... In the bullpen tonight Jim Pagliaroni was telling us how Ted Williams, when he was still playing, would psyche himself up for a game during batting practice, usually early practice before the fans or reporters got there.
He’d go into the cage, wave his bat at the pitcher and start screaming at the top of his voice, “My name is Ted fucking Williams and I’m the greatest hitter in baseball.”
He’d swing and hit a line drive.
“Jesus H. Christ Himself couldn’t get me out.”
And he’d hit another.
Then he’d say, “Here comes Jim Bunning. Jim fucking Bunning and that little shit slider of his.”
Wham!
“He doesn’t really think he’s gonna get me out with that shit.”
Blam!
“I’m Ted fucking Williams.”
Sock!
Mr Bouton also points out that Mr Williams was fond of calling himself Mr Baseball, Teddy Baseball, and Teddy fucking Baseball of the MFL (Major Fucking League).
He’d go into the cage, wave his bat at the pitcher and start screaming at the top of his voice, “My name is Ted fucking Williams and I’m the greatest hitter in baseball.”
He’d swing and hit a line drive.
“Jesus H. Christ Himself couldn’t get me out.”
And he’d hit another.
Then he’d say, “Here comes Jim Bunning. Jim fucking Bunning and that little shit slider of his.”
Wham!
“He doesn’t really think he’s gonna get me out with that shit.”
Blam!
“I’m Ted fucking Williams.”
Sock!
Mr Bouton also points out that Mr Williams was fond of calling himself Mr Baseball, Teddy Baseball, and Teddy fucking Baseball of the MFL (Major Fucking League).
The US Senate was stuck behind a roadblock in the person of Jim Bunning, the Republican senator from Kentucky who who used Senate procedural rules to shut down its business.
Aside from being a politician of eccentric views, and not highly popular among Republicans, Bunning is best known as a skilled major league baseball pitcher of the 1950s and 1960s. He may not have been one of the great pitchers – measured by the standards of Warren Spahn or Bob Gibson, say – but he has the distinction of being one of the few players to ever pitch a perfect game in the majors. (A perfect game being one where no opposing batter reaches first base.)
There are more details of Bunning's baseball career here – including Bunning's appearance in the best book about baseball ever written, Ball Four, by Jim Bouton ...
Aside from being a politician of eccentric views, and not highly popular among Republicans, Bunning is best known as a skilled major league baseball pitcher of the 1950s and 1960s. He may not have been one of the great pitchers – measured by the standards of Warren Spahn or Bob Gibson, say – but he has the distinction of being one of the few players to ever pitch a perfect game in the majors. (A perfect game being one where no opposing batter reaches first base.)
There are more details of Bunning's baseball career here – including Bunning's appearance in the best book about baseball ever written, Ball Four, by Jim Bouton ...
The US Senate is known as the body where legislation goes to die, and a Republican senator from Kentucky has spent several days illustrating that point at the expense of nearly 500,000 out-of-work Americans.
Since last week Senator Jim Bunning [an ex-baseball player] has used his privilege under the chamber's parliamentary rules to hold up a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits, health insurance assistance, funding for road and infrastructure projects across the country, and other aid.
In exchange for lifting his objections he demands the senate come up with a way to pay for the $10bn extension package by reducing spending elsewhere, eliciting scoffs from Democrats who note that he voted for President Bush's $1.7tn tax cuts for the wealthy.
Nearly every major item on President Barack Obama's agenda, from health insurance reform to cap-and-trade climate regulation, has stalled in the Senate after passing the House of Representatives. ...
Since last week Senator Jim Bunning [an ex-baseball player] has used his privilege under the chamber's parliamentary rules to hold up a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits, health insurance assistance, funding for road and infrastructure projects across the country, and other aid.
In exchange for lifting his objections he demands the senate come up with a way to pay for the $10bn extension package by reducing spending elsewhere, eliciting scoffs from Democrats who note that he voted for President Bush's $1.7tn tax cuts for the wealthy.
Nearly every major item on President Barack Obama's agenda, from health insurance reform to cap-and-trade climate regulation, has stalled in the Senate after passing the House of Representatives. ...
David Cameron's communications director, Andy Coulson, will come under fresh pressure to defend his editorship of the News of the World and his knowledge about the illegal activities of his journalists amid new allegations about the paper's involvement with private detectives who broke the law.
The Guardian has learned that while Coulson was still editor of the tabloid, the newspaper employed a freelance private investigator even though he had been accused of corrupting police officers and had just been released from a seven-year prison sentence for blackmail.
The private eye was well known to the News of the World, having worked for the paper for several years before he was jailed, when Coulson was deputy editor. He was rehired when he was freed.
Evidence seen by the Guardian shows that Mr A, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was blagging bank accounts, bribing police officers, procuring confidential data from the DVLA and phone companies, and trading sensitive material from live police inquiries.
Coulson has always insisted he knew nothing about the illegal activity which took place in the News of the World newsroom, telling MPs last year: "I have never had any involvement in it at all."
Mr A cannot be named now because he is facing trial for a violent crime, but his details will emerge once he has been dealt with by the courts. Coulson tonight refused to say whether he was aware of Mr A's criminal background, or of his return to the paper following his prison term. He said: "I have nothing to add to the evidence I gave to the select committee." ...
The Guardian has learned that while Coulson was still editor of the tabloid, the newspaper employed a freelance private investigator even though he had been accused of corrupting police officers and had just been released from a seven-year prison sentence for blackmail.
The private eye was well known to the News of the World, having worked for the paper for several years before he was jailed, when Coulson was deputy editor. He was rehired when he was freed.
Evidence seen by the Guardian shows that Mr A, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was blagging bank accounts, bribing police officers, procuring confidential data from the DVLA and phone companies, and trading sensitive material from live police inquiries.
Coulson has always insisted he knew nothing about the illegal activity which took place in the News of the World newsroom, telling MPs last year: "I have never had any involvement in it at all."
Mr A cannot be named now because he is facing trial for a violent crime, but his details will emerge once he has been dealt with by the courts. Coulson tonight refused to say whether he was aware of Mr A's criminal background, or of his return to the paper following his prison term. He said: "I have nothing to add to the evidence I gave to the select committee." ...
Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty joined the teleprompter wing of Republican Hypocrisy Caucus during his speech at CPAC on Friday when he used a teleprompter to promulgate the hoax that Pres. Obama uses teleprompters more than other politicians. Worse, however, Pawlenty’s attack against the president was quickly determined to be a lie:
“President Obama was in a grade school classroom speaking to elementary school children and he was using a teleprompter,” Pawlenty said Friday in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he added. “That’s not a joke. That’s a real story.”
Actually, it’s not. The tale spread by bloggers over the Internet and in some media, including the Comedy Channel’s Jon Stewart, blended together two Obama appearances Jan. 19 at the Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia, to make it appear he used the teleprompter when speaking to a classroom of 30 pupils.
In reality, Obama sat on a chair and spoke with the pupils without the device.
In a different classroom, he used the teleprompter to give scripted remarks on education to television cameras.
