Well my friend Doris and I just had our xmas.
We went out to dinner at one of our favorite local haunts-"The Driftwood"-and had a nice dinner and then we decided to go hunt for "after xmas" sales at WallGreens.
I picked up a few things that were 75% off....mostly xmas trinkets and some lights for next year.
We then bopped over to my "cave" and exchanged our little gifts.
I got her a bunch of baking cookbooks and a gift certificate to one of her other favorite restaurants and a few other stocking stuffers.
My "take" this year was something I have wanted for ages and hinted about to a few different people in hopes of Santa being good to me this year....and she came through with.....a "queen size feather bed mattress topper". It is filled with "Down and feathers" and looks (and will hopefully feel) just heavenly.
The bed linens are being washed right now in anticipation of "Sugar Plums" dancing in my head tonight.
I also got a "Scooby Chia Pet plant"....I sppse now I have another thing to water and feed besides Scrappy and the two fish. Hopefully Scrappy will not eat the "hair" once it is grown on the Chia's head. Does anyone know if "Chia grass" is ok for cats to much on??
I am contemplating getting a "NetFlix" subcription for renting movies online. It is sppsed to be a pretty sweet deal if a person watches more than a few movies a month. For 17.99, a person can rent as many movies a month that they want (having 3 out at a time). They send the movies via mail and then when done watching, you put the movies back in a prepaid envelope and send them back and they send you your next selections....in usually one business day. I am going to try it on a trial basis and if it works as good as it is spppsed to...I may just drop my "enhanced cable". We will see.
Off to check on the news and see how those poor people are fairing with the after effects of the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean and then maybe watch one of the 1000 movies I have in my collection that I should probably start getting to.
Happy Wed.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
I Think this could be the Worst Natural Disaster in my Lifetime....
The death toll as of tonight in the earthquake and ensuing massive wall of ocean water has surpassed 58,000....and I wouldn't doubt it if the final count comes close to 100,000 if not more. And THAT would make this calamity the worst natural disaster in recent history.
More on this unfolding tragedy:http://www.jsonline.com/news/intl/dec04/288066.asp
I have thought often in the last few days of the "biblical flood" that wiped out most of mankind back in ancient history.
I have (as I am sure others may have) wondered how such massive amounts of water could be unleashed on the earth at one time, to virtually wipe out mankind, back then. Now I understand a little better how easily this could happen. Imagine the population of the world back then (in Noah's time) if you will. It was probably no more than a million people. And if a massive earthquake in the middle of any of the two big oceans or possibly one in each-or a multiple meteorite strike on any or all of the earth's oceans....and you can see how quick such an event would kill many many people.
It is kind of funny that I just happen to be reading a book right now which deals with the subject of that ancient disaster (The Biblical Flood). Though the book puts fourth some far reaching theories on how "God" could have made this flood happen....seeing and hearing about this massive tragedy in Indonesia brings that ancient event into a more clear focus.....at least for me.
The loss of life keeps climbing and climbing and now the aftermath of rotting bodies, disease because of unsafe water supplies and inadequate sanitation is making things all that much worse. I feel so bad for all the people that died and all the survivors that are affected. The pictures and videos brought fourth on TV are just too awful. My god.....how lucky those of us who weren't in that part of the world are right now.
Like I have often thought in the past, and I will leave it at that for now, Nature's force is so majestic and awesome and all powerful and we are just but "ants" as far as those forces are considered.
I hope everyone says a prayer( I have and will continue to do so) for those that have perished and those that were left behind to deal with the unimaginable grief they must now undertake and then after that....all the healing and rebuilding of their shattered lives.
More on this unfolding tragedy:http://www.jsonline.com/news/intl/dec04/288066.asp
I have thought often in the last few days of the "biblical flood" that wiped out most of mankind back in ancient history.
I have (as I am sure others may have) wondered how such massive amounts of water could be unleashed on the earth at one time, to virtually wipe out mankind, back then. Now I understand a little better how easily this could happen. Imagine the population of the world back then (in Noah's time) if you will. It was probably no more than a million people. And if a massive earthquake in the middle of any of the two big oceans or possibly one in each-or a multiple meteorite strike on any or all of the earth's oceans....and you can see how quick such an event would kill many many people.
It is kind of funny that I just happen to be reading a book right now which deals with the subject of that ancient disaster (The Biblical Flood). Though the book puts fourth some far reaching theories on how "God" could have made this flood happen....seeing and hearing about this massive tragedy in Indonesia brings that ancient event into a more clear focus.....at least for me.
The loss of life keeps climbing and climbing and now the aftermath of rotting bodies, disease because of unsafe water supplies and inadequate sanitation is making things all that much worse. I feel so bad for all the people that died and all the survivors that are affected. The pictures and videos brought fourth on TV are just too awful. My god.....how lucky those of us who weren't in that part of the world are right now.
Like I have often thought in the past, and I will leave it at that for now, Nature's force is so majestic and awesome and all powerful and we are just but "ants" as far as those forces are considered.
I hope everyone says a prayer( I have and will continue to do so) for those that have perished and those that were left behind to deal with the unimaginable grief they must now undertake and then after that....all the healing and rebuilding of their shattered lives.
Monday, December 27, 2004
My New Years Travel Plans??
This is where I would like to spend the New Year.....using my "Marriott Trade Out Program Offering" for a "two free nights" stay.......
http://marriott.com/property/factsheet/HKTJW
Click on the link....and then come back to my blog. Hopefully at that point you will understand what some people call my "warped sense of humor". Or look at my previous post....
The site does say that there are rooms available. No doubt some of the prior guests are taking a long "swim" in the ocean.
Some of the scenes I have seen on tv are just amazing. It is like a movie come to life.....those poor people. Imagine sunbathing one second and then seeing a gigantic wall of water coming at you at 500 MPH......ikkes!
http://marriott.com/property/factsheet/HKTJW
Click on the link....and then come back to my blog. Hopefully at that point you will understand what some people call my "warped sense of humor". Or look at my previous post....
The site does say that there are rooms available. No doubt some of the prior guests are taking a long "swim" in the ocean.
Some of the scenes I have seen on tv are just amazing. It is like a movie come to life.....those poor people. Imagine sunbathing one second and then seeing a gigantic wall of water coming at you at 500 MPH......ikkes!
Sunday, December 26, 2004
The Crazy World at the end of 2004-An Earthquake so Poweful that it changed the "Earth's Rotation"
Headlines in the News:
-Asia Quakes' Tsunamis Kill Nearly 10,000
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INDONESIA_EARTHQUAKE?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
-Reggie White dies of Massive Heart Attack
http://www.jsonline.com/packer/news/dec04/287433.asp
The first story really makes one think....almost an entire section of the world devestated by a natural disaster that no one knew was coming-or could control. Makes one think of how lucky we are to even be alive. And it makes me feel that it is all that more important to "live each day to the fullest", as one never knows when their number will be called........
An excerpt from the first story:
-The rush of tsunami waves brought sudden disaster to people carrying out their daily activities on the ocean's edge. Sunbathers on the beaches of the Thai resort of Phuket were washed away. A group of 32 Indians - including 15 children - were killed while taking a ritual Hindu bath to mark the full moon day. Fishing boats, with their owners clinging to their sides, were picked up by the waves and discarded.
"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.
Can you imagine what all those people were thinking as they were going about their "daily business" and their lives were litterally and suddenly "washed away" without any notice except a giant tidal wave. Makes me think of the movie "Sudden Impact" where Tia Laone is standing at the seashore off Martha's Vinyard and that big wave comes across the shore. How terrible and how sad.......
On another note....hope everyone had a great christmas. Mine was very nice and I got my wish for a white christmas. There was snow flurries all the way up to my folk's house and the snow was the light and flaky kind-coming down and sitting gently on trees and objects. It was a "picture perfect day". I even made my first "snow angel" in years while I was out there. There must have been close to 4 inches of snow on the ground up there at their place.
The weather channel is calling for more snow today and that is fine....flurries. Its perfect..You dont have to shovel flurries (most of the time) and it is easy to brush off of your vehicle.
A week till New Years. I will blog my New Years Resolutions sometime in the near future.
Happy Sunday.......
-Asia Quakes' Tsunamis Kill Nearly 10,000
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INDONESIA_EARTHQUAKE?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
-Reggie White dies of Massive Heart Attack
http://www.jsonline.com/packer/news/dec04/287433.asp
The first story really makes one think....almost an entire section of the world devestated by a natural disaster that no one knew was coming-or could control. Makes one think of how lucky we are to even be alive. And it makes me feel that it is all that more important to "live each day to the fullest", as one never knows when their number will be called........
An excerpt from the first story:
-The rush of tsunami waves brought sudden disaster to people carrying out their daily activities on the ocean's edge. Sunbathers on the beaches of the Thai resort of Phuket were washed away. A group of 32 Indians - including 15 children - were killed while taking a ritual Hindu bath to mark the full moon day. Fishing boats, with their owners clinging to their sides, were picked up by the waves and discarded.
"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.
Can you imagine what all those people were thinking as they were going about their "daily business" and their lives were litterally and suddenly "washed away" without any notice except a giant tidal wave. Makes me think of the movie "Sudden Impact" where Tia Laone is standing at the seashore off Martha's Vinyard and that big wave comes across the shore. How terrible and how sad.......
On another note....hope everyone had a great christmas. Mine was very nice and I got my wish for a white christmas. There was snow flurries all the way up to my folk's house and the snow was the light and flaky kind-coming down and sitting gently on trees and objects. It was a "picture perfect day". I even made my first "snow angel" in years while I was out there. There must have been close to 4 inches of snow on the ground up there at their place.
The weather channel is calling for more snow today and that is fine....flurries. Its perfect..You dont have to shovel flurries (most of the time) and it is easy to brush off of your vehicle.
A week till New Years. I will blog my New Years Resolutions sometime in the near future.
Happy Sunday.......
Friday, December 24, 2004
Happy Xmas Eve
Well everyone...one more day to go till the big "Santa Day".
I have all my shopping done and gifts are wrapped and it is almost time for bed.
I will be heading to my parent's home in Oxford on Christmas day for dinner and a few hours with them and a few family members.....nothing like the christmas' of my youth but things change....and one can not help that.
I do actually feel sorry for all those people who got "stuck" in the snow down south yesterday. I was just a bit crabby when I got up on thurs. and needed to vent so I picked the first thing that I saw. As I was out and about getting my shopping done, I thought....what if there was tons of snow coming down right now...yukkk.....it is cold to begin with and while I was at a few different places, I actually left my truck running so it would stay warm in the cab. WallMart was crazy....lines so long that people were waiting for hours just to check out. I decided to circumvent the long lines and I snuck over to the Electronics dept. and checked out there in 3 minutes....hee hee.
Time to sleep and be bright eyed and bushy tailed for our 3 hour xmas eve dinner hour at the restaurant. I wish we could close over the holidays but with our restaurant being in a full service hotel, that is kind of hard to do. Hopefully I will be out of there by 10pm so I can either catch up with some friends for a few hours or just get home and watch a christmas movie or something. I need to be on the road to head up north by 10am at the latest on saturday.
Happy Xmas Eve.......
Oh and just a thought before parting....people must be thankful for their jobs at this time of year also...I sure would not want to be in these people's shoes.....
http://www.jsonline.com/news/racine/dec04/286100.asp
I have all my shopping done and gifts are wrapped and it is almost time for bed.
I will be heading to my parent's home in Oxford on Christmas day for dinner and a few hours with them and a few family members.....nothing like the christmas' of my youth but things change....and one can not help that.
I do actually feel sorry for all those people who got "stuck" in the snow down south yesterday. I was just a bit crabby when I got up on thurs. and needed to vent so I picked the first thing that I saw. As I was out and about getting my shopping done, I thought....what if there was tons of snow coming down right now...yukkk.....it is cold to begin with and while I was at a few different places, I actually left my truck running so it would stay warm in the cab. WallMart was crazy....lines so long that people were waiting for hours just to check out. I decided to circumvent the long lines and I snuck over to the Electronics dept. and checked out there in 3 minutes....hee hee.
Time to sleep and be bright eyed and bushy tailed for our 3 hour xmas eve dinner hour at the restaurant. I wish we could close over the holidays but with our restaurant being in a full service hotel, that is kind of hard to do. Hopefully I will be out of there by 10pm so I can either catch up with some friends for a few hours or just get home and watch a christmas movie or something. I need to be on the road to head up north by 10am at the latest on saturday.
Happy Xmas Eve.......
Oh and just a thought before parting....people must be thankful for their jobs at this time of year also...I sure would not want to be in these people's shoes.....
http://www.jsonline.com/news/racine/dec04/286100.asp
Thursday, December 23, 2004
WA Wa Wa-If they only had 4 Wheel Drive!!
I am sitting here watching the news and there is a story about a snow emergency somewhere in the midwest (Indianna I think...) that says 300 some cars are stuck in the snow on the interstates and other roads.....If these people would have 4Wheel Drive vehicles, they wouldnt be stuck...........I often think when I am driving in the snow, passing those 2wheel drive jobbies...how these people wouldnt have any of these problems if they would just invest in a proper vehcicle for this climate (like me......my Ford Ranger "Off Road 4by4" never lets me down).
And I only wish we had as much snow that some south of us do. There is maybe a sprinkling on the ground and though it is cold outside....it is "winter" in Wisconsin. People need to be prepared for that kind of weather. Full tank of gas, blankets and pillow, coffee can with candle, some high energy food, a pair of jumper cables and a bag or two of sand and or salt....just in case.
So.....wa wa wa. I have some xmas shopping to do, it is getting late...I slept until close to 530pm...but dont have to be to work till 2pm on xmas eve...so off to shop I go.
Happy thursday to all and to all a good night.
And I only wish we had as much snow that some south of us do. There is maybe a sprinkling on the ground and though it is cold outside....it is "winter" in Wisconsin. People need to be prepared for that kind of weather. Full tank of gas, blankets and pillow, coffee can with candle, some high energy food, a pair of jumper cables and a bag or two of sand and or salt....just in case.
So.....wa wa wa. I have some xmas shopping to do, it is getting late...I slept until close to 530pm...but dont have to be to work till 2pm on xmas eve...so off to shop I go.
Happy thursday to all and to all a good night.
Monday, December 20, 2004
A Winter Wonderland Just in Time for Christmas Memories
I started this post out as a remembering of childhood christmas's of my past and then after writing for close to two hours, as I was formatting it for the blog...I lost the entire thing.
So maybe I will try next year. There was a lot of good stuff there, at least for me. Oh well.
So it snowed today and there is sppsed to be a bit more on tuesday......if it stays cold enough maybe we here in Wisconsin will have a "white christmas". I sure hope so. I was talking to some guests at the hotel that I work at the other day and we were remembering how much snow there USED to be back in the 70s.....when I was just a wee lad. There was so much snow that if I stood in the driveway between the sidewalk and the street, I couldnt see anything except those two big mounds of snow on either side of me....plus the house across the street. Snow caves and tunnels were common as well as playing king of the hill. There were more than enough hills for everyone to be a king....that is for sure. I remember one really big hill in the old IGA parking lot where the snow trucks would dump all the snow after plowing the lots. Man that thing had to be 30 feet high. We even tried sledding down it with these little round plastic thingys...kind of like an upside down plate.....and they seemed to always be either blue or red. That was always so much fun.
Well only a few more days till christmas and I have just only begun my shopping. I am always last minute.....I always say I am going to start early and always have good intentions but then all of a sudden Dec. 25th just sneeks up on me....I think its a "trick of time or something"!!
One more day of work untill I have a few days off where I can finally get my shopping done.
And then the New Year is just around the corner...where does the time go???
So maybe I will try next year. There was a lot of good stuff there, at least for me. Oh well.
