Stunning Revelations

There are times when a story in the news just shock the heck out of you. Here is information that may just surprise you:

1. Republican Sen. Sam Brownback once 'hated' the Clintons.
Huffington Post:
Sam Brownback says he harbored a "hatred" of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton until he experienced a religious awakening in the mid-1990s.

Brownback, a Republican presidential hopeful, details in a new book how the change in outlook led him to make a stunning apology to Hillary Clinton a few years later during a Senate prayer breakfast....

....But Brownback says he realized there is never justification for hating someone regardless of their actions.

He told the prayer breakfast audience that he used to have a "hatred for Bill and Hillary" because of their politics. He spotted Sen. Clinton in the crowd and, speaking directly to her, said he "realized that those thoughts of hatred were wrong. I apologized to her for them. I don't know what she thought, but I believe it made a difference."

This might be the problem with many Republicans. How can they profess to be religious but at the same time foster hatred toward a person or group? Don't many of them say that they 'hate the sin but love the sinner'? Besides, what did the Clintons do that made Brownback hate them????

2) Who loves animals more---Democrats or Republicans? After watching MSNBC's Countdown last night, I would conclude that Democrats like animals more. Keith Olbermann reported the story of Mitt Romney and his Irish Setter. Time Magazine has more details:

The incident: dog excrement found on the roof and windows of the Romney station wagon. How it got there: Romney strapped a dog carrier — with the family dog Seamus, an Irish Setter, in it — to the roof of the family station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario, which the family apparently completed, despite Seamus's rather visceral protest....
....Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was less circumspect. PETA does not have a position on Romney's candidacy per se, but Newkirk called the incident "a lesson in cruelty that was ... wrong for [his children] to witness...Thinking of the wind, the weather, the speed, the vulnerability, the isolation on the roof, it is commonsense that any dog who's under extreme stress might show that stress by losing control of his bowels: that alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured." Romney, of course, has expressed support for the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques when it comes to terrorists; his campaign refused to comment about the treatment of his dog.....

Romney's treatment of his family pet was horrible. We own two small dogs. When we've traveled in the past, we treated them with love and respect because they are members of our family.

3. This story was posted at ICasualties:
Originally published at the Houston Chronicle:

Four women who worked for Houston-based Halliburton Co.'s former subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root have filed federal lawsuits against the companies, claiming they endured sexual harassment and, in two cases rape, while working in Iraq.

Attorneys say their clients encountered a sexually-charged atmosphere where women were repeatedly demeaned and solicited for sex despite reporting harassment to supervisors.

The lawyers for women in the alleged rape cases say they are turning to the civil courts in part because they haven't been able to determine whether federal authorities are pursuing criminal prosecutions.....

These women made sacrifices to work away from their families and then they were subjected to sexual harassment and rape? This is horrible. Who'd want to work for any of these companies after reading this?

Stories from Everywhere

+ Republican Sen. John McCain said he is not going to quit his presidential campaign. Yahoo News has the story.

+ The Smart Car road tour will be coming to Columbus, Ohio in about 3 weeks. I will be taking my test drive!!! Here are some FAQ's from Smart USA.

+ Ouch! It appears that the staff from The Wall Street Journal is not happy about Rupert Murdoch being a prospective owner of their publication (Poynter Online)

+ A recent court ruling makes you wonder if the government will take their half of a house with a chain saw in hand: (Breitbart)

A woman who claimed she was unaware that her husband was growing pot in the basement will get to keep her half of their house, while the government can seize her husband's share, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in a ruling Wednesday that Harold Von Hofe must forfeit his interest in the home to the federal government. However, his wife, Kathleen, does not have to because she wasn't actively involved in her husband's marijuana cultivation.....

+ Bruce Fein thinks that Cheney should be impeached. Raw Story: Bruce Fein, who served as the Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan, in a scathing editorial today called for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney.

"Cheney has dulled political accountability and concocted theories for evading the law and Constitution that would have embarrassed King George III," he writes.....

Interesting.

More Questions Than Answers

*** Rudy Giuliani said he could not become a priest because he couldn't keep a "vow of celibacy," according to Raw Story.

*** Why do people still have their Bush/Cheney bumper stickers on their cars? Do they want us to be reminded about how stupid they are?

*** What is VP Dick Cheney keeping in those walk-in safes in his office?

*** Why does Rudy Giuliani have a raging hatred of ferrets?

*** Just thinking about Ann Coulter makes me want to puke.

*** The IPhone looks terrific. However, I don't want to give up my Verizon account just yet. Hopefully, the price and availability of the IPhone will change in the future.

*** Wouldn't you like to know the amount of profit that oil companies make on each gallon of gasoline?

Winners and Losers

* Did you happen to catch Elizabeth Edwards' phone call to right winger, Ann Coulter, on Hardball yesterday? Mrs. Edwards is one gutsy lady and I admire her politics and her take on Coulter. Raw Story has the video here. Mrs. Edwards is the winner in this battle.

