Notice

I am working on the template of this blog today in order to chase down some problems that have developed with my template and widgets.

Macon County Commissioners

Coverage of the meetings of the Macon County Board of County Commissioners.

Franklin Town Board of Aldermen

Coverage of the meetings of the Franklin Town Board of Aldermen.

Macon County School Board

Coverage of the meetings of the Macon County School Board.

Photoblog

Photos from my photoblog.

nullspace for future use

nullspace for future use

About

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Al Gore: "Cigarettes Contribute To Global Warming"






GORE: CIGARETTE SMOKING 'SIGNIFICANT' CONTRIBUTOR TO GLOBAL WARMING
Fri Sep 29 2006 09:04:05 ET

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore warned hundreds of U.N. diplomats and staff on Thursday evening about the perils of climate change, claiming: Cigarette smoking is a "significant contributor to global warming!"

Gore, who was introduced by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the world faces a "full-scale climate emergency that threatens the future of civilization on earth."

Gore showed computer-generated projections of ocean water rushing in to submerge the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, parts of China, India and other nations, should ice shelves in Antarctica or Greenland melt and slip into the sea.

"The planet itself will do nicely, thank you very much what is at risk is human civilization," Gore said. After a series of Q& A with the audience, which had little to do with global warming and more about his political future, Annan bid "adios" to Gore.

Then, Gore had his staff opened a stack of cardboard boxes to begin selling his new book, "An Inconvenient Truth, The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It," $19.95, to the U.N. diplomats.

Developing...

Check with Drudge to see what more develops. I first heard it on Rush Limbaugh yesterday at lunch, and thought it was a parody at first. You know it's getting bad when the antics of the far left reach a level where actual events sound like a parody.
But seriously? Cigarettes? Oh come on !!! Flatulent livestock was questionable, but cigarettes?!? ROTFLMAO

Friday, September 29, 2006

Democrats on Dumpsters



On The Unintended Humor Index, this has got to be a 7 or an 8.
Note the candidates on the dumpster, Phil Haire, Heath Shuler, John Snow, and Erskine Bowles. erskine Bowles? What's he running for?

Click here to see the photo I am unwilling to scale-down.

That is the Democratic Party Headquarters for Jackson County in the background.
I know this messed up my layout, so I'll take down the picture tonight, and leave a link in its place.

Ann Coulter On Clinton Meltdown



Clinton shouted so many lies during his televised meltdown, only the World Wide Web can capture them all. These are just a few.

Clinton yelled at Wallace: "What did I do? What did I do? I worked hard to try to kill him. I authorized a finding for the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since."

This is so crazy it's worthy of an Air America caller. Clinton has consistently misrepresented the presidential directive about political assassinations. Clinton did not order bin Laden assassinated. He did not even lift the ban on intelligence agencies attempting to assassinate bin Laden.

What he did was lift the ban on political assassinations — provided that assassinating bin Laden was not the purpose of the mission. So if U.S. forces were engaged in an operation to capture bin Laden, but accidentally killed him, they would not be court-martialed.

Clinton said, "All the right-wingers who now say I didn't do enough said I did too much — same people." As proof, he cites his humiliating withdrawal from Somalia, claiming, "They were all trying to get me to withdraw from Somalia in 1993 the next day after we were involved in 'Black Hawk down,' and I refused to do it."

He added, as if it mattered, "There is not a living soul in the world who thought that Osama bin Laden had anything to do with 'Black Hawk down.'"

In fact, what Republicans objected to was Clinton's transforming a U.N. mission in Somalia to prevent mass starvation into a much grander "nation-building" exercise — something the Democrats now hysterically support in Darfur and oppose in Iraq.

Democrats long to see American mothers weeping for their sons lost in a foreign war, but only if the mission serves absolutely no national security objectives of the United States. If we are building a democracy in a country while also making America safer — such as in Iraq — Democrats oppose it with every fiber of their being.

When Clinton's "nation-building" in Somalia led to the brutal killing of 18 Americans, some of whose corpses were then dragged through the streets, Clinton did what the Democrats are currently demanding we do in Iraq: He cut and ran.

Republicans didn't like that either, and it had nothing to do with whether it was al-Qaida we were running from. It could have been Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, al-Dawa or the Viet Cong. We ran, and the terrorists noticed.

Osama bin Laden told "ABC News" in 1998 that America's humiliating retreat from Somalia emboldened his jihadists: "The youth were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat."

If this is the message that Clinton is hoping to telegraph to the American people, I hope the voters are listening.

Read the whole thing. One of the reasons Ann is hated so much, is that she makes her points with humor, which get under the skin of the target and festers.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Thursday 9/28 Connect-The-Dots-Of-Jihad-Edition




Northeast Intelligence Network



Iraq : Baghdad 'Green Zone': WMD Strike Imminent?
Posted by Sean Osborne on 2006/9/27 10:57:11 ( )
-by Sean Osborne, Military Affairs Specialist
sean@homelandsecurityus.com

27 September 2006: According to an advisory I recieved this morning from retired AFOSI agent Paul 'Dave' Gaubatz:

"Iraqi citizens have reported our U.S. Troops & Coalition Forces will be the intended target of a major chemical/biological attack in the "Green Zone" 10 - 14 days from the November, 2006 U.S. Elections."

With the US election occuring on November 7, the stated 'window' of this of this WMD strike coincides precisely with the day following the end of Ramadan 2006 (24 October 2006) and the four subsequent days thereafter (25-28 October 2006).

Dave also stated.....read the rest.
.........................................................


Sheik Abu Saqer, leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic outreach movement, which seeks to make secular Muslims more religious, called the pope a "puppet" for "that Crusader George Bush."

The Gaza imam said the only Christian-Muslim dialogue that is acceptable is one in which "all religions agree to convert to Islam."

"The call for so-called dialogue by this little racist pope is a Trojan horse with the main goal of reaching a new system in which the ideals [of Christianity] are a new ideology that will rule relations between nations and people. The dialogue he wants is dangerous," said Abu Saqer, speaking to WND from the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.

"The pope is the spiritual and religious wing of the Crusader ideology," Abu Saqer said. "He is totally coordinated with Bush.


Read the rest.
.......................................................


Ahhh, the great and powerful Bush! You know, for an idiot and a moron, he sure is beating the Dhimmicrats and Terrorcrats awfully badly.

............................................................
Ramadan 2006. Burn, Rinse, Repeat.
by Dymphna


Well, it’s time for the month of Ramadan. A long period in Islam where one fasts, prays, and sets fire to things. Stones are saved for throwing at human beings alighting from trains.

Paul Belien is reporting on the lack of reporting by the mainstream press. Both events — the riots and the gaze avoidance by the elites of the criminal behavior of their immigrants — are a recipe for the perfect storm of dhimmitude in Europe. And, of course, what better place to start Ramadan in the EU than in its capitol, Brussels? How fitting is that?

Read more about the under-reported rioting in in Europe.
.....................................................
One last thing...a jihadi strategist...

SURI: nizam, la Tanzim (system, not organization)
Here's a quick critique of jihadi strategist Abu Musab al-Suri's "The Call of Global Islamic Resistance" (widely circulated in Arabic, but there is not an english language translation available on the Web for me to link to). A good starting point for exploring this work is Andrew Black's (writing for Jamestown) comparison of al-Suri's work with that of William Lind in The Changing Face of War: Into the Fourth Generation. Andrew claims that al-Suri's work provides organizational improvements in fourth generation warfare (which are akin to what I am working on here on global guerrillas).

I disagree. Here's why. Al-Suri's slogan for his treatise -- "system, not organization" -- encapsulates his desire for extreme decentralized at the expense of organizational hierarchy. The objective of this desired decentralization is, obviously, to imbue the Salafi-jihad with vast improvements in survivability and innovation. While the objective is correct, al-Suri's call for decentralization doesn't work in practice within real-world conflicts and organizational structures.

Read the rest...
......................................................
Okay, another last thing....(which was actually the first thing I saw)
The only other place I could find the rioting in Europe was at Al Fin's. He provides a link to the Brussels Journal.

27 September 2006
Tis Ramadan, and the Non-Natives are Restless . . . .
For the third night in a row, Ramadan rioting has been the favoured activity of muslim immigrants in the capital of Europe, Brussels. The youths can apparently not imagine a more appropriate means of celebrating the holy month of Ramadan.
...................................................................

