Johnny Coli

Can't find any dirt, yet. Wikipedia has a link to his poitical contributions. Found this little nugget on Card, regarding the NSA scandal. Seems Card and then-White-House-counsel Gonzales had to go visit Ashcroft in the hospital regarding a "dust-up" between Justice and the White House. That was from the beginning of this month. Also, isn't Card one of the members of WHIG? Yup (thanks wiki) You almost feel dirty yourself looking into how slimey the Bushies are.

Any significance? Tough to say, because as usual this administration has been all over the map. Back on the 16th, despite a call for a shake-up from his own party, Dubya said he was satisfied with his staff. From a recent CNN story. The Mouth of the Emporer, Scott McClellan, in a classic moment of irony, deemed discussions of a white-house shakeup "babble". As recent as a few days ago, the administration expressed it's confidence in Card. Specifically: So, we can speculate why yet another administration official leaves (Claude Allen for "personal reasons" ie shoplifting, Gale Norton for "personal reasons" ie possible connection to Jack Abramoff, Scooter Libby for perjury, obstruction of justice, lying, leaking government secrets and outing a CIA operative). Does it even matter at this point anyway, with the Bush approval numbers at 33% and dropping (for what it's worth, I can't see his numbers dropping any further, as there are a lot of people out there who will go to the mat for this guy no matter what)? His own party is running away from him in an election year. His example of how everything is just dandy in Iraq has been exposed as a total exaggeration. The loss of Andy Card, who might have been the single-most benign, scandal-free member of this administration isn't going to do much. Here's the text of the resignation announcement: Excerpt.... Yup. VABills and Andy Card quote Ecclesiastes on the same day!

I was impressed with the tone of the Kerry rider. Very amicable, very pleasant, well organized, nice layout. Very unlike the Cheney rider which has a demanding tone, is a complete mess layout-wise, and comes across as, well, like a dick.

Fuggin' Pats have 11 freaking picks in this draft. F-U Krafty Bob.

No big deal, bud. We're all smiles here on the commune.

The middle paragraph of Chknwng334's last post mentioned the racist label being thrown around by the lefties. If I have inferred something from your post that you did not intend, then I apologize to you, Paul, and chknwng334's alias. Mea culpa.

How are you discerning that from my post pointing out that there really isn't any finger pointing going on (EDIT, wrt the issue of this thread)? I never said anything about the Dems having a "better plan than the GOP." The previous set of post's seemed to be implying there was acrimony based on partisanship. I just don't see it.

What "side"? This isn't a partisan issue. The GOP is completely split, Bush is calling for reform and dialing down the rhetoric, the Senate just shot down Cornyn's proposal (to criminalize helping illegal immigrants), and most people seem to want some form of the bipartisan McCain-Kennedy Immigration Reform Bill. I don't see one side predominantly villifying another. As for the law, most agree that the current laws don't work. EDIT: From MSNBC's First Read

Here's a WaPo article from last year outlining the McCain/Kennedy Immigration Reform Bill. Seems like a reasonable proposition for a solution. It recognizes workers already here (ie, recognizes that they fill a valuable role in society and doesn't treat them like terrorists/criminals) and gives them an incentive to enter the system. Employers not able to prove they can't hire anyone else to fill the job face stiffer penalties. This may come as a shock to some, but I don't necessarily have a problem with issuing "resident alien" cards, at least not to the extent that I have with the Real ID Act.

As a left-leaning bacteriologist that likes to knock back more than a few cold ones, there's no way in hell I'm setting foot anywhere near Texas now.

I didn't make a snide remark. I was just pointing out that the post was wrong, that's all. That being said, why make a post about when the CV system develops in this thread, but offer no frame of reference on why you are adding it into the discussion? What point were you trying to make?

Who the hell are you replying to? If it's to the original post, then you're anger is pretty misplaced. Where in that post is he making any grandiose liberal statements? Where in that post is he parroting anything from your list of "mainstream media" (VABills interpretation = media with a liberal bias)? In fact, the post reads like he's just trying to elicit a reasonable discussion on the topic. We can't discuss these topics on a Politics, Public Policy board?

Nope. The "heart", which at this stage is just a tube, doesn't begin to pulse until 22-25 days. It doesn't start to circulate fluid until roughly one month into the embryo development. There are numerous links out there.

Someone at another board I frequent linked to this site (Talk to Action), and it seems applicable to this thread. Yes, you read that correctly. HB 228 would criminalize anyone leaving the state to get an abortion, and would criminalize anyone helping them to leave the state to get an abortion. From the link provided above: While this bill is still thankfully mired in committee, the fact that it was introduced at all underscores the importance of fighting each and every anti-choice crusade in each and every state that it comes up in.

Hey UConn, speaking of candidates on the rocks, it looks like GOP Joe Lieberman isn't such a shoe-in after all. Not only did he freak out on the radio, but the buzz on Ned Lamont is getting louder...in less than two weeks. This delegate explains why he's voting for Lamont. Here's the radio freakout...I can't link because the "sh-t" filter changes the URL (http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/03/22/no-sh*t-holy-joes-cracking/). McEnroe then went on to try and read the quote in question and force Lieberman to respond but Lieberman kept cutting him off, he wouldn’t have it: The line actually reads: "It’s time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be the commander in chief for three more critical years and that in matters of war we undermine the president’s credibility at our nation’s peril." Lieberman’s response? Here's some of what the Connecticut delegate has to say: Lieberman is a Bush/Cheney toady, and an embarrassment to the Democratic party. Lamont probably won't win, but he's making a strong showing in only two weeks. (from the "buzz" link above...)

