,
>> driving a German car
>> with a Dutch engine,
>> driven by a Belgian who was drunk
>> on Scottish whisky, (check the bottle before you change the spelling)

>> followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles;
>> treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines.
>> This is sent to you by an American,
>> using Bill Gates's technology,
>> and you're probably reading this on your computer, that use Taiwanese

>> chips, and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a
>> Singapore plant, transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked by
>> Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and trucked to you by

>> Mexican illegals.....
>> That, my friends, is Globalization

Muslim says Quran justified attack in N.C.

Police say that just before lunchtime March 3, Taheri-azar drove a rented 2006 Jeep Cherokee through the Pit, a popular gathering place at the school from which he graduated. The SUV hit nine people, but none was injured seriously. He then drove off and calmly called 911 to surrender

election reform now

Here are some good ideas on election reforms:

The Campaign for a National Popular Vote has a dandy new approach. Instead of trying to amend the Constitution through a long, difficult process that can and will be stalled by small sates, the campaign proposes a simpler, elegant solution. According to the Constitution, each state legislature can instruct its own electors to cast their votes however the state decides, usually as winner-take-all for whichever candidate carries the state. But there is no reason a state legislature cannot instruct its electors to vote for whomever wins the popular vote.

Democracy! What a concept! The states can do this one-by-one, subscribing to an interstate compact that would take effect when enough states join to elect the actual winner -- a majority of the 538 electoral votes

An interesting poll on Cnn.com

Do you agree with Charlie Sheen that the U.S. government covered up the real events of the 9/11 attacks?
click on view results

White House Civil Liberties Panel Finally Meets After 16 Months

A White House civil liberties panel created more than a year ago to monitor the effects on ordinary citizens of the war on terrorism took its first significant action this week.

It met.

One of Mars Rover's Wheels Stops Working

One of the Mars rover Spirit's wheels has stopped working and the solar-powered robot must use its five other wheels to drag itself up a slope to catch enough sunshine to keep operating in the descending Martian winter, NASA said Friday.

The right front wheel previously had an episode of balkiness but this week the motor that turns the wheel stopped working, the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement.

Americans want Democrats to control Congress: poll

President George W. Bush's approval rating hit its lowest score in the Newsweek poll, the newsmagazine said in a statement, citing recent events, such as the Dubai ports controversy and the upcoming third anniversary of the Iraq war.

Only 36 percent of American adults approve of the way the president is handling his job, according to results of the survey conducted on Thursday and Friday.

Sixty-four percent are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time, while only 30 percent are satisfied.

A Newsweek Poll conducted exactly a year ago found 57 percent of Americans approved of the way Bush handled terrorism and homeland security, and 35 percent disapproved, the magazine said.

Now only 44 percent of Americans polled approve, while 50 percent disapprove, it said.

Sixty-five percent disapprove of Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq and 29 percent approve.

Forty-seven percent approve of Bush's appointments to the Supreme Court -- a five-point increase since the last Newsweek Poll and the sole issue in the poll in which the public believes he is performing well.

The poll results were based on a survey of 1,020 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

a random thought

It's funny when people like russ get you to thinking. When the Space shuttle crashed a couple of years ago there was an Israeli astronaut on board. How big is the Israeli space program? For that matter what are all the Eropeans doing with their space programs? Anyone?

speaking of Pat Robertson

check out this piece at Political Cortex the religious right remains a powerful faction in American politics, and Pat Robertson remains a wealthy power broker with daily television audience that is one of the largest on cable television. True, he has become an embarrassment to many in his movement, who are now seeking to distance themselves in various ways. But this is more complicated than it may seem at first blush, because Robertson is also an embarrassment of riches for televangelism, for the religious right and for the Republican Party.


and remember that this guy is still in charge

AHHH Democracy at work

first you buy the votes

Democratic precinct committeeman to 10 months in prison and two years of supervised release for his role in a vote-buying scheme...


then you buy the congressmen

a conservative advocacy group picked up the $10,000 tab for a chartered plane and helicopter flight


now I know the vote buying is definitely illegal. But they were giving $5-$10 per vote to citizens(?) fro a specific vote. Do you think the 10 large spent on Brownback was for a specific vote or a slate of issues. Brownback said in an interview. "I was asked to speak at each of them, and my request was just to get me there and back." By the way, I've been to San Antonio and I just can't get my mind arond the trip costing 10 grand. unless the Senator was on a partially paid trip to tibet. The Buddhist association paid to et him there and Robertson's group had to pick up the tab for the long trip to Texas.

a song to make you think

check it out

Pentagon dismisses poll that says US troops want out of Iraq

I'd love to give this one to you from the NY Times or some other "liberal" MSM source, but apparently ths is no news to them either:

Nearly one in three troops said US forces should withdraw immediately. Another 22 percent said US forces should be out within six months, and 21 percent thought they should exit within a year

Everyone, everyone, everyone wants the U.S. out of Iraq

A majority of Americans of every political persuasion support Congressman Jack Murtha's call for a rapid redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq. More Republicans support it than Democrats.