What do I think of all this? Still processing...

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Niational Intelligence Estimate Declassified



Just as in The Revolutionary War, there are traitors within our borders who oppose us at every turn, and should suffer the same fate as Benedict Arnold. I doubt they would approach the gallows with the same dignity, as they would have to be dragged.


NIE Key Judgements

New York Sun. Printer-Friendly

The usual suspects, The Washington Post, and The New York Times printed the then classified information contained with the National Intelligence Estimate. Gimme five minutes alone with these guys, and they would never print classified information again... these panzies would hang up the phone on anyone offering to provide classified info. How? Trade Secret.



After reading the declassified portions, I don't see anything I didn't already know or have surmised, but then I probably spend 20 to 30 hours a week reading News and Analysis on World War IV, and, of course, the MilBlogs. I will quote a short section to illustrate:


Four underlying factors are fueling the spread of the jihadist movement:
(1) Entrenched grievances, such as corruption, injustice, and fear of Western domination, leding to anger, humiliation, and a sense of powerlessness;

(2) the Iraq "jihad";

(3) the slow pace of real and sustained economic, social, and political reforms in many Muslim majority nations; and

(4) pervasive anti-US sentiment among most Muslims

---all of which jihadists exploit.


When you go to the polls in November, remember that the Democrats refuse to face the World War we are in, and would cut and run on these b$#@tards, forcing us to play a very Dark Hand on the homefront.


Tuesday, September 26, 2006



Pius Attacked for Not Confronting Evil,
Benedict Attacked for Confronting Evil

By Dennis Prager

Among the most heated debates of the last 40 years has been the debate over Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust. What did he do when the greatest evil of his day engulfed Christian Europe? Was he "Hitler's Pope," as the name of a widely read book about him charged? Was he too reticent in speaking out against Nazism and the Nazi extermination of Europe's Jews? Was he perhaps even a Nazi sympathizer? Or was he in fact a great friend of Europe's Jews who did whatever he could to save tens of thousands of Jews, especially in Italy, opening up the doors of Church institutions to hide Jews?

It is not my aim here to offer an answer to that debate. But the attacks on Pope Benedict XVI may help shed new light on some of the motives for the attacks on Pius XII. It is true that we have always known that most, if not all, of Pius's critics were/are on the political/religious Left. But this no more discredited their critiques of Pius than the fact that the vast majority of Pius's defenders were on the political/religious Right discredited their defense.

But recently the critics have lost credibility. If the same people who attack Pope Pius XII for his silence regarding the greatest evil of his time are largely the same people who attack Pope Benedict XVI for confronting the greatest evil of his time, maybe it isn't a pope's confronting evil that concerns Pius's critics, but simply defaming the Church.

Read the rest.

Well, I'm right of center, and I've always thought the actions of Hitler's Pope were deplorable. I applaud the statements of this pope so far, and I am definately not Cathololic. Although, if Hitler's Pope had been confronted by Stalin, and he'd responded the same, the Left would have lionized him. I'm just sayin'....

Monday, September 25, 2006

East Bound And Down



Fan Video Tribute to Battlestar Galactica with Jerry Reed song.



Motivational Posters

I created three motivational posters for your consideration. They do not translate well on the blog, so I put them on my PhotoBucket Album.

Garbage


Legacy1


Intimidation

Make your own.

I hope you enjoy them, and will share your creations with me. Send them to thunderpigblog AT yahoo DOT com, and let me know in the comments if I can share them publicly, or link to where you have them stored on the internet.

Feel free to copy them to your own photo album or website, with the request you at least tell people who made 'em!

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Unhinged: Guilty Dog Barking Edition

Yip! Yip! Yip!




This man can never be allowed anywhere near the White House, even as a House Husband, as he was the first time around!

Seriously though, I expected him to scream, "Kaaaahhnnnn!!!!!!"


MOnday Morning Update

This is too good not to share. Jim Quinn just said that Clinton's Legacy was a hole in the ground in lower Manhattan. Ouch!!!

I think Clinton revealed many logical fallacies the far left uses, more later..gotta go to work.

Preparation For The Battle of Ezekiel

Or, Putin Calls Russia Defender of Islamic World




The Baron has a link to an article you should read.


Why World War IV Is Necessary



This is a struggle waged by evil men who are boundlessly hypocritical, who use airplanes and internet video to spread a worldview that promotes death, yet who could not in a hundred years create a society that could design and build those tools that they use with such despicable effect. Against these hypocrites, there are those who build tools and use them to feed humankind, share knowledge, and improve life on this planet, however imperfectly.

This is a struggle between evil men who burn schools, behead adolescents, torture teachers and forbid the education of women -- and those in our world who build schools and teach both men and women so that they can be doctors, lawyers, fathers and mothers fully capable of preparing their children to build a society of hope and prosperity.



Security Watchtower has more.

Preach on, brother.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Another Lefty Confesses







A Totally Honest Liberal - Read It and Be Amazed

If you are interested in politics at all, read this following excerpt to its end. This is the most interesting political discussion I've heard in a long time. HH is Hugh Hewitt, father of the conservative political blogosphere and radio talk show host.



He is interviewing Thomas Edsall, who spent 25 years at the Washington Post, retiring this year from his post as senior political correspondent.



HH: A proposition. The reason talk radio exploded, followed by Fox News, followed by the center-right blogosphere, is that because folks like you have been the dominant voice in American media for a long time, and you’re a pretty thoroughgoing, Democratic favoring, agenda journalist for the left, and you’ve been the senior political reporter of the Washington Post for a very long time. And people didn’t trust your news product…not you, personally, but the accumulation of you: the L.A. Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and they got sick and tired of being spoon fed liberal dross, and they went to the radio when an alternative product came along.

TE: To a certain degree, I agree with that.



Read the rest here.

How To Use A Sling

Here's a pretty cool video i found this morning. Gotta make one of these!!!




UPDATE: I have more...

I found the instructions on how to make that bad boy.



And this is the guy's blog. Add him to your favorites, I have!

Heath Shuler, HRSE, and Back Taxes

Ouch.



AP: Shuler-Linked Firm Pays Back Taxes




Saturday September 23, 2006 2:31 AM



By TIM WHITMIRE

Associated Press Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - A real estate brokerage house associated with Democratic House candidate Heath Shuler belatedly paid over $69,000 in unpaid taxes Friday after The Associated Press raised questions with the campaign.

Shuler, a former star quarterback at the University of Tennessee, has a 20 percent stake in the Knoxville-based business, Heath Shuler Real Estate, which he founded with his brother, Benjie, in 1998. They sold it in 2003 to four men who formed HSRE and HSRE Properties but kept the football player's name.

A recent AP review of tax records in Knoxville and surrounding Knox County found the businesses had been chronically delinquent in paying their local taxes. The AP presented the information to the Shuler campaign this week.

Jason Rudd, a lawyer for Shuler in Jackson, Tenn., said he threatened the three principal owners - Robert Browder, Charlie Hicks and Jack Cornett - with legal action on Shuler's behalf if they did not pay the delinquent taxes immediately. Late Friday, Shuler's attorneys filed a lawsuit asking a judge to stop HSRE and HSRE Properties from using the name ``Heath Shuler.''

The complaint said the defendants have operated the business in a way that ``brings into question the reputation, ethics and/or morals of'' Shuler. Rudd said Friday he expects Shuler will give up his minority ownership stake, but needs to remain involved to ensure enforcement of a contract provision allowing him to remove his name.

Fred Sisk, chief deputy trustee for Knox County, confirmed Friday that HSRE and HSRE Properties had paid their county tax bills. A city spokesman, Randy Kenner, said just over $1,400 of the money owed the city was paid Thursday, but the later payment likely wouldn't show up until Monday.

Shuler is running for the House in western North Carolina's 11th Congressional District, seeking to unseat eight-term Republican Rep. Charles Taylor. The race is among those Democrats have high hopes of winning as they push to regain control of the House.

