Salazar Expresses Regret
Colorado Democratic Senator Ken Salazar (search) this week referred to the Christian group Focus on the Family, which supports President Bush as "the Anti-Christ of the world." But Salazar now says he didn't mean that, saying, "I regret having used [those words]."
Air America Apologizing
In an audio skit about President Bush's Social Security (search) proposal earlier this week, a voice on Air America, the liberal radio network, said, "here's your answer, you ungrateful whelp," and then sounded three shotgun blasts. Air America is now apologizing for that, calling it a "bad" skit and insisting, "our normal vetting process failed."
AP Incorrect
The AP this week quoted the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Albert Mohler Jr, as saying that putting more evangelicals on the court will mean rulings more in tune with Christian beliefs. But Mohler never said that. The AP now says it "incorrectly paraphrased" him.
NPR: "We Regret Any Error or Confusion"
A National Public Radio (search) host said, "a book by a conservative commentator ... has leveled ... charges [similar]" to those by Republicans that judicial activist judges bring violence upon themselves. But the book, "Men in Black" by Mark Levin, never says that. NPR now says it was just "turn[ing] to a critique of the book" from a previous subject, and "we regret any error or confusion."
"Post"-ed a Correction
And finally, The Washington Post (search) today has a headline saying that Tom DeLay (search) "is likely to be found culpable." But the piece accompanying it doesn't say that, instead saying that Delay is "in danger" of being found in violation of House ethics rules, but could also be "vindicated." The Post now says its headline "overstated" the situation.
"Caught in a Contradiction"
An editorial page editor at the Minneapolis Star Tribune (search) insisted earlier this week that his paper has never advocated a change to Senate filibuster rules. But after some media noted that when President Clinton's proposals were being filibustered, the paper called on politicians to "crusade for changes in Senate procedures," Editorial page deputy editor Jim Boyd now admits his paper has been "caught in a contradiction." He says he and his staff "missed" the old editorial.
A tort suit in the making, but state ethical rules prohibit soliciting the decedent's family directly. What to do if you're an enterprising plaintiff's lawyer hoping to comply with the letter of the rules? Post an ad in the paper! To wit, one asking "Have you or anyone you know been injured in a local bar?"
I thank you for your email and I understand you called a couple of times. I
wish you would have left your number and I would have called you back.
I'm not sure if you read my other emails, but I never did this to get that
case. His family was already represented. I have been looking into this
issue for a couple of months. His incident has raised the attention of the
community. It is very unfortunate that he died.
Did you see my ad in the paper today? Unfortunately it was pushed back in
the sports by the Times. The Times is also the reason that the first ad is
in red and says what it does vs. the defendant who many agree is the cause
for what happened.
I appreciate your understanding that business is business, although I'm not
sure you really are giving me that benefit.
Call me if you would like to talk more.
Mike
I also thank you for your response. While you cite the Times as being
responsible for the content of the ad, and that you had never expected
to get family's account, why the timing? Additionally, it is my
understanding that the ad has run for more than one day (I may be
wrong). At any rate, it is still running on the St. Cloud Times web
site.
The timing of this ad, on a full page, before the man was even buried,
is what at face value appears upsetting. If you were upset regarding
the copywriter's verbiage or the color of the ad, could you have not
called the Times and cancelled it? If not in the actual newspaper, then
on the web site?
Sincerely,
-Leo-
what ad is still running? Did you look at the Paper today? There's a
different one in the Sports section.
I'm not blaming the Times. I took out the ad. I'm paying for it. So I
understand what I could have done. I'm just trying to answer some of the
questions that have been posed about the color and the wording.
The ad was finished last Friday. It ran before he died. Then he died
Tuesday night and I spent a lot of Wednesday dealing with a lot of calls in
both directions. The ad isn't there today.
I replaced it with the new one.
I didn't know that, but have you looked at the paper yet?
I've reached the final point of no return with the MSM. Russert does it. Georgie does it. Ted does it. Gibson does it. Most network reporters do it. Lefties do it when they want to kill a conservative point.
What is it they are doing? They represent the perspective they are reporting on by quantifying it with the magical preciseness of "MANY".
They are doing it when the report on the new Pope. Many Germans are concerned about the new Pope. Many American Catholics are upset with the new Pope.
Is "Many" less than "Most"? Is Many a lazy way to infer "Most"? (We never said most, we said many.)
Often, they use the term "MANY" when they want to state a negative (as opposed to making a positive point) in either a report or a debate. Many has become fact instead of myth.
