MUST SEE TV!

Tonight on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher"... Governor Richardson!!!! Check your local listings!

What it really comes down to on election day...

What the republicans want you to think they are afraid of when you go to the polls...





What the republicans are REALLY afraid of...

Be a REAL patriot...Vote Democrat on November 7th.

Bring out the Boogeyman!

Be prepared, be very scared...here he comes!

The desperate cowards on the right will unleash a brand new attack ad, aimed directly at terrorizing you. They are dragging out the boogeyman and waving him in your face, and telling you that a vote for Democrats is a vote for Osama.

Don't you believe it for a minute.

Lets' show the republicans that we won't take their fearmongering anymore. Shame on them.

Kim So Sorry

Oops...my bad!

Guilty Pleasure: Continual F-Bomb Fallout

This morning I find myself feeling just a little (very little) bit guilty for taking so much pleasure in the fact that political gangrene is devouring the republicans limb by limb. I find myself chuckling as I write this, and alternately doubling over, knowing I should try to remain a little dignified and somber at the impending death of the beast, but I just can't help myself.

Heather Wilson is toast. Gone. No MAS. Some years ago investigative journalist Larry Barker of KOAT-TV revealed in an interview with Heather Wilson allegations that she had removed a family file (at the time she was head of the Children, Youth and Family Division) that was embarrassing, and Heather denied it, quickly abandoned the interview and while leaving was caught stealing Larry Barker's own file! (I would direct you to YouTube at this point to watch this hilarious video snippet for yourselves but KOAT has just asked YouTube to remove it because of "copyright infringement" (wink wink). I have seen it, and as funny as the caught in the act theft was, the confrontation between Barker and Wilson and ensuing admission of guilt is even funnier. Well the file has hit the fan peeps, and let me tell you, I thought it would probably not amount to too much, perhaps a report of a family disturbance gone bad, something that you could understand a loving wife wanting to keep private, but it is WAY bad.

The report was made by a teenage boy living in Hogares, a youth group home, and who was being represented by Heather's husband, a lawyer. Apparently Hone, aka Mr. Wilson, invited the kid over for pizza and a "movie" and grabbed his ass when the kid got up. Now Hone tried to play it off saying he was reaching for another slice of pizza, but the kid swears he wasn't keeping it in his pants.

Now this in itself would be bad enough, but combine it with the fact that Heather was on the page board and though the debate is raging about who knew what and when about Foley (oh yeah and probably some other reps...more to come!) was up to and why they didn't do anything about it, it looks worse. It looks worse still that she took fistfuls of cash from Foley. My prediction? Heather will take a page from the Republican handbook and enter "rehab".

Add that to the fact that Patsy Madrid is lapping her in the polls, and I have one thing to say to Heather Wilson...enjoy that pension, girlfriend, and good luck in the private sector!

Back to the dying beast...

So apparently, there is a lot of finger pointing in the ongoing F-Bomb Hearings, and it looks like while the republicans keep having to amputate limbs of the beast to keep the gangrene from spreading, the head of the beast, Hastert, may be a necessary sacrifice.

I have also heard from well placed sources that there is a new page scandal just about to break, and it involves an Illinois congressperson and a teenage girl. More as the news hits.

Frankly, I know from experience not to get my hopes up, after all we know how rigged the machines are, we know that the republicans will do anything to retain power, and we know that the democrats have a terrible reputation of just putting on the pink tutu's and refusing to engage in fisticuffs, but I find it difficult to imagine a scenario where these guys can find redemption and save themselves in time for the election.

Morning Must Read

This Morning Must Read comes to us from Scott...

OUR RIGGED ELECTIONS (PART II)
The GOP Playbook: How to Steal the Vote

Excerpt:

From the start, George W. Bush has pointedly refused to ask that we make any national sacrifice to help us win the "war on terror." Soon after 9/11 he urged us not to curb our appetites in any way, although to do so would have made much sense, and makes sense now. After all, it's oil, in part, that U.S. troops are fighting for, and oil that indirectly pays for all the guns and bombs now blowing those troops, and countless others, to shreds. The patriotic thing would therefore be to lessen our national dependency on fossil fuels, by driving less (or not at all), and turning off the air conditioners, by buying fewer disposables, and otherwise deferring to the greater good. Bush, however, will have none of that, asserting that the best thing we can do to help win this war is just go shopping.

Yet in one respect it's not exactly right to say that our president has asked nothing of us. Since 9/11, Bush has made astonishing demands on all his fellow citizens, asking us to swallow more baloney than the U.S. government has ever fed the people of this country. He and his team have asked us to believe that 9/11 came as a complete surprise, that Saddam Hussein was part of it, and that Iraq would soon be lobbing atom bombs, poison gas, and lethal pathogens at Tel Aviv and Disney World. They also asked us to believe that the Iraqi people would bestrew our troops with flowers, then that the "mission" had been "accomplished," then that those friendly natives had been overrun by "foreign terrorists" intent on wrecking the "democracy" that we were there to build. And now Bush asks us to believe that things aren't half as bad in Iraq (not to mention Afghanistan), as they appear, and that his team can win this war.

That most Americans do not believe a word of it, and therefore will not vote Republican, attests to the diffusive power of truth, which in this country still resonates despite the efforts of both government and media to bury it. Bush's big lies have prevailed not just because his regime has so doggedly promoted them. For too long, those howlers also had the benefit of a compliant press that simply echoed them.

But the truth about Iraq could not be spun away as more and more Americans encountered it, traumatically, in their own lives, and as the word spread ever further through the Internet and other unofficial channels—an arduous process of enlightenment that the press has only recently begun to help along. (The Democrats have mostly sat there mute.) And so the White House's claims about Iraq—and about 9/11, Afghanistan, Katrina, the economy, the public schools, the global climate and the GOP's respect for "family values"—strike millions of Americans as utter hooey.

MORE.....

Good stuff!

Smart Words from a Smart Man...

The real menace to American kids

We demonize Mark Foley but ignore the industries medicating children and making them fat, and even open our schools to people trying to kill them -- military recruiters.

