poor purchase oil at affordable prices while Bush's cronies are enjoying skyrocketing profits as a result of price gouging. I've heard some poor people say that Chavez cares more about them than Bush does. Who can possibly argue with that?
Complete Discussion Below: marks the location of current message within thread
Is it that most Americans, some women included, believe that the woman is less competent than a man to handle the presidency? I don't ascribe to that now, and never will, but you probably have a point there. I've already heard some of the silly reasons the neocons have given that she would not make a good president, one being that she would not be respected and I still beg the same question - why?
O is teh President of the Untied States of America!!
Show some respect!
O is the President of the Untied States of America!!
Show some respect!
Bush is a president who cares about protecting America
not building a legacy, like Clinton. It is a crying shame that those in the left circle of the Democratic party have become so embittered they actually put us all at risk.
Thank you Mr. Chavez
What a sorry state America is in when we have people scrounging around to try to fill up their cars to get to work and this winter people will be going broke just to stay warm and Bush does not offer any help, like maybe capping gas prices or releasing some gas from the reserves, yet, here we have a socialist leader, Chavez, offering to help the low income Americans with cheap oil. Is this screwy or what? Chavez is caring more about the downtrodden of America than our elected servant.
Chavez
Just imagine what COULD happen, though.
Chavez could take a good long look at all the problems with America that you have listed, decide that Bush is an evil, greedy tyrant, declare war on the USA to free us of this tyrant, with the promise of free medical care for all, no more homeless people, no more street crime, no more children being brutally molested and murdered, no more starvation for the poor, reasonable gas prices, etc., etc., etc.
He could invade and occupy the USA, killing some innocent Americans, destroying our water supply, taking out our electricity, terrifying us all while he does it, turning our streets into IED targets, and do it with most of the world disapproving of such an action.
Sure is a good thing we don't live in a world where one president can actually to do such a thing, right??? RIGHT????!!!
Chavez
I know, was really happy when I read about it. Did you see his picture? Sad and... But no, I don't think it is the end for him. He has a few more years as President? Dictator? and there is a lot he can still do. He is a crazy man with too much power on his hands. Let's just hope for the best and enjoy the victory in the meantime.
chicago offered help
Chicago offered help as early as last SUNDAY...Bush says No Thanks
Daley 'shocked' as feds reject aid September 3, 2005
BY STEPHANIE ZIMMERMANN AND SCOTT FORNEK Staff Reporters
A visibly angry Mayor Daley said the city had offered emergency, medical and technical help to the federal government as early as Sunday to assist people in the areas stricken by Hurricane Katrina, but as of Friday, the only things the feds said they wanted was a single tank truck.
That truck, which the Federal Emergency Management Agency requested to support an Illinois-based medical team, was en route Friday.
We are ready to provide more help than they have requested. We are just waiting for their call, said Daley, adding that he was shocked that no one seemed to want the help.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he would call for congressional hearings into the federal government's preparations and response.
The response was achingly slow, and that, I think, is a view shared by Democrats, Republicans, wealthy and poor, black and white, the freshman senator said. I have not met anybody who has watched this crisis evolve over the last several days who is not just furious at how poorly prepared we appeared to be.
Response 'baffling'
The South Side Democrat called FEMA's slow response baffling.
I don't understand how you could have a situation where you've got several days' notice of an enormous hurricane building in the Gulf Coast, you know that New Orleans is 6 feet below sea level. ... The notion that you don't have good plans in place just does not make sense, Obama said.
Obama said he expects his counterparts in Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama will call for congressional hearings, but he is ready if they do not. It's heartbreaking and infuriating and, I think, is embarrassing to the American people.''
Daley said the city offered 36 members of the firefighters' technical rescue teams, eight emergency medical technicians, search-and-rescue equipment, more than 100 police officers as well as police vehicles and two boats, 29 clinical and 117 non-clinical health workers, a mobile clinic and eight trained personnel, 140 Streets and Sanitation workers and 29 trucks, plus other supplies. City personnel are willing to operate self-sufficiently and would not depend on local authorities for food, water, shelter and other supplies, he said.
