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You said you were a "volunteer" during the Viet Nam draft era? Care to explain why? Education? Travel? Training? Absolute committment to the reasons the U.S. was involved in Viet Nam? or because you knew you'd be drafted, at least you'd have your choice of service and assignment?
If this is too personal and you don't care to answer, that's O.K. too, but since you brought it up...
Today's article relates to the article you posted. Doesn't have much to do with Viet Nam, except we don't have a draft now, and you don't have to be a citizen to serve in today's military.
In the Viet Nam era, you may recollect many enlisted, or (gasp) went to the National Guard only because of the draft. There were very few "volunteers" who enlisted for purely patriotic reasons and those were primarily from "country" areas were education and employment opportunities were limited.
I have suggested reinstatement of the draft, instead of the all-volunteer mercenary military we have. It provides balance, and forces the general population to consider what we are doing before sacrificing our children.
JMO. What's yours?
Follow up to your post on military recruiting where you quoted:
Army recruiters are making more use of the Internet to attract young prospects, and the Army this year began allowing people as old as 42 to enter the service; the maximum age previously was 35.
The Army also has accepted a larger number of recruits whose score on a standardized aptitude test is at the lower end of the acceptable range, and it has granted waivers to permit the enlistment of people with criminal records that otherwise would disqualify them. The Army says it does not grant waivers if there is a pattern of criminal misconduct or for convictions of drug trafficking or any sexually violent crimes.
======================================
Sept. 25, 2006, 5:20PM
Army extends troops' Iraq duty yet again
By ROBERT BURNS AP Military Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Army is stretched so thin by the war in Iraq that it is again extending the combat tours of thousands of soldiers beyond the promised 12 months _ the second such move since August.
Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division had been expecting to return to their home base in Germany in mid-January. Instead, they will stay an extra 46 days in Iraq, until late February, the Pentagon announced Monday. The soldiers are operating in western Anbar province, one of the most violent parts of Iraq.
The Pentagon also announced that the 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division will deploy to Iraq 30 days earlier than scheduled, starting in late October. The announcement did not say why the speedup was deemed necessary, but three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said it is part of a plan to beef up forces in Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi troops are struggling to contain insurgent and sectarian violence.
The Pentagon said troop rotations could be changed even further "based upon changes in the security situation." Sectarian killings in Baghdad and continuing insurgent violence elsewhere in Iraq have foiled Pentagon plans to begin a troop reduction this fall.
"The Army is coming to the end of its rope in Iraq," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, a private research group. "It simply does not have enough active-duty military personnel to sustain the current level of effort."
Of the 142,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq, nearly 120,000 are Army soldiers.
The tour extension affects about 3,800 soldiers in the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored, officials said.
Asked about the matter at a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declined to confirm the extension but said that "from time to time there may be" units required to stay in Iraq longer than scheduled. He spoke before the Pentagon issued its written announcement.
Last month, the Army's 172nd Stryker Brigade was ordered to extend its tour in Iraq by up to four months. Some members of that unit had already returned to the brigade's home base in Alaska when the decision was announced. About 300 soldier had to go back to Iraq, drawing public complaints from some families.
Rumsfeld also appeared to hint at other adjustments to the troop rotation plan.
"We're also bringing some other units in earlier, which is another way of dealing with that issue" of how to keep a sufficient number of troops in Iraq with a limited number of combat brigades available, Rumsfeld said.
The extension reflects a dilemma for Army leaders: either keep one group of soldiers in Iraq longer than promised, or replace them with another group that has not yet had its minimum 12 months at home between combat tours. Either choice risks upsetting some soldiers and their families. And the fact that the choice cannot be avoided is a sign that troop rotations in Iraq are squeezing the Army from several directions.
Some members of Congress are expressing concern that the military is over-stretched by the war. On Monday, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said the situation in Iraq is "disintegrating" into a civil war. "My instinct is once the (November) election is over there will be a lot more hard thinking about what to do about Iraq and a lot more candid observations about it."
