Cherokee Sage Woman

Stumbling Tourist Smashes Rare China Vases
CAMBRIDGE, England — A visitor to a British museum tripped on his shoelace, stumbled down a stairway and fell into a display of centuries-old Chinese vases, shattering them into "very small pieces," officials said Monday.

WHERE DAVE BARRY STANDS ON….

CRIME

You can call me courageous if you want, but I am against crime. I favor the death penalty for everything, including zoning violations. In the case of really, really bad criminals -- especially murderers and whoever is responsible for putting Jerry Springer on television -- I support a massive government project to develop a way to bring them back to life after we execute them, so we can execute them again.

TAXES

A lot of my opponents have been going around spouting harebrained "pie-in-the-sky" tax schemes that promise "something for nothing." Well I say it's time for a "reality check." I favor a practical, fiscally sound, two-pronged "flat-tax" system, as follows:

PRONG ONE -- Everybody would pay less.

PRONG TWO -- You, personally, would pay nothing.

SOCIAL SECURITY

You hear a lot of talk these days about how the government cannot afford to keep giving more and more billions of dollars in Medicare and Social Security benefits to the elderly, especially to the wealthy, golf-playing, boat-owning, Lincoln-driving, mansion-dwelling, servant-lashing elderly. Well, here's what I say: I personally am well on my way to elderlyhood, and if I'm going to suffer from joint pain, gum disease, vision loss, irregularity, bladder malfunction, prostate disorders, hemorrhoidal swelling and an inexplicable fondness for reruns of "Murder, She Wrote," then by gosh I WANT MONEY FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

DRUGS

I admit that, back in the Sixties when everybody was doing it, I may have stuck a few syringes in my arm. But I never pushed the plunger.

STANDARDIZED NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TESTS

I believe that American schoolchildren should be given standardized national educational tests, and I will tell you exactly why: Because I am not a schoolchild. I am strongly in favor of things that I, personally, do not have to do. Childbirth is another example.

HEALTH CARE

As an older male American, I believe that our Number One health-care priority, as a nation, must be to make the medical profession find some way to get to the prostate gland other than the way they're getting to it now.

FOREIGN POLICY

I am sick and tired of watching the United States get pushed around by dirtbag nations such as Iraq. If I were president, and Saddam Hussein gave me any trouble, I would unleash the ultimate weapon on him. That's right: I would have a bomber fly right over downtown Baghdad, open the bomb doors, and drop: lawyers. If that didn't paralyze Iraq, I would drop more lawyers; and if THAT didn't work, I would put parachutes on the lawyers.

SEX IN THE OVAL OFFICE

The Oval Office is a sacred shrine of our great republic, and it is just plain wrong for the president to have sex there. He should go out on the lawn.

BUBBA'S MY 'BRO' - DUBYA

By DEBORAH ORIN Washington Bureau Chief
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 30, 2006 -- CHATS WITH BILL
President Bush jokingly referred to Bill Clinton as "my new brother" as he talked about the friendly relations between Clinton and his dad, in an interview aired yesterday.
"I check in with Bill Clinton occasionally to see how he's doing," Bush revealed to CBS anchor Bob Schieffer on "Face the Nation."

"He says things that make it obvious to me that we're kind of, you know, on the same wavelength with the job of the presidency."

Bush added that Clinton's relationship with his dad — fueled when he sent both of them to raise aid for victims of 2004's Asian tsunami — is "a fun relationship to watch."

The president described Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) as a "formidable" 2008 White House candidate in a part of the interview released Friday night in which Bush imagined a line of succession that could go "Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton."

Sen. Clinton's office declined comment on Bush's description of her husband as "my new brother" — by extension making her a kind of sister-in-law.

Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue of Irreparable Change
Some Experts on Global Warming Foresee 'Tipping Point' When It Is Too Late to Act

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 29, 2006; A01



Now that most scientists agree human activity is causing Earth to warm, the central debate has shifted to whether climate change is progressing so rapidly that, within decades, humans may be helpless to slow or reverse the trend.

This "tipping point" scenario has begun to consume many prominent researchers in the United States and abroad, because the answer could determine how drastically countries need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. While scientists remain uncertain when such a point might occur, many say it is urgent that policymakers cut global carbon dioxide emissions in half over the next 50 years or risk the triggering of changes that would be irreversible.

