As someone who proudly works beside a proud member of the U.S. Army who is a disabled war veteran, I could not communicate this message any better.

Just as I respect and honor the right of those to have an opposing view about Sen. Obama, I have the high expectation of those who disagree with me to respect my views. After all, our country was built on diverse views and the tradition of respecting others who may have opposing views on an issue.

I really find the political immaturity of liberal elitists constantly mindbending. Here they go around ranting and raving about why their point of view is the "only" point of view (just like whacked out "born-again" Christians" -- what was wrong the first time?) totally dismissing any dissenting views.

Now it would seem that San Francisco voters are going to be given the option to vote in the name of a sewage treatment plant in the name of President Bush. I say, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Why not name the bridge where the drug-and-alcohol-womanizing addicted Senator Ted Kennedy plunged off the side (with the U.S.S. Oldsmobile) with campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne the "Sen. Ted Kennedy Memorial Bridge"?

San Francisco Votes To Give Dubya Dubious Honor
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS) ― President Bush still has three more months on the job, but there is already talk of an important building in San Francisco bearing his name.

Construction on the George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, will begin next year, but if Proposition R is passed on Nov. 4, that won't be the only the landmark named in honor of our embattled president.

San Francisco's Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant may soon become the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.

Think it's silly? The measure's organizer, Brian McConnell, who came up with the idea over drinks, seems to agree.

"Most people think it's a really silly idea anyway, and then the Bush haters don't want anything named after him," McConnell told the San Francisco Chronicle.

So far, not a dime has been raised in support or opposition of the proposition, but members of the local Republican Party are working to defeat the measure, and 12,000 people signed a petition to secure its spot on the ballot.

Now, isn't that "spatial."

This just goes to prove right-wing fundamentalist Christians (or Muslims or Jews -- insert whichever religion belief here) are very sick people....and are just as crazy as people who put a few too many bumper stickers on their cars trying to make a point.

FERNDALE, Mich. -- A man assigned "The Crucible" in an adult education English class doused his teacher with a nonflammable liquid and threatened to burn her as a witch, police said.

Darin Najor, 20, ran from the classroom after the attack Sept. 11 and was sent for psychiatric evaluation after telling police "he was trying to kill the witch by pouring holy water over her head," Detective Ken Denmark said.

He was arrested Monday and scheduled for arraignment this month on misdemeanor charges of assault and battery.

The day before the dousing, Najor had asked the teacher whether she believed in witchcraft, police said. She told him she did not, calling Arthur Miller's play based on the 1692 Salem witch trials a metaphor for unjust persecution.

"The suspect threw his homework papers on the floor and declared it was all blasphemy," Denmark said. "The next day he came up behind her chanting what sounded like religious verses while she was working at her desk."

Court officials had no indication Najor had an attorney, and The Associated Press could not find a telephone number for him.

Police did not identify the teacher.

Insert Ring on Finger from Radthanael on Vimeo.

I couldn't resist sharing this really bad pun:

I guess singer Clay Aiken was "achin'" to come out as gay!

Cat vs Printer

WAITING FOR...BARACK

If it weren't so ludicrous it might be funny seeing how the national news media is waiting for the great Messiah, Sen. Barack Obama, to name his running mate. I swear Wolf Blitzers and Katie Courics of the world are ready to pee in their collective drawers in anticipation on an impending announcement.

This whole charade/media frenzy really reminds me of Samuel Beckett's existentialist play, "Waiting For Godot," in which the characters wait for someone named Godot, who never arrives. The characters in the play claim Godot to be an acquaintance, but in fact hardly know him, admitting they wouldn’t recognize him if they saw him. To occupy themselves they eat, sleep, talk, argue, sing, play games, exercise, swap hats, and contemplate suicide—anything “to hold the terrible silence at bay.” You might say this is art imitating life.

