The Curlydog Blog

Domain Tweak - Update RSS feeds

2007-12-24T14:14:00.000-05:00

If you have subscribed to the RSS feeds you will need to delete and read the feeds, we are moving the Blog to the main page.

While curlydog.com/blog will redirect to the main page, the rss feeds will not.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!!

TASER ME ELMO

2007-12-24T06:55:00.001-05:00

RJ Matsen St Louis Post-Dispatch December 21, 2007

Thanks to the Moderate Voice for pointing it out.

Dude at least they didn't tase you

2007-12-23T14:36:00.001-05:00

Lost a car, found a mess

Prowling the jammed mall lot draws unfriendly attention from security and police.

Larry DiSalvo called Saturday the worst shopping day of his life.

Not even close.

There he stood in the Tyrone Square Mall parking lot, surrounded by three police cruisers and mall security. Police had searched and interrogated him. All the while, DiSalvo said, shoppers gawked, perhaps wondering whom he had killed.

The 57-year-old said he was guilty of one thing: forgetfulness. He lost his 1991 Grand Marquis in a sea of 6,000 parked cars.

But mall security thought he was wandering the parking lot looking for cars to break into.

The result: He's banned from the mall for life.

"They gave me the shopping equivalent of a life term without any parole," the retired real estate agent said. "I'm a mall person. I grew up in malls. I've never in my 57 years on this planet had a problem in a mall.

"Unfortunately," he said, "today my unlucky number came up."

DiSalvo has no apparent criminal record. He said he is an honest Treasure Island resident who has shopped at Tyrone for 14 years without incident. He denied even thinking of breaking into a car.

Tyrone security refused to comment, and mall management did not return calls.

St. Petersburg police said they witnessed no crime, and just issued a trespass warning to DiSalvo at the request of the mall. "It's a decision made by the property owners," said police Sgt. Mark Degan, a shift supervisor. "The officers felt they didn't see any criminal intent," otherwise DiSalvo could have faced arrest.

Our Police State - Well, Yes It Could Get Worse

2007-12-22T18:41:00.001-05:00

Declaring Forever War

Giuliani has surrounded himself with advisors who think the Bush Doctrine didn’t go nearly far enough.

by Michael C. Desch

Like most Americans, I knew little about Rudolph Giuliani, save that he had been the very successful mayor of New York City catapulted to iconic status for his cool-headed demeanor after the Sept. 11 attacks. I was curious about where he stood as a presidential candidate, so in April 2007, I joined nearly 3,000 other Texas A&M faculty and students to hear him speak.

After saying some nice things about his host, President George H.W. Bush, Rudy launched into a stemwinder about the “war on Islamic fundamentalist terrorism” that basically repudiated everything the former president stood for in his foreign policy. Moreover, in the space of 40 minutes, Giuliani never once mentioned Osama bin Laden, the man who masterminded the attack on his city.

I was so appalled by the mayor’s simplistic message that terrorists were attacking us because they “oppose our freedom and ... want to impose their ideology on us” that I ignored protocol and challenged him during the Q&A. To the accompaniment of hisses from the rabidly pro-Rudy students, I reminded the mayor that Islamic fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and elsewhere in the Middle East have taken our side against al-Qaeda at various times. Like the students, Hizzonor was not amused, and I got five minutes of unvarnished Rudy chiding me for just not getting it.

Boy did you see that cover, just think if the traditional “law and order” conservatives view Rudy this way, imagine what the reality would be if he ever wins the presidency.

Our Police State - Not All That Different Now

2007-12-22T18:25:00.001-05:00

Report: Ex-FBI head Hoover plotted mass arrest
Failed plan involved detaining 12,000 Americans suspected of disloyalty
Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had a plan to suspend the rules against illegal detention and arrest up to 12,000 Americans he suspected of being disloyal, according to a newly declassified document.
Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, less than two weeks after the Korean War began. But there is no evidence to suggest that President Harry S. Truman or any subsequent president approved any part of Hoover's proposal to house suspect Americans in military and federal prisons.
Hoover had wanted Truman to declare the mass arrests necessary to "protect the country against treason, espionage and sabotage," The New York Times reported Saturday in a story posted on its Web site.
The plan called for the FBI to apprehend all potentially dangerous individuals whose names were on a list Hoover had been compiling for years.
"The index now contains approximately twelve thousand individuals, of which approximately ninety-seven percent are citizens of the United States," Hoover wrote in the now-declassified document. "In order to make effective these apprehensions, the proclamation suspends the writ of habeas corpus."
Habeas corpus is the right to seek relief from illegal detention, and is a bedrock legal principle.

