Oh, this'll really win over the Hispanic vote...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The national anthem should be sung in English -- not Spanish -- President Bush declared Friday, amid growing restlessness over the millions of immigrants here illegally.
"One of the things that's very important is, when we debate this issue, that we not lose our national soul," the president exclaimed. "One of the great things about America is that we've been able to take people from all walks of life bound as one nation under God. And that's the challenge ahead of us."
A Spanish language version of the national anthem was released Friday by a British music producer, Adam Kidron, who said he wanted to honor America's immigrants.
When the president was asked at a Rose Garden question-and-answer session whether the anthem should be sung in Spanish, he replied: "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English."
Sounds like Dubya's been getting his talking points from Lou "I Don't Believe In St. Patrick's Day Parades" Dobbs (would this make him "Dobbsya"?). It's basically a great big fuck-you to any immigrants who want to embrace America on their own cultural terms.
So, George, if you're worried about our "national soul," how about banning and denouncing torture? How about not pissing all over the Constitution in the pursuit of naked power? How about not lying us into any more disastrous unprovoked wars? How about, oh I don't know, for once in your worthless wretched life doing something that makes me proud of my country instead of ashamed? I realize that anything more complicated than quitting is probably beyond your meager abilities, and that's fine. Just do what you can - you'll be amazed at how grateful everyone will be.
Oh, and you might want to consider learning English, too...So right now all we really know for sure is that Fitz called Rove back to testify for a fifth time, which is... a lot. But what the exact significance of it is is still subject to fevered speculation. It could mean he's getting indicted, it could mean he's going to flip on someone (presumably that could only be Bush and/or Cheney), or it could mean that he has managed to miraculously squirm free. To my untrained legal mind, his "I would have been stupid to think I could get away with it" defense is pretty damn weak, so I think it comes down to the first two.
The first question this raises is, Who is Rove loyal to? Is he entirely Bush's creature, willing to throw himself to the wolves to protect his beloved master, or is he a self-interested parasite who will just attach himself to a new host once Dubya is spent?
The second question is, What does happen if Rove flips? Even if he does avoid jail time, would the Republican mafia repudiate him as a disloyal squealer? If this were happening during Bush's Swaggering Codpiece Of Victory period, I think turning on him would be certain political death. But Bush's approval ratings are so low right now that the Republicans would be relieved to get rid of him. They might decide to praise Rove as some kind of courageous whistleblower who just couldn't stomach the lies and coverup any more, and cheerfully welcome him back into the fold to run 2008.
The least satisfying outcome (and therefore the most likely, according to Murphy's Razor) would be for Rove to rat out Cheney. Not only would Bush be in the clear, but it would be a very convenient way to get rid of his political baggage and begin grooming a new VP as Dubya's heir. On the plus side, while this might protect Bush from legal jeopardy, I don't think anyone but the most fanatical Republican Kool-Aid drinkers will believe that Rove knew about the Plame-Out operation and never once mentioned it to his master.
The best outcome would be for Rove to rat out Bush and Cheney, forcing them both to resign or face impeachment (President Pelosi?). And while he saves his own skin, he becomes an untouchable within the Republican party. As with DeLay and Abramoff, no-one will admit to knowing him, much less let him anywhere near their campaign. I know it's about as likely as a Jets-Giants Superbowl next February, but I'm rooting for that too.
UPDATE: I should probably clarify that it were all up to me, I would indict Rove over Bush in a heartbeat. Once Bush's second term finishes (whenever that might be), he'll just quietly drink himself to death in between $100,000 speeches and fundraising appearances. But there are no term limits for dirty tricksters. Rove could go on engineering slimy, mean-spirited victories for the GOP for the next 20-30 years.
Yes, I'm sure the Republicans have a very deep bench of amoral scumbags just waiting to run underhanded, Rovian campaigns - we'll just have to keep chipping away.Sophie is just one of the dozens of privileged kids who have had their coming-of-age extravaganzas captured on MTV's hit series "My Super Sweet 16" (Wednesdays at 10 p.m., Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central Time). The show, in its third season, follows teenagers as they painstakingly plan their elaborate celebrations (which can cost as much as $200,000), argue over the details with their parents, fret over guest lists and shop for their first cars. There are tears and tantrums and nouveau-riche displays of conspicuous consumption. Marissa, a daddy's girl from Arizona, dyes her two poodles pink, so they'll match her dress. Her party was the show's season opener.Argh. This is just... grotesque. And remember, these kids and their doting parents have a lot more say in our government than any of us ordinary folk do. But there is hope. Not all of these rich kids are totally hung up on money:
(snip)
The show follows a simple but wildly successful formula: (1) kid makes a series of high-priced demands (a fireworks display, a helicopter ride, perhaps a harem of belly dancers); (2) parents capitulate and cough up the cash; (3) kid gleefully humiliates the uninvited; (4) something goes awry; (5) kid has a meltdown and repeatedly refers to self in the third person; (6) party miraculously comes together, and kid is presented with an automobile before his salivating, less fortunate peers. In Marissa's case, her father, who owns three auto dealerships, presented her with two cars: a red convertible for the weekend and a sturdy S.U.V. for the week.