What constitutes many? 3 out of 100? 20 out of 40? 100 out of 10,000? 800 showing up to an antiwar rally in a city of 2,000,000? I would think 800 out of 2,000,000 is closer to a "very few". (Stastically, zero)
How do they know if the position and supporters they are reporting on is a groups of "many"?
They never have to state how MANY are the MANY they refer too. Just "Many".
Talk about relativism! "Many" is the new "trick word" replacing both "basically" and "frankly".
Campaign contributions, says Hollis, have rallied the eloquent spokespersons of agribusiness to make it seem that the very survival of Midwest farmers rides on the shoulders of the subsidies program. And so, he says, the votes are cast according to the candidate who promises to keep federal dollars flowing into the subsidies. But, as Hollis points out, the reality of the subsidy program is very different from the rosy picture painted by the politicians. Farmers have had their lands consolidated by large corporations, the local waters and overall physical and social landscapes of their communities desecrated by corporate agricultural practice, and their tax aid swallowed up by about the wealthiest 7 percent of the industry.
Protecting ethanol subsidies in the new Energy Bill is a major issue now on the table for ADM’s political partners (conspicuously absent has been any major media coverage—between ADM advertisements—of any opposition to ethanol). ADM-formed groups like the Renewable Fuels Association and National Corn Growers continue to stir up plenty of support among farmers for their cause. These groups, along with Daschle et al., make the case that the biofuels market presents an important economic opportunity for family farms. However, the subsidy program cloaked as financial aid to farmers has actually crushed thousands of corn farmers under the foot of ADM and other top agribusiness corporations.(emphases mine)
The most blatant argument against the biofuels industry in its current form, from a sustainability perspective, is that it does not represent good farming. Maximizing profits under a subsidized program dictates large-scale, monocropped farms. This lack of crop integration is a leading cause of soil erosion and invites pests and disease. Heavy fertilization is used to replenish the soil. This leads to non-point source pollution that has been the root of incalculable environmental degradation rendering a vast majority of the waters of the Corn Belt states unsuitable for drinking or swimming. The wanton application of petrochemical pesticides and herbicides is leaving a legacy of toxic and non-biodegradable residue in the watersheds of our amber waves of grain. The seeds for a large majority of the corn and soybeans grown in this country are genetically engineered and are threatening the integrity of the crops throughout the continent.Well, okay.. under this plan family farmers will go under, the environment will be toast, and we'll actually be burning more fossil fuel. But it will be cheaper to put in our cars, right?
In sharp contrast, carbon dioxide (the number-one greenhouse gas involved in fuel combustion) is constantly recycled in biomass fuel life cycles. Each year, the fuel crops remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis (whereas petroleum fuels release carbon gases sequestered tens of millions of years before animal life was even possible on the planet). Ethanol, when used to oxygenate fuel, is a great alternative to using methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). MTBE, the only other oxygenate used in this country, is known to contaminate both ground and surface water. But the main case against ethanol still stands: It takes as much or more energy to grow and process the crops as is returned in burning the fuel.(emphasis mine)
For either biodiesel or ethanol, land mass necessary to satiate a portion of oil consumption would compete with other food crops and translate to big bucks at the gas pump(emphasis mine). “Abusing our precious croplands to grow corn for an energy-inefficient process that yields low-grade automobile fuel amounts to unsustainable, subsidized food burning" Dr. Pimemtel states in his findings on the ethanol industry published in the September 2001 issue of the Encyclopedia of Physical Sciences and Technology. Dr. Pimentel calculates that an acre of U.S. corn yields about 7,110 pounds of corn for processing into 328 gallons of ethanol.Well, okay.. under this plan family farmers will go under, the environment will be toast, we'll actually be burning more fossil fuel, and it will be just as expensive at the pumps in the long run; BUT cars will run better, more efficiently, and have higher gas mileage on the higher-octane fuel, right? Well, let's go to simple physics:
From Mark's Handbook for Mechanical Engineers:So, if I did my math correctly, one would need 32% more ethanol per volume than gasoline to obtain the same amount of energy. Additionally,
* Gasoline yields about 20,260 Btu's/lb of thermal energy from combustion
based on its HHV. On a volume basis that becomes 124,800 Btu's/gal.
while..
* Ethanol yields about 12,770 Btu's/lb of thermal energy from combustion
based on its HHV. On a volumetric basis that becomes 83,910 Btu's/gal.