...
According to a new poll of 1150 Iraqis conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, 70 percent of Iraqis want the fledgling government to request a U.S. timetable for withdrawal, including 64 percent of Kurds and 90 percent of Shi'ites.

more proof Bush shaped reality?

I'm sure this means nothing to Mike in Bigdog's butt

Two highly classified intelligence reports delivered directly to President Bush before the Iraq war cast doubt on key public assertions made by the president, Vice President Cheney, and other administration officials as justifications for invading Iraq...The first report, delivered to Bush in early October 2002, was a one-page summary of a National Intelligence Estimate... Among other things, the report stated that the Energy Department and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research believed that the tubes were "intended for conventional weapons," a view disagreeing with that of other intelligence agencies, including the CIA, which believed that the tubes were intended for a nuclear bomb...The disclosure that Bush was informed of the DOE and State dissents is the first evidence that the president himself knew of the sharp debate within the government over the aluminum tubes during the time that he, Cheney, and other members of the Cabinet were citing the tubes as clear evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program... The second classified report, delivered to Bush in early January 2003, was also a summary of a National Intelligence Estimate, this one focusing on whether Saddam would launch an unprovoked attack on the United States, either directly, or indirectly by working with terrorists.

The report stated that U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that it was unlikely that Saddam would try to attack the United States -- except if "ongoing military operations risked the imminent demise of his regime" or if he intended to "extract revenge" for such an assault, according to records and sources

Pentagon Releases Names of Gitmo Inmates

"Prisoners here are in paradise," he says. "American people are very good. Really. They give us three meals. Fruit juice and everything!" Still, he says, he wants to return to his family.

Guantanamo man tells of 'torture'

hunger strikers were strapped to a chair and force-fed through a tube three times a day.

Bush on "trial" in high school class.

Bush on "trial" in high school class.

Seems to me the las tline of the story hits the nail on the head.

more news from the border

A U.S. Border Patrol agent opened fire when he was attacked by men with rocks

the abortion debate as discussed on the air this morning.

now let me arue uninterrupted and maybe you folks can straighten this out:

1. Life is a continuous process -Lefty and mike from Fairway
2. the question is when does the new life receive rights and responsibilities- Socialist Keith

Keith would submit to you that there are no rights and /or priveleges held by a cellular mass known as a fetus. In fact, He would add that the baby that does eventually get born( that is until we see one of these mutant births that Lefty has concluded happens from time to time) still has no rights. Now I would like to point out that we as adults are assigned the responsibility( by law) to care for these rightless individuals. Now I am no leggal scholar, but I'll bet that we have to care for them because they are alive and as a society we say you can't bring that life into the world and then just leave it in a dumpster. We do, as a somewhat rational society, provide a means whereby to discharge that adult responsibility :

1. a new mother can just takae a newborn to several safe spots and just leave him with no questions asked
2. i could right now decide that i don't want my kids at 9,2, and 1. If i take them to the appropriate place to discharge them (an adoption agency, e.g.) then I will suffer no penalty.

We as a society have decided that we won't force one entity to remain responsible for another. But we do require that they et out from under these responsibility in an appropriate way. this is why I would be okay with saying if you don't want the child and it is viable (however science may define it) then you have to undergo the procedure to deliver the child. Now this wld certainly be a high cost for the society (atleast early on) but that's life.

Jose Padilla: update

Jose Padilla was denied bail. As well he should be. the issue that i protested was the holding without charges. Now charges are filed, bail is denied. I hope the next step is show the proof and punish this crack head.

A word on the use of Tasers

The Taser stun gun shold be looked at the way you do many programs. Cases of abuse should be punished with extreme prejudice. Cases where police have tasered old ladies or zapped suspects because they had bad attitudes should result in prosecution of the officer. the technology itself is useful and has ndeed saved lives. Think of how many people have been tased that might have otherwise been shot. here in K.C. think back to the guy shot in his yard because he approached police with a bbq fork. Or the blind guy in the northeast that got tased in 2004. The outcome in both of these cases would certainly havve been better if they had been shocked instead of shot.

U.S. Army detained suspects' daughters, wives as leverage

Is this why Jill Caroll was kidnapped. The leadership of our military should reconsider the practice of picking up wives to flush out suspected insurgents. While these are a very few cases, i hope that the practice is halted. I can clearly see this being a move that generates lot's of blowback.