Flanked at a Friday press conference by a who's who from city government, religious organizations and business, the mayor also announced formation of the Chicago Helps Fund for storm victims.
I'm calling upon every resident of Chicago to donate what they can afford, whether it's 50 cents or 50 dollars, the mayor said.
People can make tax-deductible cash or check donations at any of Bank One's 330 Chicago area branches or by check at Chicago Helps, c/o Bank One, 38891 Eagle Way, Chicago 60678-1388. A phone line to take credit card donations will be set up.
Churches were urged to take up collections this Sunday, and firefighters are planning to collect at major intersections this weekend.
In addition, donations will be taken at this weekend's Jazz Fest in Grant Park, and $2 of every ticket purchased through Ticketmaster for the Chicago Classic football game at Soldier Field today will go to hurricane relief. The Shedd Aquarium announced it will donate $1 from every ticket sold this holiday weekend to relief efforts and has set up donation stations at the aquarium.
Homeless shelters enlisted
By midday Friday, Inner Voice, a private agency that runs 27 homeless shelters for the city, had rounded up space in unused facilities for about 2,000 storm refugees, should they need it, said president Brady Harden.
Ed Shurna, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, suggested the city tap recently vacated units at Cabrini-Green and Lathrop Homes that were slated for demolition but still have heat and electricity available.
Daley reiterated that students from stricken areas are welcome to enroll in the Chicago Public Schools and in the City Colleges. Cardinal Francis George on Friday asked that Catholic schools in the archdiocese waive tuition for displaced children.
More than 400 students have applied to Loyola University Chicago, most coming from its sister Jesuit school, Loyola University New Orleans. Half had been admitted as of late afternoon Friday. Spokeswoman Maeve Kiley said the school will honor their tuition that they already paid.''
University of Illinois campuses in Urbana-Champaign and Chicago have admitted more than 100 students, including two foreign students who had Fulbright scholarships to attend Tulane.
Northeastern said it would waive tuition and fees for Illinois residents who already paid another school, and would grant in-state tuition to out-of-state students. Northwestern plans to let students pay what they would have at their original school and forward the money to that school.
Contributing: Andrew Herrmann, Dave Newbart Bush offered new job!
A Texas businessman has offered Mr. Bush a job as a greeter in his hardware store. Perks are: Ample parking for his security detail, employee discount for his "honey-do" list, and a flexible, part-time schedule. See - there are too jobs out there!
chavez threat
There have been many arrested over the past few years for just voicing threats that were meaningless, not like Robertson broadcasting all over the world about assassinating Chavez. That most certainly is a crime. You cannot threaten leaders of other countries, especially in a forum like Robertson has.
One more thing about Chavez.
I will never forget MANY moons ago when I was in junior high school and learning about different kinds of governments in my Social Studies class. I remember secretly thinking to myself that socialism seemed like the fairest kind of government. Of course, I could never VERBALIZE that sentiment since we were still engaged in the *Cold War* at the time, as well as on the heels of the McCarthy era, and anyone expressing such a view was automatically labeled a *Communist*. LOL. In fact, this is the first time in my entire life I've ever shared these views with anyone. I grew up actually believing I was a horrible person for thinking what I thought and was very ashamed of it until lately.
Chavez has a lot of admirers. sm
It wasn't that long ago on this very board that he was spoken of very highly.
sm is not me. And I offered to leave too. It's on the board. SM
look for yourself. Geesh.
They offered to edit out the "backdrop" but SP
Probably desensitized from slaughtering all those moose.
FYI-Chavez not dictator??? Venez's..sm
saw some thread either here or there (another board here) where someone challenged Chavez and said he is not a dictator....well, the middle class and upper class are leaving in droves....watch this from 2 days ago...(and I know they began leaving 8-10 years ago coming here to the states).
There are a few articles that I have read on this..here is one that originated from Reuters. GT
Wednesday, August 24 2005 @ 08:06 PM MDT
Chavez Offers Cheap Gas To Poor In U.S.
Published on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 by Reuters
By David Pace
HAVANA, Cuba - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, popular with the poor at home, offered on Tuesday to help needy Americans with cheap supplies of gasoline.
