Another Policy Failure for the Bush Administration

>With the assassination of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, the U.S. foreign policy under the Bush administration has had another failure. The White House, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and others within the current administration, had brokered the deal to get Bhutto back to Pakistan. This administration's inept backroom strategies to push Bhutto to return to Pakistan shows that they underestimated the volatility in that country. The Bush administration demonstrated once again their inability to study, read, and prepare for anything. Now Bhutto's death has created further unrest and greater problems.

>Following Bhutto's murder, Republican Mike Huckabee had this to say, according to the NY Times:

On Thursday night he told reporters in Orlando, Fla.: “We ought to have an immediate, very clear monitoring of our borders and particularly to make sure if there’s any unusual activity of Pakistanis coming into the country.”

On Friday, in Pella, Iowa, he expanded on those remarks.

“When I say single them out I am making the observation that we have more Pakistani illegals coming across our border than all other nationalities except those immediately south of the border,” he told reporters in Pella. “And in light of what is happening in Pakistan it ought to give us pause as to why are so many illegals coming across these borders.”

In fact, far more illegal immigrants come from the Philippines, Korea, China and Vietnam, according to recent estimates from the Department of Homeland Security.....

Huckabee is a putz. He should read some statistics before he speaks. Pakistanis are not even in the top 25 ethnic groups getting here illegally.

One Lamebrain is Enough

Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, doesn't know too much about the world.
CBS News:
With about 150 supporters crowded around a podium set up on the tarmac of Orlando Executive airport (and about 20 Ron Paul supporters waving signs outside) Mike Huckabee strode out to the strains of “Right Now” by Van Halen and immediately addressed the Bhutto situation, expressing “our sincere concern and apologies for what has happened in Pakistan.”

(Note: The Huckabee campaign later made a correction.)

We have suffered through the 2 terms of George W. Bush. Our country is the butt of jokes because of this administration's nincompoopery (my word) approach to international relations. We cannot afford another lamebrain in the White House. The Republican candidates are not of the quality and intelligence needed to lead this country out of the mess that we find ourselves.

Mike "dimwit" Huckabee, old tired man Thompson, thrice married Giuliani, grumpy McCain, cultman Paul, Slick Mitt Romney, extreme rightie Hunter, and the rest of the bunch are just plain ridiculous, self-centered, GOP mantra followers.

It is clearly time for change. The Democrats have the ability, leadership, and intelligence to correct the wrongs of the past and work for a better tomorrow.

Dinner Conversations

The conversations at our dinner with family members turned to the state of our country. No one seemed to be happy with the policies of the Bush administration, the war, and the economy. There was a consensus that our country needed either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton to be our next President. (The Republican presidential candidates were viewed as dangerous, self-absorbed, too religious, and/or just plain ridiculous.)

-------------
Questions About Republican Candidates

> Do you wonder if the Giuliani children spent any quality time with their father and his wife during Christmas?

> Since Mike Huckabee likes to hang out with right wing religious leaders, will he push to have women subservient to men as many of those leaders advocate? Why is Huckabee hanging out with right wing preachers who are notoriously anti-Catholic? Huckabee's friend, John Hagee, has called Catholicism a false religion. (According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Iowa's Catholic population is listed at 241,173.)

> Is Romney for or against a woman's right to choose? He has flipped and flopped so many times, I'm not sure where he stands. If Romney were elected President, would he promote a Mormon agenda? Even though he gave a speech about his religious beliefs, he really didn't say much.

> What does Fred Thompson look like when he is awake?

Mike Huckabee

Did you know that Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, has written books? He wrote a book called When Children Kill. The book was published in 1998. Of course, 1998 is the same year that Huckabee's son, David, was dismissed from a job at a Boy Scout camp for (allegedly) hanging a dog.

Here are some tidbits from Newsweek:

As Mike Huckabee gains in the polls, the former Arkansas governor is finding that his record in office is getting more scrutiny. One issue likely to get attention is his handling of a sensitive family matter: allegations that one of his sons was involved in the hanging of a stray dog at a Boy Scout camp in 1998. The incident led to the dismissal of David Huckabee, then 17, from his job as a counselor at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, Ark. It also prompted the local prosecuting attorney— bombarded with complaints generated by a national animal-rights group—to write a letter to the Arkansas state police seeking help investigating whether David and another teenager had violated state animal-cruelty laws. The state police never granted the request, and no charges were ever filed. But John Bailey, then the director of Arkansas's state police, tells NEWSWEEK that Governor Huckabee's chief of staff and personal lawyer both leaned on him to write a letter officially denying the local prosecutor's request.....
.....The details of the incident remain murky. The Animal Legal Defense Fund got an anonymous fax that summer alleging that David Huckabee and another youth had been involved in the hanging of a stray dog at the camp on July 11. A local animal-rights activist, Joyce Hillard, later contacted the camp director....

Yuck. I think that we need to protect our pets from Republican candidates and their family members.

Words of Advice

*** I buy and read books. If you work for a publishing company, there are some books I don't want to read.

1. A parental advice book written by the mother of Britney and Jamie Lynne Spears.
... a. The Spears daughters continue to embarrass their parents with their behavior.
... b. Britney and Jamie Lynne do not appear to be stellar role models themselves.

2. Any book written by Karl Rove. (Supposedly, Rove is holding out for bigger money from publishers. If his book is published, it can be purchased at the dollar store for $1.)
... a. The man was (allegedly) involved in exposing the name of an undercover CIA agent.
... b. There is nothing he would write that I'd be interested in reading.

3. Any book on marriage written by Rudy Giuliani.
... a. Two divorces and three marriages are not badges of honor.
... b. Mr. Giuliani is not someone I respect.

4. Any book written by George W. Bush or Dick Cheney.
... a. This administration has been a miserable failure. It has been like a reverse Midas Touch --- everything they touch is ruined (Iraq, job creation, education, senior citizen health care, medical care for our veterans, the environment, international relations, etc., etc.).

Numbers in the News

* Republican campaign contributor, Tom Noe, who was responsible for the huge Ohio Republican Coingate scandal under the Taft administration, is finally having his collectibles sold off.
Dispatch:
The state is ready to close another chapter in the saga of coin dealer Thomas W. Noe after selling $2.55 million in collectibles that were part of an ill-fated $50 million investment at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

Thousands of items, including presidential memorabilia, movie posters, baseball cards and other collectibles that Noe had bought with bureau money, were sold to an Illinois-based auction house.....

* Ohio Gov. Strickland won't take a 2.8% raise. Cleveland Leader:

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland is turning down the automatic pay raise that according to state law he is entitled to receive. As Strickland approaches his second year in office, a state law that is soon to expire called for him, and other statewide elected official, judges, county and township elected officials to receive annual raises on the rate of inflation or 3 percent, whichever is less.

The rate of the pay raise for 2008 would thus be 2.8.%. Strickland is currently paid $144,831. After the cost-of-living adjustments, lawmakers in Ohio will be paid about $60,500 per year.

"People in public office should attempt to lead by example I made a difficult decision [early this year] that a lot of good people who work for the state and who may very well deserve a pay raise won't be getting one," said Strickland.....

Thank you. Now we watch to see if the Ohio Republicans in the state legislature, who have done nothing to fix school funding, take their raises.

