Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2008 > January > 10 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USDiplomats, donors, running mates
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
• The Bush economy is awful. An estimated 4,600 poor souls stood in line applying for the job of announcing the winning lottery numbers on television. It’s either the economy or evidence that good-paying jobs requiring no particular skills and not much work are always in demand.
• The U.S. needs a president willing to face down State Department diplomats and their union, just as Ronald Reagan did air traffic controllers. A survey by the American Foreign Service Association union finds that 48 percent of diplomats unwilling to serve in Iraq cite “disagreement” with administration policy as the reason. Some 70 percent object to unrequested duty in Iraq. If the diplomatic service is free to take leave of duty based on whether they like the boss or his policies, some serious housecleaning and retraining is needed.
• A fascinating case making its way through the courts involves a 1961 gift of $35 million, now grown to more than $900 million, to Princeton University by Charles and Marie Robertson to support the Woodrow Wilson School so that “men and women dedicated to public service may prepare themselves for careers in government service.” The Robinson heirs sued in 2002, contending the university misused the endowment, violating donor intent by funding unrelated activities and by diverting more than $100 million “to its own use and benefit.” It’s an important donor-intent suit. Princeton is invited here to use the endowment to train or retrain those in the State Department who have lost their bearings.
• Red-light cameras at one intersection in Roswell netted $1 million the first year. In the past nine months, two have netted $1.2 million for the city. One intersection got Marietta $1.7 million. If safety’s the justification, cities and counties should have no financial incentive for installing them. All money collected should go to the state.
• No real problem here with banishing criminals from one or several counties. But there are limits. Up this week before the Georgia Supreme Court was the question of whether a judge can banish a criminal defendant from all but one of Georgia’s 159 counties, as a judge in Douglas County did in banishing a man from every county except Toombs. “If you’re banished to one county, how do you get there?” asked Justice Harris Hines. Good question. As with the sex offender ban decided recently, there’s a reasonable application of the law. This isn’t it. The penalty, otherwise, could be incarceration plus loss of livelihood.
• My curiosity about the steady stream of Hispanics dropping canisters of coins into supermarket change-sorting machines may be answered. In apartment complexes and immigrant communities where “many residents don’t drive and cash is king, an underground marketplace has thrived,” reports the AJC’s Brian Feagans. That shadow economy features in-apartment “convenience stores” selling beer, snacks, batteries and the like.
• One driver of tax revision in Georgia is the belief that huge chunks of the economy escape taxation. See “shadow economy” above. The technical problem, however, with a shift to consumption taxes — which I favor — is the same as the problem with gun regulation. Yes, people use guns to commit crimes. And yes, the shadow economy escapes the sales tax. But in neither case is the answer higher and broader sales taxes or gun regulation, without evidence that the proposed solution actually addresses the problem — the shadow economy or the shootings at Virginia Tech, for example.
• John Kerry, turning on 2004 running mate John Edwards, endorses Barack Obama in South Carolina, a state Kerry lost. The endorsement likely gets him an e-mail list and nothing more. The more we see of Kerry and Edwards, the more we realize how blessed America was four years ago.
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By jbmlaw
January 11, 2008 8:06 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. The recession bottomed out in 2002, and the economy grew steadily until it slowed in the fourth quarter of 2007. Not bad. I do not like Ron Paul’s foreign policy proposals and will not vote for him under any circumstance, but I think he spoke good economic sense last night when he suggested that the weak dollar and the corresponding trade surplus are not good for the economy. Thus I disagree with those who would push interest rates lower by inflating the money supply. I would prefer to see the dollar defended, as the economy performs best, long-term, with stable currency.
The first initiative of President Jbmlaw will be to outsource all State department functions to an Indian telemarketing company. The second through eighth will be to shutter Education, Agriculture, HUD, Labor, Commerce, CIA, and FTC. While we are at it, let’s give some credit to the 2007 congressional democrats, who severely cut funding for the US Civil Rights Commission – not just a cut in their growth, but a true cut, and a true accomplishment. But seriously Jim, “Princeton is invited here to use the endowment to train or retrain those in the State Department who have lost their bearings.” Heck, why not just let Move On retrain them – you would get the same result at a lower cost. Now if you really want to “re-educate” the state department fairies, let’s send them to US Marine basic training.
I think Jim is on track with the red light cameras issue – if a policeman writes the ticket, funds go to the jurisdiction; otherwise all penalties ought to belong to the state, to avoid giving an incentive to “manufacture” of crimes.
I will respectfully disagree with Jim on banishment. I think it is seriously underused. That ought to be the penalty for all drug violations, all non-violent thefts, prostitution, and all of the other petty offenses that otherwise call for incarceration. Instead of lodging them on the taxpayer’s dime, move ‘em out.
Whenever my thoughts turn to people like John Kerry, John Edwards, Bill and Hillary Clinton, etc., I am reminded of an argument by an attorney-friend, “that God placed everyone and everything here for my personal amusement.”
By ron
January 11, 2008 8:23 AM | Link to this
Good morning Jim,The Bush economy isn’t that bad.Only ten thousand applied for the jobs at WalMart.They were just simply shocked.
