Well, we did invent the airplane, the misguided claims of foreign jingoists notwithstanding.
The airplane is therefore EVIL, EVIIIILLLLL, automatically so because it is American and especially so since it is used mostly to bomb the innocent and transport fatcat corporate profiteers.
Things you didnt know about American airplanes:
-All terrorism and oppression is a reaction to the Dire Effects of American Bombing
- Pilots are required to kill a fluffy bunny with their bare claws and eat its still-beating heart before they are allowed to graduate from flight school.
-US military pilots must have their guilt centers surgically excised, they are each paid 20 million dollars a year, and they are forced to kill themselves when they reach retirement age.
-Jet fuel is made from the processed body fat of anally electrocuted chinchillas.
-American smart bombs are programmed to seek out petting zoos, kindergartens, and mosques in that order.
-Both Halliburton and Blackwater have aviation divisions. Nuff said.
#7
actually pilots do kill fluffy bunnies and then eat the entrails or eyeballs during s.e.r.e. creating a puppet from the skin and head is optional though
#8
All knowledge comes from Allah; patent holders seize his property.
Posted by: Muhammad Googoo ||
02/25/2009 18:48 Comments ||
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#9
While America did not invent the automobile (H Ford didn't invent the assembly line eitehr) we damn well made sure it didn't become something other than a playtoy for the rich.
Everybodyknows that. North Michconsin No that's East Consin
He said "the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it", NOT that America invented it.
He's simply making policy for both the US and for Germany. (That's why he gave a speech in Berlin). Would you expect any less of the President of the World? (And the Messiah).
Oh, my leg is tingling again!
Posted by: Chris Mathews ||
02/25/2009 20:17 Comments ||
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#11
I've heard saw palmetto helps for that, Mr. Matthews.
Of course. It's a common formulation. In England they have Essex (East Saxons) and Wessex (West Saxon). We in America have East Consin and Wis Consin. It's just a matter of knowing the history of population flows. The Consin tribe migrated to the area hundreds of years ago, and intermarried with the locals. The Wis Consins migrated a bit further when population pressures threatened to overwhelm the ability of the land to support them all. But both subtribes are known for their characteristic, "Yah, ok," and broad vowels to this day.
Boy howdy, if there's anyone in Washington who knows anything about grabbing power, it's Robert Byrd (D-KKK).
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest-serving Democratic senator, is criticizing President Obamas appointment of White House czars to oversee federal policy, saying these executive positions amount to a power grab by the executive branch.
In a letter to Obama on Wednesday, Byrd complained about Obamas decision to create White House offices on health reform, urban affairs policy, and energy and climate change. Byrd said such positions can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances. At the worst, White House staff have taken direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory responsibility of Senate-confirmed officials.
While it's rare for Byrd to criticize a president in his own party, Byrd is a stern constitutional scholar who has always stood up for the legislative branch in its role in checking the power of the White House. Byrd no longer holds the powerful Appropriations chairmanship, so his criticism does not carry as much weight these days. Byrd repeatedly clashed with the Bush administration over executive power, and it appears that he's not limiting his criticism to Republican administrations.
Byrd also wants Obama to limit claims of executive privilege while also ensuring that the White House czars dont have authority over Cabinet officers confirmed by the Senate.
As presidential assistants and advisers, these White House staffers are not accountable for their actions to the Congress, to cabinet officials, and to virtually anyone but the president, Byrd wrote. They rarely testify before congressional committees, and often shield the information and decision-making process behind the assertion of executive privilege. In too many instances, White House staff have been allowed to inhibit openness and transparency, and reduce accountability.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/25/2009 16:03 ||
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Byrd said such positions "can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances. At the worst, White House staff have taken direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory responsibility of Senate-confirmed officials."
#4
All Barry's gotta do to shut him up is find the one thing in West Virginia not named after Byrd and rename it.
Welcome to Exalted Cyclops International Airport...
#5
As much as I'd like to embrace a Democratic senator rebelling against the god-king, I'm afraid it's far more likely that the honorable senator's seeing an old nightmare on his side of the mirror that walks like a president. Something he used to look at through holes cut in a white sheet.
Even mirrorball nothingburgers have racist enemies.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/25/2009 16:57 Comments ||
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#6
No one should be surprised by this fellow's actions. I suspect few here are.
