Condi

"What do you mean I can't have my Ferragamo's!?"


Lawyer: Rice Allegedly Leaked Defense Info
By MATTHEW BARAKAT
The Associated Press
Saturday, April 22, 2006; 12:59 AM

Long day

Oil breaks through record $75
Continued fears over Iran and Nigerian supplies, reports of gasoline shortage in the U.S. lead to 2 percent jump.
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer
April 21, 2006: 4:26 PM EDT
From Getty via raw story a pic of Cheney napping

Oil just hit $75 a barrel and VP get-cher-gun is napping instead of talking to the guy who's currency is undervalued, and owns a big chunk of our debt.

Democrats: No Single Message Sums Us Up
Thursday, April 20, 2006
By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writer

And the e-voting lawsuits just keep coming.

Information via BradBlog

LATEST E-VOTE LAWSUIT: Oregon Sues ES&S for Breach of Contract!
2006 Election 'Train Wreck' Continues as Company Fails to Meet Obligations in Yet Another State
Complaint Latest in Growing String of Legal Battles, HAVA-Related E-Voting Meltdowns Around the Country...
In the latest amongst a spate of lawsuits being filed against Electronic Voting Machine Companies around the country, the Oregon Sec. of State has announced today that they have filed a complaint against Election Systems & Software, Inc. (ES&S) for breach of contract in failing to provide the state with disabled-accessible voting machines, as promised, in time to meet the January 1, 2006 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) deadline.The complaint, filed yesterday on behalf of the state of Oregon in Marion County Circuit Court, is summarized and linked in full, along with a statement from the SoS at the URL for this story posted below.
Amongst just some of the lawsuits and other legal proceedings now underway in light of HAVA implementation around the country (and, unfortunately, covered in full virtually exclusively by The BRAD BLOG)...
ALASKA: Democratic Party files suit against state to release Diebold voting data from 2004 Election.
CALIFORNIA: Voters file suit against SoS and Election Registrars to decertify Diebold machines.
FLORIDA: Leon County Supervisor of Elections begins legal action against Diebold for breach of contract after machines found to be hackable; Attorney General subpoenas Voting Machine companies in investigation of possible collusion.
ILLINOIS: Republicans ask for 20% recount after Sequoia machines fail in Cook County Primary Election; Democrat says he may file suit on behalf of both Republicans and Dems across state.
INDIANA: Sec. of State announces hearings, possible civil fines against ES&S.
MARYLAND: Republican Governor declares "no confidence" in paperless Diebold systems; Democratic-run House votes 137 to 0 to ban them.
NEW MEXICO: Voters file suit against state to decertify Sequoia machines; Legislation enacted outlawing paperless touch-screen systems.
NEW YORK: U.S. Dept. of Justice threatens state with lawsuit for HAVA non-compliance.
PENNSYLVANIA: Voters file suit against Allegheny County, PA and US Dept. of Justice in re: ES&S machines
TEXAS: Statewide Election Contest filed by Republican Supreme Court Justice after ES&S, Hart InterCivic machines failed across state in March 7th primary.
In addition to the state and county suits, a class action Securities Fraud complaint has been filed by shareholders against Diebold for, amongst other reasons, failing to disclose known problems with their electronic voting systems. Additional legal proceedings are currently in the works in several other states as well, The BRAD BLOG has learned, and so far we've only had two of 50 state primaries in 2006, the first year that HAVA kicks in in full...

COMPLETE STORY, FULL TEXT OF OREGON LAWSUIT:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002714.htm

I'm pooped, but Thank God for Brad Friedman, it's nice to know that someone else is collecting this information, and watching this train wreck.
(Matt Wuerker is brilliant, eh?)

I love this song!!!!!!!

I'M THE DECIDER(Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo)

Where do they find these gems at Huffington Post?



Ok, I'm busted, I was always a really big Beatles fan. Too young, so everybody thought I was weird, but OK, weird has it's interesting moments. Unlike the egghead pictured, I'm harmless weird.

Scottiebot resigns

McClellan resigns as White House press secretary
Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:05am ET

Rove gives up White House policy role
Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:10am ET



Buh-bye Scott. Buh-bye Karl.

What do these faces say to you?

I took Blondesense Liz's invitation to check out this picture. She called it a rip.

I'm still laughing.

What do these faces say to you?