That concept leads me to the whole Barack Obama personality cult. Personally, with what is going on in the world I want a LEADER to be president, NOT a rock star -- which is how Barack Obama is being marketed, and believe me, he is being marketed HARD. Talking to some of my friends who are liberal Democrats, I swear they would not have a problem voting for a Stalin/Bin Ladin/Hitler/Pol Pot politician with the simple reason that they would have the label of being a "Democrat." We need to electing the leader for the biggest country in the world, not some crooning American Idol.

What and who is Barack Obama? For the past year all I see it to be is someone's whose mantra, so well depicted by the JibJab satire video doing the rounds on YouTube and Myspace, "Like the change we must change to the change we hold dear, and I really like change, am I clear." Nice words for a rock star, but not good for someone who must deal with Islamic terrorists bent on destroying the U.S. and our way of life and dealing with the paranoid schizophrenic megalomaniac Russians who are bent on taking over the world.

I'm no "lover" of George Bush, but at least he doesn't go around trying to be a flipflopping Messiah of change for change's sake.

Bible In A Minute - barats and bereta

See more Adam "Ghost Panther" McKay videos at Funny or Die

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Notwithstanding the journalist's name who authored the story -- Christina HOAG -- this is typical liberal Democrat thinking... You legislate a ban on the construction of fast food outlets in low income areas which is very fine and dandy. It looks sooo nice on paper like so many liberal Democrat legislation (reminds me of the character "Stuart" on MadTV -- "look what I can do!"), but you still have the existing fast food places. And of course, there is Henry Ford's newfangled invention called an "auto-mobeeel" which allows the residents to go to Popeye's Chicken outside of the area to get their trash can chicken.

But dammit, "we did something" and it will look good in print on a campaign flyer.

L.A. blocks new fast-food outlets from poor areas

By CHRISTINA HOAG

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles City Council has approved a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a low-income area of the city.

The moratorium unanimously approved Tuesday is a bid to attract restaurants that offer healthier food choices to residents in a 32-square-mile area of South Los Angeles.

Councilwoman Jan Perry says residents at five public meetings expressed concern with the proliferation of fast-food outlets in the community plagued by above-average rates of obesity.

Nearly three-quarters of the restaurants in South L.A. are fast-food outlets. That's a higher percentage than other parts of the city but the restaurant industry says the moratorium won't help bring in alternatives.

This article just proves my point that right-wing "born again" whacked out Bible thumping Christians are just as whacked out as their whack out right-wing "born again" whacked out Koran thumping camel (and women) slaughtering Muslim brethren.

Yes, religion IS the opiate of the masses.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Two prayer services will be held at St. Louis gas stations to thank God for lower fuel prices and to ask that they continue to drop. Darrell Alexander, Midwest co-chair of the Pray at the Pump movement, says prayer gatherings will be held Monday afternoon and evening at a Mobil station west of downtown St. Louis.

Participants say they plan to buy gas, pray and then sing "We Shall Overcome" with a new verse, "We'll have lower gas prices."

An activist from the Washington D.C. area, Rocky Twyman, started the effort, saying if politicians couldn't lower gas prices, it was time to ask God to intervene.

The group thinks the prayer is helping, saying prices are starting to fall below $4 a gallon.

This is Iraq's new president Nouri Al-Maliki.

For some reason I don't trust this guy AT ALL. I get the impression that he is a real snake who may be positioning himself as the next Saddam Hussein.

I also find it kind of suspect that al-Maliki supports US presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. Interestingly, when asked in and interview when he thinks US troops should leave Iraq, Maliki responded "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned." He then continued: "US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."

Methinks he has something up his sleeve.

How refreshing!

CINCINNATI - Democrat Barack Obama insisted Monday that blacks must show greater responsibility for their actions. In remarks prepared for delivery at the annual NAACP convention, the man who could become the first black president said Washington must provide greater education and economic assistance, but that blacks must demand more of themselves.

"If we're serious about reclaiming that dream, we have to do more in our own lives, our own families and our own communities," Obama said. "That starts with providing the guidance our children need, turning off the TV and putting away the video games; attending those parent-teacher conferences, helping our children with their homework and setting a good example."

