Thinking Right

By Jimmy Carter

January 8, 2009 8:44 AM | Link to this

I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.

After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years), the town was traumatized by the unpredictable explosions. About 3,000 residents had moved to other communities, and the streets, playgrounds and shopping centers were almost empty. Mayor Eli Moyal assembled a group of citizens in his office to meet us and complained that the government of Israel was not stopping the rockets, either through diplomacy or military action.

Knowing that we would soon be seeing Hamas leaders from Gaza and also in Damascus, we promised to assess prospects for a cease-fire. From Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who was negotiating between the Israelis and Hamas, we learned that there was a fundamental difference between the two sides. Hamas wanted a comprehensive cease-fire in both the West Bank and Gaza, and the Israelis refused to discuss anything other than Gaza.

We knew that the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza were being starved, as the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food had found that acute malnutrition in Gaza was on the same scale as in the poorest nations in the southern Sahara, with more than half of all Palestinian families eating only one meal a day.

Palestinian leaders from Gaza were noncommittal on all issues, claiming that rockets were the only way to respond to their imprisonment and to dramatize their humanitarian plight. The top Hamas leaders in Damascus, however, agreed to consider a cease-fire in Gaza only, provided Israel would not attack Gaza and would permit normal humanitarian supplies to be delivered to Palestinian citizens.

After extended discussions with those from Gaza, these Hamas leaders also agreed to accept any peace agreement that might be negotiated between the Israelis and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who also heads the PLO, provided it was approved by a majority vote of Palestinians in a referendum or by an elected unity government.

Since we were only observers, and not negotiators, we relayed this information to the Egyptians, and they pursued the cease-fire proposal. After about a month, the Egyptians and Hamas informed us that all military action by both sides and all rocket firing would stop on June 19, for a period of six months, and that humanitarian supplies would be restored to the normal level that had existed before Israel’s withdrawal in 2005 (about 700 trucks daily).

We were unable to confirm this in Jerusalem because of Israel’s unwillingness to admit to any negotiations with Hamas, but rocket firing was soon stopped and there was an increase in supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel. Yet the increase was to an average of about 20 percent of normal levels. And this fragile truce was partially broken on Nov. 4, when Israel launched an attack in Gaza to destroy a defensive tunnel being dug by Hamas inside the wall that encloses Gaza.

On another visit to Syria in mid-December, I made an effort for the impending six-month deadline to be extended. It was clear that the preeminent issue was opening the crossings into Gaza. Representatives from the Carter Center visited Jerusalem, met with Israeli officials and asked if this was possible in exchange for a cessation of rocket fire. The Israeli government informally proposed that 15 percent of normal supplies might be possible if Hamas first stopped all rocket fire for 48 hours. This was unacceptable to Hamas, and hostilities erupted.

After 12 days of “combat,” the Israeli Defense Forces reported that more than 1,000 targets were shelled or bombed. During that time, Israel rejected international efforts to obtain a cease-fire, with full support from Washington. Seventeen mosques, the American International School, many private homes and much of the basic infrastructure of the small but heavily populated area have been destroyed. This includes the systems that provide water, electricity and sanitation. Heavy civilian casualties are being reported by courageous medical volunteers from many nations, as the fortunate ones operate on the wounded by light from diesel-powered generators.

The hope is that when further hostilities are no longer productive, Israel, Hamas and the United States will accept another cease-fire, at which time the rockets will again stop and an adequate level of humanitarian supplies will be permitted to the surviving Palestinians, with the publicized agreement monitored by the international community. The next possible step: a permanent and comprehensive peace.

By Ackmed

January 8, 2009 8:45 AM | Link to this

Aaahh, yes, in thee US of A there is hopeandchange abounding everywhere but here in Gaza there is only thee evil Jew all over the damn place.

What is a raghead to do?

Thee Iman has honored my family of ten children with such a great and wonderful new task for thee blessed jihad and we are all so proud and filled with thee joy! He has told us that allah himself has blessed us with this sacred deed and we must not falter for all of the mighty struggle will fail if we do not succeed.

So come my lovely children, stand here by this big metal tube, Ackmed Jr. don’t play with that machine gun, stand right there in thee big circle and look up into thee sky. Do not run when you see thee A10 Warthog coming for he will be dropping lots of candy and toys on you.

I’ll be right back.

KABOOM!

Oh my poor children, look at them, in so many pieces. How will we ever parade them around in front of the drive by pinko media?

Oh well, I’ll just sit here and weep for the lib media, maybe I’ll get on the front page of the New York Times!

Allah akbar!

Yes we can!

By Saxby Chambliss LOBBYIST BEST FRIEND

January 8, 2009 8:48 AM | Link to this

Jim you are 100% correct Earmarks are good.

By Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST

January 8, 2009 8:52 AM | Link to this

Do you want the Chicago Merc. Board to disclose my salary and expenses? that’s unAmerican..

By TRUTH

January 8, 2009 8:54 AM | Link to this

THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.

THE OCCUPATION The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel is still widely considered to be an occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the strip in 2005. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza’s air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

THE BLOCKADE Israel’s blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation.