Venezuela could supply gasoline to Americans at half the price they now pay if intermediaries who "speculated ... and exploited consumers" were cut out.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States," the populist leader told reporters at the end of a visit to Communist-run Cuba.
Chavez did not say how Venezuela would go about providing gasoline to poor communities. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA owns Citgo, which has 14,000 gas stations in the United States.
The offer may sound attractive to Americans feeling pinched by soaring prices at the pump but not to the U.S. government, which sees Chavez as a left-wing troublemaker in Latin America.
Gasoline is cheaper than mineral water in oil-producing Venezuela, where consumers can fill their tanks for less than $2. Average gas prices have risen to $2.61 a gallon in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Chavez said Venezuela could supply gasoline to Americans at half the price they now pay if intermediaries who "speculated ... and exploited consumers" were cut out.
Article from Juan Gonzalez, a NY Daily News columnist, RE: Hugo Chavez and his oil versus American oil companies:
Oil fat cats vs. Hugo Chavez
I pulled into the Mobil gas station on 11th Ave. in Manhattan yesterday for my weekly stickup from the oil companies.
Their take this time was an astonishing $3.05 per gallon for premium unleaded.
"Every three or four days the price goes up," said Patel, the man in charge of the station. "Lots of complaints from my customers."
Complaints from everyone except oil executives.
Last year, Exxon/Mobil, the world's largest corporation, posted the highest profits of any company in history - more than $25 billion. The oil giant, based in Irving, Tex., is on track to shatter that mark this year, with revenues that now approach $1 billion per day.
Which brings me to Pat Robertson and Hugo Chavez.
Robertson, the right-wing evangelist and friend of the Bush family, publicly called this week for the U.S. government to kill - or at least kidnap - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
"This is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us badly," Robertson said. His less-than-Christian remarks ignited an outcry and forced him to issue an apology of sorts, though he still insisted that he had at least "focused our government's attention on a growing problem."
That "problem," quite simply, is that Chavez, a radical populist who has been voted into office repeatedly by huge majorities in his own country, controls the largest reserve of petroleum outside the Middle East.
Neither Robertson, nor former oil executives George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice, nor their buddies at Exxon/Mobil, Chevron, etc., are happy about all this.
Even more scandalous for Big Oil, Chavez is using Venezuela's windfall not to fatten his own country's oligarchy but to benefit the Venezuelan poor and help neighboring countries.
Yesterday, while Robertson was issuing his half-baked Chavez clarification, the Venezuelan president was in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where he announced a new oil agreement with that country's prime minister, P.J. Patterson.
Under the agreement, Venezuela will supply 22,000 barrels of oil a day to Jamaica for a mere $40 a barrel. That's far lower than the current world price of about $65 a barrel. With the price of gasoline in that destitute nation already more than $3.50 a gallon, the Chavez plan means more than half a million dollars a day in savings for Jamaica on oil imports.
Chavez also announced his government will provide $60 million in foreign aid to Jamaica and finance the upgrading of that country's oil refineries.
The agreement is part of a broader Chavez plan called Petrocaribe, which he unveiled at a Caribbean summit in Venezuela last June.
At that conference, Chavez offered the same kind of deal to the leaders of more than a dozen other neighboring nations, including Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez and Cuba's Fidel Castro.
Fernandez jumped at the offer because his government is nearly bankrupt from oil prices. Last year, the Dominican Republic spent $1.2 billion on oil imports; this year, it expects to fork out more than $3 billion. The price of gasoline in Santo Domingo has zoomed past $4 a gallon in recent days.
Pat Robertson looks at Chavez and sees a devilish danger. He wants our government to "take him out." Over at the White House, Bush and his aides may use more restrained language, but their goals are not much different.
But there's a whole different view down in Latin America, where a half-dozen nations have seen liberal and populist governments swept into office in recent years.
Down there, Chavez has become the new miracle man of oil. Unlike Exxon/Mobil and the Big Oil fat cats, who wallow in their record profits while the rest of us pay, Chavez is spreading the wealth around.
A dangerous man, indeed.
