Clipmarks | ratilfar's clips

Lost parrot tells veterinarian his address

Wed, 21 May 2008 20:27:03 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar

TOKYO - When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help.

He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

The Nakamura family told police they had been teaching the bird its name and address for about two years.

But Yosuke apparently wasn't keen on opening up to police officials.

"I tried to be friendly and talked to him, but he completely ignored me," Uemura said.

Lobbyists to McCain: This is our thanks?

Wed, 21 May 2008 18:27:50 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Ooops!

Clip Source: www.politico.com

McCain is purging active lobbyists from his campaign team in a quest to wrest the reformist title from Democrat Barack Obama.

More than a few Republican lobbyists in Washington are scratching their heads these days, asking: So this is the thanks we get?

It was a small band of loyal lobbyists who stood by presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain last August when his campaign went broke and his White House aspirations seemed doomed.

They raised money for him under impossible odds and kept him company in budget hotels during his darkest days.

Now they are under siege as McCain purges active lobbyists from his campaign team in a quest to wrest the reformist title from Democrat Barack Obama, his likely opponent in this fall’s general election.

The timing, motivation and even the details of the policy itself all are the subject of debates and consternation this week at water coolers, in restaurants and on conference calls on K Street.

Tags: mcbush, mcsame, mcnasty, mccain, lobbyist, influence, corruption, centurion, imperial senate

McCain Campaign: Comment Trolls Wanted

Wed, 21 May 2008 18:18:41 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: From the article:

"You might be thinking, "What's in it for me?" As a matter of fact, for every comment the McCain verifies, you will awarded McCain Action Center. Which is important, because in Fantasy Land 2013, those things will replace the dollar as American currency."

Great! There goes the Interwebs! Lets clog up all those tubes, shall we!

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Wishing you could be a campaign surrogate, but don't have a national platform? Do you find blogging your own opinions tedious? Wish you could have someone tell you what to think during this political season? Well look no further than John McCain's new blog outreach!

That's right; the McCain camp wants to recruit online supporters and activists to serve as comment trolls. From their website:

Help spread the word about John McCain on news and blog sites. Your efforts to help get the message out about John McCain's policies and plan for the future is one of the most valuable things you can do for this campaign....
Select from the numerous web, blog and news sites listed here, go there, and make your opinions supporting John McCain known. Once you've commented on a post, video or news story, report the details of your comment by clicking the button below.

Tags: mccain, mcbush, mcsame, mcnasty, centurion, trolls

Sen. Bob Corker(R): Don't attack Michelle Obama.

Tue, 20 May 2008 23:12:59 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: A little decency goes along way....

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

The Tennessee State GOP is running out of allies. A recent negative ad ridiculing Michelle Obama has prompted a round of national criticism, including a few fightin' words from Sen. Obama.

Now, Bob Corker, the state's Republican senator, has entered the fray. Unfortunately for local Republicans, he's taking the side of Democrats; his chief-of-staff delivered the following statement to his state party:

Republicans will be in much better shape if we spend our time focused on issues like reducing federal spending, lowering the cost of health care and creating a coherent energy policy.

Meanwhile, it appears the ad, which features "proud Americans," isn't comprised of the most wholesome Americans. One Bob Pope, a gun rights advocate who appears in the negative ad, is also a former strip club investor. No word if he's proud of that too.

[Video]

Tags: bob corker, obama, barack obama, michelle obama, politics, attack ads, tennessee

British Spy Agency MI5 Linked To 'Nazi-Style' Orgy Involving Formula One Racing President

Mon, 19 May 2008 16:58:45 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: I usually don't clip these kinds of stories, but the Mi5 angle was to tempting to ignore.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Last month the world of Formula One racing was rocked when Max Mosley, the organization's president, was captured on videotape participating in a 'Nazi-style' orgy with prostitutes. Well, the situation has become even more bizarre as the sex scandal has been linked to the British spy agency MI5 (from the Times Online):

The intelligence officer, who cannot be named for security reasons, left the service last month after it emerged that his wife was one of the five call girls who took part in the sadomasochistic sex session with Mosley.