There are three specific events that these scientists describe as especially worrisome and potentially imminent, although the time frames are a matter of dispute: widespread coral bleaching that could damage the world's fisheries within three decades; dramatic sea level rise by the end of the century that would take tens of thousands of years to reverse; and, within 200 years, a shutdown of the ocean current that moderates temperatures in northern Europe.

The debate has been intensifying because Earth is warming much faster than some researchers had predicted. James E. Hansen, who directs NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies, last week confirmed that 2005 was the warmest year on record, surpassing 1998. Earth's average temperature has risen nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 30 years, he noted, and another increase of about 4 degrees over the next century would "imply changes that constitute practically a different planet."

"It's not something you can adapt to," Hansen said in an interview. "We can't let it go on another 10 years like this. We've got to do something."

An Alito Filibuster Would Make the Democrats "Look Bad?"

Sen. John Kerry told CNN Thursday that he's attempting to pull support together for a filibuster of right-wing Supreme Court nominee Samuel J. Alito Jr. Apparently he has the backing of fellow Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy. But many Democrats appear apprehensive about supporting such a measure, and the White House says a filibuster will make the Democrats look bad. Come again? The White House? We're talking Bush administration officials saying Democrats will look bad? Can a party possibly look any worse than the Republicans do right now with the litany of moral, ethical and criminal charges facing them? Are the Busheviks for real?

The Democrats must filibuster this activist judge, and they must do it with zeal and a public display of passion not seen from the left since FDR, rallying against similar GOP threats to the balance of power, declared in a 1932 campaign speech that "Were it possible to find ... men almost godlike in their ability to hold the scales of justice with an even hand, such a government might be in the interests of the country, but there are none such on our political horizon." Democrats must fight tooth and nail to prevent Prince Alito, of "unitary executive" fame, of ever sitting on the bench and further strengthening the hand of King George and his monarchy.

Look bad? Wanna know what's gonna make the Democrats look bad? Lying down like dead sheep and letting the King's chosen one sail through without a fight. That's what the Democrats should worry about.

Now comes news that Bush won't support the 'winner' of a legal election, one even overseen by Jimmy Carter as a true & 'clean' election process. No even trying to set up diplomatic ties. Condy says she'll help the 'loser' set up a new government. Hey, maybe Gore should've done that back in 2000.. just taken his marbles & started a new game somewhere. God knows I'd have followed him wherever the new 'government' was to be set up. Let the rightwingnuts take either coast.. give the Gore-nations what's left. It would be WONDERFUL to be far, far away from that nutzoid crowd.
I am more & more embarrassed by this country. To the point of mortification. I feel like we're living thru a bad scene of 'Night of the Living Dead'..wondering when the zombies will go away??
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RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says he'll start immediate consultations to form a new government.

Eight things I look for in a romantic partner:

1) Sense of humor
2) Adoration
3) Generosity of spirit
4) Kindness to all
5) Understanding & Tolerant to diversities
6) Someone who champions us both
7) Pro-health
8) A 'foodie'

There.. thanks Mark.
Eight of the rest of you be very afraid.. ;o)

Makes you proud of the stewardship of hard earned funds. Must've been all that great Halliburton training..
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Audit Describes Misuse of Funds in Iraq Projects
By James Glanz
The New York Times

Wednesday 25 January 2006

A new audit of American financial practices in Iraq has uncovered irregularities including millions of reconstruction dollars stuffed casually into footlockers and filing cabinets, an American soldier in the Philippines who gambled away cash belonging to Iraq, and three Iraqis who plunged to their deaths in a rebuilt hospital elevator that had been improperly certified as safe.

Agents from the inspector general's office found that the living and working quarters of American occupation officials were awash in shrink-wrapped stacks of $100 bills, colloquially known as bricks.

One official kept $2 million in a bathroom safe, another more than half a million dollars in an unlocked footlocker. One contractor received more than $100,000 to completely refurbish an Olympic pool but only polished the pumps; even so, local American officials certified the work as completed. More than 2,000 contracts ranging in value from a few thousand dollars to more than half a million, some $88 million in all, were examined by agents from the inspector general's office. The report says that in some cases the agents found clear indications of potential fraud and that investigations into those cases are continuing.