At CPAC just one day earlier, Marco Rubio, Florida’s tea bagger candidate for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, read what was supposed to be a joke about Obama and teleprompters from a teleprompter.
But neither of these new members of the GOP Hypocrisy Caucus can hold a candle to the chairwoman, Sarah Palin, whose promotion of the Obama teleprompter hoax at the tea bagger ball in Nashville earlier this month prompted us to catalog 20 separate incidents in which she used teleprompters during her campaign for vice president in 2008.
“President Obama was in a grade school classroom speaking to elementary school children and he was using a teleprompter,” Pawlenty said Friday in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he added. “That’s not a joke. That’s a real story.”
Actually, it’s not. The tale spread by bloggers over the Internet and in some media, including the Comedy Channel’s Jon Stewart, blended together two Obama appearances Jan. 19 at the Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia, to make it appear he used the teleprompter when speaking to a classroom of 30 pupils.
In reality, Obama sat on a chair and spoke with the pupils without the device.
In a different classroom, he used the teleprompter to give scripted remarks on education to television cameras.
At CPAC just one day earlier, Marco Rubio, Florida’s tea bagger candidate for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, read what was supposed to be a joke about Obama and teleprompters from a teleprompter.
But neither of these new members of the GOP Hypocrisy Caucus can hold a candle to the chairwoman, Sarah Palin, whose promotion of the Obama teleprompter hoax at the tea bagger ball in Nashville earlier this month prompted us to catalog 20 separate incidents in which she used teleprompters during her campaign for vice president in 2008.
... Labour too has accused the Tories of repeatedly misusing statistics in their "broken Britain" campaign. The latest error comes a week after Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, was strongly rebuked by the UK Statistics Authority over his claims on violent crime.
Tony Kerridge, a spokesman for Marie Stopes International, said: "We have a serious enough problem without making it look as though more than half of young girls become pregnant. That is not doing our teenagers any favours. It is quite discouraging, and teenagers get a hard enough time as it is.
"You should check your figures before you go bandying not just inaccurate but woefully inaccurate statistics, and end up demonising a whole group of young people."
Ann Furedi, chief executive of the charity British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which provides contraception and abortion services, said: "The very fact that people can repeatedly get the facts on teenage pregnancy so wrong — ten times wrong — shows that their stereotyped expectations of young people are totally out of sync with reality."
Simon Blake, the director of Brook, which provides sexual health advice and contraception to young people, said that the public also tended to overestimate the rates of teenage pregnancy, although not by as much as the Tories.
“This is confusing for young people who may well think that teenage pregnancy is the norm and also fuels the myth that teenage pregnancy is escalating and nothing can be done," he said.
"In fact teenage pregnancy rates have reduced by 10.7 per cent since 1998, live births have decreased by more than 23 per cent, and there is some excellent work taking place across the country. We must continue to keep teenage pregnancy as a national and local priority.” ...
Tony Kerridge, a spokesman for Marie Stopes International, said: "We have a serious enough problem without making it look as though more than half of young girls become pregnant. That is not doing our teenagers any favours. It is quite discouraging, and teenagers get a hard enough time as it is.
"You should check your figures before you go bandying not just inaccurate but woefully inaccurate statistics, and end up demonising a whole group of young people."
Ann Furedi, chief executive of the charity British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which provides contraception and abortion services, said: "The very fact that people can repeatedly get the facts on teenage pregnancy so wrong — ten times wrong — shows that their stereotyped expectations of young people are totally out of sync with reality."
Simon Blake, the director of Brook, which provides sexual health advice and contraception to young people, said that the public also tended to overestimate the rates of teenage pregnancy, although not by as much as the Tories.
“This is confusing for young people who may well think that teenage pregnancy is the norm and also fuels the myth that teenage pregnancy is escalating and nothing can be done," he said.
"In fact teenage pregnancy rates have reduced by 10.7 per cent since 1998, live births have decreased by more than 23 per cent, and there is some excellent work taking place across the country. We must continue to keep teenage pregnancy as a national and local priority.” ...
How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power
Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president
Ben Aris in Berlin and Duncan Campbell in Washington
Saturday 25 September 2004
George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.
The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.
His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.
The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
The debate over Prescott Bush's behaviour has been bubbling under the surface for some time. There has been a steady internet chatter about the "Bush/Nazi" connection, much of it inaccurate and unfair. But the new documents, many of which were only declassified last year, show that even after America had entered the war and when there was already significant information about the Nazis' plans and policies, he worked for and profited from companies closely involved with the very German businesses that financed Hitler's rise to power. It has also been suggested that the money he made from these dealings helped to establish the Bush family fortune and set up its political dynasty. ...
Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president
Ben Aris in Berlin and Duncan Campbell in Washington
Saturday 25 September 2004
George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.
The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.
His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.
The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
The debate over Prescott Bush's behaviour has been bubbling under the surface for some time. There has been a steady internet chatter about the "Bush/Nazi" connection, much of it inaccurate and unfair. But the new documents, many of which were only declassified last year, show that even after America had entered the war and when there was already significant information about the Nazis' plans and policies, he worked for and profited from companies closely involved with the very German businesses that financed Hitler's rise to power. It has also been suggested that the money he made from these dealings helped to establish the Bush family fortune and set up its political dynasty. ...
ACORN gotcha man among four arrested for attempting to tamper with Mary Landrieu's office phones
By David Hammer, The Times-Picayune
January 26, 2010
Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, 25, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group's credibility.
Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony. ...
Ta much, dear Anneliese
By David Hammer, The Times-Picayune
January 26, 2010
Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, 25, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group's credibility.
Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony. ...
Ta much, dear Anneliese
The grand obstructionist party is at it again, girls and boys.
The rethuglicunt party should be ashamed, exploiting such obviously mentally handicapped folks - like palin!
Ta much, dear Glenn321
Ta much, dear Glenn321
I wish sarah's rededicate itself to God by taking a vow or silence, or meeting its maker - and not at the Faire.
GOP Gone Wild: Unruly Republicans Silence Women Lawmakers With Screams, Shouts, And Delay Tactics
This morning, the House began consideration of the rule for debate of the House health care bill. As the Democratic Women’s Caucus took to the microphone on the House floor to offer their arguments for how the bill would benefit women, House Republicans — led by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) — repeatedly talked over, screamed, and shouted objections. “I object, I object, I object, I object, I object,” Price interjected as Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) tried to hold the floor.
In an effort to delay and derail the proceedings, the Republicans continually talked over the Democratic women for half an hour. They sought to prevent the debate by calling for unnecessary “parliamentary inquiries” and requests for “expanding the debate” by an hour.
After being repeatedly interrupted by Republican shouts, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) observed:
Do I not have the right to be able to continue my sentence without objections that are trying to censor my remarks here on the floor that I have a right to make as a member of this House?
...
The goddam rethuglicunts musta been wearing these their entire repulsive lives.
Ta much, dear Anneliese
This morning, the House began consideration of the rule for debate of the House health care bill. As the Democratic Women’s Caucus took to the microphone on the House floor to offer their arguments for how the bill would benefit women, House Republicans — led by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) — repeatedly talked over, screamed, and shouted objections. “I object, I object, I object, I object, I object,” Price interjected as Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) tried to hold the floor.