Rudd said Shuler, a former NFL quarterback, has not been involved in day-to-day management of the brokerage since 2003. But his name is prominently tied to the business throughout Knoxville, where Shuler played football in the early 1990s. The Heath Shuler Real Estate logo, seen throughout town on billboards and signs, features the distinctive orange-and-white checkerboard painted in the end zones of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium.

``I have been assured twice in the last six months that these past due taxes would be paid,'' Rudd wrote in an e-mail Thursday to Browder. ``HSREs ongoing refusal to operate its business in accordance with the law is causing extreme embarrassment to Heath.''

In an initial e-mail response to Rudd, Browder said the company did not have the money to pay its 2005 tax bills. However, he told Rudd late Friday morning that all overdue bills had been paid.

The AP review found:

- HSRE Properties had owed the City of Knoxville $38,896.89 in overdue property taxes and penalties for the 2004 and 2005 tax years for the company's 1.84-acre headquarters site in Knoxville. That debt was listed on a roster of delinquent tax payments issued earlier this month by the city.

- The city had been owed an additional $8,122.72 in tangible personal property taxes and penalties for tax years 2004 and 2005 on a pair of Heath Shuler Real Estate offices. Such taxes cover office equipment and other property owned by a business.

- HSRE Properties had owed the county $17,183.14 in unpaid 2005 property taxes, as well as $5,048.12 on overdue taxes on tangible personal property.

``Ninety-six percent of Knox County taxpayers paid their taxes on time last year,'' said Sisk, the Knox County tax official, before the taxes were paid. ``Some people just don't have the money to pay. For those people, you feel sorry. These people can pay, they just choose not to pay.''

In June, Rudd wrote to Browder and expressed Shuler's concerns ``about the business, and about the continued use of his name having an adverse affect on his reputation in the community.'' In that letter, a copy of which Rudd provided to the AP, Rudd said Shuler wanted to exercise his right to remove his name from the business.

But after receiving assurances that the problems were being dealt with and that the taxes would be paid, Rudd said, ``we kind of backed off to give them a chance'' to straighten things out.

The AP's review also uncovered two unresolved tax liens held by the state of Tennessee on now-dissolved Shuler-owned companies, Heath Shuler Real Estate Commercial and Heath Shuler Auctioning. Shuler created both companies in the late 1990s with the intention of using them for spin-offs from the main real estate business, but never did anything with them, Rudd said. They were administratively dissolved by the state of Tennessee after the companies failed to file annual reports.

However, because the state never received a 1999 corporate franchise and excise tax payment for the two companies, it eventually filed liens seeking the money in 2002, Rudd said. The liens total $883.65 each. Rudd said Shuler authorized him Thursday to pay those bills after the AP contacted the campaign.




The Guardian.

Commentary




Heath, this is directed at you. Willingness to throw others under the bus, especially business partners is very revealing about your character. I don't believe this situation is entirely your fault, but your response is.




I am also interested in seeing how your supporters respond to this embarassing situation.


Leditor in Mtn Xpress



Here is a Leditor (Letter to the Editor)published in The Mountain Xpress I have been made aware of in another forum. I thought it appropriate to post here and provide a link to the original source. You will have to scroll down to find the particular leditor in question.



Oust those Democrats



Upon reading the recent, ridiculous defense letters about Rep. Susan Fisher, Democrat, N.C. House District 114, I had to respond.



Ms. Fisher was handpicked and placed on the House Ethics Committee by the most corrupt man in North Carolina, House Speaker Jim Black, who expected (and received) milquetoast, meaningless rules. It was important for Black to pick the committee to help cushion all the problems of his illustrious career of corruption. Her protective activities are indicative of the whole pay-to-play atmosphere at the legislature, controlled by Democrats for the past hundred years. I am continually appalled at the numbers of people who think she could possibly be effective as a legislator. She and her ilk are totally beholden to statewide corruption.



Contrary to one letter writer's mistaken claim, the District 114 challenger, retired Col. Mike Harrison, does indeed provide proven leadership, after 20-plus years in the U.S. military! His common sense and leadership skills are badly needed to overcome the dominant Democratic oppression that has corrupted our once-great state. How did Democrats ever get to be so corrupt in North Carolina? What about it, Larry Leake or Gordon Myers? Any answers from you guys?



Harrison supports equal ballot access for all worthy candidates from qualified parties. The Democrats are scared to embrace that inclusiveness and diversity. Why? Even though I am an unaffiliated independent, without the [opportunity] to vote for a Libertarian candidate in North Carolina, I will vote for the only sensible choice in this race! Maybe one day we can have fair elections in North Carolina, currently about the most difficult state for "other" candidates to obtain ballot access. Did you know it is easier to get on the ballot in Iraq than in North Carolina?



We need sweeping changes in Raleigh, and the incumbents are against the citizens! Please cast your N.C. House votes for Mike Harrison, Eric Gorny, R.L. Clark and Charles Thomas in your respective districts!



Please do not vote for any Democrats, as they keep us all oppressed!



– Fisher Caudle
Asheville




I could not find the leditor that provoked this respone on the Mountain Express website. If anyone knows where to find it, leave a link or copy and paste the URL in the comments.






Friday, September 22, 2006

John Batchelor on The Apology Jihad

Theme of Jihad





BY JOHN BATCHELOR
September 20, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/39997



Pope Benedict XVI, the "Panzer pope," has done the unusual in modern discourse: he has jumped into the war on terror with armored facts from six centuries ago that refute a deal of the appeasement from 21st-century Europeans and their American fellow travelers.

You will recall that Pope Benedict recently spoke, auf Deutsch, at Regensburg University, where he once enjoyed a professorship. The speech was dry, mechanical, unappetizing, a predictable German exercise in theology, with much attention to how reason and faith are compatible. In Calvinist seminary we used to call this a Roman disquisition on epistemology. Yet in the speech, the pope chose to illustrate what is not reasonable, what is not faithful, by arguing not surprisingly that violence is both unreasonable and faithless.

For an example the Pope could have chosen any number of incidents of war-making by church-anointed Christian kings and their modern elected pretenders — the Vatican's cooperation with Hitler and Mussolini comes to mind — but instead the pope reached back to the last days of the Byzantine Empire, not only to speak of jihad but also to box Mohammed's ears.




Read The Whole Thing

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Second Clinton Global Summit Begins

Another Sign Of The Impending Acopalypse




President Clinton's second summit brings together government, business and nonprofit sectors to come up with tangible solutions to global problems.


Wait, it gets better!


It was expected to draw diverse voices such as Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, cyclist Lance Armstrong, CBS News anchor Katie Couric, actor Don Cheadle and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan..


ALL TOGETHER NOW!


Government is the problem, not the solution!




Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Birds of a Feather



I think Hugo Chavez just tipped the balance in the Fall Elections back to the republicans, provided they don't do something stupid and mess it up.



Here is the text of the speech, swiped from Drudge, and a link to an article about the speech. This is something I will have to chew on before I can comment. I heard excerpts of it on Rush today, and on the top of the hour newscast, but that is it...I have printed it off and will read in tomorrow.







PRESIDENT CHAVEZ DELIVERS REMARKS AT THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SEPTEMBER 20, 2006

"Representatives of the governments of the world, good morning to all of you. First of all, I would like to invite you, very respectfully, to those who have not read this book, to read it. Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent books, 'Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States.'" [Holds up book, waves it in front of General Assembly.]

"It's an excellent book to help us understand what has been happening in the world throughout the 20th century, and what's happening now, and the greatest threat looming over our planet. The hegemonic pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the very survival of the human species. We continue to warn you about this danger and we appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our heads. I had considered reading from this book, but, for the sake of time," [flips through the pages, which are numerous] "I will just leave it as a recommendation.

It reads easily, it is a very good book, I'm sure Madame [President] you are familiar with it. It appears in English, in Russian, in Arabic, in German. I think that the first people who should read this book are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their threat is right in their own house. The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right in the house.

"And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." [crosses himself]

"And it smells of sulfur still today."

Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world.

I think we could call a psychiatrist to analyze yesterday's statement made by the president of the United States. As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums, to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world.

An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose a title: "The Devil's Recipe."

As Chomsky says here, clearly and in depth, the American empire is doing all it can to consolidate its system of domination. And we cannot allow them to do that. We cannot allow world dictatorship to be consolidated.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The world parent's statement -- cynical, hypocritical, full of this imperial hypocrisy from the need they have to control everything.