The article (and a bunch of others I pulled up to get a better idea of what happened) says he lost out on the nod for the same position two years ago, over the same remarks he made in 2002. Where was the outrage then? Plus, I can just imagine how the GOP would have handled a Dem candidate whose interpretations of the WTC/Pentagon bombers compared differently to palestinian suicide bombers. While it was most definately in poor form to endorse him last saturday, then un-endorse him a week later, they might have had some indication of a GOP-led backlash coming. Lastly, he's not being singled out because he's arab-american. He made a stupid statement on the record. If a candidate of any other ethnic background made a political blunder like that, there wouldn't be an issue with them being a political hot-potato. He said a stupid thing, and he shouldn't be using his ethnic background to suggest he's being "Dubai'd".

I wonder if anyone's looked into how much Babs and Poppy have invested in Ignite already. The "charity" they gave that got Neil's software program into HISD will clearly benefit Ignite. The more units Ignite has in the school system, the better Ignite looks on paper, and the more stats they generate about usage. It makes for a pretty nice package to sell to the russians. Wonder how much money Babs and Poppy will end up taking in when Hurricane Ignite hits russia?

Wow. I completely forgot about Neil Bush’s tie-in to Dubai. Thanks Google News. No Bush child left behind Looks like he’s been working his family for a couple years. Can ya help a brother out? Charity really does begin at home.

I'll tack this bit of irony on to this thread. Chief Justice Roberts appointed a new FISC judge. This is a replacement for the judge who resigned in protest over the NSA spying scandal...yes, the one where the Adminisation says it didn't need to notify the FISC to spy on, well, anyone. My question is, what the hell's the point of even filling this vacancy? It's not like the FISC will ever get used by this administration. In fact, they've gone on record saying they don't have to use the FISC. Of course, it says he worked for Ken Starr on the Whitewater "investigation," so at least he's got experience getting paid for doing nothing.

Looks like the Iraqis aren't buying it any more than we are. On Monday, Bush pointed to the Iraqi city of Tal Afar in his speech in Ohio. Everything's coming up roses in Tal Afar, right? Maybe he should actually ask the people of Tal Afar. We "heart" Tal Afar If this is Bush's example of how everything is going so swell over there, I'd hate to see an example of what's considered a bust.

It would be easier just to tell them what the laws are, then tell them to ignore them in the interests of national security.

Back on March 7th of this year, Bush signed a new Executive Order, setting up the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, to fall under the Department of Homeland Security. All right. Well, for what purpose? Huh? What obstacles? The Bush administration is already funneling billions of dollars to religious charities. Wow, seems like they are already feeding from the trough. In fact, since December 12, 2002, when Bush signed this Executive Order they can even take federal money and still retain the right to hire and fire employees based on religious beliefs. Doesn’t seem to be many obstacles, does there? Well, Johnny, who cares? Religious charities do outstanding community work. Why so skeptical? Well, you see, it’s not like the Bush administration has been handing this money out equally to charities from different faiths. Back in the aftermath of Katrina, FEMA listed a group of charities to give money to. Number one on the list was, of course, the Red Cross. Care to guess who the second one was? It was Operation Blessing. It should be noted that Pat Robertson is also the chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network. Who cares? Well, you should. Operation Blessing has a history of funneling donated cash to CBN. Want to know how much money the Bush administration hands to Operation Blessing each year? In two years, the group’s annual revenue from government grants has ballooned from $108,000 to $14.4 million. Holy Cow! Well, that’s just an isolated incident, right Johnny? There’s no way an administration would be involved in a widespread give-away of federal money to religious groups that support it's agenda, would it? That’s an excellent question that was just answered by an article this week in the Washington Post. Grants flow to Bush allies on social issues; Federal programs direct at least $157 million to conservative groups No way! Way! And it gets better. You see, once they get the money, they can funnel it to yet another group. Well, what is the administration saying about the accusation of patronizing and funneling federal money to the Christian Right, the very groups that got him elected twice? Do they deny it? Kind of, but not really. What does the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives have to say? Want to know where Jim Towey was one day after Bush’s most recent Faith-based executive order was signed? Why, giving an exclusive interview to the Christian Broadcasting Network, of course. Armies of Compassion, huh? Onward Christian soldiers…straight to the ballot box.

Because, if you read the article, Neil Bush has been trying like hell to get widespread distribution of his program in schools. Of course schools in Houston will use the Bush/Ignite software. The article states that he's been a key solicitor of funds for HISD. So, in essence, he's been busting his ass to get the school district charitable donations, that they can "decide" to turn around and buy his software with. In turn, he gets to say his program is in so many numbers of schools, which ultimately gives the appearence of credibility. He is, in essence, using the Houston school system under the guise of charitability to get numbers on paper that will influence his ability to get his software into Russia, most likely at a neat bit of profit. There's nothing illegal with that, of course. It smells bad, and we can pretend him and his Mom are doing it out of the kindness of their hearts for all those displaced Katrina victims, but it's not illegal.

Easy there, Monkey. It's a "liberation," not an "occupation." Freedom is on the march!

From today's Boston Globe... Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement (The Globe web edition lets you read the first page of an article, then makes you log in sometimes, so I'll post the first few paragraphs. The whole thing is worth a read, if only to chuckle at while your civil liberties go into the toilet) Laughable. He doesn't "feel obliged" to even bother with following the freaking law. With a flick of the pen (behind closed doors, in secret, after everyone left the room, no less) Dubya get's to do whatever he wants, because he's the president, and under his interpretation he doesn't have to bother telling Congress what he's doing. Hey, but if you're not breaking the law, you shouldn't care, right? Open criticism just gives comfort to the enemy...who hates us for our freedoms...some of which we don't have anymore.