The New American Tea Party

I got this email recently, and I enjoyed it enough to share here....

Here's something sent to me that we can all of us do. Let's NOT sit on our duffs and ignore the problem that the idiots in D.C. have made for all of us. It's not a big move, but it sure will get attention... we hope. If not, at least we've lowered the bill for Tea at the White House!! LOL (I hope they like tea....hee hee!!).

There's a storm abrewin'. What happens when good, responsible people keep quiet? Washington has forgotten they work for us. We don't work for them. Throwing good money after bad is NOT the answer.

Sick of the midnight, closed door sessions to come up with a plan? Sick of Congress raking CEO's over the coals while they, themselves, have defaulted on their taxes? Sick of the bailed out companies having lavish vacations and retreats on our tax dollar? Sick of being told it is OUR responsibility to rescue people that, knowingly, bought more house than they could afford? I am sick of being made to feel it is my patriotic duty to pay MORE taxes.

I, like all of you, am a responsible citizen. I pay my taxes. I live on a budget and I don't ask someone else to carry the burden for poor decisions I may make. I have emailed my congressmen and senators asking them to NOT vote for the stimulus package as it was written without reading it first. No one listened. They voted for it, pork and all.

O.K. folks, here it is. You may think you are just one voice and what you think won't make a difference. Well, yes it will and YES, WE CAN!! If you are disgusted and angry with the way Washington is handling our taxes. If you are fearful of the fallout from the wreckless spending of BILLIONS to bailout and "stimulate" without accountability and responsibility then we need to become ONE, LOUD VOICE THAT CAN BE HEARD FROM EVERY CITY, TOWN, SUBURB AND HOME IN AMERICA. There is a growing protest to demand that Congress, the President and his cabinet LISTEN to us, the American Citizens. What is being done in Washington is NOT the way to handle the economic free fall.

So, here's the plan. On April 1, 2009, all Americans are asked to send a TEABAG to Washington , D.C. You do not have to enclose a note or any other information unless you so desire. Just a TEABAG. Many cities are organizing protests. If you simply search, "New American Tea Party", several sites will come up. If you aren't the 'protester' type, simply make your one voice heard with a TEABAG. Your one voice will become a roar when joined with millions of others that feel the same way. Yes, something needs to be done but the lack of confidence as shown by the steady decline in the stock market speaks volumes.

This was not my idea. I visited the sites of the 'New American Tea Party' and an online survey showed over 90% of thousands said they would send the teabag on April 1. Why, April 1?? We want them to reach Washington by April 15. Will you do it? I will..

Send it to; 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington , D.C. 20500 .

Forward this to everyone in your address book. Visit the website for more information about the 'New American Tea Party'. I would encourage everyone to go ahead and get the envelope ready to mail, then just drop it in the mail April 1. Can't guarantee what the postage will be by then, it is going up as we speak, but have your envelope ready. What will this cost you? A little time and a 40 something cent stamp.
What could you receive in benefits? Maybe, just maybe, our elected officials will start to listen to the people. Take out the Pork. Tell us how the money is being spent. We want TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. Remember, the money will be spent over the next 4-5 years. It is not too late.

Of course, if you agree with the way things are being done now, just delete!!!!!

Their website is http://newamericanteaparty.com/

Saddam Hussein Sentenced to Die

Looks like we're gonna have a good ole west hangin!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227574,00.html

Saddam Hussein, the iron-fisted dictator who ruled Iraq for nearly a quarter of a century, was found guilty of crimes against humanity Sunday and sentenced to death by hanging.

The so-called Butcher of Baghdad, who was president of Iraq from 1979 until he was deposed by Coalition forces in April 2003, was convicted of the 1982 killings of 148 Shiites in the city of Dujail.

The visibly shaken former leader shouted "God is great!" as Iraq's High Tribunal announced his sentence.

Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of the former Revolutionary Court, were sentenced to join Saddam on the gallows for the Dujail killings after an unsuccessful assassination attempt during a Saddam visit to the city 35 miles north of Baghdad.

Line-item veto

Its about time. Something has to be done about the pork slapped everywhere. At least with this in play, they wont try and slide things into good bills and the veto wont even have to be used. Call it the semi-nuclear option for pork.

Update: House Approves Weaker Version of Line-Item Veto Power

House to Vote on Weaker Version of Line-Item Veto Power
Thursday, June 22, 2006

WASHINGTON � The House moved toward giving President Bush greater power to strip bills of "pork barrel" spending projects Thursday in a weaker version of the line-item veto law struck down by the Supreme Court in 1998.

The idea was advancing amid debate about lawmakers' penchant for stuffing parochial projects into spending bills that the president must accept or reject in their entirety. Lawmakers have rallied to support each other's projects when challenged in recent House votes.

In a test vote, the House advanced the measure for debate, 228-196. A final vote was to come late Thursday.

