Archive for July 24th, 2007
Government sent billions to dead farmers.
July 24th, 2007
I wonder if they are related to the dead voters
The Agriculture Department sent $1.1 billion in farm payments to more than 170,000 dead people over a seven-year period, congressional investigators say.
The findings by the Government Accountability Office were released Monday as the House prepared to debate farm legislation this week that would govern subsidies and the department’s programs for the next five years. GAO auditors reviewed payments from 1999 through 2005 in the report,
“It’s unconscionable that the Department of Agriculture would think that a dead person was actively engaged in the business of farming,” said Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
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Civilization beneath our feet?
July 24th, 2007
There have been numerous theories over the years about aliens and what might be their planet of origin. What if we found out that planet was none other than earth and they were living right beneath us?
Since ancient times the exploration of the North was of immense interest to humans. It was an attraction for adventurers and researchers seeking mysterious land and unexplored islands there.
Legends say that an entry to the underground realms was located somewhere in the North, and legendary ancient tribes living on the planet centuries ago used the entries to have a good shelter under the Earth’s surface. Mystics believe that the entry to the legendary Hyperborea, Shambala and Plutonia is carefully concealed from outsiders somewhere close to the North Pole. Recently, a reliable edition reported that UFOs coming to this planet start not from space but burst out from huge holes under the surface in the North Pole.
While I have my reservations about this theory it was nonetheless an interesting and entertaining read at Pravda.
Is This Bush’s Fault Too?
July 24th, 2007
I’ve been reading about the storms that have caused serious flooding in Great Britain.
Thousands are without power, buildings are flooding and more rain is in sight.
Since so many people thought Hurricane Katrina was caused by President GW Bush, I wonder how many Britons are blaming him for their floods? @-)
At least, from other articles I’ve read, the Brits are taking this in stride and not asking for a handout.
Workers Too Lazy To Man Their Own Picket Lines
July 24th, 2007
When I was a union member and then a union officer I had to walk the picket line. When I was an officer I was in charge of two picket lines and walked them both.
This is hot, tiring and discouraging work. People couldn’t receive union benefits for pay unless they walked the picket line.
Things have changed. Now the unions outsource their picket lines and for more money than I ever got for union benefits to walk the line.
The picketers marching in a circle in front of a downtown Washington office building chanting about low wages do not seem fully focused on their message.
Many have arrived with large suitcases or bags holding their belongings, which they keep in sight. Several are smoking cigarettes. One works a crossword puzzle. Another bangs a tambourine, while several drum on large white buckets. Some of the men walking the line call out to passing women, “Hey, baby.” A few picketers gyrate and dance while chanting: “What do we want? Fair wages. When do we want them? Now.”
Although their placards identify the picketers as being with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters, they are not union members.
They’re hired feet, or, as the union calls them, temporary workers, paid $8 an hour to picket. Many were recruited from homeless shelters or transitional houses. Several have recently been released from prison. Others are between jobs.
“It’s about the cash,” said Tina Shaw, 44, who lives in a House of Ruth women’s shelter and has walked the line at various sites. “We’re against low wages, but I’m here for the cash.”
Carpenters locals across the country are outsourcing their picket lines, hiring the homeless, students, retirees and day laborers to get their message across. Larry Hujo, a spokesman for the Indiana-Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters, calls it a “shift in the paradigm” of picketing.
I guess the unions are collecting so much in dues these days they can afford to hire temps to do their picketing. The problem is, as you can see, they don’t have the fire in their bellies a real union member would have about these issues.
Another Phantom Writer From Iraq?
July 24th, 2007
The New Republic has been publishing stories written by someone who goes by the pen name of Scott Thomas.
Evidently the Weekly Standard read these posts and questioned them. They went to the base where this writer is supposed to be stationed and started checking.
The claims made by this phantom poster are pretty hard to believe, such as a soldier wearing the remains of a child’s skull under his helmet. That one would tip me off immediately.
Here’s what the New Republic has to say now:
Franklin Foer, the editor of The New Republic, will not reveal the author’s identity but says the magazine is investigating the accuracy of his articles. In the late 1990s, under different editors, the magazine fired an associate editor, Stephen Glass, for fabrications.