"What's sad about it is that, considering the destruction in the country, with looting and so on, we needed every dollar for reconstruction," said Wayne White, a former State Department official whose responsibilities included Iraq from 2003 to 2005, and who is now at the Middle East Institute, a research organization.

Others had a similar reaction. "It does not surprise me at all," said a Defense Department official who worked in Hilla and other parts of the country, who spoke anonymously because he said he feared retribution from the Bush administration. He predicted that similar problems would turn up in the major southern city of Basra and elsewhere in the dangerous desert wasteland of Anbar province. "It's a disaster," the official said of problems with contracting in Anbar.

No records were kept as money came and went from the main vault at the Hilla compound, and inside it was often stashed haphazardly in a filing cabinet.

Outside the vault, money seemed to be stuffed into every nook and cranny in the compound. "One contracting officer kept approximately $2 million in cash in a safe in his office bathroom, while a paying agent kept approximately $678,000 in cash in an unlocked footlocker in his office," the report says.

The money, most from Iraqi oil proceeds and cash seized from Saddam Hussein's government, also easily found its way out of the compound and the country. In one case, an American soldier assigned as an assistant to the Iraqi Olympic boxing team was given huge amounts of cash for a trip to the Philippines, where the soldier gambled away somewhere between $20,000 and $60,000 of the money. Exactly how much has not been determined, the report says, because no one kept track of how much money he received in the first place.

Impeachment hearings: The White House prepares for the worst

The Bush administration is bracing for impeachment hearings in Congress.

"A coalition in Congress is being formed to support impeachment",a whitehouse source said.
Sources said a prelude to the impeachment process could begin with hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee in February. They said the hearings would focus on the secret electronic surveillance program and whether Mr. Bush violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Administration sources said the charges are expected to include false reports to Congress as well as Mr. Bush's authorization of the National Security Agency to engage in electronic surveillance inside the United States without a court warrant. This included the monitoring of overseas telephone calls and e-mail traffic to and from people living in the United States without requisite permission from a secret court.

Published by Gold Star Families:
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Much as I wish I could take credit for the word "matriotism," another woman wrote to me and gave me the concept. I was so intrigued by the word that I have been meditating on the possible ideology behind it, and a new paradigm for true and lasting peace in the world.

Before I dive into the concept of Matriotism, let's explore the word "patriotism." Dictionary.com defines it as: love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it. When we all know that patriotism in the US means: exploiting others' love for country by sending them and their children off to sacrifice for my bank balance!

There have been volumes written about patriotism, defining it, supporting it, challenging the notion of it, etc. I believe the notion of patriotism has been expediently and nefariously exploited, and used to lead our nation into scores of disastrous and needless wars. The idea of patriotism has virtually wiped out entire generations of our precious young people and has allowed our nation's leaders to commit mass murder on an unprecedented scale. The vile sputum of "if you aren't with us, then you are against us" is basically the epitome of patriotism gone wild. After the tragedy of 9/11 we were on our way to becoming a fledgling Matriotic society until our leaders jumped on the bandwagon of inappropriate and misguided vengeance to send our young people to die and kill in two countries that were no threat to the USA or to our way of life. The neocons exploited patriotism to fulfill their goals of imperialism and plunder.

This sort of patriotism begins when we enter kindergarten and learn the nationalist "Pledge of Allegiance." It transcends all sense when we are taught the "Star Spangled Banner," a hymn to war. In our history classes the genocide of the Native American peoples is glossed over as we learn about the spread of American Imperialism over our continent, though it wasn't named until the 1840's, when the doctrine of Manifest Destiny was expounded to justify the USA's conquest of and "civilizing" of Mexican territories and Native American populations. Manifest Destiny sought to spread the "the boundaries of freedom" to the American Continent, with the notion that we have a special mission from God. Sound familiar?

All through school, we are brainwashed into believing that some how our leaders are always right and certainly have our best interests at heart when they wave the flag and convince us to hate fellow human beings who stand in the way of making immense profits from war. As Samuel Johnson said, patriotism is the "last refuge of a scoundrel."

