Wealthy, Un-Educated & Broke (but armed to the teeth...)

The USA is bemoaning it's lost status as a world power....and one of the reasons is

Farewell to an old friend over the years. Andy Rooney

First off, I'd like to express how deeply & truly sad I am at the death of Andy Rooney from CBS' 60 Minutes.

I grew up watching that show every Sunday night. If you knew me as a kid, it was playing in my home every Sunday when you were over for some of my mom's barely edible steaks, if you knew me as a young adult then it was playing every Sunday over Chinese/Pizza takeout AND if you had known me on Oct 6, 2011 when he did his last broadcast, I was there watching as well.

Andy represented to me a kindly, grumpy, wise and yet childish grandfather. He said some pretty pertinent shit, called it like he saw it and for all his faults, he was at least honest with himself and his audience.

I will miss him and his bushy eyebrows every Sunday from now on.

RIP Andy, you will be missed in my household.

Some quotes stolen from CNN (don't worry...they can afford it)


(CNN) -- Andy Rooney, who died Saturday at the age of 92, had the last word each week on the CBS news magazine "60 Minutes." Here are some of his great lines from those essays, along with a few others, that reveal his talent as a writer and the dry wit that made him famous.

"I try to look nice. I comb my hair, I tie my tie, I put on a jacket, but I draw the line when it comes to trimming my eyebrows. You work with what you got." -- from an essay on his eyebrows, Nov. 24, 1996

"We need people who can actually do things. We have too many bosses and too few workers. More college graduates ought to become plumbers or electricians, then go home at night and read Shakespeare." -- from an essay on finding a good job, March 21, 2010

"We didn't shock them, and we didn't awe them in Baghdad. The phrase makes us look like foolish braggarts. The president ought to fire whoever wrote that for him." -- on the start of the war in Iraq in 2003

"I recently bought this new laptop to use when I travel. Look at that. Fits right into my briefcase. It weighs less than three pounds. I lose that much getting mad, waiting to get on the plane through security at the airport." -- from an essay on computers, Feb. 11, 2009

"We can all be prouder to be human beings, because that's what they were. They make up for a lot of liars, cheats, and terrorists among us." -- on the astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger after it exploded on takeoff in 1986

"Not many people in this world are as lucky as I've been. ... All this time I've been paid to say what is on my mind on television. You don't get any luckier in life than that." -- from Rooney's final "60 Minutes" essay, Oct. 2, 2011

"One of the things we can be sure of over the July 4th weekend is that news reports will keep telling us how many of us are going to die in automobile accidents." -- from Rooney's first "60 Minutes" essay, July 2, 1978

"The third rule of life is this: Everything you buy today is smaller, more expensive, and not as good as it was yesterday." -- from an essay on coffee cans, Oct. 23, 1988

"A lot of these products are actually pretty good. But why are they always trying to con us with the contrived pictures on the box that don't look anything like you get when you eat it?" -- from an essay on the pictures on food packages, Dec. 4, 1988

"I don't know anything offhand that mystifies Americans more than the cotton they put in pill bottles. Why do they do it? Are you supposed to put the cotton back in once you've taken a pill out?" -- from an essay on pill bottles, Oct. 12, 1986

"I understand shipping -- you have to expect to pay for the stamps or for the freight company -- but what's this handling they always have? How much does handling cost, anyway? I don't want a lot of people handling something I'm going to buy before I get it. How much would it cost if you didn't handle it before you sent it to me?" -- from an essay on fine print, March 12, 1989

"Dogs are nicer than people." -- from an essay on the true things in life, Dec. 5, 2007

"I did not believe in the war. I thought it was wrong to go into any war. And I got to the war, and saw the Germans, and I changed my mind. I decided we were right going into World War II." -- from a CBS interview with Morley Safer, Oct. 2, 2011

"I am interested in details. If you go into anything far enough, you get into the details of it, and people turn out to be interested in what makes things work." -- from a 2010 interview in The Colgate Scene

Laws for 21st century: A guide to Canada’s proposed cyber investigation bills

Kathryn Blaze Carlson Oct 22, 2011 – 10:35 AM ET | Last Updated: Oct 23, 2011 11:01 AM ET


Canadians spend more time online than anyone else in the world — an average of 44 hours per month — and nearly a third of the population owns a smartphone, spending more than 17 hours on the device each week. So when the Conservative government reintroduces three pieces of lawful access legislation aimed at giving police greater powers and more tools to conduct investigations using new technologies, Canadians should have a clear understanding of what is on the table. However, much of the rhetoric circulating online about the legislation is patently untrue, distracting from the meat of the bills and the very real privacy implications at stake. Although it is unclear whether the bills will appear exactly as they did when they were first tabled in the spring, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said this month his government is committed to reintroducing the lawful access legislation. Post reporter Kathryn Blaze Carlson has studied the previous legislation and spoken to experts. Here, she offers up eight things it would do — and three it would not:

1. CREATING “BACK DOORS” FOR POLICE INTERCEPTION The Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act would require telecommunications and Internet service providers to be capable of decrypting, decoding, and preserving historic and real-time online and telephone communications, essentially creating built-in “back doors” for police interception. Some providers already have this capability, but they preserve information on their servers for different lengths of time depending on company policy. Some smaller providers do not have this capability at all, particularly certain ones in northern Ontario and Quebec, said Christopher Parsons, a doctoral candidate at the University of Victoria studying digital surveillance. Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, said it is “very frustrating from an investigative perspective” when police obtain a court order to intercept communications, only to learn the relevant Internet service provider is technically incapable of digging up the communications data. The act would also give the RCMP and CSIS the authority to conduct background security checks on any employees who are involved in intercepting communications. Mr. Parsons said it is unclear whether the legislation will target anything more than the “low-hanging fruit” because savvy criminals will be able to evade authorities by encrypting their messages and sending them through several network nodes.