In an effort to delay and derail the proceedings, the Republicans continually talked over the Democratic women for half an hour. They sought to prevent the debate by calling for unnecessary “parliamentary inquiries” and requests for “expanding the debate” by an hour.
After being repeatedly interrupted by Republican shouts, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) observed:
Do I not have the right to be able to continue my sentence without objections that are trying to censor my remarks here on the floor that I have a right to make as a member of this House?
...
The goddam rethuglicunts musta been wearing these their entire repulsive lives.
Ta much, dear Anneliese
Rep. Buyer's scholarship fund hasn't helped a single student
Steve Buyer defends his scholarship foundation, which has yet to help a single student.
By Mary Beth Schneiderand Maureen Groppe
Posted: October 18, 2009
The biggest accomplishment so far of U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer's scholarship foundation has been to send the Indiana congressman to play golf with donors at luxury locales such as the Bahamas and Disney World.
The fundraising golf outings have raised more than $880,000 for the Frontier Foundation that Buyer founded in 2003. Almost all the contributions are from 20 companies and trade organizations that have interests before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on which Buyer serves.
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The foundation has yet to award its first scholarship, and it has handed out only $10,500 in charitable grants.
Of those grants, $4,500 went to a cancer fund run by the chief Washington lobbyist for Eli Lilly and Co. That lobbyist, Joe Kelley, said he is refunding the money because Lilly is among the groups that have supported Buyer's foundation.
In addition, the foundation gave $1,450 in 2008 to the National Rifle Association Foundation.
The lack of scholarships, plus the fact that the foundation's money is coming from groups that might want to curry favor with the congressman, has come under fire by Democrats.
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker...said...."No good deed goes unpunished? Where's the good deed, if they haven't given out any scholarships?" he said. "It looks like this organization is a shadow campaign organization that's utilized to fly him around the country raising money from corporations that he can't legally raise (contributions from) to his campaign committee." ...
Ta much, dear Anneliese
Steve Buyer defends his scholarship foundation, which has yet to help a single student.
By Mary Beth Schneiderand Maureen Groppe
Posted: October 18, 2009
The biggest accomplishment so far of U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer's scholarship foundation has been to send the Indiana congressman to play golf with donors at luxury locales such as the Bahamas and Disney World.
The fundraising golf outings have raised more than $880,000 for the Frontier Foundation that Buyer founded in 2003. Almost all the contributions are from 20 companies and trade organizations that have interests before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on which Buyer serves.
Advertisement
The foundation has yet to award its first scholarship, and it has handed out only $10,500 in charitable grants.
Of those grants, $4,500 went to a cancer fund run by the chief Washington lobbyist for Eli Lilly and Co. That lobbyist, Joe Kelley, said he is refunding the money because Lilly is among the groups that have supported Buyer's foundation.
In addition, the foundation gave $1,450 in 2008 to the National Rifle Association Foundation.
The lack of scholarships, plus the fact that the foundation's money is coming from groups that might want to curry favor with the congressman, has come under fire by Democrats.
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker...said...."No good deed goes unpunished? Where's the good deed, if they haven't given out any scholarships?" he said. "It looks like this organization is a shadow campaign organization that's utilized to fly him around the country raising money from corporations that he can't legally raise (contributions from) to his campaign committee." ...
Ta much, dear Anneliese
News Flash!
Fat Evil Racist Fuck Tries Buying nfl Team - Players Shockingly Protest
Film @ Eleven
Fat Evil Racist Fuck Tries Buying nfl Team - Players Shockingly Protest
Film @ Eleven
Women MPs fight back as Berlusconi lashes out
You are increasingly more beautiful than intelligent, PM tells furious Bindi
By Jack Bremer
FIRST POSTED OCTOBER 9, 2009
Amid warnings that Italy is on the edge of a constitutional crisis after Silvio Berlusconi was stripped of his immunity from prosecution, the man himself has been flailing around like a bear with a thorn in its foot. Taking part by phone in a late-night television discussion, he struck out at President Giorgio Napolitano saying he should have used "his influence" to get a different ruling from the Constitutional Court.
When a studio guest, Rosy Bindi, a former family minister in Romano Prodi's centre-left government, expressed shock at this suggestion, Berlusconi replied: "I recognise you are increasingly more beautiful than intelligent".
Even coming from Berlusconi, this was over the top and Bindi answered that she was "not a woman at your disposal", alluding to the call-girls and television showgirls at the centre of the long-running Berlusconi sex scandal.
Among the first to leap to Bindi's defence was another former minister under Prodi, the American-born Italian MP Giovanna Melandri. She said the remark summed up "the Berlusconi philosophy towards women". The diminutive prime minister, she went on, had shown himself to be "taller than he is well-mannered". ...
He has also shown himself to have more height than integrity - and wisdom.
You are increasingly more beautiful than intelligent, PM tells furious Bindi
By Jack Bremer
FIRST POSTED OCTOBER 9, 2009
Amid warnings that Italy is on the edge of a constitutional crisis after Silvio Berlusconi was stripped of his immunity from prosecution, the man himself has been flailing around like a bear with a thorn in its foot. Taking part by phone in a late-night television discussion, he struck out at President Giorgio Napolitano saying he should have used "his influence" to get a different ruling from the Constitutional Court.
When a studio guest, Rosy Bindi, a former family minister in Romano Prodi's centre-left government, expressed shock at this suggestion, Berlusconi replied: "I recognise you are increasingly more beautiful than intelligent".
Even coming from Berlusconi, this was over the top and Bindi answered that she was "not a woman at your disposal", alluding to the call-girls and television showgirls at the centre of the long-running Berlusconi sex scandal.
Among the first to leap to Bindi's defence was another former minister under Prodi, the American-born Italian MP Giovanna Melandri. She said the remark summed up "the Berlusconi philosophy towards women". The diminutive prime minister, she went on, had shown himself to be "taller than he is well-mannered". ...
He has also shown himself to have more height than integrity - and wisdom.
Her collaborator isn’t just a creationist. There’s the white supremacy issue, too ...
... The Palin book, moreover, is clearly being styled as a work of polemic, appealing to the Christianist base, thereby fanning homophobia, and empowering those who would like nothing more than to push gay people back into the closet, out of marriage, out of the military, and out of the workplace. Burnham is now directly party to this effort.
It's not possible to accuse Jonathan Burnham of hypocrisy because that would imply he has any convictions or principles at all. Here, for example, is his quote about a 400-page book written in two months:
“Governor Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project…. It’s her words...”
Hey, if it makes a buck, and advances his career, Burnham will do it. As gay people prepare to march for their civil rights, Burnham, one of the more powerful gay men in New York, is preparing to capitalize on their avowed enemies. It's just money, after all. And buzz. Always buzz.
It's not possible to accuse Jonathan Burnham of hypocrisy because that would imply he has any convictions or principles at all. Here, for example, is his quote about a 400-page book written in two months:
“Governor Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project…. It’s her words...”
