Watch the GOP eat their own alive!

Don't you just love it when the GOP eats it's own children?

If you had any doubts whatsoever about whether or not the GOP is interested in any kind of bi-partisan efforts look no further than the actions of their party when it comes to bi-partisan efforts.

NFRA: Arizona Republican Assembly Votes Unanimously to Censure Senator McCain: "The resolution reads as follows:

WHEREAS, Senator John McCain is presently co-sponsoring, together with his Democrat soul-mate, Senator Teddy Kennedy, a Bill to Reform the Immigration Policy of the United States promoting amnesty for illegal aliens and for their U.S. employers, thus ignoring the opinions of his constituents expressed in numerous polls and personal pleas; and

OMG! The horror! He is doing pretty much what bush has been doing and wanted to do all along... Did you think those little cards bush wanted to give illegal immigrants would have led to anything else?

WHEREAS, Senator McCain deserted the ranks of the Republican Party and the Leadership of the U.S. Senate on the issue of limiting the filibuster of judicial nominations, some of which have been on-hold for several years, thus stalling the President’s agenda for judicial reform; and

OMG! It's unthinkable! Can you believe that he supported a bi-partisan effort to keep the fillibuster in place when most Americans agree with the use of the fillibuster? Maybe most Americans really are not happy with the GOP, huh?

WHEREAS, Senator McCain led the Democrat Party in “reforming” campaign finance, providing for a clear usurpation of 1 st Amendment free speech rights during the last 60 days of an election campaign, and leading to an orgy of spending in the 2004 elections;

OMG! The unspeakable! 60 more days of swift boat lies... Ok, maybe they are right there. lol

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Arizona Republican Assembly (ARA) officially and publicly censures Senator John McCain for dereliction of his duties and responsibilities as a representative of the citizens of Arizona; and "

Yep! The hypocritical GOP... The party that cries about a lack of bi-partisan effort from everyone else, but CENSURES their own members in a cannibalistic manner when they don't like the results of bi-partisan efforts! You are all a bunch of corrupt, lying, sleazy, pornographic, two-faced pieces of CRAP!

CRAP
(Christian Racist Armed Party)

Blue Note Bloggers: EFF: Homepage

Not sure if what you are doing is legal? Not sure if you could get harrased for excersizing your right to freedom of speech? Confusled about how all of the new laws may effect you and your Blog?

Have I got a link for you!

EFF: Homepage: "EFF Announces its New Legal Guide for Bloggers
We are pleased to release a document that informs bloggers of their legal rights. EFF's 'Legal Guide for Bloggers' is a collection of frequently asked questions (FAQs) designed to educate bloggers about their legal rights in a number of areas, including libel law, copyright law, and political advocacy.
Full story, Legal Guide for Bloggers, More on Blogging
June 13, 2005"

EFF.org has been nice enough to put together some simple straight forward answers to many questions that you may have concerning most types of Blogs.

Thanks EFF.org!

This is what you did!

Pollitical accountability, huh?

If you really want to find out who supported bush and the RNC with their money (A sure sign of who they voted for, right?) in the last election I have a link that will lead you to some of their supporters...

http://www.fundrace.org/neighbors.php

Fundrace Neighbor Search - ignore the lawn signs, see which candidates your neighbors really support

Click on the link, enter your zip, and presto!
A list of some local donors to political campaigns.

The list may not be complete, but it is a good starting point if you want to send a letter of reccomendation that THEY, OR SOMEONE IN THEIR FAMILY SHOULD ENLIST! I found about 8 people in my town that need to know they have yet been held accountable.

Yes, this is what you call accountability.

Atrios recently had a link a link to an interesting Blog by Driftglass (I think it is a crossposted Blog) in response to a Blog on the Downing Street Minutes (OK, so they refered to a memo, but I am fixing that mistake to be kind!)

An excellent read!

"Here's what you said,
and here's what you did.
You were wrong.
Apologize."

Well...
The mantra of this campaign could be:

"This what you did,
and this is what happened.
You were wrong.
ENLIST."

Heck... you could even request an infopack direct from the Army for them! Just fill in their name and address there, the Army will mail it to them. (Make sure you ask about 11x, 11b, 11m, etc., series work because that is Infantry)

Of course... You might want to do a letter in the name of George W. Bush! (Certainly anonomously, at the minimum) Let them know that bush needs THEM! Maybe even bush could get a letter suggesting his daughters enlist?