He added: "I know some say I've been too tough on folks about this responsibility stuff. But I'm not going to stop talking about it. Because I believe that in the end, it doesn't matter how much money we invest in our communities, or how many 10-point plans we propose, or how many government programs we launch — none of it will make any difference if we don't seize more responsibility in our own lives."

Western Spaghetti

DALLAS — What do "black hole," "angel food cake," and "devil's food cake" have in common?

They're all racist terms, says a Dallas County, Texas, official.

A county commissioners' meeting this week over traffic tickets turned into a tense discussion over race when one commissioner said the county's collections office was like a certain astronomical phenomenon.

"It sounds like Central Collections has become a black hole," Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said during the Monday meeting.

One black official demanded an apology, and Commissioner John Wiley Price, who also is black, said that type of language is unacceptable.

At the meeting, Mayfield said he intended his comments to be taken in the context of the scientific meaning, and became upset that he was being misunderstood.

In astronomy, the term black hole refers to a star that has collapsed upon itself, creating something so dense and small that it does not have any physical properties besides a gravitational force so great that even light cannot escape its pull.

Later, Price told MyFOXdfw.com that he believed it and other terms were racist.

"So if it's 'angel food cake,' it's white. If it's 'devil's food cake,' it's black. If you're the 'black sheep of the family,' then you gotta be bad, you know. 'White sheep,' you're okay. You know?" Price said.

Price said people should watch their words when it comes to stereotypes.

"I think people should always be careful. You know, I'm okay if I'm 'bartering' with you. ... But if I try to 'Jew you down,' Oooooh. Is that racist? I thought it meant the same thing? No, maybe it doesn't."

The world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking might have a solution to the problem over perception of the astronomical term. He refers to the phenomenon as "a singularity."

"I do not like your Christians..they are so unlike your Christ."

Mahatma Gandhi

It is interested how Gen. Wesley Clark who failed as a general, failed as a surrogate, he failed as candidate for the Presidency, and he continues to be a loser dares to take on Sen. McCain on whether McCain knows anything about the military and leadership.

Wesley Clark was FIRED from NATO for being incompetent. He was known -- in nicer circles -- as the political general. In not-so-nice circles, he was known for following those with influence too closely. The fact is, nobody pays any attention to him, and his criticizing McCain is like a flea taking on an elephant.

WASHINGTON - Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a former Democratic presidential candidate now supporting Barack Obama, said Sunday John McCain's military service does not automatically qualify him to be commander in chief.

Underscoring during a national television appearance a position he has been expressing for several weeks, Clark said performing heroic military service is not a substitute for gaining command experience.

"In the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It's a matter of gauging your opponents and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war.

"He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world, but he hasn't held executive responsibility," Clark said. "That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn't a wartime squadron."

This article from the United Press International is just a touch of what Russia/The Soviet Union has in terms of its capabilities to spy and to perform genocide against other countries and cultures. Even though their people are starving, have no medicine, don't have the resources to keep their peoples warm during the brutal Russian winters, they always have money to perform their evil deeds towards an evil endgame. And just to think that in terms of foreign policy Barack Obama would truly be "Jimmy Carter Deux."

EDINBURGH, Scotland, June 29 (UPI) -- A Scottish map enthusiast has discovered that the former Soviet Union had extraordinarily detailed maps of Scotland.

The maps showed the width of important roads and the streets and buildings of major cities, along with less obvious choices like Dunfermline, a historic town between Glasgow and Edinburgh, The Scotsman reports.

John Davies told the newspaper he found the maps while he was on a trip to Latvia. He said he believes they showed the Soviet Union was contemplating invasion and occupation.

"You have got to speculate as to how maps of this complexity were put together," Davies said. "A lot of it could have been done through aerial surveillance, either by satellite or high-altitude reconnaissance planes. But the maps also include detail which just could not have been observed from the air. That means that they almost certainly had people on the ground in the U.K. compiling these maps."

