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The
Vidiot's
weekly blog:
What
pissed me off this week? 2/7/2005
(updated
every Monday at some point during the day)
...'cause
I'm angry and my friends are sick of listening to me...
Cost
of the War in Iraq
Remember
these faces.
Media
Contacts
Track
your congresscritters here!
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Mirror
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New York, check it for messages): http://129.79.148.33/vidiotcontact/
Gee. What could've POSSIBLY pissed me off this week?
Hmmmm...
Now let me....OH
wait! I know!
Gonzales
being confirmed! And he was confirmed after
he had been added to the war crimes complaint in Germany no less.(Lieberman
must go! And how on earth did McCain
vote for him?)
No, wait. That wasn't
it. No, it must've been the State
of the Union address! It was the purple
fingers that really got me. Or was it the staged
hug?(Read the Rude
Pundit's take on it.) And last year's state of the union address?
The one where GW mentioned steroids in sports? Hypocritical,
of course.
Also, I'm overwhelmed
with school work. This week's turmoil: A 20-page paper. Subject: Is participating
in international trade good or bad for developing countries? (How the
hell should I know?!)
Political
Site of the Week: Election
Solarbus
Activism
Ideas of the Week: From
MyDD.com
Site of
the Week: Office
Slang
Cool Toys
of the Week: Kidrobot
Store
Weather
Pictures of the Week: Wind
and Ice on Geneva
List of
the Week: The
10 Worst Corporations of 2004
OH HELL
NO! of the Week: Iran-Contra
Figure to Lead Democracy Efforts Abroad
History
Flashback of the Week: U.S.
Encouraged by Vietnam Vote (NYT 9/4/1967)
Slouching
Towards Fascism
We are so doomed.
Excerpt:
One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more
restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper
stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released
today.
Excerpt:
One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional
is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the
seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time
in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington.
It's beginning to look a
lot like 1933 Germany.
Excerpt:
The "Bush blacklist" is "frightening," Tom Athans,
chief executive of Democracy Radio, said after learning that a producer
for the liberal "Ed Schultz Show" was among those barred.
"To blacklist a local citizen because he produces a radio program
at odds with the political agenda of the White House is dangerous for
democracy."
Exceprt;
Here in Norwood, a small group of parents sent letters to Superintendent
Bob Conder, expressing their concern over, "Bless Me, Ultima,"
a book being used in the classroom as a literature book. Conder said
the books, about 2 dozen in total costing $6.99 each, were pulled from
the classroom, and designated to be destroyed. The parents approached
the superintendent and asked that they be able to burn the books instead
of the school janitor destroying them.
Our
Illustrious Fourth Estate
With a media like this
Excerpt:Another
ad put forth by a progressive group has been rejected by the major U.S.
television networks, the latest in a series of controversies where the
networks have denied airtime for what they deem “controversial”
messages.
Excerpt:
In fact, several sources, including a journalist at the Times, have
told Extra! that the paper put a good deal of effort into this important
story about presidential competence and integrity; they claim that a
story was written, edited and scheduled to run on several different
days, before senior editors finally axed it at the last minute on Wednesday
evening, October 27. A Times journalist, who said that Times staffers
were "pretty upset" about the killing of the story, claims
the senior editors felt Thursday was "too close" to the election
to run such a piece. Emails from the Times to the NASA scientist corroborate
these sources’ accounts.
Who needs democracy?!
A
time for war.
Condi is rattling
Iran's cage
Excerpt:
Condoleezza Rice turned Washington's rhetoric on Iran up another notch
yesterday, telling Iranians they would have to "live up to their
international obligations" to avoid a conflict with Israel.
Excerpt:
The Senate Intelligence Committee has launched what its chairman called
a "pre-emptive" examination of U.S. intelligence on Iran as
part of an effort to avoid the problems that plagued America's prewar
assessments on Iraq .
Excerpt;
In what may be a formal acknowledgment of the obvious, the CIA has issued
a classified report revising its prewar assessments on Iraq and concluding
that Baghdad abandoned its chemical weapons programs in 1991, intelligence
officials familiar with the document said.
That
George is some Christian!