* According to KBS, voter turnout in South Korea's election was only 62.9%. Only 62.9%.

Grumpy Old Men

The headline said, "McCain Basks in ex-Dem Lieberman Support." Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was once a real Democrat, has gone off the deep end. Now he is "endorsing" Republican Sen. John McCain for president. Who cares? When I saw McCain and Lieberman together I was reminded of that 1993 movie called Grumpy Old Men. Only this time, instead of Matthau and Lemmon as the lead actors, we see McCain and Lieberman.

The problem with McCain, Lieberman, and the rest of the Republicans is that they have forgotten that our country is not composed of only old white guys. They are clueless about what is really going on and how people feel about the war, energy prices, the failures of this current administration, and the housing market.

If John McCain wants to "bask" that is okay. Sooner or later McCain will realize that Lieberman's "endorsement" is meaningless.

In the news.....

* This is a very strange story (BBC News):

The Saudi king has pardoned a female rape victim sentenced to jail and 200 lashes for being alone with a man raped in the same attack, reports say.....

The male and female victims were in a car together when they were abducted and raped by seven attackers, who were given jail sentences up to nine years.

Press reports say King Abdullah's move did not mean the sentence was wrong....

.....Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to mix with men who are not close family members....

I don't think I'll be visiting Saudi Arabia.

* Sen. Hillary Clinton's popularity is growing in New York. SILive:

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is losing his grip on the Republican base in New York state, the latest Quinnipiac Poll released today shows.....
......But on the other side of the coin, Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton continues to distance herself from Illinois Senator Barack Obama, boasting a lead of 55-17 percent. Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards is a distant third at seven percent.....

Looks like Giuliani has peaked.

So Sad

President Bush's Iraq war has take American lives, not only while they serve, but even when they return home. USA Today:

A record number of soldiers — 109 — have killed themselves this year, according to Army statistics showing confirmed or suspected suicides.

The deaths occur as soldiers serve longer combat deployments and the Army spends $100 million on support programs.....

.....A total of 109 suicides this year would equal a rate of 18.4 per 100,000, the highest since the Army started counting in 1980. The civilian suicide rate was 11 per 100,000 in 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....

Bush's Iraq war and the long deployments have hurt our military and their families. What Bush and the neo-cons have failed to notice is that our military is made up of human beings, not robots.

Things That Make You Say Hmmmmmmm...

> Republican Rep. John Boehner paid to cover his staff's legal bills for a recent investigation.
Chronicle:
Rep. John Boehner, the House of Representatives minority leader, paid lawyers $110,000 to represent four of his staff members who were interviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in an investigation into whether Albert L. Lord, Sallie Mae’s chairman, was given inside information about President Bush’s 2008 budget, The Hill reported today.

Mr. Lord sold 400,000 shares of Sallie Mae stock for $18.3-million in early February, only three days before President Bush unveiled a budget containing more than $17-billion in cuts to subsidies for the lending industry. The day of the budget’s release, Sallie Mae stock plunged 9 percent, to $42.37 per share, a two-year low. If Mr. Lord had sold at that price, he would have received about $1.4-million less for his shares.....

.....The four staff members who were interviewed by the commission have been absolved, but the investigation into the possible leak continues, The Hill reported. The commission has not sought to interview Mr. Boehner, who has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Sallie Mae over his Congressional career.

Very interesting.

> Women voters don't seem to be interested in the campaigns of Republicans Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani.

> AP:
Republican Mike Huckabee's record on women's rights is coming under increased scrutiny, including his endorsement of the Southern Baptist Convention's stance that women should "submit graciously" to their husbands and his opposition to sending women into combat....

......Huckabee was supported by 17 percent of women in a nationwide AP-Ipsos poll earlier this month, making him roughly even with Rudy Giuliani and John McCain for the lead among female voters among GOP presidential contenders....

Women are not interested in Huckabee because he supports women being submissive to men. Giuliani, married 3 times, obviously has no respect for women, wives, and marriage. John McCain seems to be out of touch with the modern woman.

Mistress Protection Program?

* Keith Olbermann used the phrase "mistress protection program" when referring to Rudy Giuliani's assertion that the Secret Service could protect a President's mistress. I'd like to ask the thrice married Giuliani if he would use a "mistress protection program" if he were elected President.

There is something very, very sneaky about Giuliani that just makes me sick to my stomach. He appears to be very sneaky: secretly covering up his relationship with his then mistress, Judith Nathan; allegedly lying to his second wife and children as to his activities so that he could meet his mistress; etc.

> Here is a snippet from an archived news item about the Hannover-Giuliani-Nathan mess from The Irish Examiner (5/22/2001):

THE mistress of New York's mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, was yesterday banned from his official residence at the request of his estranged wife.Judith Nathan was told she could not go to visit her lover at the home he still shares with the wife he is divorcing, Donna Hanover.

New York judge Judith Gische said Ms Nathan, a 46-year-old divorcee, was banned from Gracie Mansion while the Giuliani children continued to live there.....
...... Ms Hanover's lawyer accused the mayor of ''flaunting his mistress'' in front of his public and his children, Andrew, 15, and Caroline, 11.....

Can you imagine the nerve of Rudy to bring his mistress into his family home?

* Olbermann nominated Mike Huckabee as the Worst Person because of a Huckabee ad that appeared in USA Today in 1998 that said, "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband." (Huckabee was one of the signers supporting the ad.)

I'm not sure if Huckabee's brain is stuck in some Dark Ages time zone, but he'd never get my vote. Any man that advocates that women/wives are subservient to men/husbands is a prehistoric Neanderthal (although I'm not sure if Huckabee believes in the scientific discoveries about pre-historic populations).

Disturbing Opinions

1. The more I read about Republican candidate Mike Huckabee's opinions, the more I'm determined to not support this crazy man:
* (Hinessight found this at Ardemgaz)--- After reading this article I wonder if Huckabee knows that we have the separation of church and state in this country. How would he use his religious views if he were elected President? Would he try to quarantine people with AIDS from the general population as he has advocated? Would he pardon/release certain jailed felons if they were convicted of raping/harming relatives of his political enemies? I'm just asking these question because the more we learn about Huckabee, the more inappropriate he appears for elected office.

2. Rudy Giuliani's views and personal behavior were discussed when he appeared on NBC's Meet The Press. Newsday has information about Giuliani's comments:

....any voter watching the hour-long interview by Tim Russert could easily come away with the sense that Giuliani is battling his share of questions about his personal, business and ethical judgment -- so much so that he barely could squeeze in his anti-terror, anti-tax talking points.

Giuliani once again said he wouldn't release a client list or sever his ties with his private consulting firm, citing "confidentiality agreements."

And he defended his company's work with U.S. ally Qatar, which the United States believes helped harbor Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11. Giuliani said reports that his company did work for the Qatari minister accused of shielding the terrorist are "just totally wrong."

How can anyone believe Giuliani about anything? He lied to wife and children repeatedly while he carried on an affair with his mistress. He deceived his wife, his children and NYC while he went about the town with his mistress. A man who lies to his wife and breaks the bonds of marriage (repeatedly) is not someone I'd trust as a leader.

Huckabee's Views on AIDS?

The one thing about these presidential campaigns is that everything a candidate has ever said will be discovered and published. Today, we learn more about Mike Huckabee's views on AIDS patients. Breitbart found this AP story and here are some snippets from the article:

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

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

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

Huckabee did not return messages left with his campaign......