They say they want to impose a democratic model. But that's their democratic model. It's the false democracy of elites, and, I would say, a very original democracy that's imposed by weapons and bombs and firing weapons.

What a strange democracy. Aristotle might not recognize it or others who are at the root of democracy.

What type of democracy do you impose with marines and bombs?

The president of the United States, yesterday, said to us, right here, in this room, and I'm quoting, "Anywhere you look, you hear extremists telling you can escape from poverty and recover your dignity through violence, terror and martyrdom."

Wherever he looks, he sees extremists. And you, my brother -- he looks at your color, and he says, oh, there's an extremist. Evo Morales, the worthy president of Bolivia, looks like an extremist to him.

The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking up all over. And people are standing up.

I have the feeling, dear world dictator, that you are going to live the rest of your days as a nightmare because the rest of us are standing up, all those who are rising up against American imperialism, who are shouting for equality, for respect, for the sovereignty of nations.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, you can call us extremists, but we are rising up against the empire, against the model of domination.

The president then -- and this he said himself, he said: "I have come to speak directly to the populations in the Middle East, to tell them that my country wants peace."

That's true. If we walk in the streets of the Bronx, if we walk around New York, Washington, San Diego, in any city, San Antonio, San Francisco, and we ask individuals, the citizens of the United States, what does this country want? Does it want peace? They'll say yes.

But the government doesn't want peace. The government of the United States doesn't want peace. It wants to exploit its system of exploitation, of pillage, of hegemony through war.

It wants peace. But what's happening in Iraq? What happened in Lebanon? In Palestine? What's happening? What's happened over the last 100 years in Latin America and in the world? And now threatening Venezuela -- new threats against Venezuela, against Iran?

He spoke to the people of Lebanon. Many of you, he said, have seen how your homes and communities were caught in the crossfire. How cynical can you get? What a capacity to lie shamefacedly. The bombs in Beirut with millimetric precision?

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is crossfire? He's thinking of a western, when people would shoot from the hip and somebody would be caught in the crossfire.

This is imperialist, fascist, assassin, genocidal, the empire and Israel firing on the people of Palestine and Lebanon. That is what happened. And now we hear, "We're suffering because we see homes destroyed.'

The president of the United States came to talk to the peoples -- to the peoples of the world. He came to say -- I brought some documents with me, because this morning I was reading some statements, and I see that he talked to the people of Afghanistan, the people of Lebanon, the people of Iran. And he addressed all these peoples directly.

And you can wonder, just as the president of the United States addresses those peoples of the world, what would those peoples of the world tell him if they were given the floor? What would they have to say?

And I think I have some inkling of what the peoples of the south, the oppressed people think. They would say, "Yankee imperialist, go home." I think that is what those people would say if they were given the microphone and if they could speak with one voice to the American imperialists.

And that is why, Madam President, my colleagues, my friends, last year we came here to this same hall as we have been doing for the past eight years, and we said something that has now been confirmed -- fully, fully confirmed.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I don't think anybody in this room could defend the system. Let's accept -- let's be honest. The U.N. system, born after the Second World War, collapsed. It's worthless.

Oh, yes, it's good to bring us together once a year, see each other, make statements and prepare all kinds of long documents, and listen to good speeches, like Abel's (ph) yesterday, or President Mullah's (ph). Yes, it's good for that.

And there are a lot of speeches, and we've heard lots from the president of Sri Lanka, for instance, and the president of Chile.

But we, the assembly, have been turned into a merely deliberative organ. We have no power, no power to make any impact on the terrible situation in the world. And that is why Venezuela once again proposes, here, today, 20 September, that we re-establish the United Nations.

Last year, Madam, we made four modest proposals that we felt to be crucially important. We have to assume the responsibility our heads of state, our ambassadors, our representatives, and we have to discuss it.

The first is expansion, and Mullah (ph) talked about this yesterday right here. The Security Council, both as it has permanent and non-permanent categories, (inaudible) developing countries and LDCs must be given access as new permanent members. That's step one.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Second, effective methods to address and resolve world conflicts, transparent decisions.

Point three, the immediate suppression -- and that is something everyone's calling for -- of the anti-democratic mechanism known as the veto, the veto on decisions of the Security Council.

Let me give you a recent example. The immoral veto of the United States allowed the Israelis, with impunity, to destroy Lebanon. Right in front of all of us as we stood there watching, a resolution in the council was prevented.

Fourthly, we have to strengthen, as we've always said, the role and the powers of the secretary general of the United Nations.

Yesterday, the secretary general practically gave us his speech of farewell. And he recognized that over the last 10 years, things have just gotten more complicated; hunger, poverty, violence, human rights violations have just worsened. That is the tremendous consequence of the collapse of the United Nations system and American hegemonistic pretensions.

Madam, Venezuela a few years ago decided to wage this battle within the United Nations by recognizing the United Nations, as members of it that we are, and lending it our voice, our thinking.

Our voice is an independent voice to represent the dignity and the search for peace and the reformulation of the international system; to denounce persecution and aggression of hegemonistic forces on the planet.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is how Venezuela has presented itself. Bolivar's home has sought a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council.

Let's see. Well, there's been an open attack by the U.S. government, an immoral attack, to try and prevent Venezuela from being freely elected to a post in the Security Council.

The imperium is afraid of truth, is afraid of independent voices. It calls us extremists, but they are the extremists.

And I would like to thank all the countries that have kindly announced their support for Venezuela, even though the ballot is a secret one and there's no need to announce things.

But since the imperium has attacked, openly, they strengthened the convictions of many countries. And their support strengthens us.

Mercosur, as a bloc, has expressed its support, our brothers in Mercosur. Venezuela, with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, is a full member of Mercosur.

And many other Latin American countries, CARICOM, Bolivia have expressed their support for Venezuela. The Arab League, the full Arab League has voiced its support. And I am immensely grateful to the Arab world, to our Arab brothers, our Caribbean brothers, the African Union. Almost all of Africa has expressed its support for Venezuela and countries such as Russia or China and many others.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I thank you all warmly on behalf of Venezuela, on behalf of our people, and on behalf of the truth, because Venezuela, with a seat on the Security Council, will be expressing not only Venezuela's thoughts, but it will also be the voice of all the peoples of the world, and we will defend dignity and truth.

Over and above all of this, Madam President, I think there are reasons to be optimistic. A poet would have said "helplessly optimistic," because over and above the wars and the bombs and the aggressive and the preventive war and the destruction of entire peoples, one can see that a new era is dawning.

As Sylvia Rodriguez (ph) says, the era is giving birth to a heart. There are alternative ways of thinking. There are young people who think differently. And this has already been seen within the space of a mere decade. It was shown that the end of history was a totally false assumption, and the same was shown about Pax Americana and the establishment of the capitalist neo-liberal world. It has been shown, this system, to generate mere poverty. Who believes in it now?

What we now have to do is define the future of the world. Dawn is breaking out all over. You can see it in Africa and Europe and Latin America and Oceanea. I want to emphasize that optimistic vision.

We have to strengthen ourselves, our will to do battle, our awareness. We have to build a new and better world.

Venezuela joins that struggle, and that's why we are threatened. The U.S. has already planned, financed and set in motion a coup in Venezuela, and it continues to support coup attempts in Venezuela and elsewhere.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): President Michelle Bachelet reminded us just a moment ago of the horrendous assassination of the former foreign minister, Orlando Letelier.

And I would just add one thing: Those who perpetrated this crime are free. And that other event where an American citizen also died were American themselves. They were CIA killers, terrorists.

And we must recall in this room that in just a few days there will be another anniversary. Thirty years will have passed from this other horrendous terrorist attack on the Cuban plane, where 73 innocents died, a Cubana de Aviacion airliner.

And where is the biggest terrorist of this continent who took the responsibility for blowing up the plane? He spent a few years in jail in Venezuela. Thanks to CIA and then government officials, he was allowed to escape, and he lives here in this country, protected by the government.

And he was convicted. He has confessed to his crime. But the U.S. government has double standards. It protects terrorism when it wants to.

And this is to say that Venezuela is fully committed to combating terrorism and violence. And we are one of the people who are fighting for peace.