If you needed more proof
that Bush really doesn't give one iota of concern for those of "lessor
means", here's
your proof.
Excerpt:
President Bush is proposing to reduce spending on public health and
social welfare in the US to help pay for tax cuts and the war in Iraq,
according to early reports of today's White House budget.
And on top of that, he pleads
ignorance
about the Voting Rights Act renewal.
Excerpt:President
Bush told the congressional black caucus he “didn’t know
anything about” renewal of the seminal 1965 Voting Rights Act
last Wednesday, RAW STORY has learned.
Still think he's a caring
christian?
Guess again. I mean, you're
aware of his malarkey regarding Social Security. Well, did you know
he and his are up to doing the same exact thing to healthcare?
(Only, they have to do it quietly 'cause, well, it's evil.)
Excerpt:
In its place, they want to erect a system in which workers — instead
of looking to employers for health insurance — would take personal
responsibility for protecting themselves and their families: They would
buy high-deductible "catastrophic" insurance policies to cover
major medical needs, then pay routine costs with money set aside in
tax-sheltered health savings accounts.
Imagine, if half of bankruptcies
are due
to medical bills, Bush's mucking with the system can only make it worse.
Exceprt;
Half of all U.S. bankruptcies are caused by soaring medical bills and
most people sent into debt by illness are middle-class workers with
health insurance, researchers said on Wednesday.
Underreported
Stories of the Week
Gee. Statisticians looked
at the lame excuses the media are using to explain the exit poll discrepancies
and they're saying "Bull
cocky!"
Excerpt:
The study, “Response to Edison/Mitofsky Election System 2004 Report”,
was co-authored by a diverse group of academicians specializing in statistics
and mathematics affiliated with University of Notre Dame, University
of Pennsylvania, University of Utah, Cornell University, University
of Wisconsin, Southern Methodist University, Case Western Reserve University
and Temple University. Their study does not support claims made by Edison
Media Research and Mitofsky International that exit poll errors were
to blame for the unprecedented 5.5% discrepancy between exit polls and
official 2004 election results.
Excerpt:
If you read the financial press... you may have noticed lately a few
articles warning of a trend towards "insider selling" by the
executives of many of America's largest corporations.
Excerpt:
The post-invasion US governing authority in Iraq lost track of $US8.8billion
($11.4billion) it transferred to government ministries in a black hole
of fraud, kickbacks and misappropriation, according to an official US
audit released yesterday.
Cheney:
"It's good to be the king!"
Halliburton is way over
budget.
Excerpt:
The top U.S. commander in Baghdad has cited an “unaffordable”
budget gap of at least $4 billion between what Halliburton says it will
cost to provide food, housing and other services for U.S. GIs for a
year and what the government has budgeted, the (paid-restricted) Wall
Street Journal reports Tuesday.
Excerpt;
The Pentagon has deviated from its normal procedures by deciding not
to withhold payments to Houston's Halliburton Co. for failing to complete
the paperwork to justify the billings.
Woof!
Woof!
This
was an excellent move by Kofi Annan. Put Clinton in charge of the Tsunami
effort. His celebrity and charisma will ensure that there's follow through
with the aid.
Excerpt;
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has selected former U.S. President Bill
Clinton to be the U.N. point man for tsunami relief and reconstruction,
a well-informed U.N. diplomat said Tuesday.
Of course, the delusional
Jesse Helms is all in a dither
about it. He thinks it's just a stepping stone for Clinton becoming
Secretary-General.
Excerpt:
In a fund-raising a letter for his senatorial library, Helms invokes
the specter of the former president leading the United Nations after
Kofi Annan retires next year
Like that would be a terrible
thing. Not for nothing, though Clinton is flawed, politically, you couldn't
ask for someone more charismatic.
Hey!
Get your nose outta' there!
Why is it the
religious right are always trying to tell us how to live
our lives?
Excerpt: "With
over 50 percent of couples cohabiting before they marry, and the disastrous
impact this is having on women and children, the president's marriage
initiative is a very positive development that he should continue
to push," said Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, senior fellow of CWA's
think tank, the Beverly LaHaye Institute, and a former presidential
speechwriter.
