It’s our third blogiversary!

Thanks for the reminder bRight&Early!

Gastrointestinal distress… Went to the doctor on Saturday, blood tests were normal, CT scan didn’t show any kidney stones, gallbladder issues, or anything else for that matter.

Now there’s just the distress with back pain…

Fun.

Posting may therefore be a bit light until I get back on my feet.

Captain Ed notes the new Move On TV spot that is trying to distract from the “Betray us” ad by transferring the betrayal status to President Bush.

In comments at his site I transcribed the ad and noted something…

“In 2006, George Bush had 130,000 troops stuck in Iraq. Americans had elected a new congress to bring them home. (130,000-130,000 = 0) Instead George Bush sent in 30,000 more troops. (130,000 + 30,000 = 160,000) Now he’s making a big deal about pulling out, you guessed it, 30,000 (160,000 – 30,000 = 130,000) so next year there will still be 130,000 troops stuck in Iraq. George Bush: A betrayal of trust.”

The emphasized section above is the funniest.

Just whose fault is it that troops are still in Iraq?

Happy New Year our Jewish Friends.

Judaism 101: Rosh Hashanah

this is based on the CityPark template by Romow.com

Beldar has a great post and some haunting images.

The America Attacked video with Enya’s “Only Time” is here. It’s a 7 mb file and is best viewed with broadband. Also, today especially, traffic is high and it will take longer.

Rep Tom Lantos, (D-CA-12), Chairman ofthe House Foreign Affairs Committee, on the upcoming testimony of General Petraeus. Mind you, this is his introductory statement, prior to any testimony. (note: transcript does not start at the very beginning of Rep. Lantos’ statement and it ends before the end of the statement as I didn’t hit the record button fast enough, I wasn’t expecting him to speak quite so long)

But the fact remains gentlemen, that the administration has sent you here today to convince the members of these two committees and the congress that victory is at hand. With all due respect to you I must say I don’t buy it. And neither does the independent General Accountability Office or the commission headed by General Jones.

Both recently showed deeply disturbing and pessimistic reports. The current escalation in our military presence in Iraq may have produced some technical successes but strategically the escalation has failed. It was intended to buy time, for Prime Minister Maliki and the other Iraqi political leaders to find ways to move toward the one thing that may end this terrible civil conflict. And that, of course, is a political settlement.

As best we can see, that time has been utterly squandered.  Prime Minister Maliki has not shown the slightest inclination to move in the direction of compromise. Instead of working to build national institutions, a truly Iraqi army, a competent bureaucracy, a non sectarian pollice force, Maliki has moved int he opposite direction. The so-called unity accord, announced with such fanfare, a couple of weeks ago is just another in a long list of empty promises. Instead of acting as a leader for Iraq as a whole, Maliki has functioned as the front man for Shi’ite partisans. And he has presided over a Shi’ite coalition that includes some of the most notorius militias, death squads, and sectarian thugs in Iraq.

This is not what the American people had in mind. And when Mr. Maliki states, as he recently did, that if Americans leave he can find quote new friends, we are reminded most forcefully of his and his party’s intimate ties to Iran. In his recent visit to Anbar province, the President made much of our cooperation in the fight against Al Qaeda with Sunni tribal militias. This alliance may, in the short run, be a positive development, but it also raises some serious and profound questions. Anbar, of course, includes just five percent of the population of Iraq. An important five percent, but still only five. What’s more, by arming, training, and funding the Sunni militias in Anbar province, we are working against our own strategy of building national Iraqi institutions.

Welcome Gateway Pundit readers!

1. Yesterday Brit Hume reported on the confirmation of Jim Nussle to the office of Director of Management and Budget. The vote was 69 to confirm, 24 against, and 7 did not vote. Of the 24 against, one was Bernie Sanders and the rest have D’s after their names. Brit Hume noted that the senators who voted against confirmation stated their reasoning as something like (I can’t find the exact quote) “We think he’ll be too influenced by the President and do what the White House wants.” Now, isn’t that what a White House Director of Management and Budget is supposed to do?

“The first way out of a ditch is to stop digging. Unfortunately, appointing Jim Nussle as OMB Director is another example of President Bush digging our nation in deeper,” said Mr. Dodd in a statement released yesterday decrying the Senate’s 69-24 approval vote. (source)

Later in the same article:

“Congressman Nussle’s record in support of the President’s failed economic policy inspires little confidence that he will do what is really needed for America,” according to the statement released by Sen. Dodd’s office.

Oh, that’s right, those HUGE majorities the Dems won in the last election mean that President Bush must do everything they say now…

2. Here in Illinois we are having budget problems. Here in Illinois Democrats are in the majority in both the House and Senate, and Democrats hold all high state elected offices, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Governor.  Note to Democrats: Holding majorities in the House and Senate and holding the Presidency does not make everything all hunkey-dorey.

In fact it seems to make it all worse. And this time it’s not partisan fighting.

Part of our budget problems arise with funding the public transit system. The legislature wants to raise sales taxes in the relevant counties (Cook [Chicago] and the six collar counties). Governor Blagojevich absolutely refuses to raise sales taxes anywhere for any reason, although he will spend $100,000 to spruce up his plane. He also won’t live in the Governor’s mansion at the state capitol of Springfield, preferring to live in Chicago and flying back and forth between Chicago and Springfield.

I heard someone on the radio saying that we must look at who’s driving on the road in front of us and think about how clear the roads could be if the person driving on the road in front of us were using public transportation instead.

How arrogant. It’s the “you must sacrifice so that I may continue my existence in the manner to which I am accustomed.” John Edwards says we need to give up our SUV’s, but he won’t give up his jetting around (or his SUV’s, or his 28,000 sq foot home)…

3. And last but not least today, Don Surber points us to Grouchy Old Cripple’s reporting on Jesse Jackson’s new hire Mel Reynolds. GOC notes that this is a political first:

Jesse Jackson has added former Chicago Democrat Congressman
Mel Reynolds to Rainbow/PUSH Coalition’s payroll. Reynolds was among the 176 criminals excused in President Clinton’s last-minute forgiveness spree. Reynolds received a commutation of his six-and-a-half-year federal sentence for 15 convictions of wire fraud, bank fraud, and lies to the Federal Election Commission. He is more notorious, however, for concurrently serving five years for sleeping with an underage campaign volunteer.

This is a first in American politics:
An ex-congressman who had sex with a subordinate…
won clemency from a president who had sex with a subordinate…
then was hired by a clergyman who had sex with a subordinate.

His new job?
Ready for this??
YOUTH COUNSELOR

Lest you think I’m making this up, I checked it out.

Reverend Jesse Jackson has hired a Registered Sex Offender to be a Youth Counselor.

Update: at the I checked it out link we find that this story is several years old. But it does fit the category…

Eye Dee Ten Tea.

I D 10 T

ID10T(s)….

A little bit of fun for September first!

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bonus question (answer in comments): If you are a folder, are you male?