Luis Posada Carriles is the name of that terrorist who is protected here. And other tremendously corrupt people who escaped from Venezuela are also living here under protection: a group that bombed various embassies, that assassinated people during the coup. They kidnapped me and they were going to kill me, but I think God reached down and our people came out into the streets and the army was too, and so I'm here today.

But these people who led that coup are here today in this country protected by the American government. And I accuse the American government of protecting terrorists and of having a completely cynical discourse.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We mentioned Cuba. Yes, we were just there a few days ago. We just came from there happily.

And there you see another era born. The Summit of the 15, the Summit of the Nonaligned, adopted a historic resolution. This is the outcome document. Don't worry, I'm not going to read it.

But you have a whole set of resolutions here that were adopted after open debate in a transparent matter -- more than 50 heads of state. Havana was the capital of the south for a few weeks, and we have now launched, once again, the group of the nonaligned with new momentum.

And if there is anything I could ask all of you here, my companions, my brothers and sisters, it is to please lend your good will to lend momentum to the Nonaligned Movement for the birth of the new era, to prevent hegemony and prevent further advances of imperialism.

And as you know, Fidel Castro is the president of the nonaligned for the next three years, and we can trust him to lead the charge very efficiently.

Unfortunately they thought, "Oh, Fidel was going to die." But they're going to be disappointed because he didn't. And he's not only alive, he's back in his green fatigues, and he's now presiding the nonaligned.

So, my dear colleagues, Madam President, a new, strong movement has been born, a movement of the south. We are men and women of the south.

With this document, with these ideas, with these criticisms, I'm now closing my file. I'm taking the book with me. And, don't forget, I'm recommending it very warmly and very humbly to all of you.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We want ideas to save our planet, to save the planet from the imperialist threat. And hopefully in this very century, in not too long a time, we will see this, we will see this new era, and for our children and our grandchildren a world of peace based on the fundamental principles of the United Nations, but a renewed United Nations.

And maybe we have to change location. Maybe we have to put the United Nations somewhere else; maybe a city of the south. We've proposed Venezuela.

You know that my personal doctor had to stay in the plane. The chief of security had to be left in a locked plane. Neither of these gentlemen was allowed to arrive and attend the U.N. meeting. This is another abuse and another abuse of power on the part of the Devil. It smells of sulfur here, but God is with us and I embrace you all.

May God bless us all. Good day to you.

(APPLAUSE)

END






Hat Tip: Drudge Report Flash

Ottawa Citizen

Little Green Footballs, Read the post, then follow the comment thread.

No pistures today.

Black Swans and Wild Skies



CATASTROPHIC BLACK SWANS



The arrival of global guerrillas -- small groups that can successfully fight wars against states -- is merely the first expression of a much larger trend line. The larger trend is a radical improvement in the productivity of warfare through the use of mechanisms outside of the control of the state. Since there have been no strides in eliminating the drivers of warfare at the small group level (in fact, just the opposite has happened) and our core systems remain hopelessly concentrated/interconnected, the use of this newly emergent productivity is inevitable.

If we follow this trend line, the path in development is clear. First, over the next decade, the size of the group necessary for global warfare will continue to decrease and decentralize (through a near term shift to systems disruption and open source organizational forms). Second, we will eventually reach a point when the weaponry available to these groups will enable them to initiate a catastrophic black swan (an event that is impossible to predict).





Read the rest.



I am not all that sure an al-Qaeda nuke smuggled into a U.S. city would destroy our country, nor three or four. It would hurt us, for sure, but I believe that Katrina taught us that these things are survivable. The fabric of American Society will not be rent asunder.



Wild Skies


The clouds were spectacular yesterday, and I have an example for you below.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Netroots Activist Launches Network









From the Press Release:

"Western North Carolina News Network (WNCNN), created by local political organizer, Gordon D. Smith, is political satire presented as a cable news program in the vein of Steven Colbert's The Colbert Report and Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. WNCNN will air weekly on Mondays on numerous internet sites including YouTube.com beginning on September 18, 2006. The series intends to highlight the shortcomings of Republican incumbent Congressman Charles H. Taylor through the use of satire, sarcasm, and visual humor.



More at his blog, Scrutiny Hooligans.



Here is a taste of one one his clickable sidebar graphics, released for people to use on their websites to link to his anti-Taylor Video Campaign.

See the video yourself below:



What can Taylor supporters do in response?


Well, first off, watch the ad, and pay attention. This is the shape of things to come, due, in part to The McCain-Feingold Act, and in part to the increasing availability of technical means to the average citizen in America. The first reason is bad, the second is neutral, it is what you make of it.


I expect some of us to be inspired to respond to this in our own way.


Sunday, September 17, 2006

al-Qaeda To Launch Nuclear Strike?

Click above to read more.

Shuler v Taylor Stock Trading



I was researching about the Heath Shuler campaign this morning, and found a political stock exchange that trades play money where the traders bet money on the outcome of certain political races, or events.

When someone signs up, they have W$1,000,000 deposited into their trading account, and they can start trading stocks.

Each stock starts out with a value of W$50.00, and goes up or down based on the buying or selling of such stock, the more people buy, the more valuable it becomes, the more sell, the less valuable it becomes. So, it is good to get in on the ground floor of a good stock, and not so good to get in on a bad stock just before it plummets.

For example, there is a stock, called OBL06, that predicts that Osama Bin Laden will be captured or killed by Dec 31, 2006. It's value is W$23.15. I'd hate to be the player(s) who initially purchased the stock!

The local congressional race is part of the stock exchange as well.

Heath Shuler's stock evaluation is W$61.06, and Charles Taylor's was W$50.00. So, being the loyal Conservative, I couldn't let that stand.
I immediately joined up (it's free), and purchased 5,000 shares. That brought the evaluation up pretty nice on par with Heath's...exactly matching it at W$61.06. Can I add, or what?

I wish I had known how much the stock would climb that much, or I would have bought more. I have several hundred thousand in W$ jingling in my pocket, and am currently studying where to make my next move.

I fancy myself a trader (at least in the real world), and am a student of Technical Analysis, which involves charting a lot of different variables, such as price, price change, volume traded, and such. My philosophy is that the market knows the current value of a stock, and will change to reflect that value from moment to moment, and that these trends are predictable, given you have taken everything into account, which, of course, is impossible, but fun.

Besides, I like math, and playing with numbers, unlike those dull and stodgy people who are students of Fundamental Analysis. These guys try to read everything about a stock to try to get a handle on where it is going, as far as it's value goes. Who wants to read a gazillion articles about a company in your spare time, when you could play with a calculator (or computer)!!!! Since I learned to chart stocks by hand with graphing paper (sometimes making my own), a newspaper, and plenty of paper and pencils, I still prefer that method when following one or two stocks, anything more, and it becomes quite time consuming!

There is an ulterior motive for my gushing about this "Pretend Stock Exchange."

I intend to entice both my readers to check it out because the more people are involved in trading activity, the more accurate the market is due to smoothing out of individual actions. And if local people are involved, perhaps I can more accuratley predict whether Charles Taylor will be going back to Washington, or if Heath Shuler will have to endure the spectacle of Redskins fans turning their backs on him everywhere he goes!



Rare Navel-Gazing Moment Alert !!!


You know, to some people, this is probably the most boring post I have ever posted.


The Religion That Respects Free Speech







Hussein Shabakshy wrote in an article published by the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat “It is clear that such remarks only contribute to the fueling of the fire raging between Islam and the West. There is no difference between Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri speaking from their caves in Tora Bora and the stage of an important Christian saint. Both parties contribute to the world verbal weapons for mass destruction.”




“The pope’s latest statement cannot be considered a slip of the tongue or a comic bit from a TV show; the situatio0n here is different, and his remarks are indicative of an important and highly symbolic stance toward the religion (Islam) and the prophet of about a billion and-a-half Muslims,” he said.




Source: YNET NEWS

I am not a Catholic. I have read the Pope's remarks, and, if anything they are too mild. But then again, anyone who says anything remotely near the truth about the (murdering) prophet mohamet (a child molester), is sinning under the traditions of the ummah.



