"Is President Obama's trip to India really going to cost $200 million a day?"
"The entire war in Afghanistan costs $190 million a day."
credulity
That was fast
Scott Walker won the Governership with stopping the construction of the Wisconsin leg of the high speed rail network as a central plank of his campaign.
Outgoing Gov Doyle called him on it and suspended work on the train after the election, and Walker is now backtracking on one of his central campaign promises before he even moves in to the Governers mansion.
A spokeswoman for Talgo, the U.S. unit of the Spanish firm Patentes Talgo, said that Walker told company officials that his decision to stop a proposed Madison-to-Milwaukee passenger rail line is "not final."
It seems to be playing out as another example of Republican short sighted rhetoric that nonetheless helps win votes, now being reneged upon as the real world results of their rhetoric become apparent.
Vote Feingold
I find it hard to care very much about any of the other races next week, but Feingold is one of the few people in the Senate with a shred of respectability. On civil liberties, getting big money out of the political process, and the environment he has been leagues above most of the rest of them.
There are precious few national politicians worth supporting, and Feingold is, in my opinion, one of those few.
If undecided, or even just curious, I urge you to visit his website and look up his statements on things you feel important. More than most likely you will probably like what you read. He has a consistent track record of voting with his convictions even when unpopular.
His HCR vote has put off some people, but 1)I think if you actually look at what is in the bill you would like it more than you think and 2)It would be a shame if this one vote overrode his 18 years of protecting your civil liberties and standing up for core constitutional principles
Vote Feingold next Tuesday!
Tags:
Russ Feingold
Casualties
One of the early and interesting bits of the Iraq doc dump is the casualty counts. Seems that based on the US military's count, 66K out of 100K deaths were classified as civilian, about 60%.
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iraq
Chain restaurant bullshit
Since I have done a fair share of business travel, I would like to think that I have grown immune to the bullshit dining experience of chain restaurants. However the bullshit I put up with at Chili's tonight has changed my mind.
To start off, you seated me right next to the loudest ignorant fuckheads in the joint. Is their life so empty that all you can think of to discuss over dinner is imbecilic rants about Obama? These 2 douches made Hannity's rants seem pulitzer worthy.
Now, what self-respecting establishment gives you a plain icewater? Are you so cheap that you can't put a lemon wedge or cucumber slice in it? And when I tell you I want a couple minutes to look at the menu, I do not mean that literally. Give me at least 5 minutes for christ's sake. If you walk by and I still have my nose in the menu, it probably means I am still deciding, so, no I am not ready to order. When I am ready to order I will put the menu down.
Why does it always say "mixed vegetables" as a side dish? It is always broccoli with carrots. Why is a dining establishment unable to offer a choice of vegetables? Just bland microwaved fucking broccoli. I ask you if I can get it blanched and you look at me like I asked to rape your kids. I guess the microwave doesn't have that button.
When I order an appetizer, I want to eat it first, before you bring out my main course. That is why it is called a fucking appetizer. I don't want you bringing out my steak before I took two bites from the appetizer.
As if you want to intentionally frustrate me, when you bring out my steak while I am just starting my appetizer, you stand there like a dunce and wait for me to shift my plates around and make room for you to set my main dish down. Now my table looks like a fucking buffet and eating has become a fucking juggling act.
Now that you have brought me my main dish early, it is logistically impossible to eat everything before it gets cold. Naturally I will opt to eat my steak while it is still warm, so my remaining appetizer will have to be eaten cold along with the microwaved broccoli and betty crocker instant mashed potatoes.
Most incensing of all, don't fucking pester me when I have a mouthful of fucking food that I am fucking chewing. The first time can be forgiven. You ask if everything is ok and i shake my head 'yes' and continue chewing and then turn my head back to my meal. This is your cue to GTFO. Why must you be a fucking pest and ask me 3 more questions?
The 117th sign of the apocalypse
Nanny Mcphee is playing on American Movie Classics right now.
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armageddon
Government bloat
Not only has president Obama recklessly spent millions on rural broadband infrastructure($65 mil), and shoved a big dumb choo choo ($800 mil) down our throats, he also is running up the largest defense budget in history (700 billion)- as the yearly ritual requires.
