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Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Soccer closet
By VictorM:Is this another sign that soccer fans are more willing to come out of the closet these days than ever before?
Things are changing, slowly but surely. Not that there aren't enough soccer haters/bashers still around -- there are plenty -- but that fewer people who like soccer keep it to themselves.[Darrol] Ray, a former defensive back for the University of Oklahoma and the Jets, said in a telephone interview from his restaurant, Smokehouse BBQ & Grill, in Oklahoma City. “We’re red, white and blue all the way, but I won’t equivocate; it’s more enjoyable to watch 90 minutes of soccer action.”
To some, that is borderline blasphemy coming from a man who also played high school football in Texas.
“I made sure in high school that no one knew I liked soccer,” he said. “I didn’t want to be mocked or put down. I grew up in central Texas, and that’s one of the things you have to keep to yourself.”
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The NY Times and a "duh" moment
By The New York Times editorial:Six years ago, President Bush began his State of the Union address with two powerful sentences: “As we gather tonight, our nation is at war, our economy is in recession, and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet the state of our union has never been stronger.”
Monday night, after six years of promises unkept or insincerely made and blunders of historic proportions, the United States is now fighting two wars, the economy is veering toward recession and the civilized world still faces horrifying dangers — and it has far less sympathy and respect for the United States.Barack or Hillary: who will score a goal?
By VictorM:I continue to stay neutral during the Democratic primaries, but Barack Obama came close to getting my support:
His campaign team recently revealed he is a massive soccer fan and a nifty player himself while a student at Harvard Law School.Well, please, let's keep this info from "middle-America." God knows it's already a burden for them to consider a liberal (well, in their minds anyway), African-American, Muslim (kidding folks, just kidding) man who also likes soccer.
Mr Obama watches Premier League games whenever his schedule allows. A campaign source said last night: “Obama is a big sports nut and loves his soccer..."
But then I read this:
Rival Hillary, 60, has been linked with [Manchester United] after hubby Bill, the ex-President, revealed the Reds were his favourite team.So now the score is all tied again.
Hey, their soccer preference is as good a reason to vote for them as "who I'd like to have a beer with."
They are children
By VictorM:Another example of a very bright person (Steve Brenen) asking a dumb question:
Mr. Brenen,[John] McCain has a secret plan to capture Osama bin Laden. He could share his secret plan with the White House, so it could be implemented now and the al Qaeda leader could be taken into custody before he can launch additional attacks, but McCain doesn’t want to. He has his “own ideas,” which presumably he won’t share — even in private, with the Commander in Chief — unless he’s elected.
I’m curious, does John McCain think we’re children?
John McCain is going after the votes of the people who twice voted for George W. Bush. That should answer your question.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Baby steps my ass
By VictorM:Laurie points us to a story about women in Saudi Arabia being allowed to play soccer:
For the first time ever, female teams in Saudi Arabia have been allowed to play soccer. In a country where women’s rights are so restricted that women aren’t even allowed to drive, this is a baby step in the right direction.Come on, this is 2008, for crying out loud. It's one thing to respect religions but those people are barbarians, plain and simple. At the pace that country is going, there will be a lot more dead women than soccer players.
"The match was held at a 35,000 capacity stadium in the city of Dammam. No men were allowed in the stadium, and the referee and her linesman, as well as the fans, were also female."
If you follow the link to Laurie's piece, she points us to another story dealing with a 12 year old that's simply beyond comprehension.
I don't disagree with Laurie that this all-female soccer match is better than nothing; I just don't think it's done with good intentions. I believe Saudi Arabia allowed that game to ease off pressure.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Bill Clinton's influence
By VictorM:I continue to stay mum on much of the bickering between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton's recent foray into the campaign. I have done so because I will support whomever the Democratic candidate is. I find the bickering just a small distraction and very much part of the political process.
I have not been bothered too much by Bill Clinton's higher visibility in the campaign trail but Josh Marshall has an excellent essay on why this is possibly more bothersome than I make it out to be. The whole post by Josh is worth reading, but here's a portion in particular that's giving me reason to reexamine my position:
With the exception of a few days in early January I've gone on the assumption for many months that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. But I think Bill's actions have greatly diminished her. He has put her back under his shadow where she hasn't been for years... He's dominating the race. And that makes her look like a weaker figure -- something that will not wear well in the general election.