The maps even showed whether buildings had been fire-proofed.

The American city should be a collection of communities where every member has a right to belong. It should be a place where every man feels safe on his streets and in the house of his friends. It should be a place where each individual's dignity and self-respect is strengthened by the respect and affection of his neighbors. It should be a place where each of us can find the satisfaction and warmth which comes from being a member of the community of man. This is what man sought at the dawn of civilization. It is what we seek today.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965

And what is wrong with this, pray tell?

With the U.S. Supreme Court taking a super whacked out view of the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution, seeing how the whacked-out gun-toting Republicans, knowing how things go in our country, it is going to take the senseless killing of a prominent Republican politician that is going to get them all back in line towards sane gun control.

Really, these days, the Democrats make it hard for me to be a full-hearted Democrat (the party of the murderer Sen. Ted Kennedy), and the Republicans make it hard for me to be a full-hearted Republican.

Dear Lord, what is it going to take to get some sanity on this issue, huh?

I really try to be very fair of my assessments of liberals and conservatives, but this news piece from Great Britain is what makes liberals on "both sides of the pond" the laughing stock of the world.

Council bans 'brainstorming'

A council has banned the term "brainstorming" - and replaced it with "thought showers".

Officials Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in Kent feared the phrase might offend epileptics or the mentally ill. Staff have been sent memos about the change and even sent on training courses, reports The Sun.

But Margaret Thomas, of the National Society for Epilepsy, said: "Brainstorming is a clear and descriptive phrase. "Alternatives such as "thought shower" or "blue-sky thinking" are ambiguous to say the least. "Any implication that the word "brainstorming" is offensive to epileptics takes political correctness too far."

And Richard Colwill, of mental health charity SANE, agreed: "This ban goes too far. Few would be genuinely offended by the word "brainstorming" in the context of council meetings."

A council spokesman said: "We take diversity awareness very seriously. The majority of staff have taken part in training and been asked to use the term "thought showers"."

On Friday, the esteemed journalist Tim Russert died of a heart attack at the NBC Studios in Washington DC. Tim Russert was a good journalist, but not a great one...yet all day Friday, all weekend, and then into Monday the news media kept on heeping all of the remembrances non-stop.

ENOUGH ALREADY, FOLKS!!!! TIME TO MOVE ON!!!!

Isn't that interesting....

This just convinced me that the Democratic party is not the party for me...and that they really are the party of hypocrites....and after hearing the hypocrite in chief, Al Gore, just convinced me of that even more.

Today he came out and endorsed Barack Obama for president...and in the same speech he said, "I feel your determination after two terms of the Bush-Cheney administration to change the direction of our country," he said. He accused Bush of myriad missteps, including a botched response to Hurricane Katrina, economic problems, foreign policy mistakes and allowing lead-tainted toys and poisoned pet food in from China.

"Even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter," he said. "This election matters more than ever because America needs change more than ever."

Isn't that interesting, Mr. Gore... Your own Democratic party has played its own election roulette in Florida not counting votes, then decides to count only half the votes. What about that, Mr. bloated fat cat Gore....who complains about global warming and "carbon footprints" but prances around the country in a private jet....

I was nosing around on a personal site and saw the following description of the individual which put the biggest smile on my face:

Love to laugh. Goofy is good. I'm a sucker for nice people. I'm an adventurer at heart. I'm probably more immature than you. I'm a native San Diegan. I have a weird nick name. I don't want your life. I love my family & friends. I think good grammar is hot. I am a work in progress. I have a sensitive sense of smell. I probably should have been born in Canada. I've fallen and I can't get up. I enjoy looking up words in the dictionary. I am a gentleman. I sleep-in for sport. I read Wikipedia for fun. I make the best microwaveable food you've ever had. I prefer Pepsi to Coke. I save my ticket stubs. I'm a targeted demographic. I chew on things a lot. I found Waldo. I collect matchbooks. I often enjoy people watching more than people talking. I arrange my t-shirt rack by color. I wish I could sing. I'll never grow up. I am well read. I still eat milk and cookies. I should be working right now. I laugh at inappropriate things. I like diners over nice restaurants. I still have my tonsils and appendix. I can't believe it's not butter. I make shampoo mohawks in the shower. I believe people are inherently good. I vote. I have more sneakers than jeans. I believe in evolution. I have a subtle wit. Extremists of any stripe bother me. I like songs that build. I could never find the object in the Magic Eye posters. I think I've lost that loving feeling. I made Shake and Bake.