Why stop at banning criminals to one county?Why not one house? I wouldn't want John Kerry to endorse me,that's like the kiss of death from the Mafia. Off subject to the new peace treaty in the Middle East.Fat chance Mr Bush.They may sign it for enough money,but the sparks will fly before the ink will dry. Red light cameras are like slot machines,they can be adjusted to keep any percentage of the take desired by management. Have a good day.By Mid-South Philosopher
January 11, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this
One way to begin the process of improving the State Department is to develop a true diplomatic corps and stop making Ambassadors out of “snots” who contribute large amounts to the campaigns of whoever is elected President.
I don’t like Red Light cameras. I guess they are needed, but I, by the Eternal, don’t have to like them!
I am all in favor of banishing criminals…to prison! Duh, it ain’t rocket science.
With regard to the continuing saga on tax reform, if we are not careful, the bumblers under the dome will give us higher sales taxes while the income and property taxes stay in place. NEVER trust a politician and NEVER, NEVER, NEVER re-elect one!
The more of see of the 2008 campaign, the more I am convinced that John McCain should have been elected President in 2000! I would like to be around in 100 years when Georgie Bush is ranked up there with the great Presidents…Harrison, Fillmore, and Harding.
By Producer
January 11, 2008 8:42 AM | Link to this
US diplomats agree when they are hired to serve at “the needs of the service.” The department tries to work with them in their assignments but the bottom line is that if they have no volunteers for a post, one will be chosen. Don’t like it? Don’t let the door hit you in the a** on the way out. The foreign service should not tolerate the behavior we have been seeing lately. And for those cowards who don’t want to serve in a war zone, they should be summarily fired if they don’t go if assigned. What role models! It makes me sick.
By Jim Wooten
January 11, 2008 8:44 AM | Link to this
Morning Phlosopher, ron, jbmlaw and others to come. Philosopher, you’re dead-on with the observation about tax reform under the Gold Dome. Opening one new avenue (a sales tax on services) while failing to close off another (income or property; I’d prefer income) is a guarantee that all will stay.
By Heywood Jablome
January 11, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this
All hail Producer, the Brave Typist who labels other people cowards for not wanting to go to a war zone. He’s looking for a few good role models.
There is probably a recruiting station nearby, Producer. They’ll be glad to have someone with your courage. But first..
—Heywood Jablome
By Anonymous
January 11, 2008 9:03 AM | Link to this
Wooten’s still whining about government employees having any rights, I see—such as the right to disagree with Fuhrer Bush.
Get it through your head, Jimmy… The President. Is Not. A KING.
Don’t worry, folks—he’ll remember that pretty fast once a Democrat takes office next year.
By GaVoter
January 11, 2008 9:05 AM | Link to this
“Don’t look into the light!” were the words of wisdom the daddy bear gave to baby bear.
Baby bear replied, “But it is so beautiful and wonderful. It will save us all! It’s so magical and great.”
Daddy bear, looking bewildered, turned to baby bear and asked, “Where did you learn these words? Who told you these things?”
“The man operating the light, Daddy”, said baby bear.
By Dennis
January 11, 2008 9:07 AM | Link to this
Mr. Wooten writes, “Some 70 percent object to unrequested duty in Iraq. If the diplomatic service is free to take leave of duty based on whether they like the boss or his policies, some serious housecleaning and retraining is needed.”
Not everyone is willing to be a member of the mule herd, Mr. Wooten. For example, your boy, George W. Bush dodged Vietnam. And I am willing to admit so did Dick Cheney dodge the military.
And as I am willing to admit so did also Bill Clinton, I don’t think you are willing to admit to Bush and Cheney, not any time soon if at all.
You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
By Diogenes
January 11, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this
Good morning, Jim,
Saw your comments about Bush and the State Department. Wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier and make a lot more sense if we just got a President who can make intelligent foreign policy, one with principles as strong as those of the diplomats?
By Corky Cobb
January 11, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this
Unrequested duty? 70% object? Thats not bad.
Jim has not once asked his own readers to support the “war on terror” by enlisting.” Jim has not once called for a tax to pay for the war.
In fact one of the regulars here once said it wouldn’t be fair to his soon to be wife if he enlisted. It was not “Marine-Jeff” she knew.
Jim so far your readers are at 100%!
100% object to “unrequested service.”
Another one of your war eligible patriots said he was doing his duty by relaxing in his jacuzzi sipping wine and blogging support for the troops!
The threat is real right?
Now we have the Iranians to deal with too. You know what that means…..
ENLIST
By getalife
January 11, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this
Wow, I guess nobody watched the debate last night.
rudy is out of money and they said fred won last night but he will drop out like rudy.
By Redneck Convert
January 11, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this
Well, I got a ticket in the mail on account of that red light camera in Roswell. That Vermont yankee that slowed down in the innersection and then give me the finger when I was caught in the middle really done me in. They were good pictures though. I guess its a cheap 75 bucks for the city. No cop, just a bill. I would trade a 41 cent stamp for mailing the ticket for 75 bucks any day.
Those state department people that don’t want to go to Iraq is just Traders. They don’t support My President and they don’t support the war. I hope Sister Dusty will give them a piece of her mind. She calls everybody Traders. I don’t want her to give the people a big piece of her mind though, there ain’t too much there to start with.
I hope nobody lets the politicans get buy with raising taxes. If they have their way you will be paying big sales taxes on top of property taxes. Maybe somebody will innerduce a law that gives all of us big tax breaks, like they done for old Sonny. Then we can all claim we didn’t know nothing about it.