The bill would allow the president to single out items contained in appropriations bills he signs into law, and it would require Congress to vote on those items again. It also could be used against increases in benefit programs and tax breaks aimed at a single beneficiary.

Under the proposal, it would take a simple majority in both the House and the Senate to approve the items over the president's objections.

The hope is that wasteful spending or special interest tax breaks would be vulnerable since Congress might vote to reject such items once they are no longer protected by their inclusion in bigger bills that the president has little choice but to sign.

This legislation would give the president and Congress an important tool to reduce unjustified earmarks and wasteful spending items that are frequently incorporated into large, essential spending measures," said a White House statement.

"This bill gives Congress another set of eyes to review spending," said Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.

The bill is a far weaker version of the line-item veto that Republicans in Congress gave President Clinton in 1996. That bill allowed Clinton to strike items from appropriations and tax bills unless Congress mustered a two-thirds margin to override him.

The Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional two years later because it let the president single-handedly change laws passed by Congress.

It's not clear that the new spending control tool would be very effective. Congress easily mustered the two-thirds margins needed to override Clinton's 1997 vetoes of military construction projects. More recently, lawmakers have united to reject attacks by a lone conservative, Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., to strip from spending bills the very kind of projects the new line-item veto is aimed at attacking.

Still, the plan is eagerly embraced by Republicans and their core conservative political supporters and is a way to demonstrate election-year resolve on spending.

For their part, Democrats acidly noted the vote took place the same day the House was to vote on a 10-year, $283 billion partial repeal of estate taxes on the heirs of millionaires. And the number of pet projects slipped by lawmakers into spending bills has exploded under GOP control of Congress.

"You control all mechanisms of spending. You control the House, you control the Senate, you control the presidency and you need help before you spend again," said George Miller, D-Calif. "What is this, Comedy Central?"

But Miller and scores of other Democrats opposing the bill Thursday if fact voted for almost identical legislation in the 1990s when it was proposed as a milder alternative to other line-item veto bills.

Democrats offered but were denied a vote on an alternative that among other provisions would have reinstated lapsed pay-as-you-go rules that require tax cuts or additions to federal benefit programs be accompanied by revenue increases or spending cuts elsewhere in the budget.

The Senate plans to press ahead with a far more sweeping plan to overhaul the government's arcane budget process. On Tuesday, the Senate Budget Committee approved a plan to revive the old Gramm-Rudman mechanism of setting hard deficit targets and requiring across-the-board cuts if Congress can't meet them on its own.

The Senate plan also contains the new, watered down line-item veto, and is expected to bog down quickly when brought to the floor. But so far, Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., is resisting the idea of subsequently advancing the line-item veto plan on its own.

al-Zarqawi Killed

Its about friggin time too!

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Killed in Bombing Raid

BAGHDAD, Iraq � Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda in Iraq leader who led a brutal insurgency that included homicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings, was killed in an airstrike on a building north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials announced Thursday.

Officials said the terror leader's identity was confirmed by fingerprints, facial recognition and known scars

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening at around 6:15 p.m. local time in a bombing raid on a building in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province.

Loud applause broke out at a press conference in Baghdad as Al-Maliki, flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, announced that "Zarqawi was terminated."

U.S. President George W. Bush said Zarqawi's death "is a severe blow to Al Qaeda and it is a significant victory in the war on terror."

"We have tough days ahead of us in Iraq that will require the continuing patience of the American people," he said in an address from the White House.

Kerry Threatens Alito Filibuster

In a move the conservatives couldnt script any better, KERRY threatens a filibuster. talk about holding grudges of a sore loser! When KKKByrd even thnks kerry is crazy, they have issues.

WASHINGTON � Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy, along with a small number of other Senate Democrats, have threatened a filibuster to block the vote for Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, FOX News has learned.

"Judge Alito has consistently made it harder for Americans to have their day in court. He routinely defers to the power of the government, no matter how extreme. And he doesn�t believe women have a right to privacy that�s protected by the Constitution," Kerry said in a statement.

"The president has every right to nominate Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. It�s our right and our responsibility to oppose him vigorously and to fight against this radical upending of the Supreme Court," he added before announcing he would return to Washington early on Friday from Davos, Switzerland, where a Senate delegation was attending the World Economic Forum.

But a senior Democratic leadership aide told FOX News on Thursday that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and a majority of Democrats "do not support this action by Kerry and Kennedy. It is not politically advantageous for us."

The Senate's No. 2 Democrat said earlier in the day that while he opposes Alito, he thought it unlikely that Democrats would try to mount a filibuster.

"Having made a count, I have come to the conclusion that it is highly unlikely that a filibuster would succeed," said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

"There's been adequate time for people to debate," Reid added.

But on the Senate floor late Thursday, Kennedy said support is growing for a filibuster, and Durbin, along with Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Paul Sarbanes of Maryland would back an attempt.