Finally,
a win.
Dean
"locking up" the DNC position feels most excellent
Excerpt:Howard
Dean emerged Tuesday as the almost assured new leader of the Democratic
National Committee, as one of his main rivals quit the race and Democrats
streamed to announce their support of a man whose presidential campaign
collapsed one year ago.
You can tell that the right
fears
him.
Excerpt:
A prominent financier who has been a stalwart of Democratic fund-raising
the past half-century told me last week his patience has been exhausted.
He has remained a loyal Democrat while lamenting his party's periodic
lurches to the left, but says he will neither contribute nor solicit
a dime for the party if Howard Dean is chairman of the Democratic National
Committee.
And Donna Brazile now knows
what side
her bread is buttered on.
Excerpt:
Now comes our intrepid Donna Brazile, with her love poem for Howard
Dean. She's cookin' with heat, that's for sure. But as usual, Donna's
fry pan contains more sizzle than steak.
Propaganda
Watch
God forbid the democrats
should act as an opposition party when it comes to Bush's nominees for
the supreme court. Well, the Bushies will use
full-throttle propaganda to make it as uncomfortable as possible
for any senator to oppose them.
Excerpt:
Supporters of President Bush's judicial nominees have hired the same
media firm used by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for their efforts to
defend the next nominee for any upcoming Supreme Court vacancy.
Weird
Stories of the Week
Weird rocks.
Excerpt;
Wrapped in plastic bubble sheets and kept out of harm's way, plain-looking
gray rocks continue to perplex Stanton James, a Northeast man who came
across them more than three years ago.
Excerpt:
Brazoria County prosecutors have filed criminally negligent homicide
charges against a widow who allegedly killed her husband with an enema.
Excerpt:
Expeditions exploring deep, mysterious tunnels and caves in various
parts of the world return with strange tales of subterranean civilizations,
cities and advanced yet ancient technology.
Previous
rants
What do we
do about all of this crap? I have no idea. Part of me wants to start teach-ins
at my local pub. Just go to the bar, rant and rave and inform the idiots
who still think Dan Rather is telling them the truth. Another part of me
wants to organize a voter observation program to insure that this moron
isn't in the White House all the way to 2008. I sincerely believe that if
we protected the voting rights of the underprivileged that any Democrat
could SWEEP any election. And we'd have to start with the Florida Election
for Governor THIS FALL (like these
guys!.) I don't think Democrats are the answer. But they are at least a
start.
At the very least,
point your CNN-loving friends to my links
page. Just getting started in reading alternate news sites gets people
thinking. I have one friend who was very happy-go-lucky, thinking ol'
Greta was telling the whole truth until I opened up his eyes a bit. Now,
he's all depressed. He'll get over it. You gotta' get depressed before
you get angry and you gotta' get angry before you can accomplish anything.
We're all in mourning. We have to move through the steps. But we gotta'
hurry it up.
Read. Inform.
Spread the word. Even if it means your friends avoid you for awhile. If
they really love you, they'll start to listen.
"POSSE
COMITATUS ACT" (18 USC 1385): A Reconstruction Era criminal law proscribing
use of Army (later, Air Force) to "execute the laws" except where expressly
authorized by Constitution or Congress. Limit on use of military for civilian
law enforcement also applies to Navy by regulation. Dec '81 additional
laws were enacted (codified 10 USC 371-78) clarifying permissible military
assistance to civilian law enforcement agencies--including the Coast Guard--especially
in combating drug smuggling into the United States. Posse Comitatus clarifications
emphasize supportive and technical assistance (e.g., use of facilities,
vessels, aircraft, intelligence, tech aid, surveillance, etc.) while generally
prohibiting direct participation of DoD personnel in law enforcement (e.g.,
search, seizure, and arrests). For example, Coast Guard Law Enforcement
Detachments (LEDETS) serve aboard Navy vessels and perform the actual
boardings of interdicted suspect drug smuggling vessels and, if needed,
arrest their crews). Positive results have been realized especially from
Navy ship/aircraft involvement.
(Tom
Ridge has practically said he'd do away with this act.)
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