Folks if you don't think this could happen here in the good ol' US of A, think again. I guarantee that 50 years from now, if any records still exist, we will see these same types of plans from this group of fascists.

While it is unclear whether Sinclair Lewis really said it as Ron Paul attributed, the fact still remains "When fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross." And folks it's here.

Our Police State - Shut Up Or Get Tased

2007-12-22T12:19:00.001-05:00

Use of Taser on disruptive store customer questioned

In a report police are required to prepare after deploying their Tasers, Officer Claudia Wright said she used her weapon on Beeland because the woman was "verbally profane, abusive, loud and irate." Beeland pointed her finger "towards my face" and was waving her arms, the officer wrote.

But is that against the law? And is yelling at a cop considered enough resistance to merit the use of a Taser?

According to an American Civil Liberties Union representative in Orlando, yelling at a police officer and even cussing one out is constitutionally protected speech. And both the ACLU and Amnesty International USA say this incident likely could have been handled differently, adding that Taser use has become too casual and too common among police officers.

Police Chief Mike Chitwood said if a Taser had not been available, his officer likely would have used other weapons to subdue Beeland.

"I was never raised on Tasers," the chief said. "I used nightsticks and slapjacks."

The chief said Wright initially approached Beeland under the assumption a credit card had been stolen. In the end, it was determined Beeland was using her own card and had committed no crime.

Why does it seem that so many of these situation result in charges against the “tasee” that relate only to their interaction with the police, this woman was guilty of nothing, yet because she vocally defends herself within a minute she is tased, great police work, it’s all about “protect and serve”.

No wonder the officer was quick to tase based on the leadership she must be getting from the Neanderthal that is Police Chief Mike Chitwood.

**Update - I just watched the video from Best Buy.....if ever an officer should be fired this is the case, what the hell was that about, the woman was clearly not threating the officer but backing away the entire time.

And the tasee faces the charges related to the incident, including disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. There clearly should be assault charges filed against the officer.

Romney - I'll Say Anything To Win

2007-12-21T06:23:00.000-05:00

ROMNEY DEFENDS MLK MARCH REMARK

Romney says that it depends on what the definition of "saw" is.

A defensive Romney was peppered with questions today on exactly what he meant when he said -- most recently on Meet the Press -- that he "saw" his father march with Martin Luther King Jr. Recent articles have indicated that his father, the late Michigan Gov. George Romney, didn't march with the civil-rights leader.

Admitting that he didn't see the march with his own eyes, he said, "I 'saw' him in the figurative sense."

"The reference of seeing my father lead in civil rights," he said, "and seeing my father march with Martin Luther King is in the sense of this figurative awareness of and recognition of his leadership."

"I've tried to be as accurate as I can be," he continued, smiling firmly. "If you look at the literature or look at the dictionary, the term 'saw' includes being aware of -- in the sense I've described."

The questioning did not relent. "I'm an English literature major," he insisted at one point. "When we say I saw the Patriots win the World Series, it doesn't necessarily mean you were there."

Mitt’s so flustered by being caught with his pants down he’s got the Pats winning the World Series. Boy that’s the calm, cool and collected response to a stressful situation that I expect from a President, not. Boy only two weeks ago the Romney faithful were talking about the “I am a Mormon” speech as the greatest speech since Kennedy, I somehow don’t think it is going to go down in the history books quite that way.

OK Neo-Cons, Step up and support the troops!

2007-12-20T17:23:00.001-05:00

Effort Builds to Help 'Forgotten' Troops with PTSD

…veterans advocates say that even if the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs became models for helping troops with mental health problems, it wouldn't help a large category of vets who are already wounded and forgotten. These soldiers and Marines came back from combat, couldn't get adequate help, "flipped out" and misbehaved in some way — and as a result, were kicked out of the military without all the financial and medical benefits that veterans usually receive.

"I think it's an outrage that we have not taken proper care of them," said Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO), one of the most influential voices on veterans' affairs. "Too many of these people have been kicked out because of the results of the stress they've been under."