The blockade has subjected many to unemployment, penury and malnutrition. This amounts to the collective punishment — with the tacit support of the United States — of a civilian population for exercising its democratic rights.

THE CEASE-FIRE Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to Israeli government figures). The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November; six Hamas operatives were reported killed.

WAR CRIMES The targeting of civilians, whether by Hamas or by Israel, is potentially a war crime. Every human life is precious. But the numbers speak for themselves: Nearly 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the conflict broke out at the end of last year. In contrast, there have been around a dozen Israelis killed, many of them soldiers. Negotiation is a much more effective way to deal with rockets and other forms of violence. This might have been able to happen had Israel fulfilled the terms of the June cease-fire and lifted its blockade of the Gaza Strip.

This war on the people of Gaza isn’t really about rockets. Nor is it about “restoring Israel’s deterrence,” as the Israeli press might have you believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, in 2002: “The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.”

By Curious Observer

January 8, 2009 9:06 AM | Link to this

Hey! I have a wonderful idea. Instead of a stimulus package that creates jobs, let’s make the entire $775 billion a monstrous tax cut, with the wealthy getting at least 75% of it. That would be a great Republican solution to our economic problems.

Oh…Never mind.

By Road Scholar

January 8, 2009 9:09 AM | Link to this

Can we try to stay on topic?

I believe the commuter rail system which includes Atlanta to/from Lovejoy came about from an Intercity Rail Study. This study conducted by GDOT looked at seven possible corridors including Atl-Lovejoy, Atl-Athens (Brain Train), etc. The results were gleaned and a few routes were added to the Atl Regional Commission’s Regional Transportation Plan. They may have been unfunded due to available revenues and spending laws. Thus the earmarks became a reality.

By bearcasey

January 8, 2009 9:12 AM | Link to this

Paulsen’s $700 billion giveaway to Wall Street was the biggest boondoggle in history. But, he’s a Republican toad so I guess it’s OK.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

January 8, 2009 9:12 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. The core question is , “who is stupider, the American public spending its own money, or the Congressional overlords spending it on behalf of Americans?” The question, admittedly phrased snarkily, is nevertheless the defining issue of humanity and history. Until Adam Smith’s historic conclusion (based on sound observations) - that there is an effective self-governance device in the collective free economic decisions of individuals - the dominant theory of economics was the feudal/merchantilist models, today called “Keynesianism.”. Apologists for the failed philosophy, including even such lights as John Stuart Mill, always defend the necessity of having overlords to “guide” the decisions of the rabble. Of course such “thinkers” – whom I generally disparage as “leftists” or “National Socialists” – never want others to make such decisions for them, they accept the economic governance philosophy only when they make the decisions to spend. Thus the moonbats rail against the “spending” of the Bush administration and hypocritically praise the proposal of Obama.

This failed history of the philosophy is the error of Obama’s Keynesian spending program. It can never be as efficient nor as effective as the collective decisions of free men. It can never right the markets as intelligently as the markets would right themselves. It can never be as fair as individual charity elections, rather will reflect the prejudices of the deciders. With the massive spending program proposed by Obama dwarfing even the stupidest decisions of democrat and leftist dominated Congresses during the Bush administration, Obama, in his ignorance, willfully and intentionally repeats the ineffective policies of FDR – recall that eight years after FDR took office the economy was unimproved – and Jimmy Carter.

Leftists – always wrong, but never to be ignored, for the same reason one should not ignore thieves. Their capacity for economic destruction is as large as the power of the government.

By Redneck Convert

January 8, 2009 9:24 AM | Link to this

Well, I say use this stimulation package to build a train line from Atlanta to Sanford Stadium—I mean, Athens. It’s the only way us rednecks can get to see our Dawgs on time. Otherwise you will have to build a expressway from Atlanta to there. Right now the traffic is just awful.

Other colledge teams got it easy. Most of their fans are either students or people that were students. But our Dawgs got mostly fans that live in trailers and never seen a colledge campus except for football games and they need some way to get to the game.

Anyhow, it looks like the libruls are fixing to waste our tax money again on stuff we don’t need. Like schools and doctor offices and bridges and other junk. We will never get Trickle Down that way. Because there won’t be nothing to Trickle Down.

What we need is a big tax cut so the rich will have something to Trickle Down with. And doing away with the capital gains tax so Raghead can stop screaming and acting like a two year old that got his best toy took away from him.

Have a good day everybody.

By Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST

January 8, 2009 9:47 AM | Link to this

Even pornographers are lining up for a government bailout.

Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine, and Joe Francis, the producer of the “Girls Gone Wild” videos, said Wednesday that they were asking Congress for $5 billion in federal assistance, asserting that the adult entertainment industry was among those hit by the recession, which “has acted like a national cold shower.”

“With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind,” Mr. Flynt said in a statement. “It’s time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America. The only way they can do this is by supporting the adult industry and doing it quickly.”

As evidence of the industry’s troubles, Mr. Flynt and Mr. Francis said that sales and rentals of adult DVDs fell 22 percent over the past year as viewers turned to the Internet for pornography.