By Bill Maher

Oct. 13, 2006 | If you think the worst thing Congress doesn't protect young people from is Mark Foley, wake up and smell the burning planet. The ice caps are cracking, the coral reefs are bleaching, and we're losing two species an hour. The birds have bird flu, the cows have mad cow, and our poisoned groundwater has turned spinach into a side dish of mass destruction. Our schools are shooting galleries, our beaches are cancer wards, and under George W. Bush -- for the first time in 45 years -- our country's infant mortality rate actually went up.

Read the labels on your food. It turns out the healthiest thing you can put in your body is Mark Foley's penis. He was probably the first fruit those pages ever came into contact with that wasn't drenched in pesticide.

But that's America for you -- a red herring culture, always scared of the wrong things. The fact is, there are a lot of creepy middle-aged men out there lusting for your kids. They work for MTV, the pharmaceutical industry, McDonald's, Marlboro and K Street. And recently, there's been a rash of strangers making their way onto school campuses and targeting our children for death. They're called military recruiters.

More young Americans were crippled in Iraq last month than in any month in the past three years. And the scandal is that Mark Foley wants to show them a good time before they go? When will our closeted gay congressmen learn? Our boys aren't for pleasure. They're for cannon fodder. They shouldn't be another notch on your bedpost. They should be a comma in Bush's war. If I hear a zipper, it had better be on a body bag.

Why aren't Democrats and the media hammering away every day about who we're supposed to be fighting for over there and what the plan is. Yes, Mark Foley was wrong to ask teenagers how long their penises were -- but at least someone on Capitol Hill was asking questions. We're the predators. Because we have an entire economy built on asking young people what they want, making the cheapest, sleaziest form of it they'll accept, and selling it to them until they choke on it and die.

You know who's grabbing your kids at too young an age? Merck, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, by convincing you they're depressed, hyperactive or suffering from attention-deficit disorder and so they must all get medicated. The drug dealers hooking your kids aren't in South America, they're in the halls of Congress handing out campaign donations to your congressmen. Mark Foley says he never slept with those kids, and I believe him, because American children are so hopped up on pills I doubt any of them could get it up.

From 1995 to 2002, the number of children prescribed antipsychotic drugs increased by over 400 percent. Either our children are going insane -- which we might look on as a problem -- or, more likely, we have, for profit, created a nation of little junkies. So stop already with the righteous moral indignation about predators -- this whole country is trying to get inside your kid's pants because that's where he keeps the money Daddy gave him to stay out of his hair.

I don't care if Mark Foley had been asking boys to describe their penises because I have some sad news for you: Your kid is so larded out on Cheetos and Yoo-hoo, he can't even see his penis. We live in a country where the ultimate consumer is an obese 16-year-old hooked up at one end to a Big Gulp and at the other to a PlayStation. So many of our kids today are fat drug addicts, it's almost as if Rush Limbaugh had puppies.

In conclusion, we can pretend that the biggest threat to "our children" is some creep on the Internet, or we can admit it's Mom and Dad. When your son can't find France on a map, or touch his toes with his hands, or understand that the ads on TV are lying -- including the one in which the Marine turns into Lancelot -- then the person fucking him is you.

-- By Bill Maher

3000

No Bush Left Behind

This BUSINESS WEEK article paints a lovely picture of the No Child Left Behind Act's most notable beneficiaries...

There is this guy...

Neil Bush, brother of the BOGUS POTUS

And THIS guy

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia

And my personal favorite white collar criminal...

Michael "Bilkin'" Milken
(you may not recognize him outside of his orange jumpsuit)

You simply must READ THIS ARTICLE, it's the SCAM of the century!

An Empowerment Wave of the Future Gets Its Due (thanks for the title Scott)

Few recipients of the Nobel Prize for Peace have so richly deserved their award. This year's recipient, Muhammed Yunus of Bangledesh, has helped many of his countrymen out of poverty through microloans over the last 30 years, empowering people to find their own way of earning a living.

Here's more...

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Sometimes You Don't

a scene from my hottest fantasy...

In what promises to be this season's MUST READ, former Deputy Director of Faith Based Initiatives, David Kuo, says that White House officials courted evangelicals for their votes and then ridiculed them behind their backs. Kuo quotes our very favorite republican operative, Karl "Goebbles" Rove, as calling evangelicals "nuts."

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Every day, in every way, this administration reveals its soul to us (or lack thereof).

America's Biggest Threat: The Axis of Ignorance

If it is true that, "there is nothing wrong with America that can't be cured by what is right with America," then we liberals have our work cut out for us.

A great many pundits and scholars have debated over the years what the greatest threat to America is. Some contend that threat is terrorism. Others blame Godless Liberals for pushing Jesus out of the classrooms and culture. Still others blame illegal aliens for bringing drugs and disease and crime over our borders, and stealing our jobs and feeding freely from the public trough.

I disagree. I believe that the greatest threat to America can be catagorized by what I like to refer to as the "Axis of Ignorance"...

At the top of this pyramid of shame is the current REPUBLICAN GUARD, not just the President and his kabal of liars and purveyors of homegrown terrorism and fear, but also the shameful trolls that lead the current congress, and the judiciary that behaves like a cloaked secret society, permitting injustices and abridgement of our documents of democracy. Today's Republican leadership have proven that they will stop at nothing to wrest every shred of power and control to further their own agenda. They will twist logic, warp values, and generate fear to get their people to the polls. They will create roadblocks to prevent the opposition from voting, they will fix the voting machines to falsely record votes, and when all else fails they will get the Supreme Court to rule that counting the votes impinges on their candidates' civil liberties.

The right side of the base of the pyramid are the RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISTS. These people, who predominantly are truly good and kind folk dedicated to living their lives in the path of Christ, have been duped by the top of the pyramid into supporting an agenda clearly contrary to thier own. What would Jesus do? Well, I don't know for sure, but somehow I doubt he would approve of bombing the crap out of people who never posed a threat to us. I don't think he would approve of the reckless disregard for the environment shown by the conservatives of today, nor the wasteful approach to our national resources and finances. I also don't believe he would approve of public health care money going to pay for Viagra and Cialis, but not for indigent care. The republicans have led religious fundamentalists to believe that a vote for them is a vote against homosexuality (how wrong could they be?) and abortion and for prayer in schools. The fundamentalist do us harm in one other way, and that is by setting the agenda in our schools and laboratories they are causing America to lose its scientific edge in the world, and that is not doing us any favors.

