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it's so sadly true.
I would have a long time ago.... anybody with any sense would have. The only thing keeping him in place is Bush's warped sense of loyality.
Last Holiday
A fun comedy with a warm story line... Queen Latifah at her best. I enjoyed this one!
3.8 out of 5
ROFL!!!
gee, I feel safer now... especially with that blustering blowhard trying to stir up shit with Iran.
Here's someone who was willing to tell the truth... too bad he didn't have the guts to do it when it counted.
Towing The Company Line
WASHINGTON, JAN 22, 2006
(CBS) Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News anchor and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.
Let's get one thing out of the way first: Paul Bremer is a patriot who took a thankless and dangerous job. For one year he was the top American official in Iraq and it was his responsibility to get the country to the point that the Iraqis could at least hold an election.
Now he has written a book, which is something every person who holds such a position owes to history, and this book is his version of history, which is what it should be.
But here's my problem. NOW he tells us that early on he realized there were not enough troops on the ground in Iraq to carry out the mission and that he tried to convince the Secretary of Defense of that.
I have no quarrel with that. In fact, I agree with him. My problem is he never said such a thing publicly at the time. To the contrary, when he appeared on this broadcast and in other forums he always took the government line that troop levels were adequate. He said that as Americans were dying.
More and more, that's the drill. Officials say one thing at the time, but we must wait for the book to find out what they REALLY thought.
Loyalty is to be admired, but towing the company line when we believe it to be wrong is no virtue. In a world where spin rules, we may have forgotten that.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/22/opinion/schieffer/main1227399.shtml
Dr. Hansen said he would ignore the restrictions.
yes! glad to see people not kowtowing to this administration any longer.
government study? I hope it's not one of those that the Bush admin edits to put their own spin on it.
if you see a picture of the truck, I'd love to see it posted here
:)
I created this board just for that purpose and to keep a positive outlook.
correct... I saw it the day after this post
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=7434736
Good for you! It's really rude and inconsiderate to waste other people's time by being habitually late. It's one of my pet peeves.
I like that Lombard Time! I already practice it and now have a cool way of presenting to others.
General Says Troops in Iraq 'Stretched'
By NICK WADHAMS, Associated Press Writer
30 minutes ago
DIWANIYAH, Iraq - The top U.S. commander in Iraq acknowledged on Thursday that the U.S. Army was stretched but insisted forces here were capable of accomplishing their mission and any recommendation to reduce troops further would be dictated by the situation on the battlefield.
U.S. officials said Gen. George Casey was speaking about the Army in general and not specifically about the 136,000-strong force in Iraq. However, his comments are likely to fuel a debate inside the U.S. government over whether the United States can sustain the fight long enough to break the back of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency.
"The forces are stretched ... and I don't think there's any question of that," Casey told reporters. "But the Army has been for the last several years going through a modernization strategy that will produce more units and more ready units."
Casey said he had discussed manpower strains with Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker on Wednesday and that the Army chief of staff feels he can sustain missions around the world. Casey was adamant that the troops in Iraq were getting the job done.
"So, yep, folks are stretched here but they certainly accomplish their mission, and the forces that you've seen on the ground are absolutely magnificent," Casey added.
In Washington, President Bush brushed aside talk that the United States could not prevail in Iraq.
"If the question is whether or not we can win victory in Iraq, our commanders will have the troops necessary to do that. If the question is, Can we help keep the peace in a place like the Far East? Absolutely," Bush told reporters.
"And let me use the Far East as an example of what I'm talking about," the president continued. "There were some 30,000 on the South Korean peninsula. As you might remember, we reduced the amount of manpower and replaced it with technology."
Meanwhile, the U.S. command announced that two more American soldiers died Wednesday — one in a bombing south of Baghdad and a second of wounds suffered in a rocket attack in Ramadi. At least 2,238 members of the U.S. military have died since the war began, according to an Associated Press count.
At least 11 Iraqis were killed Thursday in attacks around the country, police said.