Mr. Huckabee needs to be asked some specific questions about this story, and they include the following:

1. Does he think that AIDS patients should still be isolated?

2. Does he still stand by these statements that he wrote several years ago? Which of his opinions about AIDS has changed?

3. Does he still think that the federal government provides too much money for AIDS research?

4. Can Huckabee explain how AIDS is transmitted?

5. Are there any other individuals that Huckabee thinks should be isolated?

I'm sure that there are excellent journalists and activists who can provide other possible questions for Mr. Huckabee on the topic of AIDS. I hope that Huckabee is forced to answer them.

So Sad...

> Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell who has continued to vote against health care for poor children, has displayed his callousness again in his comments about Americans who have died in Iraq. (TPM had it first.)

Here is what McConnell had to say, according to the Grayson County News-Gazette:
"....”The polls are reflecting that there is a 15% increase in optimism in American's views about the war.

“I won't tell you everything is great in Iraq; it is not. But we want to keep a steady flow of funds so that we don't disrupt the military,” said McConnell. “Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other isle are having a hard time admitting things are getting better; some days I almost think the critics of this war don't want us to win. Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers....."

Does McConnell mean that those Americans who died in Iraq don't matter? TPM has a response to McConnell:

"I would say that Mitch McConnell owes every member of our service and the families of the fallen an apology, but no apology from him can take back the venom he has spewed at our troops," a VoteVets.org senior advisor, Retired Lt. Col. Andrew Horne, said in a statement.

"For anyone to believe that casualties of war are somehow more acceptable because they were not draftees is disgusting," continued Horne, who served in Iraq with the Marines and lives in McConnell's home state of Kentucky. "For the Republican leader in the United States Senate to say that is beyond repugnant."

It is hard to believe that the good people Kentucky could vote for a heartless man like McConnell. If you'd like to let Sen. McConnell your opinion of his comments about the American military, you can contact him at http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact.cfm or (202) 224-2541.

> It appears that two large retailers are going out of business. CompUSA (see Bloomberg) and Sofa Express (see Akron Beacon Journal) will be closing their doors soon.

> A local trip to the supermarket may cause you to get sticker shock. Food prices are going up.
Dispatch:
......The price of some basic baking ingredients such as eggs and milk has shot up compared with a year ago. And the price of flour and butter, already on the rise, is expected to increase even more this month.
Eggs cost an average $1.77 per dozen in October, about 40 percent more than the same time last year, according to the most recent data from the Consumer Price Index. The cost of a gallon of whole milk was up 25 percent, to $3.84......

I'm sure that this is just the beginning of higher prices. Many fear that a recession is ahead. Is it possible that the Bush administration's total focus on an unnecessary war in Iraq has let the U.S. economy go into the toilet? Only time will tell.

Not JFK

- Mitt Romney's over-hyped speech about his religious beliefs was incredibly bad. Here is what someone from Americans United for Separation of Church and State had to say:

“I was disappointed in Romney’s statement,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “The founders of our Constitution meant for religion and government to be completely separate. Romney is wrong when he says we are in danger of taking separation too far or at risk of establishing a religion of secularism.

“I was particularly outraged that Romney thinks that the Constitution is somehow based on faith and that judges should rule accordingly, “ Lynn said. “That’s a gross misunderstanding of the framework of our constitutional system.....

“I was also disappointed that Romney doesn’t seem to recognize that many Americans are non-believers,” Lynn continued. “Polls repeatedly show that millions of people have chosen to follow no spiritual path at all. They’re good Americans too, and Romney ought to have recognized that fact.....

The fact that Romney even posed in the same manner that John F. Kennedy did was really over the top. Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish even has a picture of Romney posing just like Kennedy:

(picture from The Daily Dish)
Romney's "speech" did not convince me to vote for him. Is this just another example of Romney's slickness? I confess that I am old enough to remember John F. Kennedy as both a presidential candidate and as President. (I saw candidate Kennedy at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania.) Romney is not a JFK.

President Kennedy was a military veteran. Romney is not. Romney seems to have some disdain for military service. When asked why none of his five sons had not been in the military, Romney said they were helping him get elected. Does that mean that after the election one or all of them will sign up for military service?? I doubt it.

--- The next time there is a Republican debate, I'd like to see some good questions from Americans. Why do we have to endure the TV commentators asking the questions or choosing which You Tube question to use?

**** Why did Mike Huckabee attack Huffington Post? Did the Huffington Post's story on Wayne Dumond get too close to the truth?

Why?

> Some recent votes in the House of Representatives makes you wonder why some Republicans even bother to show up. Do they just hate children?
Office of the Clerk HR2517 (Protecting Our Children Comes First Act) Roll Vote 1132: Those who voted against the bill: Paul Broun (R-GA-10th), Jeff Flake (R-AZ-6th), Ron Paul (R-TX-14).

Office of the Clerk HR 3791 (Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act) Roll Vote 1131: Those who voted against the bill: Paul Broun (R-GA-10th), Ron Paul (R-TX-14).

Why would someone vote against such important issues?

> I saw Republican candidate Mike Huckabee on the Today Show this morning. He did not adequately address the fact that he allowed a rapist, Wayne Dumond, to go free, despite the fact that the rape victims begged in letters to keep him locked up. Huckabee lied and said that previous Arkansas governors, Tucker and Clinton, were responsible. If Huckabee claims to be such a religious man, why won't he tell the truth? Why didn't he mention that Wayne Dumond, who Huckabee released, went on to rape and murder others after he left prison? Why didn't he mention that one of the early rape victims was a distant cousins to Bill Clinton? Why didn't he mention that the Clinton-haters in Arkansas sought to discredit the rape victim and Huckabee allowed it to happen?

I hope that the people in Iowa examine this case a little closer (see item # 1.) Huckabee just comes off as dirty.

Another Failure

Raw Story is quoting a story from AP:

The nation's teen birth rate has risen for the first time in 14 years, according to a new government report.
....The decline had slowed in recent years, but government statisticians said Wednesday it jumped 3 percent from 2005 to 2006....

....The birth data for 2006 also showed births to unmarried mothers hit a new record high, and the overall birth rate has climbed to its highest level since 1971.

The teen increase was based on the 15-19 age group, which accounted for about 99 percent of the more than 440,000 births to teens in 2006.....

Just like everything else the Bush administration has instituted (Iraq war, No Child Left Behind, etc.), the abstinence-only programs are failures. Recently, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said that Ohio will stop funding the abstinence-only programs in the state. Some right wingers had hissy fits because they lost their meal ticket for their ineffective abstinence- only propaganda.

The Good Guys and The Liars

The Good Guys:
* Why not Al Franken for Senate? Al Franken is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate for Minnesota and he is going up in the polls! The NY Times has a story about his candidacy. While you are at it, visit Al Franken for Senate and contribute to his campaign.
* Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy wants to bring change to Washington. Isn't it time to have someone represent Ohio's 15th congressional district instead of special interest groups, like banks, insurance, and oil companies?

