Clipmarks | masbury's clips

Bush now travels 6000 miles to find a sympathetic audience

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:27:58 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: And there tells Jews that Democrats are like Hitler-appeasers. Wow. The politics of scum.

Clip Source: warincontext.org

In his eighth year as president, George Bush still lacks the courage to address anyone but an overly sympathetic audience. Indicative of his plummeting approval rating, he now has to travel six thousand miles to find such company.

at least Joe Biden gave a straight response: “This is bullshit.”

Here’s how Bush defines “negotiate”:
1. Use words to force the other party to think the way you do, or if that doesn’t work,
2. Use the threat of violence to bend your opponent’s will, or if that doesn’t work,
3. Use violence to force your opponent into submission, or if that doesn’t work,
4. Use violence to annihilate your opponent.

Tags: bush

Navy accidentally bombs Ocala National Forest

Thu, 15 May 2008 21:01:06 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Even America's not safe from America. Burns down 250 acres.

Clip Source: www.clickondetroit.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- During what was supposed to be a routine training exercise, a bomb landed off-target, landing and igniting a fire in the Ocala National Forest this week.

The 500-pound, laser-guided bomb was released from an F/A-18 Super Hornet on Tuesday, and detonated about 1 mile east of the Pinecastle target range, WJXT-TV in Jacksonville reported.

About 250 acres of forest and swampland were burned, according to Mike Drayton, a fire management officer with the U.S. Forest Service

Tags: military

Even Cindy decides to boycott Sudan

Thu, 15 May 2008 18:51:56 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: After calls by McCain for international economic sanctions against Sudan, the AP points out Cindy has $2 million invested there.

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

John McCain has been critical of China for its willingness to do business in Sudan. "China needs Sudan's oil," he has said. "The politics of oil impede the global progress of our values, and restrains governments from acting on the most basic impulses of human decency."

Turns out it's not just China that ignores Sudan's humanitarian atrocities in order to make a profit.

Cindy McCain, whose husband has been a critic of the violence in Sudan, sold off more than $2 million in mutual funds whose holdings include companies that do business in the African nation.

The sale on Wednesday came after The Associated Press questioned the investments in light of calls by John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, for international financial sanctions against the Sudanese leadership.

Tags: mccain, politics, elections

Biden: Bush Knesset comment "bullsh*t"

Thu, 15 May 2008 18:42:46 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "He’s the guy who’s weakened us. He’s the guy that’s increased the number of terrorists in the world. " Gates and Rice call for dialog with Iran; Bush likens Dems to appeasers of the Nazis for advocating the same thing. It is bullsh*t.

Clip Source: www.democraticunderground.com

(CNN) — The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joe Biden, D-Delaware, called President Bush’s comments accusing Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats of wanting to appease terrorists "bulls–t” and said if the president disagrees so strongly with the idea of talking to Iran then he needs to fire his secretaries of State and Defense, both of whom Biden said have pushed to sit down with the Iranians.

“This is bullsh**t. This is malarkey. This is outrageous. Outrageous for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, sit in the Knesset…and make this kind of ridiculous statement,” Biden said angrily in a brief interview just off the Senate floor.

Tags: biden, bush, foreign policy, war, iran

Crouching in a corner, covered with a sheet for hours on end

Thu, 15 May 2008 18:37:49 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Most evidence against so-called "20th hijacker" comes from torture-induced statements. He appears to have lost his mind at the hands of his torturers; no case against him has ever been made; his internment continues indefinitely. It's the Spanish inquisition, by medieval American government. We'll never know if he's guilty or not, just that he was hurt badly enough to confess before he became too crushed to face trial. This is as completely criminal as 9/11 itself.

Clip Source: www.truthdig.com

a battered man with signs of diminished mental capacity, a man who authorities concede was so badly abused

that

The Pentagon has formally dropped charges

conceding that most of the evidence it has came from Qahtani’s own coerced statements

No case that details Qahtani’s supposed role in the 9/11 plot ever has been presented

his abuse at the hands of American military interrogators is well known

By late November, the detainee was evidencing behavior consistent with extreme psychological trauma (talking to nonexistent people, reporting hearing voices, crouching in a corner of the cell covered with a sheet for hours on end)

still considered an “enemy combatant” and so can be held at Guantanamo under the Bush administration’s unique theory that it may hold whomever it wants for as long as it wants

the next president may bring us relief, but not absolution for having condoned the unconscionable

Tags: gitmo, torture, news

Cindy's gonna fund her boy and it's none a'yer biznis

Thu, 15 May 2008 18:10:53 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Mama, can I have the keys to the learjet tonight? Teresa Heinz Kerry didn't get away with it. But Cindy gets a pass. For now.