But they also said that adult entertainment Web sites — including the ones that they run — were attracting more than 75 million unique visitors a month. And left unsaid is that many of those visitors still pay money to view pornography.

So how bad is the pornography business? Does it really deserve a multibillion-dollar bailout like the banks and the automakers?

As DealBook noted earlier, Friendfinder Networks, the parent of Penthouse magazine, is having trouble lining up major investment banks for its $460 million initial public offering. But not for financial reasons. Breakingviews reports that the company, which operates such Web sites as Adultfriendfinder.com and a Christian-themed dating site, Big Church, booked $244 million in revenue during the first nine months of 2008, up nearly 90 percent from a year earlier.

Instead, Breakingviews said, the major banks are concerned about attracting even more negative publicity in the wake of their megabillion bailout, especially if government officials try to crack down on sexually explicit adult Web sites.

Meanwhile, our friends at Clusterstock note that Francis Koenig, manager of the hedge fund AdultVest, told The Atlantic Monthly that his fund returned 50 percent last year by investing in pornography-related assets. But Clusterstock does wonder how real those gains are.

So we’ll see whether Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. actually hands out $5 billion in TARP money to Mr. Flynt, Mr. Francis & Company.

DealBook doubts it. In their press release, Mr. Flynt and Mr. Francis admit, “The $13 billion industry is in no fear of collapse, but why take chances?”

By ron

January 8, 2009 9:51 AM | Link to this

Good morning,Since earmarks are symbols and not a major worry for fiscal conservatives and taxpayers,lets get rid of them. Just say no more earmarks.That shoulld be simple.Problem solved.

If,on the other hand,earmarks are as I suspect,the oil that greases the government’s wheels,just maybe we should really get rid of them.Outlaw them completely and the sooner the better.I applaud Tom Coburn’s position on earmarks,but I often wonder what his constituents think.”There goes old Tom,off to make sure Oklahoma doesn’t get any money again.Maybe I won’t vote for him next time”.Probably only liberals think that way and he won’t lose any votes.Hello?????

The dumping of earmarks is the foundation of fiscally conservative spending.If the money is truely needed,put it in a bill on it’s own merits.Let the Senators and Representatives play their games out in the open so citizens can see who they’ve really elected.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

January 8, 2009 9:52 AM | Link to this

I’m currently reading PJ O’Rourke’s analysis of Adam Smith, “On ‘The Wealth of Nations.’” One great idea therein: “The whole business of authority is to interfere in other people’s business. Princes and priests can never resist imposing restrictions on the pursuit of self-interest, division of labor, and freedom of trade. Successful pursuits mean a challenge to authority. Let people take the jobs they want and they’ll seek other liberties.”

By Shawny

January 8, 2009 9:58 AM | Link to this

Spending bill to stimulate economy = earmark. The ENTIRE thing. Spending to create jobs that otherwise would not be needed is one big earmark.

Now if the spending went to things that are necessary, and have been being put off, then bring it on.

By Serendipitous Stipend

January 8, 2009 10:00 AM | Link to this

25 words or less, Jimmy Carter. Dont write your next book on my time.

moron.

Hey Redneck Convert: Your wife called. She wants her PMS back.

Hey BO Chambliss: Your kidneys called, they want to know what to do with the balls you donated to your wife too.

moron.

Ragmop: (doodilydoodoo), Funk and Wagnall called. They want their onomatopoeia back.

dumbell

Snarkily? U use that word alot. I dont think it means……

THe pioneers of american earmarks and bailouts presumed that honest god-fearing men could be trusted with oversight duties. Obviously we dont fear nothing but being broke.

Keynesian adherent Jesus Christ said, “You cannot serve two masters.”

That pretty much tells us about most soul’s destiny to burn in hell for all eternity doesn’t it? I hope you satanic preambles enjoy your ill gotten gold. The better to call you all morons in the afterlife.

bwa haw

morons.

By findog

January 8, 2009 10:01 AM | Link to this

TRUTH @8:45 Driven out because they lost. Based on your premise the temple mount should be raised because it was built upon the ruins of the Jewish peoples temple after they lost that skirmish in what is the longest brewing cauldron of war God would ever create. They are occupied because when they attacked Israel in 1967 THEY LOST. They are behind a blockade because their leaders would rather import rockets than bread and it is accepted everywhere but Israel that a country can put its security first. Even Egypt has closed its borders with Gaza because they are not willing to lose a fourth war of eradication of Israel.

A cease-fire by a plain text reading of any dictionary is not a reduction. Would you care to live in a place where your neighbor is shooting at your house only on weekends instead of daily? Since Hamas does not follow the protocols of war, like a uniformed army, they are terrorists and are not afforded protection under the Geneva Accords. That the populace has chosen a terrorist form of government they have to accept responsibility for their own fate. The problem would then be that they would need to be an educated culture with an informed voter base that could recognize these facts. But since Islam does not accept the Geneva Accords, as they were developed after the ascension of the prophet, they cannot ask for its protection while ignoring its restrictions. While you quote the Israeli general you missed the quote of the recently buried Hamas leader that the cease-fire is only to re-equip and re-train for the final battle to finally defeat Israel.