Republicans, however, have already said they'll have the 60 votes needed in the Senate to break a filibuster and end the debate, so such a threat probably won't have an impact.

"When you have the number of senators who have stated their intention to vote for cloture plus the number of senators who stated their intentions to vote for Judge Alito, you come to 60 or more," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

A cloture vote, which would end a potential filibuster, is scheduled for Monday at 4:30 p.m. EST; if cloture is approved, the final vote would be scheduled for Tuesday at 11 a.m EST.

"It is time to establish an end point" in the debate over President Bush's selection, Frist, R-Tenn., said.

If confirmed, Alito will be replacing retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. His swearing-in could come within an hour of confirmation.

Earlier Thursday, Alito picked up two new Democratic supporters, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota. They join Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, along with 52 Republicans, who have so far publicly pledged to vote for the conservative judge.

"His obvious intelligence, his obvious sincerity lead me to believe him to be an honorable man, a man who loves his country, loves his Constitution and man who will give of his best," Byrd said.

6.7 Magnitude Quake Hits Afghanistan-Pakistan Border

Maybe Usama is under a bolder somewhere.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,178494,00.html

Bruce Willis making a new movie supporting the war

"ANGERED by negative portrayals of the conflict in Iraq, Bruce Willis, the Hollywood star, is to make a pro-war film in which American soldiers will be depicted as brave fighters for freedom and democracy."

Its about time! Bruce rules, hudson hawk to the rescue, or something.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-524-1892675-524,00.html

Bruce Willis comes out fighting for Iraq’s forgotten GI heroes
Sarah Baxter, Washington

ANGERED by negative portrayals of the conflict in Iraq, Bruce Willis, the Hollywood star, is to make a pro-war film in which American soldiers will be depicted as brave fighters for freedom and democracy.

It will be based on the exploits of the heavily decorated members of Deuce Four, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, which has spent the past year battling insurgents in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.

Willis attended Deuce Four’s homecoming ball this month in Seattle, Washington, where the soldiers are on leave, along with Stephen Eads, the producer of Armageddon and The Sixth Sense.

The 50-year-old actor said that he was in talks about a film of “these guys who do what they are asked to for very little money to defend and fight for what they consider to be freedom”.

Unlike many Hollywood stars Willis supports the war and recently offered a $1m (about £583,000) bounty for the capture of any of Al-Qaeda’s most wanted leaders such as Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri or Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, its commander in Iraq. Willis visited the war zone with his rock and blues band, the Accelerators, in 2003.

“I am baffled to understand why the things I saw happening in Iraq are not being reported,” he told MSNBC, the American news channel.

He is expected to base the film on the writings of the independent blogger Michael Yon, a former special forces green beret who was embedded with Deuce Four and sent regular dispatches about their heroics.

Yon was at the soldiers’ ball with Willis, who got to know him through his internet war reports on www.michaelyon.blogspot.com. “What he is doing is something the American media and maybe the world media isn’t doing,” the actor said, “and that’s telling the truth about what’s happening in the war in Iraq.”

Willis is likely to take on the role of the unit’s commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Erik Kurilla, 39, a Bruce Willis lookalike with a chest full of medals, more hair than Willis and a glamorous blonde wife.

He was injured in August after being shot three times by insurgents “in front of my eyes”, Yon recorded in his blog: “He continued to direct his men until a medic gave him morphine and the men took him away.”

Kurilla now has a titanium plate in his leg. He met Willis at the ball and said that his men were “very excited and appreciative that he was there”. ”

Deuce Four has a chequered history. For decades it was a segregated black unit commanded by a white officer. It was disbanded in 1951 but veterans felt hurt that its past was considered to be a stain on the army and it was revived in the mid-1990s.

When the battalion arrived in Mosul in November last year the city was under threat from insurgents. “We faced very heavy fighting for about three months,” Kurilla recalled. “Every patrol was making contact with enemy forces. We would hit them where they slept, where they worked and where they ate.”

Today the picture was very different, he said. “I have watched a city that was in absolute chaos turn into one that has a viable Iraqi security force, which is taking the lead in fighting the terrorists.”

Yon, 41, went to Iraq after a friend from high school, Scott Helveston, a former navy Seal, was hanged from a bridge in Falluja in an incident that shocked the world. Yon had never blogged before but was the author of Danger Close, a book about his experience as a green beret when he killed a man in a bar-room brawl. He was charged with murder and acquitted on the grounds of self-defence.

“When I landed in Baghdad I was immediately struck by how much of a war zone it was,” Yon said. “Explosions were going off constantly. It was full-on.”

His first experience of Mosul was worse: “I got attacked on my first mission. One of our vehicles got hit with a car bomb and three guys were killed.”

