Posts from — June 2005

If the amendment was repealed, Bush could indeed run for a third term, but so could Bill Clinton. Anyone betting on George W. Bush winning against the last President to balance the budget is waiting to get fleeced. George might find a definite absence of funding when going against the “Big Dog”.

The 22^nd Amendment was passed by Republicans to prevent another Democratic President from wiping up the floor with them, like FDR did. Bill Clinton was extremely popular with the “mythical center”, and the NASCAR Dads know that a beer with Bill would be a hell of a lot more fun than anything George might do.

Based on reports, I not sure that Dubya’s daddy would vote for him rather than Bill.

The Beeb reports that Microsoft censors Chinese blogs. A Microsoft spokeweasel says that the company is merely complying with the laws of the countries in which it operates. Of course, that compliance doesn’t extend to monopoly or intellectual property laws that interfere with the world dominance of Windows.

The only thing that was missing was the act of Congress that authorized an attack, so I pulled one from the CNN archives: Senate approves Iraq war resolution

Friday, October 11, 2002 Posted: 12:35 PM EDT (1635 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) — In a major victory for the White House, the Senate early Friday voted 77-23 to authorize President Bush to attack Iraq if Saddam Hussein refuses to give up weapons of mass destruction as required by U.N. resolutions.

Hours earlier, the House approved an identical resolution, 296-133.

[My emphasis]

Notice the part I emphasized. Nothing is mentioned except the WMDs. The act authorized an attack for that single reason. Saddam had no WMDs. Saddam had given them up. Saddam had complied with the UN Resolution. Bush had no authorization to go to war. The war was illegal.

There was one, and only one reason for the war. That reason was stated in the Congressional resolution. That reason was reported at the time. None of the “other reasons” that have been trotted out by the Bushevikis since the start of the war have any relevance.

I never supported an attack on Iraq because we controlled the skies and could destroy Saddam at will. There was no point in moving in troops to die. We needed those troops to secure Afghanistan and capture Osama bin Laden, the man who was responsible for an attack on the United States. You don’t “fight terrorism” by allowing terrorists to wander free and issue press releases.

Adopted as the flag of the United States of America by the Flag Resolution of 1777 enacted on 14 June, 1777.

An official flag has a rise to run ratio of 1 to 1.9 [the flag should be 1.9 times as long as it is high] with the canton [the dark blue part] that rises over the top seven stripes with a run of 40% of the flag’s run.

The only time you will see a “correct” US Flag is if you see the official colors of a military unit. Most flags are 3’X5′ or 4’X6′ instead of 3’X5.7′ or 4’X7.6′.

[Edit: There is supposed to be a flag up there, but, for some reason, my ISP can’t handle the File Transfer Protocol at the moment. It may be related to the changes made when I installed the wireless router. I’m awaiting a response from India.]

“If, in fact, we are treating prisoners this way, it’s not only wrong, but dangerous, and very dumb, and very short-sighted,” said Republican Senator Chuck Hagel on CNN’s Late Edition.

“I just think it’s a terrible mistake,” echoed Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

Senator Hagel, a veteran of the Vietnam war, warned a leadership vacuum at the top of the military hierarchy can end “in disaster for us and humility for this country”.

“If there’s a vacuum, something will fill that vacuum,” he said.

I realize these people are “shocked, shocked” that we are treating prisoners like this. It’s not as if Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, the American Civil Liberties Union, retired military legal officers haven’t been pointing these things out for years. It’s not as if there aren’t memos authorizing these sorts of things out in the public arena. It’s not as if there isn’t a stack of depositions in court cases around the globe from people who have been held in American custody reporting these techniques. Nothing in that prisoner log is new or different. None are so blind as those who will not see.

The defense is that this individual is one of a very large number of people who were supposedly the mythical “20^th highjacker” [as he is a Saudi, he is a better candidate than most for that fabled spot on the roster], and he gave important information on recruiting and logistics. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but if I were planning an attack on an enemy headquarters I wouldn’t be targeting the supply sergeant or the personnel clerk.

A senior White House official has resigned days after he was criticised for allegedly playing down global warming in US government documents.

The White House said Philip Cooney’s sudden departure was totally unrelated to the allegations.
[…snip…]
“[Mr Cooney] had accumulated many weeks on leave, and so he decided to resign and take the summer off to spend some time with his family,” presidential spokeswoman Erin Healy told AFP news agency.

Yet another standard practice to deflect any possible criticism: he doesn’t work here any more, so why are you asking questions.

“Protesters on The World Naked Bike Ride cycled past Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, Covent Garden, Oxford Street and the US Embassy on the 10km route.”

Old British tradition from the 11^th century, Lady Godiva [probably more traditional than factual]. I noticed they were wearing their helmets.

This was an international protest with rides taking place in many major cities.

This sort of thing used to happen down here: “well-oiled” people riding vehicles with nothing on, mostly during “Spring Break”.

The Busheviki are using “terror related program activity” arrests, i.e. they were swarthy people, to make it seem like they have done something. Only about a dozen people have any link to al Qaeda. A large number are people who were connected to Islamic charities that may have given money to Hamas. Another large group had visa problems.

Aren’t you glad Congress has allowed the government to ignore the Fourth Amendment to pursue foreign college students working at Burger King?

We received a few inches of rain and wind gusts to 50mph, but no tornadoes. The storm surge was only a couple of feet and it brought in sand, instead of washing it away. Locally it was a bad rain storm, not even lightning.

[™ Kevin Drum]

Dot and Sox Chill

Is all that exercize necessary?

[Edit: Dot relaxes while using her brother as a pillow. Neither is sure what to make of Ringo dashing around when she’s allowed out of the bathroom.]

Friday Ark

I have a few projects that I have to catch up on, including finally installing a wireless network to provide Internet access for my laptop, which could get exciting.

The blogging forecast is going to be light.

Okay, so he didn’t actually own the parking lot, and parking was supposed to be free, but the guy saw an opportunity and took it. If you had any idea how bad the traffic and parking situation was in the city of Destin, this would make a lot more sense.

Ah, Rick the problem is you are not selling vehicles. With the price of gas rising people don’t want the gas guzzling SUVs you decided to make. If you had shifted to quality fuel-efficient cars, instead of large trucks, people would buy them. If you had started making a hybrid, they would be on waiting lists, like the months people wait to take delivery of a Toyota Prius.

As for the cost of building cars in the US, Toyota and Honda seem to make money building cars here, and even exporting them. They are building new plants in the US to increase their production.

You claim that existing plants are not efficient, so why didn’t you modernize them? Isn’t that your job, to maintain efficiency and save money?

As I see it, Rick, you are an overpaid fool, who can’t read the car market, and missed the shift to more efficient vehicles when the price of oil took off. You think you should keep your job while the people who built the cars you ordered, should lose theirs. If you spent as much time watching the car market as you apparently spend watching the stock market, the problem wouldn’t have gotten this bad.

Where’s the “got to have” GM vehicle that has been introduced on your watch?

Your proposal is to reduce capacity and hope to increase profits on lower sales. Why don’t you just sell everything and become a Toyota dealership, that with increase your profit margin?