Well, I got the day off. I went to the warehouse this morning like always and the boss said his boss would be visiting. Said he didn’t need me around there right then and I should go home. I was awful thankful. It just goes to show you can get rewarded if you work hard enough.
Have a good day everybody.
By jbmlaw
January 11, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this
Hey Jim Wooten, I’m way off topic, but thought you would get a laugh. Last night at Kroger, Mrs. jbmlaw asked me why the cost of eggs had doubled. When I told her it was because our congressional overlords were compelling taxpayers to subsidize production of ethanol to burn it cars, she initially thought I was joking. After following the Wooten chain of argument – and when she thought about what chickens eat - she got it.
By JK
January 11, 2008 10:08 AM | Link to this
Corky, that’s not fair. Mr. Wooten spoke to the Buckhead Young Republicans last year — they LOVE him! — and spent the whole hour encouraging them to support this President and America’s war by giving up their self-serving yuppie pursuits and enlisting. Actions count; words are cowardly and cheap, he told them. Isn’t that right, Mr. Wooten? That IS what you told them, isn’t it? The video is on the website… Let’s all go watch it again.
By Producer
January 11, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
Hey Heywood, Your namesake is almost the perfect reply I have for you, pal. I’m already overseas in a high threat post. I walk the walk, dude, which is more than I’m sure you’ve ever done. If my foreign service cooleagues are to scared to go where they are needed, the fire them. Period.
By getalife
January 11, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
The best part about last night’s debate was when Hume asked the candidates to attack the Iranian speedboats. They all said no but it was Ron Paul who told the truth about our government backtracking on their claim after Iran showed their video.
Then he scolded the gop for warmongering on Iran and called it insane. Isn’t it great to have Ron Paul in these debates?
Only fools like the ignorant base trusts our government after Vietnam and Iraq.
By The Prophet
January 11, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this
The red light camera I went past was broken or something. The pictures I got in the mail were actually police sketch artist renderings of the violation. It didn’t even look like my camry.
By gafarmer
January 11, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this
A by product of ethanol is dryed distillers grain(ddg), an excellent processed animal feed. Just add protein, pelletize, and feed. There is a larger pile of chicken feed than ever before.
Market forces are at work instead of farm programs.
jbmlaw, you usually hit closer to the mark. Increased energy and labor costs are increasing the price of most food products more than feed costs.
By JimGetsDumberEveryday
January 11, 2008 10:20 AM | Link to this
And what about all the lily white folks that I see dropping canisters of coins in the Coinstar at the East Cobb Kroger, moron? Jim, you are getting as bad as that idiot Lou Dobbs. You so desperately detest anything darker white bread that now dropping coins in Coinstar is some immigrant plot against your Aryan nation. Jim you are sick.
By Producer
January 11, 2008 10:20 AM | Link to this
Back at you, Heywood. I’ALREADY overseas in a high threat post risking my neck everyday which is more than you can probably say about your own contributions to anything to do with the safety of this country. I walk the walk, pal. I was waiting for a typical reply like you provided. Didn’t take long. I’m sure your dazzling exploits of service to country would make us all gasp. I won’t hold my breath on that one. I’ll say it again, if my foreign service colleagues don’t want to serve where they are needed fire them. Period.
By Heywood Jablome
January 11, 2008 10:23 AM | Link to this
Is Producer lying? (on a blog!?!?! I’m shocked, shocked!) Or maybe he really is a double naught secret agent bedding Euro supermodels every night, in which case he is using government resources to blog here at the Wooten Klan gathering.
I am sick and tired of lazy government employees suckling at the teat of my tax dollars when they should be doing something productive. Producer, my a@s.
yo, “Produuucer”
—Heywood Jablome
By Jack
January 11, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this
Wonder how many wrecks occur when someone locks up their brakes to keep from getting their picture taken and they get rear-ended? Definite cash cow for the jurisdiction the lights serve.
By OneForTheRoad
January 11, 2008 10:26 AM | Link to this
Only 4600 people standing in line for a shot at the lottery — job that is. We all know the lines are much longer at the ticket window. What about those 10000 people standing in line for a shot at one of 400 jobs. Now that beats the lottery odds any day of the week. I don’t know about elsewhere in the country, but the area around that WalMart is booming — the employment rate just jumped to 4%. All they need is another 24 WalMarts. Once they all start bringing home a paycheck, it’ll be GREAT to finally start collecting some taxes off the bums. If I worked for the government, I’d sure be looking forward to that day — taxpayers don’t grow on trees you know.
By Producer
January 11, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this
Great reply, Heywood. Truly dizzying intellect. It’s time for you to go back to watching porno movies and eating Cheetos!
By TrueStuff
January 11, 2008 10:44 AM | Link to this
Does anyone else here see the correlation between the Bush administrations time in office and the rise of this “surveillance” society that we live in today? The Bush/Cheney administration has been the greatest threat to freedom and liberty in this country in the history of this republic. These redlight cameras are only one sympton of a society that is losing it’s individual freedoms at warp speed.
By Heywood Jablome
January 11, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this
Oh, snap, Producer. You must be a double naught spy with that super sharp wit.
