Bush, lie?

"a wiretap requires a court order. ...When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."

George Bush at an April 2004 event promoting the Patriot Act

Powell Speaks Out on Domestic Spy Program

Much funnier when Kerry does it. Powell? just not funny. Go figure.

Loyalty (to Bush) over country: we paid the price

Brownie knew two years before Katrina that FEMA would fail. AND he put in in writing AND he sent it to his boss,Tom Ridge, who was appointed by BUSH. (Once again, you can blame George Bush)
Brown remained loyal to the organization at the cost to his country:
What price loyalty?
You do NOT work in the executive branch if you are not loyal to George Bush: screw the country, bow to Bush.
"The writer warned that the shift would make a mockery of FEMA's new motto, 'A Nation Prepared,' and would 'fundamentally sever FEMA from its core functions,' 'shatter agency morale,' and 'break longstanding, effective and tested relationships with states and first responder stakeholders.'"

Idea born of some scientists' gnawing doubts about Darwin | IndyStar.com

Would a future race of computers be the result of our Intelligent Design? Or would it plausibly been seen as confoundlingly serendipitous, happy accident upon happy accident, as many discoveries have been ?
Nanorobot constructed bodies and minds running on light and lasers and memory and capable of making modifications to themselves to produce "better" ones?
What we know is very very recent, as is our own actual being on this planet: when indeed did we become "human"? We have emotions and "morals" most by denying such attributes to any other living thing and that's just wrong (eg, the squid takes care of her young). We are but beings that are capable of getting to what we are, but take todays mind and body and remove all accumlated knowledge and we would be, literally, starting again: language? tools? clothings? society?
What would robots living in an environment that had become totally hostile to carbon based life forms find to be a resonable progression? Anybody NOT find snippets of totally useless code in old programs? Here, we talk of a few decades. What would machine readable code for a machine whose instruction set hasn't been seen for 100K years be thought to be?
That all being said, saying "Intelligent Design" and shuttering the labs and burnings the scientists doesn't seem very noble.

"Now tell me. Am I lyin?"*

A simple analysis of what is and what went wrong in Iraq: Bush.

*from True Romance

Avian influenza - World Health Organization

16 December 2005

The Ministry of Health in China has confirmed an additional case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case is a 35-year-old man from the south-eastern province of Jiangxi. He developed symptoms of fever on 4 December followed by pneumonia. He remains hospitalized and is receiving intensive care.

Agricultural authorities have confirmed the presence of the H5 virus subtype in ducks in the vicinity of the patient’s residence. Family members and close contacts have been placed under medical observation.

This is China’s sixth laboratory-confirmed human case. Of these cases, two have been fatal. To date, China has reported human cases in five provinces and regions: Hunan, Anhui, Guangxi, Liaoning,and Jiangxi.

14 December 2005

The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed a further case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case occurred in a 35-year-old man from West Jakarta. He developed symptoms of fever, cough and breathing difficulty on 6 November, was hospitalized on 9 November, and died on 19 November.

Family members and close contacts were placed under observation and tested for possible infection. No evidence of additional cases has been detected.

Investigations have been undertaken to determine the source of the man’s exposure. While he did not keep poultry in his household, chickens and other birds were found in his neighbourhood. Samples from these birds have been taken and are undergoing tests to determine whether they may have been the source of infection.

The newly confirmed case is the 14th in Indonesia. Of these cases, nine have been fatal.

Bleak House

The data is right there. Zakaria, the guy who writes the data, seems to choke on reading what it really says: it ain't pretty. Bush performs for a constituency of his own selection, and it is not the people of the United States: his friends and family.
Zakaria calls him the most isolated president in modern history, and this in an age of speedy global communication and trade.

Reality television...

Bizarre. This guy must have spent too much time on the set. I thought Tony already took care of this loser?

An American city is lost: blame Bush.

New Orleans.
For heaven's sake, blame Bush.
It is time: hold him accountable, fully accountable, like you would any other terrorist.

Oh, not to be in Nebraska

Weekly US Map: Influenza Summary Update
Week ending December 3, 2005-Week 48

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Eyewitness: "I Never Heard the Word 'Bomb'"

A passenger on Flight 924 gives his account of the shooting and says Rigoberto Alpizar never claimed to have a bomb

"I don't believe he should be dead right now."

Chinese Police Kill Villagers

Chinese Police Kill Villagers During Two-Day Land Protest

By Edward Cody

Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, December 9, 2005; Page A01

DONGZHOU, China, Dec. 8 -- Paramilitary police and anti-riot units opened fire with pistols and automatic rifles Tuesday night and Wednesday night on farmers and fishermen who had attacked them with gasoline bombs and explosive charges, according to residents of this small coastal village.

The sustained volleys of gunfire, unprecedented in a wave of peasant uprisings over the last two years in China, killed between 10 and 20 villagers and injured more, according to the residents. The count was uncertain, they said, because a number of villagers could not be located after the confrontations.

[more...]

This you gotta watch!

Holy shit: George Bush could actually speak 10 years ago, and he was good!
Whoever is in the office of president now is NOT the man we saw 10 years ago.
You watch. And tell me if I'm lyin'.

The US under Bush: the undoing of America

The US has come under heavy fire for renewed refusals to commit itself to binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions targets.
At a major UN summit on climate change held in Montreal, which is entering a crucial stage, Washington has blocked a Canadian proposal for a two-year round of multilateral talks on a global long-term strategy to curb climate change.
Y'know, maybe it's just Christianity:-) That's pretty much where we totally lead.

Council on Foreign Relations

From the opening remarks of a speech of Bush by Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations

"Those who established the Council nearly 85 years ago wanted to help prepare the American people for the challenges of world leadership."+

How does one "prepare" the American people for "world leadership" anyway, and why should we "lead"?

One world war and one cold war later, the United States faces a very different set of challenges in a very different world. One constant, though, is that U.S. leadership remains essential if there is to be order, prosperity, and opportunity around the globe.

So is it me, or could you read that as a threat?

The Debt To the Penny

Current           Amount

12/06/2005        $8,122,710,788,511.92

Scalia demonstrates he is unfit to serve

The lawyer for Planned Parenthood – fighting to declare the law unconstitutional – said requiring doctors to go to a judge would delay medical treatment, which could jeopardize a pregnant minor’s health, including “stroke and even infertility.”
Justice Scalia was unimpressed with that argument, saying it “takes 30 seconds to make a phone call” to a judge before performing an abortion.
Justice Scalia is simply a fool. Just that.
In commenting on the possible requirement to consult a judge on an emergency abortion case, Scalia suggests that it would only take 30 seconds to make a phone call. And that is true, but this supreme court justice fails to consider the sequence of events that must immediately follow, and that is the conversation and the details of the case in progress upon which the judge, assuming she is asked to render a decision, MUST insist on knowing in great detail before rendering a decision.
This kind of lapse in judgement by Scalia, a supreme court justice is so flippant and so eggregious as to render him unfit for office.