60,000 Iraqis 'Disappeared' into US Camps

The real news about the latest operations in Iraq?

According to Dahr Jamail it is pretty much chaos purposefully caused by the US military with the intent of causing civil war.

60,000 Iraqis 'Disappeared' into US Camps:
by Dahr Jamail, 1 June 2005
The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/JAM506B.html

Go to the article link and listen to what Dahr has to say in the telephone interview filed from Amman.

Independent journalist, Dahr Jamail, citing local humanitarian and other sources says the number of Iraqis detained by occupation forces is now well over 60,000 -far in excess of the commonly quoted official figure of 17,000.

Speaking exclusively to BreakForNews.com from Amman, Jordan on Monday night, Jamail said his sources included many doctors and the director of a humanitarian organization in Fallujah.
Broadcast - 05/30/05"

You have known from the begining that the inept bush regime has been operating this like they want complete and total chaos on the streets of Iraq... Guess what?

You were right. Sad but true...

The complete and total violation of the laws of war. Americans that support this in any way, shape, or form are so guilty of crimes against humanity. This completely disgusts me.

It's all Viagras fault!

Recent reports of Viagra's and Cialis' possible blinding side effects has been a hotbed of political conspiracy amongst a very few people with time on their hands for one handed typing.

CNN.com - FDA probes blindness among Viagra users - May 27, 2005: "FDA probes blindness among Viagra users

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal health officials are examining rare reports of blindness among some men using the impotence drugs Viagra and Cialis, a disclosure that comes at a time when the drug industry can ill afford negative publicity about another class of blockbuster medicines.

The Food and Drug Administration still is investigating, but has no evidence yet that the drug is to blame, said spokeswoman Susan Cruzan.

This type of blindness is called NAION, or non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. It can occur in men who are diabetic or have heart disease, the same conditions that can cause impotence and thus lead to Viagra use."

It is expected that Dobson will come out and blame Viagra leading to increased homosexual acts and sex with minors since the users may not be able to see where they are pointing that dangerous object.

Voting groups soon will be seeking injuctions to bar Viagara users from voting since it is already "hard enough for non-users of these powerful drugs to figure out most balloting systems when you aren't blind and horny" according to Bev Harris.

The White House has scheduled a news briefing to announce their support for any drugs that might induce more republican votes as welcome news after comparing staff notes in the Jeff Gannon room (one of the White House hallway closets) and coming to the realization that while they are just small members of the conservative party they certainly needed the support of Viagara to gain re-erection, err, re-election.

While the presidents position on viagra is often referred to as the "doggy style" there is much speculation that both Jeff Gannon and Karl Rove prefer bush on his back and legs in the air. More to come on this "HARD NEWS" story.

Yep, truth can be stranger than fiction...
BUT sometimes fiction is just stranger truth...

Blue Note Bloggers

Unlike our President that has turned a blind eye to American evidence in the Oil-for-Food scandal because of the trail of oily fingerprints, a media ignored part of the Dems minority report on the scandal isn't so kind. The Bayoil links to Enron and bush family members are revealed in the last few paragraphs of this article by Wayne Madsen. I encourage you to click on the article title and read it in full. It is a real eye opener for Americans and a black eye for bush.

Galloway tongue-lashes Coleman; committee documents show Bush political friends and family paid Oil-for-Food kickbacks to Saddam Hussein:

"Coleman and Levin wrote a February 8, 2005, letter to Rumsfeld asking about the operations of the Maritime Interdiction Force in the Gulf prior to the war. A similar letter was sent to the State Department inquiring about the illegal Khor al-Amaya oil shipments. To date, the committee has not received an answer from either Rumfeld or Rice.

Minority report documents indicate that one of the largest recipients of Bayoil Iraqi oil shipments was Enron, the bankrupt company that served as a virtual slush fund for the political campaigns of George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

At the same time Enron Chairman Kenneth ('Kenny Boy') Lay was involved in Vice President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force secret dealings and when he was stuffing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the pockets of George W. Bush and Cheney's political campaign, he also managed to illegally stick $206, 757 into the pockets of Saddam Hussein and his cohorts.