In May, Yon took a photograph of a soldier from the Deuce Four cradling a little Iraqi girl who had been fatally wounded by a suicide bomber. He sensed that the inhabitants of Mosul were turning against the insurgents. “People began to realise that all the insurgents ever did was break things and kill people,” he said. “It started to switch from a firefight to an intelligence war. People started to talk more to us. They would pull us over and give us tips.”

The Iraqi security forces began to take pride in their work, Yon added: “These guys were getting slaughtered but they continued to volunteer and fight. It’s very dangerous now to be a terrorist in Mosul. They’re still out there but it’s not like it was.”

Willis said it would be wrong for Americans to give up on Iraq just as progress is being made. “The Iraqi people want to live in a world where they can move from their homes to the market and not have to fear being killed,” he said. “I mean, doesn’t everybody want that?”

In God we trust

Yup, he's at it again, Michael newdow is sueing to remove "In God we trust" from our money. Where does this loon get all this money to keep filing stuff for his own spotlight? Does he not know this phrase isn't religious? Does he not realize the Judeo-Christian background of this country is what makes it so good? Can you imagine if Athiests framed the constitution? we'd be in civil wars every 10 years. We'd have poligamy running rampant. We'd still have slavery. We'd basicly be living in anarchy because there would be no rigid backbone to society. While I dont beleive religion should be pushed upon someone, as they should be asking it to be imposed on themselve individually, but on the flip side, you cant erase it completely. anyways, here's the article and several sources:

Newdow should actually read the Constitution

It appears as if Michael Newdow is at it again. Recently I was listening to KCBS on my way in to work and I heard the unbelievable story about the lawsuit filed by atheist Michael Newdow. This time, he is attacking the "in God we trust' wording on our money. His lawsuit against "under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance is still in process as well.

His claim is that wording on our coins violate the separation of church and state that is covered in our Constitution. Doesn't he understand the meaning of separation of church and state? Doesn't he understand the fundamentals of the United States? I understand that everyone has a right to their opinion, but this has gone far enough.

The separation of church and state simply means that the U.S. government will not select a religion for its citizens. And the U.S. government will not punish a citizen for practicing their own religion and praying to their own god or idol, should a person choose that path. As long as they do not violate the law, a person is free to practice the religion they select of their own free will.

Another thing that Mr. Newdow either doesn't realize or doesn't care to admit is that this country's value system is based on a god-based faith. Maybe Mr. Newdow should read the Constitution again and again, and see what I mean by that. Where does he think we get our laws from? How about "thou shall not kill?' That not only is a law, but one of the Ten Commandments? People like him don't want the Ten Commandments shown in our courtrooms. But since some laws were written from them, should we no longer follow those laws? What message are we looking to send?

If U.S. currency truly offends Mr. Newdow, then he should stop using it. He can use checks and credit cards so that he does not have to see such harmful words. If that isn't enough, perhaps he could donate it to a church or needy children or to anyone who needs it. Trust me, they wouldn't have a challenge with "in God we trust'. But then again, by the sheer fact that he would donate money, others might think God does exist, so maybe he shouldn't.

Let's say we do take out all religious writings and sayings from any official government documents, currency, proceedings or gatherings, what would Mr. Newdow put in place of it? What would our money say on it? How about "in our Constitution we trust'? I don't think so.

I am calling out Mr. Newdow for a debate on our Constitution. I would love sit down with him in an open forum and exchange thoughts on how we both see this great nation and our Constitution. Clearly, we see it differently. So, anytime, any place, I will be there.

http://www.thereporter.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3230645
http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read.html?id=5388
http://www.therant.us/staff/hagin/11182005.htm

ANWR: its about time

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,174487,00.html

Senate Permits Oil Drilling in Alaska Refuge

WASHINGTON � The Senate brought the country one step closer Thursday to drilling for oil and natural gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (search) after it narrowly defeated an attempt to kill drilling in an amendment attached to the deficit reduction bill.

"The state of Alaska has been waiting a long time to let the United States of America, which they're part of, share in their abundance of oil, and today we finally have said that it's time," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

"Using backdoor tactics to destroy America's last great wild frontier will not solve our nation's energy problems and will do nothing to lower skyrocketing gas prices," Sen. Maria Cantwell (search) D-Wash., argued in calling for opposition to drilling.

Cantwell fell two votes short when the Senate defeated her amendment to strip the provision, 51-48. Supporters of drilling say the vote reflects new political realities dictated by higher gasoline prices.

"The public opinion polls, particularly after (Hurricane) Katrina, have established the American public is in support of opening ANWR to limited exploration and development," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

Drilling would occur on the coastal plane on a 1.5 million acre plot within ANWR's 19.5 million-acre terrain. Available oil reserves are estimated between 4 billion and 12 billion barrels, a six-month to 20-month supply for the entire United States if it were completely dependent on the reserve. Currently, the United States now uses about 7.3 billion barrels of oil a year, or 20 million barrels a day. Almost 60 percent of it is imported.