THE LIE is trying to use western cultural norms to measure what is happening in Gaza; these people are stuck in the first millennium and until they drop the Islamic Faith’s absolute insistence that the Jewish people do not deserve a Nation of Israel there will never be peace.

By getalife

January 8, 2009 10:28 AM | Link to this

Jim should retire so the AJC can hire Joe the plumber.

By deegee

January 8, 2009 10:51 AM | Link to this

My earmarks are projects, your earmarks are a budget busting waste of taxpayer money.

By findog

January 8, 2009 10:52 AM | Link to this

Dear Ragnar @9:12

The basis of your favorite economic model generally requires men and women of good conscience at the helm of industry. The market self regulation through the laws of supply and demand were never contemplated in our globally connected, marketing directed, and declining intellect of populace. The State of Georgia, or City of Dunwoody, cannot regulate industry, banking, and trade with nations like China in either an efficient or authoritative manner; thus we need our national government.

Public Works stem from the root derivative of Civil Engineer. King’s allowed their engineers of war, during times of peace, to do projects for the court and occasionally peasants. The peasants could never contemplate those improvements in quality of life; and as there is never an equal (or even greater) financial gain they would not be considered by industrialists. Thus we must rely on a government of a greater collective nature to fulfill these projects, which in America we now expect as basic government services. The economy would collapse if we went back to the toll road system that existed before railroads and the interstate. The only failing in the system you oppose is that we lose too much in graft and ear marked constituent bacon for that philosophy to truly achieve its promulgated return.

As I recall you were a cog in the RTC machinery of the S&L bust. I read last week that many of your fellow gears are not in the catbird seat for this latest liquidation of assets. Happy hunting.

By Copyleft

January 8, 2009 10:56 AM | Link to this

I see the diehard faithful (and therefore, by definition, brain-damaged) still clinging to “trickle-down theory” are up to their old tricks, even amid the fallout of the disastrous policies of laissez-faire which once AGAIN have utterly failed.

Friedman and the Chicago School have failed. Monetarism is dead. Supply-side has been tried over and over… and it has categorically failed, over and over. Keynesian economics (i.e., the only theory supported by valid and proven economic theory) is all that’s left.

The tax-cutting obsession is still there on the far right. But I doubt America is dumb enough to pay them any more attention with the catastrophic consequences of laissez-faire staring us in the face today.

Denial will continue among the fascists, of course… but then, recognizing reality has never been their strong point.

By Daedalus

January 8, 2009 11:03 AM | Link to this

Let me get this straight, Georgie Bush has left America $1.2 trillion in debt for this fiscal year — and Wooten is worried about dems spending $$$.

Now that’s hypocrisy. When Clinton was President, right-wing-nuts whined about the size of the debt. When Clinton balanced the budget — what did we get from the right? Thundering silence.

When George and Dick took over, runaway budget deficits resulted. But then the GOP said “deficits don’t matter”.

Now, all of sudden, deficits matter again.

What’s up Jim? Off your meds?

And Ragnar, wow. If the last few years of corporate scandals and greed (Bernie Ebbers, Ken Lay, Madoff, etc.) didn’t teach you that unrestrained capitalism only cares about maximizes short-term profit, then perhaps you simply can’t learn.

By Davo

January 8, 2009 11:05 AM | Link to this

Ragnar 9:12,

I agree with you completely; everything you said is spot on. If only more people understood the flaws of Keynesian economics we would all be alot better off.

However….

I’m going to call you on your omission not to blame the Right as well for our failed economic policy. Reagan, Bush, W,…Keynesians all. Making this a strictly left vs right issue doesn’t do the message justice.

By findog

January 8, 2009 11:21 AM | Link to this

Ron @9:51

In the State of Georgia the DOT has just closed the 2010 State Aid Grant Program. Every level of government could submit proposals for one of the nine designated areas for assistance. The pot is divided among the congressional districts and all the requests within those sub-groups are scored to get the best cost-benefit. Section A of the scoring has to do with the amount of service to residences, churches, businesses, ect… so the town of Podunk has no chance against the metropolitan Mega city; therefore twenty percent is cut out for emergency projects which is probably the only way Podunk can get the their problem fixed.

Is this an earmark? If so, then there are exceptions to the rule and if only we had honest people running our governments we would all be better off.

By Nordham L.

January 8, 2009 11:43 AM | Link to this

I never ask the deadbeats in this country for one freaking dime. When they quit asking me and the government to hand over ANYTHING the power will come back to the people. BE MASTERS OF YOUR OWN DESTINY!