2 doctors balk at killer's execution

The doctors, whose names have not been made public, were to have certified that a drug administered to Morales had rendered him unconscious before two other chemicals were administered to kill him.



I can't help but feel that their are good republican doctors in California that would certify. I have my misgivings about the death penalty, but if this guy spent 24 years on death row then the 15 minutes (tops) that he would feel before dying is nothing.

how ironic

Actors (from left) Waqar Siddiqui, Rizwan Ahmed and Arfman Usman with Michael Winterbottom and detainee Rhuhel Ahmed
The actors who star in movie The Road to Guantanamo were questioned by police at Luton airport under anti-terrorism legislation

okay maybe Hamas won't adjust to leadership so well

...graphics appearing on the Hamas website call for the destruction of Israel in a nuclear holocaust.

The public education debate

The Left meets The Right

chew on this

enter at your own risk

I'm desparately awaiting comments on this one

Nikki's cousin.

Here is the story about Nikki's cousin. Let's hope that he is found safe and well.

Is there a war on science?

The statement came six days after The New York Times quoted the scientist, James E. Hansen, as saying he was threatened with "dire consequences" if he continued to call for prompt action to limit emissions of heat-trapping gases linked to global warming. He and intermediaries in the agency's 350-member public-affairs staff said the warnings came from White House appointees in NASA headquarters

Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo

Tony Blair told President George Bush that he was "solidly" behind US plans to invade Iraq before he sought advice about the invasion's legality and despite the absence of a second UN resolution, according to a new account of the build-up to the war published today.
A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - nearly two months before the invasion - reveals that Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second UN resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme.

Iran Plans to Resume Uranium Enrichment

Iran's president Saturday ordered the resumption of uranium enrichment and an end to snap inspections of its facilities after the U.N. nuclear watchdog voted to report Tehran to the Security Council.

Iran testing missiles

Shahab-3 missiles that Iran possess can reach Israel and US bases in the Middle East

3 not 2 detained at the State of the Union

Gainer says he will work with the House Sergeant at Arms to clarify the rules of the House of Representatives, and to ensure that officers have a better understanding of what constitutes a protest and demonstration. Before he finalizes the new rules, Gainer has asked his staff to look into previous arrests and ejections in the gallery to see what he can learn. One of the first protests at a State of the Union speech occurred in 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson was speaking and a group of suffragettes sitting in the gallery unfurled a large yellow banner with the words, "Mr. President, what will you do for woman suffrage?" The Capitol Police prepared to arrest the women, but the chief doorkeeper ordered them to leave them alone. An assistant doorkeeper on the floor, however, did manage to pull the banner down. Compared to what happened at this week's speech, that almost seems civilized.

Why I care about the $3 trillion.

I want to know where the money went. We live in a market based economy. Anyone, or group, working together or separate could have an enormous effect on our economy. The people who can spend like that are the ones that are really running things. Peple spending that kind of money are the ones that you have to wonder about as far as their power. and we don't even know about them. We don't even know that the money is missing. I didn't know it. I heard a handful, a small handful, of left leaning talk show hosts mention it. But I didn't follow up on it and find the buried stories untill just a few weeks ago. The liberal media didn't say anything about it. I don't know if this is conspiracy or collusion, probably aat least collusion. But I find it interesting rthat the "liberal" media doesn't bring it up.
This is deeper than Democrat v. Republican. Don't you care? One story I read mentioned that the GDP for the US was 11 Trillion last year. Even if you put aside the Who question. What about the oversight? This happened at the end of Clinton's watch. It seems to me that Rumsfeld would be jhappy to lay that at the feet of the former administration. The DOD is the largest portion of our fed budget. according to Jim Hightower's report a few weeks ago, the pentagon has cut the number of auditors...And what pra tell are we defending against? some whackjobs that took over a plane? We couldn't use f-16s to take them out. and they don't cost anywhere near 3 trill. I think at somepoint we should have some say on where this money is going. It's ours i'm in for 40 grand.
Now a few weeks ago the President had a meeting with all the former secratries of Defense and State. now if I was wearing a tin foil hat: I could see the president saying "ladies and gentlemen the plan we have been working on for all these years is done." Now what could that be anything. Probably weaponizing space. it could be that an asteroid is hurtling towards us and theyv'e known about it for 20 years. I don't know and I'm okay that I don't know. but at some point shouldn't there be some sort of transparency. I mean shouldn't congress people at least get an answer? or is that to risky? and it may well be. I just hope that it is a noble endeavor. 3 Trillion is a lot of money could you take over the world?
If I had 3 trill I would feed a lot of people and educate a bunch. But I'm not that guy. I hope they are looking out for us.
I saw a movie once called Deterrence starring Jason Pollack. in this movie the son of Saddam is in control of Iraq and he's got all these nuclear missiles that he's managed to get from the French. and he goes on CNN and he tells the world that he's gonna nuke like seven cities around the world. and there's this big standoff and the peresident is actually new because the elected guy died a month ago or something and he's plaing it tough. He launches a bomber that goes to baghdad and says to ussay "you stand down or else" and all the advisors are going nuts. they're like we have to negotiate. But he has a secret. as they watch the trajectory of all the missiles the hussein has launched the world frets and the president goes on tv and says " we';ve been working woth the french for 10 years to let hussein get this stuff and they are all duds BUM BUM BUMMMMMM I hope they are looking out for us. I have trouble having that kind of faith when I see the corruption that we see on the front pages today.