Also Thursday, the military released five Iraqi women detainees, a move demanded by the kidnappers of American reporter Jill Carroll. Officials said the women were part of a group of about 420 Iraqis to be released Thursday and Friday and that their freedom was not connected to efforts to free Carroll, who was seized in Baghdad on Jan. 7.
However, Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal said intensive efforts were under way to release Carroll, a freelancer for the Christian Science Monitor, and "God willing, that she will be released."
Casey spoke after attending a ceremony in which Polish troops transferred leadership of the south-central region of Iraq to Iraqi forces, the first such large-scale handover since the conflict began in 2003.
The transfer of authority for the sector, which includes about 25 percent of the country, was part of a larger strategy by the U.S.-led coalition to build up Iraqi forces and give them greater role in security — a move that could enable American and other international troops to draw down.
In a study for the Pentagon, Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to crush the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon's decision, announced in December, to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld disputed reports that the military was overextended, suggesting Wednesday that talk of an overburdened force was "either out of date or just misdirected."
Pentagon officials announced this week that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq has been cut to about 136,000 — their lowest level since last summer. Two years ago the U.S. force dropped to about 110,000 but was boosted after insurgent violence spiked.
Last month, Casey said he expects the troop levels to be brought to about 130,000 by the beginning of March and that more cuts could be made later in the year if conditions permit and more Iraqi soldiers finish their training.
On Thursday, Casey rejected the idea that personnel strains within the military would determine the pace of troop reductions in Iraq.
"That's not true, and the recommendation to begin the reduction of forces came from me based on our strategy here in Iraq," he said. "I made my decision based on operational reasons, and I'll continue to do that. As I've said all along I will ask for what I need to accomplish this mission."
U.S. officials believe the key to defusing the insurgency is a broad-based government that can win the trust of the Sunni Arab community. Talks are under way among Iraq's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians to form such a government following the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, in which Shiites won the biggest number of seats but Sunnis expanded their representation in the legislature.
On Thursday, Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi said the Shiite bloc will decide on its nominee for prime minister in the next few days. Since the Shiites won the most seats, the law gives them first crack at the prime minister's post subject to parliamentary approval.
Abdul-Mahdi is among four Shiites mentioned as possible prime ministers. The others are incumbent Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari; nuclear physicist Hussain al-Shahrastani; and Nadim al-Jabiri of the Fadhila party, a religious group whose spiritual leader is radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's late father.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060127/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
Did you really say that? LOL
I guess I view this as two separate subjects. Sex ed in school should be about information and knowledge without judgement. Morale judgements about when we should have sex, etc., are best taught at home. I don't see a conflict there.
A saw one of those talk shows do that with young girls who were determined to get pregnant and have babies. They were so adamant. After a few days of caring for a baby doll that cried every time it needed feeding, changing a diaper, etc., they ALL changed their minds and decided to wait.
I think that's a great class.
IMO, most teens/pre-teens know having sex = possibly rocking a cradle.
at least in my generation, that wasn't true. I had one friend in particular whose mother told her that if a boy touched her she'd get pregnant. Her friends finally figured out why she was acting so weird and told her the truth. And to me that's the point. I think kids deserve to be told the truth.
totally agree :)
Report: Photos show Bush with Abramoff
Lobbyist at center of corruption probe pictured with president, Time says
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 4:08 p.m. ET Jan. 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - At least five photographs show President Bush with the lobbyist at the center of a corruption scandal, both Time and Washingtonian magazine reported Sunday.
The White House has tried to play down any contact with Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges this month and agreed to help prosecutors in a congressional corruption investigation.
Time did not publish the photographs, saying its source refused to provide them for publication. Most look like those taken at presidential receptions, it said.
The White House has said Bush does not know Abramoff and does not recall meeting him, and that the lobbyist attended two Hannukah receptions and a few staff-level meetings at the White House.
Abramoff met a few times with White House staff and attended Hanukkah receptions in 2001 and 2002, the White House has said, but officials there have refused to disclose how many times he’s been into the complex or what business he had there.
The White House also has not released any photos featuring the president and Abramoff, who was declared a Bush “pioneer” for raising at least $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney ’04 re-election campaign.