* The latest CNN/Opinion Research poll shows that the administration is losing supporters for its Iraq war policies. Here are some highlights from the poll:
.....the public is already making an assessment, and it's not good. In the latest CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll released Tuesday, 69 percent of those polled believe things are going badly in Iraq. Seventeen percent think the situation is improving.
Thirty percent of Americans polled say they favor the war, the lowest level of support on record. Two-thirds are opposed.
Anti-war sentiment among Republican poll respondents has suddenly increased with 38 percent of Republicans now saying they oppose the war.
Moreover, 63 percent of Americans are ready to withdraw at least some troops from Iraq. Forty-two percent of Republicans agree......

Doesn't it make you wonder who the heck those Republicans are that still support Bush's Iraq war?????

* In the recent revelations that Dick Cheney thinks he is not part of the Executive Branch of government, the American people are the real losers here. What has Cheney done that we will never know about? As Jon Stewart mentioned last night on The Daily Show, why does Cheney need those huge safes in his office???

* According to the New York Times, young people like Democrats and Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. Here are some excerpts from the NYT article:
....the poll found that substantially more Americans between the ages of 17 and 29 than four years ago are paying attention to the presidential race. But they appeared to be really familiar with only two of the candidates, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both Democrats.

They have continued a long-term drift away from the Republican Party, and although they are just as worried as the general population about the outlook for the country and think their generation is likely to be worse off than that of their parents, they retain a belief that their votes can make a difference, the poll found.

More than half of Americans between 17 and 29 years old — 54 percent — say they intend to vote for a Democrat for president in 2008. They share with the public at large a negative view of President Bush, who has a 28 percent approval rating with this group, and of the Republican Party. They hold a markedly more positive view of Democrats than they do of Republicans.....

Looks like the Dems are winning the hearts, minds, and votes of young Americans. Now we just have to get them to the polls!

Just What I Don't Need!!!!

Here at our household, we must get more mail than anyone else in our neighborhood. We have enough labels from charities to fill hundreds of envelopes. (In case you are interested.....The sticky labels don't do well in shredders.) Every so often, something in the mail surprises even me. Yesterday, we got a campaign solicitation letter from Mitt Romney.

Now, Mr. Romney seems like a pleasant person, but I do not want him as President of the U.S. The letter from Romney said that he would bring a "new conservative revolution." This is just what I don't need in a new administration.

Can we as a nation afford another Republican in the White House? Who knows what things have been done by Bush and Cheney? They've poured money into Iraq and into the hands of their friends like oil companies and Halliburton. The Supreme Court is packed with righties and individual rights come second to the rights of corporations. Under a future Republican administration, the war in Iraq could go on for decades.

Here is a little summary of how I view the GOP's presidential candidates--

McCain -- He would like to bomb Iraq. (Don't you want a bigger war in the MidEast?)

Giuliani -- Rudy fashions himself as the 9/11 tough guy. However, he never attended a meeting when he was part of the Iraq Study Group. He has never been to Iraq. As mayor of New York, he had not provided enough respirators and proper radio equipment to NYC's first responders (NYPD & NYFD). He has no respect for women and mothers. (His three marriages, two divorces, and very public adultery have convinced me of this.)

Tancredo and Tommy Thompson and Hunter--- Don't bother.

Fred Thompson-- The Republicans, and Chris Matthews of MSNBC, love him. However, Thompson has not gone on record with his beliefs. He has avoided questioning by the real press. The following quote by singer Lorrie Morgan doesn't impress me (News Max): "I think he has a great chance of capturing the women's vote. He's majestic. He's a soft, safe place to be and that could be Fred's ticket. Women love a soft place to lay and a strong pair of hands to hold us...."

Apparently, Miss Morgan and the rest of Thompson's former girlfriends need someone like him. However, the rest of us are not looking for a character for a romance novel. (If we were, it wouldn't be Fred. Trust me.) Women in this country are looking for a President who will bring us better pay, better health care, an end to the war, funding for education, and a better life for our families, and peace. If 'The Fred Thompson Ex-Girlfriend/Ex-Wife Club' wants to promote their former man, that is their business. In my humble opinion, most women are not interested in his brand of leadership.

Update! I just read this Reuters article about how Germany will ban Tom Cruise from filming at certain locations in their country. Here is an excerpt:

Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.

Cruise, also one of the film's producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognize as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject.

The U.S. actor has been cast as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the Nazi dictator in July 1944 with a bomb hidden in a briefcase.....

I wonder if they'll work this out. I have visited the site of von Stauffenberg's office, the courtyard where he was executed, and the location where many conspirators where executed. Germany holds many of these historical military locations as precious because they help them prove that there was some resistance to Hitler and the Nazis. After Claus von Stauffenberg was executed, his children were removed from the home. There are still some of his relatives alive today and you almost wonder what they think of this Tom Cruise controversy about their family member. I also question why Cruise would choose to portray someone like von Stauffenberg. Is Cruise trying to gain popularity by starring in a movie about a real hero of World War II? What are Cruise's motives?

Notes and Questions for Monday Morning

---I tried to re-do the design of this blog and it ended up this way.

---I do not understand why any man would kill the mother of his child and the unborn child. What moves someone to do such an unspeakable thing? The Toledo Blade has an article about the deaths of Jesse Davis and her unborn child.

---Why does Dick Cheney think he can do whatever he wants instead of following the Constitution and the laws of the land? How many years will it take to undo what he has done? How many things had he done that we'll never know about? Kevin Drum has his take on Cheney at CBS.

---We saw Evan Almighty yesterday. We thought it was a funny, pleasant movie. The cast is made up of some of the funniest characters around.