Matriotism is the opposite of patriotism…not to destroy it, but to be a yin to its yang, and balance out the militarism of patriotism.

Not everyone is a mother, but there is one universal truth that no one can dispute no matter how hard they try (and believe me, some will try): Everyone has a mother! Mothers give life, and if the child is lucky, mothers nurture life. And if a man has had a nurturing mother he will already have a base of Matriotism.

A Matriot loves his/her country but does not buy into the exploitive phrase of "My country right or wrong." (As Chesterton said, that's like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober.") A Matriot knows that her country can do a lot of things right, especially when the government is not involved. For example, I know of no other citizens of any country who are more personally generous than those of America. However, a Matriot also knows that when her country is wrong, it can be responsible for murdering thouands upon thousands of innocent and unsuspecting humans. A true Matriot would never drop an atomic bomb or bombs filled with white phosphorous, carpet bomb cities and villages, or control drones from thousands of miles away to kill innocent men, women and children.

There is one most important thing that matriots would never do, however, and this is the key to stopping killing to solve problems: a matriot would never send her child or another mother's child to fight nonsense wars…and would march into a war herself that she considered just to protect her child from harm. Aha! Matriots would fight their own battles, but take a dim view of having to do so, and would seldom resort to violence to solve conflict! Patriots cowardly hide behind the flag and eagerly send young people to die to fill their own pocketbooks.

Women flocked to Camp Casey in August to run the huge enterprise and work for peace, and women from all over the US and the world have invited me to visit and speak and advocate for true and lasting peace. Men, who are in touch with the matriot inside of them, have also been important to the cause of eradicating war.

Whether you are a male or female Matriot, Code Pink Alert, endorsed by Gold Star Families for Peace, is calling for an International Day of Peace on March 8 th…called for, organized by, and supported by women. Women and men with matriotic tendencies can get more info and endorse the call for peace at: www.womensaynotowar.org. It is past time for we Matriots to get together to stridently call for an end to the immoral bloodshed in Iraq.

I know one thing from the bottom of my heart. My son, Casey, who was an Eagle Scout and a true American patriot, was not served well by his idea of patriotism. I will never forgive myself for not trying to counteract more the false patriotism he was raised on, with a true sense of Matriotism.

I also know that the women of the world who don't have a voice, such as the mothers of Iraq who are struggling just to survive in their needlessly destroyed country, are counting on us women who do have voices to use them to end George Bush's manifestly idiotic doctrine of preemptive wars of aggression based on the justification that "I think that country might be dangerous to me and my pals."

War will end forever when we matriots stand up and say: "No, I am not giving my child to the fake patriotism of the war machine which chews up my flesh and blood to spit out obscene profits."

"It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens." ~Baha'u'llah

Matriotism above all is a commitment to truth and to celebrate the dignity of all life.
_Cindy Sheehan

Clooney 'upset' lobbyist's family

Clooney joked about Jack Abramoff's name in his speech at the Golden Globe awards show.
The father of disgraced US lobbyist Jack Abramoff said George Clooney's Golden Globes speech made a "ridiculous attack" on his son, reports have said.
Trade paper Variety said it received an open letter from Frank Abramoff saying Clooney's words were "deeply hurtful".

Clooney said on Monday: "Who would name their kid 'Jack' with 'off' at the end? No wonder the guy's screwed up."

Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty earlier this month to corruption charges. Clooney was unavailable for comment.

MSN, Yahoo, AOL Give Bush Admin. Internet User Search Results...Google Says No...
NY Times January 19, 2006 at 11:20 PM


The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to compel Google, the Internet search giant, to turn over records on millions of its users' search queries as part of the government's effort to uphold an online pornography law.

Google has been refusing the request since a subpoena was first issued last August, even as three of its competitors agreed to provide information, according to court documents made public this week. Google asserts that the request is unnecessary, overly broad, would be onerous to comply with, would jeopardize its trade secrets and could expose identifying information about its users.

'Potty Parity' To Remedy Long Lines?

Jan. 19, 2006

The battleground for women's rights is expanding from the boardroom to the bathroom, and a serious legislative initiative nicknamed "potty parity" is giving new meaning to the term "separate but equal."