Now, there is no left side of the base of this pyramid, so physics majors please just entertain me here...

The other right side of the base of this pyramid is more nebulous. It is CULTURAL INTOLERANCE. This is best exemplified by the current raging debate over Border Security, which is a thinly veiled attempt to divide Americans over racial and cultural issues. Nothing has changed with regard to immigration in the past decade, but the administration wanted a nice, fiery issue with which to club liberals over for the midterm elections and they chose this one. With the assistance of media hacks like Lou Dobbs who shamelessly profit off of this big smelly red herring they have managed to give this non-starter oxygen for the past several months. How sad they must be that the fruit of their efforts, this heinous Border Security bill, brought them so little glory. Perhaps if one of their members (pardon the pun please) had been able to stop himself with the teenage pages it would have gotten a little more attention. But the real goal is to minimize the ability of Mexican people to become citizens and earn the right to vote, because the republicans cannot afford the change in demographics.

There you have it, the biggest threat to America today: The Axis of Ignorance. We liberals have a big job to do, but have faith, because we are smarter, we are capable, and we are right.

Iraq's Staggering Death Toll

Imagine the cities of Memphis or Austin vanishing. Imagine losing Alaska, or Vermont, or North Dakota. All of the people in any one of those cities or states killed.

Well those states and cities have roughly 650,000 people residing in them. According to a study conducted by Gilbert Burnham and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, Iraq, the death toll in Iraq is in the area of 655,000. They do not distinguish between soldiers and civilians.

Gee, I wonder why the insurgents are so damn mad.

Governor Richardson on Hannity and Colmes

Governor Richardson will be appearing on tonight's Hannity and Colmes, on the Faux News Network, consult your local listings. It will be interesting to hear the voice of a democrat on that show.

Governor Richardson on the Today Show

Governor Richardson, proving once again that in the theatre of American foreign policy he is the adult in the room, appeared today on The Today Show...

Click here to watch

PERVERTS AND LIARS AND CROOKS!!! OH MY!!!!

I am an army of one...

Oh yes! They have had their hands in the cookie jar! Oh yes! They have had their hands (well at least one hand) on the keyboard! Oh yes! They have had their secret meetings, their dirty dealings, their hushes, shooshes and cover-ups!
And now it is all on the table. Less than five weeks from the election people have looked behind the curtain and seen just how small, petty and pitiful the Great and Powerful Oz actually is, a weak, shrivelled man taking perverted delight in terrifying the masses with shock and awe techniques, color coded charts of terror, exploding liquids on planes, shoe bombers and anthrax. We know that while Oz was scaring us into submission the flying monkeys refused to stop him, refused to get involved, refused to do anything to harsh the gig of the "Great One".
Ladies and gentlemen, we are in need of new flying monkeys. We get our chance in four and a half weeks. Get out there and pick a new monkey, back the monkey and set it free.

Why this Foley Thang Feels Sooooooooo Good

It may seem a bit mean that this Foley scandal has brought us so much joy. I know I feel a little bit guilty when everytime it is mentiomed I giggle, wave my hands in the air and do a little happy dance...but it just feels so right. So I dance, and celebrate this beautiful, beautiful scandal.

But many may wonder why liberals are over the moon about the revelations about Congressman Foley and its aftermath. For those who are curious, let me shed some light.
First of all, eight years ago we had a marvelous president. He had worked wonders with our economy, we were at peace, people had jobs, things were sure looking up. Kenneth Starr, who had spent a fortune in government dollars trying to pin criminal charges on the President for a failed land deal in vain, instead went after the President for sexual activities. He was impeached, but an effort to remove him from office didn't work.

Following that national disgrace we had to endure years of puffed up republicans, claiming to be the bearers of all that is good, virtuous and holy. Democrats were incapable of leading, because they weren't MORAL enough. Republicans had "family values" and God liked them best.
Anytime there was a hint of impropriety in the ranks of the republicans they would get their loudmouth radio and tv personalities out there beating the Clinton/Monica drum. Democrats never once stood up to them because they are scared little spineless weenies. The democrats just let it slide, for eight years.

Well, after eight years of being shamed into silence and losing every single election since, we have a glimmer of hope. With each passing day this scandal weakens the republicans, not because democrats are tearing them down, but because they are cannibalizing themselves. It is a beautiful thing, because it brings the promise of a return to some balance in government, and perhaps some checks on this hideous Executive.

Perhaps most beautifully, though, it is bringing about the end of this false piety, revealing the dark smelly underbelly of conservatism, and negating years and years of righteous indignation served up by piggy right wingers. Oh you can still hear them try the old talking points, sputtering..."But! But! Bill Clinton did it! It was sex with a subordinate! It's the SAME THING!!!" through their tears, but anyone with a brain knows it isn't, it really isn't even close, and it is perverted just to try to equate the issues.

So I do my happy dance. I embrace the promise of a return to REAL decency, where perhaps we can see a light at the end of the Bush Presidency tunnel, a return to some balance, less slimy rhetoric from the right. These are all great things. It is high time for them.
Dance with me!

Photo of the Year

O'Reilly Labels Foley a Democrat

See anything wrong with this photo? That's right, Faux News, in its none too clever attempt to distance Foley from the mothership labled Mark (Taint) Foley as a DEMOCRAT. The graphic was used three times in two segments on the Bill O'Reilly show. Show your outrage, email O'Reilly, I am sure there is a link on the Faux News page but my eyes are dirty now from trying to find it for you. Tell him that he is a liar, and demand he set the record straight.

In Medical News Today...

Medical tubing manufacturers announced today an upgrade to the Foley Catheter. The new models will include a built in calibration system, to accurately measure penis size.

Manufacturers expect to have the new models available for use in hospitals nationwide November 8th.

New Developments in Masturgate

In breaking news...