---Local channel, WBNS-TV, Channel 10, was picked as having the best news broadcast in the nation. Wow!

A Variety of Statistics

According to ICasualties, 152 Ohioans have been killed in Iraq.

Dublin, Ohio, known for its golf courses, got a little publicity for the first NHL player to be drafted from Dublin. Our Sports Central reports--- ....A Dublin, Ohio, native, Vogelhuber, who has committed to the University of Miami-Ohio for the 2008-09 season, scored 10 goals for 26 points in 31 regular-season games with St. Louis in 2006-07....

"0" The number zero represents the amount of times Rudy Giuliani has visited Iraq and the number of meetings he attended when he was a member of the Iraq Commission.

10,000 Chicago Tribune: ......More than 10,000 members of the United Church of Christ rose to their feet in a hockey arena here on Saturday to applaud one of their own who happens to be a Democratic presidential candidate--Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)....

Snippets of Good Stuff

The Dispatch has a great article about a baseball league for 3 to 5 year olds.

>>Wouldn't you like to have a great boss like this??
MSNBC-- When doctors told Lisa White she needed a kidney transplant to stay alive, she never expected her boss to sign up as a donor.

Chris Jernigan, the director of Southmountain Children and Family Services in Nebo, said he had watched White, his friend and colleague of more than 11 years, struggle to come into work.

The decision to donate a kidney to his office assistant was easy, he said. The surgery went well, and White was back at work Wednesday......

>The baby orangutan that lost its own mother, will get a mother at last in Atlanta, according to WANE TV.

Republican Candidates Support An Unending War in Iraq

The major Republican presidential candidates all support continuing Bush's war in Iraq. They want to let the war go on F-O-R-E-V-E-R. They all support the surge and some of them even would like to add more troop to those fighting in Iraq.

IF (I know the IF is a big one), a Republican is elected president, what will that to Americans?

-According to ICasualties, 3 to 4 Americans are killed every single day in Iraq. With another Republican in the White House who supports continuing the Iraq war, that means that at least an additional 1,095 to 1,460/year would die in Iraq. Over a period of 4 years, it would be approximately 4,000 to over 5,000 more Americans would perish in a Republican war in Iraq. Do we want more Americans to die in Iraq? No. Do any of these Republican candidates even have a strategy for getting out of Iraq? No. I think Americans will reject any candidate who wants to continue to wage war in Iraq.

Someone Needs to Do Something

* Why hasn't the Republican-controlled state legislature in Ohio worked on the school funding issue? Their lack of interest in fixing school funding continues to hurt all of Ohio. We must put the blame squarely on the Ohio GOP for the problems that Ohio schools continue to face: levy failures, poor graduation rates, unequal funding throughout the state, teacher shortages, inadequate school facilities, etc., etc. The Ohio Republicans would rather do things to garner media attention instead of working on real issues.

* Chris Matthews is a real pain in the neck. He continues to deride Sen. Hillary Clinton, while he plays cheerleader for Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. How can Matthews claim to be impartial? I'd like to suggest that he go and work for Fox News, which is like the PR department for the Republican Party.

* Here we go again! This administration just can't take responsibility for anything they've done. They just blame former President Bill Clinton. Raw Story found this:
When asked Monday whether officials in the Bush White House had destroyed presidential records by failing to archive e-mails sent over Republican National Committee accounts, Press Secretary Tony Snow said that the current administration's preservation efforts were no different from those used by the administration of Bill Clinton. However, the Democratic National Committee begged to differ.

"That's simply untrue," Stacie Paxton, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, told RAW STORY in a Tuesday phone call. "Clinton White House officials did not have DNC e-mail accounts."

Paxton was contradicting Tony Snow's remarks in his Monday press conference.....

* Bush vetoed the stem cell bill again! LA Times:

President Bush on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have allowed the use of federal funds to support embryonic stem cell research, the second consecutive year he has blocked such a bill.

Proponents say embryonic stem cells — which can turn into cells for many different kinds of human tissue — offer the best chance of treating or curing many debilitating or fatal diseases....

******I look forward to intelligent leadership for this country. Remember the days when the President could speak in complete, intelligent sentences? Do you remember the days when the President could speak without using index cards and a prepared text? Do you remember when our country was respected in the world? Do you remember when people were working and our country was prospering (instead of just the Halliburtons and oil companies)???? Those were the good old days.

Negatives for Republicans

**The Republicans seem to be leaving their party in droves. With NYC's Mayor Bloomberg declaring himself an Independent, it makes you wonder how many others, less visible, have also decided to leave Bush's party.

Editor and Publisher:
A new Gallup Poll will only reinforce those who claim that while the rich get richer most Americans don't feel they are sharing in the growth in our economy. The stock market may be climbing and the unemployment remains relatively low, but 7 in 10 Americans believe the economy is getting worse -- the most negative reading in nearly six years.

Only one in three Americans rate the economy today as either excellent or good, while the percentage saying the economy is getting better fell from 28% to 23% in one month.....

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the economy is bad. With gasoline prices high, food and other materials have gone up in price. People have to pay more but their incomes have not increased. Blame it on the Bush administration.

What is really happening????

