The Rant

OK The bullshit that the right wing talking heads are pulling out to keep the grandstanding alive is really over the top. Larry Klayman --- the guy that tried to be the private attorney general to impeach/embarrass of former president, is now advocating that Jeb Bush send in state troopers to take custody of Terri Schiavo..... Does he really believe the judical system is a conspiracy and should be disregarded. Michael (Weiner) Savage ---- puts on the nurse to claim Michael Schiavo caused Terri Schiavo's brain injury with a VonBulow like injection of insulin. Savage suggests this is like the Nazis killing handicaped babies. Joe Scarborough --- puts on "fair and balanced" list of guests, but clearly states that he wants her life saved. He denies that feeding tubes, surgically inserted into someone's stomach through her navel is not "life support". He argues that the 18 other judges that have supported Judge Greer, don't look at the factual record, but mere...

I know the article below is long and if you read Chapt 166 of the Texas Health and Safety Code its just so much legalese. However, George Bush signed this 1999 law. Why then, is he now saying the rights of the patient trump the findings of the surrogate (the husband), the doctors who testified in the Florida proceedings, and the Florida courts. This article points out that the hospital could have cut off life support without going to court, over the objection of the parent. March 16, 2005 Life-Support Stopped for 6-Month-Old in Houston Yesterday Sun Hudson, the nearly 6-month-old at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, diagnosed and slowly dying with a rare form of dwarfism (thanatophoric dysplasia), was taken off the ventilator that was keeping him alive. A Houston court authorized the hospital's action, and Sun died shortly thereafter. Today's Houston Chronicle and Dallas Morning News have most of the details. Both papers report that this is the first time in the Un...

Bob: I have been an estate planning attorney for 30 years. I have recommended "living wills" - health care directives to every estate planning client that comes in to my office. I can only remember 1 instance where someone didn't sign a "pull the plug" order. The overwhelming number of clients do not want to be kept alive in the sort of condition that Schiavo is in ---- FOR 15 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think the exception should swallow the rule. Both of my parents could have been kept alive weeks or months beyond their actual date of death. They both told my brothers and I what they wanted....Terminate all care except hydration and pain management. They died with dignity. This circus created by the right to life lobby is ridiculously cruel to both the patient, her husband, and ultimately her parents and family. Certainly in California, and I imagine in Florida, the conservator of the person has the right to make these ultimate decisions with court supervisi...

How many think this is the worst sort of political grandstanding in which Ms. Shiavo's fate is totally irrelevant to the Republican party. This woman has been unable to do anything for herself for 15 years. The matter has been litigated up and down the Florida courts. Does Tom DeLay really give a damn other than to try a create a wedge issue for the midterm election in which Florida Senator Nelson will have to take a position.

Senators May Block Social Security Vote By Charles Babington and Jim VandeHeiWashington Post Staff WritersFriday, March 11, 2005; Page A01 President Bush's bid to add individual accounts to Social Security faces such formidable opposition in the Senate that its supporters may be unable to bring it to a vote, according to a Washington Post survey of senators. An overwhelming majority of Democratic senators said they will oppose, under any circumstances, Bush's plan to allow younger workers to divert a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes into individual investment accounts that would follow them into retirement. A few others said they will not support such accounts if they require substantial government borrowing. Even many Republicans say that is inevitable because the alternative involves unacceptably large cuts in benefits or tax increases to replace the diverted taxes or both.

Senators May Block Social Security Vote By Charles Babington and Jim VandeHeiWashington Post Staff WritersFriday, March 11, 2005; Page A01 President Bush's bid to add individual accounts to Social Security faces such formidable opposition in the Senate that its supporters may be unable to bring it to a vote, according to a Washington Post survey of senators. An overwhelming majority of Democratic senators said they will oppose, under any circumstances, Bush's plan to allow younger workers to divert a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes into individual investment accounts that would follow them into retirement. A few others said they will not support such accounts if they require substantial government borrowing. Even many Republicans say that is inevitable because the alternative involves unacceptably large cuts in benefits or tax increases to replace the diverted taxes or both.