2. OBTAINING BASIC CUSTOMER INFORMATION WITHOUT A WARRANT Police could demand that telecommunications and Internet service providers turn over a customer’s name, address, telephone number, email address, and Internet protocol address — and they could do so without a warrant under exceptional circumstances. “When Internet service providers hear ‘exceptional circumstances,’ they hear ‘whenever (police) want,’” Mr. Parsons said. Michael Geist, chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, said that sort of customer information could be linked with other bits of information to build a detailed profile. It can also be used to “out” someone using a pseudonym in an online chat forum. “All of a sudden, you go from ‘HoneyBunny14’ or ‘BlackAnarchist’ to ‘John Smith’ living at a particular address with a particular phone number,” Mr. Parsons said, adding that social activists are concerned police will use the provision to monitor people organizing legal protests or expressing dissent online. Beyond that, the target is not necessarily the only person using a particular Internet protocol address, so others could be inadvertently monitored at a later stage in the investigation. Mr. Stamatakis said this sort of additional power would be exercised to investigate only the most serious crimes, including child pornography, organized crime and terrorism. “The legislation recognizes the technology criminals are using today,” he said, echoing Mr. Toews comments earlier this month that the Criminal Code contains out-of-date language such as the word “telegraph.”

3. CREATING NEW POLICE POWERS TO OBTAIN COMMUNICATIONS DATA Without a warrant, police could make a “preservation demand” requiring telecommunications and Internet service providers to single out a customer and preserve for 90 days what Dwayne Winseck, a Carleton University communications professor who has studied the Internet for two decades, called “meta data.” So-called meta data is communications information generated during the creation, transmission or reception of a communication including the type, time, duration, origin, and destination of the communication. Police would then have to ask a judge for a “production order” to actually obtain the preserved information. Once police get the court order, they could, for example, find out who a person called on their cell phone, the duration of the call, and when the call was placed. Importantly, the proposed legislation excludes the actual content of the conversation. Once police have a copy of what they want, the service providers must destroy the information. The warantless provision is a welcome one, Mr. Stamatakis said, because it acts as a stop-gap measure while police work to obtain a warrant — a lengthy, labour-intensive process at times.

4. CUSTOMERS MAY NEVER KNOW IF, OR WHY, THEY WERE TARGETED The proposed surveillance legislation says authorities could prohibit telecommunications and Internet service providers from telling a customer that he or she was the subject of information disclosures. The potential cumulative effect of all this legislation, said Mr. Geist, is self-censorship: “What we’re creating is nothing like the Chinese firewall … but I think it could have a chilling effect in terms of people’s willingness to express themselves online, even if they’re not doing anything illegal.”

5. POSSIBLY INCREASED COSTS FOR CELL PHONE AND INTERNET SERVICE If telecommunications and Internet service providers are forced to upgrade their technology and train their staff to use it, then their capital and operating costs will inevitably climb. “Customers might end up paying the added cost for something that could be used against them at any time,” Mr. Parsons said, adding the requirement could also squeeze out smaller, cash-strapped providers.

6. TRACKING DIALED NUMBERS WITHOUT A WARRANT The proposed legislation would allow police to install and use number recorders without a warrant in “exigent circumstances.” A number recorder, which records the telephone numbers associated with outgoing and incoming calls, would be installed remotely by a telecommunications provider at their call centre hub. The installation can last up to 60 days, but it could be extended to one year if a warrant is obtained and if the investigation involves organized crime or terrorism.

7. COVERTLY ACTIVATING DEVICES TO TRACK CELL PHONES AND VEHICLES The proposed legislation brings police powers into the 21st century by tacitly acknowledging that vehicles and mobile phones — and therefore the people using them — can be tracked using GPS or cell towers. The Criminal Code currently says police can, with a warrant or without one in an emergency, “install, maintain and remove a tracking device in or on any thing, including a thing carried, used or worn by any person.” The proposed bill would extend that list to include the power to “activate” a device, “including covertly.” Mr. Parsons said this allows police to “take advantage of existing technologies,” and said he would not object to the provision if it ensured there would be court oversight.

8. OPENING THE DOOR TO “FISHING EXPEDITIONS” The legislation surrounding preservation and production orders would allow police to get information from telecommunications and Internet service providers based on “reasonable grounds to suspect” the information would “assist an investigation.” The existing Criminal Code does not offer a similarly vague suspicion, but rather stipulates “reasonable grounds to believe” an offence “has been or is suspected to have been committed” or that the information will “afford evidence respecting the commission of the offence.” Mr. Winseck said this opens the door for police to go on “fishing expeditions” and potentially “turns the relationship between the cops and (Internet Service Providers) into a routine one.”

… AND THREE MISCONCEPTIONS

1. HYPERLINKING TO HATE PROPAGANDA WILL BE CRIMINALIZED When the legislative summary of one of the bills surfaced saying “the offences of public incitement of hatred and willful promotion of hatred may be committed… by creating a hyperlink that directs web surfers to a website where hate material is posted,” onlookers criticized the bill as overly far-reaching. However, the actual bill makes no explicit reference to hyperlinking, instead expanding the definition of “communicating” hate material to include “making available.” It is true the vague definition of “communicating” could capture posting a link to another website, but a recent Supreme Court libel decision will likely quiet that fear: The judges decided unanimously this week that a person cannot be held responsible for what appears on a hyperlinked site.

2. POLICE WILL GET NEW POWERS TO LISTEN IN ON PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS
The legislation does not extend police powers to intercept the actual content of private communications, for example what was said in a telephone call or written in an email. Mr. Toews has said those claims — put forward by online privacy activists — are a “complete fabrication.” Also, the Criminal Code already allows police to intercept private communications without a warrant, so long as the situation is urgent and the interception could prevent serious harm to a person or property.

3. INTERNET PROVIDERS WILL MONITOR ALL CANADIANS, ALL THE TIME
The government has been accused of embarking on warrantless online wiretapping where Canadians will be constantly monitored, but Mr. Geist said on his blog these charges amount to “political softball.” Yes, telecommunications and Internet service providers will need the capability to preserve information on all users, regardless of whether or not they are subject to an investigation. But those providers must only preserve and produce information relating to users who are actually targeted by police.

National Post kcarlson@nationalpost.com

Economist blasts GOP’s ‘seven biggest economic lies’

A really good primer on the economy by Mr. Riech. Former Labor Secretary Under President Clinton, now a Harvard Economist & Professor.

What I'm saying is this guy probably knows a LOT more about the economy and it's triggers than some politician who just got elected based on how many times he/she says "God Bless America" or how photogenic he/she is.

___________________________________________________________

By Robert Reich
The President’s Jobs Bill doesn’t have a chance in Congress — and the Occupiers on Wall Street and elsewhere can’t become a national movement for a more equitable society – unless more Americans know the truth about the economy.