The pinch is evident also in closed-door deliberations between the Army and administration officials over the size of the service's budget for 2008. The Army chief of staff, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, took the highly unusual step in August of delaying submission of the Army's budget plan, arguing that the service requires either a much bigger budget than the administration has proposed or relief from some of its worldwide commitments.
The Los Angeles Times reported in its Monday editions that Schoomaker is seeking $138.8 billion for 2008, or nearly $25 billion more than the limit originally set by Rumsfeld. The Army's budget this year is $98 billion.
The 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division is being extended in Iraq because the unit that is scheduled to replace them _ the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Stewart, Ga. _ needs more time to prepare. If it had deployed as originally scheduled, it would not have had the minimum 12 months at home between combat tours.
The 3rd Infantry has already served two tours in Iraq, including the initial invasion of the country in March 2003.
Last week, the top American commander in the region said the U.S. military is likely to maintain and may even increase its force of more than 140,000 troops in Iraq through next spring. Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command, said he would consider adding troops or extending the Iraq deployments of other units if needed.
The Army has a stated goal of giving active-duty soldiers two years at home between overseas combat tours. However, the Army is unable to achieve that "dwell time," as it's called, because it does not have enough brigades to meet the demands of simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would not be a problem now if the situation in Iraq had improved enough to allow the Army to reduce its presence as originally planned.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/4213417.html
there is only ONE "truth"
See #msg-13532767
not as bad as it sounds but a bit complecated...
The benefits of an improving economy...
========================
"Finger food for beer drinkers"
By Grant McCool
Mon Sep 25, 7:53 AM ET
Would you like your crickets deep fried and crispy? Peppered and presented in a neat circle on a bed of green leaves?
Breeders of crickets say the insects have become "finger food for beer drinkers" in an age of increasing prosperity in Vietnam compared with the recent past when they might have been food for the hungry or for wartime soldiers surviving in the jungle.
Businessman Le Thanh Tung raises hundreds of thousands of the flying insects in barrels and sells them to restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City, the Southeast Asian country's largest urban area, or to other breeders in neighboring provinces.
"The taste is very particular, very special and it smells good and tastes delicious but it is very difficult to compare cricket to other meat," said Tung, 28, suggesting that crickets are an acquired taste.
At his small farm and restaurant about 25 km (16 miles) west of the city center, a plastic-covered menu with photographs of cricket dishes offers "young crickets deep fried," "cricket salad," "breaded cricket," "cricket noodle" and "peppered cricket."
One customer rode 340 km on a motorbike from his home near the border with Cambodia to buy two boxes full of twitching, chirping crickets to breed and serve at his restaurant.
"There is a demand because people like to eat better," said the customer, Nguyen Chinh Anh.
CRUNCHY CRICKETS
Back in the hot kitchen of the farm's brick-faced building covered by a tin roof, Tung's sister-in-law, Huynh Thi Oanh Kieu, scoops up a colander of crickets from a plastic basin and gently releases them into boiling oil. They sizzle and smoke for five to 10 minutes and she pulls them out.
Crunchy crickets are ready.
Tung gives his guests six dishes of crickets of various sizes, shapes and colors nestled on long yellow noodles, or battered, or stood on their legs atop a dark-green salad.
Vietnamese crickets usually grow to 2.5 cm (0.9 inch) long and the largest can grow up to 4 cm, according to Tung.
"Tasty," said driver Nguyen Trong Thanh, after gingerly picking up a deep fried cricket with his chopsticks, dipping it in spicy fish sauce and then into his mouth. "This is the first time I've eaten it and I'm surprised it's that good."
Throughout the meal, crickets sing in the background. Tung says that after six years of catching and breeding the insects, he knows their character and moods.
"When they are angry, the singing is high-pitched and when they are looking for a mate, it is like the sound of violins playing," he said.
Like many Vietnamese of his generation, Tung remembers a childhood fascination with crickets, which they caught to watch them fight for entertainment.
The insect has a special place in Vietnamese literature through a book called "The adventure of a cricket" by To Hoai. A picture book and a cartoon film were based on the story.