Chavez lost a lot of credibility with his UN antics...sm
Even in the most democratic circles, which I travel in. He made a mockery, not of Bush, but himself. Anything credible he had to say went out the window with *smells of sulfa.*
Venezuelan voters have rejected a sweeping constitutional reform project launched by President Hugo Chavez. In Caracas, VOA's Brian Wagner reports opposition leaders see the vote as a major blow to the president's efforts to impose socialist changes.
An article published in VHeadline.com on November 26 last year, headlined Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias proposed for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize aroused great interest
Since that piece was published, Chavez has continued his humanitarian projects, the most recent of which are extending Mission Miracle in alliance with Cuba to correct blindness and sight disorders to the whole of the American continent, including the US and the Caribbean. He has also offered crude oil, gasoline and heating oil at preferential, financed rates to smaller Caribbean countries, as well as Uruguay and Paraguay which are struggling with the sky high price of energy.
The improvement in cash flow of these countries generated by the financing aspect at 1% per year, allows their governments to use this surplus to invest in social programs.
This initiative has also taken into account poor communities, schools, hospitals, old peoples homes facing a predicted brutally cold winter in the United States ... part of this program includes donations of heating oil as well as financing part of the deliveries from CITGO, a 100%-owned US-based Venezuelan company based in Houston with 8 refineries delivering to over 14,000 gasoline stations. Pilot projects will be underway in Chicago and Boston as of October 14.
As per the Nobel Peace Prize website the 2004 winner was Wangari Maathai of Kenya for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.
If these three qualities are key to winning the Nobel Peace Prize then Chavez has all these in abundance ... and more. He must be the world's leading democrat having been to the polls 9 times since 1998. He promotes peace by asking for troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, so that these sovereign nations can exercise self-determination and define their own path in the future.
Other accomplishments, which have been pushed by Chavez' personal leadership in Venezuela are the Social Missions, all grouped under the humanitarian banner of Mision Cristo (Christ's Mission). The most important of these, Mision Robinson has taught 1.4 million Venezuelans to read and write; Mision Barrio Adentro (Neighborhood Within) offers free primary healthcare in the poor areas and is now reaching 14 million Venezuelans out of a population of approximately 25 million; Mision Mercal sells cheap staple foods and has impacted more than half the population at the time of writing.
Chavez, however, is up against some very stiff competition including Colin Powell (for his efforts to end the 21-year civil war in Sudan); the ex-governor of Illinois, George Ryan (for his campaign to abolish the death sentence in the US); Israeli Mordechai Vanunu (for denouncing the existence of nuclear weapons in his country); the Japanese Hidankyo group (survivors of the US' atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
Look, I offered to leave once and gt asked me to stay. So which is it? Make up your minds. SM
You all are doing plenty of bashing on the conservative board right now, but that probably isn't YOU. wink wink nod nod.. I don't want to destroy the collective consciousness that is putting our soldiers lives at risk so I'll leave, but only cuz you asked so nice.
Look I offered to leave and gt asked me to stay. Make up your minds. nm Newsletter: MADONNA SAYS SHE OFFERED DAVID'S FATHER MONEY..sm
Madonna appeared on NBC's Today show yesterday (Wednesday, November 1st) to talk about her plans to adopt 13-month-old David Banda of Malawi. She told host Meredith Viera that the boy's father, Yohane Banda, refused her financial offer to help raise his son. Madge said, When I met (Yohane), I said I would be happy to bring (David) back to your village and help you financially raise him. And he said no. She added, I think he truly felt in his heart of hearts that -- and who knows if he was telling me the truth -- that he would have a better life with me. So, when he said no, that was my sign that it was my responsibility to look after him.
Madonna also said that she was saddened by all of the criticism surrounding her decision to adopt David, adding that a week ago she was in the depths of my depression about the negativity and the state of the world. She thinks that racism has something to do with the reaction as well, saying, I think a lot of people have a problem with the fact that I've adopted an African child, a child who has a different color skin than I do...I think it's still considered taboo. You know, I have people say to me on the streets, 'Why did you adopt a black child?'
As for David, Madonna said he's doing well, describing him as very flirtatious and hysterically funny. He also has a temper.
More of Madonna's interview will air today (Thursday, November 2nd).