The new push, which is quietly making its way into construction standards around the world, says restrooms should provide two to three times as many "outlets" for women as for men. In that sense, "potty parity" bills offer women more than parity: It may finally trim the long lines for women's rooms at theaters, stadiums, and highway rest stops.

EPA- Bush Fails

Updated: 7:14 a.m. ET Jan. 19, 2006
WASHINGTON - Six former heads of the Environmental Protection Agency — five Republicans and one Democrat — accused the Bush administration Wednesday of neglecting global warming and other environmental problems.

“I don’t think there’s a commitment in this administration,” said Bill Ruckelshaus, who was EPA’s first administrator when the agency opened its doors in 1970 under President Nixon and headed it again under President Reagan in the 1980s.

“We need leadership, and I don’t think we’re getting it,” he said at an EPA-sponsored symposium centered around the agency’s 35th anniversary. “To sit back and just push it away and say we’ll deal with it sometime down the road is dishonest to the people and self-destructive.”

U.S. Holds Going-Out-Of-Business Sale
January 17, 2006 | Issue 42•03

WASHINGTON, DC—In an address broadcast on late-night television Tuesday, President Bush announced that the federal government will liquidate its holdings in a going-out-of-business sale scheduled to begin Friday.

After 200-plus years of service, the U.S. government is closing its doors.
"The U.S. government, America's place for law and order since 1776, has lost its lease, and everything must go, go, go," Bush said. "But our loss is your gain, and make no mistake: You, the people, would be crazy to miss out on these amazing closeout bargains."

The Washington-based government, which hasn't shown a profit in five years and carries the highest debt in its history, was ultimately driven out of business by costly overhead and cheap foreign competitors. As a result, Bush said, everything—from flag stands and Capitol cafeteria flatware to legislation dating from the early days of the republic—will be marked down 30 to 90 percent.

"Get yourself a piece of history, or just stock up on your favorite items—whatever it is, chances are we've got it," said Bush, wearing a 10-gallon hat and standing before a chroma-key background of the National Mall as a list of federal items and their discounted prices scrolled down the screen. "But act fast, because deals like these will not last."

I was tagged by Juliepoolie to list 5 'odd' habits in my life. Me, odd?? you-hell-betcha. But it did take some weeding thru & cancellations. Like trying to decide if one were neurotic or psychotic.. fine lines being what they are.
So here goes:
1) I have no organizational skills, so if something fits in a slot.. that's where it belongs. This causes my husband no small measure of consternation, to find fishing gear mixed w/ cooking utensils. Hey dude, it fit.
2) I like to sleep w/ one foot out from under the blankets (helps me breathe better) Yes, that one's psychotic.
3) I use the computer as my reward system. I force myself to clean the house & all those inane chores before I'm allowed to come browse thru emails.
4) I hate talking on the phone. I was raised w/o one, so it stunted my 'phone-gene'.
5) I talk back to the TV. News shows can find me screeching at 80 decibels! This frightened my husband at 1st.. now he screams along. Sweet.

So that's the tip of that iceberg. I know so few people that blog, but I'll pass on this lovely quiz to Miss World, Cherokee Princess, Salisbury Mark, Hippigirl, & some other unsuspecting blogger. ;o)
Goodtimes.

Stephen Colbert Fights Back About 'Truthiness'
Comedian Calls The Associated Press 'Biggest Threat Facing America'
By JAKE COYLE, AP

NEW YORK (Jan. 12) - Stung by a recent Associated Press article that didn't credit him for coining the word "truthiness," Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert has struck back
On 'The Colbert Report,' comedian Stephen Colbert defined "truthiness" as truth that wouldn't stand to be held back by facts. The word caught on. The American Dialect Society named "truthiness" the word of the year.
The world's oldest news organization, Colbert says, is the "No. 1 threat facing America."

On Wednesday evening, Colbert placed the AP atop the Threat Down segment of "The Colbert Report" show. What was No. 2?

Bears.

In October, on Colbert's debut episode of the "Daily Show" spinoff, the comedian defined "truthiness" as truth that wouldn't stand to be held back by facts. The word caught on, and last week the American Dialect Society named "truthiness" the word of the year.

When an AP story about the designation sent coast to coast failed to mention Colbert, he began a tongue-in-cheek crusade, not unlike the kind his muse Bill O'Reilly might lead in all seriousness.