The Iraqi Oil-for-Food scandal also involves one of the Bush children—Dorothy 'Doro' Bush Koch, sister of George W. Bush and married to Bobby Koch, reportedly a cousin in the oil industry Koch family, the owner of Koch Industries, which is also one of Bush's largest political donors. The minority committee report indicates that Koch Industries was also a major recipient of illegal Iraqi oil and a huge source of kickbacks to Saddam Hussein:

The total sum in kickbacks from George W. Bush's cousin-in-laws to Saddam's bank accounts: $1,294,620.

George Galloway was correct when he called the Coleman Committee the "mother of all smoke screens." Major political contributors and friends of Bush not only paid illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein but personally profited from sanctions-busting with Iraq. Those involved in the scheme included individuals who date back to the Reagan/Bush 41 "cluster bombs and biological and chemical weapons-for-oil" scandal of the 1980s. Galloway is correct when he stated that there is enough evidence on Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair and their neocon advisers to park them in prison cells in The Hague for an awfully long time.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based journalist and nationally distributed columnist.

Not only does this article reveal bush family and friends connections to the Oil-for-Food scandal, but it also shows ties to members of the bush sr.-Saddam-Iran deals with rummy the dummy, Condi "Chevron" Rice, and Dick Cheney's energy price-hike task force.

Galloway was right in his statements directed at Coleman, and at this point there is only one question left to ask: "Are there any of these modern-day pseudoconservatives that were not dipping their hands in the Oil-for-Food barrel?" The trail of oily fingerprints makes a convincing case for Galloway's statements, and the hypocrisy of all of the bleating going on in the bush herd about UN Oil-for-Food scandals.

Why has nobody impeached this idiot in the White House yet? How much evidence of corruption and lying do you need? The Downing Street Memo and all of the supporting minutes of bush regime meetings with the Blair admin. prove that bush lied to the Senate to start the illegal Iraqi invasion. Now you have evidence that bush and his regime are tied in to Saddam kickbacks. The media ignores these issues. Too many Americans sit on their hands saying to themselves that they are the little guy and can't do anything about it. These are sad times in our nation when good Americans won't get off their ass and do something about it!

www.impeachbush.org

Blue Note Bloggers

Is Newsweek making fun of Scott McClellan and the White House in their latest headline "Consider the Source"? If they aren't, then I am...

MSNBC - Consider the Source

Consider the Source

The State Department says MEK is a terror group. Human Rights Watch says it’s a cult. For the White House, MEK is a source of intelligence on Iran.

By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Updated: 4:35 p.m. ET May 19, 2005

May 18 - A controversial exile movement cited by President George W. Bush as a source of information on Iran's nuclear ambitions is condemned for psychologically and physically abusing its own members in a new report by Human Rights Watch.

In a document scheduled for public release this week, Human Rights Watch alleges that the Iranian exile group known as Mujahedine Khalq (MEK) has a history of cultlike practices that include forcing members to divorce their spouses and to engage in extended self-criticism sessions.

More dramatically, the report states, former MEK members told Human Rights Watch that when they protested MEK policies or tried to leave the organization, they were arrested, in some cases violently abused and in other instances imprisoned. Two former recruits told the human-rights group that they were held in solitary confinement for years in a camp operated by MEK in Iraq under the protection of Saddam Hussein. MEK representatives in the United States and France, where MEK is headquartered, did not immediately respond to NEWSWEEK phone calls and an e-mail requesting comment.

MEK has long been controversial because of its history of violent attacks in Iran, its relationship with Saddam's regime and its background as a quasi-religious, quasi-Marxist radical resistance group founded in the era of the late Iranian shah. In 1997, the Clinton administration put MEK on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist groups. MEK's U.S. supporters, among whom at one point numbered dozens of members of Congress, charged that the Clinton administration only labeled MEK as a terrorist group as part of an ill-conceived attempt to improve relations with the ayatollahs who currently run Iran. However, the Bush administration added two alleged MEK front organizations to the State Department's terrorist list in 2003.

Despite the group's notoriety, Bush himself cited purported intelligence gathered by MEK as evidence of the Iranian regime's rapidly accelerating nuclear ambitions. At a March 16 press conference, Bush said Iran's hidden nuclear program had been discovered not because of international inspections but "because a dissident group pointed it out to the world." White House aides acknowledged later that the dissident group cited by the president is the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), one of the MEK front groups added to the State Department list two years ago.