Let us briefly compare the two religions.
Side by side, if you will "indulge me":



Response to blasphemous displays of Art,



1---The "artistic" display of a crucifix in urine.
Christian, and Catholic response...attention is called to the display in a peaceful manner. To this day, I still don't remember mobs of religious thugs in the street, yelling their fool heads off, for Christ gave us an example that CANNOT be improved upon. When He was on the cross, he was jeered at by the crowds, He asked His Father to forgive, for they did not know what they were doing. A criminal on a cross next to Him, asked Him to remember him. Christ told the man that very day he would be with Him in paradise.



2---The "artistic" display of mohamet in cartoons.
Muslim rsponse...burning, pillaging, raping mobs of people yelling their fool heads off about their supreme prophet (who presumably has the ear of allah), and their entire religion being insulted by some scribbles on a piece of paper. Of course, they have their prophets' example to go by, don't they?
How many people did he kill?
How many were killed by those he led in battle?
How many have been killed by those imitating him?




Response to civilians killed in war



SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, the Christian, and Catholic Response:
Prayer, (for the victims, the heroes who sacificed themselves in the hope that more could be saved, prayer for the families of those affected and those responding), then Action (people gave their blood, money, material, and time to help in the rescue, recovery, and removal of the bodies of the dead). Bodies were covered, out of respect for the dead. This was the overwhelming response. Reprisals would come later, measured out to those responsible, and those capable, of such an act against our people.


The Building next to the UN Outpost in Lebanon:
Bodies were left in the rubble, until cameras could be brought to bear.
Rescuers brought each body out, for the camera.
Bodies wre laid out in rows, for the camera.
Flies were allowed to gather, for the camera.
Families grieved, for the camera.
Mobs cried for Vengeance, for the camera.




Commentary


Don't try to tell me there is ANY Moral Equivalence between the two religions for one simple reason (listen closely, for it is quite profound).
The "Moderate" Muslims cannot form a peaceful counter-protest in any Muslim dominated country in the world without being in mortal fear of their lives from their co-religionists.


What's that I hear? Is it crickets chirping? Or is it perhaps a Muslim plotting to silence my voice? Either way, I know where I am headed after I leave this body. For them to be absolutely sure, they have to murder an infidel. Nice contrast, eh?

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Religion of Peace Pissed at Pope



Or, Religious War Heats Up








Muslim leaders demand apology for Pope's 'medieval' remarks




John Hooper in Rome and Luke Harding in Berlin
Saturday September 16, 2006
The Guardian


Pope Benedict XVI was last night facing angry demands from Muslims that he apologise for a speech in which he appeared to say the concept of jihad was "unreasonable" and quoted a medieval ruler who said Muhammad's innovations were "evil and inhuman".
Protests swept across the Islamic world and the furore threatened a scheduled visit by the Pope to Turkey.

The Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, told Vatican Radio: "It was certainly not the intention of the Holy Father to undertake a comprehensive study of the jihad and of Muslim ideas on the subject, still less to offend the sensibilities of the Muslim faithful."

Father Miguel Ayuso Guixot, head of the Vatican's Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, told the Guardian he feared the Pope's words had been "misinterpreted". He added: "The Pope has worked tirelessly for inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue and for tolerance."

In Turkey, however, where the Pope is due to visit in November, the deputy leader of the ruling party said Benedict had "a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the middle ages". Salih Kapusuz added: "He is going down in history in the same category as leaders such as Hitler and Mussolini."

Representatives of the two million Turks in Germany, where the comments were made, also expressed deep annoyance. The head of the Turkish community, Kenan Kolat, said they were "very dangerous" and liable to misunderstanding.

In Beirut, Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, one of the world's top Shia Muslim clerics, said: "We demand that [the Pope] apologises personally, and not through [Vatican] sources, to all Muslims for such a wrong interpretation." An influential Iranian cleric branded his remarks "absurd". Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Tehran University: "The Pope has insulted Islam."

By last night the protests had not spilled over into the kind of violence seen in February in protest against the Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad. But Diaa Rashwan, a Cairo-based analyst of Islamic militancy, warned that the comments were "more dangerous than the cartoons because they come from the most important Christian authority in the world. The cartoons just came from an artist."

The row broke out over a lecture given by the Pope on Tuesday at his old university at Regensburg. His central theme was one on which he has touched repeatedly in recent months - the need to reconcile faith and reason.

He quoted from a little-known medieval text recording debates between a Byzantine emperor and an educated Persian. The Pope recalled that the emperor had told his adversary: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Benedict acknowledged the "startling brusqueness" of the remark, but went on to endorse fully the view that "spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable".




Commentary


Okay, What part of Religious War Don't You Understand???





Friday, September 15, 2006

Heath Shuler Post for Septmeber 15

Or, When Google comes a knockin'


An anonymous Googler left me a present today. This person was Googling for information on a local race I posted about sometime ago, and I looked at the results of their search and found some information on a current race, the local Congressional Race.

So off I went, reading the AARP Survey designed to assist voters in making a decision in Novewmber. So, without further ado, here is the survey with my frequent interuptions to clarify, translate, and point out what I feel are gross errors.

The survey questions are in Black, AARP Responses are in a gray color, Heath Shulers' responses are in blue, Charles Taylors' are in red, and mine are green according to the Blogger Palette of colors as viewed by Internet Explorer 6something.


Question

Will you support or oppose a balanced Social Security plan to continue the program's guaranteed benefits for future generations?
Will you support or oppose using Social Security taxes to fund private accounts?



AARP Response

For 70 years, America's families have relied on the values embodied in Social Security. The program's guaranteed, risk-free benefit protects people from outliving their savings or the loss of a spouse or parent. We all benefit from the shared responsibility of providing for today's beneficiaries, with the knowledge that that same responsibility will be met by future generations for us.




Candidate Response: Heath Shuler, Democrat

I strongly support efforts to ensure Social Security remains a defined benefit program for years to come and will oppose any privatization efforts. I do not, however, support a reduction in benefits. Social Security’s effectiveness comes from the fact that all Americans benefit. By reducing benefits for certain segments of Americans we risk allowing Social Security to be classified as a welfare program for “others,” not a right earned by all.

My Translation:

Heath Shuler supports Social Security remaining a compulsory program, and refuses to allow any to escape. He told a bald-faced lie when he said that all Americans benefit from from Social Security. Heath, did all Americans benefit from the compulsory program of slavery...Hmm? Everybody except those involved, and with Social Security, everyone IS INVOLVED, including those yet to be born. Social Security is a welfare program, and no one has the right to "take" my hard-earned money from me by threat of force, even if they intend to help someone else, who, like the Grasshopper, fiddled in the sun instead of putting back provisions. You see, in that fable, the Ants voluntarily helped the Grasshopper. There were no government agencies "taking" a portion of the fruits of the ants labors. In the Real World, if I know that increased work on my part, will not see any tangible increase in reward on my part, and I know that if I slack off a little bit, "everyone else" will be forced to "help me" out, Why work so hard? I can play in the sunshine years, knowing that others will be "sharing" a portion of their hard work when it is the winter of my life. And Heath, a right that is "earned by all" is not a right because if the standard is set so low that all earn it, then it is not a right, but a guarantee, and a guarantee implies a guarantor, and when that guarantor is the government put in the place of "benevolent" Dictatorship, my respone is, No Thanks, Heath. I'll take my chances because we all know the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" never works.


Candidate Response: Charles Taylor, Republican

Candidate did not respond to questionnaire.

Given that the AARP is little more than an arm of the Democratic Party, I can hardly blame him, altough he missed a good chance for a good fight that would leave the AARP, and Heath, licking their wounds.



NEXT QUESTION<>



Question
Will you support or oppose a shared approach involving government, employers and individuals, to providing health care coverage for everyone?

Question implies that every one will "share". When you see the word "share" used it really means "forced", forced because, like the "Hotel California", you can never leave, in fact, you are booked in before birth, with an abortion being the only way out of the Social Security Enslavement Program.

AARP Response
In the absence of universal coverage, AARP supports specific reforms that increase the number of people with health care coverage, either through public or private insurance
.

Respone implies that AARP is for Universal Health Care, and it cannot be "universal" unless it is forced upon us all, to the unborn generations, again with the implication, to me of a program of enslavement.