The California Supreme Court last week decided in a 4-3 that banning gay marriage was unconstitutional.

I have been feeling very queasy on this decision, mostly, that this decision amounts to judicial activism -- when courts overrule the will and vote of the people. It seems as the justices could give a damn for the tradition of vox populi, vox dei (the voice of the people is the voice of God).

USA Today, a reasonably liberal newspaper, published an editorial today which I agree with wholeheartedly in every aspect:

Our view on same-sex marriage: California ruling invites backlash against gay rights

Thu May 22, 12:22 AM ET

Last week, when California became the second state after Massachusetts to allow gay marriage, same-sex couples celebrated and began planning June weddings. Good for them. But the unfortunate and unnecessary impact of the California Supreme Court ruling might well have been to set back the cause of gay rights more broadly.

(Photo - In San Francisco: Christmas Leubrie, left, and Alice Heimsoth celebrate last Thursday / Jack Gruber, USA TODAY )

The judges ruled 4-3 that gays' inability to get married amounts to discrimination under California's constitution, even though the state's domestic partnership laws give them the benefits and responsibilities of marriage.

In other words, pragmatic political compromise on the intensely controversial issue is not allowed in California. It's all or nothing, and recent political history leaves little doubt about what will follow.

In the three years after Massachusetts' top court legalized gay marriage in 2004, 23 states rushed to adopt constitutional bans on gay marriage. This presidential election year is likely to bring more of the same.

In effect, California's high court fixed something that wasn't broken. The state's domestic partnership laws have been a model for other states searching for the needed middle ground that addresses the deep-felt national division over gay marriage.

A recent Gallup poll shows that although 40% of Americans say marriage for same-sex couples should be legal, up from 27% in 1996, 56% still are against gay marriage. At the same time, the nation is far more accepting of homosexuality than it used to be. Several polls have shown that most Americans favor civil unions — which convey the same legal rights as heterosexual marriage — as a reasonable balance between the hard-line attitudes expressed in the two opposing views below this editorial. Eight states allow gay couples to enter civil unions or register as domestic partners.

Sometimes, of course, courts do need to intervene to force morally and constitutionally necessary changes — such as mandating school integration and overturning bans on interracial marriage — when voters or their elected representatives won't do so.

But the domestic partnership laws in California are hardly equivalent to the egregious racial discrimination of the Jim Crow era. Far from denying rights, they guarantee gays equal treatment in such important areas as raising children, assigning responsibility for medical choices and settling financial matters.

By pushing the envelope, the California ruling will help those who want to deny gays such rights — blatant discrimination that reaches far beyond understandable differences rooted in the religious meaning of marriage. Even in California, an initiative is already underway to put a same-sex marriage ban into the state constitution. Similar bans are likely to be considered in Arizona and Florida. Failed attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution will revive.

The special status and sanctity of marriage is the ultimate blessing for couples who want to spend their lives together. Eventually, the nation might be ready to extend the institution to same-sex couples. But, as New Jersey's top judges wrote in a 2006 gay marriage decision, courts "cannot guarantee social acceptance, which must come through the evolving ethos of a maturing society."

It will be regrettable if the impact of the California decision is to slow or reverse that evolution.

"Those Who Refuse To Learn The Mistakes From The Past Are Doomed To Repeat Them"

This is a recent photo of pop idol Madonna which all of a sudden made me remember Betty Davis' character in "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?"