"It's a sin of omission, is what it is," Colbert told The AP on Thursday. "You're not giving people the whole story about truthiness."

"It's like Shakespeare still being alive and not asking him what `Hamlet' is about," he said.

The Oxford English Dictionary has a definition for "truthy" dating back to the 1800s. It's defined as "characterized by truth" and includes the derivation "truthiness."
"The fact that they looked it up in a book just shows that they don't get the idea of truthiness at all," Colbert said Thursday. "You don't look up truthiness in a book, you look it up in your gut."

Colbert, who referred on his program to the AP omission as a "journalistic travesty," said Thursday that it was similar to the much-criticized weapons of mass destruction reporting leading up to the Iraq War.

"Except," he said, "people got hurt this time."

Sam Alito..

"Have you been watching the Alito Supreme Court nomination hearings? The Democrats are upset, they're crazy, they're already accusing him of giving vague, contradictory answers. And Alito was on that, he shot back, 'Maybe, maybe not.'" --David Letterman

"Supreme Court confirmation hearings are under way for Judge Samuel Alito. It's pretty interesting. Democrats want to know his position on privacy, while Republicans want to know his position on prison terms for bribery." --Jay Leno

"The American Bar Association gave Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito their highest rating. President Bush gave Alito his highest rating, too, because he called him 'Super' and 'Duper.'" --Conan O'Brien

"Democrats are worried Alito might be a threat to the Endangered Species List.
They started worrying about the Endangered Species List when they found out they were on it." --Jay Leno

"During Judge Alito's hearings, Senator Ted Kennedy accidentally referred to Sam Alito as Ali-oto. Kennedy said 'Forgive me, I'm sober.'" --Conan O'Brien

"Yesterday, President Bush said Alito was 'immenately qualified.' Yeah, then he said 'Unless imminently means not.'" --Conan O'Brien

"President Bush was asked how he came up with a conservative like Alito, and he said he got the idea over the weekend while turning the clocks back." --Jay Leno

"Samuel Alito is widely agreed to be conservative, intelligent and competent, and President Bush said he would be willing to overlook those facts this time." --Bill Maher

"Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito says he's embarrassed by some of the things he wrote in the 1980's. Yeah, apparently Alito wrote the song 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.'" --Conan O'Brien

"It was reported this week that when he was in college, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito supported gay rights. Apparently, his exact words were 'Let's get Jenn and Stacy drunk and see if they make out.'" --Conan O'Brien

"If Judge Alito is confirmed, this is an interesting fact, there would be two sitting Supreme Court justices from New Jersey. Experts say this could cause a reversal in the famous case of Mullet vs. Backhair." --Conan O'Brien

"Big battle brewing in the Senate over the Bush's Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito. Bush said the reason he chose Alito was because he did such a good job in the O.J. trial" --Jay Leno

School Proposes 'No Divorce' Policy

EDMOND, Okla. -- An Oklahoma university has proposed a policy that would allow officials to fire employees who get a divorce, Oklahoma City television station KOCO reported.

Oklahoma Christian University is already getting some attention for a letter it sent to faculty that stated:

"Because the Christian mission of the university is most effectively fulfilled through mentoring and example, all married faculty and staff should strive to model (healthy) marriages to students."

School defends expulsion over kiss
Academy faces student lawsuit

By LATEEF MUNGIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/11/06
A private Christian academy is defending its right to expel a female student for kissing another girl off campus.

In court documents filed Jan. 4, attorneys for Covenant Christian Academy in Loganville say the school has a constitutional right to expel students for "sexual immorality."

According to the suit, Bradley attended a sleepover party off campus with several other female students April 22, 2005.

At the party, she kissed another student and at an earlier date had kissed a different female student, according to the suit.

Four days later, Bradley and several other girls were called into the principal's office.

After being questioned about her "inappropriate relationship" for more than an hour, Bradley, who had a 3.5 grade-point average, was expelled, according to the suit.

None of the other girls involved in the incident was expelled at the time, said David Clark, the Bradleys' Lawrenceville attorney.

what decade does your personality live in?


quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd

Bush Advisor Says President Has Legal Power to Torture Children

By Philip Watts

01/08/06 "revcom.us" -- -- John Yoo publicly argued there is no law that could prevent the President from ordering the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles.