I don't have a problem teaching and feeding people. but
I don't know what we're defending against the requires so much money. What would you do with 3 Trill?

more on earmarks and their role in the ever growing deficit

Here are a few great ideas to reduce the amount of specially marked public dollars that get inserted into bills racheting up the debt. This is irrespective of the 3 trillion missing from the Pentagon.
part 1

part 2

I'm especially in favor of the notion of a " 72 hour cooling period" where spending bills be placed online for citizen review and reaction before the actual vote. I know this is pie in the sky, but wouldn't it be nice if we the people were just made aware of the debt that we are passing on to our kids. Now Kesselman, shines a bright light on the local and state govt supported lobyists that get us Yarn museums and and questionable studies( like Mu getting 1.6 million for a shitake mushroom study. And while I'm grateful for the info, she seems to gloss right over the Abramoff type of lobyists.

$2,300,000,000,000.00

$2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.

Delay out of leadership but still seeking powerful slot

Randy "Duke" Cunningham has confessed to taking bribes and now Tom Delay is trying to take his place on the House Appropriations Committee . This is sort of like finding a cop on the take and reassigning them to the evidence room for punishment.

Mail call

“All mail originating outside the United States Customs territory that is to be delivered inside the U.S. Customs territory is subject to Customs examination,” says the CBP Web site. That includes personal correspondence. “All mail means ‘all mail,’” said John Mohan, a CBP spokesman, emphasizing the point.

“This process isn’t something we’re trying to hide,” Mohan said, noting the wording on the agency’s Web site. “We’ve had this authority since before the Department of Homeland Security was created,” Mohan said.

However, Mohan declined to outline what criteria are used to determine when a piece of personal correspondence should be opened, but said, “obviously it’s a security-related criteria.”

Mohan also declined to say how often or in what volume CBP might be opening mail. “All I can really say is that Customs and Border Protection does undertake [opening mail] when it is determined to be necessary,” he said.

Audio from tonight's show

McKinney grills Rumsfeld

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

It Was a Very False Year: The 2005 Falsies Awards

The 2005 Falsies Awards

rewarding the Hypemeisters

Looting the treasury

the real scandal is hardly limited to one oily lobbyist and a handful of members of Congress with their hands out. Or even a score of congressional members, if it comes to that. What may become the true scandal of our day is the broad-scale evolution of power out of the hands of elected people and into the hands of countless lobbyists and behind-the-scenes power brokers.

this to from the piece:

In 1982, Congress included 12 "earmarked" projects in its appropriations. By 1998, there were 2,000 of them worth $10.6 billion, as reported by Kammer. In 2004, that number had tripled to 15,584 earmarks worth $32.7 billion.

Not coincidentally, the number of lobbyists in Washington - people whose livelihood depends on lining up earmarked pork for its lucky beneficiaries - has mushroomed, too. They have doubled in five years to 35,000 determined souls whose one job is to beat down the doors of the 535 elected members of Congress.

Does Pat Robertson speak for God?

Only God should decide if Israel should relinquish control of the lands it captured in the 1967 war, including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem, Robertson said, in a reference to Sharon's plan to pull out of Gaza next year.

"God says, 'I'm going to judge those who carve up the West Bank and Gaza Strip,'" Robertson said. "'It's my land and keep your hands off it.'"

He said that in October 2004. Now with Sharon quite likely on his death bed, Robertson decidied to point it out as though this is the hand of God. Is God in deed talking to us thoughSharon's stroke.

Pat Robertson's clarificationof his views does not come right out and say it, but I think it is clearly his imlication.

Was 9-11 Hijacker hangin with top Republican fundraiser?

interesting how the same players keep showing up at the table:

Saleh Kamel, Terrorism, Abramoff & money laundering
Prior to the events of September 11th, 2001 chief hijacker Mohamed Atta and several of the other 9/11 hijackers were reported to have made multiple visits to the SunCruz casino cruise ship off the Gulf coast in Florida. [22] This has led some to speculate that Mohamed Atta was using the casino to launder money for al-Qaeda and that possibly Atta was involved in a scheme with Abramoff and the mob to smuggle heroin. [23] To date none of these allegations has been confirmed or investigated.