By dave

January 8, 2009 11:45 AM | Link to this

Tell me about the “surplus” Dubya inherited and about the record deficit he left behind..while you’re at it…tell me about how we’ve been “kept safe” since 9-11…when did that start on 9-12? They attacked and “succeeded on his watch…they attacked on Clinton’s watch…and HE kept us safe…until Dubya fell asleep at the wheel. I guess if Clinton was still president…all I’d hear from the repulsivicans is how Clinton let another attack happen…well we WERE attacked in this nation under Clinton…and never were we again…so Dubya…well he “let it happen”…it was his fault that it did….it is also his fault (and that of ALL the republicans that had total control for six effin’ years that we now are facing the worst recession…since this nation had a depression…that’s what you get when you vote for jesus and vote against gays (who will ALWAYS be gay)…and against abortion (which will ALWAYS be legal)… Jim here always talks about kids that need fathers and families… yet I NEVER see him mention that “DEM’S” adopt TWICE as many kids as republicans…the very ones that want everyone to “have that kid”…..

By Serendipitous Stipend

January 8, 2009 11:46 AM | Link to this

All known theories about economic boom/bust cycles and capitalism’s virtue as the best system in the world even if it’s not perfect are invalid.

These bailouts prove that we have been lied to about our socio-economic caste system of haves and half-wits, and the only scientifically provable reality about the USA’s economy is that legislated profits, and leveraged prophets, and other bribe taking pirates, devils, and dirty dogs from hell, like every CEO we got will have a great 2009, but when the money runs out, then we will see a crisis of national identity which could precipitate civil war 2. Or son of civil war, or civil war part duh. We dont know what were doing.

Greed is good. Greed works. Oh Shut up.

I’m sick of the constant preening of pretense vogued by the commenters here who expound upon economic equations that have been totally debunked by the recent turn of events on wallstreet, and in the banks.

WE’re corrupt. We steal. We lie. We measure our own worth by how many zeroes are in our off shore checking accounts.

THere’s no hope for us. We keep printing money? Inflation will rise. Bailout failed business plans? Depression will return. There’s no believable or explainable way out of this economic catastrophe because we are stupid thieves.

The most evil among us will die with the most toys.

Check out ragnar’s keynesian thread. A few idiots trying to impress their own ignorami. They couldn’t write a realistic assessment of 2009’s GDP if their mother’s wrote the actual number in their jockstraps.

You know, when you comment on subjects that you know little or nothing about, then you really let folks know how pathetically ego-centric your vainglorious epistomology is.

Try the salve, rashboys.

“Duh, Keynes said that if we do this then that will happen and so far he’s been right so I went to school and got a b+ in economics 101 and I know stuff, duhhh.

RETARDS!!

By getalife

January 8, 2009 11:50 AM | Link to this

So, Obama’s speech has already blown w away which is not saying much.

He calls on our corrupt Congress to act responsibly.

Bond does the right thing and will leave in 2010.

Lets hope most follow Bond’s lead.

By dave

January 8, 2009 12:09 PM | Link to this

Tell me about the “surplus” Dubya inherited and about the record deficit he left behind..while you’re at it…tell me about how we’ve been “kept safe” since 9-11…when did that start on 9-12? They attacked and “succeeded on his watch…they attacked on Clinton’s watch…and HE kept us safe…until Dubya fell asleep at the wheel. I guess if Clinton was still president…all I’d hear from the repulsivicans is how Clinton let another attack happen…well we WERE attacked in this nation under Clinton…and never were we again…so Dubya…well he “let it happen”…it was his fault that it did….it is also his fault (and that of ALL the republicans that had total control for six effin’ years that we now are facing the worst recession…since this nation had a depression…that’s what you get when you vote for jesus and vote against gays (who will ALWAYS be gay)…and against abortion (which will ALWAYS be legal)… Jim here always talks about kids that need fathers and families… yet I NEVER see him mention that “DEM’S” adopt TWICE as many kids as republicans…the very ones that want everyone to “have that kid”…..

By G.W. Bush Library Board of Directors

January 8, 2009 12:26 PM | Link to this

The G W Bush library….

Dear Fellow Constituent:

The George W. Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning

stages and accepting donations.

The Library will include: The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction. The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won't be able to remember

anything.

The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don't even have to

show up.

The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in. The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out. The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one has been able

to find.

The National Debt Room, which is huge and has no ceiling. The Tax Cut Room, with entry only to the wealthy. The Economy Room, which is in the toilet. The Iraq War Room. (After you complete your first visit, they

make you to go back for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth visit.)

The Dick Cheney Room, in the famous undisclosed location,

complete with shotgun gallery.

The Environmental Conservation Room, still empty. The Gift Shop, where you can buy an election. The Men's Room, where you can meet some of your favorite

Republican Senators.

The Decider Room, complete with dart board, magic 8-ball, Ouija

board, dice, coins, and straws.

The library will feature an electron microscope to help you

locate and view the President’s accomplishments.

The library will also include many famous quotes by George W.

Bush:

'The vast majority of our imports come from outside the

country.’

'If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.' 'Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a

mother and child.’

'No senior citizen should ever have to choose between

prescription drugs and medicine.’

'I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom

and democracy - but that could change.’

'One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor,

and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.’

'Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.' 'I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good

judgments in the future.’

'The future will be better tomorrow.' 'We're have the best educated American people in the

world.’

'One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some

fantastic pictures.’ (during an education photo-op)

'Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not

having it.’

'We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not

occur.’

'It isn't pollution that's harming the environment.

It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.’