In an 86-13 vote, the Senate required that none of the oil from ANWR can be exported. Without protecting it, "there is no assurance that even one drop of Alaskan oil will get to hurting Americans," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a drilling opponent who nevertheless sponsored the no-export provision with Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., who strongly supports drilling in ANWR.

Even with instant approval for drilling, it will take 10 years before the oil from ANWR will be brought to market, and another 10 years after that to get to 1 million barrels pumped per day.

"The Department of Energy says that drilling in ANWR will do little in the near term and very little in the long term, reducing gas prices by only one penny," Cantwell said.

Alaska's North Slope (search) has produced oil since 1977, with what some said has been a great cost to the environment around the area. Cantwell said she feared similar environmental damage from drilling in ANWR.

"There is an average of over 500 oil spills a year on Alaskan North Slope, and over 4,000 spills in the last 10 years. Let's not pollute one of the great last refuges of America," Cantwell said.

Republicans have sought ANWR drilling for a decade. In addition to new political calculations, the Senate GOP shielded ANWR drilling by sticking it into a budget bill opponents cannot block with a filibuster.

After voting all day Thursday on several amendments to the deficit reduction bill, senators passed a five-year bill to reduce the growth of federal spending by $36 billion or three tenths of 1 percent.

Across the Capitol, House Republicans muscled a five-year bill with $54 billion in savings through the Budget Committee. It too included an ANWR provision.

The House Democratic leader predicted unanimous party opposition.

"When we take this vote, we will make this budget very hot for the Republicans to handle," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

That threat drew the wrath of Rep. Tom DeLay, the former majority leader now fighting indictments on campaign finance charges.

"Republicans have proposed to find $50 billion in savings from a $2.5 trillion budget, and not a single Democrat will help," DeLay said.

The Senate passed the budget bill by a vote of 52-47. House Republicans hope to bring their version to the floor next week. But Republican moderates have yet to commit to opening up ANWR, which was set aside for protection 44 years ago, or reducing spending on food stamps and health care programs.

The provision in the budget bill assumed $2.5 billion in federal revenue from oil lease sales over the next five years. Alaska would get a like amount as well as half of future oil royalties from the refuge.

Justice Alito: A supreme fight

We all know replacing a flipflopper with a striaght conservative constitutionalist is going to cause a war fromt he left. Here we go...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
President George W. Bush will nominate conservative U.S. appeals court judge Samuel Alito to the
U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to fill the seat of retiring Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, a congressional aide told Reuters.

Alito, 55, is considered a conservative in the mold of Justice
Antonin Scalia. Alito is sometimes given the nickname "Scalito" -- a comparison to Scalia, who shares his Italian heritage as well as his reputation for conservatism and a strong intellect. He is a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

As nominee, he would replace White House counsel Harriet Miers, who withdrew her name from consideration last week under withering attack from conservatives within Bush's own Republican Party.

A conservative choice was bound to trigger a fight from Senate Democrats who want to see O'Connor replaced by a moderate justice like her.

Republican Sen. Jon Cornyn of Texas praised the choice, calling Alito "man of outstanding character, who is deeply committed to public service."

But Cornyn, who had supported a conservative choice, cautioned any potential Democratic opposition that, "It is important that the confirmation process be completed in a timely manner free of obstructionist tactics."

Although O'Connor has said she will remain until her replacement is named, the high court is nearly a month into its new session.

Aides were hoping that the Supreme Court nominee would give Bush a fresh start after one of the toughest weeks of his presidency. Miers withdrew, U.S. troops marked the 2,000th death in the
Iraq war and Vice President
Dick Cheney's top aide, Lewis Libby, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the investigation into who leaked a covert
CIA operative's name in 2003

Iran "president" wants Israel off the map

I sure am hoping this is the kind of talk that Israel has been waiting on so they can blow that country to hell and back. Too many PC freaks in the UN and US todo it, let Israel do it under the guise of "self defense"

Miers withdrawls

Thank god! who wants someone with no history on the supreme court?! at least pick someone w/ a reviewable history, come on.

Bird flu, ugh

Again with the stupid bird flu. I've heard countless people basicly propagandizing this shit as it it would migrate to the states and europe, mutate into a strain that gets passed from human to human, and whip out 2-3 million in the near future. GET A LIFE. A mutation liek that takes YEARS. and after such a mutation, its not as strong and the estimated mortality rate drops from 60% to 20%. and at that point, high risk people will have been vacinated. Stop hyping this damn thing, build a border fence!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,172254,00.html

WHO: Human Risk from Bird Flu 'Very Low'

Friday, October 14, 2005

GENEVA(AP) � The U.N. health agency expressed concern Friday about the spread of bird flu to Turkey and Romania, but said the risk of human infection was "very low."