In 2002 Abramoff worked for the Global Council of Islamic Banks, whose chairman, Saleh Abdullah Kamel, was under investigation for allegedly funding terrorism and terrorists, including Osama Bin Laden


Now this doesn't prove a thing. But it raises some "anomalous evidence."
consider that Abramoff was one of Bush's "pioneers" which means he raised $100k for the Presidential campaigns.

maybe we ought ot just forget about voting

The story is not about allegations of fraud — it's about an appearance of impropriety that is stunning in its magnitude.

Unfettered by any disclosure regulations about ownership or political affiliations, just a few companies create and control almost all the voting machines in the U.S. Do the people who own them have conflicts of interest? We don't know, they won't tell us. Do they employ anyone with a criminal record? We don't know, they say it's private. Can we have someone check the vote-counting code to make sure no one tampered with it? Nope, they say its proprietary.

Election Systems & Software, the firm whose machines were involved in the 2002 flubbed Florida primary election — and the company that now makes the voting machines for most of America — is a private company that does not like to tell the public who owns it. But at least one major shareholder is Michael R. McCarthy, who runs the McCarthy Group. The McCarthy Group has been a primary owner of Election Systems & Software, including its predecessor, American Information Systems for more than a decade. Michael R. McCarthy is the current campaign Treasurer for Republican senator Chuck Hagel. [See Hagel and McCarthy Documents] Prior to his election, Republican Senator Hagel was president of McCarthy & Company. In fact, he decided to run for office while his own company was making the vote-counting machines!

President or King?

The true genius of the US system as imagined by its founders - the understanding that any form of state power left unchecked in the hands of a single person or group of people was likely to degenerate into despotism (or worse), whatever the initial desires of the individuals involved.

It doesn't matter if Carter or Clinton had similar programs, which I'm not sure has been shown. What is most important is that the slide toward an "imperial presidency" be stopped. If we continue to sit and idly watch the growth of the executive branch, i fear that we are setting our selves up for dictatorial rule. Bush bashing aside, if it happens tommorow or 15,20 even 30 years from now, someone will find the power too tempting. With each succesive deferrence to the Executive, we limit our ability to stop it.

test

test

reflect on this

I'm taking my country back

here's the song

Just how great is the economy

EPI was established in 1986 to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers. Today, with global competition expanding, wage inequality rising, and the methods and nature of work changing in fundamental ways, it is as crucial as ever that people who work for a living have a voice in the economic debate

Minimum credit card payments to double

I'm not sure what I think about this yet. So tell me your thoughts: Credit card companies, starting next month, will double their minimum payments. Ultimately it will be a help to the consumer because they will be paying less interest in the long run and pay off debt sooner. But in the short term consumers will have to pinch their pennies to make new higher payments.
So if you're "budgeting" around those payments you could be in for a rough ride. Especially if you hit Christmas hard or if you're maxed out. But sometimes medicine tastes terrible. What I mean is this: If you currently pay min on 10,000 it'll take about 20 years to pay off. Now it'll be 10. When it comes down to it you shouldn't be paying the minimums.
the one problem I have is that we, my lovely wife and I, didn't receive any notice that we can think of from the credit companies. And I'm not sure how this will play on top of the new bankruptcy laws.

The EPA is at it again

in the name of "burden reduction" for businesses, the EPA wants to rein in some requirements. In September, the agency proposed raising the reporting threshold for many chemicals from 500 pounds to 5,000

yet another case of citizens acting like gestapo

Civil rights groups criticized the FBI and a suburban school district Thursday for allowing federal agents this fall to question a 16-year-old high school student who had doodled "PLO" on his binder two years ago.


That's right. 2 years ago and no parental notification.

funny quotes

Our torture stance is very simple. We don’t torture people. Never have. Never will. We just don’t want to rule it out.

DU- Depleted Uranium you be the judge

Out of the 580,400 soldiers who served in GW1 (the first Gulf War), of them, 11,000 are now dead! By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on Permanent Medical Disability. This astounding number of ‘Disabled Vets’ means that a decade later, 56% of those soldiers who served have some form of permanent medical problems!” The disability rate for the wars of the last century was 5 percent; it was higher, 10 percent, in Viet Nam.

terror alerts

does anyone remember the last time the threat level was raised to orange. i think it wa just before the election.

dates for george and russ?

Lamb and Lynx Gaede are two 13 year old twin sisters who are also known as the band Prussian Blue.