So it snowed today and there is sppsed to be a bit more on tuesday......if it stays cold enough maybe we here in Wisconsin will have a "white christmas". I sure hope so. I was talking to some guests at the hotel that I work at the other day and we were remembering how much snow there USED to be back in the 70s.....when I was just a wee lad. There was so much snow that if I stood in the driveway between the sidewalk and the street, I couldnt see anything except those two big mounds of snow on either side of me....plus the house across the street. Snow caves and tunnels were common as well as playing king of the hill. There were more than enough hills for everyone to be a king....that is for sure. I remember one really big hill in the old IGA parking lot where the snow trucks would dump all the snow after plowing the lots. Man that thing had to be 30 feet high. We even tried sledding down it with these little round plastic thingys...kind of like an upside down plate.....and they seemed to always be either blue or red. That was always so much fun.
Well only a few more days till christmas and I have just only begun my shopping. I am always last minute.....I always say I am going to start early and always have good intentions but then all of a sudden Dec. 25th just sneeks up on me....I think its a "trick of time or something"!!
One more day of work untill I have a few days off where I can finally get my shopping done.
And then the New Year is just around the corner...where does the time go???
Friday, December 17, 2004
Got the Flu Bug--Arrg
Well it finally happened. The flu (after 5+years) finally caught up with me.
I actually am feeling so drained and sick that I called in sick to work....and I havnt done that in ages.....
So...after being told this afternoon that my shift would be covered...I went back to bed (and of course Scrappy joined me) and I slept (more like tossed and turned) until almost 8pm. I then tried getting out of bed...actually crawling.....and thought that I had better get something to eat....as with most flu-there wasnt much left in my system from the numerous night time trips to the "Lue". I had absolutely nothing in my cabinets (Talk about old mother Hubbard!!).
I sure didnt feel like going out anywhere to pick anything up...but what other options do I have....arrrg.....so I bundled up as warm as I could and walked across the street to my little corner grocery store. I love having that place so close....
I am walking down the aisles thinking what in the heck can I eat while "keeping it down"....
I ended up spending 20.00 on such comfort foods as:
-Frosted Mini Wheats
-Apple and cinnimon poptarts
-Chicken Noodle Soup
-Apple juice
-Twinkees
And a few other essentials...Nightquill being the biggest.
So not two and a half hours later I am back in bed after trying to gobble on some soup and some mini wheats....and I am "snug as a bug in a rug" with a few extra pillows, extra blankets on the bed, an electric heater on high (my apt only gets to about 65 degrees and that is a bit to cold form me right now in my delicate and fragile state).
I am sure sleep will come soon...with all the flu medicine that I have in my system...and I sure hope I feel better by morning. I have tons of reservations at the restuarant on saturday evening.
Time to sleep........
I actually am feeling so drained and sick that I called in sick to work....and I havnt done that in ages.....
So...after being told this afternoon that my shift would be covered...I went back to bed (and of course Scrappy joined me) and I slept (more like tossed and turned) until almost 8pm. I then tried getting out of bed...actually crawling.....and thought that I had better get something to eat....as with most flu-there wasnt much left in my system from the numerous night time trips to the "Lue". I had absolutely nothing in my cabinets (Talk about old mother Hubbard!!).
I sure didnt feel like going out anywhere to pick anything up...but what other options do I have....arrrg.....so I bundled up as warm as I could and walked across the street to my little corner grocery store. I love having that place so close....
I am walking down the aisles thinking what in the heck can I eat while "keeping it down"....
I ended up spending 20.00 on such comfort foods as:
-Frosted Mini Wheats
-Apple and cinnimon poptarts
-Chicken Noodle Soup
-Apple juice
-Twinkees
And a few other essentials...Nightquill being the biggest.
So not two and a half hours later I am back in bed after trying to gobble on some soup and some mini wheats....and I am "snug as a bug in a rug" with a few extra pillows, extra blankets on the bed, an electric heater on high (my apt only gets to about 65 degrees and that is a bit to cold form me right now in my delicate and fragile state).
I am sure sleep will come soon...with all the flu medicine that I have in my system...and I sure hope I feel better by morning. I have tons of reservations at the restuarant on saturday evening.
Time to sleep........
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Some People Just Are Plain Stupid!!
So another local manufacturing plant is set to close here in my little city of Racine.
And you know what???
It didnt have too!!
But it is partly the "Employee's Fault"!!
Yes...the Employess of the company!
You see, they were offered continued employment if they would allow the company to remain viable, by taking pay cuts across the board which amounted to about 13% and some reductions in health insurance coverage.
With an average HOURLY WAGE OF 15.00 AND ALOT OF PEOPLE MAKING 25.00 PLUS-AN HOUR....., I think most of these people could have handled 15%.......
Well, hey 15% or 100%.....which part of your paycheck would you prefer loosing??
And here is my "stupid people of the week link" to this story:
http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/dec04/284399.asp
Happy thursday........
And you know what???
It didnt have too!!
But it is partly the "Employee's Fault"!!
Yes...the Employess of the company!
You see, they were offered continued employment if they would allow the company to remain viable, by taking pay cuts across the board which amounted to about 13% and some reductions in health insurance coverage.
With an average HOURLY WAGE OF 15.00 AND ALOT OF PEOPLE MAKING 25.00 PLUS-AN HOUR....., I think most of these people could have handled 15%.......
Well, hey 15% or 100%.....which part of your paycheck would you prefer loosing??
And here is my "stupid people of the week link" to this story:
http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/dec04/284399.asp
Happy thursday........
Monday, December 13, 2004
This Week's News Snapshot
Ok so here is what is going on in the world in the week of December 13, 2004
Compliments of USA Today Online Edition....Enjoy
Peterson awaits his fate
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — The jury deciding whether Scott Peterson should be executed or spend life in prison requested to see autopsy photos and a dozen other pieces of evidence Monday as they resumed deliberations for a third day.
Full coveragePeterson awaits his fate12/13/2004 2:09 PM-->
Pinochet indicted
SANTIAGO, Chile — Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted Monday for the kidnapping of nine dissidents and the killing of one of them during his 1973-90 regime, and the former dictator was placed under house arrest.
Full coveragePinochet indicted12/13/2004 1:51 PM-->
SARS vaccine gets test
WASHINGTON — The National Institutes of Health is launching a human trial to test the safety of an experimental vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome. SARS, which was first recognized in 2002, killed 774 people worldwide before being brought under control by quarantine, patient isolation and travel restrictions.
Full coverageSARS vaccine gets test12/13/2004 1:32 PM-->
Murders drop 6 percent
WASHINGTON — The number of murders dropped by nearly 6% in the first half of 2004, an indication that a four-year climb may be ending, the FBI reported Monday.
Full coverageMurders drop 6 percent12/13/2004 11:17 AM-->
New HHS nominee
WASHINGTON — President Bush has chosen Environmental Protection Agency head Michael Leavitt to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Full coverageNew HHS nominee12/13/2004 12:19 PM-->
Automakers join
BERLIN — General Motors (GM) and DaimlerChrysler (DCX) are teaming to develop hybrid technology, which combines combustion engines and electric motors, for use in their vehicles, DaimlerChrysler said Monday.
Full coverageAutomakers join12/13/2004 9:57 AM-->
Poisoning probe re-opened
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian lawmakers reopened their investigation Monday into Viktor Yushchenko's allegations that authorities tried to kill him, after doctors in Austria determined the presidential candidate had been poisoned by dioxin.
Full coveragePoisoning probe re-opened12/13/2004 1:57 PM-->
Baghdad bomb kills 13
BAGHDAD — A suicide car bomber linked to al-Qaeda killed 13 people just outside Baghdad's Green Zone on Monday, the first anniversary of Saddam Hussein's capture. Clashes resumed in Fallujah, a one-time insurgent stronghold that American forces believed they had conquered, and seven Marines died in combat in western Iraq.
Full coverageBaghdad bomb kills 1312/13/2004 1:42 PM-->
Rate of Guard deaths higher
WASHINGTON — In a reversal of trends from past wars, part-time soldiers in the Army National Guard are about one-third more likely to be killed in Iraq than full-time active-duty soldiers serving there, a USA TODAY analysis of Pentagon statistics shows.
Full coverageRate of Guard deaths higher12/13/2004 12:32 AM-->
Compliments of USA Today Online Edition....Enjoy
Peterson awaits his fate
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — The jury deciding whether Scott Peterson should be executed or spend life in prison requested to see autopsy photos and a dozen other pieces of evidence Monday as they resumed deliberations for a third day.
Full coveragePeterson awaits his fate12/13/2004 2:09 PM-->
Pinochet indicted
SANTIAGO, Chile — Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted Monday for the kidnapping of nine dissidents and the killing of one of them during his 1973-90 regime, and the former dictator was placed under house arrest.
Full coveragePinochet indicted12/13/2004 1:51 PM-->
SARS vaccine gets test
WASHINGTON — The National Institutes of Health is launching a human trial to test the safety of an experimental vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome. SARS, which was first recognized in 2002, killed 774 people worldwide before being brought under control by quarantine, patient isolation and travel restrictions.
Full coverageSARS vaccine gets test12/13/2004 1:32 PM-->
Murders drop 6 percent
WASHINGTON — The number of murders dropped by nearly 6% in the first half of 2004, an indication that a four-year climb may be ending, the FBI reported Monday.
Full coverageMurders drop 6 percent12/13/2004 11:17 AM-->
New HHS nominee
WASHINGTON — President Bush has chosen Environmental Protection Agency head Michael Leavitt to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Full coverageNew HHS nominee12/13/2004 12:19 PM-->
Automakers join
BERLIN — General Motors (GM) and DaimlerChrysler (DCX) are teaming to develop hybrid technology, which combines combustion engines and electric motors, for use in their vehicles, DaimlerChrysler said Monday.
Full coverageAutomakers join12/13/2004 9:57 AM-->
Poisoning probe re-opened
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian lawmakers reopened their investigation Monday into Viktor Yushchenko's allegations that authorities tried to kill him, after doctors in Austria determined the presidential candidate had been poisoned by dioxin.
Full coveragePoisoning probe re-opened12/13/2004 1:57 PM-->
Baghdad bomb kills 13
BAGHDAD — A suicide car bomber linked to al-Qaeda killed 13 people just outside Baghdad's Green Zone on Monday, the first anniversary of Saddam Hussein's capture. Clashes resumed in Fallujah, a one-time insurgent stronghold that American forces believed they had conquered, and seven Marines died in combat in western Iraq.
Full coverageBaghdad bomb kills 1312/13/2004 1:42 PM-->
Rate of Guard deaths higher
WASHINGTON — In a reversal of trends from past wars, part-time soldiers in the Army National Guard are about one-third more likely to be killed in Iraq than full-time active-duty soldiers serving there, a USA TODAY analysis of Pentagon statistics shows.
Full coverageRate of Guard deaths higher12/13/2004 12:32 AM-->
Sunday, December 12, 2004
The Conservative Christians are at it Again! What's Next...Making everyone watch Sunday Morning Mass on TV??
The Plot Against Sex in America.........
Right-wing groups are targeting "Kinsey" as part of their larger goal of pushing sex of all nonbiblical kinds back into the closet.
Ok...so I knew it was just going to be a matter of time before these "zealots" raised themselves from their "rocking chairs and church pews" to spew venum about sexual related matters...
The latest is the controversy over a movie that has just come out, telling the story of "Alfred Kinsey" who wrote a very thourough book on the topic of "sex". And yes I have read it and I think this man was a genius and way before his time and he did indeed help create the sexual revolution, which among other things, opened the door to "Gay Rights, letting people know that they were not alone in thinking something was terribly wrong with what our parents and grandparents were trying to tell us about sex-THAT IT WAS BAD-, and tons of other matters relating to sexual behavior.
Well hey everyone...guess what?? We are in the year 2004. To go back in time and wish for a simpler, more pure time is not possible. The idea that sex should be pushed back in the closet or behind closed doors or for "biblical" purposes-IE....to "breed" is laughable and rediculous!
A few different views from a few different sources follow (so everyone can see how utterly insane these "moral conservative ideots" are):
A moral "paranoid" view:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2472-2004Nov21.html
A more realistic view:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04334/418572.stm
Everyone has their opinions and ways of thinking and I dont wish to influence anyone one way or another. I am just expressing my views (as I always have and always will).
I did find another interesting article while browsing the subject of sexuality and morality and have included a few paragaphs from what is called the "Sexual Bill of Rights" that is part of the mandate for the "United Nations" and it's beliefs:
________________________________________________________________
Sexual morality should come from a sense of caring and respect for others; it cannot be legislated.
Laws can and do protect the young from exploitation and people of any age from abuse. Beyond that, forms of sexual expression should not be a matter of legal regulation. Mature individuals should be able choose their partners and the kinds of sexual expression suited to them.
Certain forms of sexual expression are limiting and confining--for example, prostitution, sadomasochism, or fetishism.
However, any changes in such patterns, if they are made, should come through education and counseling, not by legal prohibition. Our overriding objective should be to help individuals live balanced and self-actualized lives.
The punishing and ostracizing of those who voluntarily engage in socially disapproved forms of sexual conduct only exacerbate the problem.
Sexual morality should be viewed as an inseparable part of general morality--not as a special set of rules. Sexual values and sex acts, like other human values and acts, should be evaluated by whether they frustrate or enhance human fulfillment.
Physical pleasure has worth as a moral value.
Traditional religious and social views have often condemned pleasures of the body as "sinful" or "wicked." These attitudes are inhumane. They are destructive of human relationships.
The findings of the behavioral sciences demonstrate that deprivation of physical pleasure, particularly during the formative periods of development, often results in family breakdown, child abuse, adolescent runaways, crime, violence, alcoholism, and other forms of dehumanizing behavior.
We assert that physical pleasure within the context of meaningful human relationships is essential--both as a moral value and for its contribution to wholesome social relationships.
Individuals are able to respond positively and affirmatively to sexuality throughout life; this must be acknowledged and accepted.
Childhood sexuality is expressed through genital awareness and exploration. This involves self-touching, caressing parts of the body, including the sexual organs. These are learning experiences that help the individual understand his or her body and incorporate sexuality as an integral part of his or her personality.
Masturbation is a viable mode of satisfaction for many individuals, young and old, and should be fully accepted.
Just as repressive attitudes have prevented us from recognizing the value of childhood sexual response, so have they prevented us from seeing the value of sexuality in the middle and later years of life. We need to appreciate the fact that older persons also have sexual needs. The joy of touching, of giving and receiving affection, and the satisfaction of intimate body responsiveness is the right of everyone throughout life.
In all sexual encounters, commitment to humane and humanistic values should be present. No person's sexual behavior should hurt or disadvantage another.
This principal applies to all sexual encounters --both to the brief and casual experience and to those that are deeper and more prolonged. In any sexual encounter or relationship, freely given consent is fundamental--even in the marital relationship, where consent is often denied or taken for granted.
Perplexing questions are raised by these concepts. Those directly engaged in the encounter may hold widely differing points of view toward sexual conduct. This possibly makes necessary open, candid, and honest communication about current and future expectations. Even then, decisions are subjects of judgment and projection, and their outcomes are only slowly revealed.
No relationship occurs in a vacuum. In addition to the persons directly involved in the sexual relationship, there are important others. The interests of these other persons are usually complex and diverse; no course of action will satisfy everyone. Some might prefer that no sexual involvement whatsoever occur and are disturbed if they are aware of it; others might be quite accepting under most circumstances. For this reason, each individual must have empathy for others.
One might ask oneself: "How would I want others to conduct themselves sexually toward me and others I care about?" "Am I at least as concerned for the happiness and well-being of my partner, and others involved, as for my own?"
There is also a broader consideration: namely, that each person contribute to creating a social atmosphere in which a full acceptance of responsible sexual expression will exist.
Conclusion
The realization of the points in this statement depends upon certain attributes in the individual. One needs to have autonomy and control over his or her own sexual functioning. One needs to find reasonable satisfaction in living and to accept and enjoy pleasures of the body.
Furthermore, one needs to respect the rights of others to those same qualities. The society in which one lives, while it makes demands, should also attuned to individual needs and the importance of personal freedom. Only as these conditions are met will loving and guilt-free sexuality be possible.