"All That We've Learned From History.... Is That We Don't Learn From History!"
anon
Tennessee could reject a portion of the $787 billion economic stimulus package out of concerns that it would force the state to raise taxes on businesses in the future. At the National Governors Association meetings in Washington, D.C., Gov. Phil Bredesen said this week that he might turn down relief for unemployed workers worth an estimated $143 million because of conditions placed on the money by Congress.
The stimulus package would also raise unemployment benefits by $25 a week for all workers, but in addition, lawmakers want states to expand the pool of people who can apply for benefits. That would put more pressure on an unemployment trust fund that is already trying to stave off insolvency.
"We are evaluating this piece of money, whether it makes sense for us to take it," Bredesen said in an interview Monday with the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "We're in the position of going back to our legislature this year for changes in our tax structure just to keep our fund whole, and taking it to a new level may be too much of a lift for the legislature this spring."
Balanced against that is the boost the state's unemployment fund could get from the stimulus package. The plan would give every person claiming unemployment an extra $25 a week through 2009, starting next month. That part of the stimulus is funded separately and has already been approved by the governor.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/25/2009 15:57 ||
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WASHINGTON The District of Columbia took a significant step toward winning a full vote in the House on Tuesday as the Senate cleared the way for legislation that would permanently expand House membership for the first time in almost a century.
The Senate voted 62 to 34 to begin debating a measure that would also grant an additional House seat to Utah, enlarging the House to 437 seats. In 2007 supporters of the bill fell three votes short of overcoming a Senate filibuster against it.
Sponsors of the voting bill were optimistic they could win Senate approval by the end of the week after consideration of changes proposed by Republican opponents. The Senate would then begin to work out differences with the House in hopes of quickly sending a bill to President Obama, who has indicated he would sign it. A court challenge is considered a certainty.
Its backers said the fact that about 600,000 residents of the district do not have a voting representative in the House was a continuing injustice similar to civil rights violations of the past. The district has a population roughly equal to or in fact greater than the states of Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming, said Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, a chief sponsor of the legislation. But, sadly, its residents have not been allowed to be full participants in our democracy.
Never were allowed. That's why it's a district and a not a state.
Even if the legislation is enacted soon, the two new representatives of the House would not be seated until the beginning of the next Congress in January 2011. The premise of the bill is that the new seat for the heavily Democratic district would be offset by one of solidly Republican Utah.
Anticipating a court challenge, the measure seeks to speed a final decision on whether the new seat for the district is legal.
Critics of the measure, pointing to the Constitutions requirement that House members be chosen by the people of the several states, say that it is blatantly unconstitutional and that the District of Columbia can win a voting seat in the House only through a Constitutional amendment a route that has been tried unsuccessfully in the past. Only states may be represented in the House of Representatives, said Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona. Not territories, not districts or other federal possessions.
The current number of seats in the House was set in 1911 with 433 members, with a provision for two more when Arizona and New Mexico gained statehood. Currently, the delegate from the District of Columbia can vote in committee but not on final passage of bills. The district would not be entitled to a Senate seat under the bill.
The other solution is, of course, to give the District back to Maryland. That's what happened to Arlington and parts of Alexandria on the Virginia side of the Potomac. Carve out a small central core with the federal buildings and give the rest back. The residents would then have a House seat in the Maryland delegation and could vote for two senators.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/25/2009 00:00 ||
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But they don't want that - this is just a power grab in the guise of "equality".
#2
Only states may be represented in the House of Representatives, said Senator Jon Kyl
Correct. The other solution is, of course, to give the District back to Maryland.
Also correct.
I've suggested that for a long time. (The idiots in the Clown College can't see it though.)
#4
"Only states may be represented in the House of Representatives," said Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona. "Not territories, not districts or other federal possessions."
Oh, foo, SCOTUS Justice Kennedy says its a living constitution and anything he says it says. LâÃtat câest Moi. /sarcasm off
#8
requires a constitutional amendment IIUC, otherwise they'd a done it before now. They know the states won't vote to dilute their own power
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/25/2009 20:26 Comments ||
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#9
Frank, strictly speaking it takes a Constitutional amendment to give them a voting representative in the House, too. The constitution specifically says that the representatives come from the states. The District of Columbia is not a state.
Of course, with the Dems in control of both houses and the White House, it will be a slam dunk to pass. I wonder if the Supreme Court will have the balls to overturn it.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/25/2009 22:05 Comments ||
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Sen. Roland Burris refused to resign on Tuesday, rebuffing a call from the Senate's No. 2 Democrat who made it clear that the embattled Illinois lawmaker has little hope next year of winning the seat vacated by President Barack Obama. "I told him that under the circumstances, I would resign," fellow Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Burris. "He said, 'I'm not going to resign.'"