Pentagon spending has averaged a growth rate of 7 percent a year over the last decade, adjusted for inflation (or nearly 12 percent a year without adjusting), including the costs of the wars. Mr. Obama has asked Congress for an increase in total spending next year of 2.2 percent, to $708 billion — 6.1 percent higher than the peak in the Bush administration.
The headline of the article this quote is from may surprise you:
Pentagon Plans Steps to Reduce Budget and Jobs
Don't worry, friends, Congress will most surely beef it up a bit more than Obama requested.
bolstering
The same supreme court that held steadfastly to the principle of free speech when deciding in Citizens United that limitations on corporate political publications or advertisements were unconstitutional due to their chilling effect on speech, has now decided that offering advice on peaceful conflict resolution and nonviolence to designated terrorist groups is a jailable offence under the material support clause of the PATRIOT act. The big question in my mind upon this development is whether open letters to terrorist groups would run afoul of the law?
A funny aspect of this story is how few articles about the decision in the media actually mention or identify that the statute in question is part of the PATRIOT act. Not even the liberal NY Times made mention of it.
Roberts is quoted as saying such support "— even seemingly benign support — bolsters the terrorist activities of that organization." I have yet to determine if it would also embolden them too.
Tags:
war on terror
planes & trains
this is a fairly interesting article that among other things argues for nuclear power and poo poos choo choos.
Tags:
energy,
transpotation
pics
Not getting enough pix of hs girls in bikinis at home? Don't worry, the JS is here to help.
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high school girls
The smut epidemic and the moral decline of America
Thank goodness there are still some law enforcement officers with the balls to stand up to the increasingly widespread and brazen smut peddlers.
Thank the lord there is still plenty of wholesome family entertainment.
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pornography
So Long Thomas Jefferson
According to the Texas Board of Education, not only reality, but also history, has a liberal bias. Expunged from the record is Thomas Jefferson's role in the revolution, as well as the part of the first amendment regarding freedom of religion. Joe McCarthy is vindicated and students will learn that the participants in the civil rights struggle were not the angels they were made out to be.
pushed through a change to the teaching of the civil rights movement to ensure that students study the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the nonviolent approach of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.One interesting change is substituting the word 'constitutional republic' instead of 'democracy' to describe the US govt. Though technically accurate, I'm curious about the reasoning behind it. On the upside since we no longer have a democracy maybe we can no longer export democracy to others..
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texas
Tea parties
I think this here is one of the better descriptions of the tea party/GOP relationship I have seen.
Mass
The race to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat is approaching its end.
For some takes on the new 'winning formula' of pragmatic/centrist Democrat conundrum at play there check out this and this.
Also, Satan has something to say.
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satan
Stuff
Obama@1
A major newspaper advising abandonment?
It's about time the president was taken down a peg
She's single and not in prison...
Double standard? not so much. Lott publicly wished Strom Thurmond and the segregationist ticket had won back in the day. Reid said light skin and good diction are helpful in a presidential hopeful. Not quite the same thing there. Good gossip though.
Bring back fun with the internets
These are the experts?
James Thompson, a former member of the 'blue ribbon' 9/11 commission, was on FOX news today along with one of his equally idiotic cohorts from the commision, Slate Gordon. The most ridiculous thing Mr Thomson said was that this 'underwear bomber' was the first terrorist incident since 9/11. Of course, those of us without Alzheimers should remember there were both anthrax attacks and the shoe bomber in the years since 9/11. His cohort Mr Gordon ranted and raved that the underwear bomber should be treated as an enemy combatant and 'questioned and questioned'( I suspect he was hinting that this questioning should be of the enhanced variety). Granted I am not privy to the exact events that have transpired with this guy, but I highly doubt that he was not questioned. I also highly doubt that this latest mentally challenged individual that tried unsuccessfully to blow up a plane knows diddly about higher level terrorists plans and operations.
Tags:
idiots
Guaranteed to work
I just can't wait to see new DVD releases, so now that I will have to wait a month for them to get to Netflix, I will just have to go out and buy them right away instead, just like they hoped I would.
Tags:
movies
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