TAINT

Taint Foley has entered Pervert Rehab.

In other news it looks like the smell of Taint is spreading throughout the Republican leadership. Already Hastert, Boehner, and Shimkus (these three guys all sound like euphemisms for kinky behavior) are reeking of Taint. Tony Snowjob is spinning out of control to keep Taint off of the White House. CNN is interviewing pages who don't even have first hand knowledge of Taint. Fox News is trying very hard to ignore it.

TAINT

Blood in the Water

Yes, folks, there is blood in the water. Republican blood, which I really thought would be neon green. It is time for democrats to be sharks. Nasty, biting, ruthless sharks. If you are a democrat running for congress (I am talking to you Patsy Madrid!!!!) you better find every photo of your opponent you can with Foley. They are out there, I saw them myself on the national news tonight (ABC). Get them. Use them. Make T-shirts and give them away.

It is time, be ruthless. Be like the shark.

Hume-ongous Blunder

Today on Faux News Sunday, Brit Hume argued, with regard to the Foley scandal, that there is a difference between republicans and democrats in matters such as these. He said that Gerry Sudds didn't lose his position for his improper relationship with a subordinate, that Barney Frank didn't lose his seat for his improper relationship with a subordinate, and that even Bill Clinton didn't lose his job for improper relationships with a subordinate.

Think about that.

Relationship with a subordinate???

Is that what we are calling teenage pages now? Subordinates?

How dare this man equate consensual sex between adults to the sexual stalking of a sixteen year old boy?

Why do republicans keep electing closet homosexuals? I will tell you why. They keep electing fundamentalist Christians, and you don't get much farther back in the closet than that. People who cannot be frank and honest about their natural sexual tendencies and identity tend to manifest this in very dark ways.

So if you are repressing your sexuality, do the world a favor. Go out and meet a nice person your own age, date them, and get laid. Keep your hands and instant messengers off the kids.

Does This Guy Make You "A Little Horny"?

"Sick, sick, sick..."

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Mark Foley "was not honest about his conduct," according to the chairman of the House Page Board, referring to e-mail exchanges between the former congressman and a teenage male page who has called the correspondences "sick, sick, sick."

After the e-mails were publicized, ABC News released text messages allegedly sent by the congressman to other teenage male pages.

In them, Foley allegedly said he wanted to take the teen's clothes off, and in another he allegedly asked a page if he made him "a little horny," ABC News reported, saying other exchanges were too graphic to make public.

Foley, a Republican served his district in Florida for six terms, abruptly resigned from Congress on Friday, apologizing "for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent."

MORE

Once again I am going to go on the record with my belief that the more sexually repressed a person is the freakier they act it out. This is one sick, sick, sick man. He has resigned the house, probably been thrown out of his home, and will likely go to prison as well. Hooray!

It's Not Exactly Snakes on a Plane But...

Rodent escapes after passenger sneaks it aboard Austrian plane

Sept 29, 2006
INNSBRUCK, Austria - It wasn't "Snakes on a Plane," but an Austrian Airlines jet made an unscheduled stop Friday after a passenger sneaked a hamster aboard and the rodent escaped.
The flight from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to the southern Austrian city of Graz made a stop in Innsbruck so officials could search for the hamster and make sure it didn't gnaw through any wiring, the airline said.
It said the flight was diverted after a passenger notified the crew that he had brought a hamster aboard and had lost track of it. Passengers were ordered off the plane, and some were taken by bus to Graz. It was not immediately clear how many people were aboard.
By midafternoon, a search of the aircraft still had not turned up any sign of the hamster, authorities said.
Austrian Airlines said the jet would remain grounded until the hamster was found "because it can't take off that way for safety reasons."
© 2006 The Associated Press.

House Passes Detainee Bill

The do-nothing House of Representatives, sensing that they are largely NOT going to be asked back to the dance in November, decided to actually pass some legislation. That is where the good news ends. What they have decided to pass is a bill defining the boundaries of detainee treatment, which excludes them access to the courts to challenge their imprisonment at Gitmo and other places of detention.

Read all about it, and weep with shame...

Bush Refuses to Release Full Intel Report

In this case, the ventriloquist and the dummy are one in the same.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House refused Wednesday to release the rest of a secret intelligence assessment that depicts a growing terrorist threat, as the Bush administration tried to quell election-season criticism that its anti-terror policies are seriously off track.

Press secretary Tony Snow said releasing the full report, portions of which President Bush declassified on Tuesday, would jeopardize the lives of agents who gathered the information.

It would also risk the nation's ability to work with foreign governments and to keep secret its U.S. intelligence-gathering methods, Snow said, and "compromise the independence of people doing intelligence analysis."

"If they think their work is constantly going to be released to the public they are going to pull their punches," Snow said.

MORE

More likely, the report reflects even more negatively than the encapsulated summary suggests, and is even more critical of the war in Iraq. Bush is refusing to release this until AFTER the elections, which leads me to believe that Snowjob is lying here. After all, the agents won't be any safer if the report is released in mid November.

Steamed Rice

I just love this photo of Condi, it really sums her up well...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has taken on former President Clinton, rejecting his statement that President Bush failed to carry out adequate anti-terror efforts before the September 11, 2001, attacks.
"What we did in the eight months [between Bush's inauguration and 9/11] was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding years," Rice told the New York Post in comments published Tuesday.
"The notion that somehow for eight months the Bush administration sat there and didn't do that is just flatly false."
Rice's remarks followed Clinton's TV interview on "Fox News Sunday" in which the ex-president defended his efforts to track down and kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Clinton lashed out against "the right-wingers who are attacking me now," saying the same people had accused him of being "obsessed" with bin Laden.

MORE

Now these statements are contradicted by a memo released by "THE RAW STORY"...

Who is lying??? I think it has been established that Clinton doesn't lie about matters of national importance, but Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Condi have a long, dirty track record of lying, especially when it comes to national affairs.

My Daughter the Star

Little Madeline, aka Mad Mad Maddie, graces a billboard in St. Louis, Missouri....

Rumors of Boogeyman's Death

Does anyone really believe it? Not in my house. My two year old, when asked, replied with a big Bronx Cheer.