The Liars:
* President Bush and his whole administration should be nominated as the liars of the year. With the pathetic way Bush has lied to this country about Iran and Iraq, it just adds to the stack of lies his administration has provided us. The WMD's in Iraq, the outing of Valerie Plame, the Cheney energy policies, the cover ups about our dead and injured in the wars, the warnings from the President's daily briefings in the months before 9/11 that were ignored by this administration, the lies about the health dangers of Ground Zero for the first responders, etc., etc., etc., have provided us with a history of lies for the last seven years of this administration. How are Americans to believe anything that comes out of this administration?

Huckabee is Not a Saint

UPDATE: The Huffington Post has information on how Huckabee released a convicted rapist from prison. Despite letters from the rapist's victims to stop his release, Huckabee and right winger Clinton-haters, pushed for the rapist's freedom. Read the Huffington Post and see what has been found. Is this why Huckabee has sealed the papers from his time as governor in Arkansas???????

Republican candidate for President, Mike Huckabee, should not be considered a nice man. His past behavior might be a good indication of his future behavior. Here are some examples that were easy to find on the web:

1. Arkansas Times: In an effort to payback the newspaper for their investigative reporting about then Gov. Huckabee's behavior in office, Huckabee's office would no longer provide press services to the Arkansas Times.

2. CNN:
...The Republican governor (Huckabee) himself has not been immune to the investigation-happy climate, as questions have arisen about who contributed to a fund to subsidize his state salary with $60,000 in speaking fees while he was lieutenant governor.

Huckabee has refused to disclose who the donors were and will not release to the attorney general information gathered through a taxpayer supported hotline set up to allow residents to report abuses in government.

3. Politico: Mike Huckabee apparently had some ethical problems. Here are some excerpts:

.....Allegations by a former governor’s mansion employee in 1998 became part of the basis for a lawsuit against Huckabee over his family’s use of a $60,000-a-year fund. The lawsuit also dealt with Huckabee’s assertion that $70,000 worth of furniture donated to the governor's mansion was his to keep.

The fund had been used to pay for pizza, a doghouse, a magazine subscription and pantyhose for Huckabee’s wife, Janet, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.....

.... Before leaving office Jan. 9, Huckabee spent $13,000 in state funds to destroy the hard drives of nearly 100 computers in the governor’s office.....

There is more, but you'll need to read the entire article to get the full story.

Judi and Rudy Misused NYPD (continued)

There is even more information about how then Giuliani's mistress, Judi Nathan, used the NYPD as her personal taxi service for her friends and family. KDKA.com:

....Six years later, presidential candidate Giuliani is facing questions about that security. A source involved with the mayor's operations at the time tells CBS station WCBS-TV in New York that Nathan took flagrant advantage of that police car and driver.

The source says Nathan forced police to chauffeur her friends and family around the city - even when she wasn't in the car.

That set off alarms with ethics watchdogs.....

Can you imagine these two in the White House????? Heaven forbid!!!

Little Known Facts

> Republican candidate, Mike Huckabee, for President did allow a tax increase to become law while he was governor of Arkansas (USA Today 2/9/2004):
.....In Arkansas, Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee says he will let the largest tax increase in state history become law without his signature. On Friday, the Democratic-controlled Legislature approved increasing the sales tax from 5.12% to 6%. Republicans provided key votes to overcome opposition from Democrats who said the increase would hurt the poor. The $377 million in taxes will go to a public school system the state Supreme Court had called unconstitutionally inadequate.....

> Here is another Huckabee gem from CNN (11/15/2006):
....HUCKABEE LASHES OUT AT REPORTERS OVER GIFT REGISTRY: Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday ripped news reporters for writing about gift registries in his and his wife's names for a housewarming party for their recently purchased halfmillion-dollar home in North Little Rock. The registries are on the Internet at Target and Dillard's Web sites under "weddings." It's the "Janet Huckabee and Michael Huckabee's Club Wedd Registry" at Target and "Welcome to the wedding registry of: Janet Huckabee and Michael Huckabee" at Dillard's. The governor accused news media of being "tools" for Arkansas Times Editor Max Brantley, who runs a blog that discussed the registries and who has been a longtime critic of Huckabee. Huckabee said the registries weren't any different from gift lists for a wedding shower or a baby shower. He said anyone, when told that the affair was put on by his wife's friends, should have no problem with the registries. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Huckabee on registry reportage: For shame ...

> Republican Representative and Presidential candidate, Tom Tancredo, used illegal immigrants to remodel his home (Alternet).

NYPD Walked Judi's Dog??

I'm sure that the people of NYC are amazed at the nearly daily revelations about the former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's expenses during his term. Now a news item in the NY Daily News reports that members of NYPD also walked Judi Nathan's dogs while she was still his mistress.

Here are the excerpts from the Daily News:
In the fall of 2001, city cops chauffeured Rudy Giuliani's then-mistress, Judith Nathan, to her parents' Pennsylvania home 130 miles away on the taxpayers' dime....

....The records show that - in addition to using City Hall funds to take Giuliani and Nathan to 11 secret trysts in the Hamptons, as has been previously reported - taxpayers were paying to ferry Nathan on long-distance trips without Giuliani, now a Republican contender for President.....

At the time, it was not uncommon to see Nathan being chauffeured around the city in an undercover Dodge with two detectives, who sometimes even helped to walk her dog.....

Do you think that those detectives could have been used to work on crime investigations instead of walking Judith Nathan's dog?

Check out the entire article and be sure to read the comments below the story.

Giuliani's Record as NYC Mayor

Imagine that a program or a service has been eliminated or scaled back in your city because of your mayor's budget cuts. However, the same mayor of your city has an overwhelming amount of personal security, including that which covers his mistress. Wouldn't you be angry? Wouldn't you be upset?

Well, folks, Rudy Giuliani was that kind of mayor. While still married to his second wife, Mr. Giuliani provided NYC police coverage to his then mistress, Judith Nathan.

NY Times:
Rudolph W. Giuliani last night called a Web site’s account of his spending a “political hit job” as his campaign struggled to explain why hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel expenses for his mayoral security detail were billed to obscure city offices instead of the Police Department.....
.....The Web site report focused largely on the security detail’s expenses for trips that Mr. Giuliani took to Southampton, N.Y., at a time when he was beginning an extramarital affair with Judith Nathan, who is now his third wife. Ms. Nathan had a condominium there, but the Web site said it was impossible to say how many of Mr. Giuliani’s 11 trips there in the summers of 1999, 2000 and 2001 were to visit her....
....Overall travel expenses for the mayor’s office — which included a broad range of trips beyond just those involving the security detail — were clearly growing at the end of the mayor’s term, according to the city comptroller, with a 151 percent increase from the fiscal year 2000 to the 2001 fiscal year, to $618,014 from $245,896.....

Then there is this from The Blotter by Brian Ross at ABC News:

Well before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani provided a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

"She used the PD as her personal taxi service," said one former city official who worked for Giuliani....

....The former city officials said Giuliani expanded the budget for his security detail at the time. Politico.com reported yesterday that many of the security expenses were initially billed to obscure city agencies, effectively hiding them from oversight....

Then there is this from the NY Times (10/10/99) about Giuliani's paybacks:

(Background information: After Giuliani was angry about the Brooklyn Museum of Art and he later cut funds to the museum (the museum had to sue to get the funds restored: CBS), the public noticed a few things.)

''The Mayor tends to take those who disagree with him as enemies to be punished,'' Martin McLaughlin, a lobbyist for the cultural institutions, wrote in an E-mail circulated among museum directors.