E85 has always been priced below gasoline, partly because it delivers fewer miles per gallon. Studies show as much as 10-15 percent less(emphasis mine). Sudenga says the price gap has widened as gasoline prices have increased.In addition, Current automobiles will need to undergo costly renovations:
The concern here is that un-combusted ethanol (especially during rich cold start conditions) may migrate past the piston ring resulting in cylinder wall washing, which reduces cylinder wall lubrication and could run down into the crankcase, diluting the engine oil. Alcohols are corrosive. Therefore, any part that comes in contact with the fuel has been upgraded to be tolerant to alcohol. Normally, these parts include a stainless steel fuel tank and Teflon-lined fuel hoses.Okay... so family farmers go under, we'll be burning more fuel, the fuel will ultimately become more expensive, the environment will still be polluted (if not more so), cars will run less efficiently, and current ones will need expensive renovations. If all these people will be unhappy after this legislation is passed, then just who will live happily ever after under this legislation?
Rep. Doc Hastings (search), R-Wash., announced that he will empanel a subcommittee to investigate some of the charges surrounding DeLay if the Democrats agree to a compromise effort designed to break the impasse that has kept the committee from organizing.The Republicans have again, as they have done so many times before, buckled under pressure in their never-ending efforts to prove a negative, that they are really good guys, and if they just play nice to the opposing party, everyone will at once bury their hatchets and engage in rounds singing Kumbaya and other pretty songs.
The Republicans were "prepared to vote at the earliest opportunity to empanel an investigations subcommittee to review various allegations concerning travel and other actions" by DeLay, he said.
Four of the five Republicans on the committee are on board for immediate movement, Hastings said. Reps. Judy Biggert of Illinois, Melissa Hart of Pennsylvania and Tom Cole of Oklahoma joined Hastings at the news conference. Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas did not attend. The panel also has five Democratic members.
Republicans are trying to force Democrats to return to the table by suggesting that if DeLay is the stopping point for organizing the panel then they are willing to take him out of the mix. DeLay has repeatedly said he has done nothing wrong and has asked to appear before the committee to explain all the travel he has taken that has been called into question. He has called Democratic demands part of a smear campaign.
At this point a reader familiar with the Stockholm Syndrome might wonder if that phenomenon is relevant to the discussion. It might be. Several years ago in Stockholm a bank robber held a woman as hostage for several days in the bank's vault. When rescued, the woman denied that her captor was responsible for her pain. She was in fact quite indignant at the force the police had used to capture her assailant. She seemed to be infatuated with the gunman.
The key here might be the infantilization of the hostage who was dependent upon her captor for food, water, and toilet privileges. Frank Ochberg (1995) thinks this traumatic age regression (my term, not Dr. Ochberg's) accounts for the almost primal gratitude for life's necessities that many hostages feel if they're shown even a little kindness. He specifically links the Stockholm Syndrome with the bond many battered women feel for their abusers.
I think it's an interesting concept, and while I'd still make my daily visits to the Fraters, Mitch, the Captain and the other NARNians as well as MOBsters such as Bogus, MAWB Squad, Kool Aid Report, the Psycmeistr and Centrisity (to name but a few), these are all strong voices that would be great regular contributors to a consolidated Minnesota site - and even better if they could make a few bucks in the process!
ST. PAUL (AP) — The state Senate on Thursday decided against an effort to force a floor vote on a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.
Thousands of ban opponents rallied outside the Capitol.
Sen. Michele Bachmann, the Stillwater Republican who has led the push for the ban, said Senate Democrats have denied her repeated efforts to get the bill heard.
Senate leaders countered that Bachmann, a candidate for the U.S. House, is flouting Senate rules to advance her political career.
At the same time, about 2,500 gays, lesbians and their supporters attended a rally on the Capitol grounds a few hundred yards away, organized by OutFront Minnesota.
Speakers warned the bill would not only ban gay marriage in the state constitution, but also civil unions, and could threaten domestic-partnership benefits offered by municipal governments.
"We are Minnesotans. We are Americans," said state Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, who is gay. "We always have been and we always will be. This legislature and this governor need to know this is our government too, and they have to know they can't take it away from us."
Bachmann's bill would put a constitutional amendment that defines marriage only as between a man and a woman on the November 2006 ballot.(emphasis mine)
(read entire story here
Associated Press
CHICAGO — Being overweight is nowhere near as big a killer as the government thought, ranking No. 7 instead of No. 2 among the nation's leading preventable causes of death, according to a startling new calculation from the CDC.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated today that packing on too many pounds accounts for 25,814 deaths a year in the United States. As recently as January, the CDC came up with an estimate 14 times higher: 365,000 deaths.