Editorial in Today's Denver Post

The Diplomacy of Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson has won international acclaim for his unique diplomatic efforts over the years.
He's won the release of Americans held captive in the most difficult global hot spots - a U.S. pilot shot down over North Korea, three Red Cross workers held hostage in Sudan, captives in Iraq and Cuba.
A few days ago, the governor of New Mexico pulled off a similar achievement that is quite outside his job description.
Richardson negotiated the release of three people from the war-torn region of Darfur, Sudan - a Chicago Tribune journalist on assignment for The National Geographic along with his driver and interpreter.

MORE

Mystery Object Delays Shuttle Landing

Apparently something accidentally escaped the cargo bay, and now they have to retrieve it. I understand, crap is always falling out of my van.

Thaiku

Man in the big tank

Why are you in such a rush

to get to Bangkok?

The World's Greatest Campaign Ad EVER

Someday I am going to figure out stills. But this ad by Governor Richardson for his reelection campaign is too funny. Please enjoy, and remember what a relief it would be to have an ethical, brilliant, and witty President!

If There is a Heaven....

This was the scene there yesterday.

Pardon My Blog

Apparently there is something going down with it. Template is askew. Details are missing from the top. I don't know nuttin, I just work here.

If you can help me fix it please email me at...

caracompton11@comcast.net.

Gracias.

Coming Soon to an Intestinal Tract Near You

Apparently this crap is spreading like wildfire. This morning CNN was reporting that it had spread to a ninth state, Ohio. Just now I got a breaking news alert from CNN saying that it was in 20 states.

Whatever you do, don't eat spinach.

I would lock my doors, too.

Today's Scared Sh!tless Report: America Embraces Government by Corporate Rule

According to an article in today's USA Today several newly created cities are foregoing the democratic process and turning to corporations to run their municipalities....

Click here for the horrible, horrible details....

Rep. Ney agrees to guilty plea in corruption probe

This hairstyle, popular among corrupt republicans, is called

"The Nattering NeyBob"

Remembering Ann Richards

This speech was one of the most pivotal adresses of my lifetime. Ann Richards died yesterday at the age of 73, and she was an amazing woman, a brilliant politician, and an inspiration. I will miss her very much. LTS

Democratic National Convention Address by Former Texas Governor Ann Richards

Keynote Address - July 18, 1988

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Buenas noches, mis amigos!

I am delighted to be here with you this evening because after listening to George Bush all these years, I figured you needed to know what a real Texas accent sounds like.

Twelve years ago, (former Rep.) Barbara (C.) Jordan, another Texas woman, made the keynote address to this convention - and two women in 160 years is about par for the course.

But, if you give us a chance, we can perform.

After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.

I want to announce to this nation that in a little more than 100 days, the
Reagan-Meese-Deaver-Nofziger-Poindexter-North- Weinberger-Watt-Gorsuch-Lavelle-Stockman-Haig-Bork-Noriega- George Bush era will be over.

You know, tonight I feel a little like I did when I played basketball in the eighth grade. I thought I looked real cute in my uniform and then I heard a boy yell from the bleachers, "Make that basket, bird legs."

My greatest fear is that same guy is somewhere in the audience tonight and he's going to cut me down to size.

Where I grew up there really wasn't much tolerance for self- importance, people who put on airs.

I was born during the Depression in a little community just outside Waco and I grew up listening to Franklin Roosevelt on the radio.

Well, it was back then that I came to understand the small truths and hardships that bind neighbors together.

Those were real people with real problems.

And they had real dreams about getting out of the Depression.

I can remember summer nights when we'd put down what we called a Baptist pallet and we listened to the grown-ups talk.

I can still hear the sound of the dominoes clicking on the marble slab my daddy found for a tabletop.

I can still hear the laughter of the men telling jokes you weren't supposed to hear - telling about how big that old buck deer was, laughing about mama putting Clorox in the well when the frog fell in.

They talked about war and Washington and what this country needed.

They talked straight talk.

And it came from people living their lives as best they could.

We're going to tell how the cow ate the cabbage.

A Letter From Forgotten People

I got a letter last week from a young mother in Lorena, Texas, and I want to read a part of it to you.

She writes, "Our worries go from pay day to pay day . . . just like millions of others, and we have two fairly decent incomes. But I worry about how I'm going to pay the rising car insurance and food.

"I pray my kids don't have a growth spurt from August to December so I don't have to buy new jeans. We buy clothes at the budget stores and we have them fray, and fade, and stretch in the first wash.

"We ponder and try to figure out how we're going to pay for college, and braces, and tennis shoes. We don't take vacations and we don't go out to eat.

"Please don't think me ungrateful. We have jobs, and a nice place to live, and we're healthy.

"We're the people you see every day in the grocery store. We obey the laws, we pay our taxes, we fly our flags on holidays.

"And we plod along, trying to make it better for ourselves and our children and our parents. We aren't vocal anymore. I think maybe we're too tired.

"I believe that people like us are forgotten in America."

Well, of course you believe you're forgotten. Because you have been.

'Divide and Conquer' Republicans

This Republican administration treats us as if we were pieces of a puzzle that can't fit together.

They've tried to put us into compartments and separate us from each other.

Their political theory is, "divide and conquer."

They've suggested time and time again that what is of interest to one group of Americans is not of interest to anyone else. We've been isolated. We've been lumped into that sad phraseology called "special interests."

They've told farmers that they were selfish, that they would drive up food prices if they asked the government to intervene on behalf of the family farm, and we watched farms go on the auction block while we bought food from foreign countries. Well, that's wrong.

They told working mothers it's all their fault that families are falling apart - because they had to go to work to keep their kids in jeans, tennis shoes and college. And they're wrong.

They told American labor they were trying to ruin free enterprise by asking for 60 days' notice of plant closings, and they're wrong.

And they told the auto industry, and the steel industry, and the timber industry, and the oil industry, companies being threatened by foreign products flooding this country, that you're protectionist if you think the government should enforce our trade laws. And they're wrong.

When they belittle us for demanding clean air and clean water, for trying to save the oceans or the ozone layer, that's wrong.