Ouch!

It is interesting now that it has been announced that Sen. Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor how everyone seems to be boohooing. Certainly as someone whose immediate family has been affected by terminal cancer it is sad. Nevertheless, it is SOOOOOOO CONVENIENT that the news media amid all of the tears has forgotten about the female victims of Sen. Kennedy....Mary Jo Kopechne and even his former wife,, Joan Kennedy, who he ruined with his own womanizing, alcohol and drug abuse.

The Kennedys would love the world to forget that in 1969, Edward Kennedy drove a car off a bridge into the channel between Chappaquiddick Island and Martha's Vineyard. Kennedy managed to escape, but his passenger, campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned in the submerged car. Kennedy left the scene of the accident and did not call authorities until the following day. Kennedy pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended sentence of two months in jail.

I really have never felt so lousy physically.

I meandered out to get my mail and got this piece of cheery mail....

Oh my God....I think I'm going to renounce my Latvian citizenship after this TOP WINNING entry in the 2008 Eurovision contest....

One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you dont come home at night.

Margaret Mead

I heard the most stupid news headline this evening on San Diego's CBS-TV affiliate.

"Tonight the FDA is announcing the largest recall of beef in U.S. history because the cows were mistreated" -- as they show video cows slipping and sliding in what appeared to be manure.

OK....does that mean that if I were to be eating beef from this packing facility that...

a) I would be befallen with bad karma because I was enjoying a hamburger from this packing plant because the cows were mistreated,

or, b) I would get sick because of fecal matter.

Don't these people think about what they're reading?????

Outstanding TV commercials!

I came to the conclusion today that I'm so lucky that I'm not weighted down, nor have I ever been weighted down with the dogma of religion. It is not to say that I'm an atheist, but I do believe that it is good to believe "in something." My point is that people who have the word "devout" before the a proper noun (e.g. "Christian," "Jew," "Muslim,") often times are almost being strapped down and gagged by an ideology. You see people engaging in ridiculous rituals "in service to their God" which are nothing but actions which have been inculcated in the different flavors of religion to control people as to indicate some respect into a higher deity.

There is no "life" or "living" if one always is living under some sword of Damocles imposed just because someone said if you act in a certain way (or don't act) that "God" will punish you. The different Holy books should be looked upon as guidebooks on living. Being "devout" serves no other purpose than to allow certain individuals to control other individuals. Dogmatic religion serves no other purpose than to allow one group of people to dominate and control another group of people. Human beings are not lemmings, nor did the higher power which gave us life intend for us to be lemmings. Spirituality/respect to a higher immortal deity has to be in your heart and soul, not directed by a mortal dressed in some costume imposing themselves onto to a group of people.

As Charles M. Schulz, who left his mark on the world forever with his "Peanuts" comic strip is quoted to have once said, "I love mankind; it's people I can't stand."

As an individual who considers himself to be independent, this article from the ContraCosta Times just confirms my opinion that the loud and intolerant wingnuts have taken over the Democrat party. I have had personal experience in dealing with these people and know how annoying these whackos are.

First I found it curious watching Barack Obama being endorsed by a fat-cat bagillionaire womanizing confirmed alcoholic, Sen. Ted Kennedy...and now this.

I will now support (with the exception of Mike Huckabee) any Republican running for President.

The Democratic party needs to attract independent voters like myself. Groups like Code Pink and MoveOn.org associated with the Democratic Party just push me into a space across the aisle.

Berkeley council tells Marines to leave
By Doug Oakley

STAFF WRITER

Hey-hey, ho-ho, the Marines in Berkeley have got to go.

That's the message from the Berkeley City Council, which voted 6-3 Tuesday night to tell the U.S. Marines that its Shattuck Avenue recruiting station "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders." In addition, the council voted to explore enforcing its law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against the Marines because of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. And it officially encouraged the women's peace group Code Pink to impede the work of the Marines in the city by protesting in front of the station.