The new analysis found that obesity — being extremely overweight — is indisputably lethal. But like several recent smaller studies, it found that people who are modestly overweight actually have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight(emphasis mine)
"...[A] State which arrogates to itself the
prerogative of defining which human beings are or are not the subject of rights,
and which consequently grants to some the power to violate others' fundamental
right to life, contradicts the democratic ideal to which it continues to appeal and
undermines the very foundations on which it is built. By allowing the rights of the
weakest to be violated, the State also allows the law of force to prevail over the
force of law. One sees, then, that the idea of an absolute tolerance of freedom of
choice for some destroys the very foundation of a just mode of social life. The
separation of politics from any natural content of law, which is the inalienable
patrimony of everyone's moral conscience, deprives social life of its ethical
substance and leaves it defenseless before the will of the strongest."
Rescue workers and volunteers worked nonstop to help as many as they could to return to deep water. Some dolphins made it. About two dozen died.
For 26 that clung to life there was only one chance for survival -- transfer to the Marine Mammal Conservancy rehabilitation facility on Key Largo, farther up the Keys from Marathon.
The dolphins were placed in a water pen where they have been given around-the-clock care by hundreds of volunteers who signed up for four-hour shifts.
A veterinarian injects the mammals with vitamin E to help with muscle cramping. Unable to eat on their own, they are fitted with a feeding tube to get them the needed nutrition.
He has received death threats. Protesters have even staged rallies at Schiavo's house. Given the level of religious zealotry evident in the debate over Schiavo, there is reason for concern. Florida has seen its share of violence by extremists. In 1993, Michael Griffin murdered an abortion doctor in front of a Pensacola clinic. He's serving a life sentence. Paul Hill, one of Griffin's supporters, took the lives of an abortion doctor and his escort the following year. He was executed for his crime. One of Hill's supporters was caught by the FBI in Miami Beach. He was sentenced last year for plotting to blow up abortion clinics. The Florida department of law enforcement says it is monitoring the situation in Pinellas Park and, in its words, quote, collecting intelligence.
BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. troops battled arms smugglers and fighters near the Iraqi town of Qaim along the Syrian border Tuesday, killing an unknown number of foreign insurgents, the U.S. military said. Local hospital officials reported at least nine people killed in clashes in the same area, and said they believed the dead were civilians.
The raids came as separate car bombs in two northern cities killed a total of 10 people, and as the Iraqi government claimed to have captured a former member of Saddam Hussein's regime at a farm northeast of Baghdad.
The Qaim raid occurred a day after insurgents tried unsuccessfully to ram two cars and a fire truck loaded with explosives into a Marine outpost there, but military officials said the attack was not related to the raid.
Insurgents opened fire when the U.S. troops began their raid on the smuggling ring Tuesday, and several militants, including at least one suicide bomber, were killed, the U.S. military said in a statement. No Americans were injured, it said. (click link to read entire story).
or
..
(look for them at the next moveon.orgre rally). When the Republicans, trying forever to be the "nice guys", offer up DeLay as yet another sacrificial lamb to "make nice" with the democrats and the MSM, the dems will only look for another, and yet another fabricated witch, while at the same time ignoring their very own witches. How about a basic primer for starters:
And all the while ignoring the antics of this clown
Earlier, on the democrat witch list:
they castigated him for what they said was a questionable book deal while in office...
While at the same time, of course, they ignored a real witch:
When she signed a questionable book deal while in office.
Yes, dear readers, as long as there remains on the left a paucity of ideas, no positive platform on which to run, and a string of continuing losses in national elections, look for these bozos to continue their witch hunts. And look for this blogger to continue laughing.
******UPDATE*******
It would appear that the Republican cave-in on this issue has begun, from none other than Rick Santorum. Also check this, from Christopher Shays.
Kinda begs a question... with plenty of skeletons in their closet, when was the last time a democrat said one of their own should step down?
"I think it’s time she (her grandmother) goes home to Jesus, that’s she’s too sick and would not have a good quality of life,” Kenneth Mullinax said.
The dehydration is being done in defiance of Magouirk's specific wishes, which she set down in a "living will," and without agreement of her closest living next-of-kin, two siblings and a nephew: A. Byron McLeod, 64, of Anniston, Ga.; Ruth Mullinax, 74, of Birmingham, Ala.; and Ruth Mullinax's son, Ken Mullinax.