In an appearance before a House International Relations Subcommittee a year ago, John Bolton, the controversial State Department undersecretary who Bush has nominated to become US ambassador to the United Nations, was questioned by a Congressman sympathetic to MEK about whether it was appropriate for the U.S. government to pay attention to allegations about Iran supplied by the group. Bolton said he believed that MEK "qualifies as a terrorist organization according to our criteria." But he added that he did not think the official label had "prohibited us from getting information from them. And I certainly don't have any inhibition about getting information about what's going on in Iran from whatever source we can find that we deem reliable."

However, current and former senior U.S. national-security officials, who asked not to be named because they are not supposed to talk about intelligence-gathering activities, say that all the major revelations MEK publicly claims to have made regarding nuclear advances in Iran were reported in classified form—and from other sources—to U.S. policymakers before MEK made them public. A Western diplomat familiar with the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations component that has been monitoring Iran's nuclear program, said that while the MEK has occasionally come up with accurate information about Iran's nukes, the group has come up with a similar number of other tips that have not checked out.

According to Human Rights Watch, several members of Congress, including both Republicans and Democrats, only last month attended a Washington meeting of a legal "MKO-backed" group called the National Convention for a Democratic, Secular Republic in Iran. In February, the group says, a think tank co-chaired by retired U.S. military officers called for MEK to be dropped from the State Department terrorist list and recommended that the U.S. government actively support MEK in its campaign to bring down the Iranian theocracy.

According to administration officials, some Pentagon officials want to recruit former MEK members as U.S. secret agents who would infiltrate Iran on intelligence missions. The Pentagon has emphatically insisted that it has no plans to work with the MEK or any of the group's members.

The new Human Rights Watch report offers no insight into the validity or inaccuracy of MEK information about Iranian's nuclear program but it does allege strange and sometimes brutal behavior by the group’s leaders and internal security apparatus. According to the report, MEK, formed in 1965 by three political activists, originally was an "urban guerilla group" which participated in the struggle against the shah that resulted in the 1979 Iranian revolution and produced the current theocratic regime in Tehran.

In an early schism following the revolution, the MEK and Abolhassan Bani Sadr, briefly Iran's president during the 1980 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis, split away from the main revolutionary movement led by Ayatollah Khomeini and went into exile. Later, Bani Sadr in turn split from MEK after a disagreement with Massoud Rajavi, who, with his wife, Maryam, subsequently became the movement's unchallenged leader. During the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam allowed MEK to set up several military camps in Iraq—with a headquarters encampment near Baghdad known as Camp Ashraf—and the group proceeded to conduct paramilitary operations against the Tehran regime, the largest of which was mounted—unsuccessfully—shortly after Iran agreed to a U.N.-brokered ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War. MEK reportedly lost more than 1,000 fighters in this attack.

According to Human Rights Watch, following this 1988 military defeat, the Rajavi's leadership of MEK became increasingly authoritarian and cultlike. According to an MEK defector's memoir, Rajavi claimed to have a mystical relationship with a prophet known as Imam Zaman, who is Shia Islam's version of the long-awaited Messiah. In order to better cement their relationship with their leader, and hence ultimately their Messiah, Rajavi then instructed his followers to divorce their spouses. The group had already established a practice of "self criticism," under which members were asked to undergo their own personal "ideological revolution" by confessing personal inadequacies in cultlike confession sessions.

Paranoid about defectors and possible infiltrators from the Tehran regime's intelligence apparatus, in the l990s, according to Human Rights Watch, MEK leadership ordered a series of stringent "security clearances" in which "many" members were arrested by group organizers and interrogated and even imprisoned in special buildings inside the boundaries of MEK camps in Saddam-ruled Iraq. Human Rights Watch says the testimony of former MEK prisoners paints "a grim picture of how the organization treated its members, particularly those who held dissenting opinions or expressed an intent to leave the organization."

Witnesses contacted by Human Rights Watch reported two deaths during the course of MEK internal interrogations and other cases of lengthy imprisonment. One MEK detainee interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Mohammad Hussein Sobhani, claimed to have spent eight and a half years in solitary confinement in MEK detention facilities after he started raising questions about the leadership's policies. He said he was beaten on 11 occasions with wooden sticks and leather belts. Another former MEK member interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Farhad Javaheri-Yar, claimed to have been imprisoned in solitary confinement by the group for five years.