(snip)
"If you can afford to have a grand celebration, then why not," said Dr. Kothapalli, who immigrated to the United States from India in the mid-1980's. "It's the American way. You work hard and you play hard."Born with silver ladles in their mouths, his daughters have certainly mastered the latter. Their Bollywood-themed party for 500 guests will be held in the family's backyard — all 4½ acres, behind the 10,000-square-foot house. The Format, their favorite band, will perform. And they will make their grand entrance on litters, during an elaborate procession led by elephants. The sisters, who plan to perform a choreographed routine at their to-do next month, are also taking dance lessons, and they've enlisted the help of a trainer.
"We both want to lose three pounds," said Priya, who received a Mercedes convertible and an assortment of diamond jewelry for her birthday. Her sister's graduation gift package included a Bentley, diamonds and two homes in India.
"I was really surprised," Divya said, "because I was only expecting a Bentley and one house."
Just last month they gave a preparty where invitations to their coming event were handed out by body builders whom Priya ordered not to smile. "Assistants are not supposed to smile," she explained.
Aaron Reid, son of the music mogul L. A. Reid, took five months to plan his party. He had just moved to New York from Atlanta and was eager to make a name for himself at his new prep school, to establish himself as more than L. A. Reid's son. His invitation was an MP3 player. At his party, held at Jay-Z's 40/40 club last November, the producer Jermaine Dupri was the D.J., the rapper Kanye West performed, and Diddy, Aaron's godfather, made an appearance. Poppa Reid clearly pulled some strings.At least one of these kids understands what's really important in this big ol' scary world: Friendship. God bless you, Aaron Reid. You are an inspiration to us all."Everybody else spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I didn't spend anything," Mr. Reid said proudly. "I got my friend's club. I got my friend to perform and I got my friend to D.J."
"There's absolutely no way that I would ever spend that type of money," he continued. "I think it's over the top and sickening and a real poor representation of wealth."
Does the policeman hunt mad people or does he hunt sane people ?? (even better he hunts patology) The policeman hunts mad people, or he would be mad, by definiton. So there should be total identity, and unity of action, by the policeman, the general, the medical doctor, so we will not say anymore that a raper is a sane human. We can show why also crimes against the patrimony are not physiological conducts (if evrybody would go doing robberies..what would happen?)Discuss.
A conduct can be pathological (biological group self-destructive activity) or non pathological (phisiological), no external or middle case is expected. 90% of the people who killed a parent is declared mentally healthful, this means: non pathological conduct, phisiological conduct (genetic or non genetic), good doctor, not vector of functional or anatomical suffering.
Medicine is an exact science, jurisprudence is an exact science. Enemies and friends: of the mental hygiene only, war between doctors isn't expected value. "Fighting with islam against the devil" : this information is harmless and profitable.
Siegmund Freud lies not knowing to be lying: he is a conceptual pedophile who says children has sexual attraction for parent (edipus) and that mind is partitioned in 3 parts (ego superego es). False premiss brings wrong result: like Freud says, cognitive error is associated with pathological conduct.
"All fine at home? Do your parents act with you like with friends?": the medical doctor must suggest this or enhanced reflection to the habitants, for excluding non-genetic behavioral epidemics. Slapping child is a crime and a mania, like by the general rule, "if child doesn't born genetically stupid, handicapped, diseased, socially dangerous". Earth's habitants kill gays but children don't born gays, habitants corrupt and kill children doing a "sacrifice to the devil": this non genetic epidemic is familiarly but not geneticaly transmitted.
God created phisiology and patology and gave you the chance to choice. With baptism christians forgive themselfs from god's sentence.
1:28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 1:29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 1:30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-everything that has the breath of life in it-I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
If vegetarian diet gives longer and better life than non-vegetarian diet, non-vegetarian diet is alimentary behavior pathology. Eating another human is a behavioral disturb; a cow has 96,5% dna perfectly matching with human dna. I am racist: i think animals is inferior race, so i don't have to eat cadavers, thing that induce a phisiological genetic reflex : vomiting.
This text describes a surgical practice, and can't be copyrighted ; you are authorized to the use u think is necessary, please forward. This is a final version or close, you will not receive notifications anymore. call for emergencies
Ps: We feel very sorry if this mail caused your inconvenient or interupt your normal workAnd from "Oprahs.FavoriteThings" (is that Visual Basic?), an e-mail entitled "Eli Are.Up.For.Grabs". I'm not entirely sure what it means, but hot damn, it sounds like fun!
please kindly inform us we will avoid to interupt you again .
P.S. We want you to know it was a hard call whether to lose you or Karl. He really agonized over it.Not really sure how the "to spend more time with their family" part would work...
Nice.More ominously for Republicans, their party also has lost standing with the public. Residents of states Bush won in 2004 say they trust the Democrats (48 percent) more than the Republicans (42 percent) to deal with the country's biggest problems.