The magic of Ronald Reagan
By VictorM:Barack Obama has pushed Ronald Reagan's name to the surface. It serves to reminds us that even though conservatives try to pull a rabbit out of the hat with every mention of his name, Reagan's real legacy is not the conservative mantra they advertise these days:
Reagan did virtually nothing to advance the socially conservative agenda he talked about. He appointed Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy, two moderate swing votes, to the Supreme Court to go along with Antonin Scalia, his lone conservative appointee. And he signed the biggest illegal immigrant amnesty bill in the country's history. He allowed spending to skyrocket under his administration, leaving the country saddled with historic debt.Kevin Drum adds:
And he signed the INF treaty! And left the Department of Education intact! And raised taxes half a dozen times! And supported expansion of the EITC!... in addition to his half dozen other tax increases, Reagan raised the payroll tax to rescue Social Security. But no modern day Republican in his right mind would give that a moment's thought.
Friday, January 25, 2008
The Insanity of the Surge
By rrheard:The words epic, immoral, and clusterfuck come to mind everytime I read the ever-dwindling and dishonestly decontextualized narrative being spun by "the surge is succeeding" types...
It saddens me in a way I cannot convey that we'll never know the stories of the uncounted and counted Iraqis who've been killed because of this insane nonsense. I can't even begin to wrap my brain around the lives of MILLIONS of Iraqis displaced as refugees living in camps...
Economy tanking? No problem. Screw the poor again
By VictorM:Well, well, well, looks like the failed trickle-down economics so favored by Republicans has reared its ugly head again. Not that some didn't see it coming, but the current administration and their minions can no longer use smoke and mirrors to hide it. That, my friends, should tell you how bad things really are.
So now, a stimulus package has been hurried together to try to stop the inevitable -- a recession. And are we about to do this the right way? Heck, why break the string of miserable decisions now? Of course this too will be mishandled. Kevin Drum tells us why:
Basically, Republicans insisted that all aspects of the plan had to take the form of "income tax rebates," which automatically excludes the poor and favors the well off. It also does a lousy job of stimulating the economy, but who cares about that? Pelosi managed to improve things a bit, but as long as George Bush is in office we still have to make our ritual obeisances to voodoo economics.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Nothing to offer but fear and smears
By VictorM:Senator John Kerry experienced the right wing smear machine when he was running for president in 2004. If he had responded to them properly, who knows, he might have won that election.
His recollection and assessment are right on:
Right wingers don't really discuss the issues; they merely playing up the fear. They don't discuss the candidates, they merely smear them. And Senator Kerry is right, right wingers are going to be out in full force doing the only things they know how to do.In the New York Times the Republican narrative was first introduced:
"Another Bush adviser said of Mr. Kerry, 'He looks French.'"
In the same article, anonymous Republicans described John Edwards as the "Breck Girl"
Bottom line, we can’t wait until we have a Democratic ticket to combat the right wing’s efforts to “frame” our candidates...
The right-wing has nothing to offer but fear and smears, and they are gearing up to deliver plenty of it. Already we hear of a conservative group with ties to the Bush White House – Freedom’s Watch – that plans to spend a quarter of a billion dollars on this election. I think we all know enough about how the right-wing operates to know that this money won’t go to helping voters make informed choices. That money will go to smearing candidates across America, up and down the ballot.
So, who's the best Democratic candidate to deal with right wingers? Because how he/she does it, may determine who gets the White House.
Stoning Hillary to the White House
By VictorM:The right wing hate for Hillary Clinton has been well documented over the years, but her presidential candidacy is driving some of them to really nutty behavior. The Debate Link has details about the "work" of Roger Stone, one such right wing critter, and suggests this over-the-top hate is actually helping Hillary:
Folks are saying they're tired of this sort of treatment, and they're rising up it against it. So keep it up, Stone. you'll demean her right into the White House.
Tags: hillary clinton, roger stone, right wing
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Liar-in-chief and the seven parrots
By VictorM:This article by Dan Froomkin details the results of an extensive research project to document the lies told by the Bush administration on the lead up to the Iraq invasion and occupation. They don't call them "lies"; they call them "falsehoods." Come on, the list of 935 statements reflect blatant lies because the people involved all new better:
"President Bush, for example, made 232 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and another 28 false statements about Iraq's links to Al Qaeda. Secretary of State Powell had the second-highest total in the two-year period, with 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq's links to Al Qaeda. Rumsfeld and Fleischer each made 109 false statements, followed by Wolfowitz (with 85), Rice (with 56), Cheney (with 48), and McClellan (with 14).