“Now that these questions have been raised, we’ve launched an inquiry. We’re putting the full resources of the magazine to look into the story,†Mr. Foer said. “It’s taking me a little bit longer than I wish it did. The author, not to mention some of the participants in the anecdotes he described, are active duty soldiers and they’re on 20-hour active combat missions sometimes, and it’s very difficult for me to get them all on the phone to ask them the questions that I’d like to ask.â€
I’m not a journalist, but it seems to me before they run stories they should check the veracity of them first and not after the damage has been done.
This is like the AP reporter who never existed except in someone’s mind. I forget the name, but I’m sure someone will help me out in the comments.
NY Times—Traitor to Its Country
July 24th, 2007
It’s time to call a spade a spade in a headline and I’m doing it the best way I can.
I’m going to give you a partial quote from this article, which I haven’t read yet and probably will not:
While Washington is mired in political debate over the future of Iraq, the American command here has prepared a detailed plan that foresees a significant American role for the next two years.
The classified plan, which represents the coordinated strategy of the top American commander and the American ambassador,
Classified plan. How stupid is the Times to not realize a classified plan is not for public consumption? How traitorous is it for the unnamed sources to leak this information to that rag of a paper?
When is the justice department going to investigate who made the leak, find two witnesses (the writer of the Times and the editor should be two) and prosecute the leaker for treason? Since everyone is reading the Times article, finding two witnesses to that shouldn’t be a problem and they should be brought up on treason charges too.
Sure, all the liberals and all the newspapers will cry foul, but when our national secrets are at stake let them cry all they want. The truth of the matter is they have broken laws and betrayed the secrets of the United States so they can sell newspapers and some scumbag is feeding them the information.
A couple of sentences for treason might stop this from happening.
Smiles I can’t resist
July 24th, 2007
I admit it, I am a sucker for a child’s smile.
When I saw these beautiful little ones at Jack Army this morning, it reminded me once again that the simplest things in life can bring delight to such precious cargo.
While the pictures are few, they are precious. Thanks Sgt. Nichols, for sharing with them with us.
Recovering S.D. senator plans Hill return.
July 24th, 2007
The story pretty much speaks for itself but my heart does go out to his family.
The latest wrinkle in the recovery of Tim Johnson is his still-to-be-determined return to the Senate after a debilitating brain hemorrhage — and the complications of it for South Dakota Republicans who are considering challenging him.
Two Republicans, Joel Dykstra and Sam Kephart, have declared their intent to challenge him, but many consider GOP Gov. Mike Rounds the most formidable opponent. And even Johnson’s declared challengers carefully avoid any comments slighting the recovering senator.
In his absence this year, surrogates offer plenty of projections about when he will make his comeback. But their scenarios add to the uncertainty — even for Democrats who might eye the seat.
In a lengthy interview last week, Johnson’s wife, Barbara, told the Rapid City Journal that her husband remains committed to returning to the Senate, but she shied away from announcing whether the Democrat plans to run for reelection in 2008.
Barbara Johnson acknowledged in the interview that his recovery has been difficult and that his speech remains noticeably slow.
Johnson has been convalescing in the Washington area since falling ill last December, and he attends daily sessions at the National Rehabilitation Hospital. Almost everyone interviewed about his health suggests it continues to improve, despite the persistent physical challenges.
It’s hard to believe but this isn’t a liberal Blog.
July 24th, 2007
I know that lately visiting here seems like your in liberal territory. That’s not the case. Most of the posts you see are liberal because my fellow conservative Bloggers are either sick or have other obligations that need to be attended to. Please don’t stop visiting if you are conservative because things will change. Until then I’ll try to be a non biased liberal. Sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it.
GOP senators to chide Reid.
July 24th, 2007
Someone needs to chide this bugger. I wish the Democrats would vote someone else in as leader.
Senate Republicans are preparing to take aim at Majority Leader Harry Reid over the August recess for being “all talk but no action” and helping drag the Democrat-led Congress’ approval rating to a historic low, according to a document distributed to caucus members.
Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, is meeting with members yesterday and today to disseminate a message critical of Democrats for endlessly debating the Iraq war, stalling judicial nominations and squandering time on at least 300 investigations of the Bush administration.
“We really ought to be asking why this Democrat leadership won’t allow Congress to move forward on serious policy debates,” Mr. Kyl said, when asked about the talking-points memorandum he is circulating.
“Americans have been disappointed by a majority leadership that stages one show debate after another, while the only consistent legislative work getting done is the renaming of post offices.”