No wonder we feel isolated. And confused. We want answers and their answer is that something is wrong with you.

Well, nothing's wrong with you. Nothing's wrong with you that you can't fix in November.

We've been told - we've been told that the interests of the South and the Southwest are not the same interests as the North and the Northeast.

They pit one group against the other. They've divided this country. And in our isolation we think government isn't going to help us, and that we're alone in our feelings. We feel forgotten.

Well, the fact is that we are not an isolated piece of their puzzle.

We are one nation. We are the United States of America!

'To Be All That We Can Be'

Now, we Democrats believe that America is still the country of fair play, that we can come out of a small town or a poor neighborhood and have the same chance as anyone else and it doesn't matter whether we are black or Hispanic or disabled or a woman.

We believe that America is a country where small business owners must succeed because they are the bedrock, backbone of our economy.

We believe that our kids deserve good day care and public schools. We believe our kids deserve public schools where students can learn, and teachers can teach.
We want to believe that our parents will have a good retirement - and that we will, too.

We Democrats believe that Social Security is a pact that cannot be broken. We want to believe that we can live out our lives without the terrible fear that an illness is going to bankrupt us and our children.

We Democrats believe that America can overcome any problem, including the dreaded disease called AIDS.

We believe that America is still a country where there is more to life than just a constant struggle for money.

And we believe that America must have leaders who show us that our struggles amount to something and contribute to something larger, leaders who want us to be all that we can be.

We want leaders like Jesse Jackson.

Jesse Jackson is a leader and a teacher who can open our hearts and open our minds and stir our very souls.

And he has taught us that we are as good as our capacity for caring. Caring about the drug problem, caring about crime, caring about education and caring about each other.

What They Do/What They Say

Now, in contrast, the greatest nation of the free world has had a leader for eight straight years that has pretended that he cannot hear our questions over the noise of the helicopter.

And we know he doesn't want to answer. But we have a lot of questions. And when we get our questions asked, or there's a leak, or an investigation, the only answer we get is, "I don't know," or "I forgot."

But you wouldn't accept that answer from your children. I wouldn't. Don't tell me "you don't know" or "you forgot."

We're not going to have the America that we want until we elect leaders who are going to tell the truth. Not most days - but every day. Leaders who don't forget what they don't want to remember.

And, for eight straight years George Bush hasn't displayed the slightest interest in anything we care about.

And now that he's after a job that he can't get appointed to, he's like Columbus discovering America. He's found child care. He's found education.

Poor George. He can't help it - he was born with a silver foot in his mouth. (haha she wasn't talking about Shrub either!)

Well no wonder, no wonder he can't figure it out. Because the leadership of this nation is telling us one thing on TV and doing something entirely different.

They tell us, they tell us that they're fighting a war against terrorists. And then we find that the White House is selling arms to the ayatollah (Ruhallah Khomeini, of Iran).

They tell us that they're fighting a war on drugs, then people come on TV and testify that the CIA, and the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), and the FBI knew they were flying drugs into America all along. And they're negotiating with a dictator (Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega) who is shoveling cocaine into this country like crazy. I guess that's their Central America strategy.

Now, they tell us that employment rates are great and that they're for equal opportunity, but we know it takes two paychecks to make ends meet today, when it used to take one. And the opportunity they're so proud of is low-wage, dead-end jobs.

And there is no major city in America where you cannot see homeless men sitting in parking lots holding signs that say, "I will work for food."

Debt and Defense: 'A Bum Deal'

Now, my friends, we really are at a crucial point in American history. Under this administration, we have devoted our resources to making this country a military colossus, but we've let our economic lines of defense fall into disrepair.

The debt of this nation is greater than it has ever been in our history. We fought a world war on less debt than the Republicans have built up in the last eight years.
You know, it's kind of like that brother-in-law who drives a flashy new car but he's always borrowing money from you to make the payments.

Let's take what they are proudest of, that is their stand on defense. We Democrats are committed to a strong America. And, quite frankly, when our leaders say to us, we need a new weapons system, our inclination is to say, "Well, they must be right."

But when we pay billions for planes that won't fly, billions for tanks that won't fire, and billions for systems that won't work, that old dog won't hunt.

And you don't have to be from Waco to know that when the Pentagon makes crooks rich and doesn't make America strong, that it's a bum deal.

Straight-Talking Democrats

Now, I'm going to tell you, I'm really glad that our young people missed the Depression, and missed the great big war. But I do regret that they missed the leaders that I knew.

Leaders who told us when things were tough, and that we would have to sacrifice, and these difficulties might last awhile.

They didn't tell us things were hard for us because we were different, or isolated, or special interests. They brought us together and they gave us a sense of national purpose.

They gave us Social Security. And they told us we're setting up a system where we could pay our own money in and when the time came for our retirement, we could take the money out.

People in rural areas were told that we deserved to have electric lights, and they were going to harness the energy that was necessary to give us electricity so my grandmama didn't have to carry that old coal oil lamp around.

And they told us that they were going to guarantee that when we put our money in the bank, that the money was going to be there, and it was going to be insured.

They did not lie to us.

And I think one of the saving graces of Democrats is that we are candid. We talk straight talk. We tell people what we think.

And that tradition, and those values live today in Michael Dukakis from Massachusetts.

Michael Dukakis knows that this country is on the edge of a great new era, that we're not afraid of change, that we're for thoughtful, truthful, strong leadership.
Behind his calm there's an impatience to unify this country and get on with the future.

His instincts are deeply American, they're tough and they're generous. And personally, I have to tell you that I have never met a man who had a more remarkable sense about what is really important in life.

And then there's my friend and my teacher for many years, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen.

And I couldn't be prouder, both as a Texan and as a Democrat, because Lloyd Bentsen understands America - from the barrio to the boardroom. He knows how to bring us together, by regions - by economics - by example.

And he's already beaten George Bush once.

So, when it comes right down to it, this election is a contest between those who are satisfied with what they have - and those who know we can do better.

That's what this election is really all about.

It's about the American dream. Those who want to keep it for the few - and those of us who know it must be nurtured and passed along.