Other witnesses told Human Rights Watch claimed it was the practice of MEK interrogators to tie thick ropes around prisoners' necks and drag them along the ground. One witness told investigators: "Sometimes prisoners returned to the cell with extremely swollen necks—their head and neck as big as a pillow." In a statement accompanying its investigative report, Joe Stork, a Human Rights Watch expert on the Middle East, commented: "The Iranian government has a dreadful record on human rights. But it would be a mistake to promote an opposition group that is responsible for serious human rights abuses.”
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

© 2005 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7902719/site/newsweek/

Delay and Saudis Lobby to Limit Liability on Cancer-Causing Gas Additive

Here is a trio you know you can trust to srew you over:

Saudis, BIG oil companies, and Tom Delay...

Saudis Lobby to Limit Liability on Cancer-Causing Gas Additive: "Published on Monday, May 16, 2005 by the Boston Globe
Saudis Lobby to Limit Liability on Additive
Gas agent found in N.E. water
by Susan Milligan

WASHINGTON -- A company largely owned by the Saudi government has spent more than $1.5 million since 1998 lobbying Congress to shield the chemical industry from liability for damages caused by MTBE, a potentially cancer-causing gasoline additive that has seeped into water supplies across New England, according to federal documents.

The chemical additive is widely used, particularly in the Northeast, to help gasoline burn more efficiently and meet standards set by the Clean Air Act. But when it gets into drinking water, MTBE is suspected of causing cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Many state and local governments -- including New Hampshire and 60 communities in Massachusetts -- have sued oil and chemical companies, claiming that they should have known the risks of using methyl tertiary butyl ether. The communities say the companies must pay to clean up groundwater that became contaminated when MTBE-treated gasoline seeped into the soil from leaking tanks.

But the industry -- helped by the House majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas -- has maintained that it should not be obliged to pay for damages caused by a product used to meet a federal requirement for cleaner-burning gasoline."

Click on the link to read the rest...

When there is a lobbyists' dime on the table, you can be sure Tom Delay will pick it up and use it against Americans!

bush's GOP BOBBLE-HEAD DOLLS

What are Voinovich and the rest of the GOP members of the committee really saying? It is perfectly obvious that they are simply making a scripted and rehearsed statement about the Democrats plan to fillibuster bush's radical activist judges. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Your GOP talking point fillibuster smears just won't jive.

While Americans overwhelmingly support the minority protections provided by the fillibuster, GOP committee members are shirking their responsibilities to the people while sitting there nodding their heads like bobble-head dolls in support of bush's reckless choice of candidates. Why do you think there are committees to look at candidates before they go to the floor for a vote Voinovich? What are you payed to do? By whom were you elected to do your job? The president OR the people?

GOP Senator Breaks Ranks, Attacks Bolton - Yahoo! News:

"'Mr. Chairman,' Voinovich said, 'I am not so arrogant to think that I should impose my judgment and perspective of the U.S. position in the world community on the rest of my colleagues. We owe it to the president to give Mr. Bolton an up-or-down vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate.'

The committee, he said, should move the nomination along — but without a recommendation to approve Bolton. 'Let the Senate work its will,' he said.

At day's end, Voinovich prevailed. By a 10-8 party-line vote, the committee followed his recommendation, and now it will be up to the Senate itself to decide.

Afterward, Voinovich said he would vote against Bolton on the floor, but he declined to predict the outcome in the Senate, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 55 to 44, with one independent.

Voinovich said he plans to lobby fellow senators on the matter, saying he intends to 'share my concerns about him with my colleagues in the Senate, hopefully to convince them to not just rubber-stamp this, but rather give this thoughtful consideration.'"

Sorry there bobble-head Voinovich. What your statement really means to Americans is that you and the GOP failed, yet again, to do your job of representing the people. You shouldn't be on the committee if you are incapable of voting against an incompetent choice, and instead invoke your purposefully scripted, and feigned, discomfort with the choice of Bolton.

You, Voinovich, and the rest of the GOP bobble-head committee members, have failed to do what the people pay you to do by putting one of the worst possible candidates for the job at the UN on to the floor for a vote. Your Job was to stop the Senate from wasting it's time voting on the wrong candidates. It was pretty arrogant of you to assume that you are on the committee just to nod your head like a bobble-head doll. You owe it to Americans to do your job Voinovich. You, and the rest of the GOP bobble-heads, are all complete failures.