“Mr. Abramoff admitted being involved in outrageous wrongdoing,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Sunday.
“The president does not recall meeting him. We have previously indicated, however, it would not be surprising if the president met him at some of the widely attended events we know they both attended,” she said. “The president has taken tens upon thousands of pictures at such events.”
Time said in one photograph Bush appears with Abramoff and Raul Garza, then chairman of the Kickapoo Indians, which owned a casino in Texas and were represented by the lobbyist. It also included several other unidentified people.
Time quotes White House spokeswoman Erin Healy as saying that available records show Abramoff was not at the event attended by Garza.
Another photo shows Bush shaking hands with Abramoff in front of a window and a blue drape, the magazine said. The photo carries Bush’s signature, which may have been machine-made, it said.
Three other photos show Bush, Abramoff and one of the lobbyist’s sons, the magazine said.
Contributions that came directly from Abramoff, his wife and one of the American Indian tribes he represented — a total of $6,000 — were donated to the American Heart Association by the campaign just days after Abramoff entered his guilty pleas.
Prosecutors are investigating whether members of Congress gave the lobbyist and his clients favorable treatment in return for campaign contributions or gifts. The scandal broke as Republicans try to retain control of Congress in mid-term elections in November.
Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio, who has denied wrongdoing, is under investigation in the scandal. Rep. Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican who stepped down as majority leader, has been under a cloud due to his association with Abramoff.
The Republican National Committee has said Bush’s re-election campaign was giving to charity $6,000 in contributions linked to Abramoff.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10789267/
I just wish I could get as much reading done as you do :)
am I reading too much?
there is no such thing! :)
exactly.
he really wants the US and Israel off the map
I have no doubt he does... but does he currently have the capability and would he actually use it? I don't think so. It's still the time to use means other than force.
What, are you OD'ing on stupid pills today?
you're sounding more and more like gp...
Iran has threatened to nuke us.
and I'm sure many others have as well... the question is, who is capable and not just full of hot air.
Medicare changes - written for the benefit of large insurance and drug companies??
no question about it.
Faith of My Fathers
story of John McCain. Excellent story. Shows his strenght of character as well as his short comings and humanity. I especially love the line when his father drops him off at Annapolis and his father tells him that he and his grandfather were both bottom in academics and tops in demerits so that he had a lot to live up to! LOL He was quite the rebel!
Also a good reminder why the US should never be a part of torturing anyone.
Sounds like they have provisions for loans, refinances, etc. That makes sense.
I use to live practically on top of the San Andreas when I lived in southern CA... as you know the SF bay area has several all over, but I think I'm on pretty solid ground and not too close to anything major... but you never know for sure.
I can understand that, but what if you just bought a home?
I wouldn't mind paying more for earthquake, but as you see from ergo's post, the way it stands right now, it really doesn't make sense.
that sums it up nicely... pay about $3000 a year and have a 15% deductible... which around here amounts to an average of over $100K deductible. Truly ridiculous.
good question... I was just wondering the same thing.
But I think the short answer is that because nobody could afford it and it has ridiculously high deductible and people would probably just default anyway. I have wanted to get it for years now and keep hoping they'll do something to make it more affordable with a lower deductible.
ok :) guess I wasn't specific enough the first time.
And now that I'm thinking of it, I'm wondering why they haven't pushed the earthquake insurance issue here in CA. Although when I bought my house 8 years ago, many companies weren't writing homeowners in CA for that reason.
I worked for a mortgage servicer years ago and I thought they did that only if you were in an officially designated flood zone.
I'd bet some of the inland areas that were hit were not designated as such.
if it was that obvious, mortgage servicers would require it to protect their interests.
I've always thought so.
they are just chicken.
the fine print which was written by attorneys... I'm well aware. When my father graduated from law school many many years ago, his first job was at an insurance company. He quit that job saying he couldn't stand that his job was to do everything he could to screw people out of what they had coming to them. Sure, it's technically legal... but still not right. It's still a rip off IMO
do you think that's because it was for yourself or because it was more concrete in that you could see and and touch it?
variety, the spice of life :)