Brother Cato Kim offers the following guide to the red doper diaper babies: "Wm. K Flint" wrote: I visited www.discoverthenetwork.org , A Guide To The Political Left, I dragged down on the DTN Directory tap, released on individuals and was disappointed in not finding your picture. There is a great picture of Ted Kennedy (huge tits). Be sure to launch the visual maps. Be patient, it takes a few minutes to load. It's interesting to see where all the money comes from and where it goes. I would guess that the political left has about ten times more money that the rightous right. So, get with it, counselor. Get your picture posted. Cato Kim

I personally feel this appointment is typical of the Bush administratrion when it wants to send a big FU to some organization like the UN. If you read Molly Ivens book "Bushwacked" you would note that Bush appointed a Christian Fundamentalist Non-Doctor as the US representative to the World Health Organization. FU WHO! Look what we are sending to the UN as ambassador. FU UN!!! Bush Nominates Weapons Expert as Envoy to U.N. By STEVEN R. WEISMAN Published: March 8, 2005 WASHINGTON, March 7 - President Bush on Monday chose John R. Bolton, a blunt-spoken conservative known for his sharp skepticism of the United Nations and international diplomacy, as the new American ambassador to the world organization. Administration officials said his appointment would strengthen efforts to hold the United Nations to effective standards. But the nomination brought expressions of concern from many diplomats speaking on the condition that they not be identified by name or country, many of who...

By Mike AllenWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, March 9, 2005; Page A08 Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who has spent weeks attempting to recruit Democratic support for a plan to restructure Social Security, said yesterday that Republicans "made a strategic mistake" by initially focusing on a proposal to create individual investment accounts. The accounts, the centerpiece of President Bush's proposal, would benefit young and poorer workers by letting them use compound interest to help make up for any benefit reductions, Graham said. But he said the accounts, by themselves, will not fix the solvency problem Social Security faces as baby boomers begin to retire.

Mark Franchetti, Moscow March 08, 2005 SMARTLY dressed in suit and tie, the young lawyer cut an incongruous figure as he was borne through the streets of Moscow alongside crowds of impoverished pensioners in a red sea of hammer-and-sickle flags. Although several decades younger than most of those around him, Yuri Vassilyev, 33, was happy to admit to their common cause: a fondness for Joseph Stalin, the dictator whose purges are blamed by Western historians for the deaths of up to 20 million Soviet citizens. "Look, everyone makes mistakes," Mr Vassilyev said. "Stalin wasn't a saint, but he was a great man who built up a strong state. "After years of lies about him, the truth is coming out. We owe a lot to him. He turned the Soviet Union into a superpower that was feared and respected. A man like Stalin is what Russia needs now." Increasing numbers of Mr Vassilyev's countrymen are taking a similarly sepia-tinged view of the dictator in the run-up to May...

From the New York Times New Poll Finds Bush Priorities Are Out of Step With Americans By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JANET ELDER Published: March 3, 2005 mericans say President Bush does not share the priorities of most of the country on either domestic or foreign issues, are increasingly resistant to his proposal to revamp Social Security and say they are uneasy with Mr. Bush's ability to make the right decisions about the retirement program, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. The poll underscores just how little headway Mr. Bush has made in his effort to build popular support as his proposal for overhauling Social Security struggles to gain footing in Congress. At the same time, there has been an increase in respondents who say that efforts to restore order in Iraq are going well, even as an overwhelming number of Americans say Mr. Bush has no clear plan for getting out of Iraq. On Social Security, 51 percent said permitting individuals to invest part of their Social S...

What's going on in Lebannon appears to be home grown. As such, democracy seems to have a better chance to take hold. Grudgingly, perhaps some credit goes to the Bush Administration. However, it may be interesting to compare it's progress in Lebannon and Iraq. The news media is comparing Lebannon to the Ukraine, or even the fall of the Soviet Union. But the fact that these were popular uprisings may be the difference with an Iraq comparison.

Bob: AARP may not represent the views of young americans and screws up on elder issues occasionally such as prescription drug benefits (non sequitur). This asshole has set up a counter organization professing to represent the elders (over 50) of america. See this great article before you get sucked in. Look at his credentials. Charles W. Jarvis is Chairman and Chief Executive of USA Next and United Seniors Association (USA). USA is the 1.5 million-plus national network of grassroots activists dedicated to Uniting the Generations for America’s FutureTM. USA works intensively to expand Economic Freedom, Health Freedom and Retirement and Investment Freedom for all Americans at every age and every stage in life. Charlie Jarvis is widely respected as a businessman, grassroots strategist and policy expert with a national reputation. He has appeared on many programs, including Fox’s Your World with Neil Cavuto, Hardball with Chris Matthews, MSNBC Live, CNN’s Inside Politics, Hannity and Col...