Power Line's "Modus Operandi"

It would be nice once in a while to see someone that claims to be conservative actually think like a conservative for a change. Unfortunately this does not happen too often lately. The reasoning most of the "faux" conservatives always seem to use these days are straight out of their "GOP talking points". If you cannot defend an idea declare the opposition socialist. If you cannot defend your policies declare all naysayers communist. If you cannot defend your behaviour declare your attacker a liberal.

Power Line
There is a familiar modus operandi at work in the accusation by Melody Townsel that John Bolton chased her through the halls of a Moscow hotel throwing objects and screaming threats at her in August 1994. New York Sun reporter Eli Lake has nailed most of the elements of the modus operandi in his article: "New Bolton accuser is a liberal from 'Mothers Opposing Bush.'" Lake reports:

It used to be conservative meant you would stop and think about something before you would speak about it. Now you have these radical right wingnuts that stop to check their "GOP talking points" regardless of how ignorant it makes them look. Instead of addressing the reality that bolton is a whack-job, Power Line chose the ignorant path of the wingnut.

Note to Power Line: Jeff Gannon is NOT the only prostitute that works as a "mouthpiece" for the GOP. (Tough fact to swallow, but this is you Power Line!)

Thanks for tanking the economy bush!

Some more serious news for radical right wing bush supporters to ignore (as per usual...)

BBC NEWS | Business | GM and Ford downgraded to junk
GM and Ford downgraded to junk
Standard & Poor's (S&P) has cut the debt ratings of US carmakers General Motors and Ford to 'junk' status.

The US credit rating agency said its decision reflected tough global competition in the market and slower sales of both firms' leading vehicles.

The downgrades, affecting debt worth about $290bn (�152bn), are the largest cuts to junk in a single day.

A junk status rating suggests that a company is more likely to default on its debt.

Rising costs

With both GM and Ford facing difficult times, analysts had predicted cuts to junk status later this year.

But many were surprised at the speed of S&P's decision.

Last month, GM reported a net loss of $1.1bn in the first three months of 2005, largely due to flagging sales and the rising cost of employee healthcare.

Rival Ford also reported a 40% drop in first-quarter net profits, to $1.21bn, citing falling US sales and rising prices for raw materials.

S&P cut GM and General Motors Acceptance Corp's long-term credit ratings to 'BB', the second-highest junk rating.

S&P's outlook on the new rating is negative, which means another downgrade could be possible in the next 24 months.

Meanwhile, S&P cut Ford and Ford Motor Credit Co's long-term credit ratings to 'BB ', the highest junk rating. The outlook on the new rating is also negative.

GM and Ford, which are the world's number one and three carmakers respectively, said they were disappointed with the downgrades.

Both companies stressed they had ample cash reserves.

The economy is tanking, the market is tanking, inflation is rising, unemployment is sucking unless you want to call flipping burgers a career.

I wonder how happy the soon to be laid off auto workers will be knowing that GM and Ford have plenty of cash on hand? Do you think they are glad that bush is pushing for dismantling social security so they can try and scrape together enough of their oncoming unemployment checks for "investing" in the bush privatization scam?

The only thing worse than Reaganomics? Reaganomics in the incapabable hands of a warmongering fool...

Are you sure you want to read this?

For the many computer users that never bother to use anti-virus, firewall, or Ad-Aware type softwares to protect their computer from spyware and viruses, here is just another reason for you not to worry.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Bogus blogs snare fresh victims

Cyber criminals are starting to use fake blogs to snare new victims.

The bogus web journals are being used as traps that infect visitor's machines with keylogging software or viruses.

Filtering firm Websense said it had found hundreds of bogus blogs baited with all kinds of malicious software to snare the unwary.

Websense warned that the baited blogs could get past traditional security measures that try to protect people from malicious programs.

Hidden harm

The company said blogs were being used because they inadvertently offered lots of help to computer criminals.

Blogs are free and simple to use, offer users lots of storage space, can be used anonymously and most do not scan stored files for viruses and other malicious programs.

Websense said it had seen examples of some computer criminals creating a legitimate looking weblog, loading it with keylogging software or viral code...

... viruses hosted on weblogs might be a danger because they get round the filtering systems many firms have created to ensure malicious programs do not reach employees.

Users were urged to keep anti-virus and patches up to date, regularly scan machines with anti-spyware products and exercise caution when reading unsolicited messages sent via e-mail or instant messenger.