Families and the Nation

I'm a grandmother now. And I have one nearly perfect granddaughter named Lily. And when I hold that grandbaby, I feel the continuity of life that unites us, that binds generation to generation, that ties us with each other.

And sometimes I spread that Baptist pallet out on the floor and Lily and I roll a ball back and forth.

And I think of all the families like mine, like the one in Lorena, Texas, like the ones that nurture children all across America.

And as I look at Lily, I know that it is within families that we learn both the need to respect individual human dignity and to work together for our common good. Within our families, within our nation, it is the same.

As we sit there, I wonder if she'll ever grasp the changes I've seen in my life. If she'll ever believe that there was a time when blacks could not drink from public water fountains, when Hispanic children were punished for speaking Spanish in the public schools, and women couldn't vote.

I think of all the political fights I've fought, and all the compromises I've had to accept as part payment.

And I think of all the small victories that have added up to national triumphs. And all the things that never would have happened and all the people who would have been left behind if we had not reasoned, and fought, and won those battles together.

And I will tell Lily that those triumphs were Democratic Party triumphs.

I want so much to tell Lily how far we've come. You and I.

And as the ball rolls back and forth, I want to tell her how very lucky she is. That for all our difference, we're still the greatest nation on this good earth.

And our strength lies in the men and women who go to work every day, who struggle to balance their family and their jobs, and who should never, ever be forgotten.

I just hope that - like her grandparents and her great- grandparents before - that Lily goes on to raise her kids with the promise that echoes in homes all across America:

That we can do better.

And that's what this election is all about.
Thank you very much.

Ann Richards Dead at 73

She was one hell of a woman, and will be missed enormously.

View the Latest Richardson Ad

This is a really clever spot for Governor Richardson, and illustrates his wonderful sense of humor....

Click here to watch

Kudos, Governor Richardson! Such a funny ad!

Stop Nancy Grace Before She Kills Again

LEESBURG -- The plight of missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett is the latest cause taken up by ex-prosecutor and national talk-show host Nancy Grace, who frequently uses her cable forum to draw attention to abduction cases.

But the Headline News host found herself answering Monday whether she had become part of the story -- only days after grilling the boy's mother in a televised interview. The day after that probing series of questions, Melinda Duckett killed herself.

"I do not feel our show is to blame for what happened to Melinda Duckett," Grace said on the air Monday.Grace also noted that "Melinda committed suicide before that interview ever aired."

MORE

That thick southern drawl, with the tone that implies that she holds both the person she is interviewing and the audience listening in complete contempt. The sound of her voice makes me want to scream. I don't know if this parent did her child harm, but I have heard Grace's insulting, accusatory tone enough to know that if my child had vanished and I were in the pit of despair, and this snotty woman grilled me for television, suicide could be an option.

She needs to be fired.

Senate GOP torpedoes proposed limits on Bush wiretaps

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans blocked Democratic attempts to rein in President Bush's domestic wiretapping program Wednesday, endorsing a White House-supported bill that would give the controversial surveillance legal status.
Under pressure from the Bush administration for quick action, the full Senate could take up the measure next week.
Progress on a companion bill in the House was not as tidy, in part because GOP leaders and Bush are intensely negotiating restrictions it proposes on the surveillance program. Even as the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Chairman Arlen Specter's bill to the Senate floor on a party line vote, the same panel in the House abruptly canceled its scheduled markup.
The developments come amid a sustained White House campaign to persuade Congress to give the administration broad authority to monitor, interrogate and prosecute terrorism suspects. The administration is up against an election season in which Republicans are struggling to keep its majority with approval from a war-weary electorate.

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Sheeps Be Everywhere...Are EWE One of Them?

All around me I hear the bleating....

baaaah baaaaaaaaaah baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah....



Results of a recent Zogby poll:

* "Allowing video surveillance of public places" -- Overall, 80% are comfortable with this. The difference among the parties was minimal.

* "Allowing your purse, handbag, briefcase, backpack, or packages to be searched at random anywhere" -- This was far more controversial. About half of Dems and independents would tolerate this, but two-thirds of Republicans (66%) said they'd favor this method.

* "Allowing regular roadblocks to search vehicles" -- Here, Dems and independents started to balk, with support dropping to around 40%, but Republicans thought this was fine too, with 62% supporting the tactic.

* "Allowing your car to be searched at random" -- Again, Dems and independents were uncomfortable with this (support in the mid 30s), but Republicans still gave this the thumbs-up, with 60% support.

* "Allowing your telephone conversations to be monitored" -- Dems and independents continued to resist, but 56% of Republicans said this would be alright with them.

* "Allowing your mail to be searched at random" -- This one did the worst among all groups, but still about half (49%) of Republicans said they'd favor this method.

And MOST ATONISHINGLY, at least to me...

*Do you agree or disagree that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 terror attacks?

OVER-ALL DEM GOP IND
Agree 46 32 65 39
Disagree 50 65 30 56

When did America become a nation of Sheeple? If you had polled these same people a decade ago about their civil liberties the numbers would have been radically different. Now I know "9/11 changed everything..." but if we are so willing to give up our freedoms because the terrorists hate us for them, then we don't deserve that flag we wrap ourselves in.

Republicans to "Go Personal"

Proving time and again that they are incapable of adressing the real issues in a campaign and can only win through negative and misleading tactics the Republican Party plans to use the vast majority of its enormous warchest to launch a series of negative, personal attacks on Democratic Congressional candidates.

According to the Washington Post, the strategy is to "define" the opponents through opposition research of court, tax and other documents, and sway the debate from the issues, including Iraq (where the Republicans are incapable of winning) to personal attacks, where democrats are typically loathe to go.

Way to go, party of values. Keep showing us your ethical and moral superiority. And hey, best of luck in the private sector.