Similarly, New Yorkers traveling by subway last weekend to the Brooklyn Museum to see ''Sensation,'' the exhibition that is the object of Mr. Giuliani's ire, believed they were targets of mayoral punishment. They complained that train service was suspended as part of a City Hall plot to torpedo the exhibition. Subway repairs, however, had been scheduled for months by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which the Mayor does not directly control.

Paranoia over the Brooklyn Museum is a reminder that after nearly six years in office, Mr. Giuliani's reputation for retribution has grown to near-mythic proportions, prompting tremulous hand-wringing among those who contemplate crossing him and convincing many New Yorkers that he is out to get them, even when he is not....

This is the man that some people support as the next President??????? You've got to be kidding!!!

Can't Stand Watching

* We always watch the Today Show in the morning. This morning, however, I had to change the channel as soon as I saw Laura Bush. She was talking about the White House's Christmas decorations and I could not bear to watch.

* I did watch a few minutes of the You Tube/CNN GOP debate last night. Watching so many pompous white men was too much to take and I had to change the channel.

* The Franklin County GOP is, according to The Other Paper, "...a dying party." Here are some excerpts from The Other Paper's article about the Franklin County Republicans:

Brad Sinnott, chairman of the Franklin County Republican Central Committee, thinks he knows how to resuscitate his dying party.

It can’t be saved by himself or Doug Preisse, the party’s chairman, or Steve Stivers, its much-hyped congressional candidate, or even Dewey Stokes, who might run for county commissioner again.

To rescue the Columbus Republicans, Sinnott is counting on a thin-skinned, cross-dressing, thrice-married New Yorker who is disliked by his own children.....

Sinnott goes on to say that Giuliani could have some crossover appeal to some Democrats in central Ohio. Really? What Democrats in Franklin County has Sinnott been talking to in recent weeks???? Most Democrats I know are repulsed by Giuliani and the rest of the Republican candidates.

If Mr. Sinnott would talk to Democrats in Franklin County and the state of Ohio, he would learn the following:

1. The Republican Party and Bob Taft misused public trust. (ex. Coingate, Tom Noe, Bob Ney, etc.).

2. Ohioans are disgusted with the Republican scandals.

3. Ohioans love Gov. Ted Strickland.

4. Central Ohioans will elect a Democrat to Congress, and not another pro-business, bank lobbyist to represent us.

5. People are looking forward to the date 1.20.09 because our long national nightmare will be over.

Wednesday's Woes

* * Buckeyes are mourning of the passing of Bill Willis. Recently honored at Ohio Stadium by having his jersey (#99) retired, Willis was a great football player at Ohio State and later for the Cleveland Browns. Here is an excerpt from the Dispatch:

.....Willis, 86, a Columbus East High School graduate, was a two-time All-American at Ohio State and the first black full-time starter in pro football's modern era....
....Willis arrived at Ohio State in 1941 as a two-way lineman and track athlete. He blocked for Les Horvath, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1944, and became Ohio State's first black All-American in 1943-44.

The 1942 team on which Willis was a star won Ohio State's first national title....

*** The Bush administration has been in search of used book purchasers????? Washington Post:

Federal prosecutors have withdrawn a subpoena seeking the identities of some people who bought used books through Amazon.com, newly unsealed court records show.

The withdrawal came after a judge ruled that the customers have a First Amendment right to keep their reading habits from the government......

...."Well-founded or not, rumors of an Orwellian federal criminal investigation into the reading habits of Amazon's customers could frighten countless potential customers into canceling planned online book purchases," the judge wrote in a ruling he unsealed last week....

Instead of spending so much time investigating our reading habits, why hasn't this administration found Osama?

* Sen. Bob Corker (Tennessee-R) said he was "underwhelmed" when he visited the White House.
Chattanooga Times Free Press:
...The senator, who was elected in November 2006, said he attended several Iraq meetings at the White House soon after taking office. He said he was "very underwhelmed" by what he heard.

"It led me on a path of seeking my own knowledge," he said.....

...Mr. Orlins asked whether it was President Bush or his staff he found underwhelming.

"I hate to say it, but all of the above," Sen. Corker replied....

What an interesting choice of words! Does Corker mean that the intellectual level of the discussion was low or simplistic? Some reporter needs to explore the "underwhelming" comment a little more.

In The News.......

> After doing absolutely nothing, the Bush administration has decided to have a Mideast conference. What a bunch of baloney! The Bush administration's obsession with Iraq has let other countries and regions go unnoticed for seven years. Now George decides it is time to do something. It might be too little too late.

> Buckeye football fans will remember Sean Taylor from the Ohio State-Miami game. Here is an article about how Sean Taylor met Maurice Clarett (Link).

> The One Laptop Per Child program has been extended. The BBC has a slide show on how the green laptops are being used in Nigeria.

> Al Gore made it to the Oval Office, but it was not as the President. President Bush invited all the U.S. Nobel Prize winner to the Oval Office and this included Al Gore. Seeing non-winner Bush with these Nobel Prize recipients reminded me of the Sesame Street Song....."One of these things is not like the other, one of these things doesn't belong....."
(Picture from AP and VOA News)

> In an effort to make sure that the next President of the United States has to deal with Bush's Iraq quagmire, President Bush signed an agreement to keep permanent bases in Iraq forever. How nice. Raw Story has the news.

Not Man Enough To Do It In Columbus?

John Husted, Speaker of the the Ohio House, is a Republican. When he has been in Columbus, Husted has had some nice things to say about Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat. However, Husted went to what he considers a safe place, Hancock County, to attack Gov. Strickland. According to the Dayton Daily News, Hancock County is supposed to be a Republican stronghold.

Husted is known to be a cocky, arrogant little man who yells and screams until he gets what he wants (like road work in his home district and changes in the way STRS invests), so I've been told. However, he isn't tough enough to attack Strickland in Columbus. Husted, and his sidekick, Kevin DeWine are quite willing to talk tough but they have refused to work to get the school funding fixed in the state of Ohio.

Here is an excerpt from the Dayton Daily News:
....The speaker also tried to dim the glow coming from Strickland's lofty approval rating from Ohio voters, attributing the governor's success to the Republican-controlled legislature. An Ohio Poll released this month found 69 percent of registered voters approve the job Strickland's doing while 16 percent disapprove.

"The governor has got a 68 percent approval rating right now largely because we've gotten along with him," Husted said in the Findlay paper, reducing Strickland's rating by a point....

Husted and his Ohio Republicans can take some credit for Strickland's high approval rating but it is not for Husted's reasons. Ohioans appreciate the honesty and clean government that Strickland and his administration have brought to the state. For far too long, Ohio Republicans like Bob Taft, Bob Ney, Tom Noe, and others have demonstrated that too many in the Ohio Republican Party are interested in taking care of their cronies and campaign contributors instead of the regular people in Ohio.

If Husted thinks he can talk tough in a small town in Ohio and no one else will hear about it, he must be living in the Dark Ages. Mr. Husted better realize that his behavior and outward disrespect of the governor will not go unnoticed by the good people of Ohio.

Give It Back???

It is not enough that American troops are suffering from both physical and mental problems after serving in Bush's Iraq war. It is not enough that these troops have lost limbs in Iraq. It is not enough that American soldiers and Marines have had their lives altered forever. Now Bush's Pentagon wants more.