Those humbling numbers for Republicans are a far cry from the results of surveys taken immediately before the 2004 election. Back then, red states were bright red: Bush's overall job approval rating stood 13 points higher, at 56 percent in states that he eventually won. And throughout Bush's first term it was the GOP and not the Democrats whom voters in these states trusted to deal with the country's biggest problems, sometimes by double-digit margins.
This is my worry - that this dissatisfaction will express itself in an attitude of "all congressmen are bums except mine." Flory tells me I shouldn't get too hung up on that because we saw the same thing prior to the Republican landslide in 1994, but I'm still not convinced. The Republicans have had the media on their side for as long as I can remember, and were able to paint themselves as housecleaning reformers, with their bold Contract With America. The Democrats could run the identical gameplan this fall, and would be painted as whiny Bush-hating nitpickers whose alleged plan is all smoke and mirrors."They may be upset nationally," Forti said. "But clearly that does not mean they're not going to go vote for their congressman." House elections will turn mainly on local issues and nominees, he said.
The Post-ABC News poll found that 59 percent of registered voters approve of their own representative, a lower number than in past months. But only 35 percent approve of the way Congress is doing its job.
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Cunningham has been disgraced, but he's not on the ballot. George Bush is pretty unpopular these days, but he's not on the ballot either. In most cases, the person on the ballot is your friendly neighborhood incumbent, who has a remarkable knack for getting reelected, even when people are in a throw-the-bums-out mood.With Iraq a mess and the White House on the defensive, you might think this would be a good year for the out party. But the odds are still against the Democrats winning the House, says this thisWashPost story. And a key reason is gerrymandered districts that make a major turnover -- the Democrats need 15 seats -- very difficult.
I think Kurtz is right on both counts, and I have been saying much the same thing. In a vacuum, yes, the anti-Bush, anti-Republican polling looks very promising, but I think there are a lot of voters who think all politicians are bums except theirs. So unless Democrats or federal prosecutors can convince Republican voters that their politicians are bums, or that a Republican majority is hazardous to America's health, it won't have much effect in November. In other words, it really doesn't help us if Texas Republicans think Alabama Republicans are bums, or vice versa.
And, of course, gerrymandering makes representative democracy a sham. There may be more "safe" Republican districts in play this year, but they'll still be uphill battles, and I think the Democrats will be lucky to win even a handful of them. I expect a lot of heartbreaking close losses/moral victories a la Hackett vs. Schmidt, where the Dem does far better than anyone could have dreamed, but not quite well enough to win.[On liberal bloggers emphatically refusing to welcome Newt into the anti-war fold with open arms]I understand and appreciate the sentiment, but I just can't buy into it. For one thing, it smacks of the conciliatory, run-away-from-the-base, be-careful-or-you-might-upset-them mindset that's turning the Democratic party into a joke. And for another, I just can't say "bygones" and give war cheerleaders a free pass. If someone like Murtha simply believed the war was a good idea and then realized their mistake, I can accept that. But anyone who actively pushed for war and equated dissent with treason can go fuck themselves with a rusty jackhammer. Yes, it's nice to have them as a data point - "Even Crazy Wingnut X thinks the war was a mistake!" - but that doesn't mean we have to treat them like a long-lost brother or let them launder their legacy. They are useful to our cause, but that doesn't excuse what they did. If someone calls me a traitor, I will not forget, and I will not forgive.
But while I absolutely understand and share their anger, and adore the passion... I have to ask if this is really the way we want to respond to pro-war people who change their position?
Isn't the whole goal of those of us fighting to put an end to this immoral, outrageous, and tragic war to get as many war supporters as possible to join the chorus of voices calling for a pull out from Iraq?
Jack Murtha supported the war -- then he didn't. And his change of heart adds credibility to his bold stand, it doesn't undercut it.
Yes, there is plenty of room to question the motives of pro-war neocons suddenly trying to distance themselves from their bellicose promotion of invading Iraq. But, at the same time, this is absolutely what we want and need them to do in order for us to be able to get out of Iraq. Whatever their motives.
This is just insane. I don't know whether this is simply antiterrorist hysteria taken to its illogical extreme, or just a flimsy excuse to keep refugees out. It's staggeringly callous and mean-spirited either way.In Sierra Leone there is a woman who was kept captive in her house for four days by guerrillas. The rebels raped her and her daughter and cut them with machetes. Under America's program to resettle refugees, she would be eligible to come to safety in the United States. But her application for refuge has been put on indefinite hold — because American law says that she provided "material support" to terrorists by giving them shelter.
This law is keeping out of the United States several thousand recognized refugees America had agreed in principle to shelter. By any reasonable definition, they are victims, not terrorists.
A Liberian woman was kidnapped by a guerrilla group and forced to be a sexual slave for several weeks. She also had to cook and do laundry. These services are now considered "material support" to terrorists....
(snip)
The law makes no exception for duress. It also treats any group of two or more people fighting a government as terrorists no matter how justified the cause, or how long ago the struggle. So the United States has turned away about 10,000 Chin refugees, for supporting an armed group fighting against the Myanmar dictatorship, which has barred them from practicing their religion. The United States has acknowledged that the law would also bar Iraqis who helped American marines find Jessica Lynch.