However, the cricket breeder said the real inspiration for his business came from watching a TV documentary about crickets as a culinary delicacy in Thailand and a European report that said eating insects reduced cholesterol.
SCORPIONS AND CENTIPEDES
Crickets are harmless but Tung also breeds scorpions and venomous giant centipedes. They are two other insects considered delicacies at some restaurants in the nearby city of about 8 million that many still call by its old name, Saigon.
The story of Tung and his insects is also one of a young entrepreneur who said he had struggled to make a living breeding rabbits and other animals and growing vegetables.
He also tried working on construction sites, a common occupation for men his age in Vietnam's rapidly developing cities, but hours were long and wages relatively low.
In this country of 83 million with per capita annual income of just $640, Tung's cricket business changed his life as his earnings rose way above average.
His business grosses an estimated 90 million dong ($5,625) a month, before paying salaries to 12 workers and other costs. Tung said buyers pay between 250,000 dong ($15) and 450,000 dong ($28) per kg of crickets and he can sell about 300 kg a month.
By comparison, one kg of chicken costs 70,000 dong ($4).
"There's a niche in the market, demand is potentially big," said Tung as he stood in his breeding shed surrounded by hundreds of blue, red and green plastic barrels.
In the crowded, narrow streets of the Go Vap district of Ho Chi Minh City, a restaurant called "Cricket" serves the insects cooked in batter or in fish sauce.
As beer- and rice wine-drinking customers walk in and out of the three-storey lime green building, manager Nguyen Hong Muong says that, while it caters mostly to locals, "tourists from Japan and Korea and even Russia have come here to eat crickets."
Your money back? For what? That was a forfeited bail bond.
Funniest thing I've heard all weak and I'm not joking...
The only atttack you are worthy of would be to have someone poor krazy glue in your eyes...
I'd be very greatful...
How do you cook? ...
On an electric grill with fresh matters. I really hate to eat any other matter.
Ohio Car Dealer Blasted For "Jihad" Radio Ad Campaign
September 24, 2006 11:30 a.m. EST
Mort Karman - All Headline News Staff Reporter
Columbus, OH (AHN) - A Columbus auto dealership is going ahead with an ad campaign in which it declared "a jihad on the automotive market." This despite much criticism and the refusal of several area radio stations to run the ads.
Dennis Mitsubishi said Saturday it would not change the ads.
In the promotions the ads state dealership sales representatives will be wearing "burqas", the traditional black head to toe dress worn by Islamic females. The advertisements also promote vehicles which will "carry 12 jihadists in the back."
The ads go on to proclaim,"Our prices are lower then the evildoers' everyday. Just ask the Pope." The ad continues, "Friday is fatwa Friday, with free rubber swards for the kiddies," A fatwa is an Islamic religious edict.
Dealership president Keith Dennis said the ads do not disrespect any religion or culture. he said what he is doing is fair game and "poking a little fun at radical extremists,".
"It was our intention to craft an ad campaign around some of the buzz words of the day and give everyone a good chuckle and a little bit of a tension relieve," he said.
The Columbus chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations had a different opinion of the ads. They see them as disrespectful.
"using this kind of thing as a promotional pitch when so many people are dying from the criminal activity of suicide bombers, that's not funny." commented chapter president Asma Mabin-Uddin. " I don't think it is appropriate when it causes real pain. It exploits or promotes misunderstanding in terms already misunderstood or misused."
Dennis says the ads will begin airing next week. he also said the ads were written and produced by his company. He is unsure which radio stations will air the spots.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004960360
You thought the Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger was disgusting?
=========================
Beijing's penis emporium
By Andrew Harding
BBC News, Beijing
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/5371500.stm
There are many thousands of Chinese restaurants around in the UK and everyone has their favourite dish, but only in China itself do chefs specialise in a range of slightly more unusual delicacies.
The dish in front of me is grey and shiny.
"Russian dog," says my waitress Nancy.
"Big dog," I reply.
"Yes," she says. "Big dog's penis..."
We are in a cosy restaurant in a dark street in Beijing but my appetite seems to have gone for a stroll outside.