According to a Raw Story post from KDKA, wounded American have been told to return signing bonuses:

The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.

To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.

Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back....

This is absolutely horrible! Is this how a grateful nation repays the troops?

President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and the rest of their administration lied us into a war in Iraq. Now they are breaking promises to our injured men and women. It is time to call your Representative and Senators to stop this return of signing bonuses.

Contact U.S. Senators and Members of the House of Representatives.

Judith Regan Knows Lots of Stuff About Giuliani

Frank Rich's column in the New York Times explains that Rudy Giuliani might have a lot to fear about anything that Judith Regan has to say. Here are some excerpts from the column:

.....Few know more about Rudy than his perennial boon companion, Mr. Kerik. Perhaps during his romance with Ms. Regan he talked only of the finer points of memoir writing or about his theories of crime prevention or about his ideas for training the police in the Muslim world (an assignment he later received in Iraq and botched). But it is also plausible that this couple discussed everything Mr. Kerik witnessed at Mr. Giuliani’s side before, during and after 9/11. Perhaps he even explained to her why the mayor insisted, disastrously, that his city’s $61 million emergency command center be located in the World Trade Center despite the terrorist attack on the towers in 1993.

Perhaps, too, they talked about the business ventures the mayor established after leaving office. Mr. Kerik worked at Giuliani Partners and used its address as a mail drop for some $75,000 that turns up in the tax-fraud charges in his federal indictment. That money was Mr. Kerik’s pay for an 11-sentence introduction to another Regan-published book about 9/11, “In the Line of Duty.” Though that project’s profits were otherwise donated to the families of dead rescue workers, Mr. Kerik’s royalties were mailed to Giuliani Partners in the name of a corporate entity Mr. Kerik set up in Delaware. He would later claim that he made comparable donations to charity, but the federal indictment charges that $80,000 he took in charitable deductions were bogus.

Amazingly, given that he seeks the highest office in the land, Mr. Giuliani will not reveal the clients of Giuliani Partners. Perhaps he has trouble remembering them all. He testified in court last year that he has no memory of a mayoral briefing in which he was told of Mr. Kerik’s association with a company suspected of ties to organized crime.....

Why won't Giuliani tell us about the clients of Giuliani Partners? Are they well-known countries or companies or executives? What is he trying to hide?

Judith Regan know about Kerik, Giuliani, and lots of stuff about their conduct. It might be nice if she told some of what she knows before the presidential election. Judith, how about it?????

Ready or Not

* The Democratic debate last night was very interesting. I think we saw strong candidates and those who were a little weak.

Strong:
Sen. Hillary Clinton: A++++++
Sen. Chris Dodd: A
Gov. Bill Richardson: A
Sen. Joe Biden: A

Not ready for primetime:
Sen. Barack Obama: B (I think he is wonderful, but just not ready for the White House.)
Sen. John Edwards: B- (John Edwards just seems very angry.)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich: ?????

The Democratic Party is lucky to have so many talented candidates!

> I found this old article about Rudy Giuliani that I thought was worth a second look.
CNN (May 15, 2000):

Deep inside Rudy Giuliani's Week from Hell--with his marriage wrecked and his Senate campaign close to it--the New York City mayor reached back and threw a few inside fastballs, just to prove he still could. "Oh, get outta here," he told a pack of reporters asking him about various women not his wife. "Get lost! ... Don't you guys have the slightest bit of decency? Don't you realize you embarrass yourselves doing this?"

...Even after the New York Post ran pictures of him leaving a restaurant with Judith Nathan, a pharmaceuticals executive who in the past year has often been seen at his side, Giuliani remained calm. He called Nathan "a very good friend." The nature of that friendship became clearer a few days later, when a gray, shaken Giuliani announced that he and his wife Donna Hanover would be separating.....

....That piece of news came as a gut-wrenching surprise to Hanover, a TV journalist who immediately went before the cameras to return fire. Blinking back tears and speaking in an icy voice, Hanover aimed for the heart. She said their marriage had been damaged in the 1990s by Giuliani's relationship with a city hall staff member. Giuliani and the woman in question, former communications director Cristyne Lategano, have persistently denied their long-rumored affair, but Hanover--breaking years of silence--reignited the story, adding that she had tried to patch things up after Lategano left city hall but Rudy "chose another path."

......Giuliani allies say the mayor tried months ago to get his wife to agree to a separation, but she would not discuss the subject. Still, his announcement, which surprised even his staff, brought to mind the many times this control freak has lost control in front of the cameras. In March, after an unarmed black man named Patrick Dorismond was shot to death by New York police, Giuliani smeared Dorismond by releasing his sealed juvenile-arrest records. When he blindsided his wife last week, it was just Rudy being Rudy. He said he was being "honest, direct and decent," but others thought he was being a heel. Giuliani strategists are clinging to the idea that marital discord can't hurt you in a race against a Clinton. But Rudy is running against the wronged woman, not the philandering man. And the pain in Hanover's eyes is not likely to be forgotten by some of the suburban women who until now supported Giuliani over Clinton.....

There are many things highlighted in this article:

1. Giuliani is a control freak

2. There was another affair???

3. Giuliani and Judith Nathan were just friends.

4. He smeared a shooting victim.

Wow! I don't want Giuliani in the White House. He doesn't appear to be a nice guy.

Surprise!

* Update: Looks like the President and his supporters in the Defense Department are already complaining about the $50 billion dollars just passed by the House. Even though the President just got almost $500 BILLION a few months ago, he wants almost another $200 BILLION instead of the paltry $50 billion offered by the Democrats. Apparently, Mr. Bush can borrow against the $500 BILLION he just got, but he doesn't want to do it.
This is just unreal. How much more can Americans be asked to give for Bush's war that was based on a lie.
Call your Reps. and Senators and tell them to stop funding the war.

- All in the family is the best way to describe how the inspector general was investigating Blackwater. Howard Krongard, the inspector general, was checking out problems with Blackwater, when it was revealed that his brother, Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard is a Blackwater board member. Surprise! (ABC News)

- Iraq Casualties:

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:	3862
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:	3
Total	3865

- The U.S. Navy got a surprise when a Chinese sub popped up near the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk. Here is some info from the Cleveland Leader:

Recently, when a Chinese submarine popped up undetected in the middle of a Pacific Ocean exercise, dangerously close to the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, American military chiefs were left dumbfounded and red-faced, according to UK newspaper, Daily Mail....
....By the time the Chinese sub surfaced, the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missles at the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, a 1,000ft. supercarrier with 4,500 military personnel onboard.....
....The U.S. Navy's brush with the Chinese Navy's submarine occurred in the Pacific Ocean between southern Japan and Taiwan. The one sub was able to slip past at least a dozen other U.S. warships that were in place to ward off any hostile aircraft or submarines. Two submarines were also in place, along with other advanced technology, which also failed to detect the intruding watercraft.....

While President Bush created the war in Iraq for his own reasons, the rest of the world is just being ignored. Too much money, military, equipment, and focus has been put into Iraq with our readiness in other parts of the world being sacrificed. Is this just more of what Bush will have dumped into the lap of the next President?

