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?