'I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.' PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY! Sincerely, G.W. Bush Library Board of Directors

By RA77

January 8, 2009 12:27 PM | Link to this

It’s amazing how these same whiney bedwetting liberals (and their DNC mainslime media) who whined about alll the Republican spending and deficits have now shut their collected a-s-ses tighter than Preparation H on Obama and Team Pelosi’s spending proposals.

Hey superdave, I suppose facts don’t mean much to you, eh? Tell us all about those years of planning for 9/11 by al Qaeda that happened under Clinton’s watch. Don’t forget to include the part about how he turned down an offer to take Bin Laden but instead said “we don’t have enough on him.” Finally, don’t forget to tell us all the findings of the 9/11 Commission Report; especially the ending part where the conclusion was: nothing could have been done preventatively to stop the even from happening. - Yeah, like you liberal pansies would have allowed Arab profiling and banned Arabs from flying on US airlilners. Moron.

By RA77

January 8, 2009 12:34 PM | Link to this

WASHINGTON — The forecast Wednesday of a jaw-dropping $1.2 trillion one-year federal budget deficit will make it harder for President-elect Barack Obama to win broad support for a massive stimulus package that would add even more to the red ink.

Remember folks, now that libDems are in charge, deficits no longer matter. Watch the DNC mainslime media ignore it too - we can’t have any negative news on Our Savior and His administration and Saints Pelosi & Reid. Circle the wagons, right libDems?

Now this is JUST for the mindless hysteric libDems: if “Rushannity” said the above, I accept no responsibility. After all, that’s about the only thing you mindless hysterics can ever retort with, so I thought I’d just beat you simpletons to the mindless Franken-inspired punchline.

By Caeser

January 8, 2009 12:41 PM | Link to this

Say what you will about W, but at least he won’t be exiting office impeached for lying under oath and most certainly the Obamas won’t have to worry about bodily fluid cleanup on the rugs/walls.

By Serendipitous Stipend

January 8, 2009 12:49 PM | Link to this

That’s true, not a cobb salad, but this blog now has to roto-rooter you and your opinion.

Try the salve, rashboy.

et tu poontang?

moron.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

January 8, 2009 1:02 PM | Link to this

Dear findog @ 10:52, the basis of your favorite economic model generally requires men and women of good conscience at the helm of government. Why do you posit that as even a remotely reasonable possibility, given the potential for graft at every level, coupled with the actual history? You falsely suggest that the captains of industry, e.g. Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, have capacity to compel individuals to do …what? Bill Gates cannot make me buy a Windows-based computer. In contrast, I respectfully suggest that the stupidest GS-13 has capacity to arbitrarily destroy any business in the industry he regulates, and need not be corrupt to do so, although corruption – either financial or ideological – is always a likelihood.

I categorically reject the wisdom of your “overlord” preference, preferring the wisdom of millions of individual buyers and sellers. “The market self regulation through the laws of supply and demand were never contemplated in our globally connected, marketing directed, and declining intellect of populace.” You err fundamentally – that is precisely where market self-regulation works best, where there is no government thumb on the industry, where the politically connected cannot influence the freedom of choice.

“The peasants could never contemplate those improvements in quality of life; and as there is never an equal (or even greater) financial gain they would not be considered by industrialists. Thus we must rely on a government of a greater collective nature to fulfill these projects…” I cannot believe you seriously compare free Americans in the 21st century to feudal era peasants, although we agree that is a necessary prerequisite to your theory of “control.” In fact, freedom raises both capacity and expectations of individuals, neither of which is theoretically fulfillable by overlords.

Dear copyleft @ 10:56, I see the overlord preference continues among the intellectually challenged. Your preference for National Socialism is understandable within that context, although I cannot fathom why you prefer Obama-control to Bush-control of your life.

Dear Daedalus @ 11:03, let me get this straight, Daedelus is distressed about Georgie Bush spending America into $1.2 trillion in debt for this fiscal year, but Daedelus is unconcerned about Obama raising the level of spending?

Dear Davo @ 11:05, you seemingly think Congresses are irrelevant? Or perhaps you actually think Reagan, with a conservative Congress, would not have cut spending. Obviously neither of us can prove whether the Civil War would have turned out differently if the South held nuclear weapons, but I think a surmise is possible. I reject your equivalence.

Dear dave @ 11:45, please cite a democrat congress that ever reduced the theft by government. You’re right, there never has been one.

Dear serendipitous @ ““Duh, Keynes said that if we do this then that will happen and so far he’s been right so I went to school and got a b+ in economics 101 and I know stuff, duhhh. RETARDS!!” If inartfully phrased, you are spot-on. Any who observed the failure of the Philips Curve in 1978 and yet clings to Keynes - such as the Federal Reserve since 2001 and the current and incoming administrations – deserve your scorn.

By Peter

January 8, 2009 1:07 PM | Link to this

You are Right Jim…….the way Republican’s have spent on the WAR, and helping the troubled Economy they created……well earmarks are just a drop in the bucket !

By Churchill's MOM

January 8, 2009 1:12 PM | Link to this

Jim when are you going to do some serious reporting on our Gal??? How can she be President if the only publistiy she can get is from the left wing press??

Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) believes Caroline Kennedy is getting softer press treatment in her pursuit of the New York Senate seat than Palin did as the GOP vice presidential nominee because of Kennedy’s social class.

“I’ve been interested to see how Caroline Kennedy will be handled and if she will be handled with kid gloves or if she will be under such a microscope,” Palin told conservative filmmaker John Ziegler during an interview Monday for his upcoming documentary film, “How Obama Got Elected.” Excerpts from the interview were posted on YouTube Wednesday evening.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out and I think that as we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy versus, say, the scrutiny of what her candidacy may be.”

Palin said she remains subject to unfair press coverage of her and her family.

“Is it political? Is it sexism?” she asked. “What is it that drives someone to believe the worst and perpetuate the worst in terms of gossip and lies?”

She observed that Katie Couric and Tina Fey have been “capitalizing on” and “exploiting” her.

“I did see that Tina Fey was named entertainer of the year and Katie Couric’s ratings have risen,” she said. “And I know that a lot of people are capitalizing on, oh I don’t know, perhaps some exploiting that was done via me, my family, my administration. That’s a little bit perplexing, but it also says a great deal about our society.”

The Alaska governor said that when she sees some of the coverage of her daughter Bristol especially “the momma grizzly rises up in me.”

Looking back on the Couric interviews, Palin said she knew things were not going well after their first session and asked the McCain campaign to pull the plug on the remaining sit downs but insisted the campaign made her go through with the rest.

“I knew it didn’t go well the first day, and then we gave her a couple of other segments after that. And my question to the campaign was, after it didn’t go well the first day, why were we going to go back for more?” she said. “Because of however it works in that upper echelon of power brokering in the media and with spokespersons, it was told to me that, yeah, we are going to go back for more. And going back for more was not a wise decision either.”

Palin criticized Couric for the way CBS “spliced it together,” saying that “so many of the topics brought up were not portrayed as accurately as they could have, should have, been.”

She also expressed frustration with Couric’s characterization of her since the interviews. After being shown a clip of Couric complaining to David Letterman that no post-election interviewer has asked Palin why she would not tell the CBS anchor what newspapers she reads, the Alaska governor responded: “Because, Katie, you’re not the center of everybody’s universe.”

By TRUTH

January 8, 2009 1:23 PM | Link to this

The United Nations suspended its food aid deliveries into Gaza on Thursday after one of its contract drivers was killed during an Israeli attack on a delivery convoy at a border crossing, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said.

Skip to next paragraph Multimedia Interactive Timeline: Israel, the Gaza Strip and Hamas Photographs Conflict in Gaza, Day 13 Interactive Graphic Israel and Hamas: Conflict in Gaza The Takeaway: Steven Erlanger and Rob Watson (mp3)

Isabel Kershner on the Latest Fighting in Gaza Related Gaza Children Found With Mothers’ Corpses (January 9, 2009) Grief and Rage at Stricken Gaza School (January 8, 2009) Gaza War Role Is Political Lift for Ex-Premier (January 8, 2009) Israelis Honor Fallen Soldiers, While Seeing the Gaza Campaign as Justified (January 8, 2009) Israel Condemns Vatican’s ‘Concentration Camp’ Remarks (January 9, 2009) Times Topics: Palestinians | Hamas | Israel Enlarge This Image

Moises Saman for The New York Times Soldiers rested on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza during the three-hour cease-fire on Wednesday. More Photos » The suspension by the United Nations came after rockets were fired from Lebanon on Thursday, landing in northern Israel and raising concerns they could represent a broadening of the conflict, although both the Israeli and Lebanese governments played down their significance. International efforts to end the 13-day war in the Gaza Strip continued with the arrival of Israeli negotiators in Cairo.

In signs of mounting diplomatic pressure on Israel, the United Nations Security Council appeared close to a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire by both sides and could vote on the resolution as early as Thursday, according to Arab diplomats. The break-through was reached after a delegation of high-ranking Arab ministers overcame the reluctance of the United States, Britain and France in calling for the cease-fire, the diplomats said.

By CommunistAJC

January 8, 2009 1:24 PM | Link to this

Serendipitous Stipend, calling people a moron just makes you look that much more stupid. I’d even go so far as to say that you never received your GED and you still live in your moms basement.

By TRUTH

January 8, 2009 1:33 PM | Link to this

GENEVA (AP) - The international Red Cross accused Israel on Thursday of “unacceptable” delays in letting rescue workers reach three Gaza City homes hit by shelling where they eventually found 15 dead and 18 wounded, including young children too weak to stand.

The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross said the Israeli army refused rescuers permission to reach the site in the Zeitoun neighborhood for four days. Ambulances could not get to the neighborhood because the Israeli army had erected large earthen barriers that blocked access.

Israel said the delay was caused by fighting in the area and accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields. Since Wednesday, Israel has observed a daily three-hour halt in operations to allow humanitarian evacuations and aid deliveries throughout Gaza.

Eventually, rescuers from the international Red Cross and Palestine Red Crescent received permission to go into the shelled houses on Wednesday, four days after the buildings were hit by Israeli shells.