Oil Rises to $70 a Barrel in New York on Iran Supply Concern
April 17 (Bloomberg)
-- Crude oil rose, touching $70 a barrel in New York for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, on concern the dispute over Iran's nuclear program may disrupt shipments.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President George W. Bush are playing hockey and they really should be playing chess.


Somehow I don't see that happening.

Pagan Roots

Funny, I don't remember learning about the pagan roots of the Easter Bunny in Sunday School. At least they didn't tell me Jesus hid the chocolate eggs, and jellybeans.

I pray....that I never meet this woman

This woman...


PBS NOW show was too kind to Leslee Unruh

pg. 74 "Unruh pleaded no contest to unlicensed adoption and foster care practices as part of a plea bargain in which nineteen charges, including four felonies, were dropped. The charges resulted from Unruh's promises to pay teenagers if they remained pregnant so she could put their babies up for adoption. Tim Wilka, one of the state's attorneys at the time, explained, "There were so many allegations about improper adoptions being made [against her] and how teenage girls were being pressured to give up their children" he says, governor George Mickelson called me and asked me to take the case." (footnote 64)

Needs to read this book

Interview with Author at Alternet

I wonder if Leslee Unruh knows what a "Pro-Life" Country is really like?

Morbo at The Carpetbagger Report says I have seen the future, and it is El Salvador

Fucktards

I saw V for Vendetta last night. It's possible that that is why I found the subject of these two articles so reprehensible.

Poll: 48% Back Military Action against Iran
By Doyle McManusTimes Staff Writer
Asked whether they would support military action if Iran continued to produce material that could be used to develop nuclear weapons, 48% of the poll's respondents, or almost half, said yes; 40% said no. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12725.htm


Fucktards.

Most Americans Believe Bush Administration is Still Saying Iraq Had Major WMD Program
4 in 10 Americans, 6 in 10 Republicans, Also Believe It Is True

Welcome to Murika, aka Fucktardica, or the Land run by Repugnant Thuglicans.

Holy Crapoli, nevermind what I say, do these people have any fucking idea what the professional military thinks?


Generals Clamor for Rumsfeld's Ouster Over Iraq War
By Steve Holland
Reuters
Thursday 13 April 2006

Deja vu

Undocumented Mexican migrants head to border in anticipation of legalization
April 12 2006
...The shelter's manager, Francisco Loureiro, said he hasn't seen such a spike in migration since 1986, when the United States approved legislation allowing 2.6 million undocumented migrants to get U.S. citizenship....


Inside ICE: Volume 2, Issue 10
ICE ARRESTS TWO SMUGGLERS, 146 ALIENS AT L.A. DROP HOUSES

...When agents arrived at the residence they found 88 smuggled aliens trapped inside the stiflingly hot home. The aliens told agents the smugglers locked them inside and fled after seeing media coverage about the discovery of the first drop house.
Agents say the house was teeming with roaches and rodents and the rooms were littered with dirty clothes, discarded food and human waste. The nationalities of the migrants in the second house were still being determined as Inside ICE went to press, but the majority were believed to be from Central and South America....

GOP uses Spanish language ads to blame Dems for draconian legislation
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 39 minutes ago
...Bush and Reid swapped charges as Republicans disclosed a Spanish-language radio advertising campaign designed to shoulder Democrats with the responsibility for legislation passed by the GOP-controlled House that would make illegal immigrants subject to felony charges.
The ads are scheduled to air in New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada — states with large Hispanic populations....

I wish I could say I was surprised by all of this, but I'm not. (Sigh)

Slaves

Last night I watched Frontline's the Tank Man and I'm not sure which one of these people
were speaking but one of them said something that I found profoundly disturbing. They said that the number of protests against the Chinese government are growing every year, by the tens of thousands. I want to check it again, and maybe I will stream it when it comes online Friday . They also interviewed some Chinese factory workers (under the watchful eye of some security aparratchik) who performed beautifully for the cameras.

Billmon has a great post on Why People Think the Economy Sucks here in this country.

And ( skippy, can I purty please borrow this?) the asspress say US trade deficit dropping, Chinese buy Boeing plane, everything gonna be A-OK.

Damn! What's that smell?

Yeah right. And bombing Iran will make that trip (in a V8 SUV) to Wal-Mart to buy that cheap Chinese made comforter/sheet set soooooo much easier, right?

Straits of Hormuz? Where's that?

Man, what is it with countries that have booming economies and their slave labor ?

