Another Incompetent Thug?

The WaPo had a story Friday about a probe into allegations which amount to incompetence of NASA Inspector General Robert W. Cobb.

Written complaints and supporting documents from at least 16 people have been given to investigators. They allege that Cobb, appointed by President Bush in 2002, suppressed investigations of wrongdoing within NASA, and abused and penalized his own investigators when they persisted in raising concerns.

It comes as no surprise he is a shrub appointee. This pres has a real knack for appointing imcompetents. This guy had never held an inspector post before this.

Its a good thing we have nothing to worry about. Cobb has said he will "cooperate fully" with the investigation and there will be an investigation into these allegations.

The complaints are being reviewed by the Integrity Committee of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency.

Oops, I spoke too soon. It seems the council in charge of the investigation belongs to the guy who appointed Cobb. We probably don't need another head on a pike anyway, right?

A Joke, Right?

If this is for real, it is a ridiculous marketing plan. This is an offering on Amazon. It is a downloadable (by computer) and readable (by computer) ebook.

Homeless Survival Guide, Ebook Edition [DOWNLOAD: ADOBE READER]

Iran Next? No. 3

Been a while since I've looked at this topic (here) and (here).

It appears Russia and China are quite concerned Iran will go ahead with uranium enrichment. If so, they expect a massive attack on Iran, initially by air from Isreal. These beliefs are based on war games they have conducted. Their war games then see retaliation by Iran against US naval ships and US-British ground forces in Iraq.

This is where it gets good.

If Iranian missiles have chemical warheads (in fact or presumed), the US will immediately use nuclear weapons to destroy the Iranian military and industrial infrastructure. If not, an air campaign of up to two weeks will prepare the ground campaign for the occupation of the Iranian oil and gas fields.

The fact is, US and British forces can quickly redeploy to Iran. This means being spread too thin in Iraq is not a factor. They will abandon the fight there and head for the newest "hot spot" just like they did when moving from Afganistan to Iraq.

In the SOTU address and other speeches, shrub has made it quite clear conservation is not an option. The American people want all the oil they need now and he will damn well see they have it.

Should anyone read this. Doubtful. When I said it "gets good" I was being ironic.

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Malpractice and medical costs

From shrub and his department of HHS:

“One of the major cost drivers in the delivery of health care are these junk and frivolous lawsuits.” He said rising malpractice insurance premiums and needless medical procedures ordered up out of fear of lawsuits cost federal taxpayers “at least” $28 billion a year in added costs to government medical programs. Shrub's Department of Health and Human Services claims total savings – public and private – of as much as $108 billion a year.

However, two other government agencies, the General Accounting Office [I love them -ed] and the Congressional Budget Office disagree. They doubt there are any significant savings to be had because there are no sound studies to prove such savings are possible. In one study, limited to a study of the cost of Caesarian sections in states with limits on lawsuits, compared to states without limits, the savings amounted to less than three-tenths of one percent.

The truth is, to be generous, shrub is making bold claims based on less than sound studies. These are studies too inadequate for use in policy making. To be less than generous, he is lying again. Lying to frighten voters into accepting another one of his stupid decisions. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying shrub wants to rape taxpayers by taking away a jury's right to award what it deems fair to an aggrieved patient, its just that...yes, I guess that is what I'm saying.

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No comment

Just read this short blurb on left i on the news.

Self Important much?

Don't think blogs make a difference? Well that's because you aren't familiar with this site which practically assured Alito or someone like him would become a Supreme.

If you think I'm joking, just take a look.

Yea!

As somebody who has publicly backed Alito as the best choice for the high court since way back in October of 2004, I take particular pleasure in this triumph. But without this site, we would right now be seeing the confirmation of some second-rater, made necessary by the defeat that Harriet Miers would have suffered by a combination of mean dems and principled GOPers, which would have weakened Bush too much to make a strong choice like Alito. Without this site, the pressure on Miers probably would not have been great enough to cause a withdrawal by that estimable lady. So congrats to Confirm Them, and congrats to Justice Alito!

State of the Union address

Many have and will comment more knowlegably and eloquently than I on this speech, but I will tackle a few things I've not seen covered.

In this decisive year, you and I will make choices that determine both the future and the character of our country.

Well, not really shrub. The character of our country has been determined and written down in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. You swore an oath to defend both and you aren't doing it.

And we do not forget the other half -- in places like Syria and Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea and Iran -- because the demands of justice and the peace of this world require their freedom as well.

To me this is shrub speak for, "Here is my short list of future invasions".

And, as we honor our brave troops, let us never forget the sacrifices of America's military families.

Unless your name is, oh I don't know, Cindy Sheehan?

Yet our greatness is not measured in power or luxuries, but by who we are and how we treat one another.

Unless your name is, oh, I think I have to go with Cindy Sheehan again on this one?

And now the leaders of Hamas must recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism and work for lasting peace.

BTW, while he's at it, he throws in a couple direct orders to Hamas. Guess ruling one country isn't enough. It is also a not too veiled threat as you will see shortly

The same is true of Iran, a nation now held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people. The regime in that country sponsors terrorists in the Palestinian territories and in Lebanon, and that must come to an end.

Damn! Shrub, you forgot to include Palestine and Lebanon on your short list earlier. Nice save.

In a dynamic world economy, we are seeing new competitors like China and India. And this creates uncertainty, which makes it easier to feed people's fears.

And you can bet the ranch shrub and other Republicans will feed you all the fears you can eat without vomiting. You just might want to stockpile beer for those feasts.

In the last five years, the tax relief you passed has left $880 billion in the hands of American workers, investors, small businesses and families.

Oh yes. Americans are fat and happy alright. Don't remember what I did with my share, but probably spent it on a bucket of KFC.