Magouirk's husband and only child, a son, are both deceased.
In her living will, Magouirk stated that fluids and nourishment were to be withheld only if she were either comatose or "vegetative," and she is neither. Nor is she terminally ill, which is generally a requirement for admission to a hospice.
According to Mullinax, his aunt's local cardiologist in LaGrange, Dr. James Brennan, and Dr. Raed Agel, a highly acclaimed cardiologist at the nationally renowned University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center, determined that her aortic dissection is contained and not life-threatening at the moment.
Mae Magourik - Good News Update
From Blogs for Terri:
BREAKING NEWS: Mae is out of the hospice
Just received telephone call (3:00 PM ET) from Ken Mullinax, nephew of Mae.
Terri saves another life!
Followed by this email:
THANKS TO THE SUPPORT OF ALL OF THE FRIENDS OF TERRI, MY AUNT MAE MAGOUIRK HAS BEEN AIR LIFTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA-BIRMINGHAM MEDICAL CENTER ... and receiving IV fluids, nourishment and some of the finest medical care available in the United States! Praise be the name of the Lord GOD... Thanks to Terri's friends... It would NEVER ever have been possible without bloggers who love life , and the truth!! I am racing from my home to UAB now and will type a detailed update after I see my Aunt Mae! Thanks guys, your calls, emails, blogs and prayers did it ALL!!! I so love you guys!!!!!!!!!! Ken Mullinax, nephew of Mae
-End email
at the beautiful Paramount Theater in St. Cloud..... Looking forward to it!!!
The Campaign For America's Future, a liberal advocacy group, plans to run ads in the Washington Times, which is widely read by Republicans in Congress, saying DeLay does not measure up to the ethical standards of Republican icons such as presidents Reagan and Eisenhower.It seems that the dems want to hold DeLay's feet to the fire for apparently playing cronyism with his wife and daughter.
"Republican House members can't duck from DeLay much longer," said Toby Chaudhuri, communications director for the group. "They must decide whether they stand with DeLay or with decency."
WASHINGTON — It was the kind of legislation that slips under the radar here.If Senator DeLay is going to be under the microscope, it would appear to be only fair that the Senate Minority Leader should be held up to a similar level of scrutiny. But when you're on a witch hunt, it would appear that petty issues such as fairness are irrelevant. As can be easily discerned from this website, when you are devoid of a positive message, and you can't win at the ballot box, I guess that the only thing left to do is attack, attack, attack.
The name alone made the eyes glaze over: "The Clark County Conservation of Public Land and Natural Resources Act of 2002." In a welter of technical jargon, it dealt with boundary shifts, land trades and other arcane matters — all in Nevada.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR THE RECORD
Lobbyists — A graphic accompanying an article in Monday's Section A on Nevada Sen. Harry Reid's lobbyist relatives incorrectly said that the University of Nevada at Reno paid $10,000 a month to the Lionel Sawyer & Collins law firm. In fact, the university paid the firm $40,000 in the last half of 2002, according to federal lobbyist reports.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As he introduced it, Nevada's senior U.S. senator, Democrat Harry Reid, assured colleagues that his bill was a bipartisan measure to protect the environment and help the economy in America's fastest-growing state.
What Reid did not explain was that the bill promised a cavalcade of benefits to real estate developers, corporations and local institutions that were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in lobbying fees to his sons' and son-in-law's firms, federal lobbyist reports show.
The Howard Hughes Corp. alone paid $300,000 to the tiny Washington consulting firm of son-in-law Steven Barringer to push a provision allowing the company to acquire 998 acres of federal land ripe for development in the exploding Las Vegas metropolitan area.
Barringer is listed in federal lobbyist reports as one of Hughes' representatives on the measure that his father-in-law introduced.
Other provisions were intended to benefit a real estate development headed by a senior partner in the Nevada law firm that employs all four of Reid's sons — by moving the right-of-way for a federal power-transmission line off his property and onto what had been protected federal wilderness.
The governments of three of Nevada's biggest cities — Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson — also gained from the legislation, which freed up tens of thousands of acres of federal land for development and annexation. All three were represented by Reid's family members who contacted his staff on their clients' behalf.
The Clark County land bill, which was approved in a late-night session just before Congress recessed in October, reflects a new twist in an old game: These days, when corporations and other interests want to cement a vital relationship with someone in Congress, they're likely to reach out to hire a member of the family.