Nancy has brought out a whole selection of delicacies.
They are draped awkwardly across a huge platter, with a crocodile carved out of a carrot as the centrepiece.
Nestling beside the dog's penis are its clammy testicles, and beside that a giant salami-shaped object.
"Donkey," says Nancy. "Good for the skin..."
She guides me round the penis platter.
"Snake. Very potent. They have two penises each."
I did not know that.
Deer-blood cocktail
"Sheep... horse... ox... seal - excellent for the circulation."
She points to three dark, shrivelled lumps which look like liquorice allsorts - a special treat apparently - reindeer, from Manchuria.
The Guolizhuang restaurant claims to be China's only speciality penis emporium, and no, it is not a joke.
The atmosphere is more exotic spa than boozy night-out.
Nancy describes herself as a nutritionist.
"We don't call them waiters here. And we don't serve much alcohol," she says. "Only common people come here to get drunk and laugh."
But she does offer me a deer-blood and vodka cocktail, which I decide to skip.
Medicinal purposes
The restaurant's gristly menu was dreamt up by a man called Mr Guo.
He is 81 now and retired.
After fleeing China's civil war back in 1949, he moved to Taiwan, and then to Atlanta, Georgia, where he began to look deeper into traditional Chinese medicine, and experiment on the appendages of man's best friend.
Apparently, they are low in cholesterol and good, not just for boosting the male sex drive, but for treating all sorts of ailments.
Laughter trickles through the walls of our dining room.
"Government officials," says Nancy. "Two of them upstairs. They're having the penis hotpot."
Most of the restaurant's guests are either wealthy businessmen or government bureaucrats who, as Nancy puts it, have been brought here by people who want their help.
What better way to secure a contract than over a steaming penis fondue.
Discretion is assured as all the tables are in private rooms.
The glitziest one has gold dishes.
"Some like their food served raw," says Nancy, "like sushi. But we can cook it anyway you like."
Rare order
"Not long ago, a particularly rich real estate mogul came in with four friends. All men. Women don't come here so often, and they shouldn't eat testicles," says Nancy solemnly.
The men spent $5,700 (£3,000) on a particularly rare dish, something that needed to be ordered months in advance.
"Tiger penis," says Nancy.
The illegal trade in tiger parts is a big problem in China.
Campaigners say the species is being driven towards extinction because of its popularity as a source of traditional medicine.
I mention this, delicately, to Nancy, but she insists that all her tiger supplies come from animals that have died of old age.
"Anyway, we only have one or two orders a year," she says.
"So what does it taste like?" I ask.
"Oh, the same as all the others," she says blithely.
And does it have any particular potency? "No. People just like to order tiger to show off how much money they have."
Welcome to the People's Republic of China - tigers beware.
Sliced and pickled
"Oh yes," she adds, "the same group also ate an aborted reindeer foetus.
"That is very good for your skin. And here it is..."
Another "nutritionist" walks in bearing something small and red wrapped in cling film.
My appetite is heading for the airport.
Still, I think, it would be rude not to try something.
I am normally OK about this sort of thing. I have had fried cockroaches and sheep's eyes, so...
There is a small bowl of sliced and pickled ox penis on the table.
I pick up a piece with my chopsticks and start to chew. It is cold and bland and rubbery.
Nancy gives me a matronly smile.
"This one," she says, "should be eaten every day."
We do not encourage reading outside of iHub. Everything else is all lies. Read iHub for the truth.
Somebody's tongue must be pressing real hard against their cheek.