Questions for Wednesday Morning

> Another day, another scandal. Judith Reagan is suing News Corp and in the process, stuff about Kerik and Giuliani is being revealed. Here are a few tidbits from the NY Times:

Judith Regan, the former book publisher, says in a lawsuit filed yesterday protesting her dismissal by the News Corporation, the media conglomerate, that a senior executive there encouraged her to lie to federal investigators about her past affair with Bernard B. Kerik after he had been nominated to become homeland security secretary in late 2004.....
....Ms. Regan says in the suit, though, that when she realized the company had been assembling material with which to justify firing her she called a company lawyer. She says she wanted to confirm that accusations she had made about executives’ creating a hostile workplace had been included in her personnel file. One of those accusations was that an executive had advised her to lie about Mr. Kerik to protect Mr. Giuliani....

Ouch! I wonder if the Giuliani people are worried yet?

> According to the Boston Globe, Republican presidential candidate wants "...a million-member military ground force..." if he is elected. How do you think he'd get that? Would he have a draft? I'm not a military expert, but with all this technology available today in warfare, is this an appropriate proposal? Thompson has no military experience. Does he even have a clue about how the modern military operates? Is his only experience with warfare his acting roles in civil war dramas?

> Have you seen the HBO special about the Ohio State-vs.- Mi- - gan rivalry?

Safety

> Over the weekend, some quick-thinking Columbus teenagers saw an 11 year old boy being attacked by a pit bull. The teenagers were able to save the youngster by distracting the dog with their car. WCPO has some details of the story.

> With daily stories about imported toys with lead, a local TV station ran some tests on toys. Here is part of a story about toy safety from 10TV.com:

A series of tests arranged by Consumer 10 detected potentially dangerous amounts of lead in dozens of supposedly safe toys in central Ohio homes and day-care centers.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has logged a record 72 toy recalls involving millions of dolls, games, trinkets and play sets - the vast majority tainted with lead.

The federal agency hasn't gone a whole week without a toy recall since mid-September. Last week alone, it announced 10, Consumer 10's Chuck Strickler reported.....

10TV and the Columbus Health Department will be testing toys for lead. Check out the information about the event and registration here: 10TV Toy Test.

Monday's Concerns

>Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign has set up The Fact Hub to help set the record straight.

> Did you know that a majority of women would like to see Hillary Clinton as the next President? (Now if we can convince the men in our lives to do the same.)

Mike Lupica has a very revealing opinion piece in the New York Daily News about Giuliani and Kerik. Here is a sample:

...The government's book on Kerik, the one U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia officially threw at him the other day, goes right through the time when Giuliani picked up the phone and called President Bush and did everything but nominate Kerik as secretary of Homeland Security all by himself.

When Giuliani is questioned about all that now, he sounds so weak you can imagine him blowing away in a strong wind, making it sound as if everything he missed on Kerik was some slight "vetting" problem....

* What is it with Republicans and bathrooms????? Orlando Sentinel has the news about the latest Republican to get arrested for soliciting sex in a bathroom:

State Rep. Bob Allen's troubles may only get worse.

Seconds after he was convicted Friday of soliciting a sex act in a park bathroom, legislative leaders were discussing how to remove him from office....

....The lawmaker is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for the second-degree misdemeanor charge and could face a maximum 60 days in the county jail and a $500 fine. Prosecutors said after the verdict was announced that they intend to seek jail time.....

--- Would you like to help feed the hungry AND improve your vocabulary at the same time? Visit FREE RICE.

Friday's Points

* Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (OH-D) have been receiving lots of support from Ohioans. People in Ohio have given high marks to Strickland for the way his administration has cleaned up the statehouse from the scandal-filled Taft administration. Sen. Sherrod Brown has been working hard representing the working people in Ohio. Brown responds to his constituents needs quickly and has expressed vocal opposition to Bush's Iraq policies.

Despite all this good stuff, the Republicans in Ohio are already scheming to get back into the Ohio political landscape. The right-leaning Cincinnati Enquirer says that several well-known GOPers are thinking about running for office. Most Ohioans cannot even fathom putting Republicans back into power after the mess they've left us.

* Did anyone else notice that the Ohio election went off without a hitch now that the Republicans are no longer in charge of voting machines????

* I think it would be interesting to watch Hardball with Chris Matthews and count how many times he mentions Sen. Hillary Clinton.

* Did you happen to catch the former AT&T engineer who became a whistleblower over the NSA's spying on American citizens? If you missed it, you can catch part of the info at Raw Story.

Rudy and Pat: What Does It Mean?

With the announcement that Pat Robertson will support Rudy Giuliani's candidacy for president, I started to wonder how much Giuliani really knew about Robertson. Here are some quotes by Pat Robertson:

Since I'm a woman, I find this quote by Pat Robertson particularly offensive (BQ):
Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.

Yes. Robertson really said it.

Then there is this one from Robertson (BQ):
It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-biased media and the homosexuals who want to destroy all Christians.

I guess since most Democrats are compassionate people who welcome all people to the Democratic Party we would all be considered Pat Robertson's enemies.

I think that the Giuliani-Robertson agreement means several things. It means that both men will do and say anything to win. It means that Giuliani will pander to any hatemonger to get an endorsement. And since it seems that Giuliani has little if any respect for women, he fits in well with Robertson.

Election Results

The people in central Ohio knew what they wanted and they got it. Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman, a Democrat, has been re-elected to a third term with 69% of the vote. The Columbus City Council is now filled with all Democrats.

Here are some excerpts from the Dispatch:

"The voters did two things today," Coleman told Democrats gathered Downtown at the Westin Great Southern Hotel. "They embraced our vision for a positive city. They rejected divisiveness and negativism."

and...
....Franklin County Republican Chairman Doug Preisse said the uphill battle was too steep, though.

"We live in a Democratic city," he said. "It's not our grandfather's Columbus, if you will."

When you have a county GOP chairperson declare that Columbus is a "Democratic city" that makes you wonder what is ahead for next year's election for Ohio's 15th congressional district.

Just a few things...

> Democrats responded to the need for poll workers for Franklin County election sites. You almost wonder why Republican Damschroder did not publicize that there was a shortage of Democratic poll workers until just 2 weeks before the election. Hmmmmm. It makes you wonder.

> Do you know if you GOOGLE the phrase Ohio GOP scandal you get 1,100,000 hits? If you GOOGLE Ohio Republican scandal you get 1,480,000 results. Amazing. Try it if you don't believe me.

> One hundred and twenty eight (128) Americans have died in Iraq because of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, according to ICasualties.

> Some military in Ohio have recently found out that they will deploy to Iraq for a year starting in January. For some of them, this is their 3rd deployment. Is this how the Bush administration supports the troops?

> I've decided that MSNBC's Chris Matthews has an obsessive-compulsive problem. He can't stop talking about Sen. Hillary Clinton. His talk about her is always disrespectful. Is Matthews a Hillary-hater?

Monday, November 5th

Did you see The Today Show this morning? One of the experts interviewed by Matt Laurer about global warming was someone from The Ohio State University.

> I'm certainly no expert on how much CEO's from corporations get paid. However, I don't think that these CEO's, COO's, and CFO's should get paid an obscene amount of money if their corporation loses money. They need to have merit pay. If the corporation does well, they get a bonus. If the corporation loses money, they get nothing. Corporations should pay their head honcho a low base salary and bonuses would be given if goals are met.