At this point in our history, we human beings are embarking on a wondrous adventure. For the first time we realize that we own our own bodies. Until now our bodies have been in bondage to church or state, which have dictated how we could express our sexuality. We have not been permitted to experience the pleasure and joy of the human body and our sensory nature to their full capacity.
In order to realize our potential for joyful sexual expression, we need to adopt the doctrine that actualizing pleasures are among the highest moral goods--so long as they are experienced with responsibility and mutuality.
A reciprocal and creative attitude toward sexuality can have a deep meaning, personally and socially. Each of us will know its personal meaning when we experience psychic growth and ego enhancement with others. In effect, our behavior can say to another, "I am enriched for having had this experience and for having contributed to your having had it also."
The social meaning can derive from the living feelings engendered by a person who is experiencing guilt-free, reciprocal pleasure. The loving feelings of mental and physical well-being, the sense of completion of the self, that we can experience from freely expressed sexuality may well reach out to all humanity. It is quite impossible to have a meaningful, ecstatic sexual and sensual life and to be indifferent to or uncaring about other human beings.
We believe that freeing our sexual selves is vital if we are to reach the heights of our full humanity. But at the same time, we believe that we need to activate and nourish a sense of our responsibilities to others.
___________________________________________________________________
I couldn't have said it better had I written the preceeding myself.
As someone else I know says: "That's my Story and I'm stickin to it.....
Happy Monday
Right-wing groups are targeting "Kinsey" as part of their larger goal of pushing sex of all nonbiblical kinds back into the closet.
Ok...so I knew it was just going to be a matter of time before these "zealots" raised themselves from their "rocking chairs and church pews" to spew venum about sexual related matters...
The latest is the controversy over a movie that has just come out, telling the story of "Alfred Kinsey" who wrote a very thourough book on the topic of "sex". And yes I have read it and I think this man was a genius and way before his time and he did indeed help create the sexual revolution, which among other things, opened the door to "Gay Rights, letting people know that they were not alone in thinking something was terribly wrong with what our parents and grandparents were trying to tell us about sex-THAT IT WAS BAD-, and tons of other matters relating to sexual behavior.
Well hey everyone...guess what?? We are in the year 2004. To go back in time and wish for a simpler, more pure time is not possible. The idea that sex should be pushed back in the closet or behind closed doors or for "biblical" purposes-IE....to "breed" is laughable and rediculous!
A few different views from a few different sources follow (so everyone can see how utterly insane these "moral conservative ideots" are):
A moral "paranoid" view:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2472-2004Nov21.html
A more realistic view:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04334/418572.stm
Everyone has their opinions and ways of thinking and I dont wish to influence anyone one way or another. I am just expressing my views (as I always have and always will).
I did find another interesting article while browsing the subject of sexuality and morality and have included a few paragaphs from what is called the "Sexual Bill of Rights" that is part of the mandate for the "United Nations" and it's beliefs:
________________________________________________________________
Sexual morality should come from a sense of caring and respect for others; it cannot be legislated.
Laws can and do protect the young from exploitation and people of any age from abuse. Beyond that, forms of sexual expression should not be a matter of legal regulation. Mature individuals should be able choose their partners and the kinds of sexual expression suited to them.
Certain forms of sexual expression are limiting and confining--for example, prostitution, sadomasochism, or fetishism.
However, any changes in such patterns, if they are made, should come through education and counseling, not by legal prohibition. Our overriding objective should be to help individuals live balanced and self-actualized lives.
The punishing and ostracizing of those who voluntarily engage in socially disapproved forms of sexual conduct only exacerbate the problem.
Sexual morality should be viewed as an inseparable part of general morality--not as a special set of rules. Sexual values and sex acts, like other human values and acts, should be evaluated by whether they frustrate or enhance human fulfillment.
Physical pleasure has worth as a moral value.
Traditional religious and social views have often condemned pleasures of the body as "sinful" or "wicked." These attitudes are inhumane. They are destructive of human relationships.
The findings of the behavioral sciences demonstrate that deprivation of physical pleasure, particularly during the formative periods of development, often results in family breakdown, child abuse, adolescent runaways, crime, violence, alcoholism, and other forms of dehumanizing behavior.
We assert that physical pleasure within the context of meaningful human relationships is essential--both as a moral value and for its contribution to wholesome social relationships.
Individuals are able to respond positively and affirmatively to sexuality throughout life; this must be acknowledged and accepted.
Childhood sexuality is expressed through genital awareness and exploration. This involves self-touching, caressing parts of the body, including the sexual organs. These are learning experiences that help the individual understand his or her body and incorporate sexuality as an integral part of his or her personality.
Masturbation is a viable mode of satisfaction for many individuals, young and old, and should be fully accepted.
Just as repressive attitudes have prevented us from recognizing the value of childhood sexual response, so have they prevented us from seeing the value of sexuality in the middle and later years of life. We need to appreciate the fact that older persons also have sexual needs. The joy of touching, of giving and receiving affection, and the satisfaction of intimate body responsiveness is the right of everyone throughout life.
In all sexual encounters, commitment to humane and humanistic values should be present. No person's sexual behavior should hurt or disadvantage another.
This principal applies to all sexual encounters --both to the brief and casual experience and to those that are deeper and more prolonged. In any sexual encounter or relationship, freely given consent is fundamental--even in the marital relationship, where consent is often denied or taken for granted.
Perplexing questions are raised by these concepts. Those directly engaged in the encounter may hold widely differing points of view toward sexual conduct. This possibly makes necessary open, candid, and honest communication about current and future expectations. Even then, decisions are subjects of judgment and projection, and their outcomes are only slowly revealed.
No relationship occurs in a vacuum. In addition to the persons directly involved in the sexual relationship, there are important others. The interests of these other persons are usually complex and diverse; no course of action will satisfy everyone. Some might prefer that no sexual involvement whatsoever occur and are disturbed if they are aware of it; others might be quite accepting under most circumstances. For this reason, each individual must have empathy for others.
One might ask oneself: "How would I want others to conduct themselves sexually toward me and others I care about?" "Am I at least as concerned for the happiness and well-being of my partner, and others involved, as for my own?"
There is also a broader consideration: namely, that each person contribute to creating a social atmosphere in which a full acceptance of responsible sexual expression will exist.
Conclusion
The realization of the points in this statement depends upon certain attributes in the individual. One needs to have autonomy and control over his or her own sexual functioning. One needs to find reasonable satisfaction in living and to accept and enjoy pleasures of the body.
Furthermore, one needs to respect the rights of others to those same qualities. The society in which one lives, while it makes demands, should also attuned to individual needs and the importance of personal freedom. Only as these conditions are met will loving and guilt-free sexuality be possible.
At this point in our history, we human beings are embarking on a wondrous adventure. For the first time we realize that we own our own bodies. Until now our bodies have been in bondage to church or state, which have dictated how we could express our sexuality. We have not been permitted to experience the pleasure and joy of the human body and our sensory nature to their full capacity.
In order to realize our potential for joyful sexual expression, we need to adopt the doctrine that actualizing pleasures are among the highest moral goods--so long as they are experienced with responsibility and mutuality.
A reciprocal and creative attitude toward sexuality can have a deep meaning, personally and socially. Each of us will know its personal meaning when we experience psychic growth and ego enhancement with others. In effect, our behavior can say to another, "I am enriched for having had this experience and for having contributed to your having had it also."
The social meaning can derive from the living feelings engendered by a person who is experiencing guilt-free, reciprocal pleasure. The loving feelings of mental and physical well-being, the sense of completion of the self, that we can experience from freely expressed sexuality may well reach out to all humanity. It is quite impossible to have a meaningful, ecstatic sexual and sensual life and to be indifferent to or uncaring about other human beings.
We believe that freeing our sexual selves is vital if we are to reach the heights of our full humanity. But at the same time, we believe that we need to activate and nourish a sense of our responsibilities to others.
___________________________________________________________________
I couldn't have said it better had I written the preceeding myself.
As someone else I know says: "That's my Story and I'm stickin to it.....
Happy Monday
I sure hope this isnt Mikey!
Ok...so sometimes you read something and then ideas run rampant in your head (I am sure everyone has been there at one time or another...)
When I read the following article in the Milwaukee Journal Online Edition, my first thought was "I sure hope that isnt Mikey..."
Mike was one of our servers at the restaurant and he left employement with us a few months ago and I have heard in the last few weeks that he has fallen on some hard times, in fact, sleeping in his vehicle at times.
I do not know how to get in touch with him...though I hope someone sees or hears from him in the next few days.
Whoever this person is, I feel truly sorry for his family. What a shame that someone has no recourse in this day and age but to live and sleep in their car in a parking lot. How sad.
________________________________________________________________
The Milwaukee Journal Online Edition-December 12, 2004
Man found dead in car at commuter lot
A 40-year-old man was found dead Saturday morning inside a car parked at a south side Park 'N' Ride lot, the Milwaukee County sheriff's office reported.
A deputy discovered the man's body about 9:30 a.m. in the driver's seat of a vehicle in the lot at E. College Ave. and Interstate 94.
The man, believed to be from the Milwaukee area, may have been living in the car, officials said. His identity has not been released pending family notification. Foul play was not suspected, but an autopsy was planned for today.
When I read the following article in the Milwaukee Journal Online Edition, my first thought was "I sure hope that isnt Mikey..."
Mike was one of our servers at the restaurant and he left employement with us a few months ago and I have heard in the last few weeks that he has fallen on some hard times, in fact, sleeping in his vehicle at times.
I do not know how to get in touch with him...though I hope someone sees or hears from him in the next few days.
Whoever this person is, I feel truly sorry for his family. What a shame that someone has no recourse in this day and age but to live and sleep in their car in a parking lot. How sad.
________________________________________________________________
The Milwaukee Journal Online Edition-December 12, 2004
Man found dead in car at commuter lot
A 40-year-old man was found dead Saturday morning inside a car parked at a south side Park 'N' Ride lot, the Milwaukee County sheriff's office reported.
A deputy discovered the man's body about 9:30 a.m. in the driver's seat of a vehicle in the lot at E. College Ave. and Interstate 94.
The man, believed to be from the Milwaukee area, may have been living in the car, officials said. His identity has not been released pending family notification. Foul play was not suspected, but an autopsy was planned for today.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Frosty's Big Adventure
Ok...So....Scrappy hasn't had any big adventures lately..except for almost being buried under my xmas tree (every time she knocks it over...which is at least 2 times a day!!)....but our little "Frosty the Snowman" at the Marriott where I work just got back from HIS big adventure....ok so you want an explanation?? Here goes....
My boss Doris comes into work this morning to find her cute little "Frosty Tree Topper" gone from the top of our Lobby xmas tree.....the decorations on the tree are her personal ones from her house (due to her impending winter move to her new "ranch" in the country..she had decided not to put up a tree at home this year and so brought in her decorations for our "lobby tree"). Who in the hell would take a cute little tree ornamant (that is not their property to begin with) is beyond me. Needless to say, Doris was livid....and I dont blame her. Those decorations were not cheap.
So an APB went out on "Frosty" throughout the hotel and through the day there was no luck in finding her little snowman. Numerous associates tried "joking" with Doris throughout the day and tried to inject a little humor into the loss but she wasnt having it. As soon as I got in, I asked her how her day was (as I usually do) and she replied "Fine...untill I got here!" and then proceeded to tell me about Frosty's dissapearnce. At one point during the day, a Front Desk associate called her to say "Frosty" had been found...and then when she told Doris "Not really...just kidding ha ha"...Doris gave her the look that would make the meanest person cry...(if you know Doris...you would know that look). So...Doris left and "Frosty" was officially a runaway snowman.
Well, right after she walked out the door, the Front Desk called to tell me that "Frosty" had been found in a guest's room. She also called and left a message on Doris' home phone (this was the same associate who had teased her earlier with saying he had been found) and she heard her voice and deleted the message...anf then there was a message from me right after saying the "runaway" had been found.....so she calls me back and asks if I was serious......I said "Would I kid you about something like that??!!"......so.......
.........Frosty is back from his big adventure...he hasnt melted, all his body parts are intact....hopefully no one took any sexual gratification with his innards and all is well again. What a day to be a "plastic snowman" ha??
PS: Doris has put out a reward for the caprute and prosecution of those responsible for his kidnapping. A free meal awaits the person that brings this "criminal" to justice!!
That's my story and I'm stickin to it!!
Happy Saturday.......
My boss Doris comes into work this morning to find her cute little "Frosty Tree Topper" gone from the top of our Lobby xmas tree.....the decorations on the tree are her personal ones from her house (due to her impending winter move to her new "ranch" in the country..she had decided not to put up a tree at home this year and so brought in her decorations for our "lobby tree"). Who in the hell would take a cute little tree ornamant (that is not their property to begin with) is beyond me. Needless to say, Doris was livid....and I dont blame her. Those decorations were not cheap.
So an APB went out on "Frosty" throughout the hotel and through the day there was no luck in finding her little snowman. Numerous associates tried "joking" with Doris throughout the day and tried to inject a little humor into the loss but she wasnt having it. As soon as I got in, I asked her how her day was (as I usually do) and she replied "Fine...untill I got here!" and then proceeded to tell me about Frosty's dissapearnce. At one point during the day, a Front Desk associate called her to say "Frosty" had been found...and then when she told Doris "Not really...just kidding ha ha"...Doris gave her the look that would make the meanest person cry...(if you know Doris...you would know that look). So...Doris left and "Frosty" was officially a runaway snowman.
Well, right after she walked out the door, the Front Desk called to tell me that "Frosty" had been found in a guest's room. She also called and left a message on Doris' home phone (this was the same associate who had teased her earlier with saying he had been found) and she heard her voice and deleted the message...anf then there was a message from me right after saying the "runaway" had been found.....so she calls me back and asks if I was serious......I said "Would I kid you about something like that??!!"......so.......
.........Frosty is back from his big adventure...he hasnt melted, all his body parts are intact....hopefully no one took any sexual gratification with his innards and all is well again. What a day to be a "plastic snowman" ha??
PS: Doris has put out a reward for the caprute and prosecution of those responsible for his kidnapping. A free meal awaits the person that brings this "criminal" to justice!!
That's my story and I'm stickin to it!!
Happy Saturday.......
Sunday, December 5, 2004
Our "Beloved Tommy Thompson's" Final Words as Secretary of Health and Human Services------ And this week's "Snapshot" of What's Going on in the News
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
____________________________________________________________
"For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do."TOMMY G. THOMPSON, the secretary of health and human services, announcing his resignation.
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
"For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do."TOMMY G. THOMPSON, the secretary of health and human services, announcing his resignation.
__________________________________________________________________
Ok....so the day that our former governor decides to abdicate his throne in Washington....he drops this "not so tiny" bombshell of information on us! In the same breath he went on to say how he feels that there is a very real "Major Flu PANDEMIC" on the horizon that could kill millions of people.
And then President Bush downplays the whole the food thing and....... just a few months ago, our wonderful president decided to stop shipment of a "vital vaccine" that could help all these millions of people avoid this nasty flu, which many people have said could be worse than the "Flu of 1918" which, while I wasn't yet born, heard and have read that it was one of the worst natural calamities to descend upon mankind since the "Black Death" in Europe in the Middle Ages.....
Something just doesn't play right here. Why do I feel like someone is trying to play "God" with the Human Race? Am I being paranoid?? There are just too many things happening without a good explanation.... and not enough clear answers to why these things are NOT being addressed. I am sure there are enough recourses to protect our "food supply" if we really want to...and I also sure that there is more than enough vaccine to prevent this "Flu Pandemic" if our government really wanted to. The people of cannoned have no problem getting all the vaccines they need and indeed have offered us (The U.SA.) enough of the vaccine to inoculate every citizen of our country. But our Government said no. And the reason they gave for not accepting all the vaccine that was available from the company that made it (in the U.K.) was "unclean and somewhat "circumspect" practices at the lab where the vaccine was created. What are we to believe??