Below is a short (2 minute 30 second) effort to rebut the seven biggest whoppers now being told by those who want to take America backwards. The major points:

1. Tax cuts for the rich trickle down to everyone else.
Baloney. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both sliced taxes on the rich and what happened? Most Americans’ wages (measured by the real median wage) began flattening under Reagan and has dropped since George W. Bush. Trickle-down economics is a cruel joke.

2. Higher taxes on the rich would hurt the economy and slow job growth.
False. From the end of World War II until 1981, the richest Americans faced a top marginal tax rate of 70 percent or above. Under Dwight Eisenhower it was 91 percent. Even after all deductions and credits, the top taxes on the very rich were far higher than they’ve been since. Yet the economy grew faster during those years than it has since. (Don’t believe small businesses would be hurt by a higher marginal tax; fewer than 2 percent of small business owners are in the highest tax bracket.)

3. Shrinking government generates more jobs.
Wrong again. It means fewer government workers – everyone from teachers, fire fighters, police officers, and social workers at the state and local levels to safety inspectors and military personnel at the federal. And fewer government contractors, who would employ fewer private-sector workers. According to Moody’s economist Mark Zandi (a campaign advisor to John McCain), the $61 billion in spending cuts proposed by the House GOP will cost the economy 700,000 jobs this year and next.

4. Cutting the budget deficit now is more important than boosting the economy.
Untrue. With so many Americans out of work, budget cuts now will shrink the economy. They’ll increase unemployment and reduce tax revenues. That will worsen the ratio of the debt to the total economy. The first priority must be getting jobs and growth back by boosting the economy. Only then, when jobs and growth are returning vigorously, should we turn to cutting the deficit.

5. Medicare and Medicaid are the major drivers of budget deficits.
Wrong. Medicare and Medicaid spending is rising quickly, to be sure. But that’s because the nation’s health-care costs are rising so fast. One of the best ways of slowing these costs is to use Medicare and Medicaid’s bargaining power over drug companies and hospitals to reduce costs, and to move from a fee-for-service system to a fee-for-healthy outcomes system. And since Medicare has far lower administrative costs than private health insurers, we should make Medicare available to everyone.

6. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
Don’t believe it. Social Security is solvent for the next 26 years. It could be solvent for the next century if we raised the ceiling on income subject to the Social Security payroll tax. That ceiling is now $106,800.

7. It’s unfair that lower-income Americans don’t pay income tax.
Wrong. There’s nothing unfair about it. Lower-income Americans pay out a larger share of their paychecks in payroll taxes, sales taxes, user fees, and tolls than everyone else.
Demagogues through history have known that big lies, repeated often enough,  start being believed unless they’re rebutted. These seven economic whoppers are just plain wrong. Make sure you know the truth – and spread it on.

Occupy Wall Street - And anywhere else you can

The New York City General Assembly — the decision-making body for the “Occupy Wall Street” protest in lower Manhattan — approved a statement of purpose on Friday amid concerns that the movement lacked a clear message.

As corporations enjoy near record profits and Americans face staggering unemployment, protesters have pledged to occupy Wall Street in lower Manhattan until something is done about corporate greed and the influence of the wealthy on American politics. The protesters have been camped out in New York’s old Liberty Plaza, now called Zuccotti Park, since September 17.


As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
 
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. 

We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. 

We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

• They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
• They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
• They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
• They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
• They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
• They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
• They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
• They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
• They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
• They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
• They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
• They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
• They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
• They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
• They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
• They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
• They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
• They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
• They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
• They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
• They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *

To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

Who here thinks YOU aren't being spied on ?

 Taken from WIRED
Which Telecoms Store Your Data the Longest? Secret Memo Tells All By David Kravets Email Author September 28, 2011 | 6:30 am |

________________________________________________________________

The nation’s major mobile-phone providers are keeping a treasure trove of sensitive data on their customers, according to newly-released Justice Department internal memo that for the first time reveals the data retention policies of America’s largest telecoms.

The single-page Department of Justice document, “Retention Periods of Major Cellular Service Providers,” is a guide for law enforcement agencies looking to get information — like customer IP addresses, call logs, text messages and web surfing habits – out of U.S. telecom companies, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.

The document, marked “Law Enforcement Use Only” and dated August 2010, illustrates there are some significant differences in how long carriers retain your data.

Verizon, for example, keeps a list of everyone you’ve exchanged text messages with for the past year, according to the document. But T-Mobile stores the same data up to five years. It’s 18 months for Sprint, and seven years for AT&T.

That makes Verizon appear to have the most privacy-friendly policy. Except that Verizon is alone in retaining the actual contents of text messages. It allegedly stores the messages for five days, while T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint don’t store them at all.

The document was unearthed by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina via a Freedom of Information Act claim. (After the group gave a copy to Wired.com, we also discovered it in two other places on the internet by searching its title.)

“People who are upset that Facebook is storing all their information should be really concerned that their cell phone is tracking them everywhere they’ve been,” said Catherine Crump, an ACLU staff attorney. “The government has this information because it wants to engage in surveillance.”

The biggest difference in retention surrounds so-called cell-site data.

That is information detailing a phone’s movement history via its connections to mobile phone towers while its traveling. Verizon keeps that data on a one-year rolling basis; T-Mobile for “a year or more;” Sprint up to two years, and AT&T indefinitely, from July 2008.

The document also includes retention policies for Nextel and Virgin Mobile. They have folded into the Sprint network.

The document release comes two months before the Supreme Court hears a case testing the government’s argument that it may use GPS devices to monitor a suspect’s every movement without a warrant. And the disclosure comes a month ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Electronic Privacy Communications Act, an outdated law that the government often invokes against targets to obtain, without a warrant, the data the Justice Department document describes.

“I don’t think there there is anything on this list the government would concede requires a warrant,” said Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “This brings cellular retention practices out of the shadows, so we can have a rational discussion about how the law needs to be changed when it comes to the privacy of our records.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) has proposed legislation to alter the Electronic Privacy Communications Act to protect Americans from warrantless intrusions. Debate on the issue is expected to heat up as the anniversary nears, and the Justice Department document likely will take center stage.

Not Your Parent's Ecomony Anymore.....

Wonder why we don't hear more about this in the media, or why our politicians aren't doing anything to rectify this ? Could it be that the media are owned by the wealthy and the politicians are beholden to the wealthy ? NAH....that would be too conspiratorial...too outlandish...Tickle Down Economics works !! Just look for yourself...