Still wasting taxpayer dollars, I see. Or are you just taking up space in mommy’s basement?
—Heywood Jablome (again. the first time was so good)
By MissionImp
January 11, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this
Jim,
Here’s your mission should you choose to accept it. Please note that you may have to upgrade your audio-visual feedback device to TrashPlayer V.5.0.0.1 in order to fully experience your mission parameters.
The agency has been monitoring some 70% of State Department employees for several years now and have uncovered a plot of insubordination. We believe this plot can be successfully thwarted by removing their ring leader from his office. Your mission, Jim, is to find this ring leader and remove him from his office. As usual, this device along with all upgrades will self-destruct in 30 seconds. Good Luck.
By JimAin'tAProducer
January 11, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this
Retire Wooten. Get a real job at Walmart. How nice it must be to produce nothing other than a place for a bunch of redneck, nativist, xenophobic bigots to waste their days producing nothing. Producers my a*.
By jbmlaw
January 11, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
Dear GaFarmer @ 10:18, amazing, the price of corn goes up and the price of chicken feed goes down? Does not sound real to me, but I don’t know better. Reminds me of a story my father tells, of the time granddaddy bought spent corn from the Jack Daniels distillery to slop the hogs. Daddy swears the hogs were drunk all afternoon. Only “supposedly” denatured.
By jbmlaw
January 11, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this
Dear JAAP @ 11:01, have you noticed that leftists never post ideas here, just a lot of name-calling?
By Heywood Jablome
January 11, 2008 11:18 AM | Link to this
jbm wouldn’t recognize an idea if it bit his shrivelled nutsack and spit in his eye, though that is certainly an idea I would support wholeheartedly. But if something appears on the WSJ op page, it magically becomes gospel truth, which then transforms in jbm’s raisin brain into an original idea from a free thinking libertarian.
Let’s save jbm the trouble of reply: “Heywood demonstrates my point exactly.” Oh snap, jbm…
Let’s try an idea on for size. Wall Street ran up the market yesterday (if by “run up” one means pitifully striving the recover some of the 1300 points lost in the past few months…heckuva job, Bushie) in the wake of Bernanke’s indication that he would drop rates again. But real economists like this guy point out that the effects of the housing bubble may too deep for this strategy to correct. Discuss.
Let’s try another. Real growth in jobs and wages in the original EU nations has outperformed the US Economy for the entirety of the Bush Administration, this despite the presence of a real social safety net, universal health care, and a sunbstantially higher real tax rate. Discuss.
Maybe those are too tough. Here’s another idea, jbm…
—Heywood Jablome
By chuck
January 11, 2008 11:20 AM | Link to this
Fire their sorry butts.
As usual you got it exactly wrong anonymous. While it is true that the President is not a “king”, he is the BOSS. When you get a paycheck…assuming you get a job one day…even YOU will have to do what your boss tells you to do. One of the biggest problems we have with productivity in this country (and it is especially rampant across western Europe) is that too many people think (or fail to) like you. Yes, workers have “rights”. THEY DO NOT, however, have the right to determine where they will work or when they will work. That falls under the authority of the EMPLOYER. Career diplomats know that going in. If they refuse to do their jobs they should be fired.
By Glenn
January 11, 2008 11:20 AM | Link to this
getaclue,
Rudy isn’t out of money, and has not dropped out. He debated late into the night last night. Odd, then, that Kos should bring you the news this morning that he has dropped out. Watch Florida, numb one.
Rudy wears both his flaws and his plans on his sleeve. He’s said that his polling shows that Republicans care most about national security. He’s said that he plans to give them what they want. He’s said that he fears Romney more than any other candidate of either party, and Romney’s money more than Romney. He’s said that he intends to keep his powder dry for Florida while letting Romney make the mistake of spreading his money liberally and roughly evenly across every battleground state.
Rudy is doing what he said he’d do. Romney is doing what Rudy said he’d do. They have a rendezvous in Florida.
[Giuliani Thompson 08]
P.S. Mimesis: producer or no, don’t you think that production is a mite overrated in this country at this time? Certainly there is no question that in the field of education it is detrimentally over-privileged. Then again, the major historical development of our time is the explosion of the means of “communication”, with its corresponding dearth of content. Maybe that’s why we make an idol of production, in a weird postindustrial way.
By Dusty
January 11, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this
Hmmm not much news here this morning.
Anonymous is calling the president a “Fruher” and King because diplomats want to “work” at a pleasant place of their choice. I say send these diplomats to WalMart where Anonymous works.
Middie South Phil is still calling the President “Georgie”as in Porgie Puddin’ Pie. Could Phil be a “die-hard” lib by any chance?
RedNeck gets a ticket for running red lights in Roswell. If we are lucky, they will put him in jail.
GaFarmer gets a reprimand from Alcohol Anonymous for feeding chickens with drunken ethanol chicken food. Happy chickens object.
Producer admits that he is either V. Plame or James Bond. HeyWoodie has not decided which.
Heywoodie Jablome has now been “waterboarded” and confessed that he is PoFo trying to win a trip to the sunny shores of Guantanamo.
JGDED@10:20…. This guy hates white bread, brown bread, pumpernickle, French bread, Italian and Russian black bread. He is toast! Feed that baby some oatmeal and cod liver oil. Maybe he will develop a heart.