Maybe we should all start growing our own food and stay away from each other. That way we will know for sure that we will be safe and secure. (Just kidding)....but someone has to start thinking and stopping these things from happening. We HAVE the recourses to do it! As my Boss at work says..."Just Do It!".....
And This Week's News Snapshots-Who says we live in a boring world???? I hope everyone has a good week (and a better one than some of these people in the news..):
NEWS :
Coast Guard Calls Off Passenger Search
Woman Accused of Flu Shot Sale Released
Elton John, 5 Other Stars Honored in D.C.
Report: Nigeria Priest Wanted in Texas
Pastor Decried After Child's Arms Severed
Obituaries in the News
Report: Tillman's Final Minutes a Horror
Two Killed in Nevada Mine Accident
Man Asks for Death Before Murder Trial
Found Body May Be Missing Texas Teacher
Calif. Bishop 'At Peace' After Settlement
Eric Rudolph Defense Questions Sketch
Chief Leaving Army Psychology Support Team
Wright-Designed Milwaukee Home Is Sold
Report: Tanker in Oil Spill Hit Hazard
Report: Corners Cut in Florida Shelter
Hacking Name Removed From Gravestone
Ministry Punished for Lesbian Pastor
Woman Auctions Father's Ghost on EBay
Pa. Grandma Acquitted in Dog Mauling Death
Habitat for Humanity Founder Pushed Aside
Judge: Commander to Testify in Abuse Trial
Nev. Controller Convicted on One Count
Paralyzed Woman Takes First Plane Trip
Cargo Plane Ditches in Lake Near Miami
Principal Reconsiders Gay Permission Slips
La. Man Dies After Deputies Use Stun Gun
College Board Challenges SAT Data on Web
Mormon Choir Cancels Overseas Trips
Winner of $149M Lottery Faces Divorce
Groups to Join in Great Lakes Cleanup
Officials: Blast Pollution Won't Last
Interstate Wine Sale Fight Goes to Court
Jet Searched for Explosives in L.A.
Blix, Kidman Receive United Nations Award
Half Brother Testifies for Scott Peterson
Couple Found Dead in Abandoned Farmhouse
Gay Marriage Proponents Decry Claims
National Guard Hiring 1,400 Recruiters
Theer Convicted in Husband's 2000 Slaying
Columbine Parents Want Lawyers Disbarred
N.C. Woman Convicted of Killing Husband
Wash. Dems. to Pay for Recount of Votes
N.C. Man to Plead Guilty in Murder Case
Box: National Guard Hires Recruiters
Holiday Displays Pricey for Some Cities
Executive Names Athletes Who Used Steroids
Federal Prosecutor in Md. Is Resigning
The Sun Escalates Feud With Md. Governor
San Diego Mayor's Inauguration Delayed
Explosion Rocks Houston Chemical Plant
Dead Wife's Lawyer Muzzled on Lost Girl
Man Guilty in Rape, Killing of Girl, 7
Three Charged in Iraq Abuse Face Hearings
Woman Testifies on Immigrant Smuggling Try
Company Recalls Catheters for Infants
L.A. Times to Drop East Coast Edition
Survivor of Tenn. Plane Crash Goes Home
Prominent Okla. Attorney Evades Kidnappers
Cops: Teacher 'Wed' Girl in Pagan Ritual
Two Sue, Say Loose Tiger Caused Crash
Man Charged in Series of Missouri Killings
Source of Leaked FBI Tape Asked to Testify
Man May Be Charged in Hmong Home Graffitti
Copy of Alamo Commander's Letter Is Sold
Trial Begins in 1987 KY. Beating Deaths
Caleb. County Diocese Settles Abuse Cases
Red Cross Worker Charged in ID-Theft Plot
Recount Shows Ala. Segregation Law Passed
USAID Head Promotes Aid Effort in Iraq
Washington Metro Campaigns for Etiquette
Judge Refuses to Set Moussaoui Trial Day
Competency Hearings Ordered in Smart Case
Mourners Pack Helicopter Victims' Service
U. of Mo.-Kansas City Chancellor Resigns
Reindeer Travel Restricted This Holiday
Mall Security Getting Anti-Terror Training
Salvation Army Using Bell-Ringer Cutouts
Peterson Case Attracts Devout Followers
Media Challenges Army Decision on Hearing
Ore. Company Recalls Eye Rinse Products
Ebersol's Wife Details Colo. Plane Crash
New Efforts Push to Make Better Citizens
Pa. Mother, Toddler Kidnapped, Found Safe
Man Being Tested for BTA Link Freed
Army Makes Training Base Feel Like Iraq
Denver Mayor Won't Change Christmas Ad
$315M Powerball Winner Sought After DUI
Methodist Church Defrocks Lesbian Minister
Police Officer Trapped on 9/ 11 Retires
Judge to Allow England's Early Statements
Oldest American Dies at Age 114 in Ohio
South, West Most Hazardous for Pedestrians
Woman and Child Kidnapped in Philadelphia
Study: Fla. Streets Among Most Dangerous
Condemned Texas Woman Maintains Innocence
N.M. Town Is Anti-Terror Training Center
Summary: Indian Education Mandate in Mont.
Mont. Deals With Indian Education Mandate
Millionaire Tops Schwarzenegger Donors
Friday, December 3, 2004
A Snapshot of the World on Dec 3, 2004
As I am having my coffee and getting ready for work this friday, I figured I would start a weekly item in my blog....a snapshot of what is going on in our wonderful world....according to the "Mainstream Press" which I do read every day. I will surly still include my interesting newsworthy quips also...so here is today....with links to assorted stories.
___________________________________________________________________
Thompson resigns Cabinet post
Former Wisconsin governor Tommy G. Thompson will announce this afternoon that he is resigning as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, likely to take a private sector job
___________________________________________________________________
Thompson resigns Cabinet post
Former Wisconsin governor Tommy G. Thompson will announce this afternoon that he is resigning as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, likely to take a private sector job
OTHER NATIONAL AND WORLD NEWS
Ukraine Court Orders New Run-Off Election
AP: Thompson Resigning From Bush Cabinet
Report: Explosions in Madrid After Warning
30 Killed in Twin Iraq Insurgent Attacks
Calif. County Diocese Settles Abuse Cases
Police Follow Doughnut Trail, Solve Crime
Teen's Parents Sue Actor Nick Nolte
Stocks Mixed on Poor Job Creation Report
Report: Bonds Admitted to Using Substances
____________________________________________________________
There you have it.....today's "Important Headlines"...compliments of John's Blog.
Happy Friday everyone......
Is Our World Real? Maybe Not...
The Matrix as Reality????
Is Our World Real? Maybe Not...The question of whether or not our world is real has been debated since the time of the ancient Greeks. Recently, films like the Matrix have suggested that 'reality' could be an entirely artificial construction.
Now two scientists are saying that it might just be true. Physicist Martin Rees and mathematician John Barrow speculate that the world that we know might be the creation of a gigantic computer located, perhaps, outside of the universe.
In fact, the universe itself could be a simulation, and, as Dr. Rees speculates, it would not be necessary to create the entire thing, but only the appearance of it. Our reality, in other words, could look enormous but actually be quite small, easily manageable by the sort of supercomputer that might be available in just a matter of years.
John Barrow, also a Cambridge teacher, suggests that a civilization just slightly ahead of our own could create a universe in which self-conscious entities could exist and interact with each other. But Seth Lloyd of MIT says that such a simulation would require a computer so large that it would be virtually unimaginable.
Nevertheless, Barrow and Rees are being taken seriously in scholarly and scientific circles. If they're right, then the question must be asked: IS this a barnyard and are we the pets?
For more information, click here.
Is Our World Real? Maybe Not...The question of whether or not our world is real has been debated since the time of the ancient Greeks. Recently, films like the Matrix have suggested that 'reality' could be an entirely artificial construction.
Now two scientists are saying that it might just be true. Physicist Martin Rees and mathematician John Barrow speculate that the world that we know might be the creation of a gigantic computer located, perhaps, outside of the universe.
In fact, the universe itself could be a simulation, and, as Dr. Rees speculates, it would not be necessary to create the entire thing, but only the appearance of it. Our reality, in other words, could look enormous but actually be quite small, easily manageable by the sort of supercomputer that might be available in just a matter of years.
John Barrow, also a Cambridge teacher, suggests that a civilization just slightly ahead of our own could create a universe in which self-conscious entities could exist and interact with each other. But Seth Lloyd of MIT says that such a simulation would require a computer so large that it would be virtually unimaginable.
Nevertheless, Barrow and Rees are being taken seriously in scholarly and scientific circles. If they're right, then the question must be asked: IS this a barnyard and are we the pets?
For more information, click here.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Star Trek Coming Closer to Reality???
Beam me up Scotty... While browsing the web I came across another interesting tidbit.....
According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), the US Airforce has been funding research into teleportation! The US$25,000 report was prepared by Warp Drive Metrics of Las Vegas and can be downloaded from the FAS website.
It doesn't look like they have devloped a working model yet, but good to see the military spending money on something that doesn't go bang for a change.
Who knows....one day I may be able to step onto a circle and be to work almost instantly. I dont think I will trade in my Ford Ranger just yet though.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Gobble Gobble-Happy ThanksGiving and a Month till Xmas....
Well it is that time of year again. What time is that?
Time to forget about waistlines, utiltity bills, mowing the grass....(just kidding about the utility bill thing....though I do know people who "forget" to pay those things this time of year). Tommorow is thanksgiving day, the official start of the holiday season.
It is snowing here right now...a perfect start to the holidays. It is also cold and windy outside.
I have had the last three days off from work and alas...have to report back to work tommorow to feed a bunch of people who are forsaking the "traditional family gathering" at someone's home. Why do people go "out to eat" on thanksgiving?? If I had the choice not to work....I would surly try to be with some kind friendly people enjoying the day in a nice warm house.
It is funny how when one grows up, that the holidays loose alot of their "magic" that were remembered so fondly when we were kids. Maybe it is the whole thing about not believing in Santa Clause anymore....but I think there is a little more to it than that.
The things I most remember about Thanksgiving were.....
-Getting up early on thanksgiving day to watch the "Macy's Parade"
-Smelling the turkey and stuffing cooking in our kitchen.....and "stealing" a pickle or an olive from the relish tray "before dinner"
-Watching my mom do a million things at once to get ready to feed all of our mouths and wondering how she did it all (until I had to cook dinner for 100 people when my cook called in sick at a restuarant I managed a few years ago)....
-Taking a nap in the "lazy boy recliner" after dinner while everyone faught over wheather to watch the football game or watch a holiday movie.....
-Hoping for that snow on that day so we could go out and play in it (after the nap of course)
-Scrounging for "leftovers" in the fridge not 4 hours after dinner had been served
-Watching the first holiday shows that evening (dad always won out and got his football game I think)
___________________________________________________________________
(The holiday shows from now until xmas in my area....ya!
http://www.jsonline.com/enter/tvradio/nov04/277948.asp)
___________________________________________________________________
-Falling asleep and knowing that I didnt have to go to school the next day and that I had a whole 3 days to exlplore and have fun....
There were also thanksgivings that we traveled to the farm to have dinner with my grandparents and sometimes a number of the millions of cousins and aunts and uncles I seem to have.
I dont remember alot about those thanksgiving as I was very young but I do recall always looking forward to sitting close to that "woodburning stove" while sitting on my grandpa's lap (as long as he didnt spit his chewing tobacco into that coffee can while I was on his lap) and exploring outside.
The barn where the cows were (and usually my uncle Richard and my great uncle Johnny milking the cows or doing whatever they did in that barn) and all the wild cats scurrying about, and walking among and between all the stalls, hoping not to step into "cow dung" or something else. There were times that I remember sneaking up into the hayloft and falling asleep on a bale of hay...and then continuing my adventures by watching the chickens in their shack (they sure knew they were lucky on that day.....I would think) and just exploring and wondering among all the sheds and outbuildings, sometimes with a cousin or two, sometimes by myself.
There are so many memories of those years...these are just a few.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone
Time to forget about waistlines, utiltity bills, mowing the grass....(just kidding about the utility bill thing....though I do know people who "forget" to pay those things this time of year). Tommorow is thanksgiving day, the official start of the holiday season.
It is snowing here right now...a perfect start to the holidays. It is also cold and windy outside.
I have had the last three days off from work and alas...have to report back to work tommorow to feed a bunch of people who are forsaking the "traditional family gathering" at someone's home. Why do people go "out to eat" on thanksgiving?? If I had the choice not to work....I would surly try to be with some kind friendly people enjoying the day in a nice warm house.
It is funny how when one grows up, that the holidays loose alot of their "magic" that were remembered so fondly when we were kids. Maybe it is the whole thing about not believing in Santa Clause anymore....but I think there is a little more to it than that.
The things I most remember about Thanksgiving were.....
-Getting up early on thanksgiving day to watch the "Macy's Parade"
-Smelling the turkey and stuffing cooking in our kitchen.....and "stealing" a pickle or an olive from the relish tray "before dinner"
-Watching my mom do a million things at once to get ready to feed all of our mouths and wondering how she did it all (until I had to cook dinner for 100 people when my cook called in sick at a restuarant I managed a few years ago)....
-Taking a nap in the "lazy boy recliner" after dinner while everyone faught over wheather to watch the football game or watch a holiday movie.....
-Hoping for that snow on that day so we could go out and play in it (after the nap of course)
-Scrounging for "leftovers" in the fridge not 4 hours after dinner had been served
-Watching the first holiday shows that evening (dad always won out and got his football game I think)
___________________________________________________________________
(The holiday shows from now until xmas in my area....ya!
http://www.jsonline.com/enter/tvradio/nov04/277948.asp)
___________________________________________________________________
-Falling asleep and knowing that I didnt have to go to school the next day and that I had a whole 3 days to exlplore and have fun....
There were also thanksgivings that we traveled to the farm to have dinner with my grandparents and sometimes a number of the millions of cousins and aunts and uncles I seem to have.
I dont remember alot about those thanksgiving as I was very young but I do recall always looking forward to sitting close to that "woodburning stove" while sitting on my grandpa's lap (as long as he didnt spit his chewing tobacco into that coffee can while I was on his lap) and exploring outside.
The barn where the cows were (and usually my uncle Richard and my great uncle Johnny milking the cows or doing whatever they did in that barn) and all the wild cats scurrying about, and walking among and between all the stalls, hoping not to step into "cow dung" or something else. There were times that I remember sneaking up into the hayloft and falling asleep on a bale of hay...and then continuing my adventures by watching the chickens in their shack (they sure knew they were lucky on that day.....I would think) and just exploring and wondering among all the sheds and outbuildings, sometimes with a cousin or two, sometimes by myself.
There are so many memories of those years...these are just a few.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Xmas is Coming in a little over a month...Time to Decorate
Well it is that time again.
Living alone and working all the time, I don't have many visitors to my little cave. All the same, I figured I would get in the holiday "mood" tonight after visiting the local mall here in Racine (which is actually quite nice....I hadn't been there in years).
So when I got home I went downstairs and grabbed my little "Charlie Brown Tree", and dug out my "Scoobie Xmas ornaments" that my friend Doris gave me a few years ago. It is only about 2 feet high but it is "my tree". So with a string of lights and a few ornaments, I have my tree up in the corner of my dining room which is the area I tend to spend the most time in.
While looking for my ornaments, I came across a bunch of strands of lights and remember seeing a book at Barns and Noble about decorating with xmas tree lights....so.....I decided to try some things that I remembered seeing in the book. One idea which seemed real cool was to take a string of lights and stuff them in a clear glass vase (not too small but not too big..about a foot high)....and I just happened to have one so I stuffed the lights inside...put the vase on the floor...plugged the strand into an outlet and....wallla......it looks pretty neat.
The cool thing is that it can be used as "mood" lighting all year around. Well I then still had 3 more strands so I played around a bit with some items I had laying around and I think I created some pretty nifty lighting arrangements...one is a green glass head that I have had for years ( A Pier One Import "Impulse purchase"....if any one can relate). The other was an alien head and both "final effects" turned out pretty cool...as far as I am concerned at least.