Semi OT Factoid:
Word History: We know where Hoosiers come from: Indiana. But where does the name Hoosier come from? That is less easy to answer. The origins of Hoosier are rather obscure, but the most likely possibility is that the term is an alteration of hoozer, an English dialect word recorded in Cumberland, a former county of northwest England, in the late 19th century and used to refer to anything unusually large. The transition between hoozer and Hoosier is not clear. The first recorded instance of Hoosier meaning “Indiana resident” is dated 1826; however, it seems possible that senses of the word recorded later in the Dictionary of Americanisms, including “a big, burly, uncouth specimen or individual; a frontiersman, countryman, rustic,” reflect the kind of use this word had before it settled down in Indiana. As a nickname, Hoosier was but one of a variety of disparaging terms for the inhabitants of particular states arising in the early 19th century. Texans were called Beetheads, for example; Alabamans were Lizards; Nebraskans were Bug-eaters; South Carolinians were Weasels, and Pennsylvanians were Leatherheads. People in Missouri might have had it worst of allthey were called Pukes. Originally, these names were probably taken up by people living in neighboring states, but belittled residents adopted them in a spirit of defiant pride, much as American colonists turned the derisive term Yankee into a moniker for their spirit of rebellion. Today, most of these frontier nicknames have disappeared from the landscape. A few like Okie still exist with much of their original animus. Others survive as nicknames for the sports teams of state universitiesthe North Carolina Tarheels, the Ohio Buckeyes, and so onfighting words only on the playing field or court.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hoosier
Need paper?
Cut up chicken?
Witch one?
(grub set-up)
Nice post. Even included the pagens. But don't you have to die to know for sure? :(
That's not like climbing the corporte ladder?
FORMER CEO OF TRIANGLE MULTI MEDIA INC. SYMBOL QBID
HAS BEEN ARRESTED IN AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS FOR TAX INVASION
can't change the limit order the borker put in for me
Gasping for air on that one.
Bummer...checked out the iHub Hoffa's...ajhoffa2 and hoffalives. One's suspended, and one's booted. You volunteering to be the Asst?
Feel like setting up a Wal-Mart board? <g>
And another "Roads Scholar"
The Wal-Mart story makes great press and good marketing, but of the 291 medications, many are the same drug, but with different dosages, so there are only 90 or so different medicines involved. It will bring people into Wal-Mart. Note in the article below, they will still make a profit, as will the manufacturers.
==================================
Wal-Mart Stores offers $4 generic drugs in Florida
Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:15pm ET
By Robert Green
TAMPA, Fla., Sept 21 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest retailer, said on Thursday it would cut the prices of nearly 300 generic drugs to $4 per prescription starting in the retirement haven of Tampa, Florida.
The move, immediately copied by rival Target Inc. (TGT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), slammed stock prices of drug retailers, with shares of No. 2 U.S. drugstore chain CVS falling 8.4 percent.
Wal-Mart characterized the program as "part of its ongoing commitment to provide affordable health care to America's working families," but critics called it a public relations move by a giant retailer accused of gobbling up mom-and-pop stores, relentlessly pressuring competitors and suppliers with discounted prices and refusing to provide insurance for many employees, forcing them to rely on government health plans.
Still, some consumer advocates said the move might drive down drug prices in general, and shares of generic drugmakers also fell.
The $4 would save patients already using generics anywhere from less than a dollar to several dollars, depending on the drug, a fraction of the price of most branded drugs.
Wal-Mart said the price "covers 291 generic medications that are commonly prescribed to treat conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, cold viruses and infection."
It said the plan will be rolled out to the rest of Florida in January, and to as many states as possible next year.
"We estimate that the program will save the state's Medicaid program and Florida taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually," Wal-Mart said.
Pat Sullivan, a retired police officer from Massachusetts, told a Wal-Mart news conference in Tampa his pension often runs out before the end of the month, leaving him without money for his prescriptions.
"I have no outlet other than to break a pill in half and take half today and half tomorrow," Sullivan said in praising the plan.
FILLING THE DOUGHNUT HOLE
Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar said the company hoped to take advantage of seniors who signed up for Medicare's prescription drug program only to find out they must pay for some of their own drugs in what Democrats are calling "the Doughnut Hole".
"We hope that a lot of customers will take advantage of using this and if their co-pay is $7, they can come in and pay $4. We built this so that we will make a profit off $4 prescription drugs," Tovar said in a telephone interview.
Wal-Mart was encouraging customers to examine the list of available drugs on its Internet Web site and ask their doctors if they could switch.