This came out in response to a question in a December 1st debate in Chicago with Notre Dame professor and international human rights scholar Doug Cassel.

What is particularly chilling and revealing about this is that John Yoo was a key architect post-9/11 Bush Administration legal policy. As a deputy assistant to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, John Yoo authored a number of legal memos arguing for unlimited presidential powers to order torture of captive suspects, and to declare war anytime, any where, and on anyone the President deemed a threat.

It has now come out Yoo also had a hand in providing legal reasoning for the President to conduct unauthorized wiretaps of U.S. citizens. Georgetown Law Professor David Cole wrote, "Few lawyers have had more influence on President Bush’s legal policies in the 'war on terror’ than John Yoo."

Trapped mouse thrown into fire gets revenge: sets home ablaze

FORT SUMNER, N.M. — A mouse got its revenge against a homeowner who tried to dispose of it in a pile of burning leaves. The blazing creature ran back to the man's house and set it on fire.

Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner said he caught the mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it.

"I had some leaves burning outside, so I threw it in the fire, and the mouse was on fire and ran back at the house," Mares said from a motel room Saturday.

Village Fire Chief Juan Chavez said the burning mouse ran to just beneath a window, and the flames spread up from there and throughout the house.

No was hurt inside, but the home and everything in it was destroyed.

Ministers Say They Blessed
Seats Ahead of Alito Hearing

By JUNE KRONHOLZ
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 5, 2006 7:20 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Insisting that God "certainly needs to be involved" in the Supreme Court confirmation process, three Christian ministers today blessed the doors of the hearing room where Senate Judiciary Committee members will begin considering the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito on Monday.

Capitol Hill police barred them from entering the room to continue what they called a consecration service. But in a bit of one-upsmanship, the three announced that they had let themselves in a day earlier, touching holy oil to the seats where Judge Alito, the senators, witnesses, Senate staffers and the press will sit, and praying for each of the 13 committee members by name.

"We did adequately apply oil to all the seats," said the Rev. Rob Schenck, who identified himself as an evangelical Christian and as president of the National Clergy Council in Washington.

White House Rebukes Robertson

(CBS/AP) The White House sharply criticized Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson on Friday for suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for "dividing God's land."

"Those comments are wholly inappropriate and offensive and really don't have a place in this or any other debate," presidential spokesman Trent Duffy said as President Bush traveled to Chicago for a speech.

Religious leaders denounced Robertson's remarks as "un-Christian."

Belle is an 11 wk old part Beagle/part Coonhound all-heart puppy. She has gained rule of this 'roost' in less than 2 days. The cats are cursing & calling me a 'communist'.. but I think they'll let her into their hearts one day. She soooo wants to play w/ them.
She sleeps well in her crate, after singing us the bedtime song of a baying hound Aaa-ooooooooooo for about 15 minutes.
She's in love w/ the twin dog she sees in the stove glass reflection.
She hates it when I wash the dishes (& am not paying attention to her), so she pulls at my pantlegs & shoes.
She wants me on the couch beside her, dutifully rubbing her freckled belly. And in return she chews on my hands & arms.. I bear the price of love in scratches.
But she is definitely a 'keeper'. Belle-o-my-heart.

Makes me embarrassed to be from his home state..ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww...
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January 5, 2006 -- A judge accused of masturbating on the bench will rise as a defendant thanks to one of his former employees — a court reporter who kept detailed records of the gavel-grabber's allegedly indecent behavior.
Donald Thompson, a one-time Creek County, Okla., district judge, must appear on four indecent-exposure charges because there was enough evidence to prosecute, a judge ruled Tuesday, according to the Daily Oklahoman newspaper.

Lone prosecution witness Lisa Foster gave two hours of testimony describing how Thompson allegedly pleasured himself with a penis pump while presiding over criminal and civil trials — and once even shaved his nether region while in court, the newspaper said.

While Foster, Thompson's court reporter for 15 years, kept the judge's alleged activities from February 2001 to September 2003 mostly to herself, she documented them, even taking pictures of the pump.