The World Health Organization said there was "appropriate alarm" each time the virus, particularly the virulent H5N1 strain, shows up in a new country. But it was important to keep the risk to humans in perspective, WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said.

"People confuse it with pandemic influenza, but they're very different diseases," Thompson said. "If people just paid attention to the human risk" from bird flu, they'd understand that "the possibility of infection is very low."

Health officials have been tracking the strain out of concern that it could mutate into a form more easily transmitted between people, and trigger a human pandemic.

At the moment, however, the flu is principally a bird disease. H5N1 has killed about 60 people in Asia, but they were mostly poultry farmers infected directly by birds.

"The spread of H5N1 to poultry in new areas is of concern as it increases opportunities for further human cases to occur," a WHO statement said. "However, all evidence to date indicates that the H5N1 virus does not spread easily from birds to infect humans."

People with fever or respiratory symptoms should be checked because the early symptoms of H5N1 infection mimic those of many other common respiratory illnesses, WHO said. "False alarms are likely."

In Turkey, the H5N1 strain was detected after 1,800 turkeys died on a farm in Kiziksa, 80 miles southwest of Istanbul, but the Turkish government said it has contained the outbreak.

In Romania, authorities have identified a few cases of bird flu, but established only it was the H5 subtype. Further testing was under way to determine the strain.

Iraqi Parliament Approves Compromise Deal on Constitution

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,172041,00.html

How many times can you say "arab" and "compromise" when refering to the long history of terrorism. I can only think of two. Israel/Egypt and Israel/Gaza.

Mexican Border Fence

When I was growing up in El Paso, I often asked my parents "why dont they just put up an electric fence." I was about 8 or 9, and all I remember was news stories about violence and illegals streaming over the rio grande...

When I was growing up in El Paso, I often asked my parents "why dont they just put up an electric fence. I was about 8 or 9, and all I remember was new stories about violenc and illegals streaming over the rio grande... and back then, it actually had an undertow. Fast forward 20 years later, you get this same story, with a twist of terrorism and OTMs. I go back to my original question.... why not put up an electric fence? Hell, why not use Israel's west bank wall architecture? Why now make it a triple fence, with the center fence twice as high and electrified? I'm pretty damn sur the property owners on the US side would space 20 ft along the whole border to create a DMZ like this.

and now the story:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171668,00.html

Groups Advocate Border Fence Along Mexico
Sunday, October 09, 2005

LOS ANGELES � A fence already marks the U.S. border with Mexico but in some places, it's no more than a strand of wire or metal rail.

Where a real barrier exists, it works. Illegal immigrants are forced to travel long distances to get around miles of tall steel and razor wire.

Now, a group of border activists are pushing for a new, bigger fence � more like a Berlin Wall � from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.

"If we don't stop the illegal immigration problem at the border, the problem will grow in far more dangerous ways ... because illegal immigration from Mexico provides easy cover for terrorists," says one national television ad sponsored by Weneedafence.com, a project of Let Freedom Ring, Inc.

The TV spot focuses not on the politically charged issue of illegal Hispanic immigration but border crossers who may be a security threat, especially those caught who originated from suspected sponsors of state terrorism.

"What are people from Yemen and Syria and Iran doing in Mexico trying to enter the U.S. illegally? This is an issue that requires a wall," said Colin Hanna of Weneedafence.com. "We are absolutely not anti-Hispanic, we do not think the fence should be perceived as anti-Hispanic, or anti-Mexican, we are not anti-immigrant, we are pro-immigration, but we are pro- legal immigration."

Hanna's group hopes to persuade Congress to take on the $8 billion project but aside from the cost, Hispanic activists claim that good neighbors build bridges, not fences, and that a fence will stigmatize people fighting for their shot at the American dream.

"I think what we're doing is criminalizing work and criminalizing the need of families to be together," said Angela Sanbrano of the Central American Resource Center, an open-borders interest group.

Years ago, the idea of a great wall on the southern border would have been dead on arrival in Congress, but times have changed. Polls now show that more than 80 percent of Americans like the idea, and it has bipartisan support. One House bill has bipartisan support but is nowhere near ready for passage by the entire Congress.

Many Democrats favor the concept because the downward pressure on wages from illegal immigrants is hurting organized labor. Republicans, meanwhile, also like the wall for national security reasons.

al-Qaeda: stop beheadings, shoot hostages

It looks like al-Qaeda's beheading PR in the arab world is backfiring. Ontop of that, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (head of al-Queda in Iraq) is at odds with Ayman al-Zawahri (al-Queda #2) over killing civilians. It seems Shi'its are considered infidels because they are getting killed at greater rates that americans by these suicide bombers...