So now I can sit in almost complete darkness with no overhead lighting and the apt is illuminated rather warmly for the winter along with the candles I have burning in various areas of my place. I will turn on more lights (promise) if any of my friends decide to visit this holiday season.
I just hope Scrappy doesn't destroy my tree...She is already over there, sniffing around and looking mighty curious. Oh well.
Now I just have to buy some "pine scented candles" to make the place smell like there is a real pine tree in here. I miss that smell. Growing up, my mom always had the most pretty "real" tree that she was always so proud of. Her ornaments were very eclectic and ranged from very antique to things us kids had made through the years at school. I think my brother Jim still has most of them, though I am not 100% for sure. I know I didn't get any of them after mom passed away. I may just have to ask him next time I go up to the Rapids if he still has them and if there is the chance of me having some of them. I really don't have anything of hers. Keepsakes can be very cool.
Time to get ready for bed.....
Living alone and working all the time, I don't have many visitors to my little cave. All the same, I figured I would get in the holiday "mood" tonight after visiting the local mall here in Racine (which is actually quite nice....I hadn't been there in years).
So when I got home I went downstairs and grabbed my little "Charlie Brown Tree", and dug out my "Scoobie Xmas ornaments" that my friend Doris gave me a few years ago. It is only about 2 feet high but it is "my tree". So with a string of lights and a few ornaments, I have my tree up in the corner of my dining room which is the area I tend to spend the most time in.
While looking for my ornaments, I came across a bunch of strands of lights and remember seeing a book at Barns and Noble about decorating with xmas tree lights....so.....I decided to try some things that I remembered seeing in the book. One idea which seemed real cool was to take a string of lights and stuff them in a clear glass vase (not too small but not too big..about a foot high)....and I just happened to have one so I stuffed the lights inside...put the vase on the floor...plugged the strand into an outlet and....wallla......it looks pretty neat.
The cool thing is that it can be used as "mood" lighting all year around. Well I then still had 3 more strands so I played around a bit with some items I had laying around and I think I created some pretty nifty lighting arrangements...one is a green glass head that I have had for years ( A Pier One Import "Impulse purchase"....if any one can relate). The other was an alien head and both "final effects" turned out pretty cool...as far as I am concerned at least.
So now I can sit in almost complete darkness with no overhead lighting and the apt is illuminated rather warmly for the winter along with the candles I have burning in various areas of my place. I will turn on more lights (promise) if any of my friends decide to visit this holiday season.
I just hope Scrappy doesn't destroy my tree...She is already over there, sniffing around and looking mighty curious. Oh well.
Now I just have to buy some "pine scented candles" to make the place smell like there is a real pine tree in here. I miss that smell. Growing up, my mom always had the most pretty "real" tree that she was always so proud of. Her ornaments were very eclectic and ranged from very antique to things us kids had made through the years at school. I think my brother Jim still has most of them, though I am not 100% for sure. I know I didn't get any of them after mom passed away. I may just have to ask him next time I go up to the Rapids if he still has them and if there is the chance of me having some of them. I really don't have anything of hers. Keepsakes can be very cool.
Time to get ready for bed.....
A Tribute to the Best President I Remember in my Life
Some may think me crazy (shhh...dont tell anyone...I really am psyco) but I feel that President Clinton was the best president this nation has had in a long time. And now there is his presidential museum which I will have to visit. My next long vacation maybe.......
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CLINTON_LIBRARY?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
The above link will take you to an article and there is also a link to a video of the ceremony with Bush and Carter by Clinton's side.
I think it is kind of cool that some people are praising him as a good man....cuz you know what?? I think he really is a good man. None of us are perfect and if the "Monica thing" has all the conservative "Repubies.." chompin at the bit..then so be it. They are just jelous that they couldnt get their "Wang" sucked by someone other than their wife!!!
Having a nice rainy night sitting here at the Barns and Noble in Racine playing with the Wireless Internet that they just recently hooked up. So cool...coffee, books, internet, people watching....What more could one want.....
Happy Thursday
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CLINTON_LIBRARY?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
The above link will take you to an article and there is also a link to a video of the ceremony with Bush and Carter by Clinton's side.
I think it is kind of cool that some people are praising him as a good man....cuz you know what?? I think he really is a good man. None of us are perfect and if the "Monica thing" has all the conservative "Repubies.." chompin at the bit..then so be it. They are just jelous that they couldnt get their "Wang" sucked by someone other than their wife!!!
Having a nice rainy night sitting here at the Barns and Noble in Racine playing with the Wireless Internet that they just recently hooked up. So cool...coffee, books, internet, people watching....What more could one want.....
Happy Thursday
Barns and Noble Wireless and "GMAIL"! How much Better can Life Get???
Today is a good day.
Not only did my favorite "off day haunt", Barns and Noble Bookstore, finally get their "WIFI" up and running (WIFI=Wireless High Speed Internet).....I also got an invitation to join Google's "GMAIL service" which is an online email service run by Google that gives one 1 GBT of space and is completely free (and the newest cool thing on the net)!!
More info on both:
Barns and Noble WIFI:
For 19.95 a month (or a single 2 hour block for 2 hours) one can connect their laptop to the internet at broadband speeds in any of the Barns and Noblle Bookstores plus almost all McDonalds restaurants and other hotspots. I just signed up for the 19.95 a month membership.
Info:
Stay connected and save money with an SBC membership for the FreedomLinkSM network (via FreedomLink wireless connection from SBC Internet Services). With an SBC Membership, you'll get unlimited high-speed access to the Internet, e-mail, and your company's network at FreedomLink hot spots.
Basic Membership: $19.95 per month, with a one-year agreement.
Premier Membership: $39.95 per month for expanded connectivity, with a one-year agreement.
Gmail:
If you haven't already heard about Gmail, it's a new search-based webmail service that offers:- 1,000 megabytes (one gigabyte) of free storage- Built-in Google search that instantly finds any message you want- Automatic arrangement of messages and related replies into "conversations"- Text ads and related pages that are relevant to the content of your messagesGmail is still in an early stage of development. But If you set up an account, you'll be able to keep it even after we make Gmail more widely available. We might also ask for your comments and suggestions periodically and we appreciate your help in making Gmail even better.Thanks,The Gmail Team
To learn more about Gmail before registering, visit:http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/benefits.html
My day is good. What about everyone else???
Thanskgiving is coming up shortly. I have to work on that day and it looks like the restaurant will be very busy. I do have the three days prior to the holiday off and I may just take a road trip up to my hometown (Wisconsin Rapids) to visit my brothers and sisters and stop at my mom's gravesite. It has been way too long since I have been up there.
Time to head out to the Barns and Noble and test out this WIFI that I just paid for.
Happy Thursday to all.
Not only did my favorite "off day haunt", Barns and Noble Bookstore, finally get their "WIFI" up and running (WIFI=Wireless High Speed Internet).....I also got an invitation to join Google's "GMAIL service" which is an online email service run by Google that gives one 1 GBT of space and is completely free (and the newest cool thing on the net)!!
More info on both:
Barns and Noble WIFI:
For 19.95 a month (or a single 2 hour block for 2 hours) one can connect their laptop to the internet at broadband speeds in any of the Barns and Noblle Bookstores plus almost all McDonalds restaurants and other hotspots. I just signed up for the 19.95 a month membership.
Info:
Stay connected and save money with an SBC membership for the FreedomLinkSM network (via FreedomLink wireless connection from SBC Internet Services). With an SBC Membership, you'll get unlimited high-speed access to the Internet, e-mail, and your company's network at FreedomLink hot spots.
Basic Membership: $19.95 per month, with a one-year agreement.
Premier Membership: $39.95 per month for expanded connectivity, with a one-year agreement.
Gmail:
If you haven't already heard about Gmail, it's a new search-based webmail service that offers:- 1,000 megabytes (one gigabyte) of free storage- Built-in Google search that instantly finds any message you want- Automatic arrangement of messages and related replies into "conversations"- Text ads and related pages that are relevant to the content of your messagesGmail is still in an early stage of development. But If you set up an account, you'll be able to keep it even after we make Gmail more widely available. We might also ask for your comments and suggestions periodically and we appreciate your help in making Gmail even better.Thanks,The Gmail Team
To learn more about Gmail before registering, visit:http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/benefits.html
My day is good. What about everyone else???
Thanskgiving is coming up shortly. I have to work on that day and it looks like the restaurant will be very busy. I do have the three days prior to the holiday off and I may just take a road trip up to my hometown (Wisconsin Rapids) to visit my brothers and sisters and stop at my mom's gravesite. It has been way too long since I have been up there.
Time to head out to the Barns and Noble and test out this WIFI that I just paid for.
Happy Thursday to all.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Another Way to Help the World
For the longest time I have been using the SETI@HOME screensaver application to help this institution "scan" the skies for signs of "intelligent life in the universe".
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
Though I still feel this is a very important cause and that we all owe it to ourselves to to whatever we can to further our knowledge of the universe...I have come upon a new organization called the "World Community Grid organization" sponsored by IBM, which will also harness unused computer cycles to help find answers to help mankind eradicate diseases and other things affecting our world. So as of today, I have installed and begun using this application:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/index.html
The application works as a screensaver, just like the SETI@HOME application and does NOT interfere with regular computing tasks. It only activates when one is not using their computer.
I hope by doing this, I can at least help in a cure for some disease in the future.
Time for work.
A good Wed to all.
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
Though I still feel this is a very important cause and that we all owe it to ourselves to to whatever we can to further our knowledge of the universe...I have come upon a new organization called the "World Community Grid organization" sponsored by IBM, which will also harness unused computer cycles to help find answers to help mankind eradicate diseases and other things affecting our world. So as of today, I have installed and begun using this application:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/index.html
The application works as a screensaver, just like the SETI@HOME application and does NOT interfere with regular computing tasks. It only activates when one is not using their computer.
I hope by doing this, I can at least help in a cure for some disease in the future.
Time for work.
A good Wed to all.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
This Day in History-November 9th, 1965
I was reading the paper today and noticed in the ever popular "This day in History Section", a blurb about the "Great 1965 Power Outage" that happened on the East Coast.
I remember reading about this in various different books and magazines through the years and that a lot of people suposeddly saw and reported numerous sightings of UFOs.
Another conspiracy coverup?? Why would the "President's personal Bomb Bunker" be put on high alert for a "power blackout"???
A few links of interest that talk about this incident:
http://www.mt.net/~watcher/UFOapril1968niagaraarticle.html
http://www.mt.net/~watcher/UFOsandpoweroutages.html
One version of the events:
_____________________________________________________________________
The Great Northeast Blackout:
On November 9, 1965, the largest blackout in history occurred. The northeast power system broke up 4 seconds after the initial disturbance, and 30 million people were without electricity for as long as 13 hours. The cause of the event is obviously of some interest.
THE EVENTS:
The Great Northeast Blackout of November 9, 1965 began at 5:16 p.m., near the end of an otherwise typical work day. The event started at the Ontario - New York border, near Niagara Falls. A single transmission line from the Niagara generating station tripped (opened).
Within 2.5 seconds, five other transmission lines became overloaded and tripped, isolating 1,800 MW of generation at Niagara Station. After their isolation, the generators became unstable and tripped off-line. The northeast power system became unstable and separated into isolated power systems (islands) within 4 seconds.
Outages and islanding occurred throughout New York, Ontario, most of New England, and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Most islands went black within 5 minutes, due to imbalances between generation and load (generator overspeed/underspeed tripping). The massive blackout left 30 million people without electricity for as long as 13 hours.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:
Eight states - Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont - lost power in this power failure.
Although a faulty automatic relay device at a plant near Niagara Falls is blamed, there is evidence that UFOs can cause power failures in the national electricity grid systems, although this may only be a side effect rather than an intentional act.
In December of the same year, the grid systems failed in New Mexico and Texas following UFO sightings in those areas.
MCDONALD'S STATEMENT ON UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS:
As submitted to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics at July 29, 1968, Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Rayburn Bldg., Washington, D.C., by James E. McDonald.
"Then there are scattered instances in which substantial power distribution systems have failed at or very near the time of observation of aerial phenomena similar, broadly speaking, to one or another UFO phenomenon. I have personally checked on several such instances and am satisfied that the coincidence of UFO observation and power outage did at least occur. Whether there is a causal connection here, and in which direction it may run, remains quite uncertain.
Even during the large Northeast blackout, November 9, 1965, there were many UFO observations, several of which I have personally checked. I have inquired at the Federal Power Commission to secure data that might illuminate the basic question of whether these are merely fortuitous, but the data available are inadequate to permit any definite conclusions.
In other parts of the world, there have also been reports of system outages coincident with UFO sightings. Again, the evidence is quite unclear as to causal relations.
"The largest wave of UFO sightings occurred in 1965. From coast to coast strange low flying objects were reported almost nightly by people of all ages and walks of life. These sketches compiled by a NICAP researcher represent a small sample of hundreds of investigated cases in which truly unknown objects were judged to have been involved. As the year progressed the number of reports rose dramatically.
On the night of August 2 thousands of people in 4 midwestern states witnessed spectacular aerial displays by large formations of UFOs. That same night a multicolored disc was photographed in Tulsa Oklahoma while several persons watched it perform low altitude maneuvers. This picture was extensively analyzed, pronounced authentic, and later published by Life magazine and many newspapers.
But the year's most incredible development was yet to come. On the evening of November 9 hundreds of UFO sightings were reported throughout the northeast. In New York State luminous objects were seen hovering over 3 very significant locations.
A Niagara Falls power plant
A [Syracuse] relay station
and the heart of New York City
Within moments of the Syracuse sighting 9 northeastern states and parts of Canada experienced the largest power failure in history. Media accounts including those by NBC news, The Associated Press, and some local papers openly reported the UFO sightings and in a few cases suggested that they be investigated as a possible cause of the blackout. However, before this speculation could gain much momentum the Federal Power Commission announced that the problem had been caused by a broken relay in a Canadian power plant. This answer was accepted by the press and public and the UFO angle was quickly forgotten. But, the official explanation was untrue.
Major Keyhoe reports that a private investigation by the utilities industry later concluded that the relay had NOT broken, but had been tripped by a huge, unexplainable surge of power. The only major paper which attempted to follow up on a possible UFO connection with the outage was the Boston Record America. But the paper's editors told a NICAP investigator that shortly after publishing this account of the Niagara Falls sighting they had been called by an Air Force officer at the Pentagon and severely reprimanded for printing the story. In any event, the public at large remained unaware of the presence of UFOs during the great northeast blackout.
CONCLUSION:
There is a high number of reliable witness reported ufos. Pilots did. Pictures were taken.
Was there any physical effect caused by a ufo? We have to conclude that to cut 30 million people off from electrical power over 8 states is a sufficient physical evidence.
Reporters, technicians, ufologists and scientists who investigated the black-out understood its true cause. But a massive concerted cover-up to discard the ufo as a cause of this physical evidence of the ufos.
I remember reading about this in various different books and magazines through the years and that a lot of people suposeddly saw and reported numerous sightings of UFOs.
Another conspiracy coverup?? Why would the "President's personal Bomb Bunker" be put on high alert for a "power blackout"???
A few links of interest that talk about this incident:
http://www.mt.net/~watcher/UFOapril1968niagaraarticle.html
http://www.mt.net/~watcher/UFOsandpoweroutages.html
One version of the events:
_____________________________________________________________________
The Great Northeast Blackout:
On November 9, 1965, the largest blackout in history occurred. The northeast power system broke up 4 seconds after the initial disturbance, and 30 million people were without electricity for as long as 13 hours. The cause of the event is obviously of some interest.
THE EVENTS:
The Great Northeast Blackout of November 9, 1965 began at 5:16 p.m., near the end of an otherwise typical work day. The event started at the Ontario - New York border, near Niagara Falls. A single transmission line from the Niagara generating station tripped (opened).