Recently they received international media attention because Prussian Blue is a White Pride band. The songs they the girls sing reflect their White Nationalist beliefs. Today, if you are White ,and proud to be White , it is considered Politically Incorrect by the media. The music that Prussian Blue performs is intended for White people.

here's how thety get us

That's the benefit side, the costs of which are borne by the tens of millions of milk consumers who're forced to pay maybe $20 or $30 more per year than they'd have to pay if there weren't congressionally-mandated minimum prices. Which one of us is willing to bear the expenses to go to Washington or state capitols to try to unseat legislators who created the opportunity for the dairy industry to rip us off? Individually, we correctly conclude that it's cheaper just to pay the $20 or $30 more a year and get on with our lives. Plus, since milk consumers have diverse interests, it'd be costly to organize us to fight the dairy interests and their congressional allies

democrat response to NSA taps

Governor Howard Dean is filing a formal demand that they release these documents. You can add your name to a Freedom of Information Act request by providing the information below

clicking here

it pays to own congressmen

the hits keep comoing

German kidnapped by CIA

In the months that had passed, his wife had taken their children and moved away, thinking he would never come back. When he returned, she barely recognized him – 40 pounds lighter, with long hair and a shaggy beard. Al-Masri went public with his story roughly six months after he was reunited with his family.

Since then, he has continued to move closer to his ultimate goal.

"What I would like ... is an acknowledgment that the CIA is responsible for what happened to me, an explanation as to why this happened, and an apology."

Military spies on U.S. citizens

the DOD database includes at least 20 references to U.S. citizens or U.S. persons. Other documents obtained by NBC News show that the Defense Department is clearly increasing its domestic monitoring activities. One DOD briefing document stamped “secret” concludes: “[W]e have noted increased communication and encouragement between protest groups using the [I]nternet,” but no “significant connection” between incidents,

the bush's and the rev. moon

Bush Meets the Messiah
the scoop on Rev. Moon

goooood morning vietnam

adrian cronauer of Good Morning Vietnam fame is the head of an organization called Citizen Flag Alliance. They are fighting for a flag burning amendment. I just saw him arguing that the only reason one would burn a flag is to incite anger. but I think it's an expression of anger.

Burning a flag is an especially hard piece of free speech but if america is free then you got a take it. Even if it means that an american citizen actually hates america. people are free to hate their parents why not their country.

I'm watching the members 9-11 commission come together to grade the government, legislative and executive branches on the follow up to their report. Their commission issued it's report a few months ago and so they are not officially empaneled. What they are doing is saying - wake up

"The fundamental purpose of the government is to protect people. to keep the peace to keep us safe from harm. within and from without our nation if we dont have that we are a disorganized savage society and there's no rationale for anything govt does."- James Thompson 9-1 commission member (R)

They are giving the govt Fs and Ds on the follow through with their recomendations. I find it crazy that we haven't moved very far on this when we have been coming up with ways to okay torture and to buid bridges to nowhere and debating terry schaivo. what is going on

The Russ discussions

I just read yur links Russ. You may indeed have a point on the hispanic race thing. although I have seen many forms that I have had to fill out ask for race specifically as "hispanic, non-white" there doesn't seem to be any such distinction in the stats you linked to.

Now as to Sherriff Moose, I have never been a fan of his.But the link you sent was opinion and didn't source any of the claims. Having said that, I'll agree on the whole overblown PC nature of things today.

EPA to allow pesticide testing on orphans amd mentally handicapped children

what the fuck is wrong with these people

Pentagon pays $300 Million to news agencies in Iraq

Proponents of such tactics argue that different standards should be applied to what is permissible in a combat zone such as Iraq than, say, in the United States or other stable democracies.

I don't have time yet but somebody check on this lincoln group. i believe there are ties to the CIA and Bush donors

Good hing somebody's making money off the war

You may remember me talking about this guy a few months ago. He has received something like 300% PAY RAISE SINCE THE WAR STARTED.

Joint Cheifs Gen. Pace sets Rummy straight on torture

here is video of the following exchange. It's almost smack dab in the middle.

General Pace: "It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it,"
Rumsfeld: "But I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it."
General Pace: "If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it ."