AL-QAEDA has abandoned hope of defeating the US-backed Government in Afghanistan and instead is concentrating on driving American forces from Iraq, even if that means ditching its brutal methods.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1816691,00.html

- Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said militants were justified under Islam in killing civilians as long as they are infidels, according to an audio tape attributed to him on Friday.

"Islam does not differentiate between civilians and military (targets) but rather distinguishes between Muslims and infidels," said the man on the tape posted on the Internet, who sounded like Zarqawi.
(reuters) http://tinyurl.com/exdro

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1816691,00.html
End beheadings � shoot hostages, orders al-Qaeda

AL-QAEDA has abandoned hope of defeating the US-backed Government in Afghanistan and instead is concentrating on driving American forces from Iraq, even if that means ditching its brutal methods.

According to the Pentagon, the strategy is set out in a 6,000-word letter sent by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden�s deputy, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, in July.

Al-Zawahiri warns al-Zarqawi that his brutal tactics, which include beheading Western hostages, killing hundreds of Shia Muslim civilians and murdering Iraqi officials, could alienate Muslim public opinion. He allegedly recommends shooting, not decapitating, prisoners.

The letter, which the US military claims was intercepted in Iraq, makes clear that al-Qaeda aims to spread jihad to other Arab states and Israel.

Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor, is al-Qaeda�s ideological head and responsible for its day-to-day operations. In August he claimed responsibility for the July 7 bombings. His letter offers al-Zarqawi advice on tactics and a grand vision for the next stage in the jihad against the West and its Middle Eastern allies.

He predicts victory in Iraq � which he calls the site of �the greatest battle of Islam in this era� � but insists that it is only the first stage of a campaign across the Arab world. He sets out how an Islamic Caliphate must be established in Iraq and then the war taken to neighbouring Syria, from there to Lebanon, then Egypt and finally a battle to destroy Israel.

He considers a clash between Sunni and Shia Islam inevitable but questions the wisdom of bombing Shia targets and reminds al-Zarqawi that half of the battle against America is being fought through the media.

However, beheadings and suicide bomb attacks against Shia targets have continued unabated. This could indicate that al-Qaeda lacks control over al-Zarqawi. Although respected among Islamic militants, al- Zawahiri is a fugitive living on the Afghan-Pakistani border, while bin Laden has not been heard of for nearly a year.

Al-Zawahiri admits that al-Qaeda�s lines of communication and funding have been severly disrupted.

(reuters) http://tinyurl.com/exdro
Al Qaeda's Zarqawi backs killing civilian 'infidels'

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said militants were justified under Islam in killing civilians as long as they are infidels, according to an audio tape attributed to him on Friday.

"Islam does not differentiate between civilians and military (targets) but rather distinguishes between Muslims and infidels," said the man on the tape posted on the Internet, who sounded like Zarqawi.

"Muslim blood must be spared ... but it is permissible to spill infidel blood," said the speaker.

The comments appeared a day after the Pentagon said it had obtained a letter to Zarqawi from al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, saying tactics being used such as bombing mosques and killing hostages might alienate the Muslim masses.

"In this letter, he talks about believing that the eventual governance of Iraq must include the Muslim masses, and that they are at risk of alienating those," Pentagon spokesman Brian Whitman told reporters in Washington on Thursday.

Zarqawi's group has been fighting U.S. forces and their Shi'ite allies who gained power after the 2003 U.S.-led war ousted Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim.

Osama bin Laden's Iraq-based ally has declared all-out war against the Shi'ites, saying they were heretics who allied themselves with the enemies of Islam to seize control of Iraq.

Friday's tape was posted on a web site which usually carries statements and video tapes from al Qaeda's wing in Iraq.

The speaker said the concept of Jihad (holy struggle) was coming under distorting attacks by "the enemies of Islam" trying to portray it as a tool "for spreading bloodshed and destruction".

"Many Muslims have been affected by this campaign and they began shying away from using this term (jihad) for fear of being accused of terrorism. They instead replaced it with the term resistance...

"This has tarnished Jihad and its supporters and led to the inclusion of factions that have nothing to do with Jihad such as the rejectionist (Shi'ite) Hizbollah, Fatah movement and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine," he said, referring to the Lebanese and Palestinian guerrilla groups.

"All this has been done under the pretext that whoever defends his country against the enemy and fights an occupier is involved in resistance. But Jihad is much deeper than that."

Zarqawi's group has claimed responsibility for a series of killings, hostage beheadings and most major suicide bombings in Iraq, including the bombings of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad

and the Shi'ite Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf in 2003.

Oklahoma Suicide Bomber

Why are the facts about the suicide bomber who detonated prematurely being kept from us? What is it about the OU suicide bomber that we cant know about?

Bomb material found in student�s apartment

By Jane Glenn Cannon and Jennifer Jackson
The Oklahoman

NORMAN - Local and federal law officers worked Sunday to remove what was described as a cache of explosive material from the apartment of a man who died in a bombing the night before.