> Looks like Republican Sen. John McCain, a former POW and decorated veteran, is upset about Rudy Giuliani's pro-torture stance.
Boston Globe:
“When someone says waterboarding is similar to harsh interrogation techniques used against the mafia in New York City, they do not have enough experience to lead our military,” McCain said Sunday night at a town-hall meeting here....
....On Friday, McCain, a former POW, criticized pro-torture opponents who “chose to do other things when this nation was fighting its wars.”

> Judge Amy Salerno and David Tyack will not get my vote for judge. Salerno and Tyack are both Republicans. (The GOP found the one Republican named 'Tyack' who was actually a Republican.) Salerno was trying to get publicity when she yelled at Antonio Henton in her court. I thought a person was innocent until proven guilty??? (See the Dispatch story.) Also, I've seen Salerno in public yelling and screaming at a receptionist. How come Salerno only has been endorsed by one FOP branch?

> Honolulu Star Bulletin has an article about the problems our vets are having:
....Angry outbursts. Nightmares. Thousand-mile stares. Memory lapses. Disintegrating marriages. The "invisible wounds" of war are cropping up in this newest generation of veterans, sometimes long after they come home. Left untreated, they can spiral into despair.

"For too many veterans, returning home from battle will not bring an end to conflict," said U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. "The war will follow them in their hearts and minds."

Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan exposed American troops to a constant threat of explosions from an elusive enemy. The impact of the blasts reaches beyond the horror of the immediate carnage. The trauma lingers in unseen brain injuries and damage to psyches that might not show up for months or years.....

Bush's wars without end have made lasting injuries to our men and women in uniform.

> Have you seen the cool ad by the Center for American Progress?

In Defense Of Hillary Clinton

I never thought that I'd quote Ronald Reagan! Reagan said that there was an 11th commandment: Another Republican must not attack another Republican.

The Democratic candidates for president must follow that as well. There is no need to harass and attack Senator Hillary Clinton. Our country is in its present mess because of the policies of President George W. Bush and the Republican rubber-stamp leadership.

Senator Clinton faced some tough questions last night at the Philadelphia debate and not all of them were from the moderators. However, I believe that Senator Clinton is one tough lady. She has endured and survived the Republican attacks during Bill Clinton's presidency. She survived so much but she always comes back stronger and willing to take on the issues that others ignore.

After the debate, I was reminded of the 'He-Man Woman Haters Club' from the Little Rascals. This is not the way fellow Democrats should be treating each other.

(pic from 4alfalfa.com)


As a woman, a wife, a mother, and a Democrat, I'd like to say this to all the male candidates and male reporters----

"BACK OFF!"

Mr. Bush Is Unhappy

Back when Republicans had the majority in the House and the Senate, President Bush got everything he wanted. The Republicans did all they could to satisfy Mr. Bush's legislative wishes. Now, however, Bush is very unhappy with the Democratic majority and is speaking out.
New York Times:
President Bush went on the offensive today to salvage the nomination of Michael B. Mukasey to be attorney general, declaring that Mr. Mukasey is being treated unfairly by some senators and that his service is urgently needed while the nation is “at war.”
.....It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for Mr. Bush to usher a small group of journalists into the Oval Office. The venue, plus the intensity of the president’s words, gave a strong signal that Mr. Bush thinks the nomination of Mr. Mukasey, once seen as a sure thing, is in trouble over his responses to questions about what constitutes illegal torture. A crucial Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination is set for Tuesday....

Why does it seem that Bush is throwing a tantrum like a spoiled child? Will he go ahead and appoint Mukasey during a recess if he is not approved by the Senate? It is good that the Democrats in the House and the Senate are questioning Mukasey and providing oversight. Even though Mr. Bush doesn't seem to like it, we still have three equal branches of the federal government.

Facts and Figures

> Does Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani just make up stuff as he goes along?

According to the New York Times, Giuliani has gotten statistics about prostate cancer confused. Here is an excerpt from the New York Times:
“I had prostate cancer five, six years ago,” Mr. Giuliani, a Republican presidential candidate, said in a speech that has been turned into the radio commercial. “My chance of surviving prostate cancer — and, thank God, I was cured of it — in the United States? Eighty-two percent. My chance of surviving prostate cancer in England? Only 44 percent under socialized medicine.”
.....The Office for National Statistics in Britain says the five-year survival rate from prostate cancer there is 74.4 percent. And doctors also say it is unfair to compare prostate cancer statistics in Britain with those in the United States because in the United States the cancer is more likely to be diagnosed in its early stages.....

> I was watching the Ellen Degeneres show this week when she had Sen. Obama as a guest. Ellen has had 3 presidential candidates on her show and they've all been Democrats. Republican candidates have all refused her invitation to appear. Are they afraid of Ellen?

> Karen Hughes has resigned again from the State Department. Thank goodness.

> There are more allegations about Blackwater. MSNBC:
Federal agents are investigating allegations that the Blackwater USA security firm illegally exported dozens of firearms sound suppressors — commonly known as silencers — to Iraq and other countries for use by company operatives, sources close to the investigation tell NBC News.

Investigators from various federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the State Department and the Commerce Department, are digging into the allegations that the company exported the silencers without getting necessary export approval, according to law enforcement sources, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity. The sources said the investigation is part of a broader examination of potential firearms and export violations.....

How is it that Blackwater has been allowed to operate with such recklessness?

My two cents...

* From the Democratic Debate:
Senator Joe Biden had the best statement (The Caucus at The New York Times):

Biden on Giuliani | 10:03 p.m. Mr. Biden rises above all this and says he’s not running against Hillary Clinton and turns on …. Rudy Giuliani! As he did in the last Democratic debate, Mr. Biden says Mr. Giuliani is “the most uninformed person” on American foreign policy, adding that all of Mr. Giuliani’s sentences, he says, consist of “a noun, a verb and 9/11.”

Thanks, Sen. Biden. You are correct!

This quote published in the Guardian is also true:
When it comes to one-sentence takedowns of pompous politicians, columnist Jimmy Breslin's famous description of Rudy Giuliani is perfect: "A small man in search of a balcony."

* Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wants to protect our children through the Consumer Product Safety Commission by expanding the agency. However, it appears that the Chairwoman of the Commission wants to continue to protect manufacturers instead of our kids. The Swamp:
.....A week after acting Chairwoman Nancy Nord told a Senate committee that a Democratic proposal to expand her agency "could have the unintended consequence of hampering, rather than furthering, consumer product safety," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called today for her resignation.

"Any commission chair who does not, in the face of the facts that are so clear, say we don’t need any more authority or any more resources to do our job, does not understand the gravity of the situation," Pelosi said....

Nord works for the American people, not for the manufacturers. She should gladly welcome any help she could get to expand the testing of toys. Is Nord just adhering to the Republican strategy of protecting big business instead of consumers?

*** There was a story on Countdown with Keith Olbermann that showed how Bill O'Reilly sent two of his thugs to bother Rosie O'Donnell at a book signing in New York City. Security had to remove the O'Reilly disciples who were harassing Rosie. Miss O'Donnell should have looked into the camera and said, "Bill, how is Andrea Makris doing?" It is inappropriate for O'Reilly to send his pointy-headed, ignorant thugs to intimidate any citizen.