The ideal amount of teen sex
By VictorM:There is no way of knowing, but I wish I could find out how many of the people who say abstinence is the way to go actually had sex as teenagers. I bet plenty of them.
Anyway, on the issue of teen sex, I'm with Atrios, even if he's a dirty hippie:
no, I don't think the ideal amount of teen sex is zero. I think the ideal amount of teen sex is whatever amount of safe and consensual sex between people who have a reasonable understanding of what they're getting up to want to have. We freak out about teen sex because we freak out about sex generally, and more specifically female sex drive, and we screw up a new generation of people by convincing them that "waiting" is the "right" thing to do and sex is somehow wrong, especially because, but not limited to, the fact that we set up women to be the "check" on male sex drive.
Barack Huckabee
By VictorM:Unfortunately, combining religion and politics is here to stay. Mike Huckabee has pushed that envelop further than anyone in modern times, but Barack Obama seems eager to walk within striking distance. If they raise the stakes any higher they'll be walking on water pretty soon:
Today, Greg Sargent posted a brochure which the Obama campaign is distributing in South Carolina which seem to include religious appeals at least as overt and explicit as anything Huckabee has done. The center page of the brochure proclaims -- in the largest letters on the page -- that Obama is a "COMMITTED CHRISTIAN," and includes three pictures of Obama, all of which show him praying or preaching in a Church, and also includes a fourth picture: of the interior of a Church with a large cross lurking in the background. The page also says that Obama is "guided by his Christian faith" and quotes Obama saying: "We do what we do because God is with us.Obama supporters claim that the brochure was necessary to counter the false rumor that he's a Muslim. OK, I can understand that. I just hope Obama never gets accused of being a homosexual; I don't want to see pictures of him fucking his wife.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The end of the world is at hand
By VictorM:Pottersville has more details but here is one piece of evidence that you'll have a hard time denying:
A guy with the same name as the creator of Billy Beer gets killed in a random tornado.Make sure to read the comments section. Bukko_in_Autralia is going to hell!
Monday, January 21, 2008
No point in MLK day if...
By VictorM:In an article that takes us down memory lane, Rick Perlstein reminds us where conservatives had to say about Martin Luther King and how they are singing a different tune today:
When King was shuttling back and forth to Memphis in support of striking garbage workers, Tennessee Governor Buford Ellington typified the conservative establishment's understanding of him: He was "training 3,000 people to start riots." What looks today obviously like transcendent justice looked to conservatives then like anarchy. The conservative response to King--to demonize him in the '60s and to domesticate him today--has always been essentially the same: It has been about coping with the fear that seekers of justice may overturn what we see as the natural order and still be lionized. But if we manage to forget that, sometimes, doing things that terrify people is the only recourse to injustice, there is no point in having a Martin Luther King Day at all.
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By VictorM:Your crystal ball is not working? Try Ice Station Tango ten predictions. How good are they? Hell, so far none of them is wrong. And if you click on the link on prediction number ten, you're a masochist! I can't see that video without cringing. I just don't understand why that girl isn't George Bush's press secretary.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Obama's whining babies
By VictorM:I like Barack Obama, I really do. I'm hoping Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee but I will gladly support Obama if he's the party's choice, however, the behavior of some of his supporters is testing my patience. I don't know if it's youth, political ignorance, or sheer stupidity, but a fringe group of Obama's supporters have become downright obnoxious.
Listen, you whinny asses: when running for president of the United States, everything is fair game: race, gender, candidate's height and weight, drug use, smoking habits, clumsy sentences, stupid references to Ronald Reagan, prior voting record, proposed policies and plans, etc. etc.
Politics is a messy business and just because your candidate may have chosen to run on unrealistic expectations that we all could get along, we don't have to behave that way. And you only look foolish distorting the record of a former president just because he's committing the "crime" of campaigning for his wife. What horror!
Hillary Clinton and John Edwards are not the enemy; the guys with the "R" are.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Ronald Reagan, just like Adolph Hitler
By VictorM:A few weeks ago actor Will Smith made a remark about Adolph Hitler and was angered when the quote was interpreted as Mr. Smith saying that Hitler was basically a "good person." It wasn't at all what Will Smith said, but I remember thinking that it's silly for politicians and famous people to ever use Hitler's name, no matter what the context.