Hey, if it makes a buck, and advances his career, Burnham will do it. As gay people prepare to march for their civil rights, Burnham, one of the more powerful gay men in New York, is preparing to capitalize on their avowed enemies. It's just money, after all. And buzz. Always buzz.
Taxpayers' Alliance admits director doesn't pay British tax
Robert Booth
Friday 9 October 2009
The Taxpayers' Alliance, a campaign group that calls for tax and spending cuts and claims to represent the interests of taxpayers, has admitted one of its directors does not pay British tax.
The Guardian has learned that Alexander Heath, a director of the increasingly influential free market, rightwing lobby group, lives in a farmhouse in the Loire and has not paid British tax for years.
The admission, made by Matthew Elliott, the TPA's chief executive and founder, is potentially embarrassing for the Conservative party, which has close links to the group that claims to be "the guardian of taxpayers' money, the voice of taxpayers in the media and their representative at Westminster".
At the Conservative party conference in Manchester this week, the TPA's influence was underlined when David Cameron and George Osborne followed its recommendations for freezing public sector pay and capping civil servants' salaries at the level of the prime minister, unless approved by the chancellor. ...
Robert Booth
Friday 9 October 2009
The Taxpayers' Alliance, a campaign group that calls for tax and spending cuts and claims to represent the interests of taxpayers, has admitted one of its directors does not pay British tax.
The Guardian has learned that Alexander Heath, a director of the increasingly influential free market, rightwing lobby group, lives in a farmhouse in the Loire and has not paid British tax for years.
The admission, made by Matthew Elliott, the TPA's chief executive and founder, is potentially embarrassing for the Conservative party, which has close links to the group that claims to be "the guardian of taxpayers' money, the voice of taxpayers in the media and their representative at Westminster".
At the Conservative party conference in Manchester this week, the TPA's influence was underlined when David Cameron and George Osborne followed its recommendations for freezing public sector pay and capping civil servants' salaries at the level of the prime minister, unless approved by the chancellor. ...
The slogan on the jaunty shopping bag swinging from Conservative arms at the party's Manchester conference this week said it all: I Love Low Taxes.
It was a freebie from the Taxpayers' Alliance, the campaign group whose message of cuts – in tax and spending – coursed through the Tories once more this week, and will help set the agenda for the general election.
Since it was launched six years ago the alliance has become arguably the most influential pressure group in the country, yet neither the people who run it, or the backers who pay for it, have come under a great deal of scrutiny.
Its critics ask whether it really is an alliance of ordinary taxpayers, as the name is clearly intended to suggest, and how close it is to the Tory party hierarchy which seems to have adopted some of its radical ideas.
Certainly not all is as it seems. The same group that speaks out against government waste on Newsnight and in the pages of newspapers also runs a campaign against radicalising schoolbooks published by the Palestinian Authority and has formed an alliance with a Slovakian rightwing group
The group's leadership is no less esoteric. Alongside a fund manager, a petroleum geologist and a former chief economist at Lehman Brothers on the board, the directors include a retired teacher who lives in France and does not pay British tax.
But none of that has stopped frontbench Conservatives and business leaders flocking to the TPA, and at the Tory conference policy after policy seemed to bear the TPA's stamp.
"The idea of tearing down the walls of big government as Cameron did in his speech on Thursday is something we have been talking about for years," said its chief executive, Matthew Elliott, yesterday. "The Tory party has moved onto our agenda." ...
It was a freebie from the Taxpayers' Alliance, the campaign group whose message of cuts – in tax and spending – coursed through the Tories once more this week, and will help set the agenda for the general election.
Since it was launched six years ago the alliance has become arguably the most influential pressure group in the country, yet neither the people who run it, or the backers who pay for it, have come under a great deal of scrutiny.
Its critics ask whether it really is an alliance of ordinary taxpayers, as the name is clearly intended to suggest, and how close it is to the Tory party hierarchy which seems to have adopted some of its radical ideas.
Certainly not all is as it seems. The same group that speaks out against government waste on Newsnight and in the pages of newspapers also runs a campaign against radicalising schoolbooks published by the Palestinian Authority and has formed an alliance with a Slovakian rightwing group
The group's leadership is no less esoteric. Alongside a fund manager, a petroleum geologist and a former chief economist at Lehman Brothers on the board, the directors include a retired teacher who lives in France and does not pay British tax.
But none of that has stopped frontbench Conservatives and business leaders flocking to the TPA, and at the Tory conference policy after policy seemed to bear the TPA's stamp.
"The idea of tearing down the walls of big government as Cameron did in his speech on Thursday is something we have been talking about for years," said its chief executive, Matthew Elliott, yesterday. "The Tory party has moved onto our agenda." ...
Hmmm. Looks like someone failed maths.
... For one thing, we learned that the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old.
But more important, the episode illustrated an essential truth about the state of American politics: at this point, the guiding principle of one of our nation’s two great political parties is spite pure and simple. If Republicans think something might be good for the president, they’re against it — whether or not it’s good for America.
To be sure, while celebrating America’s rebuff by the Olympic Committee was puerile, it didn’t do any real harm. But the same principle of spite has determined Republican positions on more serious matters, with potentially serious consequences — in particular, in the debate over health care reform.
Now, it’s understandable that many Republicans oppose Democratic plans to extend insurance coverage — just as most Democrats opposed President Bush’s attempt to convert Social Security into a sort of giant 401(k). The two parties do, after all, have different philosophies about the appropriate role of government.
But the tactics of the two parties have been different. In 2005, when Democrats campaigned against Social Security privatization, their arguments were consistent with their underlying ideology: they argued that replacing guaranteed benefits with private accounts would expose retirees to too much risk.
The Republican campaign against health care reform, by contrast, has shown no such consistency. For the main G.O.P. line of attack is the claim — based mainly on lies about death panels and so on — that reform will undermine Medicare. And this line of attack is utterly at odds both with the party’s traditions and with what conservatives claim to believe.
Think about just how bizarre it is for Republicans to position themselves as the defenders of unrestricted Medicare spending. First of all, the modern G.O.P. considers itself the party of Ronald Reagan — and Reagan was a fierce opponent of Medicare’s creation, warning that it would destroy American freedom. (Honest.) In the 1990s, Newt Gingrich tried to force drastic cuts in Medicare financing. And in recent years, Republicans have repeatedly decried the growth in entitlement spending — growth that is largely driven by rising health care costs. ...
Ta much, dear Anneliese
But more important, the episode illustrated an essential truth about the state of American politics: at this point, the guiding principle of one of our nation’s two great political parties is spite pure and simple. If Republicans think something might be good for the president, they’re against it — whether or not it’s good for America.
To be sure, while celebrating America’s rebuff by the Olympic Committee was puerile, it didn’t do any real harm. But the same principle of spite has determined Republican positions on more serious matters, with potentially serious consequences — in particular, in the debate over health care reform.
Now, it’s understandable that many Republicans oppose Democratic plans to extend insurance coverage — just as most Democrats opposed President Bush’s attempt to convert Social Security into a sort of giant 401(k). The two parties do, after all, have different philosophies about the appropriate role of government.