You have to keep in mind that this is just a phishing scam variation, but instead of hoping you will enter user names and passwords at the site they are looking to take control of your computer. That, of course, can still lead to identity theft once they control your computer. Another important fact to remember is that malicious code has always been hidden everywhere on the web. Hiding it on a blog is no different than websites that hide it in pictures or in links they put on their pages.

There really is not much you can do to avoid "all" spyware and viruses. The best you can do is hope that the people at companies like McAfee, Norton, Spybot destroyer, Ad-Aware, and others that help protect most computers stay on top of these problems as they develop.

If you do not have any of the needed software to protect your computer are you sure you want to read blogs? Of course you do. It is no less safe than any other web page you may visist.

Is DeLay's Policy Director Jumping Ship?

A senior member of Tom DeLay's team is leaving his side at the same time that DeLay is getting hammered with investigations. Does anyone else see this as a rat scurrying off of a sinking ship?

Yahoo! News - DeLay: She'll Be Missed; Majority Leader's Policy Director Joins K-Street Firm:
"Sullivan had been with DeLay for over six years and was elevated to policy director for the Majority Leader at the beginning of 2003. Prior to that, she served as DeLay's senior appropriations adviser, developing and implementing the House leadership's appropriations and budget strategy as well as coalition strategies with grassroots groups and members of Congress. She was a key member of DeLay's leadership team throughout, as the point of contact between House leadership and Senate leadership while policy director and as the leadership contact for Republican members in the appropriations process during her stint as senior appropriations adviser."

You have to figure that things are not looking too good in the DeLay camp. His supporters deserting him, even the shills in the media that used to love him have a hard time not noticing the illegal and unethical things he has been doing doing, and just as the Department of Justice is stepping into the investigations a senior member of his team jumps ship for a Law firm. Maybe Sullivan thinks she and DeLay will need legal help in the near future?

DROP THE HAMMER ON DELAY!

Columnist Jose Rodriguez has a pretty reasonable take on all of the celebrating and name calling taking place surrounding the new Pope...

Calgary Sun Columnist - Jose Rodriguez: Defending the faith: "Defending the faith
By JOSE RODRIGUEZ -- Calgary Sun

I don't know which bothers me more. The newly romanticized non-Catholics falling over themselves to defend the new Pope or the equally un-Catholic busybodies bent on tearing him apart.

Seems there is no shortage of opinion when it comes to the newly appointed Benedict XVI.

The former cardinal and close confidant to the much-loved John Paul II has been called medieval, ultra-conservative, backwards and all sorts of other nasty names.

By others, the first German pope in 1,000 years has been labelled a great defender of classic Catholicism, a strict theologian and a champion of tradition.

There is probably some truth to both characterizations -- if it mattered.

You see, praise and pre-judgement from non-Catholics is as worthless as fresh underwear at a nudist colony."

This is some pretty good advice for those on the outside of the Pope's Catholic family. If he ever makes a decision that actually affects my life, personally, then I might decide to muster an opinion on their choice for him to lead. As it stands now, since he is not my Pope, I will gladly take that columnist's advice about remaining silent when it comes to Benedict's good and/or bad. As for underwear... Well, who needs them?

News Shredder: Power Line represents a backward, primitive way of looking at the world.

News Shredder: Power Line represents a backward, primitive way of looking at the world.: "Power Line represents a backward, primitive way of looking at the world.
Given how these radical right Power Line wingnuts claim that Dems are blocking extremist judges based on their faith, I find it interesting to see the typical hate towards religion, and Catholics in particular, that Power Line exhibits in its latest blog on science.

Power Line: Planet of the Apes:
"It's interesting, though, to contemplate the quest for insight into human nature via the apes in the context of news coverage of the selection of Pope Benedict. The conventional view is that religion in general, and Catholicism in particular, represents a backward, primitive way of looking at the world, and especially at human nature, compared to modern, progressive science."

It is plainly apparent that, aside from being the last ones to consult concerning "progressive science", these ridiculously hypocritical charges being tossed out there by Power Line like Maltov cocktails at all of the moderates that oppose the radical bush policies and tactics will eventully result in more self-destruction A LA Tom "the hummer" DeLay (he really sucks!), John "I support those who kill judges" Cronyn, and Condi "Skirts the Constitution" Rice, Jeff "get a BLOW job" Gannon, and John "Nuke the U.N." Bolton...

There is very little that is going right for the extremist bush lovers right now, even in their own little fantasy world, and it is our job to keep this "reality" ball rolling...