More and more Americans, including a growing number of workers, find themselves without health insurance. Increasing health care costs strain businesses large and small, leading them to either stop offering health care coverage all together or raise employee premiums and co-pays. Shifting an ever-larger share of health care costs to individuals does not address the problem of the high cost of health care and threatens the health and financial security of American families.

And why is the cost of Health Coverage going up? Because of a "guaranteed" government payola to pad the profit margin, sort of like the $600 hammers and $2,000 toilet seats a couple of decades ago. Look at Canada. If their "Universal" Health Care is so great, why do so many of them head south with cash to get it here, instead of there?


AARP believes that government, employers and individuals should share the responsibility for paying for health care coverage.


I hear the word "subsidy" in that sentence. When the government provides a subsidy, the true cost of an item is concealed, and there is no benefit for the producer of such item to reduce their cost, because there market share is "guaranteed". And, of course, dear faithful reader, you have spied out that "share" word again. You know what that means.



Candidate Response: Heath Shuler, Democrat

The ability to see a doctor when you are sick should not be a privilege of only the wealthy.

A misleading statement. Anyone who is sick in America, even Illegal Aliens, see doctors everyday in Emergency Departments, Urgent Care Facilities, Free Clinics, and their Personal Physician, should they have had the foresight to contract with one.


It is immoral that over 46 million Americans currently lack the most basic health care coverage.

Is it immoral that I have no Health Care Coverage? It is MY CHOICE not to pay into a corrupt system. I invest my money so that, when the time comes, I have more money to choose my own health care professional within the limits of my money, not dictated to me by a Byzantine set of rules, regulations, and caveats only a lawyer can understand. As soon as you take the Government Teat away from the Insurance Companies and Health Care Providers, the prices will come down.


The rising cost of health care is leading to more and more companies terminating their coverage, which places a greater strain on our hospital emergency rooms and governmental services. We must realize that all sections of America – government, business, and individual -- have a stake in ensuring health care is available to all. I will work diligently to make certain that every American has affordable access to health care.



It is immoral that Heath believes that I should be "forced" to pool my money. That is government-santioned theft. Don't be a theif, Heath, keep your hands off my hard-earned money!




Candidate Response: Charles Taylor, Republican

Candidate did not respond to questionnaire.

Again, a missed opportunity to expose the AARP and his opponent as wolves in sheeps' clothing.

NEXT QUESTION, PLEASE!

Question

Will you support or oppose allowing Medicare to use its bargaining power to negotiate lower prices for needed prescription drugs? Will you support or oppose imposing an annual limit on federal Medicare spending?




Medicare is a government bureacracy. No, I most certainly OPPPOSE it interfering in the marketplace as the former Soviet Union did, which eventually destroyed the economy of that nation. And, as to limits on Federal Medicare Spending? You betcha.







AARP Response

Medicare Part D is now helping millions of people in Medicare save money on their prescription drugs. But while those with Part D coverage are saving, the actual cost of prescription drugs continues to increase at a rate greater than general inflation. AARP believes that more must be done to bring down soaring drug costs and supports allowing Medicare to use its bargaining power to negotiate lower prescription drugs.




These guys have stumbled upon the truth, and are blind to it. They admit that those with Part D Coverage are saving, while the cost continues to climb at an ever faster rate. That is because those without Part D coverage have shouldered the extra burden, of an additional government program, and the drug companies are sheltered from market forces by the well-intentioned government program. They have no incentive to lower prices.





Proposals have been made in Congress to put an annual limit on how much money the federal government spends on the Medicare program. AARP opposes arbitrary limits on Medicare funding.




The AARP would like to increase spending, and burden the public debt even more.




Candidate Response: Heath Shuler, Democrat

I strongly support efforts to reform the Medicare Part D program, especially allowing for the negotiation of prescription drug prices on behalf of America’s 40 million seniors by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.



Ah Ha! now we see The Secretary of Human Health Services involved in setting price controls, much like the Politburo of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of yesteryear. Please, Heath, didn't you learn in school that a Command Economy never works?!?



We must also correct the flaws in the program that allow prescription plans to drop medications at any time, while preventing seniors from changing their plans for a year, even if their needs change. I will always fight on behalf of American seniors and will oppose any efforts to arbitrarily limit the amount of federal spending on Medicare.



Again with the Command economy stuff, Heath Shuler?



Candidate Response: Charles Taylor, Republican

Candidate did not respond to questionnaire



Yet another missed opportunity to end this Campaign before the end of September!




Next Question!!! I tire of shooting fish in a barrel.



Question
Will you support or oppose a combined approach that involves government and individuals covering long-term care? Will you support or oppose requiring individuals to buy private long-term care insurance?



Again, misleading questions! I am responsible for myself! If someone else becomes responsible,even partly, then they have the right to tell me what I can and cannot do! Nosirree, I'm not about to fall into that trap! "Requiring" individuals to buy long-term care insurance creates an extra demand for a service, and that means higher prices for all, just like these other nonsense schemes where the government interferes with the marktplace.



AARP Response
Long-term care can be costly for people who do not have family caregivers or need more care than family and friends can provide.


It can be, if they don't put their own money to work for them, instead of having it "taken" to "share" with others.




Qualifying for Medicaid-the primary public funding source for long-term care-requires either very low assets and income, or depleting almost all assets and income to pay for care. Currently private insurance is either too expensive or unavailable for many people. Approaches that give people cash payments to choose, buy and manage their care, along with counseling to help them make and manage care choices, help maintain dignity and maximize independence.



Gotcha!!! This is a virtual admission that Medicare is designed to keep people poor, and they play on your fears and uncertainties about the future...the old one bird in the hand or two in the bush scenario! And that dignity you wish to maintain has to be maintained because you took it in the first place.




AARP supports a publicly funded, long-term care cash benefit program-paid for through a combination of government and individual contributions-to give people more control over their own care. AARP opposes requiring individuals to buy private long-term care insurance.



A "contribution" is not a "contribution" if it is forced out of you. Call it what it is, a tax.




Candidate Response: Heath Shuler, Democrat

I strongly support efforts to increase the availability and use of long-term care insurance for all Americans. I will strive to increase the options available to individuals and families for long-term care, but do not support the government requiring the purchase of long-term care insurance.



Now, now, Heath! It is not insurance if all have it, it is an Entitlement. Heath supports inreasing options, just as long as the options are a government program. At least he got the last clause, "but do not support the government requiring the purchase of long-term care insurance." right, although I believe for different reasons. He wants to keep private enterprise out, and I want no "false" demand on the market place.





Candidate Response: Charles Taylor, Republican

Candidate did not respond to questionnaire.


This is getting predictable!




And to the Last Question. Hooray!!!




Question
Do you support or oppose requiring employers to give workers access to automatic payroll deductions to fund their personal IRAs?

Arrrgghhh!!! I'll save my ire for Heaths' response to the question. That way, I can get both targets at once.

AARP Response
Social Security was never intended to be a worker's only source of retirement income. Even though people know Social Security will not be enough to live on, many find it difficult to save for the future. AARP supports creating and expanding supplemental retirement accounts that enable workers to accumulate retirement savings in addition to Social Security's guaranteed benefits.



Wow! An entire three sentences in a row I can find no fault with! (I read it over several times to make sure I wasn't getting fatigued)




AARP supports making saving for retirement simpler and fairer by requiring that employers give workers access to voluntary, automatic payroll deductions to their own IRAs if their employers do not already give them access to a pension or 401(k) plan.



I almost (almost) included that sentence as one I could agree with, except for the part where "employers give workers access to voluntary, automatic payroll deductions to their own IRAs" Wait just a doggone minute! Access to their own money! Where do these people get off "taking" our money, then "allowing" us access to direct it anywhere but our own pockets! These people are sneaky with their verbiage (fancy word for word use!).



Candidate Response: Heath Shuler, Democrat

I firmly believe that by allowing employees to contribute directly to their personal retirement accounts we can significantly increase the number of Americans who participate in these plans.



I cannot allow that statement to go by unchallenged! This reveals Heath Shulers' true attitude toward government, that the Government are the holders of our rights, which they "give" to us. Not so, Heath. If you have ever read your U.S. Constitution, you know the reservoir of rights remain with the people. Not the Federal Government, not the states, and certainly not our employers.
For your edification, Heath, I have pasted the 10th Amendment below,
with a link to an online source, should you not have a copy in your pocket, or in your heart. Note to Heath: use your mouse to highlight the word link, then press down on the left button, or get someone to help you.