Clip Source: www.truthdig.com

Cindy McCain, wife of the Republican presidential candidate, displayed poor taste in flaunting her family’s special immunity from press scrutiny. Declaring on NBC’s “Today” that she would “never” release her income tax returns even if she becomes first lady, the Arizona beer heiress showed no concern that she and her husband will have to meet the same tests as other would-be White House occupants—ever.

That silence similarly contrasts with the hell raised four years ago over Teresa Heinz Kerry’s reluctance to reveal her tax returns alongside those of her spouse, the Democratic presidential nominee and senator, John Kerry

Now comes Mrs. McCain

her company plane has been flying him and his entourage of lobbyists around the country at bargain rates, a particular boon during the many months when his campaign was out of cash

they appear to have used their charitable foundation

to ensure that their children attended elite schools, by strategically donating very large sums to those institutions

Tags: mccain, elections, politics

Plan to blame Iran for arms goes awry

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:48:59 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Media blackout on story, so Bushco propaganda campaign continues unabated.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

plan to create a new crescendo of accusations against Iran for allegedly smuggling arms to Shiite militias in Iraq encountered not just one but two setbacks.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refused to endorse U.S. charges of Iranian involvement

and a plan to show off a huge collection of Iranian arms captured in and around Karbala had to be called off after it was discovered that none of the arms were of Iranian origin.

The news media’s failure to report that the arms captured from Shiite militiamen in Karbala did not include a single Iranian weapon shielded the U.S. military from a much bigger blow to its anti-Iran strategy.

Tags: media, iran, iraq, war

Pressure mounting on Big Oil

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:41:35 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: demand from investors and public for green energy development

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

Americans — from nonprofit groups to the Rockefeller family — are starting to fight back against the petroleum industry, which is earning record profits as consumers face spiraling gas prices.

66 of 78 adult heirs of John D. Rockefeller, who founded the company’s predecessor, Standard Oil, supported four resolutions aimed at making the oil giant hew a more environmentally friendly

Exxon saw a record $40.6 billion profit in 2007

“We think a few of those billions should go towards looking to the future

also includes

institutional investors

whose managers fear that the company’s refusal to look beyond carbon fuels could lead to its downfall.

demanding that API forgo a planned multi-million dollar public relations campaign in favor of investment in alternative energy sources

“The best public relations your industry could buy would be to take the funds you have earmarked for this campaign and spend them, starting today, to create and bring to market renewable, sustainable energy sources.”

Tags: energy, environment

The 8th-richest U.S. Senator: Elite John McCain

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:16:27 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: But the millions are a family secret

Clip Source: www.abcnews.go.com

Reading Sen. John McCain's, R-Ariz., personal tax returns, which the White House hopeful released today, you'd never know he's the Senate's eighth wealthiest member.

McCain's returns show he earned about $400,000 last year and gave a lot to charity. That's well above the poverty line -- but well below the $27 million to $45 million reflected in McCain's Senate financial disclosures.

The secret? The vast majority of the McCain family wealth comes from Cindy, McCain's second wife, who is heiress to a fortune built by her father, a beer distributor, whose firm she now chairs. Unlike the Obamas and Clintons, the McCains file their taxes separately -- and Cindy's returns are off-limits to the public, the campaign says.

McCain lists no other investments, no retirement funds, no savings, no properties.

Tags: mccain, politics

Conyers to White House: Iran attack=Impeachment

Thu, 15 May 2008 03:11:20 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Bravo.

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

Late last year, Senator Joseph Biden stated unequivocally that “the president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran, and if he does, as Foreign Relations Committee chairman, I will move to impeach” the president. 8

We agree with Senator Biden, and it is our view that if you do not obtain the constitutionally required congressional authorization before launching preemptive military strikes against Iran or any other nation, impeachment proceedings should be pursued. Because of these concerns, we request the opportunity to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss these matters. As we have recently marked the fifth year since the invasion of Iraq, and the grim milestone of 4,000 U.S. deaths in Iraq, your Administration should not unilaterally involve this country in yet another military conflict that promises high costs to American blood and treasure.

Tags: bush, impeachment, foreign policy

Is this a Bush impersonator with a golf club in his hand?