But the tactics of the two parties have been different. In 2005, when Democrats campaigned against Social Security privatization, their arguments were consistent with their underlying ideology: they argued that replacing guaranteed benefits with private accounts would expose retirees to too much risk.
The Republican campaign against health care reform, by contrast, has shown no such consistency. For the main G.O.P. line of attack is the claim — based mainly on lies about death panels and so on — that reform will undermine Medicare. And this line of attack is utterly at odds both with the party’s traditions and with what conservatives claim to believe.
Think about just how bizarre it is for Republicans to position themselves as the defenders of unrestricted Medicare spending. First of all, the modern G.O.P. considers itself the party of Ronald Reagan — and Reagan was a fierce opponent of Medicare’s creation, warning that it would destroy American freedom. (Honest.) In the 1990s, Newt Gingrich tried to force drastic cuts in Medicare financing. And in recent years, Republicans have repeatedly decried the growth in entitlement spending — growth that is largely driven by rising health care costs. ...
Ta much, dear Anneliese
Well done, Waitrose, et al...but why hasn't sky network dumped faux news?
MyConservatives website collapses at launch
Web 2.0 not for the faint-hearted
By Kelly Fiveash
2nd October 2009
A website launched today by the UK’s Conservative Party is titsup, at time of writing.
The MyConservatives.com site, which claims to be “the most ambitious party political campaigning network of its kind outside of the US” is currently redirecting to the Tories’ main website while the party tries to fix the problem. ...
Web 2.0 not for the faint-hearted
By Kelly Fiveash
2nd October 2009
A website launched today by the UK’s Conservative Party is titsup, at time of writing.
The MyConservatives.com site, which claims to be “the most ambitious party political campaigning network of its kind outside of the US” is currently redirecting to the Tories’ main website while the party tries to fix the problem. ...
Honours for Hogwarts? Not in the Bush White House.
Sasha Obama may have been given a birthday tour of the Harry Potter set but the former occupant of the White House was not such a fan of the boy wizard.
In news that you really couldn't make up, it has emerged that J.K. Rowling's name came up in discussions regarding recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. And she was rejected.
Not because of her nationality or Bush's aversion to Professor Snape's hair. But because various members of the White House staff were worried about associating with witchcraft. ...
Sasha Obama may have been given a birthday tour of the Harry Potter set but the former occupant of the White House was not such a fan of the boy wizard.
In news that you really couldn't make up, it has emerged that J.K. Rowling's name came up in discussions regarding recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. And she was rejected.
Not because of her nationality or Bush's aversion to Professor Snape's hair. But because various members of the White House staff were worried about associating with witchcraft. ...
...When you ignore the idiots completely, you are not calling them anything at all. You are not trying to advance any sort of argument, because there is no debate taking place. You are simply bypassing the giant pothole of ignorance entirely. ...
If Obama can't defeat the Republican headbangers, our planet is doomed
One year on, the world still looks to the US and holds its breath. The fate of a global climate treaty rests in American hands
Thank God/dess someone has the balls to speak truthfully here in Yankistan!
Ahem Fuck you, alabama.
Getcher karma, rethuglicunts.
... "She says she goes hunting and lives off animal meat - I've never seen it," said Mr Johnston, 19. "I've never seen her touch a fishing pole.
"She had a gun in her bedroom and one day she asked me to show her how to shoot it. I asked her what kind of gun it was, and she said she didn't know, because it was in a box under her bed."
The former governor, who stepped down in early July, citing the "insane" amount of time she had been forced to spend addressing "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her, also built her reputation on traditional Republican family values - but Mr Johnston has claimed that she is an absentee mother.
"The Palins didn't have dinner together and they didn't talk much as a family," he told Vanity Fair, adding that the mother of five never came home later than five and would often disappear for an hour-long bath.
"She always wanted things and she wanted other people to get them for her. If she wanted a movie, Bristol and I would go to the video store.
If she wanted food, we'd get her something to eat, like a Crunchwrap Supreme from Taco Bell."
Despite describing herself as a "hockey mom with lipstick" - a line which delighted Republicans at her forceful national convention debut last year - Mrs Palin rarely attended her son Track's hockey games, claimed Mr Johnston.
The young man fell out with the family after the birth of his child with Bristol, the eldest daughter. He even claimed that Mrs Palin often spoke of adopting the baby and passing it off as her own. "I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn't want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid," he said. ...
"She had a gun in her bedroom and one day she asked me to show her how to shoot it. I asked her what kind of gun it was, and she said she didn't know, because it was in a box under her bed."
The former governor, who stepped down in early July, citing the "insane" amount of time she had been forced to spend addressing "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her, also built her reputation on traditional Republican family values - but Mr Johnston has claimed that she is an absentee mother.
"The Palins didn't have dinner together and they didn't talk much as a family," he told Vanity Fair, adding that the mother of five never came home later than five and would often disappear for an hour-long bath.
"She always wanted things and she wanted other people to get them for her. If she wanted a movie, Bristol and I would go to the video store.
If she wanted food, we'd get her something to eat, like a Crunchwrap Supreme from Taco Bell."
Despite describing herself as a "hockey mom with lipstick" - a line which delighted Republicans at her forceful national convention debut last year - Mrs Palin rarely attended her son Track's hockey games, claimed Mr Johnston.
The young man fell out with the family after the birth of his child with Bristol, the eldest daughter. He even claimed that Mrs Palin often spoke of adopting the baby and passing it off as her own. "I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn't want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid," he said. ...
Arseholes.
There's nothing higher or more important than truth - unless you're a conservative.
Ta much, dear Anneliese
Ta much, dear Anneliese
One of the allegations made repeatedly by climate change deniers is that they are being censored. There's just one problem with this claim: they have yet to produce a single valid example. On the other hand, there are hundreds of examples of direct attempts to censor climate scientists.
Most were the work of the Bush administration. In 2007 the Union of Concerned Scientists collated 435 instances of political interference in the work of climate researchers in the US.
Scientists working for the government were pressured by officials to remove the words "climate change" and "global warming" from their publications; their reports were edited to change the meaning of their findings, others never saw the light of day. Scientists at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Fish and Wildlife Service were forbidden to speak to the media; James Hansen at Nasa was told by public relations officials that there would be "dire consequences" if he continued to call for big cuts in greenhouse gases.
Philip Cooney, a senior White House aide who previously worked at the American Petroleum Institute, admitted to Congress that he had made hundreds of changes to government reports about climate change on behalf of the Bush government.
Among other changes, he had struck out evidence that glaciers were retreating and inserted phrases suggesting that there was serious scientific doubt about global warming. ...
I've never heard of a witchdoctor being angry about not being accepted by medical associations, why should these liars keep spreading lies and pseudo-science?
Most were the work of the Bush administration. In 2007 the Union of Concerned Scientists collated 435 instances of political interference in the work of climate researchers in the US.
Scientists working for the government were pressured by officials to remove the words "climate change" and "global warming" from their publications; their reports were edited to change the meaning of their findings, others never saw the light of day. Scientists at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Fish and Wildlife Service were forbidden to speak to the media; James Hansen at Nasa was told by public relations officials that there would be "dire consequences" if he continued to call for big cuts in greenhouse gases.