Well, I will be back later when things have picked up a bit.
By Justine
January 11, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this
I disagree that all money collected from red light violations should go to the state. The County or city where the camera is installed should keep the money. However, they should be mandated to give it to police officers in the form of salary and other benefits and only to police and not into the general fund. Perhaps then we can have a better quality of police officers and they will stay longer.
By Glenn
January 11, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this
Jim, that’s a fun treatment of the Princeton embezzlement in the context of the Diplomatic Corps’ treason (in this case, the deliberate violation of their oath to serve the Constitution that requires their subordination to the People’s Commander-in-Chief). The Princeton case is closely watched because it is terrorizing the other schools that have done what Princeton’s done and worse.
There’s some kind of entropic political economy that applies to the misspending of academic bequests in reverse chronological proximity to the benefactor’s death. (Now all I have to do is sit back and watch how a jurist will put this cumbersome observation into plain English.)
By Bubba Li Cious
January 11, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this
Well, I guess them diplomats are gonna have to pack their bags and get on over to Baghdad after all. Yep, I remember over-hearing one of em saying “It’ll be a cold day in hel…..well, I think you know the rest of the story.
By jbmlaw
January 11, 2008 11:44 AM | Link to this
Dear GaFarmer @ 10:18, a follow up. Your totally plausible explanation for the rise in the cost of eggs is (1) energy costs, and (2) labor. That makes sense, because other than the cost of feed, those are the only real variables in the costs.
I totally understand the energy, I have heard of the unreal air conditioning, heating, and lighting bills associated with chicken coops. While natural gas has been stable, electricity and oil have gone up, so I buy that portion.
The “labor” has me intrigued. I see two possibilities: (a) Minimum wage increase, although not theoretically applicable to farmers, led the hired help to seek city jobs; and (b) Harassment of our undocumented friends have led many to leave the industry, thus compelling egg farmers to bid higher for labor. Thus government interference in free market is still causative?
By jbmlaw
January 11, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this
Haymoron @ 11:18, do you ever post an idea? All we ever see from you are epithets - you know, the typical leftist mentality. Do better. Read your name.
By Deeply Messed Up Server Today
January 11, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this
Very deeply messed up.
By jbmlaw
January 11, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this
Dear Haywood @ 11:18, the EU growth has all been in Ireland, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia – the relatively free, low tax states, not the welfare cases of Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Using the usual leftist collectivization technique, you bury the truth by failing to tease out the cause. Learn to think.
By f@t @ss
January 11, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this
Like Wooten and his monkeys, this blog keeps insisting on retreating back in time. Then it begrudgingly returns to the present, only to quail at reality before scurrying back to old times that are not forgotten.
By Bubba Li Cious
January 11, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this
Well, it looks like them diplomats are gonna have to pack them bags and head off to Baghdad after all. Yep, I remember hearin one of talkin just the other day. Yep, he was sayin that it would be a cold day in hel….well, you know the rest of that story. From that picture, you’d think them Iroquois didn’t even know what snow was.
By Jack
January 11, 2008 12:03 PM | Link to this
“bootleg” stores have been around for years. Where do you think we get our beer on Sunday?
By jbmlaw
January 11, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this
Dear Jab @ 11:18, your brainless screed about the WSJ brings to mind today’s big news: “Lots of people on the right think that the liberal group MoveOn.org is a joke. Well, now they’ll have a bit more ammo in their argument.
The powerful liberal activist group has wooed Peter Koechley away from the satirical newspaper The Onion, where he was managing editor.” http://www.examiner.com/blogs/YeasandNays/2008/1/11/MoveOnorg-peels-editor-off-of-satirical-Onion-paper
By Anonymous
January 11, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this
The more we see of Kerry and Edwards, the more America realizes how badly we screwed up in 2004.
Just imagine—a country that still had the respect of the world and a few trillion dollars (not to mention a few thousand lives) NOT blown away in the Iraq Debacle.
By chuck
January 11, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this
Of course they should fire their sorry butts. As usual, ANUSYMOUS, you got it wrong. While workers certainly have some right, they DO NOT have the right to choose where they work within the agency or when they work. That is the authority of THE BOSS. While the President is not a KING, he IS the BOSS (no, not Bruce Springfield). Career diplomats know that when they sign on for this job. They do have the right to choose to NO LONGER WORK for the State Department, but if they decide to stay they give up the “right” to choose WHERE THEY WORK.
That is one reason why the level of productivity, especially across Western Europe, sucks. Too, many emploYEES have gotten the idea that they are the emploYERS. One day when you get a paycheck…assuming you can get a job when you get out of high school…you may understand this concept.
@JimAintAProducer…which one of those are YOU?
By jbmlaw
January 11, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this
Dear Anonymous @ 12:05, you may be onto something. Because the US re-elected president Bush, both Germany and France turned away from the socialists and elected their conservatives. I suppose that is your proof that the world does not respect the US, since they emulated us. (That is not a vulgar verb, although Haywood probably thinks it is.) As to the few thousand lives, you seemingly labor under the delusion that Saddam was not killing people faster. Take heart – the surge worked. Only leftists do not yet realize that truth.
By Profit
January 11, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this
But JIIIM, what about your un requited luv affair with Babbs? Don’t you want to share with us?