Thu, 15 May 2008 03:03:56 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Quit? Not so much.

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

In an interview with Politico’s Mike Allen, President Bush claimed he gave up golf after UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello was killed in Iraq.

De Mello was killed on Aug. 19, 2003. The Washington Post’s Dan Froomkin reports today: “Bush’s story doesn’t hold water“:

[T]he Associated Press reported on Oct. 13, 2003, that he’d spent a “cool, breezy Columbus Day” playing “a round of golf with three long-time buddies.

“Bush played at Andrews Air Force Base with Clay Johnson, Office of Management and Budget deputy director, Richard Hauser, Department of Housing and Urban Development general counsel and another friend, Mike Wood.”

Tags: bush, golf, politics

Smart Car aces crash tests

Thu, 15 May 2008 02:31:06 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Dispelling the myth that efficient cars can't be safe

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

For years, Detroit automakers have claimed that they couldn't make cars that get better mileage because those cars just wouldn't be safe. And for some reason, people believed them. But here comes the Smart car, the tiny two-person vehicle made by--who else--Germans, which not only gets 33 mpg in the city and 41 on the highway but this week passed new crash tests with flying colors. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports today that the 2008 Smart fortwo won the institute's highest rating for side and front impact tests. The car had already aced government safety testing as well. The car, unlike, say, the Hummer, is selling like hotcakes. Maybe its arrival will finally put rest to the Big Three lies that safe cars can't be fuel efficient.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Tags: green, autos, environment

Military recruiters in schools violate UN, US child soldier agreement

Wed, 14 May 2008 19:43:30 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: UN accord prohibits recruitment efforts directed toward people under 18 years of age.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

WASHINGTON - Pressed by the demands of the “global war on terrorism”, the United States is violating an international protocol that forbids the recruitment of children under the age of 18 for military service, according to a new report released Tuesday by a major civil rights group that charged that recruitment practices target children as young as 11 years old.

“The United States military’s procedures for recruiting students plainly violate internationally accepted standards and fail to protect youth from abusive and aggressive recruitment tactics,”

The 46-page report, “Soldiers of Misfortune“, which was prepared

for submission to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child

the U.S. Senate ratified the Protocol in 2002, making it binding under U.S., as well as international, law

In a survey of nearly 1,000 children, aged 14 to 17

more than one five respondents — equally distributed among the different grades — reported the use of class time by military recruiters

Tags: war, military, children

Surge of bicycle commuting worldwide

Wed, 14 May 2008 19:32:50 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Just beginning in the US, but moving at record pace

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

WASHINGTON - What single silver bullet can simultaneously reduce air pollution and oil dependency, roll back urban congestion, and fight obesity?

It’s not a pill, nor a complicated formula concocted by the World Bank. People around the world are turning to bicycles by the millions, as governments rush to create incentives for the low-tech transport alternative to gas-glugging, smog-making, traffic jam-producing automobiles.

in the face of rising urban pollution and congestion, Chinese authorities are insisting that bike lanes be re-established

New Delhi, India, for example, calls for fully segregated bicycle lanes on all main roads

In Amsterdam more than 55 percent of those who travel five miles or less to work already ride bikes

Paris now has some 20,000 bikes available for rental by credit card

United States lags

But

the installation of bicycle facilities

is proceeding at a record pace” in the United States.

Tags: green, health, transportation, environment

Judge resists Army's denial of conscientious objector status to paratrooper

Wed, 14 May 2008 17:22:48 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Soldier: "War is evil, and nothing but evil comes from it. Many of those who participate in it lose their souls along the way."

Clip Source: www.democraticunderground.com

The Army should grant conscientious objector status to Pfc. Michael Barnes, a Fort Richardson-based paratrooper who had his request for that designation denied last year, U.S. Magistrate John D. Roberts concluded Tuesday.

while training for deployment to Iraq as part of the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team at Fort Richardson, he grew increasingly troubled by the tales he heard from soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq

"These stories included making the locals (do) degrading things so they could laugh at them, abusing the kids and taking others lives with ease. ... I told myself it's not really like that -- that's just a few soldiers' perceptions of their experience."

after his unit landed in Kuwait, then Iraq

he began to witness bad behavior firsthand

"How would I justify to the Lord that participating in war is serving him?

I cannot. War is evil, and nothing but evil comes from it. Many of those who participate in it lose their souls along the way."

Tags: war, iraq, military