Activist judges?

there are 680 district judgeships and 179 in the court of appeals. Now somebody straighten me out please. That's 859 judges plus the supreme court. these judges can only be appointed by the President of the United States.
now put that up against this:
Overall, in his four-plus years in office, Bush has pushed a Republican-leaning federal judiciary farther to the right with more than 200 appointments to appellate and district courts.His district court appointees have been "dramatically conservative but not off the board - not so bizarre that the other judges wouldn't know them or speak to them," said Robert A. Carp, a political scientist at the University of Houston who has studied the federal judiciary extensively. Bush's district appointees stand out as particularly conservative on civil liberties cases such as abortion, freedom of speech and gay rights, Carp found.On these matters, Bush's district judgeships were rated 28 percent liberal in Carp's study. That put them well to the right of jurists appointed by Presidents Nixon, at 38 percent, and Ford, at 40 percent, and slightly to the right of Reagan and the first President Bush, both of whom were rated 32 percent liberal.By the end of his second term, Bush could eclipse Presidents Clinton and Reagan in the number of judges selected - and leave an ideological imprint on the courts for generations to come.Since 1968, when Nixon was elected, Republican presidents have appointed 1,040 judges; Democrats have named 625. While many of the Bush appointees are replacing jurists named by previous Republican presidents, toward the end of his term Bush could have more opportunities to replace some of the Clinton judges, which would have even greater impact.The cumulative effect, said political scientist Donald Songer of the University of South Carolina, is that "the last three Republican presidents' nominees control virtually the whole judiciary."

quoted from :
http://www.wjla.com/headlines/0705/241998.html

Check out this info on Duke Cunningham

http://www.ndsn.org/feb97/repsson.html

http://www.dukecunningham.org/drugs.html

you may remember this republican congressman. I talked abiout him on the show a few months ago. he sold his house to a defense contractor for way more than the market value and a few months later the contractor sold the house for the market value. excess equals bribe. These links further expose his hypocrisy as he talks the republican tough on crime line but shows how easily he can stray from that path when it involves first his son and now his own pockets.

organ donors

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SC_XGR_PREFILED_BILLS_SCOL-?SITE=SCORA&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

I'm okay with making organ donation automatic unless people opt out

more examples of the coming police state?

woman arrested for not showing ID on bus

kid suspended for taking camera out of bathroom

courts okay bag searches

here are just a few stories in different parts of the country where our rights are being encroached upon. We just have to keep an eye out. because the media is not letting us know when these things are happening. I don't know if it's a conspiracy or we jsut don't "connect the dots". that's why I put this out there. for you to connect the dots

an interesting thought on price controls

http://www.mises.org/story/1962

submitted by mike in mission

Think about your food supply

http://jellybelly.com/Cultures/en-US/Fun/Jelly+Belly+Recipes/New+Jelly+Belly+Recipes.htm

If you go to the site above you will find recipes to mix little jelly belly pellets and get all sorts of tastes. This is what , in effect we are eating everytime we eat fast food or most processed foods in the grocery store. the reason every hamburger at every Mc Ds tastes the same whether you're in Kansas, Georgia, Ohio, or Maryland ( I've tested it. It's true) is the flavorings that they inject into the processing of your meat and potatoes. That's not even mentioning :

• the hormones and antibiotics they feed the cows that we get to eat.
• the cats and dogs fed to the cows we get to eat
• the potential for serious and wide spread outbreaks of nasty stuff like Ecoli

I just listened to "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser great stuff.

can we build a better world?

What if we did something crazy like cut the defense budget by 10% ( they could handle it because the lose billions and don't have clue where it goes)and spent the money on an auditing arm of government (perhaps the CBO or GAO) that sought out waste and corruption in the whole of govt. and they had real power to audit and real punishments were handed out.

Undoubtedly there would be a great deal of savings found in cleaning up these budgets.

The idea here is to get programs to focus on their missions. If the waste and corruption re caught and the money is spent on more hospital beds or more money inthe classroom , loans , armor for the troops.

WalMart is at it again

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/18/D8DV6UOG0.html

submitted by Mike in Mission

here we go kids

I'm going to try and get back to posting. As always, I'll post things that you send to me (michaeltjustice@aol.com) but i'll edit/editorialize the way I want. If you send it make your case in the comments and don't expect me to make your case for you, especially if it's a weak case.

And please can you folks keep it a little more civil. It's free speech but jeez.

the shut down speech

http://streaming.americanprogress.org/ThinkProgress/2005/reid_closed_session.320.240.mov.html

Defense Secretary, ex-chairman of flu treatment rights holder, sees portfolio value growing.

Rumsfeld is one of the most well positioned people in this administration. He was making money on Iraq back in the day, he was making money off the nuclear technology being sold to North Korea, and now he's making bucks off the avian flu scare.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rumsfeld/?cnn=yes

Just look at the extreme good fortune of the companies that cheney, rice, rumsfeld were involved with: Halliburton, Chevron, Gilead, ABM

i guess i wrong after all

apparently it is Alito.

scary info from the BIG DOG

http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=35792

Micheal you must read this entire speech. Able Danger is heating up and the cover ups during the Clinton administration into the Bush admin are comeing to light. Secondly i believe Sandy Berger destroyed Able Danger documents. According to his court conviction he had stolen and destroyed the 2000 millennium terror plot. The question remains was Able Danger a single part of the 2000 plot.