By get out much?

January 8, 2009 2:08 PM | Link to this

Hey RA77@12:34 - remember this gem from Vice President Cheney?

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill was told “deficits don’t matter” when he warned of a looming fiscal crisis.

O’Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush’s economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from “the corporate crowd,” a key constituency.

O’Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. “You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don’t matter,” he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: “We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due.” A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.

The vice president’s office had no immediate comment, but John Snow, who replaced O’Neill, insisted that deficits “do matter” to the administration.

By Hillbilly Deluxe

January 8, 2009 2:19 PM | Link to this

Curtailing earmarks won’t solve the problem but it sure as hell won’t hurt either.

By @@

January 8, 2009 2:30 PM | Link to this

Again with the Lovejoy Rail, Jim?

Why must you torture me?

We down here in my fair Clayton County have been told we’ll be picking up the remaining balance. Not sure how we’re gonna do that though seein’s how our foreclosure rate is one of the highest in the metro area along with the unemployment rate, just over 8% last I read.

Here’s what I project will be the result of Obama’s efforts — we, as a society, will have neither empathy or sympathy for our fellow man ‘cause we’ll be too wrapped up in the pain politicians’ efforts have inflicted upon us all.

Hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am ‘cause I’m seeing it among my friends, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike. People that I never thought would be capable of such.

Someone sent me a Merry Christmas wish online about the blessings we Americans enjoy. I can’t link it here, but two of the reminders, I can.

If you can attend a church service without fear of being harassed, arrested, tortured, or put to death…

You are more blessed than 3 billion in the world.

If you can hold up your head with a smile on your face and be truly thankful…

You are blessed because the majority can but most do not.

When all is said and done, those two may be all we have left.

Smiles cost nothing, Jim….

I’m sending mine to you (ISH) <——-Insert Smile Here!

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

January 8, 2009 2:36 PM | Link to this

Dear get out @ 2:08, Cheney is right of course. Deficits do not matter, although the level of spending does. There is no meaningful difference between funding though borrowing or funding through taxation – both deprive the private economy of needed capital approximately equally, although only the former causes a larger “deficit.” However, the level of spending makes a profound difference – big spending by the government damages the private economy, whereas conservative spending levels benefit economic growth. Regrettably the Obamaniacs do not yet fully grasp that distinction.

By Copyleft

January 8, 2009 2:42 PM | Link to this

Regrettably, the intellectually challenged laissez-faire cheerleaders still haven’t noticed that supply-side economics was a big, fat FAILURE every single time it was tried.

They also haven’t noticed that their cherished Republican masters have zero interest in cutting spending anyway, and flip-flopped on deficits solely to preserve the myth that “tax cuts are magic”, even when proven wrong on that exact same point.

By Erin

January 8, 2009 3:07 PM | Link to this

Transparency! Accountability! Earmarks! Lobbyist contributions!

We have citizens watch groups who do that. Their efforts haven’t helped fix the problem.

The ignorant masses have surrendered all self determination to the government.

We, the people, are doomed to their failures.

By Serendipitous Stipend

January 8, 2009 3:35 PM | Link to this

Ragnar, just what economy destroying concept that your brilliant GOP friends employed for the last eight years doesn’t Obama grasp?

If you dont stfu about the economy, then, as the bailout nazi, I will make sure there is NO BAILOUT 4U!

I’ve never read such hypocritical nonsense about economics in my life. You cant look at the depression in 1933 and say, it was Lincoln’s fault.

That’s what you’re doing. You are a sellout partisan hack, who blames the Bush status quo on a man who hasn’t even been sworn in yet.

Shame on you. Luckily, you are perpetuating the pendulum swing further left than it’s ever been because you and your ilk are making the country sick to death of the right and their lies.

Blog on, you’re just creating a liberal dynasty that will last generations.

By Do the Math

January 8, 2009 3:50 PM | Link to this

Jim: You are wrong on all accounts on the Love Joy Commuter Rail project. It was born out of decades of state and regional planning. What you call an earmark was really a Federal initiative to connect cities by rail. Georgia has chosen to not contribute local funding match to the project and thereby effectively blocked it since inception. Most of the federal money would go toward improving rail crossings between Atlanta and Lovejoy, bringing them up to modern safety standards that allow quicker train services. There is more to life than cars……..just not in Georgia.

By Dusty

January 8, 2009 3:59 PM | Link to this

Dear Jim Wooten,

Every day you give us good info,

But all I hear here is pain and woe.

Only @@ is ever so wise

She says: “Smile and surprise!!

I’m willing to help all I can.

Maybe Obama will use MY plan.

Put all bloggers to work immediately.

That will restore all serendepity!

No more groaning, moaning and sqawks.

No more listings of numerous faults.

This debt problem is not new to us.

Let’s get to work and cut the fuss.

Obama will find we hate give-aways

‘Cause sooner or later everyone pays.

Come on, Americans! We’ve got the “stuff”.

LIke @@ says, Smile! And cut the “gruff”!!

(This concludes my advice for today. Must get to WORK!!)