This administration has demonstrated its inability to find Osama bin Laden (remember him?). Why? This administration took weapons, troops, and materials from Afghanistan and diverted them to Iraq. Now bad things are developing in Afghanistan---
CBS News
Taliban militants overran a district in southern Afghanistan and are pushing for control of another key area, sparking fierce clashes with NATO and Afghan forces that have left more than 100 people dead over three days, officials said Tuesday.

Hundreds of Taliban fighters launched raids on police posts near the strategic town of Chora in Uruzgan province Saturday, forcing NATO, backed by fighter jets, to respond. Fighting was continuing Tuesday, and some officials reported there have been dozens of civilian casualties.....

What a mess!!!!

Meanwhile, in Iraq--
Yahoo News:
The U.S. military deployed 10,000 soldiers backed by attack helicopters in an offensive against al Qaeda north of Baghdad on Tuesday, in one of the biggest operations since the invasion of Iraq in 2003....

What would have happened if those 10,000 soldiers had been sent to Afghanistan? We will never know. In the meantime, any high-ranking military brass that disagrees with Bush's military plans, is forced to retire or is fired. It appears that the Pentagon has lost many very experienced military officers because they did not agree with Bush and his buddies, the neo-cons, and views of how to wage war.

News Morsels

USA Today:
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has regained a double-digit lead over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll two weeks after the survey found the Democratic presidential rivals essentially tied.

Men have made a real mess in Washington, DC. A woman running the country could bring peace and common sense back to the nation.

>If you are old enough, you remember 8-track tapes, cassettes, and getting up from your seat to change the channel on your TV. Now there is change coming again to home electronics and I'm still unsure how to program a VCR!

AP/Breitbart:
Blockbuster Inc. will rent high-definition DVDs only in the Blu-ray format in 1,450 stores when it expands its high-def offerings next month, dealing a major blow to the rival HD DVD format.

The move, being announced Monday, could be the first step in resolving a format war that has kept confused consumers from rushing to buy new DVD players until they can determine which format will dominate the market....

Excuse my ignorance but what is a Blu-Ray???????

>>>>There is a big lawsuit going on right now and a decision will be made this week. A Korean singer/actor/dancer named Ji-Hoon Jung is being sued by a group of old men who sing Beatles' music and dress up like The Beatles. Ji-Hoon Jung (aka as Jung Ji-Hoon in Korea) uses the stage name "Bi" (pronounced "bee" which means "rain" in Korean) and has sold records all over Asia. However, the old guys who dress up like the Beatles are suing the Korean Rain for using their name. How can anyone be confused???? Rain: The Beatles Experience looks like this.

Ji-Hoon Jung, the Korean "Rain" dances like this and looks like this.

Bush's War

I found this at ICasualties:

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:	3517
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:	4
Total	3521

...and the following news story from ABC NEWS:

The US commander in Iraq says American troops could be needed in the country for a decade to battle insurgents.

General David Petraeus has told Fox News there is broad recognition that Iraq's daunting challenges will not be resolved "in a year or even two years".

"In fact, typically, I think historically, counter-insurgency operations have gone at least nine or 10 years," he said.....

How many more will have to die for Bush's war?

****Is this the way the Bush administration supports the troops?

Washington Post:

Army Spec. Jeans Cruz helped capture Saddam Hussein. When he came home to the Bronx, important people called him a war hero and promised to help him start a new life. The mayor of New York, officials of his parents' home town in Puerto Rico, the borough president and other local dignitaries honored him with plaques and silk parade sashes. They handed him their business cards and urged him to phone.

But a "black shadow" had followed Cruz home from Iraq, he confided to an Army counselor. He was hounded by recurring images of how war really was for him: not the triumphant scene of Hussein in handcuffs, but visions of dead Iraqi children....

...At a low point, he went to the local Department of Veterans Affairs medical center for help. One VA psychologist diagnosed Cruz with post-traumatic stress disorder. His condition was labeled "severe and chronic." In a letter supporting his request for PTSD-related disability pay, the psychologist wrote that Cruz was "in need of major help" and that he had provided "more than enough evidence" to back up his PTSD claim. His combat experiences, the letter said, "have been well documented."

None of that seemed to matter when his case reached VA disability evaluators. They turned him down flat, ruling that he deserved no compensation because his psychological problems existed before he joined the Army. They also said that Cruz had not proved he was ever in combat. "The available evidence is insufficient to confirm that you actually engaged in combat," his rejection letter stated.....

I heard some statistic on the news that said that 40% of the military are returning from Iraq with psychological problems. Although this administration wants to continue to use the bodies of our service members, they are unwilling to help them when they return with serious mental problems. Now Bush and his possible Republican successors want to continue the war???? How will they pay for this? Why is this necessary? Will your son or daughter be next?

Any Questions?

Have you seen the campaign video from Giuliani's 1993 mayoral campaign? See it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0xKoSN6BR8 (Do you think that ex-wife Donna Hannover still thinks Giuliani is honest and full of integrity????)

The Rundown

-Jon Stewart made the point that several months ago Tony Snow said that the firing of the U.S. Attorneys was based on performance. However, on June 13th, Tony Snow said that he never said the firings were based on performance.

-Have you seen the slides from the Creationist Museum? Pictures are available here. The one picture that is incredible is the one that shows their belief that human beings could ride on dinosaurs.