Diplomats Received Political Briefings
July 24th, 2007
Seems like this administration is breaking new ground everywhere.
I’ve posted this under disloyalty because these people aren’t helping President Bush. I only wish that he could see what the people around him are doing.
White House aides have conducted at least half a dozen political briefings for the Bush administration’s top diplomats, including a PowerPoint presentation for ambassadors with senior adviser Karl Rove that named Democratic incumbents targeted for defeat in 2008 and a “general political briefing” at the Peace Corps headquarters after the 2002 midterm elections.
The briefings, mostly run by Rove’s deputies at the White House political affairs office, began in early 2001 and included detailed analyses for senior officials of the political landscape surrounding critical congressional and gubernatorial races, according to documents obtained by the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
The documents show for the first time how the White House sought to ensure that even its appointees involved in foreign policy were kept attuned to the administration’s election goals. Such briefings occurred semi-regularly over the past six years for staffers dealing with domestic policy, White House officials have previously acknowledged.In one instance, State Department aides attended a White House meeting at which political officials examined the 55 most critical House races for 2002 and the media markets most critical to battleground states for President Bush’s reelection fight in 2004, according to documents the department provided to the Senate committee.
On Jan. 4, just after the 2006 elections tossed the Republicans out of congressional power, Rove met at the White House with six U.S. ambassadors to key European missions and the consul general to Bermuda while the diplomats were in Washington for a State Department conference.
According to a department letter to the Senate panel, Rove explained the White House views on the electoral disaster while Sara M. Taylor, then the director of White House political affairs, showed a PowerPoint presentation that pinned most of the electoral blame on “corrupt” GOP lawmakers and “complacent incumbents.” One chart in Taylor’s presentation highlighted the GOP’s top 36 targets among House Democrats for the 2008 election.
Business Owner Welcomes Bush, But Not His Ideas on Health Care.
July 24th, 2007
I don’t know why he was shocked. I hate to say it but this administration doesn’t listen to anyone.
They have their own ideas on how things are supposed to be done and that’s the way it’s going to be. No discussion.
I also think that the do nothing Congress should not go on vacation . Vacation is something you earn from your employer. I employed these buggers and they haven’t done anything to deserve a vacation. Stay and do your damn job.
The entrepreneur who hosted President Bush last week for a roundtable discussion on health care and small business said yesterday that he could barely get a word in as Bush opined on children’s health insurance and other health topics.
If he had, Clifton Broumand would have told the president he disagreed with him on most of it, he said.
“He answered his own questions,” said Broumand, who gave Bush a tour of Man & Machine Inc., the Landover-based medical computer accessory company he founded 25 years ago. “I thought the whole concept was to ask us, so I was a little bit frustrated. I would have liked the opportunity to give him my viewpoint, rather than him knowing the answer.”
Bush used the occasion — a discussion with three small-business owners — to denounce efforts in Congress to expand the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program by $35 billion or more over the next five years.Supporters, including some Republicans, say that would help provide health coverage to nearly 10 million low-income children. But Bush, who wants to add only $5 billion in funding over five years, warned that expanding the federal role in health care could hurt private insurance and ultimately lead to rationing of care. Both the House and Senate are expected to vote on expanding the program before the congressional recess begins in August
Spitzer Aides Cited for Use of Police to Tarnish Bruno.
July 24th, 2007
I guess Mr. Law and order has taken a turn to the dark side.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s aides, including one of his closest advisers, improperly used the State Police to gather information about the governor’s chief rival, Joseph L. Bruno, the State Senate majority leader, in an effort to plant a negative story about Mr. Bruno and damage him politically, according to a report on Monday by the attorney general’s office.
Spitzer aides, chiefly his communications director, Darren Dopp, concocted a false story for why the information was being gathered, saying the governor’s office acted after receiving a press request seeking details of Mr. Bruno’s use of state aircraft, the report said.Mr. Dopp later made misleading statements about the involvement of the governor’s office in the effort, the report indicates. The report concludes that Mr. Bruno’s use of the helicopters — on trips that included both political and legislative events — was proper.
Minutes after the report was made public, Mr. Spitzer announced he was suspending Mr. Dopp indefinitely without pay. He said he was also dismissing his liaison to the State Police, the assistant secretary for public safety, William Howard, and moving him to an unspecified job outside the governor’s office.