Philip Cooney, a senior White House aide who previously worked at the American Petroleum Institute, admitted to Congress that he had made hundreds of changes to government reports about climate change on behalf of the Bush government.
Among other changes, he had struck out evidence that glaciers were retreating and inserted phrases suggesting that there was serious scientific doubt about global warming. ...
I've never heard of a witchdoctor being angry about not being accepted by medical associations, why should these liars keep spreading lies and pseudo-science?
... In most countries, you have two major political parties or broad factions. They disagree on many things. But both begin by accepting certain suppositions. I would imagine that in Britain, for instance, both Labour and the Tories think healthcare for all or at least most people is a good idea. They have different notions about how to do it, but the goal is agreed upon. I gather also that the Tories accept the basic idea that global warming exists and that man's actions have contributed to it.
But American conservatism does not believe healthcare for all or most is a desired outcome at all. Conservatives believe people are responsible for their own healthcare, and that people who don't have it just aren't showing enough pluck and initiative. Last Thursday, one Republican congressman announced that the party wouldn't even offer its own version of healthcare legislation – and this man runs the party's so-called Solutions Group! And on climate change, of course, most deny its existence, and all deny that human activity has played any role in it whatsoever. ...
gop = grand obstructionist party
But American conservatism does not believe healthcare for all or most is a desired outcome at all. Conservatives believe people are responsible for their own healthcare, and that people who don't have it just aren't showing enough pluck and initiative. Last Thursday, one Republican congressman announced that the party wouldn't even offer its own version of healthcare legislation – and this man runs the party's so-called Solutions Group! And on climate change, of course, most deny its existence, and all deny that human activity has played any role in it whatsoever. ...
gop = grand obstructionist party
... Six months after pledging to get tough on anti-social gangs, the Tories have come up with their master plan - seize their mobile phones and bikes. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling has said that taking away a hoodie's mobile for a month would not only "disrupt" gang activity in the area but serve as a stiff lesson to the culprit.
"This would go to the heart of what matters to a Nokia generation of young people," he declared. And if they don't learn their lesson, he wants to go a step further and confiscate their bicycles as well. "In areas where there is a genuine gang culture, such a step could also give police an additional tool to disrupt gang activity," said Grayling.
Labour MPs could hardly stifle their laughter at the proposals, pointing out that the plan has a fatal flaw at its heart.
"Where do the Tories think these hoodie gangs get their mobile phones and bicycles from in the first place? They are stolen!" one Labour backbencher told the Mole. "There's even a test for some gang members, to steal a phone.
"Far from making things better, this proposal could make it worse as anti-social youths have to steal more phones and bikes to replace the ones that have been confiscated. It's bonkers." ...
"This would go to the heart of what matters to a Nokia generation of young people," he declared. And if they don't learn their lesson, he wants to go a step further and confiscate their bicycles as well. "In areas where there is a genuine gang culture, such a step could also give police an additional tool to disrupt gang activity," said Grayling.
Labour MPs could hardly stifle their laughter at the proposals, pointing out that the plan has a fatal flaw at its heart.
"Where do the Tories think these hoodie gangs get their mobile phones and bicycles from in the first place? They are stolen!" one Labour backbencher told the Mole. "There's even a test for some gang members, to steal a phone.
"Far from making things better, this proposal could make it worse as anti-social youths have to steal more phones and bikes to replace the ones that have been confiscated. It's bonkers." ...
Stupid; don't wanna insult cows; etc
Stupid...well, I can't very well call her a cow - that's insulting a noble beast.
Yay!
I wonder with what she was threatened that made her resign.
Does this mean we'll never have to hear her goddam voice or see her goddam clueless face ever again? /me crosses fingers, toes, eyes.....
I wonder with what she was threatened that made her resign.
Does this mean we'll never have to hear her goddam voice or see her goddam clueless face ever again? /me crosses fingers, toes, eyes.....
Hmmmmmmmm? We shall see what we shall see.
Racist rants of elected BNP man, Andrew Brons, revealed
Yorkshire MEP Andrew Brons drew up some of the National Front's most inflammatory policies
Jamie Doward, home affairs editor
The Observer, Sunday 14 June 2009
One of the British National party's first MEPs' attempts to play down his past links to the extreme right as "silly" teenage posturing are today exposed as a sham after it emerged that for many years he played a crucial role in shaping the National Front's most overtly racist policies.
In 1983, when he was in his late twenties, Andrew Brons edited the National Front's general election manifesto that called for a global apartheid to prevent the "extinction" of whites everywhere.
The Let Britain Live! manifesto was prepared by the party's policy department, chaired by Brons. It outlined a series of hugely controversial positions, crystallised in one of its opening statements: "The National Front rejects the whole concept of multiracialism. We recognise inherent racial differences in Man. The races of Man are profoundly unequal in their characteristics, potential and abilities."
The manifesto claimed the UK had been "swamped" by "racially incompatible Afro-Asians" and that "Black muggings of White people, especially elderly ladies, occurs regularly".
It continued: "The eruptions in Bristol in 1980 and Brixton in 1981 were just two examples of the 'cultural enrichment' promised to us by the multiracialists." And it claimed: "We believe the gradual dismantlement of the Apartheid system over the last 17 years to be retrograde ... The alternative to Apartheid, multiracialism, envisages an extinction of the White man."
Brons was also an enthusiastic contributor in the 1970s and 1980s to Spearhead, a far-right magazine considered so extreme even the BNP tried to distance itself from it. In two lengthy polemics for the magazine, Brons outlined the supposed importance of nationalism and interpreted genetic studies to suggest Europeans had a "greater cognitive ability" than non-whites. He attacked the influence of "people of Jewish ethnic origin" and peddled the myth that a number of predominantly Zionist organisations were controlling the world. ...
The little green donuts are callin' ya, andy boy!
Yorkshire MEP Andrew Brons drew up some of the National Front's most inflammatory policies
Jamie Doward, home affairs editor
The Observer, Sunday 14 June 2009
One of the British National party's first MEPs' attempts to play down his past links to the extreme right as "silly" teenage posturing are today exposed as a sham after it emerged that for many years he played a crucial role in shaping the National Front's most overtly racist policies.
In 1983, when he was in his late twenties, Andrew Brons edited the National Front's general election manifesto that called for a global apartheid to prevent the "extinction" of whites everywhere.
The Let Britain Live! manifesto was prepared by the party's policy department, chaired by Brons. It outlined a series of hugely controversial positions, crystallised in one of its opening statements: "The National Front rejects the whole concept of multiracialism. We recognise inherent racial differences in Man. The races of Man are profoundly unequal in their characteristics, potential and abilities."
The manifesto claimed the UK had been "swamped" by "racially incompatible Afro-Asians" and that "Black muggings of White people, especially elderly ladies, occurs regularly".