In a separate item, the council voted 8-1 to give Code Pink a designated parking space in front of the recruiting station once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week from noon to 4 p.m. Councilman Gordon Wozniak opposed both items. The Marines have been in Berkeley for a little more than a year, having moved from Alameda in December of 2006. For about the past four months, Code Pink has been protesting in front of the station.

"I believe in the Code Pink cause. The Marines don't belong here, they shouldn't have come here, and they should leave," said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates after votes were cast. A Marines representative did not respond to requests for comment. The resolution telling the Marines they are unwelcome and directing the city attorney to explore issues of sexual orientation discrimination was brought to the council by the city's Peace and Justice commission. The recommendation to give Code Pink a parking space for protesting and a free sound permit was brought by council members Linda Maio and Max Anderson.

Code Pink on Wednesday started circulating petitions to put a measure on the November ballot in Berkeley that would make it more difficult to open military recruiting offices near homes, parks, schools, churches libraries or health clinics. The group needs 5,000 signatures to make the ballot. Even though the council items passed, not everyone is happy with the work of Code Pink. Some employees and owners of businesses near the Marines office have had enough of the group and its protests. "My husband's business is right upstairs, and this (protesting) is bordering on harassment," Dori Schmidt told the council. "I hope this stops." An employee of a nearby business who asked not to be identified said Wednesday the elderly Code Pink protesters are aggressive, take up parking spaces, block the sidewalk with their yoga moves, smoke in the doorways, and are noisy. "Most of the people around here think they're a joke," the woman said.

Wozniak said he was opposed to giving Code Pink a parking space because it favors free speech rights of one group over another. "There's a line between protesting and harassing, and that concerns me," Wozniak said. "It looks like we are showing favoritism. We have to respect the other side, and not abuse their rights. This is not good policy." Ninety-year-old Fran Rachel, a Code Pink protester who spoke at the council meeting, said the group's request for a parking space and noise permit was especially important because the Marines are recruiting soldiers who may die in an unjust war. "This is very serious," Rachel said. "This isn't a game; it's mass murder. There's a sickness of silence of people not speaking out against the war. We have to do this."

Anderson, a former Marine who said he was "drummed out" of the corps when he took a stand against the Vietnam War, said he'd love to see the Marines high tale it out of town. "We are confronted with an organization that can spend billions of dollars on propaganda," Anderson said. "This is not Okinawa here; we're involved in a naked act of aggression. If we can provide a space for ordinary people to express themselves against this kind of barbarity, then we should be doing it."

Life may not be the party we hoped for,
but while we're here we should dance.

I'd like to see Ted Kennedy do this with Al Gore!

There is activism and there is activism, but once again here is an example of when activism goes to the level of utter absurdity and pettiness. "Liberals" so often like to "make statements" to show that "they care," yet they are always running short on maturity and pragmatism. And to compare President Bush to Hitler -- is unspeakable.

Saddam would make quick work of these idiots.

Brattleboro to vote on arresting Bush, Cheney

January 26, 2008

By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff

BRATTLEBORO — Brattleboro residents will vote at town meeting on whether President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should be indicted and arrested for war crimes, perjury or obstruction of justice if they ever step foot in Vermont. The Brattleboro Select Board voted 3-2 Friday to put the controversial item on the Town Meeting Day warning. According to Town Clerk Annette Cappy, organizers of the Bush-Cheney issue gathered enough signatures, and it was up to the Select Board whether Brattleboro voters would consider the issue in March. Cappy said residents will get to vote on the matter by paper balloting March 4. Kurt Daims, 54, of Brattleboro, the organizer of the petition drive, said Friday the debate to get the issue on the ballot was a good one. Opposition to the vote focused on whether the town had any power to endorse the matter.

"It is an advisory thing," said Daims, a retired prototype machinist and stay-at-home dad of three daughters. So far, Vermont is the only state Bush hasn't visited since he became president in 2001. Daims said the most grievous crime committed by Bush and Cheney was perjury — lying to Congress and U.S. citizens about the basis of a war in Iraq. He said the latest count showed a total of 600,000 people have died in the war.