This Must Read(listen) report from NPR’s Daniel Zwerdling is outstanding, it will move you. It’s time for the war supporters to step up and truly support the troops!! Congrats and thank you to Kit Bond for leading the charge on the republican side of the isle.

College Hockey Keeps Playing Minor League For The NHL

2007-12-19T17:23:00.001-05:00

Okposo to leave U hockey program

Gophers star and former first-round pick Kyle Okposo is expected to sign with the New York Islanders.

Sophomore forward Kyle Okposo is leaving the Minnesota men's hockey team, a University athletics department spokesman confirmed this afternoon.

Coach Don Lucia is expected to release a statement around 4 p.m. today. He will offer no further comment, the spokesman said.

Okposo is expected to sign with the New York Islanders, who drafted him in the first-round, seventh overall, in the 2006 NHL entry draft.

A WCHA all-rookie team member last year tallying 30 points in 27 league games, Okposo this season had 11 points through Minnesota's first 18 games. That total was good for third on the team behind Blake Wheeler (15 points) and Ben Gordon (14).

In an exhibition tune-up for the U-20 World Junior Championships on Tuesday night against Western Michigan, Okposo scored a power-play goal helping the United States to a 4-2 victory. Calls to Okposo were not immediately returned.

This blows, when will the NCAA get it right, they need to force the NHL to use the same rules that the NFL uses, if a kid accepts a scholarship he should commit to the program for 3 years, not bail mid-season.

Evil is as Evil does, my Mama always said.

2007-12-19T06:27:00.001-05:00

Bush Lawyers Discussed Fate of C.I.A.Tapes

At least four top White House lawyers took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives from Al Qaeda, according to current and former administration and intelligence officials.

The accounts indicate that the involvement of White House officials in the discussions before the destruction of the tapes in November 2005 was more extensive than Bush administration officials have acknowledged.

Those who took part, the officials said, included Alberto R. Gonzales, who served as White House counsel until early 2005; David S. Addington, who was the counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney and is now his chief of staff; John B. Bellinger III, who until January 2005 was the senior lawyer at the National Security Council; and Harriet E. Miers, who succeeded Mr. Gonzales as White House counsel.

It was previously reported that some administration officials had advised against destroying the tapes, but the emerging picture of White House involvement is more complex. In interviews, several administration and intelligence officials provided conflicting accounts as to whether anyone at the White House expressed support for the idea that the tapes should be destroyed.

So just how does Gonzo sleep at night, so or is his head still so far up W’s ass that he has yet to see what damage he has caused this country.

Fascism - Alive and Well at a Wal=Mart Near You

2007-12-18T22:58:00.000-05:00

Employers grab accident victims' cash

A collision with a tractor-trailer seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small source of solace: a $700,000 accident settlement from the trucking company involved.

After legal fees and other expenses, the remaining $417,000 was put in a special trust. It was to be used for Deborah Shank's care.

Instead, all of it is now slated to go to Deborah's former employer, Wal-Mart Stores.

Two years ago, the retail giant's health plan sued the Shanks for the $470,000 it had spent on her medical care. A federal judge ruled last year in Wal-Mart's favor, backed by an appeals-court decision in August. Now, Deborah's family has to rely on Medicaid and her Social Security payments to keep up her round-the-clock care.

I must admit I shop at Wal-Mart do to its location, selection and yes price, but damn, things like this make it harder to justify.

Fight Hunger And Learn Something At The Same Time

2007-12-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

Net Game Boosts Vocabulary, Fights Hunger
A computer programmer in Indiana develops FreeRice.com, a game that teaches vocabulary and helps fight hunger. The word game offers four definitions for a word, and clicking on the right definition leads to a donation of 20 grains of rice to the U.N. World Food Programme.

WWW.FREERICE.COM

This is really cool, a great way to improve your vocabulary skills at any level and "do some good" at the same time.

Just a Different Fascist At The Helm of DOJ

2007-12-14T18:41:00.001-05:00

Mukasey Rejects Call for CIA Tape Details

Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey today sharply rebuffed congressional demands for details about the Justice Department's inquiry into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes, saying that providing such information would make it appear that the department was "subject to political influence."

In letters to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee and others, Mukasey also reiterated his opposition to appointing a special prosecutor to the tapes investigation, saying he was "aware of no facts at present" that would require such a step.