Click to Expand

Debt Blame Game - Donkey vs. Elephant Edition

Well, August 2nd is just around the corner and you know what that means kids. That's right......The favorite pasttime of American Politicians is in full swing. It's time to let's play

"Your party is responsible for the current economic morass.....No, yours is.....No Yours is.....NO YOURS IS.....BOOM !!"

For a much saner explanation (if you need one) on what the graph above is trying to illustrate, please refer to the Atlantic that I blatantly ripped it off from.

Give us your money AND we'll F@CK you over.....

Recently a man in the US tried to cash a cheque and for his troubles, he lost his freedom, his job and his car.

It seems that the IRS (the US taxman) had given this guy a home buyer rebate which these blood suckers (Chase Bank) then converted into a cashier's cheque.

Now unless you've been living on the dark side of the moon, you know that a cashier's cheque is as good as gold. Sure, you gotta show a ton of ID to prove you're the payee but once that's established, you get your funds. 

Well, that's exactly what this guy did. He handed over his drivers license and a credit card proving his identity, that the cheque was his, it was his money, being cashed in the bank that issued the cheque to him in the first place etc..etc..etc..

Well, for reasons still unfathomable to any rational person, he was charged with trying to pass a bad cheque and was thrown in jail. Now while in jail, he obviously couldn't go to work and so he got fired from his job. His car, which had been sitting in the bank's parking lot was seized by the bank, towed away and auctioned off (over a weekend it seems) so now he's got no car. To top it all off, the bank has yet to apologize for any of it's actions. 

But I bet that somewhere on an American TV there's an ad from this freakin' bank claiming that they love their customers and want you to deposit with them...

I hope that this man sues the living bejesus out of them. I mean for MILLIONS. I want to see his ordeal highlighted on CNN, FOX and MSNBC !!

This guy lost his freedom, his livelihood, his vehicle and these blood sucking parasitical cocksu@kers can't even muster up a "whoops, my bad..." ? Then again, his name is Ikenna Njoku which in the USA seems to be enough to suspect him of something...afterall, you just can't trust them........

SHAME !! 

(full story here)

Hey NASA, Egypt & Tunisia....Chill Out !!

Here's a little tidbit to gnaw on over the summer. (click the post title for a link to the original story)

You know how it gets hot in the summertime right ? In some places around the world, it gets really, really hot...I mean 120 in the shade...sweat dripping from places you'd rather it didn't...kinda hot...

Well, turns out that the US Military, with it's two ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq don't like the heat any more than you or I do, at least not that kinda heat. Soooo....what's their solution ? Just like you and I, they crank up the A/C. Now we all know that air conditioning is energy intensive. Your gas milage drops, your electricity bill climbs and god forbid you have the frost blasting while you've got the window open. Remember how your parents would freak out on you over that ?!?

Well.....the US Military is spending more on A/C for it's troops in Iraq & Afghanistan than.......
The entire budget of NASA or The total aid offered to fledgling democracies in Egypt and Tunisia promoting and supporting freedom where little existed 6 months ago.

Now they'll tell us that it's the cost of the fuel + the transport of the fuel + the other assorted infrastructure but come on !!
- That it's higher than NASA or Democracy
- It's $20 Billion. That's one helluva A/C bill AND it's one tiny budget for NASA or Democracy.

To top it all off, if the Pentagon would only insulate their tents & buildings, they could save upwards of 92% in fuel to run the A/C. They have done the studies, have the results, the technology is available and the ongoing bills are staggering. But so far, they just haven't twigged to the fact that they could save some gas/oil if only they closed a window or put up some foam insulation.... Secretary Gates or President Obama needs to only sign a one page memo to make it happen !!

Also, lets not forget that in those two countries, with populations of Tens of Millions, most citizens do without air conditioning (let alone refrigerated food, drinks etc..) and they've been living there for centuries !!

Yet this is the most advanced military of the most advanced nation on earth ?

Not to be glib about it but when you can save 92% of the fuel and a good chunk of the expense, hassle and grief but choose not to then something is wrong with your thinking.

I think about the impending loss of Hubble, the Shuttles, the leadership position in space exploration, the lost goodwill that could be generated in the muslim world, the promotion of free and fair elections, setting up true representative democracies and institutions where you had animosity only months before....

Guess I better chill out myself.......

You say the US is broke ? I'd say their society is broke-er.......

G20: By the Numbers

What we wished we'd seen during the G20

• 1,100: Approximate number of people arrested during last summer’s G20 summit
• 317: Number of people charged with criminal offences related to the G20 summit
• 187: Criminal charges withdrawn since the G20 summit
• 58: Per cent of G20-related charges withdrawn, stayed or dismissed (187 cases)
• 39: Defendants who took advantage of diversion programs and had their charges dropped
• 24: Number of people who have pleaded guilty of G20-related crimes since the summit
• 11: Defendants subject to peace bonds
• 9: Number of people erroneously listed as charged

Source: Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General

What we actually saw

Anthony Weiner's Uncensored Penis Picture Plus 10 Other Images That Are Even More Obscene (Warning: Graphic)

Taken from AlterNet (I didn't ask but I do attribute.)

Weiner's junk isn't the only perverse image rocketing around the Internet -- here are 10 other shocking pics.
June 9, 2011 |

Editor's note: The following article contains images that may be shocking to some readers. It is not “work-safe,” and is intended only for mature audiences.

Almost two weeks have passed since the first racy picture of Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York, emerged on the Internet. Since then, the eyes of the world – or at least the major news media – have been riveted on the story as it has unfolded.

The photographic evidence of the congressman's perfidy has become ever more extreme. What began with a pair of boxer shorts led to pictures of Weiner's uncovered pectoral muscles, and finally, to the unvarnished image of a man's erect penis – a penis later confirmed to belong to Anthony Weiner.

That photo has since been removed from YFrog, but we've posted a copy of it here as a public service to our readers.

But Weiner's wiener wasn't the first obscene photograph to zoom around the Internet, and it won't be the last. We scoured our files for some other perverse images that may be getting less attention than the Weinergate pics, but are just as important.

Here are 10 of the most profane.