By Profit
January 11, 2008 12:50 PM | Link to this
The Clintons will tell any lie, betray any friend, to gain and keep power. Power for power’s sake is what drives this corrupt, EVIL couple. Read this quote from the young jewish intern who was seduced and soiled by the President of the United States in the Oval Office on the Great Seal of the United States.
“After Clinton’s autobiography My Life appeared in 2004, Lewinsky said in an interview with the British tabloid Daily Mail:”
“He could have made it right with the book, but he hasn’t. He is a revisionist of history. He has lied. (…) I really didn’t expect him to go into detail about our relationship (…) But if he had and he’d done it honestly, I wouldn’t have minded…. I did, though, at least expect him to correct the false statements he made when he was trying to protect the Presidency. Instead, he talked about it as though I had laid it all out there for the taking. I was the buffet and he just couldn’t resist the dessert. (…) That’s not how it was. This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. … I don’t accept that he had to completely desecrate my character.”
A man of honor would have taken full responsibility for the moletation of a young woman only a few years out of childhood. There was more than a 20 years age difference, an infinite gap in power, yet this blow job obtained under color of authority is blamed on the young woman.
By getalife
January 11, 2008 12:52 PM | Link to this
So, it turns out the so called patriotic phone companies (as Patriotic as crusty) that spy on us illegally have cut off their service due to non payment.
w wants immunity for these telecom companies like AT&T.
This is how the gop govern. No accountability. Why people vote for these criminals is beyond me.
By Profit
January 11, 2008 12:54 PM | Link to this
Heywood Jablome - mom, i want a euro super model in my bed too.
By Profit
January 11, 2008 1:03 PM | Link to this
Under my plan for dealing with peak oil, America will become a feudalistic society, women will return to their rightful places as chattel, and Hillary will be relegated to the kitchen where the only chore she can be trusted with is pealing potatoes. Get use to it, girls
By Profit
January 11, 2008 1:10 PM | Link to this
Well, I know what is wrong with the server today, its my bad: I set Jim off on another crying jag over Babbs, and he is now uploading his 10,000 unmailed luv letters to Babbs onto the server and trying to email them to Babb’s and her 10,000 dearest pals.
By The Prophet
January 11, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this
A red light camera is actually just an overachieving yield sign.
I am the prophet. I know all. I see all.
By The Prophet
January 11, 2008 1:25 PM | Link to this
The red light camera I went through was broken or something. The pictures the cops sent me were police sketch artist’s renditions of the violation. It didn’t even look like my camry.
Seriously, It’s a good thing the cops dont even look at the pictures at all. The photo of my red light violation showed a beer can flying from my window.
I guess if you had to tape off the crime scene you’d have a trail of yellow tape from the red light to your garage.
By Heywood Jablome
January 11, 2008 2:14 PM | Link to this
Yep, that surge brought Iraq right back to where they were….two years ago. But don’t worry, I’m sure in another 3-6 months, the Administration will announce that it will only be another 3-6 months before, well, before they announce another 3-6 month timeline.
jesus, jbm, how do you ever find the stones to insult someone else’s intelligence? you are a gullible moron.
btw, a pithy, but non-factual, dismissal of ONE of my ideas posted earlier. I guess dealing with one new idea left you knackered, even if your counter was bullhockey. Hey, I imagine making $hit up is hard work, but you should be in better practice that all that.
glad you figured out how to say my name. twerp.
—Heywood Jablome
By Jackie
January 11, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this
A brigade os US Marines - roughly 3200 people - is to be deployed to Afghanistan for the expected spring Taliban offensive. Musharaff has issued a warning to the USA not to cross over into soverign territory or there will be consequences. Dubya is still doing the bidding of Israel in trying to make a big fuss about the Straits of Hormuz, as if this has not happened before and there has always been a territorial dispute about the international waters. The economy is falling apart; notice how the price of gold keeps going up dramatically. The stock market is taking a beating and the possibility of more than 2 million families losing their homes this year is daunting. We are in a cauldron and the driver of this bus is the regime of Dubya. Will he blame the policies of Bill Clinton for his failures. Impeach these criminals.
By ron
January 11, 2008 2:24 PM | Link to this
Ladies and gentlemen,I just dropped a wee dram of Laphroaig in on a small ice cube and I think I'll let that be the end of the day.It's time to unwind from a hard week of retirement.On the go day and night,never having a weekend off.I should go back to work so I can rest up.By Jackie
January 11, 2008 2:28 PM | Link to this
News reports from the Pentagon concerning the Straits of Hormuz incident. “The Pentagon said yesterday that the apparent radio threat to bomb U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf last weekend may not have come from the five Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboats that approached them — and may not even have been intended against U.S. targets.
The communication Sunday was made on radio channel 16, a common marine frequency used by ships and others in the region. “It could have been a threat aimed at some other nation or a myriad of other things,” said Rear Adm. Frank Thorp IV, a spokesman for the Navy.” Dubya is doing his bidding for Israel and trying to keep the American electorate afraid to help the Repubs get elected.
By Heywood Jablome
January 11, 2008 2:32 PM | Link to this
Here’s another idea (multi-part) to consider.
The Libertarian mindset believes that economic regulatory activity is de facto a bad thing. Markets work best when left unfettered. I believe even jbm will accept that statement as an accurate description if idiotarian dogma.