Within 2.5 seconds, five other transmission lines became overloaded and tripped, isolating 1,800 MW of generation at Niagara Station. After their isolation, the generators became unstable and tripped off-line. The northeast power system became unstable and separated into isolated power systems (islands) within 4 seconds.
Outages and islanding occurred throughout New York, Ontario, most of New England, and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Most islands went black within 5 minutes, due to imbalances between generation and load (generator overspeed/underspeed tripping). The massive blackout left 30 million people without electricity for as long as 13 hours.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:
Eight states - Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont - lost power in this power failure.
Although a faulty automatic relay device at a plant near Niagara Falls is blamed, there is evidence that UFOs can cause power failures in the national electricity grid systems, although this may only be a side effect rather than an intentional act.
In December of the same year, the grid systems failed in New Mexico and Texas following UFO sightings in those areas.
MCDONALD'S STATEMENT ON UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS:
As submitted to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics at July 29, 1968, Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Rayburn Bldg., Washington, D.C., by James E. McDonald.
"Then there are scattered instances in which substantial power distribution systems have failed at or very near the time of observation of aerial phenomena similar, broadly speaking, to one or another UFO phenomenon. I have personally checked on several such instances and am satisfied that the coincidence of UFO observation and power outage did at least occur. Whether there is a causal connection here, and in which direction it may run, remains quite uncertain.
Even during the large Northeast blackout, November 9, 1965, there were many UFO observations, several of which I have personally checked. I have inquired at the Federal Power Commission to secure data that might illuminate the basic question of whether these are merely fortuitous, but the data available are inadequate to permit any definite conclusions.
In other parts of the world, there have also been reports of system outages coincident with UFO sightings. Again, the evidence is quite unclear as to causal relations.
"The largest wave of UFO sightings occurred in 1965. From coast to coast strange low flying objects were reported almost nightly by people of all ages and walks of life. These sketches compiled by a NICAP researcher represent a small sample of hundreds of investigated cases in which truly unknown objects were judged to have been involved. As the year progressed the number of reports rose dramatically.
On the night of August 2 thousands of people in 4 midwestern states witnessed spectacular aerial displays by large formations of UFOs. That same night a multicolored disc was photographed in Tulsa Oklahoma while several persons watched it perform low altitude maneuvers. This picture was extensively analyzed, pronounced authentic, and later published by Life magazine and many newspapers.
But the year's most incredible development was yet to come. On the evening of November 9 hundreds of UFO sightings were reported throughout the northeast. In New York State luminous objects were seen hovering over 3 very significant locations.
A Niagara Falls power plant
A [Syracuse] relay station
and the heart of New York City
Within moments of the Syracuse sighting 9 northeastern states and parts of Canada experienced the largest power failure in history. Media accounts including those by NBC news, The Associated Press, and some local papers openly reported the UFO sightings and in a few cases suggested that they be investigated as a possible cause of the blackout. However, before this speculation could gain much momentum the Federal Power Commission announced that the problem had been caused by a broken relay in a Canadian power plant. This answer was accepted by the press and public and the UFO angle was quickly forgotten. But, the official explanation was untrue.
Major Keyhoe reports that a private investigation by the utilities industry later concluded that the relay had NOT broken, but had been tripped by a huge, unexplainable surge of power. The only major paper which attempted to follow up on a possible UFO connection with the outage was the Boston Record America. But the paper's editors told a NICAP investigator that shortly after publishing this account of the Niagara Falls sighting they had been called by an Air Force officer at the Pentagon and severely reprimanded for printing the story. In any event, the public at large remained unaware of the presence of UFOs during the great northeast blackout.
CONCLUSION:
There is a high number of reliable witness reported ufos. Pilots did. Pictures were taken.
Was there any physical effect caused by a ufo? We have to conclude that to cut 30 million people off from electrical power over 8 states is a sufficient physical evidence.
Reporters, technicians, ufologists and scientists who investigated the black-out understood its true cause. But a massive concerted cover-up to discard the ufo as a cause of this physical evidence of the ufos.
Monday, November 8, 2004
Something to Ponder
A lot of the things I have been hearing about since the recent election concern "Moral Values" and "Religious Faith".
An article I just read by a former Senator from Co. makes for some good debate.
Article follows in its entirety:
___________________________________________________________________
America is a secular, not a theocratic, republic.
Because of this, it should concern us that declarations of "faith" are quickly becoming a condition for seeking public office.
Declarations of "faith" are abstractions that permit both voters and candidates to fill in the blanks with their own religious beliefs.
There are two dangers here. One is the merging of church and state. The other is rank hypocrisy.
Having claimed moral authority to achieve political victory, religious conservatives should be very careful, in their administration of the public trust, to live up to the standards they have claimed for themselves. They should also be called upon to address the teachings of Jesus and the prophets concerning care for the poor, the barriers that wealth presents to entering heaven, the blessings on the peacemakers, and the belief that no person should be left behind.
If we are to insert "faith" into the public dialogue more directly and assertively, let's not be selective. Let's go all the way. Let's not just define "faith" in terms of the law and judgment; let's define it also in terms of love, caring, forgiveness. Compassionate conservatives can believe social ills should be addressed by charity and the private sector; liberals can believe that the government has a role to play in correcting social injustice. But both can agree that human need, poverty, homelessness, illiteracy and sickness must be addressed. Liberals are not against religion. They are against hypocrisy, exclusion and judgmentalism.
They resist the notion that one side or the other possesses "the truth" to the exclusion of others. There is a great difference between Cotton Mather and John Wesley.
There is also the disturbing tendency to insert theocratic principles into the vision of America's role in the world. There is evil in the world. Nowhere in our Constitution or founding documents is there support for the proposition that the United States was given a special dispensation to eliminate it.
Surely Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator. But there are quite a few of those still around and no one is advocating eliminating them. Neither Washington, Adams, Madison nor Jefferson saw America as the world's avenging angel. Any notion of going abroad seeking demons to destroy concerned them above all else. Mr. Bush's venture into crusaderism frightened not only Muslims, it also frightened a very large number of Americans with a sense of their own history.
The religions of Abraham all teach a sense of personal and collective humility. It was a note briefly struck very early by Mr. Bush and largely abandoned thereafter. It would be well for those in the second Bush term to ponder that attribute. Whether Bush supporters care or not, people around the world now see America as arrogant, self-righteous and superior. These are not qualities of any traditional faith I am aware of.
If faith now drives our politics, at the very least let's make it a faith of inclusion, genuine compassion, humility, justice and accountability.
In the words of the prophet Micah: "He hath shown thee, O man, what is good. What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" And, instead of "O man," let's insert "O America."
Gary Hart, the former Democratic senator from Colorado, is the author, most recently, of"The Fourth Power: A Grand Strategy for the United States in the 21st Century.''
___________________________________________________________
In other words....religion and such should be included in the basic precept for the principles of a "right and just" goverment, but there is a very fine line as to how these "principles" should be included in what we say and what we do. Esp. if you are the leaders of the most powerful nation on earth. If we arent carefull, we could end up back in the dark ages again with "witch hunts, another holy inquistion and all other sorts of things we as a race should have outgrown long long ago. Hell....why not just elect the Pope to run the world.
If that were to happen....I would surly try to find another planet to live on.
That is my "Rant" for the day.
Happy Monday Everyone.
An article I just read by a former Senator from Co. makes for some good debate.
Article follows in its entirety:
___________________________________________________________________
America is a secular, not a theocratic, republic.
Because of this, it should concern us that declarations of "faith" are quickly becoming a condition for seeking public office.
Declarations of "faith" are abstractions that permit both voters and candidates to fill in the blanks with their own religious beliefs.
There are two dangers here. One is the merging of church and state. The other is rank hypocrisy.
Having claimed moral authority to achieve political victory, religious conservatives should be very careful, in their administration of the public trust, to live up to the standards they have claimed for themselves. They should also be called upon to address the teachings of Jesus and the prophets concerning care for the poor, the barriers that wealth presents to entering heaven, the blessings on the peacemakers, and the belief that no person should be left behind.
If we are to insert "faith" into the public dialogue more directly and assertively, let's not be selective. Let's go all the way. Let's not just define "faith" in terms of the law and judgment; let's define it also in terms of love, caring, forgiveness. Compassionate conservatives can believe social ills should be addressed by charity and the private sector; liberals can believe that the government has a role to play in correcting social injustice. But both can agree that human need, poverty, homelessness, illiteracy and sickness must be addressed. Liberals are not against religion. They are against hypocrisy, exclusion and judgmentalism.
They resist the notion that one side or the other possesses "the truth" to the exclusion of others. There is a great difference between Cotton Mather and John Wesley.
There is also the disturbing tendency to insert theocratic principles into the vision of America's role in the world. There is evil in the world. Nowhere in our Constitution or founding documents is there support for the proposition that the United States was given a special dispensation to eliminate it.
Surely Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator. But there are quite a few of those still around and no one is advocating eliminating them. Neither Washington, Adams, Madison nor Jefferson saw America as the world's avenging angel. Any notion of going abroad seeking demons to destroy concerned them above all else. Mr. Bush's venture into crusaderism frightened not only Muslims, it also frightened a very large number of Americans with a sense of their own history.
The religions of Abraham all teach a sense of personal and collective humility. It was a note briefly struck very early by Mr. Bush and largely abandoned thereafter. It would be well for those in the second Bush term to ponder that attribute. Whether Bush supporters care or not, people around the world now see America as arrogant, self-righteous and superior. These are not qualities of any traditional faith I am aware of.
If faith now drives our politics, at the very least let's make it a faith of inclusion, genuine compassion, humility, justice and accountability.
In the words of the prophet Micah: "He hath shown thee, O man, what is good. What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" And, instead of "O man," let's insert "O America."
Gary Hart, the former Democratic senator from Colorado, is the author, most recently, of"The Fourth Power: A Grand Strategy for the United States in the 21st Century.''
___________________________________________________________
In other words....religion and such should be included in the basic precept for the principles of a "right and just" goverment, but there is a very fine line as to how these "principles" should be included in what we say and what we do. Esp. if you are the leaders of the most powerful nation on earth. If we arent carefull, we could end up back in the dark ages again with "witch hunts, another holy inquistion and all other sorts of things we as a race should have outgrown long long ago. Hell....why not just elect the Pope to run the world.
If that were to happen....I would surly try to find another planet to live on.
That is my "Rant" for the day.
Happy Monday Everyone.
Sunday, November 7, 2004
The World Today-Sunday Novemeber 7th, 2004
Ok.......
-So the first suicide brought on by President Bush' Re election......story follows:
___________________________________________________________________
Nov 7, 12:48 PM EST
Ground Zero Suicide Driven by Election
NEW YORK (AP) --
A 25-year-old man from Georgia who was apparently distraught over President Bush's re-election shot and killed himself at ground zero. Andrew Veal's body was found Saturday morning inside the off-limits site, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A shotgun was found nearby, but no suicide note was found, Coleman said.
Veal's mother said her son was upset about the result of the presidential election and had driven to New York, Gus Danese, president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, told The New York Times in Sunday's editions.
Friends said Veal worked in a computer lab at the University of Georgia and was planning to marry.
"I'm absolutely sure it's a protest," Mary Anne Mauney, Veal's supervisor at the lab, told The Daily News. "I don't know what made him commit suicide, but where he did it was symbolic for sure.
Police were investigating how Veal entered the former World Trade Center site, which is protected by high fences and owned by the Port Authority.
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
___________________________________________________________________
And then.....
The Country of Iraq locked down in an Emergency situation as our administration plans an all out "assault" on Falluja.
And also....
A gunman wearing armor shoots up a "Hotel" in Milwaukee, killing not only his girlfriend, but also an innocent bystander from Germany, and wounding two others in the process AND taking another innocent bystander as a hostage.....makes me think twice of wanting to stay at a hotel, much less working at one.
And last but not least....
PLO Leader Arrafat lying close to death in a Paris hospital and people arguing about where he should be burried....Isreal says he WILL NOT be burried in Juresalem because he is a terrorist and that this city is reserverd for "Jewish Kings" and surly not a terrorisit such as Arrafat.
What is the world coming to??
-So the first suicide brought on by President Bush' Re election......story follows:
___________________________________________________________________
Nov 7, 12:48 PM EST
Ground Zero Suicide Driven by Election
NEW YORK (AP) --
A 25-year-old man from Georgia who was apparently distraught over President Bush's re-election shot and killed himself at ground zero. Andrew Veal's body was found Saturday morning inside the off-limits site, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A shotgun was found nearby, but no suicide note was found, Coleman said.
Veal's mother said her son was upset about the result of the presidential election and had driven to New York, Gus Danese, president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, told The New York Times in Sunday's editions.
Friends said Veal worked in a computer lab at the University of Georgia and was planning to marry.
"I'm absolutely sure it's a protest," Mary Anne Mauney, Veal's supervisor at the lab, told The Daily News. "I don't know what made him commit suicide, but where he did it was symbolic for sure.
Police were investigating how Veal entered the former World Trade Center site, which is protected by high fences and owned by the Port Authority.
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
___________________________________________________________________
And then.....
The Country of Iraq locked down in an Emergency situation as our administration plans an all out "assault" on Falluja.
And also....
A gunman wearing armor shoots up a "Hotel" in Milwaukee, killing not only his girlfriend, but also an innocent bystander from Germany, and wounding two others in the process AND taking another innocent bystander as a hostage.....makes me think twice of wanting to stay at a hotel, much less working at one.
And last but not least....
PLO Leader Arrafat lying close to death in a Paris hospital and people arguing about where he should be burried....Isreal says he WILL NOT be burried in Juresalem because he is a terrorist and that this city is reserverd for "Jewish Kings" and surly not a terrorisit such as Arrafat.
What is the world coming to??
Saturday, November 6, 2004
A Story?...An Idea?....Something to Ponder? "Creation By Intelligent Design"
An interesting article that caught my attention this morning about a school in Northern Wisconsin deciding to expand their "Science curriculum" to include theories other than evolution, made me want to dig a little more.
Link: http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov04/272875.asp
Right off the bat I will say that I DO BELIEVE that there HAS to be an intelligent Force behind all that is. While I have been raised to believe that this force is called "GOD" as that is what most people call this being of undendless power, a lot of the things we are learning about the universe and the origins of life are, at least for me, seem to make a bit more sense than what I was taught in School.
Another interesting link on the "Intelligent Design" process which I have just STARTED to dig into promises some interesting reading as well.
Link:http://www.caseforacreator.com/home.php
One of the more interesting hypothesizes I have read up on is what some call the "Anthropic Principle". The following article gives a pretty good (and not too long) overview of this growing theory.
link: http://michaelacorey.com/article_violin.html
This author also has a few really good books that I haven't heard of but will surly be looking for the next time I take a walk into my local "Barns and Noble" Bookstore. But they can also be ordered on line at the following link.
link: http://michaelacorey.com/books.html
On another note, it seems like we are getting "another" mini Indian Summer again today. Temps in the low 70s and sunny. A nice day indeed. I am sure it wont be too long before the snow starts flying though...at least here in Wisconsin, where the old saying goes..."If you wait a minute...the weather will change".
Happy Saturday
Link: http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov04/272875.asp
Right off the bat I will say that I DO BELIEVE that there HAS to be an intelligent Force behind all that is. While I have been raised to believe that this force is called "GOD" as that is what most people call this being of undendless power, a lot of the things we are learning about the universe and the origins of life are, at least for me, seem to make a bit more sense than what I was taught in School.
Another interesting link on the "Intelligent Design" process which I have just STARTED to dig into promises some interesting reading as well.
Link:http://www.caseforacreator.com/home.php
One of the more interesting hypothesizes I have read up on is what some call the "Anthropic Principle". The following article gives a pretty good (and not too long) overview of this growing theory.
link: http://michaelacorey.com/article_violin.html
This author also has a few really good books that I haven't heard of but will surly be looking for the next time I take a walk into my local "Barns and Noble" Bookstore. But they can also be ordered on line at the following link.
link: http://michaelacorey.com/books.html
On another note, it seems like we are getting "another" mini Indian Summer again today. Temps in the low 70s and sunny. A nice day indeed. I am sure it wont be too long before the snow starts flying though...at least here in Wisconsin, where the old saying goes..."If you wait a minute...the weather will change".