I told you once, then I told you again, we were just trading Fascist at the helm of DOJ.

1984 - This says it all

2007-12-14T18:10:00.001-05:00

Bush Secret Shredding Soars

HELL BENT ON DESTRUCTION Shredding contracts during Bush/Cheney
Behold, the Bush Administration in chart form: Federal spending on paper shredding has increased more than 600 percent since George W. Bush took office. This chart, generated by usaspending.gov, the U.S. government's brand spanking new database of federal expenditures, shows spending on "contracts for paper shredding services" going back to 2000. Click here for the full, heartbreaking breakdown. In 2000, the feds spent $452,807 to make unpleasant truths go away; by 2006, the "Cheney Effect" had bumped that number up to $2.9 million. And by halfway through 2007, the feds almost matched that number, with $2.7 million and counting. Pretty much says it all.

This tells us everything we need to know about the Bush administration….. “shred it all or we will likely go to jail” must be the Bushies motto.

MLB - Steriod Report Today ---Yaaaawnnn

2007-12-13T06:38:00.001-05:00

Report To Detail Drug Use In Baseball

A long-awaited report on steroid and performance-enhancing drug use in Major League Baseball, which is to be released today, will lay blame at all levels of the sport for a widespread drug problem and call for drastic changes in the league's drug-testing program, according to sources briefed on the investigation. At least 60 current and former players, including past winners of the league's Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards, are expected to be implicated in the 300-page document.

George J. Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader who has led the probe since his appointment by Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig in March 2006, is expected to call for MLB to outsource its drug-testing program to a state-of-the-art independent agency, immediately create an investigative arm to pursue allegations or evidence of performance-enhancing drug use among players, and add an education component to the program, several sources said.

The report will show that the performance-enhancing drug use is more rampant among pitchers than position players, but Mitchell will try to play down the names mentioned in an attempt to steer attention to the enormity of baseball's drug problem and the need for changes, one of the sources said.

The sources, who had been briefed on the contents of the report but had not seen it, declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information. The sources declined to discuss names listed in the report.

You gotta be kidding me, did you read that last line? You would think we were talking about a CIA informant discussing the “family jewels”

I have few rather cynical thoughts on the topic(imagine that).

1. As a fan do(should) I really care if athletes are on steroids? Or am I only desiring to see the best possible athletic performance I can see, for the insane amount of money I paid for these tickets, and if performance enhancing drugs are how I get to see the best performance so be it.

2. Are the records set by ‘roid boys valid? Well if the batter is on ‘roids, the pitcher is on ‘roids and the outfielders are all on ‘roids sounds like a level playing field to me and I as the fan get more for my money.

3. How is Bobble Head Barry being on steroids any different then Tiger Woods having Lasik done, neither one of them is OEM any longer.

Baptism by Torture

2007-12-12T19:30:00.000-05:00

Religious practices have often been tied to violence and torture, but this connection is often hidden within public discourse. That is the situation now in the United States with the debate about waterboarding, the religious meanings of which have yet to be articulated and explored.

In the Inquisition, the practice was not drowning as such, but the threat of drowning, and the symbolic threat of baptism. The tortura del agua or toca entailed forcing the victim to ingest water poured into a cloth stuffed into the mouth in order to give the impression of drowning. Because of the wide symbolic meaning of "water" in the Christian and Jewish traditions

It now make so much sense to me why the Religious Right is for Waterboarding.

Why do these people still have jobs?

2007-12-11T06:10:00.001-05:00

Failure to supervise Pitt leads to 3 reprimands

One MnDOT manager was suspended without pay and two others were scolded for lax oversight of Sonia Morphew Pitt, the emergency management director who was fired last month.

Three upper managers at the Minnesota Department of Transportation were reprimanded Monday and one was suspended without pay for their failure to adequately supervise former MnDOT employee Sonia Morphew Pitt.

Department of Employee Relations Commissioner Patricia Anderson suspended Transportation Division director Rick Arnebeck for three days without pay. She issued a written reprimand to Maintenance and Security director Steven Lund. Division director Bob Winter received an oral reprimand.

In a strongly worded letter released Monday, Anderson said that Arnebeck's lax oversight in particular had "extremely damaging consequences" for the department and "to a degree, the image of all State employees, which cannot be tolerated."