-NYPD has quite a choice of sirens available on their police cars, according to the New York Times. You can hear the various sirens here. (Warning: They are quite loud!!!)

-I don't bake a lot of cookies, but there is a site that has great cookie recipes. CookieMadness has yummy recipes and yummy pictures.

-AHN has this from Rudy Giuliani:

Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani said he would consider increasing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq if the leader of military operations there requested more boots on the ground.

"If he said the strategy was working, and we needed more soldiers to make it work,'' Giuliani said in an interview today, "of course I'd look at that and consider that.''

Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, told Bloomberg News that he knew such a decision would be unpopular....

He'd increase the number of troops in Iraq???? Where the hell would he get the troops since the military is already stretched to the breaking point? Would he institute a draft to keep fighting Bush's war in Iraq? Just asking.

Numbers

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll has some ugly numbers:
29-
As President Bush attempts to revive the controversial immigration reform bill he supports, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that Republicans are abandoning the president, which has dropped his job-approval rating below 30 percent -- his lowest mark ever in the survey.

But he isn’t the only one whose support is on the decline in the poll. Congress’ approval rating has plummeted eight points, bringing it below even Bush’s. And just one in five believe the country is on the right track, which is the lowest number on this question in nearly 15 years.....

.....In the poll, Bush’s approval rating is at just 29 percent. It’s a drop of six points since April, and it represents his lowest mark ever on this question in the NBC/Journal poll....

How low can it go? Even though Bush says he doesn't pay attention to polls, it still has to be something staggering to know that you aren't as popular as you once were.

Americans have a clear choice at the next general election. We can vote to keep our troops in Iraq f-o-r-e-v-e-r by electing a Republicans who have all promised to keep our troops in Iraq for many more years, or we can vote for a Democratic President and Congress and get our troops home. In recent Supreme Court rulings, the Supreme Court has clearly sided with big business and the right wing agenda. A Democratic President would appoint judges to the Supreme Court who would protect workers' rights and the civil rights of all Americans.

2-
Congress has sent something to Harriet Miers and and Sara Taylor.
Denver Post:
Congress issued subpoenas Wednesday for former presidential counsel Harriet Miers and political director Sara Taylor, reaching directly inside the White House for the first time in the probe of the firings of federal prosecutors....

How long will the White House stall? 586 days?

586
According to The Official "W"oeful Days Countdown, there are 586 days left until January 20, 2009, when this President can vacate the White House.

Praying for the Cavs

*While the media has been covering every detail of Paris Hilton's imprisonment, Bush's war in Iraq continues.
ICasualties:

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:	3509
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:	4
Total	3513

***If you are a "baby boomer" you certainly will remember TV's Mr. Wizard. Don Herbert, Mr. Wizard, has passed away.
NPR:
Television's "Mr. Wizard," Don Herbert, who taught generations of children about science, died at his Southern California home Tuesday. He was 89.

From 1951 through 1964, Watch Mr. Wizard delighted young viewers with the joys of science on a set built like a simple workshop...

***Is Fred Thompson the "anointed one" for Republican conservatives? Raw Story has uncovered some recent additions to Thompson's campaign (even though he is not a declared candidate).
Raw Story:
FRED THOMPSON IS adding more big-name policy talent as his testing-the-waters committee continues to grow into a real presidential campaign. Among the new additions: Mark Esper, national security adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist; Joel Shin, a top policy staffer on Bush-Cheney 2000; and Elizabeth Cheney, a former top official in the State Department's Near East and South Asia department....

***All over Ohio, people are probably offering prayers for LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Columbus Dispatch:
...The Spurs took a 3-0 series lead in a game that tied for the second lowest-scoring in Finals history. Cavaliers forward LeBron James had a chance to tie the score but missed a fadeaway three-pointer as time expired. He wanted a foul call on Bruce Bowen, but it didn't come....
....Cleveland will try to avoid a sweep Thursday in Game 4, but no team has ever won a championship series after losing its first three games.
"Everybody has to still believe," James said. "You know, it's the first to four games but we dug ourselves a big hole now. … We can't live on history."
James had 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but it wasn't enough. Sasha Pavlovic and Drew Gooden scored 13 apiece....

One of my kids is going to the Cavs game in Cleveland on Thursday. I may give her a rosary to carry with her to the game.

*****Oh, my. On the Today Show they are discussing a new diet pill. Some of the side effects include loose stools and oily discharge if the dieter eats high fat foods while on the diet medication. That should be enough to keep a dieter away from fatty foods!

Cause for Concern

**According to ICasualties, American military personnel from Ohio have been killed in Iraq:

06/11/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty

Sgt. Cory M. Endlich, 23, of Massillon, Ohio, died June 9 in Taji, Iraq, of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division...Fort Lewis, Wash.

06/11/07 DoD Identifies Air Force Casualty

Airman 1st Class Eric M. Barnes, 20, of Lorain, Ohio, died June 9 as result of an improvised explosive device attack on an Air Force convoy about 100 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq. He was assigned to the 90th Logistics Readiness Squadron...