This week we had both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton using Ronald Reagan's name, only to find out that their remarks were blown out of proportion or misinterpreted. Granted, any reasonable reading of their quotes, even if clumsily stated, did not have the meaning attributed by their rivals, but they both ought to know that during the heat of a campaign, reasonable interpretation of their words is not expected.
Everyone in the public eye should know that using Hitler's name is a no-no and Democrats should know that Ronald Reagan's name is just as toxic. Hitler and Reagan were both two miserable failures, even if at two totally different levels.
Huckabee: Typical Republican
By VictorM:Nothing more, nothing less, than your usual Republican hypocrisy:
"South Carolina people know true conservatism when they see it. You don't like people outside the state telling you how you ought to raise your kids. You don't like people from outside the state telling you what to do with the [Confederate] flag. In fact, if somebody came down to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell 'em where to put the pole." -- GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who supports constitutional amendments that would ban abortion nationwide and prohibit any state from legalizing same-sex marriage even if the voters in that state wanted to do so.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Russ Feingold is pure gold; Edwards is not
By VictorM:I'm glad to see that just like me, Senator Russ Feingold (the best Senator in the land), is torn between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for president (although I've finally made my choice). I had excluded John Edwards for not particular reason, but Mister Feingold offers an interesting view of why he excludes the former Senator:
The one that is the most problematic is (John) Edwards, who voted for the Patriot Act, campaigns against it. Voted for No Child Left Behind, campaigns against it. Voted for the China trade deal, campaigns against it. Voted for the Iraq war … He uses my voting record exactly as his platform, even though he had the opposite voting record.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Women's Professional Soccer
By VictorM:A new women's professional soccer league will start playing in 2009. The name of the new league is Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). Their logo features an outline of Mia Hamm, the greatest female soccer player of all times (there is no arguing this point).
Will I be a fan of the league? Yes, in the same way that teenyboppers wearing David Beckham's number 23 jersey at LA Galaxy games are Major League Soccer (MLS) fans. If the league signs Hope Solo, I'll go see her. And Marta. And Heather Mitts.
I wish WPS the best of luck and hope they succeed.
Idiot of the day: Daily Pundit
By VictorM:Our demoralized right wing lunatics just can't get their act together. The Daily Pundit is crying in his beer:
What's idiotic about that? Not much, other then it's just another example of a dittohead repeating what Rush Limbaugh said. Basically, if Rush says it, the parrots repeat it.[S]hould the GOP lose in 2008... It will be, among other things, a vote on the whole of the Bush administration and its legacy, and that, more than anything else, will sink the GOP candidate. Unless, of course, the GOP simply commits suicide with a McCain or Huckabee nomination.
For comic relief, here are some examples of the comments made on the above quote:
There is no one else. thompson is a zombie, Romney is an insane Mormon. Pauol is an alien. googliani is a joke. It’s gotta be the Huck.
Otherwise, I’ll be voting for the Thompson ticket. Anybody who thinks Thompson is a zombie is a moron, by the way. Of course, “gullible moron” is a pretty good description of diehard religious-Hucklebee fans, too.Really, right wingers like these guys have nothing to offer but at least they are good for a laugh.
Segregation was once part of god's plan
By VictorM:Republican Mike Huckabee continues to explain why he feels the US Constitution should be lined up with god's standard:
"The Bible was not written to be amended. The Constitution was," Huckabee said. "Without amendments to the Constitution, women couldn't vote, African-Americans wouldn't be considered people. We have had to historically go back and to clarify, because there've been injustices made because the Constitution wasn't as clear as it needed to be, and that's the point."
I think this point is all that we need to say to rebut Mr. Huckbee's moronic position:
What Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist minister, doesn't say: As historian Mark Newman writes, many Southern Baptists once "defended segregation in the sincere belief that it formed part of God's plan for the human race," and sometimes "cited biblical verses" is support of racial separation.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The US Consitution is flawed -- there's no god in it
By VictorM:Mike Huckabee thinks the US Constitution needs changing to be more in line with the bible. According to him, the Constitution should be explicit about discriminating against gays and banning abortion, which as I understand, is the context for the following remark:
I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do -- is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.Hell, why not? This explains why they are cool with the flooding a whole major US city. What's next? Bringing back slavery, legitimizing incest, and crucifying rabble-rouser's?
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Like I needed another reason to root against New England
By VictorM:I don't like the New England Revolution soccer team of Major League Soccer. I tended to like Liverpool FC from England, but not anymore. And, except when they play against the NY Red Bulls, I'll be rooting for the new Seattle Sounders (I'm still hoping they keep that name), Chicago Fire, and the LA Galaxy. Why? Because how their owners have made political contributions.