posted by Bob Clasen from Wall Stree Journal February 16, 2005 9:12am ANKARA DISPATCH The Sick Man of Europe--Again Islamism and leftism add up to anti-American madness in Turkey. BY ROBERT L. POLLOCK Wednesday, February 16, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST ANKARA, Turkey--Several years ago I attended an exhibition in Istanbul. The theme was local art from the era of the country's last military coup (1980). But the artists seemed a lot more concerned with the injustices of global capitalism than the fate of Turkish democracy. In fact, to call the works leftist caricatures--many featured fat capitalists with Uncle Sam hats and emaciated workers--would have been an understatement. As one astute local reviewer put it (I quote from memory): "This shows that Turkish artists were willing to abase themselves voluntarily in ways that Soviet artists refused even at the height of Stalin's oppression." That exhibition came to mind amid all the recent gnashing of teeth in the U.S. over the qu...

posted by Bob Clasen Andrew Sullivan in Times OnLine http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-1481651,00.html ________________________________ Comment: Andrew Sullivan: The bubbling UN cauldron under a shaky western lid The sight of Paul Volcker lumbering amiably towards microphones is not one to set the pulse racing. His most exciting achievement as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board was to grind down American inflation in the 1970s and early 1980s. When he was picked to head the independent commission into alleged corruption and abuses in the United Nations oil for food programme in Iraq neoconservative hearts sank. Would he bore the institution into submission? Or was he too chummy with the establishment types who love the UN? But Volcker surprised. His report was not a whitewash. It even occasioned the usually placid Kofi Annan into declaring — via a spokesman, of course — that he was “shocked” at the report’s revelations. Key among the conclusions: Benon Sevan, the directo...

posted by Bob Clasen from the San Diego Tribune By Robert J. Caldwell February 13, 2005 North Korea's stunning proclamation that it possesses nuclear weapons and is withdrawing from the six-party negotiations intended to halt its nuclear program is unquestionably a scary moment for the world. That's exactly what those who rule the world's most frighteningly totalitarian communist state intended. All the more reason, then, for the United States and North Korea's neighbors to react, first, by resolving that illegal, provocative behavior will not be rewarded. North Korea is a signatory nation to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which forbids the spread of nuclear weapons. In 1994, North Korea also signed the Agreed Framework, a bilateral pact with the United States, which required the North Koreans to freeze their nuclear program in exchange for energy assistance to their impoverished economy. Yet, North Korea abruptly withdrew from the NPT in 2002 and expelled inspec...

Bob: I am trying to get another right-wing nut to join blog to get you some help.

Thanks to Jeff Abouaf 9/11 Report Cites Many Warnings About HijackingsBy ERIC LICHTBLAU Published: February 10, 2005 ASHINGTON, Feb. 9 - In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report from the 9/11 commission. But aviation officials were "lulled into a false sense of security," and "intelligence that indicated a real and growing threat leading up to 9/11 did not stimulate significant increases in security procedures," the commission report concluded. The report discloses that the Federal Aviation Administration, despite being focused on risks of hijackings overseas, warned airports in the spring of 2001 that if "the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners, but to commit suicide in a spectacular explosion,...

posted by Bob Clasen Calling All Democrats By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Published: February 10, 2005 In the past week, I've received several e-mail notes from Democrats about the Iraq elections, or heard comments from various Democratic lawmakers - always along the following lines: "Remember, Vietnam also had an election, and you recall how that ended." Or, "O.K., the election was nice, but none of it was worth $100 billion or 10,000 killed and wounded." Or, "You know, we've actually created more terrorists in Iraq - election or not." I think there is much to criticize about how the war in Iraq has been conducted, and the outcome is still uncertain. But those who suggest that the Iraqi election is just beanbag, and that all we are doing is making the war on terrorism worse as a result of Iraq, are speaking nonsense. _____________________________________________________ Here's the truth: There is no single action we could undertake an...

posted by Bob Clasen Mr. President, Let's Share the Wealth By DAVID BROOKS Published: February 8, 2005 President Bush said he was open to other people's ideas on how to fix Social Security, so I hope he'll listen to mine. My idea starts with a blunt political observation. Personal accounts - as they are currently envisioned - are going to be hard to pass. Every important Democrat opposes them. Jim McCrery, the Republican who is chairman of the House Social Security subcommittee, says the president's plan will have to fundamentally change if it is to have a chance. So my idea is this: If the president's current version of personal accounts stalls, he should consider another version - one that is more likely to win broad support, and that achieves all the goals of an "ownership society." The personal accounts I'm thinking of would be inspired by a proposal called KidSave, which was floating around in the late 1990's. KidSave wa...