Add to this jbm’s observation that the economy did quite nicely for several year’s of Bush’s reign. However, many analysts believe that much of the growth measured in those years derived from the hyper-heated housing market, which is currently dragging down vast swaths of the economy. (Even Bernanke’s promise of a rate cut boosted things for just a day. That was idea # 2 to look at earlier, jbm, before you took your crankytime nap.)
So, to tie this in a bow…the economy surged, albeit artificially and unsustainably, on the backs of the housing market, which was fueled largely by the utter lack of regulatory oversight into the subprime and “creative” lending industries.
Proposed: Lack of economic regulatory activity during the go-go years of the housing boom are a primary cause of the current economic crisis.
Discuss. And jbm…play fair this time and don’t make up a bunch of $hit out of thin air.
Damn, a liberal posts another idea. and jbm
—Heywood Jablome
By Glenn
January 11, 2008 2:43 PM | Link to this
ron you dirty sonofabuzzard, rubbing it in like that @ 2:24.
By Curious Observer
January 11, 2008 2:45 PM | Link to this
Yo, Heywood,
Don’t expect a sensible response from jbmlaw. This is the guy who honestly believes that we could get rid of all federal departments except for defense and thereby thrive. Just resign yourself to reading daily I-got-mine-and-lotsa-luck-suckers screeds from him.
By Heywood Jablome
January 11, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this
Point taken, Curious…
While we wait for jbm to google some arguments to post here, perhaps we could also delve into the “efficiencies” Big Pharma discovered when they were allowed to conduct and publish (or withhold) their own safety and effectiveness tests while the FDA played with their rubber stamps. Another fine example of the invisible hand at work.
hey idiotarians
—Heywood Jablome
By Conscience of the nation
January 11, 2008 3:12 PM | Link to this
“The Bush economy is awful”. At least Wooten got something “right” for a change. America was cursed when Bush and his gang of thugs were reelected. At least Rove and most of his posse have left DC in disgrace. Lead on, you fabulous lame duck! You had control of both houses, carte blanche to do whatever you pleased, and you blew it!
By Glenn
January 11, 2008 3:19 PM | Link to this
another brainless screed from the realm of brainless screeds…
The Costa-Gavras psychosis that’s set in —- and the astute link to the filmmaker was made by the “brainless” jbm —- is partly anchored in reality, but that wouldn’t be the surreal DNC narrative of government workers listening in on my racy conversations with Suzy in Kentucky, as that kind of eavesdropping neither happens nor is alleged in court to have happened.
What has happened is that the giant switching company used by our telecom providers opened its computers to NSA’s, in search of foreign communications answering to pre-programmed descriptions cleared in advance with the Bench per the Patriot Act. The two separate legal questions at issue are whether the middle-man company breached privacy and whether NSA exceeded its legal authority over the Act or else through its legal but un-contemplated actions revealed the Act to be either unconstitutionally vague or unconstitutionally overbroad. In short, whether it was the private company, the NSA, the reviewing jurists, the authors of the Act itself, or no one who overstepped. The President, the Department of Justice and the Judiciary are not yet sure who if anyone overstepped, and are most uncertain that the switching company had any choice in the matter, and that is why the President contemplates a pardon for the company. Such a pardon would not wave away the issue, as it would leave nothing but federal entities in the dock and would shift the focus entirely to the feds.
There isn’t anything in this story that makes me other than sadly reassured, as we all were after Watergate, that at least some of our protections against overweaning government are still in place, insofar as the oversight and corrective functions in that regard still operate as intended. So what’s the factual basis of the Costa-Gavras psychosis to which the strange bedfellows jbm and PoFo alike refer?
I think our paranoia isn’t paranoia when it contemplates the countless intrusions and invasions made possible by the explosion of telecommunications over the past roughly 15 years. As we have grown tired of reminding ourselves, the new means of “communication” are tools, equally useful for good or ill. The paranoia-that-isn’t-paranoia probably comes into play when we are reminded with increasing frequency that the tools can be and are being used for ill, by parties both private and governmental, both foreign and domestic, and in ever more departments of our lives.
This isn’t Al Gore’s fault, or Bill Clinton’s or GHWB’s or W’s fault, or the fault of Steve Wozniak or Bill Gates or AT&T or [D]ARPA or the Energy Labs. It’s a historic, global development, as witness its embrace by Al Qaeda.
An unwelcome personal note. I genuinely and erroneously expected our presidential candidates to put this issue very near the top of the electoral agenda, and in recent years advised politicians to expect this development that has not materialized. I was wrong to trust the candidates in this way, and they are even more wrong not to trust us.
By @@
January 11, 2008 3:28 PM | Link to this
Get outta here Jim—people get paid to watch ping pong balls drop? 4600 waited in line for the job? Are they looking for wealth through osmosis or what.
So Roswell is a red light district. City Hall must be the big bordello.
By Glenn
January 11, 2008 3:28 PM | Link to this
get, yes the telecom thing is spooky from top to bottom, but I recommend that to ease your spooked state you get your friend to admit that AT&T didn’t do the re-routing, because AT&T’s traffic is routed through NeuStar, which did the re-routing per orders from NSA. (Still spooky, but a little less so.)
By getalife
January 11, 2008 3:35 PM | Link to this
Yeah, they are lining up at Wal Mart for a job but by all means, vote gop to stay this course Ga.