1. On Average, 48 Young Women Are Raped Every Hour In the Congo

Below is an image of Congolese women fleeing from the latest outbreak of violence in a series of civil wars that have devastated the country for the last 15 years – hot-points in a conflict that has led to more deaths than any other since World War II.

There's nothing obscene about the photograph, but according to Al Jazeera, “more than 1,100 women are raped every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), making sexual violence against women 26 times more common than previously thought, a study has concluded.”

More than 400,000 women and girls between the ages of 15 to 49 were raped in the war-ravaged country in central Africa during a 12-month period in 2006 and 2007, according to the study published in the American Journal of Public Health on Wednesday.

That is 26 times more than the 15,000 women that the United Nations has reported were raped there during the same 12 months.

"Our results confirm that previous estimates of rape and sexual violence are severe underestimates of the true prevalence of sexual violence occurring in the DRC," Amber Peterman, lead author of the study, said.

"Even these new, much higher figures still represent a conservative estimate of the true prevalence of sexual violence because of chronic underreporting due to stigma, shame, perceived impunity, and exclusion of younger and older age groups as well as men," she said.

2. Murder-by-State

This is Troy Davis, pictured with his mother, Virginia. Davis has languished on death row since his conviction for the shooting death of Savannah, Georgia police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989.

Of the nine witnesses who identified Davis as the shooter, seven have since recanted their testimony, claiming the police threatened and coerced them into identifying Davis, who has always maintained his innocence. One of the two witnesses who are sticking to their stories is Sylvester "Redd" Coles, originally a suspect in the case. Coles was seen acting “suspiciously” near the scene, and a witness later testified that he had bragged about killing a police officer at a party.

Davis' final appeal was rejected without comment by the Supreme Court in March, setting the stage for a new execution date – his fourth. The state delayed setting a date after Davis' mother died suddenly on April 14. Davis was not allowed to attend her funeral.

3. U.S. Steps Up Airwar to Defend Brutal Dictator

This is a picture of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a strong-arm dictator who has been in power since 1978. (He rose to power following the assassination of his predecessor, and then “won” the country's first direct election with a Stalinesque 96 percent of the vote.) Saleh was a close ally of Saddam Hussein, and supported the Iraqi leader's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

According to the New York Times, “The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets.”

The recent operations come after a nearly year-long pause in American airstrikes, which were halted amid concerns that poor intelligence had led to bungled missions and civilian deaths that were undercutting the goals of the secret campaign...

The extent of America’s war in Yemen has been among the Obama administration’s most closely guarded secrets, as officials worried that news of unilateral American operations could undermine Mr. Saleh’s tenuous grip on power.

Four civilians were reportedly killed in airstrikes targetting al Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen last Friday.

4. Murder by Health-Insurance

This is the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona -- the scene of a perverse crime.

Early last year, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a budget that eliminated the Children’s Health Insurance Program, denying health care to 47,000 low-income kids in Arizona. But she wasn't finished. Last October, Arizona also eliminated funding for certain organ transplants covered under Medicaid.

According to the Arizona Daily Star, in January, the medical center confirmed that “a patient who was refused a liver transplant because of state budget cuts has died.”

The death was "most likely" due to the defunding of the organ transplant, said Jo Marie Gellerman, University of Arizona Department of Surgery spokeswoman....

The patient is the second person to reportedly die while waiting for one of the transplants that were cut. Between 95 and 100 people were taken off a waiting list for organ transplants when the defunding took effect.

5. Modern-Day Hoovervilles, In the Richest Country in the World

This is a tent city outside Sacramento, California, last summer. There are now approximately 14 million Americans who want a job and can't find one. In March, the average length of joblessness for all unemployed workers was a record 39 weeks. Many of those people relied on their unemployment insurance to get by until it ran out and they still haven't found work -- they've come to be known as "99ers," as extended unemployment benefits in many states last a maximum of 99 weeks. Researchers at the National Employment Law Project estimate there were 3.9 million 99ers out of work last year, and project a similar number for 2011.

Meanwhile, as I noted last month, it's not only Washington that has largely turned a blind eye to the catastrophic jobs situation; a study of the corporate media's economic coverage conducted by the National Journal found that “major U.S. newspapers have increasingly shifted their attention away from coverage of unemployment in recent months while greatly intensifying their focus on the deficit.” (The study was conducted before Anthony Weiner's penis started making major news.)

But the real obscenity here is that rather than make a concerted effort to help these people, communities across the country are breaking up tent cities as they pop up, and giving law enforcement new tools with which to harass the homeless.

6. Executed Boy

This is an Afghan boy named Gul Mudin. He was around 15 years of age when a U.S. army “kill team” murdered him in cold blood, according to an investigative report featured in Rolling Stone.

According to sworn statements, two soldiers – Cpl. Jeremy Morlock and Pfc. Andrew Holmes – staged the killing to make it look like they had been under attack. Ordering the boy to stand still, they crouched behind a mud wall, tossed a grenade at him and opened fire from close range. This photograph shows Mudin’s body lying by the wall where he was killed.

Mudin was one of four Afghans murdered by the rogue unit. They represented a tiny portion of the total – according to the most conservative estimates, over 8,000 civilians have been killed since the U.S.-led intervention began.

7. Millionaire Playboy Escapes Prison by Paying Blood Money

Pictured below is one Ryan LeVin, a “millionaire playboy” who killed two tourists in Florida when he lost control of his Porsche while hurtling down a street at over 100 miles an hour, fled the scene and then lied to cops about who had been behind the wheel at the time of the crash.

At the time, LeVin had been on parole in Illinois, where he had over 50 moving violations, including one for an incident in which he struck a police officer before fleeing.

LeVin faced up to 45 years in prison for the Florida killings, but his lawyer “argued that the need for LeVin to pay restitution to the men's widows and children outweighed the need for LeVin to serve prison time.”

"The wives and children of the deceased were significantly and permanently impacted by this incident, and they have indicated ... that there exists a great necessity for restitution which the defendant can, and will, make, if permitted a sentence devoid of incarceration," LeVin's defense attorney David Bogenschutz wrote in court documents.

According to the Huffington Post, LeVin was “sentenced to two years of house arrest, which he will serve at one of his parents' two luxury seaside condos. He will be able to use the gym in the building and go to church.”

He offered no apologies to the victims' families during the hearing; his lawyer asked the court to return his Porsche.