Exposure of the lurid orgy led to calls for Mosley, the son of Sir Oswald Mosley, the wartime British fascist leader, to step down from his post as president of the FIA, the governing body of world motor sport.

The video of Mosley and the prostitutes has been removed from YouTube, but you can still view it here.

Tags: dungeon siege, nazi orgy, mi5, spies, perverts, prostitution

Jim Webb: No President in history has vetoed a benefits bill for those who have served

Mon, 19 May 2008 15:09:38 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: This is how you support the troops, bitches! But the GOP believes the troops should support them (by serving as poster boys and girls) and not the other way around. Ain't that patriotic!

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

Jim Webb, (who is one of my picks for VP) makes an excellent case for his GI Bill on MTP this morning and calls out the GOP on their negligent behavior and the threatened Bush veto. John McCain and George Bush say they support the troops, but when it comes to stepping up and doing something tangible, they are striking out. How dare they say these benefits are too costly when we’re spending millions of dollars a day to occupy Iraq? And as Webb says, this will be used on the campaign trail. And a watered down substitute by McCain and his pal Graham is not the solution.

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The Pentagon has suggested that Webb’s bill is too generous in conferring benefits to soldiers after “only” two years of service. However, as Webb pointed out, soldiers would still have to finish their enlistment term. What’s more, as a recent CBO report showed, any loss in reenlistment rates is entirely made up for by increased military recruits.

Tags: webb, gi bill, congress, law, legislation, gop, empty uniforms

Oliver North, Fox News’ Appeasing & Emboldening Revisionistorian

Mon, 19 May 2008 14:57:02 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Ain't revisionism grand!

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

After lauding Oliver North for his new book that apparently has more pictures than it does pages (No doubt North’s picture-book tells a much different story than the truth-laid-bare photos and accounts from an award-winning unembedded photojournalist like Dahr Jamail, but I digress), Sean Hannity asks North for his opinion on whether the President was right to compare the want to hold diplomatic talks with Iran to the appeasement of Nazis in the 1930’s.

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This is the guy who oversaw the arms for hostages deal with Iran in 1985 (among other crimes), right in the middle of the Iran-Iraq war in which the US was actively and openly arming and supporting Saddam Hussein. Ollie North didn’t just talk with Iran at a time they were our enemy in a proxy-war, he actually helped to arm them, bypassing Congress by violating the Boland Amendment to help fund an illegal war in Nicaragua.

Tags: criminal, ollie north, lies, iran, contra, faux news, liers

Hagee's Lesson Plan for Bush's Appeasement Speech

Sat, 17 May 2008 23:18:16 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: This stuff is not only stupid but downright dangerous.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Hagee, who endorsed Bush in 2000 with a book, God's Candidate for America, said in 2003 said that "God raised up George Bush for this time in history to crush Saddam Hussein." After he met with McCain in early 2007, Hagee declared McCain's views on Israel "on target." In other words, McCain's no weak-kneed appeaser of terrorists. If God raised up Bush, and, as Hagee has maintained, the threat from Iraq was nothing compared to the threat from Iran, then his endorsement of McCain suggests that he views the Republican nominee, once again, as God's puppet for his deranged obsession with a bloody, war-ending war.

In the summer of 2006, when war raged between Israel and Hezbollah, and McCain took to the airwaves to suggest we had entered into World War III, one of Hagee's friends in the Knesset, Benny Elon, said McCain got that idea straight from Hagee.

Tags: hagee, domininost, wacko, nutjob, mccain, bush, mcbush, armagedon

Olbermann:THEY'RE MAKING IT ALL UP ABOUT IRAN

Sat, 17 May 2008 19:29:27 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: And yeah, the Surge worked too.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: olbermann, iraq, news, facts, iran, weapons, lies

Weekly injection of teh CUTE!,

Sat, 17 May 2008 19:11:49 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: You better lie down for this one!