"I can't force him," Durbin added.
Burris was appointed by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and driven from office after he was accused of trying to sell the Senate seat.
Burris repeatedly changed his story about how he was appointed. He is facing calls for his resignation after he admitted trying to raise money for Blagojevich. Burris has said he did nothing wrong.
Emerging from the hour-long private meeting with Durbin, Burris looked a bit shaken and inexplicably said he was under orders not to comment, other than to say the session was a "great discussion."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2009 00:00 ||
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This guy is a serious limpet. Better bring in a gurney because thats the only way he is going to leave the Senate floor.
Gov. Paterson's popularity continues to slide. A new poll released today shows the governor slumping to the lowest job approval ratings since he took office last year. The Siena College Research Institute also looked at potential 2010 election match-ups and found the Democrat in a statistical dead heat with Republican Rudy Giuliani - 44 to 42 percent - despite a 2-to-1 enrollment edge for Democrats in the state.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Mayor Bill White this afternoon announced that a plan for the city to pay off some debts for first-time home buyers has been pulled from tomorrow's City Council agenda. Council members are now professing their "embarrassment" about the proposal, which has hit the national news circuit, including drudgereport.com., which picked up this morning's Houston Chronicle story about the plan
"This issue has hit a nerve across this country," said Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck. "Not just here in the city of Houston. Giving people the ability to increase their credit score artificially because we're allowing them to pay off their credit cards is exactly what got us into this (national economic) crisis in the first place."
Councilman Jarvis Johnson said the city should continue to help people move from renting to owning. "But I do believe we can do it in a better way, a more thoughtful way," he said. "But we don't want to become enablers, where people count on the city to be the cure-all."
The "Credit Score Enhancement Program" would have given up to $3,000 in grants to individuals who are trying to qualify for mortgages through the city's homebuyers assistance program. City officials say some applicants fall short of eligibility by only 10 or 20 points on their credit scores, and paying off some debt balances can quickly improve their numbers.
The proposal aroused critics who say the city should not use public funds to help people pay down car loans, credit card balances, or other debts -- even if the slight credit bump would help them realize the dream of home- ownership.
"We just can't give away government money to help people with their credit scores," Councilman Mike Sullivan said Monday. "You're giving them other taxpayers' money to pay off the bills."
Clutterbuck called the program well-intentioned, but said it would have gone too far. "If this credit crisis has taught us anything, we need to focus on paying off our debts and saving more," she said. "Using government money to help someone pay off their debts is not the same as asking them to pay off their debts themselves."
The $444,000 proposed for the program is leftover money from a $1.5 million appropriation the city made for emergency home and roof repairs after Hurricane Ike.
The city has three programs that provide grants for down payments and closing costs for qualified homebuyers. The most generous one offers a $37,500 grant to buy a home that costs $135,000 or less, but only in certain disadvantaged Houston neighborhoods the city is trying to revitalize. Participants cannot earn more than 80 percent of the Houston median income.
So you're going to pay people with lower incomes to buy cheap housing in bad neighborhoods. Brilliant, just brilliant ...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2009 00:00 ||
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I don't like this proposal at all but many "bad neighborhoods" have high levels of renters along with the occasional squatters.
Owner occupied homes are clearly the best bet for improvement.
#2
The $444,000 proposed for the program is leftover money from a $1.5 million appropriation the city made for emergency home and roof repairs after Hurricane Ike.
Surely with all the shortfalls in collected taxes, the city can find a legitimate use for the money, like bridge and road repairs necessitated by Hurricane Ike? Putting roofs on schools?
#4
Surely with all the shortfalls in collected taxes, the city can find a legitimate use for the money, like bridge and road repairs necessitated by Hurricane Ike? Putting roofs on schools?
The repeatedly selected and usual contractors for those types of work already kick into election funds. They're looking to 'buy' new votes.
Helping people move from renting to buying, they could use the same money as 'grants' to first time buyers to pay for closing points if the buyers put 20% down on the purchase. While that would be prudent assistance, the number of 'grateful' constituents is probably too small to bother with when other voting enhancement opportunities 'quietly', outside the glare of the net, present themselves.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
"This is a monumental project, but it's doable...It's about getting the money out in 18 months, to literally dropkick us out of this recession."