OU students react

Joel Henry Hinrichs III, 21, a junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., died in the explosion, FBI officials said.

Investigators believe Hinrichs detonated a bomb about 8 p.m. Saturday, just 100 yards away from a packed football stadium.

Officials confirmed Sunday a cache of explosive material later was found inside Hinrichs� residence at the university- owned Parkview Apartments, southeast of Lindsey Street and Stinson Avenue.

The FBI, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents and Norman police�s bomb squad were removing the material Sunday evening.

Police were overheard telling residents it would take �several trips and could take up to 24 hours� to remove it all.

Four buildings at Parkview Apartments, including the building where Hinrichs lived, were cordoned off with police tape.

Mike McMahon, who lives across the street from Hinrichs� building, said he was on his porch at 3 a.m. Sunday �when they (police) started moving in.�

�That�s when the (yellow crime scene) tape went up,� McMahon said.

Whitney Pearson said she woke at 9 a.m. to find police blocking access to George Street where she lives. Across the street, she could see crime scene tape snaking around buildings at Parkview Apartments.

�I talked to police, and they told me I would be safe as long as I stayed on my side of the tape,� Pearson said.

OU and Norman police officers were posted at intersections to keep people away from the taped-off area. FBI and ATFE agents could be seen moving in and out of the buildings most of the day.

A canister trailer used for detonating or transporting potentially explosive material was being used to haul items away.

They started removing items after 7 p.m.

On Sunday, Boren said reports about authorities finding an unexploded bomb Saturday night were false.

Investigators did set off a second explosion, but it involved a suspicious object located near the blast site that did not contain a bomb, Boren said.

Law enforcement acted quickly and efficiently responding to the emergency, Boren said.

�Student safety is our number one concern,� Boren said.

FBI investigators packaged and removed the bench where the bomber was seated when the explosives went off.

A scorched patch marred the sidewalk where the bench had been removed.

Crime scene tape blocking access to the South Oval was removed by Sunday afternoon. Tape was repositioned around a bus and limousine parked on the oval in front of George Lynn Cross Hall, OU�s botany-microbiology building, prior to Saturday night�s game. Blood spattered the lower length of the bus.

No other damage to the area, including the microbiology building, was apparent.

Officials said Hinrichs� motive for blowing himself up Saturday near the Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium during the second quarter of OU�s game against Kansas State remains under investigation.

OU President David Boren said Hinrichs was a student �who had very, serious personal problems that led to this tragic death.�

Because of what happened, Boren said, the FBI had taken over the investigation.

Boren said the student had explosives strapped to his body.

Investigators would not say whether they believe Hinrichs intended to go inside the stadium before the detonation happened.

"We are dealing with an individual death caused by an explosive device,� Boren said. �There is no continuing threat to the students at OU.�

Boren said OU classes would be held as usual Oct. 3.

Notified of his son�s death Sunday, Hinrichs� father said he was still processing what happened and did not trust himself to say much.

�I don�t want him defined by whatever limitations led him to this,� said Joel H. Hinrichs Jr. of Colorado Springs. �He was quite introverted. He was a very quiet, introverted, intelligent young man. I can�t approximate what led him to make such a final decision.�

Hinrichs Jr., who broke down in tears during a brief phone interview with The Oklahoman, said he plans to have his son�s remains cremated and the ashes sent back to Colorado.

http://newsok.com/print.php?article=1632030
http://tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com/2005/10/why-arent-we-being-told-more-facts.html
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=oklahoma+suicide+bomber

Go Mickey!

Disney said "hellno" to Michael Moron's new anti-Bush film. I hope the rest of the distributers follow suit

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3685633.stm

D vs R: R+1

Looks like the House voted on a (R) plan that gave us married ppl a break, while the (D) shitty version excluded many. who's playing the class wars now? damn libs, i tell ya

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,118447,00.html

Cracky Moore

Not much to say about this one, let him hang himself....

"Americans who supported the war deserve to see their sons and daughters die in it."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04252004/gossip/19578.htm

DERANGED documentarian Michael Moore likens the cowards who murder U.S soldiers in Iraq to the colonists who fought in the American Revolution. "The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy,' " he writes on his Web site. "They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow - and they will win. Get it, Mr. [George W.] Bush?" The flabby filmmaker goes on to say that the UN should stay out of Iraq because Americans who supported the war deserve to see their sons and daughters die in it. "Why should the other countries of this world, countries who tried to talk us out of this folly, now have to clean up our mess? . . . I'm sorry, but the majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sac rifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe - just maybe - God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04252004/gossip/19578.htm

U.N.

Why are people so blind when it comes to beurocratic U.N. crap? It drives me nuts to listen to these one world nuts who think the U.N. is in the greater intrest of the U.S. HELLO.. the U.N. is anti-US, they hate us because we are innovative and they depend on our technology.