Halliburton Secretly Doing Business with Key Member of Iran's Nuclear Team

Scandal-plagued Halliburton, the oil services company once headed by Vice President Dick was secretly working with one of Iran’s top nuclear program officials on natural gas related projects and, allegedly, selling the officials' oil development company key components for a nuclear reactor, according to Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge into both companies’ business dealings.
Just last week a National Security Council report said Iran was a decade away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. That time frame could arguably have been significantly longer if Halliburton, which just reported a 284 percent increase in its fourth quarter profits due to its Iraq reconstruction contracts, was not actively providing the Iranian government with the financial means to build a nuclear weapon.
Now comes word that Halliburton, which has a long history of flouting U.S. law by conducting business with countries the Bush administration said has ties to terrorism, was working with Cyrus Nasseri, the vice chairman of the board of directors of Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran’s largest private oil companies, on oil development projects in Tehran. Nasseri is also a key member of Iran’s nuclear development team.
“Nasseri, a senior Iranian diplomat negotiating with Europe over Iran's controversial nuclear program is at the heart of deals with US energy companies to develop the country's oil industry”, the Financial Times reported.

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Why doesn't this surprise me?

Richardson Secures Release of Journalist in Sudan

from left to right: Calvin Humphrey, the Governor’s foreign policy advisor, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and President Omar al-Bashir at the President's residence in Khartoum.

Well, I knew he would be successful, because he is a great diplomat and a well respected man. The "adult in the room" has scored the release of detained journalist Paul Salopek, his translator, and his driver.

Richardson said, “The successful end to this unfortunate episode is a victory for journalism and a free press. Most important, these three men will return home safely to be with their families, friends and colleagues who were relentless in their appeals to have them freed."

Way to go Governor!

ABC PIMPS 9/11

In what is being most generously described as a slanderous, terror-mongering pack of lies aimed at influencing voters by playing to base emotions and exploiting the tragedies of 9/11, ABC has refused to provide advance copies of this pile of lies to members of the Clinton administration, including Sandy Berger and Madeleine Albright, though they did provide copies to some of the most obscure right-wing bloggers. Clearly this is no more than cheap pandering.

READ MORE ABOUT IT!

Of COURSE 9/11 was the fault of the Clinton Administration! Of course it was Clinton's fault. Of course the Clinton family has a long, well documented relationship with the Bin Laden family, business and personal. Clinton's relatives all had connections to the Saudi royal family, and his father was even having breakfast with them in DC the morning of September 11, 2001. Clinton also stepped into action and whisked the Saudis out of the country, including several members of the Bin Laden family, in the aftermath of the attacks, before they could be interviewed. Clinton is a very bad man.

I will never forget the moment Clinton was informed of the attacks, sitting there in that elementary school stumbling over "My Pet Goat," that blank, expressionless, none-too-bright stare. What was he thinking? Don't you remember? Weren't you ashamed that this man was running our country and was so obviously out of his depth? I know I was. Didn't you think to yourself, "Jesus, isn't Clinton ever going to get up and take charge?" Weren't those a long seven minutes?

I will never forget how Clinton failed to take charge on that day, and instead took the cowardly dash around the country for hours, place to place... run rabbit run.

What??? oops...sorry never mind.

Governor Richardson to Make Plea in Sudan

I would post a PHOTO here, but Blogger is not cooperating....

WASHINGTON -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will fly to Sudan's capital on Thursday to urge the African country's president to release imprisoned Chicago Tribune correspondent Paul Salopek on humanitarian grounds, the governor's office announced.

In what Richardson's office described as a "positive and hopeful" development, the governor received a formal invitation this week to meet with President Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum.

The invitation followed Richardson's dinner last week in Washington with Sudan's ambassador to the U.S., Khidir Haroun Ahmed, whom the Democratic governor befriended a decade ago when he negotiated the return of American hostages held by Sudanese rebels.

"Paul Salopek is clearly not a spy," Richardson said in announcing the trip. "He's my constituent and he is a talented and respected journalist who was attempting to do his job telling the story of the people, culture and history of the sub-Saharan region known as the Sahel. I will encourage President al-Bashir to recognize the essential role of journalists and release Paul and his colleagues on humanitarian grounds."

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Updates and Mixed Bag

The past few weeks have been rather busy for me, and have caused a bit of a slowdown in my blogging. First of all we have been celebrating birthdays...

Yes those are my kids, and in the past four weeks three of them have had birthdays. First was Sarah, who turned 6.



Then Maddie turned 5.


And then little William turned 2 this past Sunday.

Yep, those cuties are all mine. Only Amanda, 8, spares me the birthday assault of August-September.

In addition to the birthdays school began again, which you would think would give me a little more free time to blog, but NOOOOOOOOOO I have six fewer eyes on William, who is determined to drive me insane. Kid is into everything...but he is so fun.

Also, most recently, I have been helping a friend out who needs a sitter in the afternoon, so now I have six kids running around here after school, to snack, to make sure they get their homework done, and to somehow still do dinner for the family and get the kids ready for school the next day. In short, I am exhausted.

Also I signed up for Blogger Beta. I hate it. It is clunky and doesn't do what I want it to do, and since signing up for it I can't post from YouTube, or even comment on the blogs of my friends, who probably think I have desserted them. I am still here!

I have written to Blogger help, I have written to the blog dudes featured on the dashboard site, and no one wants to help me. No one will answer me. I feel like a captive.

If anyone knows how I can fix my blog, please, please help me. Oh and since I have learned that posting on MY blog is an impossibility now, if you have suggestions of how to help me get out of this hellhole, please email me at

caracompton11@comcast.net

LTS

Blogger Beta Got Me

I signed up for Blogger Beta, and it is harshing my gig.

Anyone know how to get out of this?

I miss my old blog. I miss the ease of it, and I miss being able to comment on the blogs of others.

Where is the escape hatch???

The Word of the Day

Kakistocracy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Kakistocracy is derived from the Greek kakistos, the superlative of kakos meaning bad. The word literally means "government by the worst elements of society." While not a true form of government, it is instead a term for any system of management controlled by the least competent, least qualified, most unreliable, or the most evil members of a society.

The term is used by critics of an established government, and not in scholarly analysis or academic research.

Kakistocracy is not used to describe governments run by persons whose primary motivation is graft---the word for that is kleptocracy. However, the two are not entirely mutually exclusive, as it is possible to be both bad and greedy.