Meanwhile, David's father said in a recent interview, Madonna was like a bulldozer who has cleared the way for a better life for my son, according to the Associated Press.
The author has strong opinions, but I think he is right on!
Simon Winchester's recap of the events of April 18, 1906.
Teddy Roosevelt was President the morning San Francisco was hit by its devastating earthquake.
We were a DIFFERENT AMERICA then, Puppies. Just read this:
1. There was no warning...ZERO...than anything was amiss. Unlike August, 2005, there was no 10 days of warning ahead of the disaster. There were no satellites, no wireless, no TV. 2. In a city of 400,000...3,000 died and 225,000 were homeless. This happened in minutes...not days. At 5:12 a.m., the massive tectonic shake brought down a city, Rich and Poor alike. 3. The military responded instantly...in 153 minutes, the troops from the Presidio presented themselves...armed and ready...to the Mayor. Unlike the appalling delays with Katrina, the General in charge took instant command and moved his troops. FEMA stalled everything, including relief water trucks from Wal-Mart! (Ask yourself what sort of people we have become...when we need to wait for a Permission Slip from Brownie to move to help our neighbors?) 4. Mayor Schmiz, commandeered a boat to rush to Oakland, to wire the news to America. (Via Morse Code):San Francisco is in ruins. Our city needs help. 9 simple words. Which was how America found out about the catastrophe. No CNN. No Fox. No Geraldo. And how America responded. 5. The first relief train from L.A. arrived that night. Packed with food and clothing. Nobody in LaLa Land had to ask. They just DID IT. And there was no FEMA to turn back the train. 6. The Navy and the Coast Guard rushed in ships and boats to help. Nobody needed to go through channels. 7. The NEXT DAY Congress had passed legislation that allowed Roosevelt to dispatch rescue trains west....including the LARGEST HOSPITAL TRAIN EVER ASSEMBLED!!!. How is it, way back in 1916, from a standing start, Congress could assemble a massive train like that...when Bush had a hospital ship offshore (the Bataan)...which was never used???? 8. The guy in charge of the Post Office issued an order...signed by him, that NO UNSTAMPED LETTER WAS TO BE HELD UP FOR LACK OF POSTAGE! Can you IMAGINE any of our functionaries in today's wimp world of CAN'T DO Americans...issuing an order like that!! The brave pilots who got relegated to Kennel Duty for rescuing civilians know better.
Winchester does not mention the wonderful story of the founder of the Bank of America...who stood on the sidewalk and made sure his depositors could get cash, even as the bank lay in ruins. That speaks to an ATTITUDE about HELPING everyday Americans, and not just the Tax Pampered rich.
IN TODAY'S AMERICA...THE PUBLIC DOESN'T MATTER. INSTEAD...AT ALL COST PROTECT YOUR JOB, YOUR SENIORITY, YOUR RETIREMENT PACKAGE. Go along, shut up and mind your business.
America..where are you?
Tens of thousands, both American and Iraqi, have died for NOTHING..and when the truth is told finally, we will see the war was based on lies. Bush and his crew need to have something done to them, stand trial, impeachment, imprisonment, whatever..we cannot let this crime against humanity just slide by. I am outraged by it all and deeply saddened but I did not lose a loved one in this immoral war..I cannot even begin to think how I would react if I had lost someone to a war that did not have to be waged..I know, for sure, I would be one extremely rageful person..Give me a president who has had love affairs because of his weakness of loving women anyday over a president who loves to kill and wage war. I cannot believe what America is becoming..There are truly bad times..
America's war on the web
America's war on the web
While the US remains committed to hunting down al-Qaeda operatives, it is now taking the battle to new fronts. Deep within the Pentagon, technologies are being deployed to wage the war on terror on the internet, in newspapers and even through mobile phones. Investigations editor Neil Mackay reports
IMAGINE a world where wars are fought over the internet; where TV broadcasts and newspaper reports are designed by the military to confuse the population; and where a foreign armed power can shut down your computer, phone, radio or TV at will.
In 2006, we are just about to enter such a world. This is the age of information warfare, and details of how this new military doctrine will affect everyone on the planet are contained in a report, entitled The Information Operations Roadmap, commissioned and approved by US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld and seen by the Sunday Herald.