It continued: "The eruptions in Bristol in 1980 and Brixton in 1981 were just two examples of the 'cultural enrichment' promised to us by the multiracialists." And it claimed: "We believe the gradual dismantlement of the Apartheid system over the last 17 years to be retrograde ... The alternative to Apartheid, multiracialism, envisages an extinction of the White man."
Brons was also an enthusiastic contributor in the 1970s and 1980s to Spearhead, a far-right magazine considered so extreme even the BNP tried to distance itself from it. In two lengthy polemics for the magazine, Brons outlined the supposed importance of nationalism and interpreted genetic studies to suggest Europeans had a "greater cognitive ability" than non-whites. He attacked the influence of "people of Jewish ethnic origin" and peddled the myth that a number of predominantly Zionist organisations were controlling the world. ...
The little green donuts are callin' ya, andy boy!
Oh, spare me! The rethuglicunts have had no future since ronnie rayguns! Anyone who doesn't know that doesn't know history. The last time a rethuglicunt who wasn't old enough to be the pope got any face time, it was that witling dan quayle.
No, I don't count shrub jr. He destroyed their future as surely as he destroyed the economy, and besides - he makes quayle look like a fricken genius.
No, I don't count shrub jr. He destroyed their future as surely as he destroyed the economy, and besides - he makes quayle look like a fricken genius.
In the four newly released memos from the Bush Administration’s Office of Legal Counsel, the argument for using psychological torture tactics against al-Qaeda detainees is made in scientific terms
But the science underlying the decision was dubious at best.
In the memos, Justice Department lawyers Jay S. Bybee and Steven Bradbury conclude that tactics such as slamming detainees against walls, confining them in coffin-like boxes, denying them sleep for up to 11 days, and even inducing a drowning sensation through waterboarding do not legally qualify as torture, because the tactics don’t create severe pain and suffering or lasting medical or mental harm.
That conclusion relied heavily on the advice of two psychologists, James Elmer Mitchell and Bruce Jessen.My July 2007 article, “Rorschach and Awe,” gave the first detailed account of the two psychologists’ role as the architects and teachers of the coercive interrogation methods used by the C.I.A. and, later, the Department of Defense. “Based on your research into the use of these methods at the SERE school and consultation with others with expertise in the field of psychology and interrogation, you do not anticipate that any prolonged harm would result from the use of the waterboard,” Bybee writes in a memo dated August 1, 2002
But what, if anything, did Mitchell and Jessen—both devout Mormons—know about real-world interrogations and the art of eliciting accurate, actionable intelligence from hostile foreign fighters? Absolutely nothing, according to Steve Kleinman, an Air Force Reserve Colonel and expert in human-intelligence operations. In 2007, Kleinman told Vanity Fair he found it astonishing that the C.I.A. “chose two clinical psychologists who had no intelligence background whatsoever, who had never conducted an interrogation … to do something that had never been proven in the real world.”
Others called their methods a “voodoo science.”In fact, their techniques were simply reverse-engineered versions of those believed to be used by the Soviet Union, North Korea, and China. ...
But the science underlying the decision was dubious at best.
In the memos, Justice Department lawyers Jay S. Bybee and Steven Bradbury conclude that tactics such as slamming detainees against walls, confining them in coffin-like boxes, denying them sleep for up to 11 days, and even inducing a drowning sensation through waterboarding do not legally qualify as torture, because the tactics don’t create severe pain and suffering or lasting medical or mental harm.
That conclusion relied heavily on the advice of two psychologists, James Elmer Mitchell and Bruce Jessen.My July 2007 article, “Rorschach and Awe,” gave the first detailed account of the two psychologists’ role as the architects and teachers of the coercive interrogation methods used by the C.I.A. and, later, the Department of Defense. “Based on your research into the use of these methods at the SERE school and consultation with others with expertise in the field of psychology and interrogation, you do not anticipate that any prolonged harm would result from the use of the waterboard,” Bybee writes in a memo dated August 1, 2002
But what, if anything, did Mitchell and Jessen—both devout Mormons—know about real-world interrogations and the art of eliciting accurate, actionable intelligence from hostile foreign fighters? Absolutely nothing, according to Steve Kleinman, an Air Force Reserve Colonel and expert in human-intelligence operations. In 2007, Kleinman told Vanity Fair he found it astonishing that the C.I.A. “chose two clinical psychologists who had no intelligence background whatsoever, who had never conducted an interrogation … to do something that had never been proven in the real world.”
Others called their methods a “voodoo science.”In fact, their techniques were simply reverse-engineered versions of those believed to be used by the Soviet Union, North Korea, and China. ...
... I don't want to start any libellous rumours here, but it's hard not to wonder if someone (Rush Limbaugh? Rahm Emanuel? It could work either way) has been putting cocaine in Cheney's morning coffee. The man just will not shut the hell up. Cheney was once the Republican party's mysterious Thomas Pynchon, but in the past two weeks he has become a media slut of Ulrika Jonsson-type proportions, with an accompanying sense of cringing embarrassment, and I would not be surprised if he turned up in the Big Brother house this summer, railing about the benefits of Abu Ghraib to fellow housemates Vanessa Feltz and Marcus Brigstocke.
On Thursday the all new Chatty Cheney gave a talk at the American Enterprise Institute on his favourite subject – Torture: it's Super! – while, as chance would have it, Obama happened to be giving a talk at almost exactly the same time on the proposed closure of Guantánamo Bay.
The American media billed this, bizarrely, as a "Clash of the Titans", which says a lot more about the lack of any viable figureheads in the Republican party than it does about this alleged "clash". The idea that an out-of-office former vice-president is a "titan" on a level with the current in-office president is about as plausible as pitching Halifax Town as a threat to Manchester United. ...
On Thursday the all new Chatty Cheney gave a talk at the American Enterprise Institute on his favourite subject – Torture: it's Super! – while, as chance would have it, Obama happened to be giving a talk at almost exactly the same time on the proposed closure of Guantánamo Bay.
The American media billed this, bizarrely, as a "Clash of the Titans", which says a lot more about the lack of any viable figureheads in the Republican party than it does about this alleged "clash". The idea that an out-of-office former vice-president is a "titan" on a level with the current in-office president is about as plausible as pitching Halifax Town as a threat to Manchester United. ...
BNP London assembly member could be banned from Buckingham Palace party
Deputy chief executive of Greater London Authority tells Richard Barnbrook he will be barred from garden party unless he agrees to take guest other than BNP leader Nick Griffin
Hélène Mulholland and Rachel Williams
Friday 22 May 2009
A BNP assembly member who planned to take the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, to a Buckingham Palace garden party hosted by the Queen was today told he would be barred from attending unless he agreed to take another guest.
In a letter to Richard Barnbrook, Jeff Jacobs, the deputy chief executive of the Greater London Authority, also warned him to "desist" from creating any further adverse publicity.
Barnbrook, a BNP member of the London assembly, yesterday said he had no intention of changing his choice of companion for the garden party, which takes place in June and is being held to recognise community service.
Boris Johnson, the London mayor, intervened after learning of Barnbrook's intention to take the BNP leader with him.
Six London assembly members have been nominated to receive some of the 25 pairs of tickets offered to the GLA by Buckingham Palace.