****Want to read something interesting? The following is from the Ohio GOP website:
Stark County GOP on Democrat John Boccieri announcement to run for Congress in 16th District

Monday, June 11, 2007

John Boccieri wants to do for the 16th Congressional District what he’s done for the Mahoning Valley. Boccieri is from the Youngstown area. Boccieri talked about the needs of the 16th Congressional District, but being from the Youngstown area he has no firsthand knowledge whatsoever of the needs of North Canton, Canton, Massillon, and the other areas he now wants to represent. Youngstown and Mahoning County are in horrendous shape, with unemployment at 6.4%, Boccieri has displayed his inability to solve those problems.

Stark County Republican Party Chairman Curt Braden said “The Democrats are so desperate for this seat that they have brought in a carpetbagger. The 16th District has an experienced, dedicated Congressman in Ralph Regula.....

I thought the Republican attack on Boccieri was hilarious. The Ohio Republicans don't want you to know that Republican Rep. Paul Gillmor (OH-5) doesn't live in his district. Even though Gillmor claims he resides in Old Fort, Ohio, Gillmor's son lives at the Old Fort residence. According the the Buckeye State Blog:

...From yesterday's Toledo Blade, we learned the Gilmor's have bought a new home . . . near Columbus. . . hundreds of miles away from the district in a transaction involving lobbying company and campaign contributor.

But you wouldn't know Gilmor bought from the Union County Recorder's Office.

Mortgage and sales documents kept by the county recorder show the owner to be a subsidiary of a prominent law firm, lobbyist, and campaign contributor to Mr. Gillmor.

. . .In 1996, the Gillmors bought a four-bedroom, 3,571 square-foot house in Dublin for $364,900, according to the Franklin County auditor.

They sold that house for $460,000 March 27 . . . Only four days earlier, Mr. Gillmor satisfied a $966,900 adjustable rate mortgage on a Dublin property in Union County titled to the Zenith Holding and Trading Corp. since 2004. Mr. Gillmor's name appears nowhere on the mortgage release....

...In the disclosure Mr. Gillmor filed last year, there is no mention of Zenith Holding or a house under construction at a golf course.

And what does Congressman Gillmor have to say about this entire transaction?

"There's nothing unethical or unusual," Mr. Gillmor said. "It's all pretty much above-board." (Emphasis added.)

AND...

Here is the Toledo Blade article mentioned by the Buckeye State Blog-----

...This new home, all three stories and four garages, also is in Dublin, but it lies along an Arnold Palmer golf course. This is clearly a case of movin’ on up for the congressman and his wife, Karen, who serves on the State Employee Relations Board, and their three sons.

We have no objection to upward mobility — Mr. Gillmor’s personal wealth has increased to somewhere between $2.6 million and $27.8 million — but a congressman who lives outside his district is breaking faith with the people who elected him....

The concluding paragraph from the Toledo Blade---

....In that context, his attitude suggests that of a royalist French duke who prefers Paris: “I’ll be happy to serve the 5th District, just don’t expect me to live among the serfs.”

Why is it okay for Gillmor to live outside his district?

**I just saw this post over at Crooks and Liars. Apparently, extreme right winger, Jonah Goldberg, wants to do away with public schools. Here is the post by Steve Benen---

Jonah Goldberg offers a new talking point for the GOP: close public schools.

Here’s a good question for you: Why have public schools at all?

OK, cue the marching music. We need public schools because blah blah blah and yada yada yada. We could say blah is common culture and yada is the government’s interest in promoting the general welfare. Or that children are the future. And a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Because we can’t leave any child behind.

The problem with all these bromides is that they leave out the simple fact that one of the surest ways to leave a kid “behind” is to hand him over to the government. Americans want universal education, just as they want universally safe food. But nobody believes that the government should run 90% of the restaurants, farms and supermarkets. Why should it run 90% of the schools — particularly when it gets terrible results?

Let’s do all we can to share Goldberg’s words of wisdom to American families from coast to coast — the right wants to shut down your local public school and privatize education. That ought to go over well.

Obviously, the right wingers like Goldberg and Republicans are so accustomed to their privileged, private club, fine dining, private school lifestyle, that they have no connection with real life and death issues. Isn't Jonah within the age to serve in the military??????

Monday, Monday

*I'm still puzzled by the final episode of The Sopranos. Is this just a trick to get a movie out of this?

--Has Senator Joe Lieberman lost his mind? I'm just asking because I'm seriously worried that someone might actually listen to President Bush's best friend, Joe Lieberman. Think Progress:

This morning on CBS’s Face the Nation, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) strongly advocated preparing for a strike against Iran.

“I think we have to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq,” Lieberman said. Host Bob Schieffer followed-up: “Let’s just stop right there. Because I think you probably made some news here, Senator Lieberman. You’re saying that if the Iranians don’t let up, that the United States should take military action?” “I am,” Lieberman responded.

Lieberman added that “if there’s any hope” of stopping Iran’s nuclear program, “we can’t just talk to them. … We’ve got to use our force and to me that would include taking military action.”

By the way, Think Progress has the video.

--The New York Times revealed that there are many children in Albania with American sounding names:
...Thousands of young Albanians have been named Bill or Hillary thanks to the Clinton administration’s role in rescuing ethnic Albanians from the Kosovo war. After the visit on Sunday, some people expect to see a rash of babies named George.

So eager is the country to accommodate Mr. Bush that Parliament unanimously approved a bill last month allowing “American forces to engage in any kind of operation, including the use of force, in order to provide security for the president.” One newspaper, reporting on the effusive mood, published a headline that read, “Please Occupy Us!”