Reid said he supported the bill because it was good for Nevada — and not because it helped his family's clients. And when it comes to lobbying relatives, he said, he has plenty of company.
"Lots of people have children, wives and stuff that work back here," he said. "It is not as if a lot of cash is changing hands."
Seeking favors is as old as the Capitol, but the new tendency to come at it from the side — through family members — may be a consequence of campaign-finance reform: As restrictions have tightened on traditional political giving, interest groups have cast about for new ways to ingratiate themselves.
Nothing strikes quite such a personal note as channeling fees or lucrative jobs to relatives — whether the relatives lobby Congress or perform other services. There are no restrictions. Neither House nor Senate rules bar the practice.
At least 17 senators and 11 members of the House have children, spouses or other close relatives who lobby or work as consultants, most in Washington, according to lobbyist reports, financial-disclosure forms and other state and federal records. Many are paid by clients who count on the related lawmaker for support.
But Harry Reid is in a class by himself. One of his sons and his son-in-law lobby in Washington for companies, trade groups and municipalities seeking Reid's help in the Senate. A second son has lobbied in Nevada for some of those same interests, and a third has represented a couple of them as a litigator.
(Martinez) said he had not read the one-page memo. He said he inadvertently passed it to Sen. Tom Harkin (news, bio, voting record) (D-Iowa), who had worked with him on the issue. After that, other Senate aides gave the memo to reporters for ABC News and The Washington Post.
Harkin said in an interview that Martinez handed him the memo on the Senate floor, in hopes of gaining his support for the bill giving federal courts jurisdiction in the Florida case in an effort to restore the Florida woman's feeding tube. "He said these were talking points -- something that we're working on here," Harkin said.
Assuming this is for real, it solves the mystery of where the "talking points memo" came from. It leaves open the question of why ABC and the Washington Post reported the memo the way they did. Mike Allen, the Post's reporter, has previously said that the memo came from a Democratic Senator who said he got it from a Republican Senator. That is consistent with the current AP account. But the story that Allen wrote with a Post colleague on March 19 is not consistent with the current version of the facts. On March 19, Allen wrote:AND...
Republican officials declared, in a memo that was supposed to be seen only by senators, that they believe the Schiavo case "is a great political issue" that could pay dividends with Christian conservatives, whose support is essential in midterm elections such as those coming up in 2006.
A one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators by party leaders, said the debate over Schiavo would appeal to the party's base, or core, supporters. The memo singled out Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record) (D-Fla.), who is up for reelection next year and is potentially vulnerable in a state President Bush won last year.
The latest story also confirms how absurd it was for ABC, the Post, and other news outlets to label the anonymous memo a "GOP talking points memo." We have no idea who the unidentified Martinez staffer is, but he apparently was not authorized to speak for his boss, and most certainly was not empowered to speak for the leadership of the Republican party. We'll try to track him down and get his story, but in the meantime, this story serves as an object lesson in how the mainstream media can take a dopey, one-page memo by an unknown staffer and use it to discredit the entire Republican party.
The Times surveyed all 44 Democrats and the chamber's one independent, and only one of them, Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, said through a spokeswoman that he saw it circulated on the Senate floor.
"He said that the memo was being circulated by Republican members on Thursday before we went out of session, and that is when he saw it," said his spokeswoman, Allison Dobson.
Two Democratic offices refused to respond — Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat — the latter even as he continued to accuse Republicans of being behind it.It seems ever since these guys started asking questions, I have yet to see a shred of evidence that it was actually put out by any republican staffers....
"We will not participate in the survey. News outlets have investigated and authenticated the memo was real and came from Republican sources. We have no further comment," said spokeswoman Tessa Hafen. "If you want more information on the memo, you should work on finding the Republican who wrote it."
She did not respond to a request to name the newspaper or network that had "authenticated" the memorandum.
Joe Shoemaker, a spokesman for Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said in several conversations over three days that his boss saw the memo on the floor.
Asked independently, however, Mr. Durbin said he never saw it.
"No, I did not see it," he said. "I heard about it reported on the news."
Asked about the discrepancy, Mr. Shoemaker later said that the senator's floor staff thought he had seen it. The staffers saw a "gaggle" of senators standing around discussing a document during floor debate, and Mr. Durbin walked over to them.