Including us. Thinking about it over at Daily Kos I see.

Disgusted

A hundred and twenty-six thousand votes counted and another ten thousand or so provisional and absentee still to be counted.

Out of three hundred fifty-three thousand registered voters in the 50th.

And the most you had to do was download a request for a permanent absentee ballot fill it out and stick it in the mail, wait for the ballot to arrive, fill it out and stick it in the mail.


Even with Dukie's criminal shenanigans only about 38% of registered voters in the district voted.

Democracy ain't worth 78 cents and a couple of trips to the mailbox?

Yeesh. This book should have helped me understand. Maybe I need to re-read it.

Maybe RJB of Words Have Power is right.

50th district, please VOTE

If you live in the 50th Congressional District and have not voted yet, please go vote. Here is a quick link to find your polling station.

I am thrilled to say that I have arrived in blogtopia (they coined that phrase over there at skippy the bush kangaroo's place, you know)

Oh, and Scoobie's back and made me giggle this AM with his commentary on "Dukie."

Oh-My-God
Words Have Power cracks me up today too!

Wooooooo Hooooooo, it's looking like a beautiful day!!!!!

If you have ADD and were momentarily distracted by the giggles, here it is again:

If you live in the 50th Congressional District and have not voted yet, please go vote. Here is a quick link to find your polling station.

Feels like Monday

Yesterday I got this card in the mail. It made my day.








The inside says "What is WRONG with these people?"






That said, go read Jim Kunstler.

Bbbbbbut, I thought....

US Is Studying Military Strike Options on Iran
By Peter Baker, Dafna Linzer and Thomas E. Ricks
The Washington Post
Sunday 09 April 2006

Grading Our MBA President
By William Fisher
t r u t h o u t Perspective
Sunday 09 April 2006


Anarchism and the Peak oil argument by Terry S Tuesday
Mar 21 2006, 3:14pm
elsewhere / environment / opinion/analysis
An anarchist analysis of what peak oil means for the fight for a free society


"The ideal setup by the Party was something huge, terrible, and
glittering - a world of steel and concrete, of monstrous
machines and terrifying weapons - a nation of warriors and
fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the
same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually
working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting - three hundred
million people all with the same face."
George Orwell, from the book 1984

Creepy to read, but (thankfully) fictional because two thirds of the country disapproves of the GOP led Congress .

More protests planned for Monday

Bipartisan worker bill collapses in Senate Political jousting knocks out immigration compromise

Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Saturday, April 8, 2006
....With nationwide protests planned for Monday that could bring millions of Latinos, Asians and other immigrant groups and their church and union allies into the streets, advocates warned both parties that they are demanding a solution to the nation's broken immigration system, not a political brawl....

Iran ready for high-level talks, US resists

The Financial Times
By Guy Dinmore
Published: April 7 2006 01:35
Last updated: April 7 2006 01:35

....Last week, the UN Security Council issued a mildly worded presidential statement calling on Iran to resume its suspension of fuel cycle development. Russia blocked tougher language. John Bolton, US ambassador to the UN, told reporters yesterday the next diplomatic step was to pass a legally binding “chapter seven” resolution requiring Iran to suspend its nuclear programme.




John Bolton is missing from this picture.

TV Newz ain't reality

Went to a candidates debate. How come the MSM sucks soooooooooooooo hard? Repugnant thuglicans.

Evolution

Fish out of water could bridge fossil gap between sea and land creatures
Updated 4/5/2006 8:28 PM
By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY

..."Just over 380 million years ago, it seems, our remote ancestors were large, flattish, predatory fishes, with crocodile-like heads and strong limb-like pectoral fins that enabled them to haul themselves out of the water," say paleontologists Per Erik Ahlberg, also of Uppsala University, and Jennifer Clack of the United Kingdom's University of Cambridge, in a commentary accompanying the journal report....

380 million years worth of life forms evolving.

Wow.

Think it will survive these guys?

I can't wrap my head around the system

November, by the Numbers
by georgia10
Wed Apr 05, 2006 at 08:08:04 AM PDT
Tracking poll numbers is one way to determine if we'll win back the Congress in November. Tracking money is another .


I understand that spending money is one of the realities of American politics. A lot of people's only involvement in politics is voting. Their reception of political messages happens in front of the television, or driving by yard signs for specific candidates in their neighborhood. Occasionally they read an op ed, or immediately before an election they search for information on a particular candidate or a particular issue.