Amendment X - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.






I will work closely with employers to increase the availability of direct deposits to IRAs and other retirement programs, but do not support the government forcing all employers to offer this service.


After all, how is heath gonna entice future campaign contibutions from employers who (wisely) want no part of this train wreck!



Candidate Response: Charles Taylor, Republican



Okay, all together now:


Candidate did not respond to questionnaire.







That took all afternoon to type out! Hope you enjoyed reading it, and will forgive the typos. As usual, any mistake in transcribing a question or response is mine and mine alone! And my choice of green does nor imply I endorse the Green Party, I was running out of colors that looked right to me. I tried Orange, but I though it looked too much like the red.


For those interested, the source page is located here.











What World Leader Are You?



Oh no! How could this be?


My results below:



I hope this doesn't mean that one day I'll be dragged from a rat hole to face justice!



Another Threat To Border Security



Okay, so I have one more alarm to put out before I return to my regular broadcast.






Joint investigative report by Douglas J. Hagmann, Director, Northeast Intelligence Network, Judi McLeod, Founder & Editor, CanadaFreePress.com, & Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor, CanadaFreePress.com

15 September 2006: During a joint, covert operation involving the US Border Patrol and the Ontario Provincial Police on June 9, 2006, an incident took place that quietly rocked law enforcement communities of two countries and placed a number of undercover police operatives and operations at risk, yet has largely gone unreported by the media. The operation involved surveillance by the US Border Patrol and the OPP, focusing on the human smuggling of illegal aliens from various countries, including possible members of al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organizations that is taking place across the Canada-U.S. border along the Niagara frontier. Illegal aliens, including the potential terrorists, are reportedly receiving assistance from some members of the native tribe known as the “Six Nations,” some who have overtaken portions of Caledonia, Ontario, Canada – a town just two hours from the city of Buffalo, NY.




Northeast Intelligence Network



Caledonia Wake Up Call

NYCrime Watch Blog

I think maybe it is time for us Americans to call our Elected Federal Critters and ask them why they aren't protecting us from trrorists. At least you can spare 5 or 6 minutes and call The White House Comment Line at 1-202-345-1111 and ask The President about the Terrorisy Threat in Caledonia.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Just In Case...




Surviving Al-Qaeda Nuclear Attack


HotAir published a report that AQ is likely to detonate a nuke in a major city on Ramadan. That's 24 September to 23 October. Obviously, nothing can save you if you are standing next to a bomb - or a hundred meters from it. If you are several miles away, understanding of what happening and what you are doing can make a difference between life and death. There is no chance that our Governments will inform us on what to do in advance - it would be victimising out Muslim community, wouldn't it? So I will try to provide a few tips in most simple terms.

There are four ways a nuke kills people, in that order - light, earthquake, shock wave, fallout. They come at that order, so you need to protect yourself in that order exactly.

Source



I will use this opportunity to bring out one of my favorite survival-type links, at least the one that won't get me arrested. >;^)

Michael Reagan to Form Legacy PAC

Michael Reagan has just announced that he will be soon forming a Political Action Committee to support Ronald Reagan Conservatives for office. I am listening on XM166.

Now that would be a true tribute to his father, and I would be glad to contribute.

Thank You, Michael. Maybe together, we can turn the tide against The Rockefeller Republicans!!!

The Institute for Immigration Policy Review




I found a website called The Institute for Immigration Policy Review whilst looking for new news sources. Here is their stated mission:



About Us
by editor @ Friday, August 12th, 2005. Filed under About
We are a small independent group interested in monitoring current news and trends in immigration and trade, primarily in the United States. We believe that immigration is an American family issue that should be discussed and decided by American families since it is us who will pay the cost and our children who will pay the price for what is arguably our “open borders policy”.
We believe that illegal immigration is largely ignored by our government and under-reported in the media. We believe that most Americans do not understand the dramatic demographic effects that illegal immigration has had and will continue to have on the United States. We think they have the right to know.
We think legal immigration is a good idea if the numbers are small and if the immigrants can be assimilated fully into American life and culture.
We think illegal immigrants should not be rewarded with amnesties of any kind and should not be given any assistance in breaking our immigration laws. We believe that politicians who support amnesty care more about special interest groups than the taxpayers who have always been forced to pay the bills and have virtually no say in any of the decisions.
We do not understand how in a post 9/11 America, having an open borders policy helps to enhance the security of the United States.
We believe the government steadfastly ignores the immigration problem, and that Democrats and Republicans are equally responsible. Democrats hope to entice new immigrants to vote Democrat and Republicans see a cheap source of labor for their corporate sponsors.
Democrats proposed the Immigration Act of 1965 and many Republicans voted for it. Here’s a quote from Otis L. Graham, Jr.’s article from The Christian Science Monitor, December 28, 1995, called “Tracing Liberal Woes To ‘65 Immigration Act”
“A few critics questioned whether the new legislation, originally launched by President John F. Kennedy, would enlarge the immigrant flow and shift it from Europe to Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Supporters emphatically denied this. “The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society,” Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said. Attorney General Robert Kennedy predicted 5,000 immigrants from the entire Asia-Pacific Triangle, “after which immigration from that source would virtually disappear.”"This has not been the case.
Poll after poll has found that Americans of every racial and ethnic group support a drastically lower level of legal immigration , and enforcing immigration laws to stop the flood of illegal aliens into the United States.
We hope that by providing a new source for news and information about immigration, trade and other stories of interest, we can help Americans to be fully aware of the consequences of our “open borders policy” and decide for themselves if they want to tolerate a non-enforced official policy and an unspoken policy which encourages illegal immigration to their detriment.
That is our mission.
Contact Us

The website also has an extensive set of links on the sidebar focused on Immigration Issues, something I always appreciate, ways to get at more information.

The Main Page of the website is here. Enjoy!

Commentary

What we lack is leadership in the Republican Party. That is why Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) stands zero chance in a bid for the Presidency. In the House, Dennis Hastert (R-IL) has refused to use the bully stick of funding to move President Bush on this issue.

I hope the GOP realizes they will inherit the whirlwind because of their inaction on Illegal Immigration. The voters will remember.



Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Hail Eris!

A fitting name for a fitting bane of Pluto...

Largest known dwarf planet named after Greek goddess of chaos - By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science WriterWednesday, September 13, 2006

(09-13) 19:34 PDT Los Angeles (AP) --
A distant, icy rock whose discovery shook up the solar system and led to Pluto's planetary demise has been given a name: Eris.
The christening of Eris, named after the Greek goddess of chaos and strife, was announced by the International Astronomical Union on Wednesday. Weeks earlier, the professional astronomers' group stripped Pluto of its planethood under new controversial guidelines.
Since its discovery last year, Eris, which had been known as 2003 UB313, ignited a debate about what constitutes a planet.
Astronomers were split over how to classify the object because there was no universal definition. Some argued it should be welcomed as the 10th planet since it was larger than Pluto, but others felt Pluto was not a full-fledged planet.
After much bickering, astronomers last month voted to shrink the solar system to eight planets, downgrading Pluto to a "dwarf planet," a category that also includes Eris and the asteroid Ceres.
Eris' discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, said the name was an obvious choice, calling it "too perfect to resist."
In mythology, Eris caused a quarrel among goddesses that sparked the Trojan War. In real life, Eris forced scientists to define a planet that eventually led to Pluto getting the boot. Soon after Pluto's dismissal from the planet club, hundreds of scientists circulated a petition protesting the decision.
Eris' moon also received a formal name: Dysnomia, the daughter of Eris known as the spirit of lawlessness.
Eris, which measures about 70 miles wider than Pluto, is the farthest known object in the solar system at 9 billion miles away from sun. It is also the third brightest object located in the Kuiper belt, a disc of icy debris beyond the orbit of Neptune.
Eris had been without a formal name while astronomers grappled over its status. Brown nicknamed it "Xena" after the fictional warrior princess pending an official designation. He admits the new name will take some getting used to.
"It's a little sad to see Xena go away," he said.
___

Source

Hat Tip: Freeper TFFKAMM (don't ask!)