8. Unarmed Protesters Gunned Down in Occupied Territories

According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, this young protester was unarmed when he was shot by Israeli security forces on May 15, a day of commemoration of the Palestinians' expulsion from their homes during the formation of the state of Israel. He was lucky – a total of 15 Palestinians were reportedly killed that day.

This week, the L.A. Times reported that “Israeli security forces opened fire Sunday on throngs of pro-Palestinian protesters who were attempting to breach the border by crossing from Syria into the Golan Heights, the second such deadly incident in less than a month.” As many as 20 protesters were killed and 270 others were wounded, according to reports in the Syrian press.

9. Too Big To Jail

This is Brad Hintz, the top-ranked analyst for the Wall Street research firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. According to Hintz, Goldman Sachs is not only too big to fail, it's also too big to jail for rampant fraud that contributed to the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Hintz wrote that investors shouldn't worry too much about Goldman's criminal liability, despite the fact that the Justice Department is reviewing a blistering Senate report that unearthed major allegations of criminality on the part of the Wall Street giant. Noting that the Justice Department has eased prosecutions against the big Wall Street players since accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP collapsed following a felony charge, Hintz argued that Goldman, like other major players accused of fraud, would likely be “treated not as a hardened criminal but as the equivalent of a juvenile offender that can be reformed.”

In a worst-case environment, we would expect a “too big to fail” bank such as Goldman to be offered a deferred-prosecution agreement, pay a significant fine and submit to a federal monitor in lieu of a criminal charge.

According to Bloomberg, “under a deferred-prosecution agreement, the U.S. files charges against a company and agrees to dismiss them after a certain period, typically if the company pays a fine or penalty and improves its governance or other practices.” Last October, the Justice Department dismissed a conspiracy case against UBS AG – Switzerland’s biggest bank -- after the expiration of an 18-month deferred prosecution agreement with the Zurich-based firm.

10. Haiti

Below is a photograph of dead Haitians, victims of last January's devastating earthquake, gathered in an open pit before burial in a mass grave. All of the males in the photo presumably own penises, images of which weren't sent around the world on Twitter. So there's that.

This week, heavy flooding killed at least 25 people in Haiti. It was a little-reported story. The floods have aggravated a cholera epidemic that has sickened over 330,000 Haitians, killing over 5,000, since it broke out in mid-October.

Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would resume deportations for undocumented immigrants from Haiti – a move that was condemned by international human rights groups. (Last month, the government offered a temporary reprieve for some Haitians eligible to be sent back to their decimated country.)

In November, the UN reported that most countries had failed to deliver on their pledges of aid to Haiti. According to the Washington Examiner,

… Only $506 million, or 18.9 per cent of the international assistance promised for 2010 has so far been provided.

International donors promised $5.3 billion to Haiti after the earthquake. Only four countries have delivered any money at all. The US and Venezuela pledged more than $1 billion each but have delivered nothing. As of 14 July 2010, less than 2 percent of the money that has been promised had been delivered, according to a CNN investigation.

That's every bit as obscene as the rest of these stories, none of which garnered even a small fraction of the coverage that Weinergate has triggered. While they may not be as salacious as a sex scandal lacking actual sex – or as vitally important to the national interest -- we thought we'd share them with you anyway.

On Behalf of all Canadians....Congratulations and....Sorry !!

Unlike about 99.9% of my fellow Canadians, I am not a huge Hockey fan.

Yes, I know, it's out National Sport (sorry Lacrosse, I know you are officially it but really..) and as such, I should know the names and stats of every person who's ever laced up a pair of skates in the NHL. Ain't happening.

Hockey is to Canada what Soccer is to Brazil. Part religion, part sport and all National identity. But that being said, I just couldn't ever get my head around it. Sure, I've been to games, I cheer during the Olympics and I honestly expect us to win internationally every time because I don't know better...So there, the mea-culpa is done with.

Lastnight's Game 7 rout, blowout, beat-down of Vancouver by Boston was a National tragedy I'm told. Some kind of psychic wound felt at a very deep emotional level. Collectively we had our hopes riding on a Canadian team bringing home the Stanley Cup and instead Vancouver basically cratered.

Now I can understand the fans being disappointed, sad, upset and even really friggin' pissed off but what happened right after the game was a disgrace.

People pouring out of the arena rioted. Now Vancouver seems to have a particular fascination with this form of public behaviour. As I recall, there were in the last decade, riots over Hockey, the Olympics and a Concert. Windows get smashed, cars get torched, noses bloodied and arrests made.

Admit it people. The Cannucks lost to a better team. It's not as if they were cheated out of it by some crappy calls on the ice. They simply played a better team who quite frankly, kicked their asses !!

And over this Vancouver riots ?

So on behalf of all Canadians who're nursing a hangover and a grudge, Congratulations Boston. 39 years is a long time to wait for a championship. Trust me, I know, I live in Toronto. As for the city of Vancouver, sorry about the mess but I'm sure it was the beer eh ?

And for those pinheads who actually participated in last night's stupidity, keep it up ya friggin snapperheads. Next thing ya know,we'll get lumped in with British Soccer fans if ya keep this crap up...

Ellsberg: All the crimes Nixon committed against me are now legal

Things that make you go "hmmmmmmm.."

__________________________________________________________________________________
By David Edwards
Thursday, June 9th, 2011 -- 12:59 pm


Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg said Tuesday that disgraced former Republican President Richard M. Nixon would "admire [President Barack] Obama's boldness" in trying to stifle whistleblowers.


"Richard Nixon, if he were alive today, might take bittersweet satisfaction to know that he was not the last smart president to prolong unjustifiably a senseless, unwinnable war, at great cost in human life," Ellsberg told CNN. "And his aide Henry Kissinger was not the last American official to win an undeserved Nobel Peace Prize."


"He would probably also feel vindicated (and envious) that ALL the crimes he committed against me -- which forced his resignation facing impeachment -- are now legal," he continued.


"That includes burglarizing my former psychoanalyst's office (for material to blackmail me into silence), warrantless wiretapping, using the CIA against an American citizen in the US, and authorizing a White House hit squad to 'incapacitate me totally' (on the steps of the Capitol on May 3, 1971)... But under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, with the PATRIOT Act, the FISA Amendment Act, and (for the hit squad) President Obama's executive orders. [T]hey have all become legal."


