Thursday, April 30, 2009

Investigate torture fairly, without politics



Investigate torture fairly, without politics
Detroit Free Press - ?3 hours ago? By all means, as your April 27 editorial said, "Prevent torture with open inquiry," but "open" ought to mean open in the sense that congressional leaders ...

A SCENARIO:

Jose Padia lay in his narrow cot dreading the approaching 5AM wake-up call. Any moment now the ugly Marine Sergeants would storm into the squad bays, beating on trash cans and flipping the overhead lights on and off. For 18 hours a day, the abuse never stopped.
Jose was counting off the days until his pending release. In 27 days he would be discharged from this hell hole and able to resume a more normal life. The forced marches, exercise periods and ’special training sessions’ were beating him down. The worst so far had been the gas chamber. Packed like sardines into a sealed room, the CS gas pellets were dropped into a bucket and the detainees were not allowed to leave until every man had given name, organization and country. Today, was the waterboarding ‘demonstration’. Jose had always been terrified of downing and was dreading what would happen if the mean red faced Sergeant used him to make an example of. He could hear them pounding up the steps now, and Jose new this was going to be a most miserable day in his life.

“ON YOUR FEET! MOVE IT! MOVE IT! You Puke Faces have exactly 3 minutes to have this squad bay squared away and be in formation on my drill deck! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
“YES SERGEANT!”
“I HAVE EXACTLY 27 DAYS LEFT TO TURN YOU LADIES INTO UNITED STATES MARINES! GUESS WHAT GIRLIES, - SOME OF YOU JUST AIN’T GOING TO MAKE IT!!”

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Obama Flubs Teleprompter

Obama Flubs Teleprompter

President Obama had a little mix-up with his teleprompter at a speech Monday.

In an address to the National Academy of Sciences, Obama announced the formation of a President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

But shortly after specifying who will be on the new council, he started to introduce the names again. His teleprompter was at the wrong place.

Obama looked at his machine and asked for help. Here’s what he said:

“In addition to John – sorry, the – I just noticed I jumped the gun here,” Obama said and then paused several seconds, looking at the teleprompter.

“Go ahead. Move it up. I had already introduced all you guys,” he said, apparently to the prompter’s operator.

The audience reacted with a quiet laugh.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Time to Throw Da Bums Out!


I had promised to give the new Congress & Administration one year to settle in and ‘get the hang of things’. But the more fumbling international diplomacy I see, the bigger the spending bills get, and the more entitlement plans that are presented, I just don’t think we can afford to wait anymore. Let’s get them all out! - Out of office and out of D.C.
Members of Congress were never meant to have tenure; the more anti-Federalist of the founders wouldn't have wanted a government that required full-time, much less lifelong, service. Lawmakers usually pitched in for a few years upholstering the work of the framers, then went back to their plantations or law practices. This model of the citizen-legislator held for about 100 years, until government began to expand after the Civil War and the realignments of the 1890s made for safer seats where lawmakers could tuck in for a long ride.
Maybe it is time to kick all the incumbent ‘good ole boys and girls’ out and start over with some fresh faces and ideas. While we are at it, let’s get them out of the beltway and put them back into the states and districts were they are from. Why do we need them in D.C.? With all the technological marvels we have to today they can teleconference, blueberry, phone, fax, mutilate and staple to their hearts content. And they can stay where the people who put them in office have access to them and have the ability to keep an eye on them. You know, like are they really showing up for work, and who is that going into the office continually?
They could eliminate having to buy or rent homes ‘away from home’, and we could turn all the perks like the Congressional Golf Course, dining rooms, and other facilities over to public use. Nancy wouldn’t even need the Gulfstream on a weekly basis. How many billions could be saved?




A man's got to know
his limitations!

Monday, April 27, 2009

545 PEOPLE


By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red .

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people

Friday, April 24, 2009

Is Obama the Reincarnation of Abe Lincoln?

“So, I’m prowling around the corridors, when I hear this voice coming from my bedroom. It was Obama preying quietly”.
“Oh Abe, what should I do? Nancy has all the republicans lined up against me, Hillary has the entire Muslim world up in arms, and the economy is getting worse every day. What do I do Abe, please guide me”.
"I leaned in real close to the air vent and I said in a creepy, raspy voice":
“Son, I know Abe Lincoln very well, Abe's a friend of mine, and let’s face it”.


“Barak, you ain’t no Abe Lincoln”!



regards to this artist


Thursday, April 23, 2009

John Kerry's Veteran Legacy


John Kerry's Veteran Legacy
Huffington Post - ?19 hours ago? And tomorrow, at a hearing before his committee, Senator John Kerry will be giving a new generation of young veterans a chance to share their views of war, ...

Thirty-eight years ago today, a young veteran was invited to testify before a committee of Senators and silenced the talkative politicians by speaking about the human costs of war. He did so on behalf of thousands of compatriots who could not be there. He spoke with the power of one who had seen war up close. The Senators listened intently, for some of them had never worn the uniform of the soldier and none had served in the jungles of Vietnam.

Vietnam Veterans for Kerry!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Obama orders cuts by Cabinet





Boston Globe - ?5 hours ago? AP And Globe Staff / April 21, 2009 Convening his first Cabinet meeting yesterday, President Obama ordered his agency chiefs to join many American families in penny-pinching, but acknowledged that slicing at least $100 million in administrative costs ...

President Obama has asked his cabinet to come up with 100 million in savings over a 90 day period. This sure sounds good on the surface, until you realize our budget is running around 200 billion per month or 600 billion in 90 days. If this is broken down to be understandable to most of us, it looks like this: 600,000,000,000/100,000,000 To put it another way it amounts to one dollar in savings for every six thousand spent.
Wow, I feel better already!

President Obama promised the country a sharp knife in dealing with the budget, but it seems like he got the butter knife out instead.
"To put those numbers in perspective, imagine that the head of a household with annual spending of $100,000 called everyone in the family together to deal with a $34,000 budget shortfall," Harvard University economist N. Greg Mankiw, a Bush administration official, wrote on his blog. "How much would he or she announce that spending [be] cut? By $3 over the course of the year -- approximately the cost of one latte at Starbucks. The other $33,997? We can put that on the family credit card and worry about it next year."

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the
government from wasting the labors of the people under

the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson