Repeating myself: I am an independent voter who is neither a Republican or a Democrat...albeit my beliefs sway a bit to the left, a bit to the right....

But why do liberals always have to go for the dramatic...I mean between Howard Dean and Michael Moore and the rest of the unwashed masses.... Alec Baldwin and the rest of the Hollywood bagillionaire elite said they would be leaving the country if Pres. Bush was elected. NOw it would seem that UPI reporter Helen Thomas is now joining the fray. My comment: DO IT, DO IT, DO IT! You guys always accuse Republicans of speaking from both sides of the mouth...now don't you be doing the same, huh?


Veteran wire reporter Helen Thomas is vowing to 'kill herself' if Dick Cheney announces he is running for president.

The newspaper HILL first reported the startling claim on Thursday.

"The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself," she told the HILL. "All we need is one more liar."

Thomas added, "I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does."

Honestly I don't understand some people's fascination with Portland, Oregon, a place in the Pacific Northwest where I was born, raised, and lived for 28 years.

It is a dirty expensive city sometimes referred to as "Little Rock (Arkansas) on the Willamette." What you might not pay in rent you pay in VERY EXPENSIVE utilities. Then it rains, rains, rains and the air pollution is bad (since Portland sits in a bowl such as Denver). Plus you sit in traffic most of the time because the traffic infrastructure has really not been expanded in 25 years because all of the public money for such projects has been invested in a public transportation which less than 8% of the people actually use. Yet the progressive politicians there keep taking the "moon in the sky is green cheese" approach that people are going to use public transportation all the time.

When I live in Portland it was was a beautiful small city. I left in time.

Not only that, Oregon is economically on the same level as Arkansas with a VERY high unemployment rate. Portlanders and Oregonians are on the whole biggoted and small minded. I should know...I got to feel it on my own flesh.

Surely So. Cal and San Diego have their very big problems, ("it has its faults") but when you put everything together this is the BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD TO LIVE!

Eh....let's get real here....and stop denying the truth.

Where else do you have to be scared about the Federales (the Mexican police)?
Where else can you generally not drink water directly from the tap?
Where else is a population is being abused by their government?
Where else do you have violations of clean air and clean water?

Sure it's a shirt I'd never get caught wearing...but let's face it...New Mexico IS cleaner than the Republic of Mexico.

By DEBORAH YAO, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 22, 3:18 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA - The Anti-Defamation League has asked retailer Urban Outfitters to stop selling a T-shirt that reads: "New Mexico, Cleaner than Regular Mexico."

"This is saying that the country of Mexico is a dirty place," said Barry Morrison, regional director of the civil rights group. "Dirty can be interpreted figuratively and literally."

The group wants the Philadelphia-based retailer to get rid of all its inventory.

Urban Outfitters did not immediately return calls for comment Friday. The retailer, which targets 18- to 30-year-olds, has run into similar controversy before.

Two years ago, it stopped selling a game called "Ghettopoly" after protests by black civil rights leaders. Last year, it halted sales of a T-shirt that read "Everyone Loves A Jewish Girl," surrounded by dollar signs, after the Anti-Defamation League objected.

A "Voting is for Old People" T-shirt angered pro-voting groups.

Urban Outfitters operates 77 stores in the United States, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. This year, first-quarter profits rose by 60 percent to $27.4 million, compared to the same period a year ago.

That's better....

(Riga) A Latvian court on Friday overturned an order from the country's Prime Minister banning a gay pride march scheduled for Saturday.

The march had been approved by the city council in the Baltic nation's capital but on Wednesday Erik Shkapars, the executive director of Riga City, withdrew his permission. (story)

Shkapars said he made the decision following criticism of the event by Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis.

Kalvitis said that holding a gay procession near the Riga Dom Cathedral - the 13th century cathedral in downtown Riga - was a sacrilege.

The Gay and Lesbian Support Group, the organizer of the pride event, went to court. A judge Friday ruled that Riga City authorities had failed to demonstrate adequate grounds for withdrawing the original permit.

The judge said that the ban would have been a blatant violation of Latvia 's human rights obligations both as a member of the European Union, and under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The full judgment will be published on August 1.

" It is encouraging that the Latvian court has upheld the rights of the LGBT community in the face of such pressure from the Prime Minister," said Deborah Lambillotte International Lesbian and Gay Association Board Member for Europe.

The march will go ahead Saturday as planned, but there are concerns for the safety of marchers. Open threats have been made to break up the march and a counter-demonstration by an extreme right-wing nationalist organization has been authorized

"Given the way in which the Latvian authorities have given in to homophobic demands, we are concerned for the safety of the marchers, and call on the government to take all measures to protect them," said ILGA Riccardo Gottardi co-chair.

The ban was the fourth attempt by authorities in East Europe this year to prevent Pride marches taking place, but the first initiated by a national government figure. The previous attempts, in Moldova , Romania and Poland , were all instigated by city mayors.

In June, the mayor of Warsaw banned gay pride from the Polish capital city. Despite the edict more than 2,500 people marched anyway

Mmmmmmmmmmm.....could it be true since they put this print?



LOUD ROCK SHOW MAKES TEEN'S HEAD EXPLODE!
Monday July 18, 2005

By CHAD LOWENBRUCK

(WEEKLY WORLD NEWS) WINTHROP, Ind. -- When Gerry Tillis, 17, attended a show by the band Dirt Weasel at the Civic Sports and Arts Arena, he had no idea it would be his last concert.
"It was completely gross," said Tiffany Bonner, 16, Gerry's girlfriend. "The music was really loud during 'In the Dark Hole' and Gerry looked a little scary. Then during the next song his head suddenly exploded." She added, "And don't say I'm, like, his 'former' girlfriend because even though Jerry's skull fell all apart and he's dead, I'll love him forever. I saved a piece of his -- what did they call it? cranieminem? Something?"

Dirt Weasel is a five-man combo known for its towers of amplifiers -- called "Marshall stacks" in the trade -- and ultra-loud delivery. Band frontman and lead guitarist Jake "Snake Eyes" Ballard said nothing like this had ever happened before at a Dirt Weasel show. "It was in the middle of the solo to 'Sit & Spin,' said Ballard, referring to one of the band's songs. "I went out into center stage like I usually do, to just, you know, blaze away. And this kid in a Goth T-shirt starting having like some sort of seizure. I thought he was just trying to start a mosh pit, right? But that's so retro and our auds are cooler than that."

"He was holding Tiffany's waist," said Gerry's friend Esteban. "We both were 'cause we, like, share her. And I thought he was having like this totally rad time when he blew up real good. The thing is, he wasn't the only one. I heard two other melons pop somewhere in the crowd." In fact, five young heads ceased to exist that night according to the Winthrop Sheriff 's Department. The local D.A. is considering manslaughter charges against the band.

Prof. Calvin Mittridge from Indiana Polytechnic Junior College theorizes that the explosions had something to do with loud noise interacting with a specific electrical frequency in Gerry Tillis' brain. "The five victims were 'heavily into' a certain wavelength, to use the vernacular," said Prof. Mittridge. "The music was on the same wavelength and amped the teens up. The result was like having your head in a microwave oven." Local religious groups had picketed the concert, claiming Dirt Weasel was the music of the Devil. They view this as a vindication of their beliefs.

"I see that no churchgoers got hurt," said Beth Norman, a local deaconess. "Only sinners would go to a thing like that, and as you can see several of them were made to reap the whirlwind." "Man, dumb lady don't know diddle," said Esteban. " 'Reap the Whirlwind' -- that's an Angel Corpse song. Anyway, we weren't singing like she said. How could we . . . we didn't even know any of the song's lyrics." Dirt Weasel has no plans to cancel any of its upcoming shows, though they may turn down the volume just a tad. "We're as concerned about the structural integrity of the arenas as we are about individual brain pans," said promoter Kris Robbie.

Tiffany Bonner said she'll attend another show by the band. "Like, just as a tribute to Gerry. And if my head explodes at least I'll be with him. I mean, death is tragic and everything, but life goes on."

Copyright © Weekly World News All rights reserved.

Is this really the best headline the Associated Press could find for this story?

I saw this card at a local department store and started choking up...

It is published by Sunrise Greetings, www.sunrisegreetings.com

It is interesting that these same people who are getting in such a lather over Karl Rove have never questioned current Kennedy family patriarch Sen. Ted Kennedy and his involvement in the murder of Mary Jo Kopechne in his youth. If there was a cover-up, than this is the real kahuna!

WASHINGTON, July 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A crowd of more than three hundred joined MoveOn.org Political Action members today in front of the White House to demand that President Bush fire his top political advisor, Karl Rove, for outing Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA operative.

"While it's nearly impossible to believe that Karl Rove didn't know he was outing an undercover CIA agent to a reporter, the fact remains he did reveal her identity as Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife who worked for the CIA," said Tom Matzzie, Washington director of MoveOn.org Political Action. "Rove either broke the law or was grossly negligent. The President should fire him as promised last year."

"Rove may be only the tip of the iceberg: What did the President and Vice-President and their top aides know about any of this, and when did they know it?" asked Matzzie.

"Was Rove a lone actor? Or was he part of a wider group that sought to discredit Wilson because his story undermined the Administration's case for the invasion of Iraq?"

MoveOn.org Political Action, formerly known as MoveOn PAC, demands the administration stay true to its word and fire those responsible for the leak.

Observations:

Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?

If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?

If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?

Why do they put Braille on drive-through bank machines?

Why do they sterilize the needles used for lethal injections?

Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

I have friends and acquaintances of different political spectrums who share with me their opinions, something which I find fascinating as I'm not interested in having my own opinions validated. Nevertheless, I'm so tired of hearing these same people repeat verbatim the rhetoric and half truths driveling from the mouth of the politicians from the left and right. I'm actually insulted by those kinds of speeches...meanwhile these politicians on the left and right pickpocket us while they try to mesmerize us by their empty words.