The Pentagon has already signed off $383 million to force through the document’s recommendations by 2009. Military and intelligence sources in the US talk of “a revolution in the concept of warfare”. The report orders three new developments in America’s approach to warfare:
Firstly, the Pentagon says it will wage war against the internet in order to dominate the realm of communications, prevent digital attacks on the US and its allies, and to have the upper hand when launching cyber-attacks against enemies.
Secondly, psychological military operations, known as psyops, will be at the heart of future military action. Psyops involve using any media – from newspapers, books and posters to the internet, music, Blackberrys and personal digital assistants (PDAs) – to put out black propaganda to assist government and military strategy. Psyops involve the dissemination of lies and fake stories and releasing information to wrong-foot the enemy.
Thirdly, the US wants to take control of the Earth’s electromagnetic spectrum, allowing US war planners to dominate mobile phones, PDAs, the web, radio, TV and other forms of modern communication. That could see entire countries denied access to telecommunications at the flick of a switch by America.
Freedom of speech advocates are horrified at this new doctrine, but military planners and members of the intelligence community embrace the idea as a necessary development in modern combat.
Human rights lawyer John Scott, who chairs the Scottish Centre for Human Rights, said: “This is an unwelcome but natural development of what we have seen. I find what is said in this document to be frightening, and it needs serious parliamentary scrutiny.”
Crispin Black – who has worked for the Joint Intelligence Committee, and has been an Army lieutenant colonel, a military intelligence officer, a member of the Defence Intelligence Staff and a Cabinet Office intelligence analyst who briefed Number 10 – said he broadly supported the report as it tallied with the Pentagon’s over-arching vision for “full spectrum dominance” in all military matters.
“I’m all for taking down al-Qaeda websites. Shutting down enemy propaganda is a reasonable course of action. Al-Qaeda is very good at [information warfare on the internet], so we need to catch up. The US needs to lift its game,” he said.
This revolution in information warfare is merely an extension of the politics of the “neoconservative” Bush White House. Even before getting into power, key players in Team Bush were planning total military and political domination of the globe. In September 2000, the now notorious document Rebuilding America’s Defences – written by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a think-tank staffed by some of the Bush presidency’s leading lights – said that America needed a “blueprint for maintaining US global pre-eminence, precluding the rise of a great power-rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests”.
The PNAC was founded by Dick Cheney, the vice-president; Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary; Bush’s younger brother, Jeb; Paul Wolfowitz, once Rumsfeld’s deputy and now head of the World Bank; and Lewis Libby, Cheney’s former chief of staff, now indicted for perjury in America.
Rebuilding America’s Defences also spoke of taking control of the internet. A heavily censored version of the document was released under Freedom of Information legislation to the National Security Archive at George Washington University in the US.
The report admits the US is vulnerable to electronic warfare. “Networks are growing faster than we can defend them,” the report notes. “The sophistication and capability of … nation states to degrade system and network operations are rapidly increasing.”
T he report says the US military’s first priority is that the “department [of defence] must be prepared to ‘fight the net’”. The internet is seen in much the same way as an enemy state by the Pentagon because of the way it can be used to propagandise, organise and mount electronic attacks on crucial US targets. Under the heading “offensive cyber operations”, two pages outlining possible operations are blacked out.
Next, the Pentagon focuses on electronic warfare, saying it must be elevated to the heart of US military war planning. It will “provide maximum control of the electromagnetic spectrum, denying, degrading, disrupting or destroying the full spectrum of communications equipment … it is increasingly important that our forces dominate the electromagnetic spectrum with attack capabilities”. Put simply, this means US forces having the power to knock out any or all forms of telecommunications on the planet.
After electronic warfare, the US war planners turn their attention to psychological operations: “Military forces must be better prepared to use psyops in support of military operations.” The State Department, which carries out US diplomatic functions, is known to be worried that the rise of such operations could undermine American diplomacy if uncovered by foreign states. Other examples of information war listed in the report include the creation of “Truth Squads” to provide public information when negative publicity, such as the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, hits US operations, and the establishment of “Humanitarian Road Shows”, which will talk up American support for democracy and freedom.