Oh, my!

Friday's Questions

***Stomach flu????
New York Times:
President Bush became ill with a mild stomach ailment Friday morning, forcing him to skip some working sessions and the so-called “family photo” of leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies, but is now “back on schedule,” a top aide said....
.....Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president, said Mr. Bush awakened “feeling very much under the weather,” and decided to “dial it back a bit” by meeting Mr. Sarkozy in his room. The president rested until noon and then rejoined the leaders for lunch, and expects to continue on with a planned trip to Poland for dinner with that country’s president, Mr. Bartlett said....

Check out the Bush's pictures at Dependable Renegade.

**What is Bush doing to end the war in Iraq? Nothing.

*ICasualties has updated their pages on American fatalities in Iraq:

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:	3494
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:	10
Total	3504

In the first 8 days of June, 27 Americans have been killed in Iraq.

Will Libby Serve Time?

NY Times:
I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney and one of the principal architects of President Bush’s foreign policy, was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in prison for lying during a C.I.A. leak investigation that became part of a fierce debate over the war in Iraq.....

.....Judge Walton issued his sentence after intense arguments by both sides over the significance of Mr. Libby’s crimes, and after sifting through scores of letters asking for leniency that were sent to the court by notable figures, including former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Paul D. Wolfowitz, who recently resigned as president of the World Bank and who is a former professor and government supervisor of Mr. Libby. Neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Cheney were among the 150 people who wrote letters of support....

Do you think Libby will actually serve time? One way or another, I think President Bush will issue him a pardon. However, if someone else had committed the same crime, he/she would be thrown in jail for a much longer time than 30 months.

Did you get a load of who wrote letters in support of Libby.....Kissinger? Rumsfeld? Wolfowitz? What a bunch of #%*@!

I believe that there will be a special place in hell for these people who promoted an unnecessary war, caused the deaths of thousands of people, changed the lives of our military families, made money on the tragedy of war, lied to advance their political agenda, and released the name of an undercover CIA person.

Huh?

Did you read what the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party had to say?
Raw Story:
In his first interview as the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, Dennis Milligan told a reporter that America needs to be attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that President Bush has done to protect the country.

"At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001]," Milligan said to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country."

Milligan, who was elected as the new chair of the Arkansas Republican Party just two weeks ago, also told the newspaper that he is "150 percent" behind Bush in the war in Iraq.....

I always figured that there was something strange about Republicans in Arkansas. Now I know I'm correct. Do you wonder how many trips to New York City's Ground Zero this guy has made? Does he have sons/daughters/relatives/friends serving in Iraq? Milligan sounds like a first class idiot.

------Fred Thompson a flip-flopper???? CNS News:

While many Republicans view likely presidential candidate Fred Thompson as the great conservative hope of 2008, a review of Thompson's Senate voting record and past comments may change some minds. Thompson was quoted as expressing support for abortion rights in 1994 when he first ran for the Senate from Tennessee, although once in the Senate, he consistently voted pro-life. He not only voted for, but was a major booster of the campaign finance reform bill that many conservatives believe infringes on free speech. And although he has been a vocal opponent of the Senate's current immigration reform bill, he supported legislation in 1998 to help illegal immigrant farm workers temporarily stay in the U.S........

****Vice President Cheney is still lying. Think Progress:

“Addressing about 100 wide-eyed Wyoming high school students learning about government and the political process,” Vice President Cheney yesterday repeated one of the key fabrications that helped send the United States into war.

During the question and answer session, one student asked, “I was wondering — I’m not trying to start a debate, or anything, but do you still think that the Iraq war can be won?” Cheney immediately answered “yes,” adding, “I think we’re making significant progress now.”

He then launched into a justification of the war, citing the September 11 attacks. “The fact of the matter is Iraq is part of the global war on terror,” he told the students. “And you’ve got to go back and look at what happened on 9/11.” Cheney recounted the tale of the late al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the administration’s great pre-war myths:

The worst terrorist we had in Iraq was a guy named Abu Musab al Zarqawi, a Jordanian by birth; served time in a Jordanian prison as a terrorist, was let out on amnesty. … Then when we launched into Afghanistan after 9/11, he was wounded, and fled to Baghdad for medical treatment, and then set up shop in Iraq. So he operated in Jordan, he operated in Afghanistan, then he moved to Iraq.

Surprised?

-Did you catch the Sopranos? Wow! Who will be alive at the end of the final episode?

-I did not get money from a federal study, but I can tell you why violent crime has skyrocketed all over the country:
1. There are no jobs for young people. Recent college grads are having a hard time finding jobs and students looking for summer jobs are discovering that no one is hiring. However, the army is hiring!!!!
2. Police community patrol money has been significantly cut by the federal government.
3. Money for Bush's war in Iraq has taken dollars from crime-fighting agencies and all programs that benefit people, neighborhoods, schools, and job creation.
4. The war in Iraq has created a sense of hopelessness in this country.
5. Crime is up in New Orleans because the Bush administration just let it slowly destroy itself. They did nothing to help the people in New Orleans after Katrina, and they have continued to ignore its people and environment. Don't you think Bush and his administration would have responded differently if New Orleans was filled with Republican voters?

