Pony is on back order for a reason…
*apologies for the quality - I had to edit out the MSNBC “commentary”
]]> Pony is on back order for a reason…
*apologies for the quality - I had to edit out the MSNBC “commentary”
]]>Verizon Business, a unit of No. 2 U.S. telephone service provider Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), said on Wednesday it has won a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security worth around $678.5 million over 10 years.
…
AT&T Government Solutions, a business unit of AT&T Inc (T.N), won a $292 million contract to serve as the secondary network service provider in the Eastern and Western region.
And nothing for Quest.
]]>Verizon Business, a unit of No. 2 U.S. telephone service provider Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), said on Wednesday it has won a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security worth around $678.5 million over 10 years.
…
AT&T Government Solutions, a business unit of AT&T Inc (T.N), won a $292 million contract to serve as the secondary network service provider in the Eastern and Western region.
And nothing for Quest.
Of course this makes sense as AT&T was a co-conspirator in the Bush Administation’s illegal wiretapping program.
But not Quest:
Mr. Nacchio [former head of Quest] said last year that he had refused an N.S.A. request for customers’ call records in late 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks, as the agency initiated domestic surveillance and data mining programs to monitor Al Qaeda communications.
So if if you are having a tough time getting the telcos immunity Mr. Bush, just pay them off.
]]>If Senator Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination, what are your plans for the general election:
1. Vote for Obama (or against McCain)
2. Vote for McCain (or against Obama)
3. Not vote, or vote for someone else?
And, of course, why?
]]>If Senator Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination, what are your plans for the general election:
1. Vote for Obama (or against McCain)
2. Vote for McCain (or against Obama)
3. Not vote, or vote for someone else?
And, of course, why?
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Pony is on back order for a reason…
*apologies for the quality - I had to edit out the MSNBC “commentary”
]]> Pony is on back order for a reason…
*apologies for the quality - I had to edit out the MSNBC “commentary”
]]>Across the world, we are encouraged to turn out all our lights for one hour starting at 8 pm.
Across America, I suspect that many will instead be watching the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournment. Tough to play basketball in the dark. Imagine if they had scheduled Earth Hour up against American Idol. Forget it!
So, as Earth Day goes to Earth Hour, I hope that basketball fans will at least take the time for the next “effort” to stop global warming - the “Earth Moment Of Silence.”
]]>Across the world, we are encouraged to turn out all our lights for one hour starting at 8 pm.
Across America, I suspect that many will instead be watching the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournment. Tough to play basketball in the dark. Imagine if they had scheduled Earth Hour up against American Idol. Forget it!
So, as Earth Day goes to Earth Hour, I hope that basketball fans will at least take the time for the next “effort” to stop global warming - the “Earth Moment Of Silence.”
]]>In a recent poll of Americans regarding their perception of the success of the Surge, the following question was asked of 1,067 adults, nationwide (margin of error +/- 3%):
“As you may know, the U.S. has sent a troop surge to Iraq. From what you have heard or read, would you say the troop surge is making the situation in Iraq better, making it worse, or is it having no impact on the situation in Iraq so far?”
Better: 42%
Worse: 13%
No Impact: 43%
Unsure: 11%
So if Republicans say “the Surge is working” over and over and over, 42% of Americans buy it. Add to that the complete lack of reporting on the true conditions “on the ground” (a Bush favorite phrase). The vacuum of information has left the less curious American public with nothing to base their opinion on other than a ridiculously inaccurate slogan.
While I realize that the 42% about which I write don’t often grace the halls of the Mighty Corrente Building, here is a little “snapshot” (a Patreas favorite) of conditions “on the ground” in Iraq, today.
[via]
Fierce clashes between Shiite gunmen and troops spread to new Shiite areas of Iraq on Saturday as the overall death toll from five days of bloodshed surged to nearly 230…
“Seventy-five people have been killed and 498 wounded in clashes in Sadr City in the last four days,” Qassim Mohammed, a spokesman for Baghdad health directorate, told reporters in Sadr City…
Sadr City, bastion of the feared Mahdi Army militia of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, has been engulfed in fierce clashes between security forces and the militiamen.
Clashes erupted there after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown on Shiite fighters in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday.
Ahmed, a resident of the slum neighbourhood of some two million people, said the situation was deteriorating.
“The hospitals are overflowing with wounded. They can’t take any more. Even the medical stores are closed,” he said.
“There is no electricity, no water or fuel. We are afraid of gunbattles. The main markets are also closed,” he added.
In Basra eight people were killed in a new air strike early on Saturday as clashes between troops and Shiite fighters continued for the fifth straight day.
[via]
Fierce clashes erupted in the southern city of Nasiriyah early on Friday between Iraqi forces and Shia fighters, killing at least four policemen, a local police official said.
In the southern city of Kut, 45 people were reported dead and 87 wounded from at least three days of fighing.
Helicopters dropped leaflets on Basra calling on residents to help the government in its fight “to rid Basra of outlaws”.
Few journalists have been able to travel to the southern city, but witnesses said that Basra’s streets were deserted - with shops and businesses shut.
Hassan, a resident of Basra, told Al Jazeera: “For two days now, we woke up to sounds of explosion - we have never witnessed such huge attacks in Basra.”
He said all roads have been blocked and Mahdi Army fighters attacked Iraqi forces from residential and commercial blocks.
[via]
At least 133 bodies and 647 wounded have been brought to five hospitals in the eastern half of Baghdad over the past five days of clashes, the head of the health directorate for eastern Baghdad, Ali Bustan, said on Saturday.