She sometimes typed "SH SH" to describe the sounds coming from the bench. She wrote the initials "P in T" [penis in tube] once in her notes, the paper said.

Foster said the judge even pumped away while presiding over a horrendous criminal trial involving a child-abuse fatality.

Gay teen leader in U.S. spotlight

By CHARLES YOO
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/04/06
It began as a simple request a year ago. Kerry Pacer and her friends wanted to start a club for gay students like them at their high school in the Georgia mountains.

Students booed her. Her pals were called names. Out-of-state evangelical fundamentalists showed up and protested against the teens.
Kerry Pacer, leader of a gay youth group in White County, has been named The Advocate magazine's Person of the Year.
Yet, Kerry and her friends stuck with their plan, making a difference in the school, and getting community support.

After all that, Kerry's fight to bring a change to White County has now brought her national recognition. The gay newsmagazine, The Advocate, has selected the White County High senior as its Person of the Year — an honor previously reserved for notable gay Americans like artist Robert Mapplethorpe and Episcopal Church bishop Gene Robinson. Among those who received honorable mention this year were singer Melissa Etheridge and professional basketball player Sheryl Swoopes.

"It's overwhelming," Kerry said of the honor. "It's gotten better, I could say that. We are still meeting."

Oh.. why am I not surprised? That darned ole Halliburton has siphoned off all the $ it wanted, so what's left?
Bushie's legacy just keeps getting deeper into the b*$l s*&t..
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White House to Withdraw Funding for Rebuilding Iraq
By Andrew Gumbel
The Independent UK

Wednesday 03 January 2006

The US government is not planning to continue funding reconstruction projects in Iraq, in what appears to be a major climbdown from the White House's one-time pledge to build the best infrastructure in the region.

According to officials cited in yesterday's Washington Post, the Bush administration will not be adding construction funds to the $18.4bn (£10.7bn) it has allocated since the 2003 invasion.

In future it will be up to other foreign donors and the Iraqi government to do what it can to complete even basic tasks such as supplying reliable electricity and water to the country's 26 million people.

It is a badly kept secret that reconstruction has gone badly. Essential services have been very slow in coming back on line and roughly half the money earmarked for reconstruction has been diverted into the military effort against the insurgency. The newspaper quoted Brigadier General William McCoy, the commander overseeing construction projects, saying the US funding was never meant to be more than a "jump-start ... The US never intended to completely rebuild Iraq," he said.

If confirmed, the withdrawal of reconstruction funds from America would be a further signal that the Bush administration is looking at ways to lessen the US commitment to Iraq as it faces increasing political pressure to start finding a way out.

It is also one further sign that US ambitions for Iraq have been thwarted by realities on the ground. Iraq's oil production, seen before and after the war as a key strategic asset, has been so hampered by infrastructural problems and sabotage that it remains significantly lower than it was at the time of the invasion.

The output of Iraq's national electrical grid is also lower than it was prior to the invasion. The average Iraqi household has electricity for only half the day at best - and in Baghdad there is electricity for no more than six hours a day.

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Man Says Cat Called 911

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 2, 2005

(AP) Police aren't sure how else to explain it.

But when an officer walked into an apartment Thursday night to answer a 911 call, an orange-and-tan striped cat was lying by a telephone on the living room floor. The cat's owner, Gary Rosheisen, was on the ground near his bed having fallen out of his wheelchair.

Rosheisen said his cat, Tommy, must have hit the right buttons to call 911.

"I know it sounds kind of weird," Officer Patrick Daugherty said, unsuccessfully searching for some other explanation.

Rosheisen said he couldn't get up because of pain from osteoporosis and ministrokes that disrupt his balance. He also wasn't wearing his medical-alert necklace and couldn't reach a cord above his pillow that alerts paramedics that he needs help.

Daugherty said police received a 911 call from Rosheisen's apartment, but there was no one on the phone. Police called back to make sure everything was OK, and when no one answered, they decided to check things out.

That's when Daugherty found Tommy next to the phone.

Rosheisen got the cat three years ago to help lower his blood pressure. He tried to train him to call 911, but wasn't sure if the training ever stuck.

The phone in the living room is always on the floor, and there are 12 small buttons - including a speed dial for 911 right above the button for the speakerphone.

"He's my hero," Rosheisen said.