$900 per ounce for gold.
Yahoo.
By Glenn
January 11, 2008 3:35 PM | Link to this
Heywood,
More please on FDA letting Pharma run its own clinicals.
By Glenn
January 11, 2008 3:54 PM | Link to this
@@,
Yeah, and the red light in question is right down the street from my own First Church, Bromidical of Roswell. It’s a slip-up on Jim’s part —- doncha think? —- that he should want to money to e-volve to the State to keep the locals from mischief? There are much better ways to tie the hands of the locals, so as to put the money to good use, than to invite even greater bureaucratic and Statehouse mischief.
Fat A*******isis @ 11;53,
Which are the “old times” to which we conservatives keep retreating? I’m curious to learn whether I have company, as I keep retreating, as ever, to the early 12th Century.
By Apocalypse
January 11, 2008 3:56 PM | Link to this
getalife,
Allow me to answer your question from Luck’s:
You know who I am. I’m the one you fear the most.
I don’t have to Id jack or wank or whatever anybody.
Obama in November! Get with the program gayboy!
By commonsense
January 11, 2008 4:06 PM | Link to this
For you folks who seem to have such a problem with the red light camera’s here is a simple solution. Don’t run red lights!!!
By Glenn
January 11, 2008 4:07 PM | Link to this
Hey get, you’re for Obama? Cool!
By Redneck Convert
January 11, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this
Well, I wouldn’t be running red lights if they stopped making the lights change when I’m in a big hurry. They are all against me. The red lights are suppose to catch the crooks and reckless kids and people like that, not god-fearing folk like me.
I see the Rev. Huckabee has a big lead in GA. I might of knowed the white conservative church-going folk in GA would know how to vote Right. Guess he’s as good as elected now.
By GaVoter
January 11, 2008 5:03 PM | Link to this
Jim,
I must admit that your choice of court case to highlight this time around should pose more of a challenge for a judge’s grey matter. There may even be a few synapses firing — which would be saying more than one could say about the [voting] rights, for example, of the dead. What decision would those dearly departed have made regarding expenditures that are outside the realm of their [original] intent?
By Jackie
January 11, 2008 5:14 PM | Link to this
Rudy has asked his staff to work as volunteers, i.e., no pay. Are the Repubs running out of money to fund their primary campaign efforts?
By GaVoter
January 11, 2008 5:23 PM | Link to this
Well, those people cashing in all those coins better watch out. There won’t be any free ride once Huckabee and Richardson take care of all the loopholes in the tax collection industry. There will be printed on those machines, in no less than two languages, “Coin Exchange Service. There will be a 46% tax withheld from your gross proceeds.”
By Camus
January 11, 2008 5:38 PM | Link to this
Glenn
Your man Rudy looks like one of the famous Falling Wallendas today.
Top staff is going without pay. One Florida poll puts him down 8 points to St John, and another has him in fourth place (and though I consider that an outlier, it is still indicative of a campaign in deep trouble).
Worst of all, another poll shows him in a statistical dead heat for New York state. Who’s your next pick?
But not to be outdone, the Dems seem intent on flushing themselves down the swirlie pot with their current game of race and gender slagging. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory? oy. Hillary and Barack need to tell their people to STFU, and fast. Then again, maybe everyone will get disgusted and turn to my man Edwards.
It keeps on getting interestinger every day. (Could interestinger possibly be a word?)
By getalife
January 11, 2008 5:44 PM | Link to this
Damn cyclops,
Still humping my leg but I told you I ♥ the ladies. Let go of my leg toe tapper.
Clinton/Obama.
By Camus
January 11, 2008 5:49 PM | Link to this
Glenn
Your man Rudy looks like one of the famous Falling Wallendas today.
Top staff is going without pay. One Florida poll puts him down 8 points to St John, and another has him in fourth place (and though I consider that an outlier, it is still indicative of a campaign in deep trouble).
Worst of all, another poll shows him in a statistical dead heat for New York state. Who’s your next pick?
But not to be outdone, the Dems seem intent on flushing themselves down the swirlie pot with their current game of race and gender slagging. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory? oy. Hillary and Barack need to tell their people to STFU, and fast. Then again, maybe everyone will get disgusted and turn to my man Edwards.
It keeps on getting interestinger every day. (Could interestinger possibly be a word?)
By The Prophet
January 11, 2008 5:57 PM | Link to this
If you’re living in Atlanta Metro, check out the sunset. I am officially declaring it Miller Time at 5:52 Friday, Jan. 11, 2008.
Sunsets are actually….ah heck, they’re sunsets. I’m not the prophet. I’m not even a good troll, hell, I actually own Enron stock.
Lifting a tall one here.
By The Prophet
January 11, 2008 6:08 PM | Link to this
Well, kiss that tall one goodbye. time 4 another….wife alert! i’ll just place the empty in this bag where she’ll never look…..as soon as she goes back upstairs, I’ll hoist another tall one. It’s Kirinichiban, a 1 pint, 8 ounce can that kroger sells for 2 bucks. I’ll drink two, and that’s good enough for me. If my wife smells it, though, I’m toast. I live on the edge… 8 million ways to die in a split level cedar single family w/ quarter acre of trees and good schools. 185k firm.