"This decision by Wal-Mart hopefully will encourage more competition in the drug marketplace that will lead to lower drug prices overall," said Gail Shearer, health policy director for Consumers Union.
But some criticized the plan as falling short.
"I think the tragically missed opportunity is that it doesn't address the serious fact that Wal-Mart costs taxpayers $1.2 billion every year because so many of its workers are uninsured," said Chris Kofinis of wakeupwalmart.com, a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
Maryland passed legislation this year requiring Wal-Mart to spend more on health care, and although a federal district judge struck it down in July, similar bills have been proposed in dozens of other states.
Target, which has faced increasingly stiff competition from Wal-Mart, said it would immediately match the drug prices in the Tampa Bay area as part of a long-standing practice of remaining price competitive with its larger rival.
But CVS said the 300 drugs are older generics that already have lower reimbursement rates from health plans and represent less than 0.5 percent of its total pharmacy sales.
"For customers who have prescription coverage, the average generic co-pay is relatively nominal," Matt Leonard, senior vice president of pharmacy at CVS, said in a statement.
Shares of Wal-Mart traded in a narrow range and closed at $48.46 on the New York Stock Exchange.
But shares of pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers, generic drug makers and pharmaceutical wholesalers all fell, with CVS down 8.4 percent, Walgreen Co. (WAG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) down 7.4 percent and Rite Aid Corp. (RAD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) down 5 percent. (With reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago, Maggie Fox in Washington, Deena Beasley in Los Angeles, and Lewis Krauskopf and Chelsea Emery in New York)
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&symbol=&storyID=2006-09-22T01160...
Chavez Catches Hell For 'Devil' Slam
Democrats Take A Break From Criticizing President Bush To Defend Him
Sept. 21, 2006
(CBS/AP)
---------------------------------------------------------------
A Quote
"Don't come to the United States and think because we have problems with our President that any foreigner can come to our country and not think that Americans do not feel offended when you offend our Chief of State." -- Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
---------------------------------------------------------------
(CBS) It’s rare to hear Congressional Democrats coming to the rescue of President George W. Bush. But a day after Venezuela's president called Mr. Bush a "devil" in front of the United Nations General Assembly, several prominent Bush critics are siding with the White House.
Rep. Charles Rangel – the Democrat who represents the New York City neighborhood that Hugo Chavez visited Thursday – took a swipe at the Venezuelan President for his behavior at the U.N.
Rangel said he wants to make it clear to the Venezuelan President that his comments on Wednesday were inappropriate and the American people are offended by his criticism of President Bush.
"I just want to make it abundantly clear to Hugo Chavez or any other president - don't come to the United States and think because we have problems with our president that any foreigner can come to our country and not think that Americans do not feel offended when you offend our Chief of State," Rangel said.
"Any demeaning public attack against him is viewed by Republicans and Democrats, and all Americans, as an attack on all of us," Rangel said.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who spent most of the day criticizing the Bush administration's economic and environmental policies, told reporters that Chavez's performance at the U.N. "demeaned" himself and the his nation.
"He fancies himself as a modern day Simon Bolivar, but all he is an everyday thug," Pelosi said.
Speaking before the General Assembly's annual meeting of world leaders on Wednesday, Chavez called Mr. Bush the "devil" and even said the podium that the President had used still smelled of "sulfur."
Chavez received applause from the audience at the U.N. in New York after his remarks. Mr. Bush was not in the room at the time having already returned to Washington, D.C. after making his own speech to the General Assembly.
This isn't the first time Chaves has taken verbal jabs at President Bush. In a past appearance, Chavez said, "George W. Bush: You are a donkey, Mr. Bush."
But none of his previous comments have been on as large a stage as the United Nations.
Mr. Bush's predecessor, Bill Clinton, added his voice to chorus of Democrats condemning Chavez.
"I think Chavez would be much more effective if he would say something that's true," Mr. Clinton said on CNN. "You know, to me, that would be a much cleverer thing for him to do, where he'd really be doing something good, and he could say, 'I disagree with President Bush,' instead of calling him the devil."
Republicans on Capitol Hill got in on the act, too.