"There is no further need for present or future presidents to commit obstructions of justice (like Nixon's bribes to potential witnesses) to conceal such acts. Under the new laws, Nixon would have stayed in office, and the Vietnam War would have continued at least several more years," Ellsberg added.


The former military analyst noted that Obama, like Nixon before him, has tried to use the Espionage Act to silence whistleblowers.


Nixon "would be impressed to see that President Obama has now brought five such indictments against leaks, almost twice as many as all previous presidents put together," he said. "He could only admire Obama's boldness in using the same Espionage Act provisions used against me -- almost surely unconstitutional used against disclosures to the American press and public in my day, less surely under the current Supreme Court -- to indict Thomas Drake, a classic whistleblower who exposed illegality and waste in the NSA."


Ellsberg has also been an outspoken supporter of Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier accused of leaking thousands of documents to WikiLeaks. Ellsberg was arrested outside the White House in March while attending a protest in support of Manning.


"Do you believe what Bradley did was necessary and heroic?" CNN asked.


"Yes," Ellsberg replied.


PBS is set to air a two-part documentary on June 13 and 14 entitled The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.


The U.S government announced last month that 40 years after Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times and 18 other newspapers, the study was being declassified and released to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library.

SWAT team busts into house over student loan default

This caught my eye.... Scary that a government department thought this acceptable.

SWAT team busts into house over student loan default


Posted on 06.8.11
By Sahil Kapur

Acting on orders from the U.S. Department of Education, a S.W.A.T. team broke into a California home Tuesday at 6 a.m. and reportedly roughed up a man — all because of his estranged wife’s defaulted student loans. She wasn’t there.

Yet, Kenneth Wright of the city of Stockton was grabbed by the neck by handcuffed before he and his three young children were put in a police car as the officers search his house, he told ABC News10. He said he was in his underwear the whole time.

“They busted down my door for this. It wasn’t even me,” Wright told the local news station. “All I want is an apology for me and my kids and for them to get me a new door.”

Local police were reportedly not involved in the incident.

Watch the video, via ABC News10.

Pssstt...Hey Buddy, can you spare some change ?

Remember way back in late 2007 when the first rumblings of the economic disaster loomed ?

Remember how all of the world's economies were shaken by uncertainty, staggering debt, plummeting stock markets and a real estate bubble that effectively wiped out a generation of middle class savings, dreams and hopes ?

Remember when you heard stories about people carrying mortgages worth much more than the value of their homes, credit card balances that were wiping out lifelong savings or student debt that chased people to their graves ?

Well, in the USA, the debt crisis has gone ballistic. Look at the National Debt Clock today.

The USA, by the end of this year is projected to owe more than it's entire GDP. Let's put it another way, the US median Household Income is around $50,000/yr. Now that's HOUSEHOLD...so mom and dad combined. 

Now look back at the clock above. Every family's share of the National Debt is almost a staggering 2.5x their median income. How'd you like that showing up on your credit card statement next month ? 

This in an era where mom and dad are working longer, for less, if they're lucky enough to have a job at all. Not to mention the fact that prices keep rising (inflation) but wages are stagnant. 

Then, just for giggles, let's toss in the fact that some US lawmakers are toying with the idea of actually defaulting on some of their debt.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Li Daokui, an adviser to the People's Bank of China, said Wednesday that the U.S. is "playing with fire" by even considering a brief technical default on its debt in order to force more spending cuts at home, Reuters news agency reported. Reuters said Li made the comments at a meeting in Beijing. "I think there is a risk that the U.S. debt default may happen. The result will be very serious and I really hope that they would stop playing with fire," Li said, according to the report.

So the proverbial National Credit Card  is maxed out, they want to raise their borrowing limit AND then bounce a few cheques to their creditors ? Are they and we all collectively insane ? You'd have more security loaning money to Charlie Sheen on another one of his coke benders.

As a nation, the USA had better get used to using the phrase......

"Pssstt....Hey Buddy, can you spare some change ?" 

SRW

In USA, Police and Firemen idly watch a man drown

I couldn't believe this when I read it... This is absolutely un-fuggin-believable....

The police chief, the fire chief, the individual officers involved, the pinheads at City Hall, they should all lose their jobs, their pensions, their benefits and all be collectively charged with manslaughter.

How crazy is a society when the very people who are responsible for ensuring public safety, rescuing those in need and just generally giving a shit are too scared to do their jobs and save a life because they might get sued ?

To top it all off, they have the arrogance and balls to blame this on
1. The budget
2. Paperwork
3. They thought he might be "armed" ?!?
4. They thought he might be "unstable" ?!?
5. The water and ground was "muddy" and the kicker.........
6. They didn't want their officers in "distress" ??????

Then to add insult to injury, they don't even recover the body. A passerby had to go and drag it back to shore before the cops, firemen and EMTs would do their thing ?

This is beyond shameful, this is an EPIC FAIL !!

To think that this would be allowed to happen is beyond insane.....


__________________________________________________________________________________

Raw Story 

Police and firemen in Alameda, California watched a man drown on Monday after realizing they did not have proper certifications for water rescue, leaving them open to possible lawsuits if they attempted to save him.
The drowning victim, 53-year-old Raymond Zack, was apparently suicidal, according to  a report from the scene. He waded out about 150 yards into cold waters off Crown Beach in Alameda and took about an hour to drown himself.
A crowd of about 75 gathered to watch the bizarre scene, which saw police and firemen just standing at shoreline watching helplessly. After the man had drowned, authorities couldn’t even go into the surf to retrieve the body. They instead recruited a passer-by for the job.
City officials reportedly blamed the incident on budget cuts and said they would have a discussion about why Alameda, an island city, does not have proper authorization to rescue


This video is from ABC 7 in San Francisco, Calif., broadcast May 30, 2011.

Raw Story (Update) 

LOS ANGELES — A US city fire chief ordered an immediate policy change Wednesday after emergency workers stood by for an hour as a reportedly suicidal man drowned himself off a San Francisco beach. 

Michael D'Orazi, interim fire chief in the city of Alameda, said 57-year-old Raymond Zack's death on Monday was "very regrettable," but said rules had prevented his officers from attempting to rescue the man. 

Police were in charge of the situation as the man, who had walked out until he was neck-deep, reportedly trod water fully-clothed for up to an hour before drowning. The incident was watched by dozens of people from the beach. 