Only in the world of Government employment would these people be able to keep their jobs, but oh boy they got “reprimanded”. If this happened in the real world, they all would be gone!

The Depths The Republic Party Has Sunk To.......

2007-12-09T20:31:00.000-05:00

Lecture: All I am Saying is Give War a Chance

Wednesday, December 12, 2007 • 7:30 pm

Student Union Ballroom
Student Union
UMass Amherst Campus
Handicap access available
Directions & Parking

Free Admission

Event web site

Contact: Brad DeFlumeri, President, UMASS Republicans, bdeflume@student.umass.edu, 857-888-6434

Join the UMass Republican Club for yet another lively and edifying political discussion on the costs, necessities, consequences, and benefits of war. A question and answer session will be administered after the initial lecture.

Jonah Goldberg, 38, is a rising star in the conservative intellectual movement as the editor-at-large for National Review Online and a contributing editor for National Review. He is also a contributing writer for the American Enterprise. He writes a nationally syndicated column for Tribune Media Services. Mr. Goldberg has written on politics and culture for the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, Commentary, the Public Interest, the Wilson Quarterly, the Weekly Standard, the New York Post, National Review, Reason, the Women's Quarterly, Food and Wine, The Street.com and Slate.

Folks this is a lecture sponsored by the college republicans at UMass, these are the future leaders of the Republic Party. As depressing as the current crop of leaders of the republic party are this is even scarier.

Thanks to the DailyKos for pointing this out and a well written essay!

TimmmHa - Asks the Question

2007-12-09T14:31:00.001-05:00

A week ago I posted:

Rudy needs to be asked the following question;

If you are elected President can the American public assume that at some point we will be paying for secret service protection for both the current Mrs. Giuliani (whoever that maybe at the time) and for your current mistress (whoever that maybe at the time)?
**update
Oh and will they be walking her dog also?

Well today Tim Russert stepped up and asked the Adulterous one the question about Secret Service protection for the a President’s Mistress. (hey I would love to think Tiimmmha reads the curlydog blog, but let’s be real here)

Rudy for his part lays the blame for the entire issue at the feet of the NYPD.

Timmha did a pretty lame job of follow up...if it was all so up and up, why the creative accounting to hide it all????

Billy Joel - Christmas in Fallujah

2007-12-09T07:46:00.000-05:00

I just downloaded “Christmas in Fallujah”….it rocks!!!!

YahooNews:

Billy Joel has released a new pop single, the anti-war “Christmas in Fallujah.” Just don’t expect to hear his voice on it.

At 58, Joel felt he was too old to sing the song, which was inspired by letters the Piano Man received from soldiers in Iraq. So he gave it to Cass Dillon, a 21-year-old singer-songwriter from Long Island.

“I thought it should be somebody young, about a soldier’s age,” Joel said in a statement on his Web site. “I wanted to help somebody else’s career. I’ve had plenty of hits. I’ve had plenty of airplay. I’ve had my time in the sun. I think it’s time for somebody else, maybe, to benefit from my own experience.”

The song is available at iTunes now. Proceeds go to Homes For Our Troops

Made me listen to Goodbye Saigon again, the young man (Cass Dillon) singing on this track has a bright future ahead!!!

“Christmas In Fallujah”
Lyrics & Music By Billy Joel
Performed By Cass Dillon 2007

It’s Evening In the Desert
I’m tired and I’m cold
But I’m just a solder
I do what I am told

We Came with the Crusaders
to save the holy land
It’s Christmas In Fallujah
and no one gives a damn

And I just got your letter
And this is what I read,
you said I’m fading from your memory
so I’m just as good as dead

We are the armies of the empire
We are the legionnaires of Rome
It’s Christmas In Fallujah
and we ain’t never coming home

We came to bring these people freedom
we came to fight the infidel
there is no justice in the desert
Because there is no god in hell

They say Osama’s in the mountains
deep in a cave near Pakistan
But there’s a sea of blood in Baghdad
A sea of oil in the sand

Between the Tigris and Euphrates
another day comes to an end
It’s Christmas In Fallujah
Peace on earth goodwill to men

It’s Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah(hoorah)
It’s Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah(hoorah)
It’s Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah(hoorah)
It’s Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah(hoorah)

Merry Christmas from Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah(hoorah)
Merry Christmas from Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah (hoorah)
hallelujah hallelujah (hoorah)
hallelujah hallelujah (hoorah)
hallelujah hallelujah( hoorah)
hallelujah hallelujah (hoorah)
hallelujah hallelujah (hoorah)

Who was wrong, who was right?
When It’s Christmas in Fallujah

O0-Ra!