The Pentagon also wants to target a “broader set of select foreign media and audiences”, with $161m set aside to help place pro-US articles in overseas media.
Like 70% of America, I have BES sm
(Bush Exasperation Syndrome), same with Congress. I am active in trying to do something about it though. Tommy Chong has common sense, and Paris is just the art of distraction day in and day out by the media to keep people from paying attention to the real issues. Sure wish people would wake up. Real news: 3,682 dead US soliders. Very sad photo from Rosie's blog. http://www.rosie.com/blog/files/headers/53_large_4mkep2w-1.jpg
And that is what America is all about....
finding common ground. I agree also with your points here...and I am not 100% on McCain, there are some issues there too. But he comes way closer to what I think is good for the country than Obama does, and that has to be my main concern in this election. Because of the Dem stand on abortion and spending and many other things, it would be difficult to vote for a Dem anyway who was hard line. Now you take Zell Miller...there is a Democrat I could love. Old school conservative Democrat like a lot of my family. God bless'em. Their party has left them behind. :)
america first
There is no way we can put the world on our shoulders anymore.
That's what America needs!!!
To be yelled at to wake up!!!!!
Maybe you should go back to American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and Survivor and keep focused on those mind-numbing brainless shows for the brain dead while the country goes down the tubes.
As more people lose their jobs and as others' insurance premiums rise to become the most expensive monthly expense, the "majority" may find themselves unemployed, uninsured and unable to afford health insurance.
I became ill six years ago with a disease for which there is no cure, and I've kept trying to work, but over these six years, my income has dwindled very dramatically as a result of my illness and frequent hospitalizations. (As of this date, I've grossed less than $800.00 total for the year 2009, compared to the $40,000 to $44,000 I grossed prior to the onset of my illness.) I've been hospitalized twice this year, and when I'm not in the hospital, I'm trying to treat myself at home rather than be in the hospital. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. I'm on a multitude of drugs (12 total), including a Duragesic pain patch that I wear 24/7. (This drug is 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine.) This, along with other medications I take, is very expensive. I'm fortunate enough to get most of my medications for free from the manufacturers' patient assistance programs. The others I can find on Walmart's list. The ones that I can't, I'm able to use a little card that I printed from the internet for free, and I receive a pretty substantial discount. (I believe anyone can get one of these; it's called a PS Card. In case you need one, the web address is: http://www.pscard.com/)
In addition, I've recently been diagnosed with major depression (I wonder why!), as well as PTSD (for other personal reasons), and I'm at the point where I'm eligible for and am applying for Medicaid benefits. I can't even begin to describe the shame I feel, since I've worked for 40 of my 56 years on this planet, and I know that eventually, my employer is going to fire me for my lack of production. (So far, she's been very kind and understanding and lets me work when I can.) But I've always been healthy, and I've always been easily able to pay my bills, including my health insurance. The thought that I may now be on the government "dole" is a very disappointing thought for someone who has always worked and has always been independent. Since becoming ill, I've lost my health insurance, my car and even my phone. I'm now barely able to pay my cable internet bill and am jeopardy of losing that, as well. If that happens, then my job will be gone. I certainly need that job much more than my employer needs me at this point, because that job is the only source of self-esteem I have remaining in my life, even though I know my contribution is less than minimal.
Since my initial diagnosis, I lost my health insurance when it rose from $622 to $711 a month. Before being forced to cancel my insurance, I called around to a few insurance companies and was literally laughed at and told there was no way I'd be insured by ANY company with my preexisting condition of pancreatitis. (This was before they discovered I have cystic fibrosis, the cause of the pancreatitis, so I'm now forever uninsurable by for-profit insurance companies.)
I just saw the doctor yesterday, and there's now a lump on my abdomen. He says if it's there a month from now, I need to see a surgeon. (I promised him that it WON'T BE.) That's where I draw the line. If I have no insurance, then NO SURGEONS AND NO SURGERY. Same reason I haven't had a mammogram. If they find something, I just can't deal with incurring astronomic medical bills that I can't possibly pay. We all have to go sometime, and if I'm in that position, then I'll just have to go because quality of life is an important issue, as well, and being hit with bill after bill after bill that can't possibly be paid can seriously destroy anyone's quality of life.