Question:

Why the fuck are they so stupid, lazy, and passive?

Exhaustion from working two or three jobs to achieve the "American Dream?"

Indifference? Ignorance?

Hopelessness, because they feel like their damn vote dosen't count anyway?

(Preview: So Diebold is running around the country making visits to its voting machines.)

Life too pleasant to bother with it?

I- just- can't- wrap -my- head- around- it.

Of course, I don't know what I expect with our media sources.

Corporate tools

Kaydee giv us newz


"She might alienate as many viewers as she attracts,"


Gee, ya think?


Twit

Enron trial

Defense to Begin Its Case in Enron Trial
By KRISTEN HAYS
The Associated Press
Monday, April 3, 2006; 6:37 AM

Enron Traders Caught On Tape
LOS ANGELES, June 1, 2004
(but this won't be allowed in court, and Kenny Boy doesn't know anything about what Enron Energy Traders did, right?)


Hey Lady, lookee there, forget the chrome grill, get the chrome dome

More laughs at BradBlog, What was Chevy thinking?

Gracias Señor Sirota

For being brave and intelligent and well-informed enough to tackle
The Taboo Subject at the Core of the Immigration Debate

I loved that he mentioned the movie "Traffic" as a way to understand some of the problems, but I might add that the problems with water will increase the flood of illegals across the border.


from Mexico City (which has it's own problems with water)

Illegal immigration part 3

I am not backing down on the problems of illegal immigration. The problems have touched my life. Think about this: You were born here, but you live in constant fear that your parents, who work their asses off for shit pay could be deported because they are here illegally. Does that give you respect for laws in your country of birth? Think like a teenager. Does that give you more power to do whatever you want? Your parents can't say anything because you have an inordinate amount of power over them. They need you because you understand English better than them, and you're legal. Besides, they want you to have all the toys, and education, and rights that they know that the handful of people who run the countries they fled from will never let them have for you. No matter how hard they work. They're used to keeping their heads down, working hard, and staying out of trouble so they don't get kicked out. You don't respect the laws of your country of birth because they don't make sense. You don't respect your parents because they get treated like doormats. Where does that leave you? Angry. Who do you take it out on? Gueros. Whites. Norteamericanos. They control the economies of the countries your parents fled from also, only most of the Norteamericanos don't know it:

And one more thing for those of you who immediately snarl racist. The problems just may be increasing because the worldwide population is increasing. That means more competition for resources.

You don't live with it, you don't know. Yo se.

Bush and Fox

This is what I think an honest conversation between George W. Bush and Vicente Fox would sound like.

Bush: "We need cheap labor that we don't want to have to pay a living wage for, health benefits for, or pension benefits for. The boards of directors don't like their profits squeezed, and the company officers gotta have their golden parachutes."

Fox: "We got plenty of them, just don't build a fence, I don't know what to do with them, you can use them".

Bush: "Deal?"

Fox: "Deal."

Aye, if only rich people would tell the truth, eh? Life would be so much simpler.

I can't help it, I love Beck's Que Onda Guero? (speakers on)

Is the Mainstream Media Finally Getting Half the Rigged Voting Machine Story?

Published on Thursday, March 30, 2006 by the Columbus Free Press (Ohio)
Is the Mainstream Media Finally Getting Half the Rigged Voting Machine Story?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

Well, it's not like they didn't get pushed by those darn "internets".


And, yeesh, lookee here, some kids looking for an excuse to ditch school. Jr. High kids are a challenge, aren't they?

I cannot write as well as Jaxpagan over at Daily Kos, but this post is perfect for how I feel about the whole illegal immigration thing.

Blocking voters

DEMOCRACY CRUMBLINGBrad Blog
New Electronic Voter Registration Database Rejects 43% of New Los Angeles Voter Applications! 26% Rejected State-Wide in California!
Applications That Don't Match EXACTLY With DMV Records are Automatically Dumped by New System!
California's League of Women Voters Sends Letter of Objection to Secretary of State

More sick of this

Students on the march in Vista, Oceanside and other communities
By: NORTH COUNTY TIMES
NORTH COUNTY ---- More than 1,700 students took to the streets Tuesday, as a second day of protests over proposed illegal immigration reform swept through North County communities.