Happy Saturday
Friday, November 5, 2004
100 Facts on the "Current Administration"
A compilation of sorts (with back up sources) on how our current administration has faired the past four years (and what to watch for as far as changes go).
IRAQ
1. The Bush Administration has spent more than $140 billion on a war of choice in Iraq.
Source: American Progress
2. The Bush Administration sent troops into battle without adequate body armor or armored Humvees.
Sources: Fox News, The Boston Globe
3. The Bush Administration ignored estimates from Gen. Eric Shinseki that several hundred thousand troops would be required to secure Iraq.
Source: PBS
4. Vice President Cheney said Americans "will, in fact, be greeted as liberators" in Iraq.
Source: The Washington Post
5. During the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, more than 1,000 US troops have lost their lives and more than 7,000 have been injured.
Source: globalsecurity.org
6. In May 2003, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit, stood under a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished," and triumphantly announced that major combat operations were over in Iraq. Asked if he had any regrets about the stunt, Bush said he would do it all over again.
Source: Yahoo News
7. Vice President Cheney said that Iraq was "the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most especially on 9/11." The bipartisan 9/11 Commission found that Iraq had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks and no collaborative operational relationship with Al Qaeda.
Source: MSNBC , 9-11 Commission
8. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that high-strength aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs," warning "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." The government's top nuclear scientists had told the Administration the tubes were "too narrow, too heavy, too long" to be of use in developing nuclear weapons and could be used for other purposes.
Source: New York Times
9. The Bush Administration has spent just $1.1 billion of the $18.4 billion Congress approved for Iraqi reconstruction.
Source: USA Today
10. According to the Administration's handpicked weapon's inspector, Charles Duelfer, there is "no evidence that Hussein had passed illicit weapons material to al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, or had any intent to do so." After the release of the report, Bush continued to insist, "There was a risk--a real risk--that Saddam Hussein would pass weapons, or materials, or information to terrorist networks."
Sources: New York Times, White House news release
11. According to Duelfer, the UN inspections regime put an "economic strangle hold" on Hussein that prevented him from developing a WMD program for more than twelve years.
Source: Los Angeles Times
TERRORISM
12. After receiving a memo from the CIA in August 2001 titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack America," President Bush continued his monthlong vacation.
Source: CNN.com
13. The Bush Administration failed to commit enough troops to capture Osama bin Laden when US forces had him cornered in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in November 2001. Instead, they relied on local warlords.
Source: csmonitor.com
14. The Bush Administration secured less nuclear material from sites around the world vulnerable to terrorists in the two years after 9/11 than were secured in the two years before 9/11.
Source: nti.org
15. The Bush Administration underfunded Nunn-Lugar--the program intended to keep the former Soviet Union's nuclear legacy out of the hands of terrorists and rogue states--by $45.5 million.
Source: armscontrol.org
16. The Bush Administration has assigned five times as many agents to investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama bin Laden's and Saddam Hussein's money.
Source: Associated Press
17. According to Congressional Research Service data, the Bush Administration has underfunded security at the nation's ports by more than $1 billion for fiscal year 2005.
Source: American Progress
18. The Bush Administration did not devote the resources necessary to prevent a resurgence in the production of poppies, the raw material used to create heroin, in Afghanistan--creating a potent new source of financing for terrorists.
Source: Pakistan Tribune
19. Vice President Cheney told voters that unless they elect George Bush in November, "we'll get hit again" by terrorists.
Source: Washington Post
20. Even though an Al Qaeda training manual suggests terrorists come to the United States and buy assault weapons, the Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the expiration of the ban.
Source: sfgate.com
21. Despite repeated calls for reinforcements, there are fewer experienced CIA agents assigned to the unit dealing with Osama bin Laden now than there were before 9/11.
Source: New York Times
22. Before 9/11, John Ashcroft proposed slashing counterterrorism funding by 23 percent.
Source: americanprogress.org
23. Between January 20, 2001, and September 10, 2001, the Bush Administration publicly mentioned Al Qaeda one time.
Source: commondreams.org
24. The Bush Administration granted the 9/11 Commission $3 million to investigate the September 11 attacks and $50 million to the commission that investigated the Columbia space shuttle crash.
Source: commondreams.org
25. More than three years after 9/11, just 5 percent of all cargo--including cargo transported on passenger planes--is screened.
Source: commondreams.org
NATIONAL SECURITY
26. During the Bush Administration, North Korea quadrupled its suspected nuclear arsenal from two to eight weapons.
Source: New York Times
27. The Bush Administration has openly opposed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, undermining nuclear nonproliferation efforts.
Source: commondreams.org
28. The Bush Administration has spent $7 billion this year--and plans to spend $10 billion next year--for a missile defense system that has never worked in a test that wasn't rigged.
Sources: www.gao.gov/new.items/d04409.pdf, Los Angeles Times
29. The Bush Administration underfunded the needs of the nation's first responders by $98 billion, according to a Council on Foreign Relations study.
Source: nationaldefensemagazine.org
CRONYISM AND CORRUPTION
30. The Bush Administration awarded a multibillion-dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton--a company that still pays Vice President Cheney hundreds of thousands of dollars in deferred compensation each year (Cheney also has Halliburton stock options). The company then repeatedly overcharged the military for services, accepted kickbacks from subcontractors and served troops dirty food.
Sources: The Washington Post, The Tapei Times, BBC News
31. The Bush Administration told Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan about plans to go to war with Iraq before telling Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Source: detnews.com
32. The Bush Administration relentlessly pushed an energy bill containing $23.5 billion in corporate tax breaks, much of which would have benefited major campaign contributors.
taxpayer.net, Washington Post
33. The Bush Administration paid Iraqi-exile and neocon darling Ahmad Chalabi $400,000 a month for intelligence, including fabricated claims about Iraqi WMD. It continued to pay him for months after discovering that he was providing inaccurate information.
Source: MSNBC
34. The Bush Administration installed as top officials more than 100 former lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee.
Source: Source: commondreams.org
35. The Bush Administration let disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay--a close friend of President Bush--help write its energy policy.
Source: MSNBC
36. Top Bush Administration officials accepted $127,600 in jewelry and other presents from the Saudi royal family in 2003, including diamond-and-sapphire jewelry valued at $95,500 for First Lady Laura Bush.
Source: Seattle Times
37. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge awarded lucrative contracts to several companies in which he is an investor, including Microsoft, GE, Sprint, Pfizer and Oracle.
Source: cq.com
38. President Bush used images of firefighters carrying flag-draped coffins through the rubble of the World Trade Center to score political points in a campaign advertisement.
Source: The Washington Post
THE ECONOMY
39. President Bush's top economic adviser, Greg Mankiw, said the outsourcing of American jobs abroad was "a plus for the economy in the long run."
Source: CBS News
40. The Bush Administration turned a $236 billion surplus into a $422 billion deficit.
Sources: Fortune, dfw.com
41. The Bush Administration implemented regulations that made millions of workers ineligible for overtime pay.
Source: epinet.org
42. The Bush Administration has crippled state budgets by underfunding federal mandates by $175 billion.
Source: cbpp.org
43. President Bush is the first President since Herbert Hoover to have a net loss of jobs--around 800,000--over a four-year term.
Source: The Guardian
44. The Bush Administration gave Accenture a multibillion-dollar border control contract even though the company moved its operations to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes.
Sources: The New York Times, cantonrep.com
45. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush said "the vast majority of my tax cuts go to the bottom end of the spectrum." He passed the tax cuts, but the top 20 percent of earners received 68 percent of the benefits.
Sources: cbpp.org, vote-smart.org
46. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to pay down the national debt to a historically low level. As of September 30, the national debt stood at $7,379,052,696,330.32, a record high.
Sources: www.georgewbush.com , Bureau of the Public Debt
47. As major corporate scandals rocked the nation's economy, the Bush Administration reduced the enforcement of corporate tax law--conducting fewer audits, imposing fewer penalties, pursuing fewer prosecutions and making virtually no effort to prosecute corporate tax crimes.
Source: iht.com
48. The Bush Administration increased tax audits for the working poor.
Source: theolympian.com
49. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to protect the Social Security surplus. As President, he spent all of it.
Sources: georgewbush.com, Congressional Budget Office
50. The Bush Administration proposed slashing funding for the largest federal public housing program, putting 2 million families in danger of losing their housing.
Source: San Francisco Examiner
51. The Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the minimum wage from falling to an inflation-adjusted fifty-year low.
Source: Los Angeles Times
EDUCATION
52. The Bush Administration underfunded the No Child Left Behind Act by $9.4 billion.
Source: nwitimes.com
53. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to increase the maximum federal scholarship, or Pell Grant, by 50 percent. Instead, each year he has been in office he has frozen or cut the maximum scholarship amount.
Source: Source: edworkforce.house.gov x
54. The Bush Administration's Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, called the National Education Association--a union of teachers--a "terrorist organization."
Sources: CNN.com
HEALTHCARE
55. The Bush Administration, in violation of the law, refused to allow Medicare actuary Richard Foster to tell members of Congress the actual cost of their Medicare bill. Instead, they repeated a figure they knew was $100 billion too low.
Source: Washington Post, realcities.com
56. The nonpartisan GAO concluded the Bush Administration created illegal, covert propaganda--in the form of fake news reports--to promote its industry-backed Medicare bill.
Source: General Accounting Office
57. The Bush Administration stunted research that could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, spinal injuries, heart disease and muscular dystrophy by placing severe restrictions on the use of federal dollars for embryonic stem-cell research.
Source: CBS News
58. The Bush Administration reinstated the "global gag rule," which requires foreign NGOs to withhold information about legal abortion services or lose US funds for family planning.
Source: healthsciences.columbia.edu
59. The Bush Administration authorized twenty companies that have been charged with fraud at the federal or state level to offer Medicare prescription drug cards to seniors.
Source: American Progress
60. The Bush Administration created a prescription drug card for Medicare that locks seniors into one card for up to a year but allows the corporations offering the cards to change their prices once a week.
Source: Washington Post
61. The Bush Administration blocked efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate cheaper prescription drug prices for seniors.
Source: American Progress
62. At the behest of the french fry industry, the Bush Administration USDA changed their definition of fresh vegetables to include frozen french fries.
Source: commondreams.org
63. In a case before the Supreme Court, the Bush Administrations sided with HMOs--arguing that patients shouldn't be allowed to sue HMOs when they are improperly denied treatment. With the Administration's help, the HMOs won.
Source: ABC News
64. The Bush Administration went to court to block lawsuits by patients who were injured by defective prescription drugs and medical devices.
Source: Washington Post
65. President Bush signed a Medicare law that allows companies that reduce healthcare benefits for retirees to receive substantial subsidies from the government.
Source: Bloomberg News
66. Since President Bush took office, more than 5 million people have lost their health insurance.
Source: CNN.com
67. The Bush Administration blocked a proposal to ban the use of arsenic-treated lumber in playground equipment, even though it conceded it posed a danger to children.
Source: Miami Herald
68. One day after President Bush bragged about his efforts to help seniors afford healthcare, the Administration announced the largest dollar increase of Medicare premiums in history.
Source: iht.com
69. The Bush Administration--at the behest of the tobacco industry--tried to water down a global treaty that aimed to help curb smoking.
Source: tobaccofreekids.org
70. The Bush Administration has spent $270 million on abstinence-only education programs even though there is no scientific evidence demonstrating that they are effective in dissuading teenagers from having sex or reducing the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.
Source: salon.com
71. The Bush Administration slashed funding for programs that suggested ways, other than abstinence, to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.
Source: LA Weekly
ENVIRONMENT
72. The Bush Administration gutted clean-air standards for aging power plants, resulting in at least 20,000 premature deaths each year.
Source: cta.policy.net
73. The Bush Administration eliminated protections on more than 200 million acres of public lands.
Source: calwild.org
74. President Bush broke his promise to place limits on carbon dioxide emissions, an essential step in combating global warming.
Source: Washington Post
75. Days after 9/11, the Bush Administration told people living near Ground Zero that the air was safe--even though they knew it wasn't--subjecting hundreds of people to unnecessary, debilitating ailments.
Sierra Club , EPA
76. The Bush Administration created a massive tax loophole for SUVs--allowing, for example, the write-off of the entire cost of a new Hummer.
Source: Washington Post
77. The Bush Administration put former coal-industry big shots in the government and let them roll back safety regulations, putting miners at greater risk of black lung disease.
Source: New York Times
78. The Bush Administration said that even though the weed killer atrazine was seeping into water supplies--creating, among other bizarre creatures, hermaphroditic frogs--there was no reason to regulate it.
Source: Washington Post
79. The Bush Administration has proposed cutting the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency by $600 million next year.
Source: ems.org
80. President Bush broke his campaign promise to end the maintenance backlog at national parks. He has provided just 7 percent of the funds needed, according to National Park Service estimates.
Source: bushgreenwatch.org
RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES
81. Since 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft has detained 5,000 foreign nationals in antiterrorism sweeps; none have been convicted of a terrorist crime.
Source: hrwatch.org
82. The Bush Administration ignored pleas from the International Committee of the Red Cross to stop the abuse of prisoners in US custody.
Source: Wall Street Journal
83. In violation of international law, the Bush Administration hid prisoners from the Red Cross so the organization couldn't monitor their treatment.
Source: hrwatch.org
84. The Bush Administration, without ever charging him with a crime, arrested US citizen José Padilla at an airport in Chicago, held him on a naval brig in South Carolina for two years, denied him access to a lawyer and prohibited any contact with his friends and family.
Source: news.findlaw.com
85. President Bush's top legal adviser wrote a memo to the President advising him that he can legally authorize torture.
Source: news.findlaw.com
86. At the direction of Bush Administration officials, the FBI went door to door questioning people planning on protesting at the 2004 political conventions.
Source: New York Times
87. The Bush Administration refuses to support the creation of an independent commission to investigate the abuse of foreign prisoners in American custody. Instead, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld selected the members of a commission to review the conduct of his own department.
Source: humanrightsfirst.org
FLIP FLOPS
88. President Bush opposed the creation of the 9/11 Commission before he supported it, delaying an essential inquiry into one of the greatest intelligence failure in American history.
Source: americanprogressaction.org
89. President Bush said gay marriage was a state issue before he supported a constitutional amendment banning it.
Sources: CNN.com, White House
90. President Bush said he was committed to capturing Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" before he said, "I truly am not that concerned about him."
Source: americanprogressaction.org
91. President Bush said we had found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, before he admitted we hadn't found them.
Sources: White House, americanprogress.org
92. President Bush said, "You can't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror," before he admitted Saddam had no role in 9/11.
Sources: White House, Washington Post
BIOGRAPHY
93. George Bush didn't come close to meeting his commitments to the National Guard. Records show he performed no service in a six-month period in 1972 and a three-month period in 1973.
Source: boston.com
94. In June 1990 George Bush violated federal securities law when he failed to inform the SEC that he had sold 200,000 shares of his company, Harken Energy. Two months later the company reported significant losses and by the end of that year the stock had dropped from $3 to $1.
Source: The Guardian
95. When asked at an April 2004 press conference to name a mistake he made during his presidency, Bush couldn't think of one.
Source: White House
SECRECY
96. The Bush Administration refuses to release twenty-seven pages of a Congressional report that reportedly detail the Saudi Arabian government's connections to the 9/11 hijackers.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
97. Last year the Bush Administration spent $6.5 billion creating 14 million new classified documents and securing old secrets--the highest level of spending in ten years.
Source: openthegovernment.org
98. The Bush Administration spent $120 classifying documents for every $1 it spent declassifying documents.
Source: openthegovernment.org
99. The Bush Administration has spent millions of dollars and defied numerous court orders to conceal from the public who participated in Vice President Cheney's 2001 energy task force.