House Majority Leader John Boehner released a statement bashing Chavez.
"Hugo Chavez is little more than a power-hungry autocrat on an anti-American public relations tour -- a showboat whose speech to the United Nations was an embarrassment and an insult to the American people," the Ohio Republican said.
The White House so far has refused to fire back at the Venezuelan leader.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Chavez's comment "is not becoming a head of state."
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said the remarks "don't warrant a response."
Bolton did add that, while Chavez has the right to express his opinion, it was "too bad the people of Venezuela don't have free speech."
CBS News reporter Charles Wolfson, who covers the State Department, says the Venezuelan's comments are not that big a deal.
Every leader gets his or her fifteen minutes in the spotlight – most use their time for standard policy statements which concern their countries, Wolfson reports. But there are always a few leaders who simply feel, either for nationalistic or individual pride, the urge to use their time to provoke, to use the U.N. podium as their personal platform to see and be seen as an actor on the world stage.
But, CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk says Chavez could be setting himself up to be the chief thorn in America's side.
"Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is rapidly becoming the new Fidel Castro, but with petro-dollars, at the U.N.," said Falk, "and as a candidate for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council in October, his anti-Bush comments are making him increasingly popular with member states in his campaign for that position."
Chavez's personal criticisms of the American president were not slowed by the American officials' chidings. During his Thursday appearance in Harlem, he called Mr. Bush an "alcoholic and a sick man."
Venezuela's president had just promised to double the amount of discounted heating oil his country is shipping to needy Americans when he fired the latest salvo.
"Venezuela's generosity to the poor, however, should not be interpreted as license to attack President Bush. Those who take issue with Bush Administration policies have no right to attack him personally," said Rangel, adding that it was also "not helpful when President Bush referred to certain nations as an 'axis of evil'."
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
That, of course, would make sense. And your explanation for the lack of response to Bush's speech?
New iHub feature for outdoors people...
Don't forget to give him the 2-week premium trail
Well, Chavez offered to have them move it to Venezula, after complaining about how his staff was treated by the U.S.
Do you favor the U.S. adopting an isolationish policy?
Anybody see anything on SNDK? Slowly but consistently dropping in the aftermarket.
Don't know if you caught his speech on C-Span, but the scary part was he got applause, and Bush didn't. That's cause for concern. (No blame being attached here.)
One way to get even with chavez...we can destroy him by not using his oil
Wishful thinking. Excerpt from Snopes...
Neither a "buycott" nor a boycott is likely to accomplish much beyond the symbolic. In the first case, the Citgo brand (marketed by Citgo Petroleum Corporation, which has been owned by Petróleos de Venezuela,
the national oil company of Venezuela, since 1990) doesn't have nearly enough presence in the U.S. to satisfy demand; in the second case, boycotting a gasoline brand over political issues is problematic for a number of reasons (not least of which is the notion that threatening not to buy gasoline from someone who is threatening not to sell it to you doesn't sound like an effective ploy for either side). For one thing, although Citgo may be owned by Petróleos de Venezuela, it is a formerly American company which is still headquartered in the U.S. (in Houston, Texas), employs 4,000 people, and supplies 14,000 independent retailers with gasoline and other petroleum products — Americans with no substantive connection to Venezuela who would be economically harmed by such an action. And, of course, in today's oil market Citgo's products will continue to find buyers whether or not they're purchased by Americans.
Full article: http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/citgo.asp
You were itching to post that, eh?
Deflamation suit? ...
Here's a stinker...
...why would you want to hang around people who piss on the constitution and continually engage in self flatulation.
Hey, Chavez giving a news conference in NYC just now. Can't trust Drudge. :)
Re Fish 3: And, as a bottom-feeder, you tend to eat a lot of other people's sh-t.
Yes
(take that under advisement; my Mum was Canadian)
I am not here tring to nag anyone. Also I understand that know one can tell me what is going to happen. It does seem like flem flam when you see someone make so many great calls on stock trades day in and day out that they obviously have the ability to give a market direction with supportive fact.
Excuse me while I clear my throat.