Huckabee - 1992 - "AIDS Plague - Must Be Quarantined"

2007-12-08T15:49:00.001-05:00

Boy this should be good, can’t wait to hear how he spins this one:

As a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in 1992, Huckabee answered 229 questions submitted to him by The Associated Press. Besides a quarantine, Huckabee suggested that Hollywood celebrities fund AIDS research from their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies.

"If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague," Huckabee wrote.

"It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents."

…………………………………….

When asked about AIDS research in 1992, Huckabee complained that AIDS research received an unfair share of federal dollars when compared to cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

"In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified," Huckabee wrote. "An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor (,) Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research."

Crazy King George - "Dude, I am the law!!"

2007-12-08T07:18:00.001-05:00

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, after forcing declassification of a few of the Office of Legal Council secret legal opinions meant to justify some of Crazy King George’s actions, went to the well of the Senate to tell us what he found:

For years under the Bush Administration, the Office of Legal Counsel within the Department of Justice has issued highly classified secret legal opinions related to surveillance. This is an administration that hates answering to an American court, that wants to grade its own papers, and OLC is the inside place the administration goes to get legal support for its spying program.

As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I was given access to those opinions, and spent hours poring over them. Sitting in that secure room, as a lawyer, as a former U.S. Attorney, legal counsel to Rhode Island's Governor, and State Attorney General, I was increasingly dismayed and amazed as I read on.

To give you an example of what I read, I have gotten three legal propositions from these OLC opinions declassified. Here they are, as accurately as my note taking could reproduce them from the classified documents. Listen for yourself. I will read all three, and then discuss each one.

1. An executive order cannot limit a President. There is no constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous executive order. Rather than violate an executive order, the President has instead modified or waived it.

2. The President, exercising his constitutional authority under Article II, can determine whether an action is a lawful exercise of the President's authority under Article II.

3. The Department of Justice is bound by the President's legal determinations.(my bold)

…………………………………………………..

If you don’t feel a difference from what you were feeling a moment ago, well, congratulations – there is probably a job for you in the Bush administration. Consider the sad irony that this theory was crafted in that very building, by the George W. Bush Office of Legal Counsel.

In a nutshell, these three Bush administration legal propositions boil down to this:

1. “I don’t have to follow my own rules, and I don’t have to tell you when I’m breaking them.”

2. “I get to determine what my own powers are.”

3. “The Department of Justice doesn’t tell me what the law is, I tell the Department of Justice what the law is.” (my bold)

Hello, where is the MSM on this? This is huge people! These opinions taken together put the President above the law, in fact it makes him a law unto himself. This is not what the founding fathers had in mind.

Let’s look at a section of Article 1 of the Constitution:

Section 8: The Congress shall have power

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water; (my emphasis)

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;—And

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

George, right there in the Constitution, it says Congress makes the rules concerning captures on land and water, Not the President, so Gitmo was illegal from day one, there was no basis for the term “enemy combatant”.

Our Tax Dollars at Work

2007-12-06T07:54:00.000-05:00

Teenage Birth Rate Rises for First Time Since ’91

The birth rate among teenagers 15 to 19 in the United States rose 3 percent in 2006, according to a report issued Wednesday, the first such increase since 1991. The finding surprised scholars and fueled a debate about whether the Bush administration’s abstinence-only sexual education efforts are working.

The federal government spends $176 million annually on such programs. But a landmark study recently failed to demonstrate that they have any effect on delaying sexual activity among teenagers, and some studies suggest that they may actually increase pregnancy rates.

“Spending tens of million of tax dollars each year on programs that hurt our children is bad medicine and bad public policy,” said Dr. David A. Grimes, vice president of Family Health International, a nonprofit reproductive health organization based in North Carolina.

Robert Rector, a senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation, said that blaming abstinence-only programs was “stupid.” Mr. Rector said that most young women who became pregnant were highly educated about contraceptives but wanted to have babies.

Gee, who would’ve thunk it??? Duh, maybe anyone with half a wit. The part I love is the idiot from the Heritage Foundation, it is all because the young women wanted to have babies.