I used to feel like a lot of you on this board feel. However, I'm walking in different shoes now, and that has certainly changed my opinion and forced me to understand how others may be forced to live -- forced -- not through any choice of their own. Though I wouldn't wish "my shoes" on my worst enemy, if I could wave a magic wand and just have someone walk in these shoes for a very brief time, it might help others to understand that there are two sides to every story. If my application for Medicaid is accepted, I will be both relieved and ashamed at the same time, but I just might live longer.
This is the time America comes together.
We roll up our sleeves, and roll up our pant legs and we get in there and help. We know that God is great and prayer never wasted. We lend a helping hand and we volunteer. We contribute to charities. We got and help rebuild. We sink in the mud and we come out victorious. What we don't do is blame our President, make excuses for victims who shoot at their rescuers, who are now also patrolling the streets in full body armour with assault weapons raping women. What is WRONG with you? What has happened to this country that people like you are posting things like this. I must say, I am speechless at your impropriety and lack of willingness to do anything but place blame. Shame on you all!
Wake up America
America is becoming a shadow what it once was. Time to clean house from the president down to our state representative. Whether you be Republican or Democrat we need to get new blood in our government. Everyone needs to get out and vote and remember all of these tragedies. Time has a way of healing and being amnesiac at the poles, remember, always remember.
Below 40%, OMG, America is finally *getting it*
September 10th, 2005 11:57 am President's Approval Rating Dips Below 40
President Bush's job approval has dipped below 40 percent for the first time in the AP-Ipsos poll, reflecting widespread doubts about his handling of gasoline prices and the response to Hurricane Katrina.
Nearly four years after Bush's job approval soared into the 80s after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Bush was at 39 percent job approval in an AP-Ipsos poll taken this week. That's the lowest since the the poll was started in December 2003.
The public's view of the nation's direction has grown increasingly negative as well, with nearly two-thirds now saying the country is heading down the wrong track.
you are innocent until proven guilty? DeLay says it a political vendetta. Who knows, let's let is play out. And I wouldn't be so smug about wrongdoings on the right...There are plenty of those skeletons in the Democrat's closet to last us a lifetime. Remember Ken Starr? Of course THAT was an attempt to destroy a man, but of course THIS can only be wrongdoing by a Republican. Don't embarress yourselves just yet.
Hope we won't hear too much whining about innocent until proven guilty however - DeLay's indictment spells it right out and despite his predictable claims of witch hunt and fanatic partisan vendetta, there really doesn't seem to be any question about what happened. They have the check copies and they have the testimony. So yes, we have to wait for the formal sentencing after the facts have been heard by the Grand Jury - but there is no other side to the story so far as I can see, and no alternate explanation possible about what happened.
.....convince thousands of people that it is all right to exterminate a race of people simply because they believe them to be inferior or subhuman. It happened once and it could happen again.
It has happened many times in many countries. Sometimes the U.S. tries to intervene, sometimes we ignore it and sometimes we, ourselves, are the perpetrators (as with the Native Americans...we viewed them as subhumans as well as supporting regimes that to part in mass murder). We are not a guiltless superpower.
Al Sharpton doesn't have to look far for fuel...see the following story on racism in America.
On June 28 2007 a young black defendant Mychal Bell was found guilty of aggravated assault against a young white man by an all white jury despite conflicting testimony from witnesses.
His defense lawyer was incompetent at the very least and didn't even call the only adult to witness what happened to the stand. This man's testimony could have concievably blown the prosecuters case out of the water.
Originally the prosecuter tryed to charge Mychal and others with attempted murder for being involved in what was basically a fight and only backed off because of a worlwide public out cry. Learn more about the case from documents sent to me by Alan Bean, the founder of Friends of Justice a group dedicated to making sure all people are given a fair trial. You can read the documents by clicking the links below:
marks the location of current message within thread
![General](http://www.vivelecanada.ca/layout/SuperBlue/images/topics/topic_news.gif" "General")