---I was at a Kroger on Sawmill Road in Dublin, Ohio, and I was surprised to see that their televisions in their cafe were turned to Fox News. I plan to call their manager (614) 923-2333 and register a complaint about their support of such a right wing political channel. If you live in the Columbus/Dublin/Worthington area, you too may wish to voice you opposition (Warning: You have to get through lots of voice prompts, but it is worth it to actually talk to a person.)

---Why is Elizabeth Hasselbeck, from The View, such an idiot? How much right wing, Republican kool-aid has she had? She is like a right wing robot spewing their talking points!!!! Yuck.

---Information has surfaced that students in Texas are cheating on their exams at very high numbers.
NBC5i:
A newspaper analysis has found that tens of thousands of students across Texas continue to cheat on the TAKS test, despite claims by the Texas Education Agency that cheating on the standardized exam is a rarity.In a story published in its Sunday editions, The Dallas Morning News said it reviewed statewide scores from 2005 and 2006 on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test, which is given in grades three through 11.The newspaper said it found evidence of cheating by more than 50,000 students, who either copied answers from others or had their answer sheets doctored by school staff. That figure represents a small percentage of all Texas students, and two-thirds of Texas schools showed no evidence of cheating.
The review showed that the suspected cheating was concentrated in the Dallas and Houston school districts -- where it was three times more common that in the state's other large urban school districts -- as well as in charter schools, which are funded with tax dollars but run by private companies or groups."What we have here in many of the schools, particularly charter schools, is rampant cheating involving many students," said David Harpp, a professor at Montreal's McGill University who studies cheating and reviewed the newspaper's analysis.....

Remember when candidate George W. Bush bragged about his "education miracle" in Texas? It was all a bunch of hogwash, just like his unfunded 'No Child Left Behind' program.

More Americans Are Dying In Iraq

I saw a video clip of the Democratic debate from New Hampshire and what I heard was that the Democrats are all for ending the war and the Republicans are in support of keeping the war going. The reality is that American military are dying at a higher rate now than ever before.

ICasualties:

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:	3476
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:	19
Total	3495

Isn't time to bring our men and women home? If Americans elect a President from the Republican Party, we'll stay in Iraq for another 10 years. Is that what you want?

Reality

Here is the headline from page 3 of the Columbus Dispatch:
Bush will bring summit a kinder, gentler agenda

Unfortunately, protests will greet Bush when he arrives in Germany for the G-8 summit. According to the Boston Globe:

Violence erupted yesterday in this port city as radicals wearing hoods and bandanas broke from a peaceful antiglobalization protest and attacked police with sticks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails ahead of this week's summit of leading industrialized nations.

Authorities said 146 police officers were injured, 25 of them seriously; 78 demonstrators were arrested or taken into temporary custody.

About 14,000 police officers lined the streets and harbor, helicopters skimmed overhead, and boats patrolled the waters in one of Germany's tightest security operations since the end of the Cold War....

This picture, taken by Michael Probst/Associated Press, was also in the Globe---

Do you remember the days when the United States and its President were loved and respected in the world community? That all changed with Bush as President.

Republican Problems Emerging

>There is an very interesting editorial from the East Texas Weekly Community Newspaper. Here are a few excerpts:

I’m trying to remember the names of all the people running for the Republican nomination for president. Let’s see…there’s Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Tommy Thompson, Ronny Paul, Huckabee Brownback, Donner, Blitzen, Grumpy, Happy, Larry, Curly and Mo.

There! Did I miss any? It’s hard keeping track of them. When they line up on stage for one of those hilarious televised debates, they look like cardboard cutouts.

But once they begin talking…it doesn’t change much. Oh, they disagree---some---mainly over who is more conservative, who loves God more and who is most like Ronald Reagan....

That pretty much sums up the Republican candidates! However, the writer did not mention that several of the GOP presidential candidates have been divorced several times. If the author of the editorial is bad-mouthing the Republicans and also resides in Texas, you know the Republicans are in big, big trouble.

>>Looks like there is a snag in the Republican money machine. Raw Story:
The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors' rebellion over President Bush's immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, Ralph Z. Hallow will report Friday in The Washington Times.
Faced with an estimated 40 percent fall-off in small-donor contributions and aging phone-bank equipment that the RNC said would cost too much to update, Anne Hathaway, the committee's chief of staff, summoned the solicitations staff last week and told them they were out of work, effective immediately, the fired staffers told The Times.
The national committee yesterday confirmed the firings that took place more than a week ago, but denied that the move was motivated by declining donor response to phone solicitations.
"The phone-bank employees were terminated," RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt wrote by e-mail in response to questions sent by The Times....

It really warms my heart to see that the GOP's contributors are abandoning their party.

>CDC Director Julie Gerberding has done a less than satisfactory job protecting the country from a pandemic of TB. She was also involved in the investigation following the anthrax scares a few years ago, and that has still not been solved.

>Want to continue the war? Support a Republican presidential candidate. They all seem to be in love with the a continuing war in Iraq. However, Bush and his Republican buddies cannot dismiss the fact that this war in Iraq was their idea. Bush, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, and the rest of the neo-cons started planning an invasion of Iraq before Bush became President. Now, with (ICasualties) almost 3,500 Americans killed in Iraq, the Republicans and their pro-war candidates have provided no solution to end the debacle in Iraq.