"By any way you measure it, Americans are poor savers," says Don Blandin, president of the Washington, D.C.-based American Savings Education Council. "More households are saying they're planning for retirement, but I have an uneasy feeling they're not saving enough.

[snip]

You're on the right road if you're contributing whatever you can to a retirement plan.

"That's good for those who can afford it," says Blandin. "But we need to look at the many Americans who are struggling paycheck to paycheck and need incentives to put something aside."

Hmmm, "paycheck to paycheck". Guess $880 billion just doesn't go as far as it used to. Americans don't save enough because they are struggling to stay housed, fed and warm.

I am pleased that the members of Congress are working on earmark reform, because the federal budget has too many special interest projects.

Now how in the hell did we end up with too many special interest projects? The K street Republican lobbiest couldn't be involved, right?

And we can tackle this problem together, if you pass the line-item veto.

Good thing someone wrote this down for him. He probably forgot, what with all the power grabbing that he'd overlooked the line-item veto. Nice tool to add to his collection. You just never know when some uppity Democrat is going to try to pass a little legislation by tacking it onto some important bill. That is, an important bill we all know shrub won't veto.

Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security...

It was great to see this sentence produce a standing O from Democrats.

We have entered a great ideological conflict we did nothing to invite.

Jesus! Shrub really believes this doesn't he?

I think I feel better now. Its always nice to vent.

(whole transcript here)

EFF suing AT&T over NSA

Damn! Just couldn't squeeze any more acronyms into that title.

This could be good. Unfortunately, a private organisation had to do this because our elected leaders won't.

EFF's Class-Action Lawsuit Against AT&T for Collaboration with Illegal Domestic Spying Program

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T on January 31, 2006, accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications.

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This little piggy...

Jesus, these guys are totally out of control.

The Environmental Protection Agency has signed agreements with 2,681 animal feeding operations in the egg, chicken, turkey, dairy and hog industries. They would be exempt from having to pay potential fines of up to $27,500 a day for violations either in the past or over the next four years.

Check out the rest of Wayne Uff's post. Also, don't miss Bad Attitudes daily.

Bad Attitudes

You can't trust parents

Little boy: Dad, will you remember me tomorrow?
Dad: Of course.
Little boy: Will you remember me next week?
Dad: Yes.
Little boy: Next month?
Dad: Yup.
Little boy: Next year? Two years? Three years?
Dad. Yes, yes and yes.
Little boy: ...Knock, knock.
Dad: Who's there?
Little boy: Aw, man! You forgot me already!

Too kewl...

Check out these store window displays in Japan. So wild.

Stay free

This guy is good. His is a moderate voice who intelligently looks at the world around him and gives his reasoned opinions. For example:

It is not Senators, Representatives, or the ever evasive Democratic Leadership, it is you, it is me, it is your teenager, it is your neighbor; it is our responsibility to keep freedom alive. Freedom is alive when we practice it. It is dead, not when someone legislaties it away, but when we simply stop practicing it.

He is spot on about this. If citizens insist on freedom, we all will have it. If we capitulate to government, we lose. And isn't it strange I even need to say such a thing about the US government which was built on freedom?

Tell me this. Are you afraid to write your government representatives? Particulary if they are Republicans and you disagree with them, do you fear they will no longer listen to you, at least, or you will be up for an IRS audit or they will start monitoring your IMs, email or phone calls?

Go Hawks!

GO SEAHAWKS!

This is good...

Am glad I found this. Good for a laugh.

No level to which we will not stoop?

This is abhorrent. We have no standards now? Shit, just quit pretending and blow the country to hell and wipe out all the people. Enough or this fucking with individuals.

U.S. Army Seized Wives as Tactic

Posted on Jan. 27, 2006

AP: The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of “leveraging” their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show.

In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family’s door telling him “to come get his wife.”

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Bad, bad Google...

This is a strange entry for the site I link to below, but ya gotta read it. Human rights are one thing. Operating a search engine in China is another. Google has no obligation to open up the internet to the Chinese, especially if the Chinese government doesn't want it to do so. Part of respecting others is to respect the rules/laws of other countries.

(please read more)

I stole this...

OK. I may not always be honest, but this post is stolen from Big Shot Bob in Texas. Too good to ignore.

Some Democratic Senators are Worried About "Looking Bad" Because Guys in the White House Who Should Be in Orange Jumpsuits and Handcuffed Say They Will? They are Up Against the Most Corrupt, Lying, Incompetent, Law Breaking Administration in Memory. And Some Dems are Worried About "Looking Bad" If They Stand Up for the Constitution. Such Dems are Gutless Wonders.

I don't know about you, but I can't vote for "Gutless Wonders". What do we pay these people to do, to cringe and whimper or to REPRESENT us? Stop this shit and stop this administration.

You don't want to know me

OK. Gonna drive some people away, but I can't help it.

I'm on SHOUTcast radio on Winamp. Listening to new country. Yes, country.
Am I the only one who knows what "new" country is? I often think so.

IT IS OLD TIME ROCK AND ROLL!!!!

Go back and listen to the music of the 50's and you'll see what I mean. Jesus, I not only admitted I like country, but I gave a hint about my age. Shit! Elvis, Buddy Holly, Buddy Rogers, Duane Eddy, Bill Haley & the Comets and the others all came from country music. Hell, even the Eagles and Beattles recorded very country tinged music and were fans of country artists.

For you music snobs [read Amanda, lol], I do enjoy all music except opera. Just can't take opera. I refuse to categorize music. Punk, New Wave, Trance, etc. Who gives a shit? I only refer to "country" earlier because it is a style most will recognise. The truth is, good music is good music.

MUST read

Simbaud does it again.