RNC.org:Meanwhile, in a parallel universe:
Morning Reads
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove says, "Private accounts must be part of any permanent Social Security fix ... expressing optimism Congress will end a partisan standoff and pass such a measure this year," according to a Bloomberg report....
DNC.org:
Meet Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), the man Republicans have chosen as their Majority Leader in the House of Representatives.
Tom DeLay is at the center of a bewildering array of investigations into corruption, abuse of power, and ethics violations.
Learn more in our DNC Special Report...
Rising TideAgain, to the DNC parallel universe:
We will be devoting our time and resources to doing everything we can to enact the President’s agenda. Our election victory was first and foremost a victory of ideas. American voters sent a clear message—they voted for the programs and policies set out by the President during the campaign, and voted for Republicans in Congress so they could get that agenda passed. But, President Bush, Speaker Dennis Hastert(R-IL) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) cannot accomplish this mission alone. They need our help once again.
The Bush Budget DisasterMeanwhile, back in the RNC's parallel universe:
Ordinary Americans are facing severe cuts if George Bush's new budget becomes law. Bush plans devastating cuts to America's top priorities, from homeland security to health care to education to benefits for veterans and much more. Despite these cuts, this budget is a fiscal disaster, with Bush's trademark irresponsibility pushing America deeper into the red with another record deficit.
How does the Bush budget disaster affect your state? Choose your state below to find out.(drop down menu)
Chairman Mehlman
Ken Mehlman has served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee since January 2005 and when he was elected presented four goals for his term as Chairman: Enact and articulate our reform agenda; Deepen and broaden the GOP so we’re growing our party; Work to elect the best candidates in 2005, 2006 and 2008; and, Institutionalize the grassroots focus.
The Republicans' risky plan to privatize Social Security will cut guaranteed benefits, require borrowing trillions of dollars from foreign countries like China and Japan, and turn our Social Security money over the same type of people that gave us the financial scandals of Enron, Global Crossing, and Tyco.Is anybody else recognizing a pattern here? In one parallel universe you have a positive upbeat message with a vision. In the other, vitriolic hyperbole. In one parallel universe, you see an agenda driven on ideas. In the other, an agenda driven on acrimony and division, with no accompanying clear vision other than to protect the status quo. In one parallel universe you have those who dare to dream. In the other, a den of as-if xenophobic naysayers, intent on stagnation for no other logical reason than out of spite. Not that I'm shedding any tears over this, mind you. The more the moveon.ogres and the current DNC leadership maintain their tantrum that they've been throwing since November of 2000, the more likely the GOP is to maintain their majorities in both houses and the presidency.
The American people have figured out that this will not benefit them - only 1/3 of them support what the President is trying to do.
The message is simple - you can't trust Republicans with your money. We need to stay strong on that message.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - One in five U.S. teenagers say they have engaged in oral sex, an activity that some adolescents view as not sex at all and certainly less risky than intercourse, a report released Monday said..
The survey of 580 children with a mean age of 14-1/2 found 20 percent said they had engaged in oral sex, compared to 14 percent who said they had engaged in sexual intercourse.
In addition, one-third of the multi-ethnic 9th graders surveyed said they intended to have oral sex within the next six months and nearly one-fourth planned to have intercourse during the period. It was more common for boys to have performed oral sex on girls than vice versa, the report said.
Previous studies and numerous campaigns aimed at deterring teenaged sex have focused on intercourse, but as many as half of adolescents experience oral sex first, the report said.
The risk of transmitting infections, including HIV, is significantly less with oral sex than with intercourse but is likely underestimated by teenagers, said the report in the journal Pediatrics.
This study was conducted in March, 1998. On January 26, 1998, President Clinton addressed the nation to quell rumors that he had had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. In a much-quoted statement, he said, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" (Shogren, Willman, & Cooper, 1998). By August, the press had reported details of the President's relationship with Ms. Lewinsky (Baker & Hams, 1998), including the fact that the two had engaged in oral sex (Broder, 1998; Janofsky & Van Natta, 1998). The national debate that arose as to whether oral sex was sex, and whether the President had been telling the truth when he denied having a sexual relationship with Ms. Lewinsky (Fisher, 1998; Kuczynski, 1998), received media attention in late 1998, when the President's lawyers argued that he did not perjure himself when he denied having a sexual relationship with Ms. Lewinsky because having oral sex does not constitute a sexual relationship (Gerstenzang & Shogren, 1998).(emphasis mine)
Not surprisingly, vaginal and anal intercourse were rated as more likely than oral intercourse to be considered sex. This finding is consistent with the results of Sanders and Reinisch (1999).