WATCH: Budget cuts force Calif. police and firemen to watch man drown 

Police "felt that going into the water initially might not be the best idea because they were unsure if this individual was armed, the stability of the individual," D'Orazi told CNN.
In addition for his firefighters "there was a policy in place that pretty much precluded our people from entering the water," he added, saying the rules will now be changed.
"We will be putting into effect a new policy which allows our commander discretion after these circumstances," he said.

The police said budget cuts meant no-one was properly trained for shore-to-water rescue.
"It's muddy out there. We don't want them sinking. We don't want them in distress," interim police chief Michael Noonan told the local KTVU television channel. 

Coast Guard spokesman said a rescue boat was dispatched but could not reach the man, while a helicopter was delayed by another emergency call. 

"We launched a small boat from San Francisco and our helicopter, but the boat was unable to get to the man at that location because it was too shallow for the boat to get through," spokesman Erik Swanson told the Oakland Tribune. 

The helicopter took 65 minutes to get to the scene, said the newspaper. "Our helicopter arrived and spotted the man in the water," but it was too late, said Swanson. 

The man's body was recovered by a woman in her 20s, who swam out some 50 yards off shore. When she reached the beach with him he was unresponsive, and he was declared dead in hospital a short time later, according to the Tribune.

Stupid and Horny in Washington ?

The news recently has featured a few different stories about politicians getting caught with their pants down. Specifically, a Congressman's wiener making it's Twitter debut and former Presidential Candidate who apparently had a sex tape of himself and his mistress while his wife was in the hospital dying of cancer.

First off, I've never taken a photograph of my "Johnson". Mr. Happy and I have been acquainted for many years and I don't need a photo to remind me what it looks like. In fact, if I ever get so fat that I can't just look down and see for myself, I'd rather be dead. That being said, and not trying to prolong the issue (pun intended), I am also pretty sure that sending out "cock shots" to co-eds or porn stars isn't a great way to score some nookie.

This man is now making some rather limp (sorry, couldn't resist) excuses about his Twitter account being hacked. He hasn't denied that it's his photo, just that he didn't send the photo. Curious....I wonder if the people in New York knew that their elected representative had a case of penile narcissism before they cast their ballot ? I wonder if they knew that he thought that he could literally troll for sex with a junk shot ? I wonder if he knew what an idiot he is for assuming that he could get away with this online. He's supposedly intelligent and should know that the internet NEVER forgets or forgives....and his own house of Congress has ensured that the internet is certainly NOT private.

As for the former Presidential Candidate, well he's another species of idiot. He had an affair. No biggie there. I'm not necessarily condoning infidelity but it does happen, it's culturally tolerated in many countries and it's the least of this particular idiots foibles.

First off, he was running for President of the USA while he was "dipping his wick". It's bad enough that his wife was at the time gravely ill with cancer. I can understand that maybe things weren't so warm between the sheets back home but c'mon buddy, she's sick and you're thinking of getting YOUR rocks off ? Sure it's stressful on the campaign trail and a bit of relaxation is called for but seriously....

Second, he got her pregnant. I know, I know, condoms "break the moment", reduce sensation and hell, she said she was on the pill right ? Someone beat this man with the stupid stick !! Those are excuses that I used when I was in Highschool....Not something I would expect from a former DA, Former Senator and now a Candidate for President....

Third, when the proverbial shit was hitting the fan, our intrepid, god fearing, morally upstanding candidate sent one of his own men out into the line of fire to claim responsibility. If you recall, the Candidate's aide claimed to be the father. That bait'n switch move worked for only a few nanoseconds and in time the Candidate had to accept his responsibility. Cue the tears, the mea culpa, the pleas for forgiveness and understanding...blah blah blah...He sent a lieutenant out there to cover for him over an illicit child, imagine what he would've done had he been elected ?

Finally, before the final act, the campaign tried to hush things down by spreading around some campaign money. Folks, that was money earmarked to help the Candidate get his message out to the people. To help convince the voters that he was the right choice for the high office of President. Like all politicians, he claimed to be honest, moral, god fearing, law abiding, responsible and wanted to convince you, the voter, that he was the best one to trust with the nuclear launch codes.

This man couldn't work a freaking condom, he was bumping uglies with a woman who was an avowed "new ager" who spoke of karma and auras and , he made a sex tape and then was surprised that it (or it's existence) made it into the hands of the courts, he bribed an aide to cover for him and is now surprised that he just got indicted ?

What is it about Washington ? They've had crack smoking Mayors who get caught on tape, go to jail and then get re-elected. They've got Presidents who don't define a blowjob as a sex act, Congressmen who tweet pictures of their peckers to strangers in the hopes of getting laid, and Candidates for high office who think they're just smart enough to fuck around while preaching that we shouldn't ?

Is it the water in D.C ? Is it the air ? Maybe something in the food supply ? Or could it be that like any other major political centre around the world, it's little more than a clusterfuck of self-important, egotistical, power hungry and hypocritical assholes ? It's the smell of bullshit see....it dulls the mind and god knows, there's enough bullshit in D.C to leave everyone with an IQ of 40.

SRW

Saleh - Medical Care for Me....None for You !!

Yemeni President Saleh has reportedly been wounded in a recent artillery attack on a Mosque in his compound in Sanaa. Blaming the attack on an "outlaw gang" he managed to jet off to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment. Nice for him.........

See folks, if you're a dictatorial President, despite the fact that your country is one of the poorest in the world, you can jet off to a sympathetic country to get yourself patched up. 

Never mind the fact that the countrymen you've left behind have little or no access to even rudimentary medical care.  Never mind the fact that the citizens of your country are fighting for their freedoms, for their basic rights and ummmm....maybe a chance to one day have someone in your office who actually gives a rat's ass about how their lives are going.

But that's ok, you go off and fly to Riyadh, get yourself patched up. I'm sure while you're there you can do some house hunting. Lord knows the Saudi's will be more than gracious as hosts (as long as your money holds out). Ohh, and by the way, speaking of the money you've obviously stashed away for a "rainy day", it's not yours, it's the people's. I'm sure you were drawing a decent salary, lived in a nice palace, had servants and plenty of food to eat but didn't you notice the fact that your citizens are barely getting by ? Didn't you notice that your once proud country is now an international pariah ? Your people with centuries of history are now tearing themselves and the nation apart ?

If there was ever a time for a staph infection to set in, let this be it....