Source: Washington Post
100. The Bush Administration--reversing years of bipartisan tradition--refuses to answer requests from Democratic members of Congress about how the White House is spending taxpayer money.
Source: Washington Post
IRAQ
1. The Bush Administration has spent more than $140 billion on a war of choice in Iraq.
Source: American Progress
2. The Bush Administration sent troops into battle without adequate body armor or armored Humvees.
Sources: Fox News, The Boston Globe
3. The Bush Administration ignored estimates from Gen. Eric Shinseki that several hundred thousand troops would be required to secure Iraq.
Source: PBS
4. Vice President Cheney said Americans "will, in fact, be greeted as liberators" in Iraq.
Source: The Washington Post
5. During the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, more than 1,000 US troops have lost their lives and more than 7,000 have been injured.
Source: globalsecurity.org
6. In May 2003, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit, stood under a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished," and triumphantly announced that major combat operations were over in Iraq. Asked if he had any regrets about the stunt, Bush said he would do it all over again.
Source: Yahoo News
7. Vice President Cheney said that Iraq was "the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most especially on 9/11." The bipartisan 9/11 Commission found that Iraq had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks and no collaborative operational relationship with Al Qaeda.
Source: MSNBC , 9-11 Commission
8. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that high-strength aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs," warning "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." The government's top nuclear scientists had told the Administration the tubes were "too narrow, too heavy, too long" to be of use in developing nuclear weapons and could be used for other purposes.
Source: New York Times
9. The Bush Administration has spent just $1.1 billion of the $18.4 billion Congress approved for Iraqi reconstruction.
Source: USA Today
10. According to the Administration's handpicked weapon's inspector, Charles Duelfer, there is "no evidence that Hussein had passed illicit weapons material to al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, or had any intent to do so." After the release of the report, Bush continued to insist, "There was a risk--a real risk--that Saddam Hussein would pass weapons, or materials, or information to terrorist networks."
Sources: New York Times, White House news release
11. According to Duelfer, the UN inspections regime put an "economic strangle hold" on Hussein that prevented him from developing a WMD program for more than twelve years.
Source: Los Angeles Times
TERRORISM
12. After receiving a memo from the CIA in August 2001 titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack America," President Bush continued his monthlong vacation.
Source: CNN.com
13. The Bush Administration failed to commit enough troops to capture Osama bin Laden when US forces had him cornered in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in November 2001. Instead, they relied on local warlords.
Source: csmonitor.com
14. The Bush Administration secured less nuclear material from sites around the world vulnerable to terrorists in the two years after 9/11 than were secured in the two years before 9/11.
Source: nti.org
15. The Bush Administration underfunded Nunn-Lugar--the program intended to keep the former Soviet Union's nuclear legacy out of the hands of terrorists and rogue states--by $45.5 million.
Source: armscontrol.org
16. The Bush Administration has assigned five times as many agents to investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama bin Laden's and Saddam Hussein's money.
Source: Associated Press
17. According to Congressional Research Service data, the Bush Administration has underfunded security at the nation's ports by more than $1 billion for fiscal year 2005.
Source: American Progress
18. The Bush Administration did not devote the resources necessary to prevent a resurgence in the production of poppies, the raw material used to create heroin, in Afghanistan--creating a potent new source of financing for terrorists.
Source: Pakistan Tribune
19. Vice President Cheney told voters that unless they elect George Bush in November, "we'll get hit again" by terrorists.
Source: Washington Post
20. Even though an Al Qaeda training manual suggests terrorists come to the United States and buy assault weapons, the Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the expiration of the ban.
Source: sfgate.com
21. Despite repeated calls for reinforcements, there are fewer experienced CIA agents assigned to the unit dealing with Osama bin Laden now than there were before 9/11.
Source: New York Times
22. Before 9/11, John Ashcroft proposed slashing counterterrorism funding by 23 percent.
Source: americanprogress.org
23. Between January 20, 2001, and September 10, 2001, the Bush Administration publicly mentioned Al Qaeda one time.
Source: commondreams.org
24. The Bush Administration granted the 9/11 Commission $3 million to investigate the September 11 attacks and $50 million to the commission that investigated the Columbia space shuttle crash.
Source: commondreams.org
25. More than three years after 9/11, just 5 percent of all cargo--including cargo transported on passenger planes--is screened.
Source: commondreams.org
NATIONAL SECURITY
26. During the Bush Administration, North Korea quadrupled its suspected nuclear arsenal from two to eight weapons.
Source: New York Times
27. The Bush Administration has openly opposed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, undermining nuclear nonproliferation efforts.
Source: commondreams.org
28. The Bush Administration has spent $7 billion this year--and plans to spend $10 billion next year--for a missile defense system that has never worked in a test that wasn't rigged.
Sources: www.gao.gov/new.items/d04409.pdf, Los Angeles Times
29. The Bush Administration underfunded the needs of the nation's first responders by $98 billion, according to a Council on Foreign Relations study.
Source: nationaldefensemagazine.org
CRONYISM AND CORRUPTION
30. The Bush Administration awarded a multibillion-dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton--a company that still pays Vice President Cheney hundreds of thousands of dollars in deferred compensation each year (Cheney also has Halliburton stock options). The company then repeatedly overcharged the military for services, accepted kickbacks from subcontractors and served troops dirty food.
Sources: The Washington Post, The Tapei Times, BBC News
31. The Bush Administration told Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan about plans to go to war with Iraq before telling Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Source: detnews.com
32. The Bush Administration relentlessly pushed an energy bill containing $23.5 billion in corporate tax breaks, much of which would have benefited major campaign contributors.
taxpayer.net, Washington Post
33. The Bush Administration paid Iraqi-exile and neocon darling Ahmad Chalabi $400,000 a month for intelligence, including fabricated claims about Iraqi WMD. It continued to pay him for months after discovering that he was providing inaccurate information.
Source: MSNBC
34. The Bush Administration installed as top officials more than 100 former lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee.
Source: Source: commondreams.org
35. The Bush Administration let disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay--a close friend of President Bush--help write its energy policy.
Source: MSNBC
36. Top Bush Administration officials accepted $127,600 in jewelry and other presents from the Saudi royal family in 2003, including diamond-and-sapphire jewelry valued at $95,500 for First Lady Laura Bush.
Source: Seattle Times
37. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge awarded lucrative contracts to several companies in which he is an investor, including Microsoft, GE, Sprint, Pfizer and Oracle.
Source: cq.com
38. President Bush used images of firefighters carrying flag-draped coffins through the rubble of the World Trade Center to score political points in a campaign advertisement.
Source: The Washington Post
THE ECONOMY
39. President Bush's top economic adviser, Greg Mankiw, said the outsourcing of American jobs abroad was "a plus for the economy in the long run."
Source: CBS News
40. The Bush Administration turned a $236 billion surplus into a $422 billion deficit.
Sources: Fortune, dfw.com
41. The Bush Administration implemented regulations that made millions of workers ineligible for overtime pay.
Source: epinet.org
42. The Bush Administration has crippled state budgets by underfunding federal mandates by $175 billion.
Source: cbpp.org
43. President Bush is the first President since Herbert Hoover to have a net loss of jobs--around 800,000--over a four-year term.
Source: The Guardian
44. The Bush Administration gave Accenture a multibillion-dollar border control contract even though the company moved its operations to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes.
Sources: The New York Times, cantonrep.com
45. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush said "the vast majority of my tax cuts go to the bottom end of the spectrum." He passed the tax cuts, but the top 20 percent of earners received 68 percent of the benefits.
Sources: cbpp.org, vote-smart.org
46. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to pay down the national debt to a historically low level. As of September 30, the national debt stood at $7,379,052,696,330.32, a record high.
Sources: www.georgewbush.com , Bureau of the Public Debt
47. As major corporate scandals rocked the nation's economy, the Bush Administration reduced the enforcement of corporate tax law--conducting fewer audits, imposing fewer penalties, pursuing fewer prosecutions and making virtually no effort to prosecute corporate tax crimes.
Source: iht.com
48. The Bush Administration increased tax audits for the working poor.
Source: theolympian.com
49. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to protect the Social Security surplus. As President, he spent all of it.
Sources: georgewbush.com, Congressional Budget Office
50. The Bush Administration proposed slashing funding for the largest federal public housing program, putting 2 million families in danger of losing their housing.
Source: San Francisco Examiner
51. The Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the minimum wage from falling to an inflation-adjusted fifty-year low.
Source: Los Angeles Times
EDUCATION
52. The Bush Administration underfunded the No Child Left Behind Act by $9.4 billion.
Source: nwitimes.com
53. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to increase the maximum federal scholarship, or Pell Grant, by 50 percent. Instead, each year he has been in office he has frozen or cut the maximum scholarship amount.
Source: Source: edworkforce.house.gov x
54. The Bush Administration's Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, called the National Education Association--a union of teachers--a "terrorist organization."
Sources: CNN.com
HEALTHCARE
55. The Bush Administration, in violation of the law, refused to allow Medicare actuary Richard Foster to tell members of Congress the actual cost of their Medicare bill. Instead, they repeated a figure they knew was $100 billion too low.
Source: Washington Post, realcities.com
56. The nonpartisan GAO concluded the Bush Administration created illegal, covert propaganda--in the form of fake news reports--to promote its industry-backed Medicare bill.
Source: General Accounting Office
57. The Bush Administration stunted research that could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, spinal injuries, heart disease and muscular dystrophy by placing severe restrictions on the use of federal dollars for embryonic stem-cell research.
Source: CBS News
58. The Bush Administration reinstated the "global gag rule," which requires foreign NGOs to withhold information about legal abortion services or lose US funds for family planning.
Source: healthsciences.columbia.edu
59. The Bush Administration authorized twenty companies that have been charged with fraud at the federal or state level to offer Medicare prescription drug cards to seniors.
Source: American Progress
60. The Bush Administration created a prescription drug card for Medicare that locks seniors into one card for up to a year but allows the corporations offering the cards to change their prices once a week.
Source: Washington Post
61. The Bush Administration blocked efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate cheaper prescription drug prices for seniors.
Source: American Progress
62. At the behest of the french fry industry, the Bush Administration USDA changed their definition of fresh vegetables to include frozen french fries.
Source: commondreams.org
63. In a case before the Supreme Court, the Bush Administrations sided with HMOs--arguing that patients shouldn't be allowed to sue HMOs when they are improperly denied treatment. With the Administration's help, the HMOs won.
Source: ABC News
64. The Bush Administration went to court to block lawsuits by patients who were injured by defective prescription drugs and medical devices.
Source: Washington Post
65. President Bush signed a Medicare law that allows companies that reduce healthcare benefits for retirees to receive substantial subsidies from the government.
Source: Bloomberg News
66. Since President Bush took office, more than 5 million people have lost their health insurance.
Source: CNN.com
67. The Bush Administration blocked a proposal to ban the use of arsenic-treated lumber in playground equipment, even though it conceded it posed a danger to children.
Source: Miami Herald
68. One day after President Bush bragged about his efforts to help seniors afford healthcare, the Administration announced the largest dollar increase of Medicare premiums in history.
Source: iht.com
69. The Bush Administration--at the behest of the tobacco industry--tried to water down a global treaty that aimed to help curb smoking.
Source: tobaccofreekids.org
70. The Bush Administration has spent $270 million on abstinence-only education programs even though there is no scientific evidence demonstrating that they are effective in dissuading teenagers from having sex or reducing the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.
Source: salon.com
71. The Bush Administration slashed funding for programs that suggested ways, other than abstinence, to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.
Source: LA Weekly
ENVIRONMENT
72. The Bush Administration gutted clean-air standards for aging power plants, resulting in at least 20,000 premature deaths each year.
Source: cta.policy.net
73. The Bush Administration eliminated protections on more than 200 million acres of public lands.
Source: calwild.org
74. President Bush broke his promise to place limits on carbon dioxide emissions, an essential step in combating global warming.
Source: Washington Post
75. Days after 9/11, the Bush Administration told people living near Ground Zero that the air was safe--even though they knew it wasn't--subjecting hundreds of people to unnecessary, debilitating ailments.
Sierra Club , EPA
76. The Bush Administration created a massive tax loophole for SUVs--allowing, for example, the write-off of the entire cost of a new Hummer.
Source: Washington Post
77. The Bush Administration put former coal-industry big shots in the government and let them roll back safety regulations, putting miners at greater risk of black lung disease.
Source: New York Times
78. The Bush Administration said that even though the weed killer atrazine was seeping into water supplies--creating, among other bizarre creatures, hermaphroditic frogs--there was no reason to regulate it.
Source: Washington Post
79. The Bush Administration has proposed cutting the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency by $600 million next year.
Source: ems.org
80. President Bush broke his campaign promise to end the maintenance backlog at national parks. He has provided just 7 percent of the funds needed, according to National Park Service estimates.
Source: bushgreenwatch.org
RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES
81. Since 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft has detained 5,000 foreign nationals in antiterrorism sweeps; none have been convicted of a terrorist crime.
Source: hrwatch.org
82. The Bush Administration ignored pleas from the International Committee of the Red Cross to stop the abuse of prisoners in US custody.
Source: Wall Street Journal
83. In violation of international law, the Bush Administration hid prisoners from the Red Cross so the organization couldn't monitor their treatment.
Source: hrwatch.org
84. The Bush Administration, without ever charging him with a crime, arrested US citizen José Padilla at an airport in Chicago, held him on a naval brig in South Carolina for two years, denied him access to a lawyer and prohibited any contact with his friends and family.
Source: news.findlaw.com
85. President Bush's top legal adviser wrote a memo to the President advising him that he can legally authorize torture.
Source: news.findlaw.com
86. At the direction of Bush Administration officials, the FBI went door to door questioning people planning on protesting at the 2004 political conventions.
Source: New York Times
87. The Bush Administration refuses to support the creation of an independent commission to investigate the abuse of foreign prisoners in American custody. Instead, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld selected the members of a commission to review the conduct of his own department.
Source: humanrightsfirst.org
FLIP FLOPS
88. President Bush opposed the creation of the 9/11 Commission before he supported it, delaying an essential inquiry into one of the greatest intelligence failure in American history.
Source: americanprogressaction.org
89. President Bush said gay marriage was a state issue before he supported a constitutional amendment banning it.
Sources: CNN.com, White House
90. President Bush said he was committed to capturing Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" before he said, "I truly am not that concerned about him."
Source: americanprogressaction.org
91. President Bush said we had found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, before he admitted we hadn't found them.
Sources: White House, americanprogress.org
92. President Bush said, "You can't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror," before he admitted Saddam had no role in 9/11.
Sources: White House, Washington Post
BIOGRAPHY
93. George Bush didn't come close to meeting his commitments to the National Guard. Records show he performed no service in a six-month period in 1972 and a three-month period in 1973.
Source: boston.com
94. In June 1990 George Bush violated federal securities law when he failed to inform the SEC that he had sold 200,000 shares of his company, Harken Energy. Two months later the company reported significant losses and by the end of that year the stock had dropped from $3 to $1.
Source: The Guardian
95. When asked at an April 2004 press conference to name a mistake he made during his presidency, Bush couldn't think of one.
Source: White House
SECRECY
96. The Bush Administration refuses to release twenty-seven pages of a Congressional report that reportedly detail the Saudi Arabian government's connections to the 9/11 hijackers.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
97. Last year the Bush Administration spent $6.5 billion creating 14 million new classified documents and securing old secrets--the highest level of spending in ten years.
Source: openthegovernment.org
98. The Bush Administration spent $120 classifying documents for every $1 it spent declassifying documents.
Source: openthegovernment.org
99. The Bush Administration has spent millions of dollars and defied numerous court orders to conceal from the public who participated in Vice President Cheney's 2001 energy task force.
Source: Washington Post
100. The Bush Administration--reversing years of bipartisan tradition--refuses to answer requests from Democratic members of Congress about how the White House is spending taxpayer money.
Source: Washington Post
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