Clip Source: mfrost.typepad.com

Tags: cute, cuteoverload, too, much, sugar, in, system

Appeasement: The Reagan Years

Sat, 17 May 2008 18:39:34 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: If these morons had their way, DC would be a glass parking lot by now.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Conservative Caucus Chair Howard Phillips, for instance, "scorned President Reagan as 'a useful idiot for Kremlin propaganda,'" and published ads which, according to a January 20, 1988 UPI article (via LEXIS):

likens Reagan's signing of the INF Treaty to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's signing of an accord with Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler in 1938. The ad, with the headline, "Appeasement Is As Unwise In 1988 As In 1938," shows pictures of Chamberlain, Hitler, Reagan and Gorbachev overhung by an umbrella. Chamberlain carried an umbrella and it became a World War II symbol for appeasement.

According to the January 19, 1988 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, when Pat Robertson was campaigning for President in Missouri in 1988, he "suggested that President Ronald Reagan could be compared to Neville Chamberlain . . . by agreeing to a medium-range nuclear arms agreement with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev."

Tags: idiots, morons, warmongers, dominionist, ww3, empire, madness

Obama and "Blood Purity" at the Washintong Times

Sat, 17 May 2008 15:52:44 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Racist and downright repulsive.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

It's about blood equity, heritage and commitment to hard-won American values. And roots.
Some run deeper than others and therein lies the truth of Josh Fry's political sense. In a country that is rapidly changing demographically -- and where new neighbors may have arrived last year, not last century -- there is a very real sense that once-upon-a-time America is getting lost in the dash to diversity.

We love to boast that we are a nation of immigrants — and we are. But there's a different sense of America among those who trace their bloodlines back through generations of sacrifice.

Tags: media, race, racism, obama, homophobia, idiot

Old-Style Pumps Balk At $4-a-Gallon Gas, Too

Fri, 16 May 2008 20:50:46 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Yeebus!

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Like a lot of small-scale entrepreneurs, Cathy Osborne worries that she'll go out of business if fuel prices rise above $4 a gallon. Not because she won't be able to buy gas at that price, but because she won't be able to sell it.

The old mechanical gas pumps with scrolling dials at her country store in Fauquier County lack the gears to go beyond $3.99 a gallon. State inspectors shut down her diesel pump several months ago when the fuel topped the $4 mark, so now all that's left are two pumps dispensing 87-octane gasoline, set at $3.75 -- and climbing.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't have $30,000 to invest in new pumps, and I'm barely skipping by,

Osborne said she doesn't make money on fuel sales, but the pumps are a big draw for the hay farmers and cattlemen who gas up their tractors and take their morning coffee in her store.

"If people have to go into town to get gas, they'll say, 'Oh, I'll just go to Burger King,' " Osborne said.

Tags: oil, gasoline, fossil fuels, prices, yikes

O’Reilly Compares Markos (of the Daily Kos) to David Duke

Fri, 16 May 2008 18:52:16 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: People in glass houses (with no mirrors)....

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

On Tuesday’s O’Reilly Factor, BillO went after DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas for having the audacity to run a site where people are free to write posts like this one, in which dKos member Mahler3 <gasp> juxtaposed photos from Jenna Bush’s wedding with graphic pictures from Iraq. This was not a recommended diary, by the way, and was almost universally panned in the comments section.

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Bill W)

O’Reilly: And Newsweek magazine, by the way, has legitimized him by giving him a columnist position. I talked to the editor by email, and I said I can’t believe that you’re — that’s like hiring David Duke. Again, I use Duke too much, but I have to — the level of hatred coming out of that website is unprecedented. Isn’t it?

Tags: o'reilly, oreally

Stop-Lossed Soldier Refuses To Redeploy To Iraq

Fri, 16 May 2008 17:40:04 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, who served in the Army until being honorably discharged last summer after over four years of service in Afghanistan, Japan, Europe and the Phillipines, today publicly announced his intention to refuse orders to deploy to Iraq.

Good afternoon. My name is Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, and I served in the Army as a Photojournalist until being honorably discharged last summer after over four years of service in Afghanistan, Japan, Europe and the Philippines. As an Army journalist whose job it was to collect and filter servicemember’s stories, I heard many stomach-churning testimonies of the horrors and crimes taking place in Iraq. For fear of retaliation from the military, I failed to report these crimes, but never again will I allow fear to silence me. Never again will I fail to stand. Read on…

Tags: iraq, war, soldiers, army, veterans