Although Victor McFarlane, owner of DC United, donated to Obama's campaign (a good thing), I will always despised DC United. With their all black uniforms, they remind me of the lines from the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, Smell that Smell:
Ooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell
Ooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you
Monday, January 14, 2008
Kos Kids need a spanking
By VictorM:I know it's easy these days to get people worked up into a frenzy but I never realized it would be this easy. These are words taken from a comment at Daily Kos:
Falling right into right wingers' talking points: it's all Clinton's fault after all. Oh well... I can only assume what candidate that poster is voting for. Can't someone be for Obama or Edwards without having to tar Clinton? Of course they can, but the vocal ones on Daily Kos are like a mob out of control. It's one thing to disagree; it's another to be Red State bat crazy about it!it's time for the rose-colored glasses to come off...I used to adore Bill, but now that I know a little more about how the world works, I feel Bill really started us down the path of corporate domination of politics...
Yeah, he was better than Reagan and Bush, but that is a really, really low bar to set....
The middle class is poorer because of some of Bill's actions....
That comment was taken from a comment in diary comparing Daily Kos, a site dedicated to Democratic politics, to Red State, the despicable right winger site frequented by the biggest morons on the planet. While I would not go that far, there is, sadly, some element of truth about that statement.
Whether instigated by the campaigns, the enemy, flamers, or the sheer stupidity of short memories, some of the Kos members need a spanking.
Giuliani, God, and Gullibility
By VictorM:So the 9/11 man is running for his political life in Florida and guess what he discovered? God himself, that's right:
The usually brilliant Steve Bennen asked a really dumb question, one that liberals should already know the answer to:The former mayor, whose second divorce has left him on the outs with his own Catholic Church, started a three-day bus tour through Florida Sunday with a visit to the bilingual El Rey Jesus, a Hispanic evangelical Christian church here...
“This is a beautiful church, and I can feel the spirit of God in this room,” Giuliani told the 7,000 or so worshipers.
For crying out loud, is anyone really gullible enough to believe such shameless pandering?
The answer is: Yes, Steve! Around 7,000 in that church alone, but a country full of them. Based on the last two presidential elections, I'd say the number is around 50 million.
Wrong track
By VictorM:Another poll, another glimmer of hope that Americans in general have a pulse on just how fucked up Bush and his cronies have been:
Three in four Americans think the country is off on the wrong track, matching the highest number recorded in the twenty-five years since CBS News began asking the question. Only 19% say it is headed in the right direction, matching the all-time low reached last June.But there's not question here: Republicans by and large still continue to choose party over country. And who the hell is the one Democrat in 10 that still support this bozo? Point them out to me so I can kick them in the nuts.
Worries about the direction of the country coincide with a low job approval rating for the president. 29% of Americans approve of the way President Bush is handling his job as president. Approval has hovered around 30% for the past year.
What approval is left of the president is fueled mainly by members of the president’s own party. 66% of Republicans still approve of how he is handling his job, while nearly six in 10 Independents and nearly nine in 10 Democrats disapprove.
Bottled water is a no no
By VictorM:Bottled water is a no no? Huh? Yeah, you heard me. When you look at what to takes to make the bottles and transport them, they are quite a burden on the environment. Want the details? Click here and read Ask Pablo, a new feature in Salon.com about the environment.
To get a flavor of what I'm talking about, here's one paragraph:
First, the manufacturing of plastic bottles, which are often made from nonrecycled virgin material, requires vast quantities of petroleum, and only 12 percent of this material is recovered for recycling. The total mass of an empty 1-liter bottle is around 25 grams (this varies from brand to brand) and it is made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate). One kilogram (1 kg = 2.2046 lbs.) of this type of plastic requires around 6.5 kilograms of oil, uses 294 kilograms of water (this includes power plant cooling water), and results in 3.7 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions. Based on my calculations, an empty 1-liter bottle requires over 7 liters of water in its manufacturing process, uses 162 grams of oil, and results in over 100 grams of greenhouse gas emissions. (That's about 10 balloons full of carbon dioxide, or how much an average car emits over half a kilometer or one-third of a mile.)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Consequences of the Iraq war at home
By VictorM:It is long, detailed, and a very depressing article to read, but it points out that the evils of the Iraq war aren't limited to the thousands of deaths in Iraq and to the billions spend. The Iraq war has been finding its way into our neighborhoods:
The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war...Three-quarters of these veterans were still in the military at the time of the killing. More than half the killings involved guns, and the rest were stabbings, beatings, strangulations and bathtub drownings. Twenty-five offenders faced murder, manslaughter or homicide charges for fatal car crashes resulting from drunken, reckless or suicidal driving.