Johnson accused Barnbrook of turning a "happy event" into a political stunt. The mayor wrote to the chairman of the London assembly, Darren Johnson, to see whether the invitation could be rescinded. ...
Deputy chief executive of Greater London Authority tells Richard Barnbrook he will be barred from garden party unless he agrees to take guest other than BNP leader Nick Griffin
Hélène Mulholland and Rachel Williams
Friday 22 May 2009
A BNP assembly member who planned to take the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, to a Buckingham Palace garden party hosted by the Queen was today told he would be barred from attending unless he agreed to take another guest.
In a letter to Richard Barnbrook, Jeff Jacobs, the deputy chief executive of the Greater London Authority, also warned him to "desist" from creating any further adverse publicity.
Barnbrook, a BNP member of the London assembly, yesterday said he had no intention of changing his choice of companion for the garden party, which takes place in June and is being held to recognise community service.
Boris Johnson, the London mayor, intervened after learning of Barnbrook's intention to take the BNP leader with him.
Six London assembly members have been nominated to receive some of the 25 pairs of tickets offered to the GLA by Buckingham Palace.
Johnson accused Barnbrook of turning a "happy event" into a political stunt. The mayor wrote to the chairman of the London assembly, Darren Johnson, to see whether the invitation could be rescinded. ...
republicans 3 for $1 - No guarantees against kicking, biting, fighting, bullshitting, t'iefin' or kinkeh sex.
Old reagan-in-a-dress has always been an evil cow.
This cow's cluelessness well and truly has no bounds. It's fair astonishing.
Steal This Phrase
Category:
Posted on: March 4, 2009 9:30 AM, by Ed Brayton
Someone who comments here under the name grasshopper has invented a brilliant phrase for the Rush Limbaughs of the world: ignorexia verbosa. Pass it on.
Category:
Posted on: March 4, 2009 9:30 AM, by Ed Brayton
Someone who comments here under the name grasshopper has invented a brilliant phrase for the Rush Limbaughs of the world: ignorexia verbosa. Pass it on.
[Cluade Rains in Casblanca]I am shocked, shocked![/Claude Rains in Casablanca]
The rethuglicunts are so clueless and evil. Let's send them to Afghanistan, shall we?
Conyers Subpoenas Rove: ‘It’s Time to Talk’
By Kate Klonick 1/26/09 6:28 PM
Karl Rove, who previously refused to testify to his involvement in the politicization of the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney firing scandal as former President George W. Bush’s deputy chief of staff, was subpoenaed today by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.).
From the Committee’s press release, which is posted on The Huffington Post:
“I have said many times that I will carry this investigation forward to its conclusion, whether in Congress or in court, and today’s action is an important step along the way,” said Mr. Conyers. Noting that the change in administration may impact the legal arguments available to Mr. Rove in this long-running dispute, Mr. Conyers added “Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it. After two years of stonewalling, it’s time for him to talk.”
Rove’s prior refusals to testify were based on claims of “absolute immunity” through executive privilege — the idea that even former presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify before Congress. But the legality of that claim was rejected by U.S. District Judge John Bates as part of the ongoing suit over executive privilege, House Judiciary Committee v. Harriet Miers.
The onset of the new administration creates a lot of new questions as to how Rove will answer this subpoena. Rove is relying on an interpretation of executive privilege that is no longer backed by the administration, so it’s unclear how, or if, he will still be protected. While it looks likely that this new Congress’ subpoena will finally wrest “privileged” documents from the White House, its still unclear as to whether Rove will testify before the committee. ...
By Kate Klonick 1/26/09 6:28 PM
Karl Rove, who previously refused to testify to his involvement in the politicization of the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney firing scandal as former President George W. Bush’s deputy chief of staff, was subpoenaed today by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.).
From the Committee’s press release, which is posted on The Huffington Post:
“I have said many times that I will carry this investigation forward to its conclusion, whether in Congress or in court, and today’s action is an important step along the way,” said Mr. Conyers. Noting that the change in administration may impact the legal arguments available to Mr. Rove in this long-running dispute, Mr. Conyers added “Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it. After two years of stonewalling, it’s time for him to talk.”
Rove’s prior refusals to testify were based on claims of “absolute immunity” through executive privilege — the idea that even former presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify before Congress. But the legality of that claim was rejected by U.S. District Judge John Bates as part of the ongoing suit over executive privilege, House Judiciary Committee v. Harriet Miers.
The onset of the new administration creates a lot of new questions as to how Rove will answer this subpoena. Rove is relying on an interpretation of executive privilege that is no longer backed by the administration, so it’s unclear how, or if, he will still be protected. While it looks likely that this new Congress’ subpoena will finally wrest “privileged” documents from the White House, its still unclear as to whether Rove will testify before the committee. ...
On Monday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) issued a subpoena to Karl Rove, requiring him to testify regarding his role in the Bush Administration's politicization of the Department of Justice, including the US Attorney firings and the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. The subpoena calls for Rove to appear at deposition on Monday, February 2, 2009. ...
I couldn't even finish the damn book. It made me as nauseous as Nausea.
I'd hope lush windbag has heart failure, but it hasn't got a heart.
Just shut yr mouth, palin.
Fascinating, frightening, and occasionally very amusing.
LEONARD PITTS JR.
May Bush live to see history's judgment
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
January 17, 2009
"History. We don't know. We'll all be dead."
-- George W. Bush
Dear President Bush,
I am glad you are, at 62, still a relatively young man. I am glad you are in robust health. This means there is a good likelihood of your being with us for decades yet to come, and I dearly want that. You see, history's verdict is on the way, and I want you to see it for yourself.
We've been hearing the "h" word a lot from your surrogates, your supporters, and you as you make your final rounds before handing over the keys to the new team. History, we are told, will render the truest verdict on your time in office. History, it is implied, will say you were a far better president than we ever gave you credit for.
You said it again Monday in your farewell news conference. History will have the final say.
It is a curious position for someone who has been, as the quot[ation] above suggests, rather dismissive of history's judgment. It occurs to me that, as patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, so history is the last refuge of the failed president. ...
Once that git is out of office I want to hear nothing more about it, except its obituary.
May Bush live to see history's judgment
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
January 17, 2009
"History. We don't know. We'll all be dead."
-- George W. Bush
Dear President Bush,
I am glad you are, at 62, still a relatively young man. I am glad you are in robust health. This means there is a good likelihood of your being with us for decades yet to come, and I dearly want that. You see, history's verdict is on the way, and I want you to see it for yourself.
We've been hearing the "h" word a lot from your surrogates, your supporters, and you as you make your final rounds before handing over the keys to the new team. History, we are told, will render the truest verdict on your time in office. History, it is implied, will say you were a far better president than we ever gave you credit for.
You said it again Monday in your farewell news conference. History will have the final say.
It is a curious position for someone who has been, as the quot[ation] above suggests, rather dismissive of history's judgment. It occurs to me that, as patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, so history is the last refuge of the failed president. ...
Once that git is out of office I want to hear nothing more about it, except its obituary.