"To win back the White House in 2008, our party must change. We must be willing to discard political strategies that may make us feel good but that keep falling short. We must finally reject the false choice between exciting our base and expanding our appeal, because unless we both motivate and persuade, we'll lose every time," said DLC founder Al From and President Bruce Reed in a new manifesto for their party.
Steve Gilliard on the DLC (Democratic Leadership Council):
Al From: shut the f*ck up (edit mine)
Since everyone is going on about the DLC, I think I have the shortest essay possible on the subject.
They are losers. Al From is the political descendent of Pierre Laval.
Their 2002 was a disaster, and they backed the always pathetic Joe Lieberman for President, like he would have won one state.
So exactly why should we listen to them?
It's no longer 1992 and that's a long-ass losing record. They've been losing since 1994, so why the fuck do they think they have anything to bring to the table now?
[...]
I'll say this; there are no good folks at the DLC. Any more than there were kind people working for Petain. Unless they want to upend the organization, why are they still there?
F*ck these people. They're losers, big time losers and they act like they're the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1979. Al From is all too willing to betray the core principles of the Democratic Party because it doesn't make him a kingmaker anymore. If From wasn't an asshole, and his presence on the Journal's pages, or did he forget how Bob Bartley lied about Vince Foster, only proves it.
Look, the fact is that the Democratic Party is changing and the days of kingmakers like From is coming to an end. Howard Dean's candidacy for DNC chair should be like a slap in the face. Dean is hardly popular with the insiders, but the fact is Dean comes into the game with the most cards, including popular support. Al From couldn't get arrested in a Meetup. The fact that people care who the DNC chair is should matter. Vichyites like From represent no one but themselves. The fact that they think people still care about their opinions is amazing.
And it all boils down to this: they're losers.
As for the DLC, it's time to euthanize the organization (ed note: with events as of late, somehow that statement doesn't surprise me). Whatever role it may have played is spent. As of now, it's the single most divisive Dem-affiliated organization, refusing to play nice with others even in these desperate ABB times. As such, it deserves nothing but exclusion and ridicule.
"I think the party of Roosevelt became the party of Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11," said Panetta, the former chief of staff to President Clinton and head of the Panetta Institute. "There will be a real push to move the party more to the left and that would be a serious mistake because that's not where the country is.
Felos illustrates this power in his own life by describing an incident while on a plane during a time when he was engaged in a “right-to-die” case and had become very involved in the hospice movement. He pondered, “I wonder what it would be like to die right now?” and “indulged the thought by imagining the plane starting to lose it trajectory and descend.” The plane did, creating chaos in the cabin as people began to realize the plane was going to crash. “Needless to say, the juxtaposition of my imagined death and the possibility of a real demise heightened for me my different reactions. I assure you, my hubris in assuming that I would meet a life-ending crash with equanimity was not lost on me.” (181-182) The pilot later explained to the passengers that there was an unexplained problem with the auto pilot which caused the momentary descent. “At that instant a clear, distinctly independent and slightly stern voice said to me, ‘Be careful what you think. You are more powerful than you realize.’ In quick succession I was startled, humbled and blessed by God’s admonishment.” (182)
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said Schiavo not only was a daughter and a sister but "most importantly, an innocent person was penalized by a court system that grants convicted murderers fair treatment under the law, but not a woman whose only crime was not filing a living will."
He added: "The actions on the part of the Florida court and the U.S. Supreme Court are unconscionable. In California, Scott Peterson, a convicted murderer, was sentenced to death, yet his constitutional rights were upheld to ensure that he received due process and fair consideration in court. Terri Schiavo was given a death sentence, and passed away without the right to due process."
In a later conference call with reporters, Santorum said the courts had practiced nothing less than "judicial tyranny" in this case and took aim at those who say Congress overstepped its bounds.
"[This is] routinely done by the courts — deciding they are now a super-legislature," Santorum said. "I'm not sure if the press realizes how serious this conflict is between the branches of government and how gravely concerned members of Congress are with [the] kinds of judicial tyranny we've seen. ...
"This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (search) said Thursday after receiving news of Schiavo's death.
"The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today. Today we grieve, we pray, and we hope to God this fate never befalls another."
"This is almost a declaration of war from conservatives against the judiciary,"
Italian media gave contradictory reports about Pope John Paul's vital signs on Friday, first saying his heart and brain activity had stopped and then reporting this was not true... Developing...