Daims also said he believed Bush and Cheney were also guilty of espionage for spying on American people and obstruction of justice, for the politically generated firings of U.S. attorneys. Voting to put the matter on the town ballot were Chairwoman Audrey Garfield and board members Richard Garrant and Dora Boubalis. Voting against the idea were board members Richard DeGray and Stephen Steidle. Daims said the names submitted to the town clerk's office were the second wave of signatures the petition drive had to collect, because he had to rewrite the wording of the petition. He said he gathered nearly 500 signatures in about three weeks, and he said most people he encountered were eager to sign it. He started the petition drive about three months ago. "Everybody I talked to wanted Bush to go," he said, noting that even members of the local police department supported the drive. "This is exactly what the charter envisioned as a citizen initiative," Daims said. "People want to express themselves and they want to say how they feel." He said the idea is spreading: Activists in Louisville, Ky., are spearheading a similar drive, and he said activists were also working in Montague, Mass., a Berkshires town.

The article asked the town attorney to "draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution and publish said indictments for consideration by other authorities." The article goes on to say the indictments would be the "law of the town of Brattleboro that the Brattleboro police ... arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro, if they are not duly impeached ..."

Daims said people in Brattleboro were willing to "think outside the box" and consider the issue. Daims had no compunction in comparing Bush and Cheney with one of the most notorious people in history. "If Hitler were still alive and walked through Brattleboro, I think the local police would arrest him for war crimes," Daims said.

Well, it looks like Al "Chicken Little" Gore is back trying to grab headlines, saying in part, "Climate change is occurring far more rapidly than even the worst predictions of the UN's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel on climate change." He said that recent evidence shows "the climate crisis is significantly worse and unfolding more rapidly than those on the pessimistic side of the IPCC projections had warned us."

I love when politicians become experts on everything. Is there climate change going on? Any blind person would say an emphatic "yes." Is it all being caused by humans? I don't think so.

What I do know is that Al Gore in actuality doesn't give a rat's ass over global warming, but he has found himself a good schtick doing what he is doing in order to TRY to find a topic/issue that the Democrats might be able to hang their proverbial coat. Democrats are soft on illegal immigration and they are soft on global terrorism. (Of course these days serendipitously they were handed a sudden issue with the concerns over the economy.) To make things worse for the Democrats, they have two (three, if you count former President Clinton) frontrunners who are constantly getting into catfights over personal issues rather than dealing with concrete solutions.

"You can't walk in a sewer without getting something on you."

With the first round of the presidential primary now just something just so much gristle for the political commentators to continuously chew on until the next round, here are my impressions of the candidates.

BARACK OBAMA
He loves to speak in platitudes with words that really sound good. But the thing is that he has said nothing that hasn't been said before in a political campaign. He is trying to have himself framed as kind of a John F. Kennedy for the 21st century, but should he be elected, will be as disastrous as Jimmy Carter -- who has shown his true colors as a senile and anti-semitic individual. Obama talking about "change" is cute and stirs up the crowds, but what has he done so phenomenal? What legislation has he put forth to the betterment of our country?

HILLARY CLINTON
She is the best candidate, but like many Americans, I'm concerned about the Clinton dynasty being maintained just as some are concerned about the Bush dynasties.

MIKE HUCKABEE
Do we really want a politician whose name evokes images of some Civil War military general? He has some good ideas, but the trick is to be bring them into fruition.

MIT ROMNEY
I don't trust him. He comes off as a used car sales. I don't give a damn if he is a Mormon or not. Mormons are good people who have learned how to be self-sufficient.

JOHN McCAIN
He has served his country honorably and is liberal enough, yet conservative enough.

RUDY GUILIANI
(see John McCain)

RON PAUL
Weirdo who is very dangerous with his isolationist political views.