Health workers say hospitals are overflowing and understaffed in the Sadr City slum, a vast stronghold of Sadr’s followers, and a ring of Iraqi and U.S. forces around the area makes it impossible to evacuate the wounded.
So when John McCain calls on Democrats to admit that the Surge is working, when General Patreas comes to Capital Hill next month to spin that the Surge is working, hopefully the press will wake up and present some of the information above and not simply regurgitate the Republican mantras. The stenography of the MSM got us into this war by selling it, and they are now keeping us in it by failing to report on it.
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a decline in a country’s gross domestic product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year.
Bush claims that he inherited a recession and also disputes that we are now in a recession.
As both cannot be true, it seems that “recession” is not a macroeconomic term, rather, a political one.
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a decline in a country’s gross domestic product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year.
Bush claims that he inherited a recession and also disputes that we are now in a recession.
As both cannot be true, it seems that “recession” is not a macroeconomic term, rather, a political one.
From a Bush press conference in 2003:
However, there was not three quarters of negative GDP growth in 2001:
But now, when a recession is politically unpalatable, Bush says:
Might it just be that there was a recession in 2001 and there is one now? Or might that require your taking some responsibility, Mr. Bush?
]]>From today’s Presidential Radio Address:
Where do we start?
]]>From today’s Presidential Radio Address:
Where do we start?
So our Dear Ruler has vetoed H.R. 2082, the “Intelligence
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008”.
The basic why is in his statement above. But he specifically objects to:
SEC. 327. LIMITATION ON INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES.(a) LIMITATION.—No individual in the custody or under the effective control of an element of the intelligence community or instrumentality thereof, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to any treatment or technique of interrogation not authorized by the United States Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations.
(b) INSTRUMENTALITY DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘instrumentality’’, with respect to an element of the intelligence community, means a contractor or subcontractor at any tier of the element of the intelligence community.
Oh, the horror! - We can’t waterboard anymore!
But even more worrisome to Bush just might be this section:
SEC. 326. REPORT ON COMPLIANCE WITH THE DETAINEE TREATMENT
ACT OF 2005 AND RELATED PROVISIONS OF THE MILITARY
COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006.(a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 45 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence shall submit to the congressional intelligence committees a comprehensive report on all measures taken by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and by each element, if any, of the intelligence
community with relevant responsibilities to comply with the provisions of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (title X of division A of Public Law 109–148; 119 Stat. 2739) and related provisions of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–366; 120 Stat. 2600).
(b) ELEMENTS.—The report required by subsection (a) shall include the following:(1) A description of the detention or interrogation methods, if any, that have been determined to comply with section 1003 of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (119 Stat. 2739; 42
U.S.C. 2000dd) and section 6 of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (120 Stat. 2632; 18 U.S.C. 2441 note) (including the amendments made by such section 6), and, with respect to each such method—(A) an identification of the official making such determination; and
(B) a statement of the basis for such determination.(2) A description of the detention or interrogation methods, if any, whose use has been discontinued pursuant to the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 or the Military Commission Act of 2006, and, with respect to each such method—
(A) an identification of the official making the determination to discontinue such method; and
(B) a statement of the basis for such determination.(3) A description of any actions that have been taken to implement section 1004 of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (119 Stat. 2740; 42 U.S.C. 2000dd–1), and, with respect to each such action—
(A) an identification of the official taking such action; and
(B) a statement of the basis for such action.(4) Any other matters that the Director considers necessary to fully and currently inform the congressional intelligence committees about the implementation of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and related provisions of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
(5) An appendix containing—(A) all guidelines for the application of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and related provisions of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to the detention or interrogation activities, if any, of any element of the intelligence community; and
(B) the legal justifications of any office of the Department of Justice
And please don’t forget who voted against this legislation before it was vetoed:
None other than Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain.
So much for being tough on torture.
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I thought it was going to devolve into one chanting “Sticks and Stones” over the other chanting “I’m rubber, you’re glue.”
]]>I thought it was going to devolve into one chanting “Sticks and Stones” over the other chanting “I’m rubber, you’re glue.”
If the first half didn’t already make you sick, part 2:
So what do you think are the important issues facing us? -
Tony Rezko, Clinton’s tax returns, Norman Hsu, document archives, library donors?
To Wolfson and Axelrod - keep this up and not only will Rove be proud, but come 2009, when that phone in the White House rings at 3 a.m. - a septuagenarian who displays symptoms of PTSD will pick it up with one hand while his other angry hand will be on “The Button.”
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The Texas Democratic Party is warning that its March 4 caucuses could be delayed or disrupted after aides to White House hopeful Hillary Clinton raised the specter of an “imminent” lawsuit over its complicated delegate selection process, officials said Thursday night.…
Democratic sources said representatives from each campaign had made it clear they are keeping all their options open but that the Clinton campaign in particular had warned of an impending lawsuit.
Perhaps we can call in the 2000 Supreme Court and Catherine Harris to sort this one out…
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The Texas Democratic Party is warning that its March 4 caucuses could be delayed or disrupted after aides to White House hopeful Hillary Clinton raised the specter of an “imminent” lawsuit over its complicated delegate selection process, officials said Thursday night.…
Democratic sources said representatives from each campaign had made it clear they are keeping all their options open but that the Clinton campaign in particular had warned of an impending lawsuit.
Perhaps we can call in the 2000 Supreme Court and Catherine Harris to sort this one out…
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It speaks for itself… Enjoy!
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It speaks for itself… Enjoy!
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