The report was a blow to Mr. Spitzer, a former prosecutor who came into office less than seven months ago with a reputation for integrity and who promised to bring a new ethical climate to Albany.
Bush Ratings Tumble
July 24th, 2007
Self-explanatory.
According to a new American Research Group poll, just 25% of Americans approve of the way President Bush is handling his job as president and 71% disapprove. These are record lows for the survey.
When it comes to Bush’s handling of the economy, 23% approve and 73% disapprove.
Bush Aides Face Contempt Vote Wednesday
July 24th, 2007
I hope they take this all the way and use everything at their disposal to prosecute these people for making a mockery of the justice system.
I’m not for these investigations but why wouldn’t they cooperate if they have nothing to hide?
House Democrats on Monday targeted two of President Bush’s longtime aides for criminal contempt against Congress, escalating a legal fight over executive privilege and access to White House deliberations on the firings of federal prosecutors.
Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said his panel would vote Wednesday on citing White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former Counsel Harriet Miers for contempt of Congress.
“It is still my hope that they will reconsider this hard-line position and cooperate with our investigation so that we can get to the bottom of this matter,” Conyers, D-Mich., said in a statement after being told again by their attorneys that Bolten and Miers would not comply with the committee’s subpoenas.
The administration showed no signs of budging from its position that the president’s current and former advisers are immune from congressional subpoenas and that any White House documents related to the dismissals are protected by executive privilege.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said the decision to act on any House-passed contempt citation would be up to the Justice Department _ but would be inconsistent with the agency’s previous positions.
“The Justice Department long has believed, in Democratic and Republican administrations, that criminal contempt of Congress statutes do not apply to a president or subordinates who assert executive privilege,” Snow said in a statement to The Associated Press.
There were indications, however, that the administration was seeking to repair some political damage Democrats have inflicted during their nearly seven-month investigation into the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. The probe has revealed information about agency practices under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, including an admission from his former White House liaison that she looked at whether candidates for career positions at Justice were Republicans or Democrats.
Besieged by calls for his resignation but supported by Bush, Gonzales on Monday delivered remarks to the Senate full of regret for his agency’s troubles accompanied by a commitment to repair the damage. He made no reference to the fired U.S. attorneys.
“I will not tolerate any improper politicization of this department,” Gonzales said in remarks prepared for his Senate testimony Tuesday. “I will continue to make efforts to ensure that my staff and others within the department have the appropriate experience and judgment so that previous mistakes will not be repeated.”
“I have never been one to quit,” Gonzales said.
His earnestness was unlikely to blunt Democrats’ efforts, slated to advance on several fronts this week in a constitutional showdown that could culminate in federal court.
Injured Iraq War Veterans Sue VA Head.
July 24th, 2007
I hope they get everything they have got coming. We have gone to support the troops whether they are in combat or home.
Frustrated by delays in health care, injured Iraq war veterans accused VA Secretary Jim Nicholson in a lawsuit of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment.
The lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, seeks broad changes in the agency as it struggles to meet growing demands from veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Suing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, it charges that the VA has failed warriors on numerous fronts. It contends the VA failed to provide prompt disability benefits, failed to add staff to reduce wait times for medical care and failed to boost services for post-traumatic stress disorder.
The lawsuit also accuses the VA of deliberately cheating some veterans by allegedly working with the Pentagon to misclassify PTSD claims as pre-existing personality disorders to avoid paying benefits. The VA and Pentagon have generally denied such charges.
Public Voice Adds Edge to Debate.
July 24th, 2007
As usual CNN, the most trusted name in news, =)) screwed it up. The format was horrible and the moderator was terrible.
I can’t wait for the Republican debate under the same conditions.
Hillary did clean house.
Democratic presidential candidates shared the spotlight Monday night with ordinary citizens from around the country in a two-hour debate that featured sharp and sometimes witty video questions and often equally sharp exchanges among the candidates on issues ranging from Iraq and health care to whether any of them can fix a broken political system.
The debate, co-sponsored by CNN and YouTube, underscored the arrival of the Internet as a force in politics. The citizen-interrogators generated the most diverse set of questions in any of the presidential debates to date and challenged the candidates to break out of the rhetoric of their campaign speeches and to address sometimes uncomfortable issues, such as race, gender, religion and their own vulnerabilities.