Another Win For The Good Guys

2007-12-06T05:58:00.000-05:00

After a week long trial in the political prosecution of Dr. Catherine Wilkerson the jury found she was NOT GUILTY on all counts.

Victory--Monday 12/03/2007

Defense co-counsel Hugh "Buck" Davis delivered an impassioned closing argument today in the trial of Dr. Catherine Wilkerson that put on full display both the political stakes of the case and the dishonesty of police and prosecution. Attorney Davis pointed out that only one witness, UM custodian Michael Lafleur, ever testified to any overt physical act by Dr. Wilkerson and that testimony was not credible nor was it corroborated by any other of the 19 witnesses. Davis made it clear that the University of Michigan and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie were trying to criminalize speech and protest. Huron Valley Ambulance paramedic supervisor Dean Lloyd was pinpointed as the man who instigated the attack by Ann Arbor Police Officer Kevin Warner on Dr. Wilkerson after she criticized Lloyd's dangerous use of a toxic substance on a man he said he thought was faking (medical records admitted into evidence on Friday indicated that he had suffered a traumatic brain injury). Lloyd, said Davis, told Warner to take away Dr. Wilkerson's free speech rights and "to his everlasting shame," Warner obeyed. In his final remarks, Davis compared Dr. Wilkerson's case with the case of the LS&A 109 who staged a sit-in at the University of Michigan in 1970 against the Vietnam war. Davis pointed out that the LS&A 109 were technically guilty but that jurors had acquitted those he represented because they had acted ethically in opposing the war. By contrast, he argued, jurors today had in their hands the fate of someone who was technically innocent but whom the prosecution was still trying to convict precisely because she had acted ethically.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Margaret Connors had the final word in her rebuttal. She defended Dean Lloyd's use of ammonia, arguing that he thought his patient was faking. Connors never acknowledged or, apparently, never understood just how damaging this admission was to her own case. It was clear that she was personally stung by Mr. Davis' remarks; at one point, she even sputtered that she was a doctor, too, because she had a Juris Doctor degree. The mainstay of her presentation involved a large sheet of paper on an easel. The sheet had the statutory elements of the crimes Dr. Wilkerson was accused of, though tellingly "assault" was blacked out. As Connors rehearsed once more the sad, fabricated police and prosecution narrative of the case, she would place a check mark next to each element she had putatively proven. When she was done the sheet had dozens of red check marks on it. But the jury wasn't buying any of it, after four-and-a-half hours of deliberation they returned two verdicts of "not guilty."

Hey Rednecks - You Lost The War You Morons

2007-12-05T21:40:00.001-05:00

Southern Protestors Unhappy with Thompson and Romney's Flag Remarks

ABC News' Christine Byun Reports: As GOP presidential hopeful Fred Thompson wrapped his South Carolina campaign visit, he had a small handful of protesters outside his event at a Lexington, South Carolina restaurant.

About four men held confederate flags and signs that said "Honk for Dixie" and "The South Does Not Want Fred Thompson."

The men said they were part of the South Carolina League of the South and speaking out against Thompson and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for recent remarks about something dear to their hearts. At the November 28 CNN/YouTube debate, both candidates said they did not believe the Confederate flag should be flown in a public place. The two Republican hopefuls, who are among the leaders in Palmetto State polls, also said the flag wrongfully divides the country.

"When a Southerner goes bad, we call him a scallywag. Thompson's a scallywag - he deserves no respect," Jim Hanks, who identified himself as a registered Independent, said. A scallywag is a white southerner who supported the federal government during Reconstruction. Hanks also said he was interested in Thompson, but now supports Ron Paul.

The group also lashed out at Romney - who called the flag was "divisive" at the debate - for being a "carpetbagger."

"Most people think the flag is a racist symbol. I would say not in South Carolina, we don't. Not in the South, we don't. We don't vote for people that say negative things about the Confederate flag," Don Gordon, a protestor who wore a Confederate flag tie, said.

The group intends to protest every campaign stop in South Carolina for both candidates.

"Yesterday, we were at Mitt Romney's headquarters because Mitt Romney insulted our flag," Hanks said. "We'll try to be everywhere they are."

I just do not get it, “heritage” they say, is what the confederate flag means to them, heritage of what being LOSERS. Let me say this really slow in little words, you lost the war moron.