About a third of the victims were spouses, girlfriends, children or other relatives...
Friday, January 11, 2008
The Republican agenda
By VictorM:Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan... see it for yourself
Latest craze in cosmetic surgeries for women
By VictorM:Having a Barbie in every port, what else could a man ask for? For that is the wave of the future:
G-spot amplification? Please, can you make them as big as their heads?Hymenoplasty, vaginal tightening, revirgination, G-spot amplification and labial reduction are the latest craze in cosmetic surgeries for women with more money than sense. Surgeries that were originally designed to help overcome some of the more debilitating side effects of childbirth have now been appropriated by an industry whose sole purpose is to convince women that they're imperfect and to profit from the plummeting self-esteem they promote.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
No matter how you slice it, lots of people have died
By VictorM:Ascertaining the actual number of people who have died in Iraq is a difficult task but it doesn't stop people from trying and coming up with wide differences:
No matter what number we use, that's a whole lot of people dying and a whole lot of family and friends who won't look kindly to those that brought them such destruction.A new survey estimates that 151,000 Iraqis died from violence in the three years following the U.S.-led invasion of the country. Roughly 9 out of 10 of those deaths were a consequence of U.S. military operations, insurgent attacks and sectarian warfare...
The three-year toll of violent deaths calculated in the survey is one-quarter the size of that found in a smaller survey by Iraqi and Johns Hopkins University researchers published in the journal Lancet in 2006...
Les Roberts, an epidemiologist now at Columbia University who helped direct the Johns Hopkins survey, also praised the new one... "My gut feeling is that most of the difference between the two studies is a reluctance to report to the government a death due to violence," he said. "If your son is fighting the government and died, that may not be something you'd want to admit to the government."
Who is your choice for president?
By VictorM:Posting in our quiet, peaceful, popups free discussion forum, rreppy says:
I fear it strains historical credulity to think that, if Obama is elected, there won't be even one out of a population of 300 million that won't drive his tobacco-chewin', Klan-hooded, whiskey-swillin', bible thumpin' redneck ass up to Washington and use a bullet to "make America safe for White People". Yeah, I know, makes me want to puke. But who will deny that it's a distinct possibility - even a probability?Come share your answer with us: Who is your choice for president?
So, I'm not voting for Obama, because he's such a nice guy I'd like to see him live; perhaps to hold a Cabinet position or something. I get the feeling his wife will be tremendously relieved if he loses the nomination.
Questions and more questions
By Dave Barry:[O]f Hillary Clinton: When her eyes appeared to well up with tears during a campaign appearance at a New Hampshire diner, was that real welling? Or did she fake the welling? If she did, in fact, well, do we know for certain that those were her own personal tears? Why was no sample made available to the media for testing?
Among the unanswered questions on the Republican side are: Is John McCain, at 117, too old and cranky to be president? Like, during the White House Easter Egg Roll, would he come outside in his bathrobe and yell, ''You kids get off my lawn!'' Does Mitt Romney contain any human DNA whatsoever? Does he, for example, burp? Can he emit bodily aromas? And is there any TV show that Mike Huckabee will NOT appear on?
Yes, we should impeach
By VictorM:George McGovern calls for the impeachment of both George Bush and Dick Chaney. Is anybody going to listen to him? Of course not. But that doesn't mean he's wrong:
Mr. McGovern knows impeachment will not happen, and he knows well why not:Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly "high crimes and misdemeanors," to use the constitutional standard.
The dominant commitment of the administration has been a murderous, illegal, nonsensical war against Iraq. That irresponsible venture has killed almost 4,000 Americans, left many times that number mentally or physically crippled, claimed the lives of an estimated 600,000 Iraqis (according to a careful October 2006 study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and laid waste their country.
The political scene is marked by narrow and sometimes superficial partisanship, especially among Republicans, and a lack of courage and statesmanship on the part of too many Democratic politicians. So the chances of a bipartisan impeachment and conviction are not promising.Yes, we're a nation too lazy, too cowardly, and too comfortable to do the right