Ruben Navarrette: Anti-immigrant zeal

By Ruben Navarrette
Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, March 29, 2006
SAN DIEGO - Now that the Senate is taking an honest look at the immigration problem, it's time for the rest of America to be honest about what the problem really is.

Much of it really is about clashing cultures and a concern that immigrants aren't assimilating...

Yep, that and the fact that Spanish should be a required second language in Southern California at the elementary school level, and the school districts haven't wised up yet. The racism goes both ways. I know what it's like to be hated because of my race, quit pretending that only people with brown skins are discriminated against.

Sick of this

Look Godamnit, I am fucking sick of listening to people who don't live in a border town talk about the immigration hoo-hah like they know something. I consider myself a liberal, but I still get pissed off on trash day when there is shitty toilet paper all over the front lawn. I'm sorry the plumbing sucks down there, when you're here, flush it damnit! But don't flush the plastic coated diapers, don't use pine oil cleaner on the fucking cutting boards in restaurants, Y no fumar en la tienda, babosos.
When I don't have a chance in hell of making supervisor because I don't speak Spanish, I get pissy. When I watch someone with half my IQ take a job that pays more than I make for supposedly translating and I can't understand their English it pisses me off.
I happen to be very good at understanding people with thick accents. I can usually pinpoint your country (worldwide) of origin by your accent. If you really want to make yourself understood, I'm listening.
I don't want to speak Spanish, damnit, I already know they hate us, I hear it all the time from people who do speak Spanish, but aren't Hispanic. When I hear that the protesters flew the Mexican flag proudly, but they burned an American flag, after they flew it upside down, I get pissy. When I hear over and over again in lame-o English from someone who was born and raised here that the gringos stole the land, so they can take whatever they want with impunity, I get pissy. When some asshole laughs at me and I know he just stole my kid's bike helmet because I can see the shape of it in his backpack, I get pissy. When my kid hears somebody talking smack about the color of her hair (she does understand it, peen-chee ben-day-hoes) which happens to be a normal color for a white kid, I get pissy.

When my friend's kid is devastated because his friend got shot in the fucking face and killed for trying to avoid joining a gang for protection against the bangers, I get pissy.

For anyone who doesn't live with it you need to know that there are problems that need to be addressed. This is coming from someone who gave water, a meal and a free long distance phone call to the coyote, to someone who needed it. The guy was thirsty, hungry, tired, scared shitless and in my backyard, you would have done it too.

It's complicated and the lawmakers who protect the people and corporations who profit from what I think that they think is disposable labor need to pay attention to more than next quarter's earnings and their huge campaign-contributers.


"The dropout issue has been at the center of local school reform discussions since last March, when a study by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University calculated that only 45% of students were graduating in four years from Los Angeles schools. The rate was even lower for Latino students, and much higher for white and Asian American students. African Americans were close to the districtwide average.The school district cried foul, saying its figures showed that roughly 70% were graduating, a figure that has since risen. The district uses a different formula to calculate its graduation rate, one that the Harvard researchers and other critics say is deeply flawed"

"I want you to know that there are people right now all across the country that agree with you that we need immigration reform that rewards work, that gives people a pathway to citizenship, that allows families to stay together," Villaraigosa told the crowd.
He drew jeers, however, when he added: "Now that you've come, it's important that you go back to school."

still pooped

My brain is mush. My body hurts. Disneyland is more fun the following couple of days when you are younger. Watching the the little ones have fun is always wonderful.

Anyhoo, not much coverage of this topic, and I think it's important damnit! We have a prez who pushed us into fucking WW III over this shit for Chrissakes.

As prices surge, oil giants turn sludge into gold

By Russell Gold
ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/27/2006

FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta -- In February, engineers from French oil giant Total SA fired up colossal drum boilers to generate steam that will be pumped to a depth of 300 feet under the frozen ground here. If all goes well, by May, the steam will marinate a tar-like mix of oil and sand until the crude begins to flow.

Nearby, Total will go after the oil-soaked sands closer to the surface, scraping away an ancient forest of spruce and poplars and shoveling the black soil into two-story dump trucks. Fully loaded, the trucks weigh as much as a Boeing 747. Total will then use industrial versions of giant washing machines to remove the oil, generating enough liquid waste to create vast toxic lakes.

Ummm...yeah, I don't think T Boone Pickens gives a shit about toxic lakes.


And the good news, I think, no nevermind, I'm still too tired to think, make what you will of it.

FEC Won't Regulate Internet Politics