The plot thickens.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_2418.shtml

• Hamburg Cell. Mohammed Atta, Ramzi bin al Shibh, and their roommates in Hamburg came under surveillance by German intelligence and the CIA in 1998 because of their association with al-Qaeda operatives in Hamburg who had been linked to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Those operatives included Mamoun Darkazanli, Mohammad Haidar Zammar, Said Bahaji, and Mounir al-Motassadek. The CIA station chief in Hamburg, Tom Volz, who posed as a U.S. embassy employee, actually tried to recruit Darkazanli as an informant in late 1999 and 2000. CIA agent David Edger shadowed the Hamburg Cell for several years, before returning to the U.S. in 2001 to take a professorship of political science at Oklahoma University at Norman, coincidentally, just a few blocks from an apartment where an al-Qaeda cell operated that included 9/11 terrorists Mohammed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Zacarias Moussaoui.

remote control for humans

This was sent to me by Rich Brilliant and it does have some cool and scary possibilities.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051026/ap_on_hi_te/remote_control_for_humans&printer=1;_ylt=AgFmcC3tXJpgTozO2yaLbxhk24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

Just thinki how far we could be, as a species, if we didn't have to militarize every damned thing.

tax payer bill of rights

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801837_pf.html

This is the crux of the debate:

John Andrews, a former Republican state senator who is now a commentator on state politics, maintains that Coloradans don't want to live in a high-tax, big-government venue. "Those custodially smothered paradises of California, New York, Germany, and France are what Colorado's people would rather not be like," he wrote in his column earlier this month.
Andrews argues that universities should be funded privately and that tolls or fees should pay for roads and parks. He says that medical care should be left to "self-reliance" rather than "Big Brother."
But opponents of the spending limit say certain public needs can best be met by collective action.

E mail from FEMA's man on the ground during Katrina

Is there a way to call this CRIMINAL negligence? Mike Brown was sent an email during the unfolding disaster pleading for help. the email was sent by his own guy, Marty Bahamonde. In a response to the email Bahamonde received from Brown's press secratary, he was told Brown must be allowed to eat dinner. check this link for the testimony and the response of the LIBERAL media.

http://mediamatters.org/items/printable/200510210005

House Condemns Iran's Threats Against Israel

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,173845,00.html

china to make tamiflu regardless of patent talks

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/TP366945.htm

i still think Miers is a decoy for Judge Janice Rogers Brown

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/politics/politicsspecial1/25confirm.html

Frist's little white lies?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-10-24-frist-holdings_x.htm

was the oklahoma suicide a terrorist attack?

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/008444.php

help me collect info. If this guy was a muslim and tried to get in to the game, he was a suicide bomber.

The Gestapo is us.

http://progressive.org/mag_mc100405

notice that a regular person, the employee, turned the photos over to the police. While it's easy to blame the big bad Wal mart, try to remember that we the people have to participate in the dismantling of our freedoms. I remember when I first started at best buy, the guys in the computer repair center were all fired up because they had turned in some guy's computer to the police because they thought it had kiddie porn on it. First off should you be snooping in someone's personal property, but then you have some low level manager deciding to call police. Because I'm pretty sure the photo worker (just like the tech at best buy) isn't going to make that kind of decision.

As for the secret service what are they gonna do? They have to check out all calls. But wait till they start actually prosecuting these type of incidents.

What the ....

Let me see if I have this straight: There's not enough science to teach evolution, there's not enough science to reduce greenhouse gases, but by all means let's start talking about using the MILITARY to quarantine people for the Avian Flu (remember the SARS, West Nile, lyme disease epidemics that were reported but never came?)

Conspiracy alert

Alright. I know I'm reaching but if you looked at 1984 , the novel by Orwell, as an out come of the military/industrial complex you could see the China, the Mideast, Europe, and the US in a series of fake wars. British troops were found wearing Arab garb and planting bombs. We know about the aid given to enemies by this gov't. We give weaponry to Iraq, North Korea, Alqaeda (sp) then turn around and have wars with them.
I tell my son that he can' t keep making the same "accident" over and over without me thinking at some point , he's doing it on purpose.

and what would be the point of a bunch of powerful people running the world (Chinese, Arab, European, American) and keeping the world in turmoil? Well what's the point of Sporting franchise owners having battles over and over again with the same teams. They make money selling concessions and tix. Do you think the oil,weapons, and govt leaders (both elected and unelected) make money selling the fear, hatred and rivalry the same way Lamar Hunt makes big bucks off of me because I'm a Raider hater and I still hate John Elway.

Just a ramble but I think there maybe something there.

Weapons of mass disstraction

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/04/051004060413.1d8efpco.html