Friday, September 30, 2005

How the catholic church won...............

many of the lawsuits against catholic dioceses was put on hold yesterday by the pennsylvania state supreme court. it stems form 17 sex abuse cases filed against the catholic archdiocese of philadelphia with alleged crimes dating back to 1957. a common pleas judge threw out the cases because the allegations were so old that the statutue of limitations had run out. a panel of superior courrt judges in philadelphia agreed. the setback is the state supreme courts decision in which the court refused to hear an appeal of the superior court decision. davis clohessy, national director of survivors network of those abused by priests said that this is a setback for public safety, a victory for child molesters and a relief for duplicitous bishops. the cases were filed against the diocese that covered up the molestations rather than against the individual priests. the victims claim that the diocese coverup of the molestations were only uncovered recently and should be allowed...but no that makes too much sense. "obviously we're very pleased" was the response of rev. ronald lengwin, pittsburgh catholic diocese spokesman. i guess saying something like "thank god we got away with it" or "in your face victims" was probably turned down as the response but that what his response meant. they (the cases) will now have to be looked at on a one by one to see if they fall within the narrow legal parameters set up by this lead case in philadelphia. i know what the law says but when i tell you that pennsylvania is run by the churches and the elderly you know i'm speaking the truth. theses archaic laws not only protect the molesters but they protect those who aid and abet them too. you true christians can now sleep peacefully knowing that you collection money will not go to the victims so greviously injured by these priests who were known and still protected by the bishops and cardinals. i hope the church at least buys condoms for the priests with this windfall.

by the way, yesterday was my 150th post. i know that the entire world awaits my words of wisdom every morning and most of you already knew this, having kept a count on your headboards. please send all congratulatory donations to my local catholic church where i will now be going for massages and the occasional happy ending.

ok guys, the weekend is upon us so LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..START YOUR PARTYING.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Things i'd like to see.........

....the gulf coast dried out and the rebuilding started for those poor people
....more politcians put on trial for fleecing america
....ceo's not getting huge golden parachutes to run companies into the ground
....all our boys out of iraq
....the word akimbo used more often
....barry bonds blow out his knee, then blow out his other knee, then grow a third knee and blow that out too
....congress worried about things that are important and less about steroids in sports
....me hitting the lottery
....people just giving their time and money to help others instead of giving it to some bullshit religion
....senior citizens having to take their drivers test yearly
....term limits for all politicians
....a special wing at a federal penetentiary for priests that molest
....letting people vote for their politicians raises individually (you get a raise when i think you deserve one)
....cars that run on sea water
feel free to add whatever you think would be good.

my nine year old son wanted to take karate lessons. after watching him i thought i would like to do it too. needless to say i'm in pain. my body is not a shrine to physical fitness (more of a shrine to beer) and those workouts are tough. if i live through the first couple of classes i'll be fine....if i live.

one more day and we hit the weekend
....

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Stupid politicians and stupid............

in another proud moment in pennsylvania politics rick santorum, a republican senator that is being groomed for the presidency, was named as one of the 13 MOST CORRUPT members of congress by the watchdog group citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington. why has rick won this distinction? the senator encountered controversy over disclosures the pennsylvania taxpayers paid for his childrens schooling while they lived in virginia. santorum maintained that he did nothing wrong, and has since pulled his children out of the school. maintained he did nothing wrong? i maintain he never thought he would be caught. isnt he the one that preaches that moms should stay home with the kids? well rick my wife would if we could get the taxpayers pay for my kids private school. www.bobcaseyforpa.com. lets vote this guy in and let rick and his wife get on with their lifes work.

senators jim talent of missouri and diane feinstein of california co-sponsored a bill that would make a law that would require that cold medications containing pseudoephrine, a decongestant that is the primary ingredient in meth, to be kept behind the pharmacists counter. it would require purchasers to show a photo id, sign for the drug,and be limited to how much they can buy in a 30 day period. the limit would be enforced by computer tracking via a data base linking all stores that sell drugs like sudafed and nyquil. thus making it harder to buy cold medicine for your familiy that it is to get crystal meth. congrats congress, we should vote all these schmucks out.

dont think congress has a lock on stupidity. christianity has to get its name in there. shay clark has been expelled from the ontario christian school. why? shes a satanist? no. she killed someone? no. she cheated on tests and smoked in the girls room? no. its because her parents are lesbians. the family did not meet the admission policies, which require that at least one parent did not engage in practises "immoral or inconsistent with a positive christian lifestyle, such as cohabitating without marriage or in a homosexual relationship". its not like her parents are juhnny come latelys to the whole lesbian thing....they have been together for 22 years. i'll bet shay would still be in if the parents would have made a large donation or built a new gym. believe me folks, your child is better off without all the brainwashing.

hump day everyone. what an odd name for a day when almost nobody humps.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Tuesday, just another day...........

last week it was reported that some mice infected with bubonic plague escaped from some lab in ,i think, jersey. this didnt get much play in the news. AM I THE ONLY ONE BOTHERED BY THIS. didnt the plague wipe out millions in the middle ages. i'm only guessing that pat robertson thinks this is a curse from god because ellen degeneres drove through jersey once. i personally cant think of a state where the bubonic plague would fit in better than new jersey.

people are starting to throw out some wild ideas due to the fact that two hurricanes have hit the u.s. some weatherman in montana or some god forsaken state like that is blaming the hurricanes on the yakuza. the yakuza is like the japanese mafia and he says its to get even for hiroshima. see they have a machine that was invented by the russians during the cold war. now the yakuza has it and is using it against us. there is a blog that has proof. http://www.enterprisemission.com/weblog/weblog.htm. check it out...the captains blog. as the curmudgeon said start donning your tinfoil hat. look everyone knows the hurricanes were the fault of ellen degeneres hosting the emmys. i personally am blaming george bush.

in harrisburg pennsylvania intelligent design is on trial. in case you arent aware of the phrase "intelligent design" its another way of saying creationism. the religious right wants into your childrens headds so bad that they changed the name to get around the laws regarding seperation of church and state. is it any wonder that our children are falling behind the rest of he world in science. why dont some medical schools start teaching voodoo. what is santeria busy. please, if the religious right gets its way doctors will be prescribing prayer for your illness. this country is heading full bore straight to the dark ages. i so hope that "intelligent design" gets knocked down in harrisburg. no wonder the school distict is in the middlew of the state. what we like to refer to as pennsyltucky. those inbred hicks will fall for anything.

ok kids, back to work. its a long week

Monday, September 26, 2005

Rainy days and mondays...............

three lawsuits have been filed against the roman catholic diocese of pueblo in colorado. this follows on the heels of nine lawsuits against the archdocese of denver. these lawsuits are all asking in the range of 10 million dollars. my thought.....good. make them sell some of their buildings. lets be honest they get them tax free. it will do these cities good to get them back on the taxable ledger. i wish pittsburgh would do the same thing. i guess this is what happens when you make up rules in the 15th century and dont ever change them. god doesnt care that a priest is married the church made that rule in the 15th century so that bishops couldnt just pass the job down to their sons. in this day and age what normal man wants to give up his sex life? men who think that joining the priesthood will help them with their want of young children. it doesnt and moreover it cant. but god forbid that the catholics put a pope in whos a little forward thinking. lets just keep putting dinosaurs in as pope and nothing will ever change. i hope every one of these people win their lawsuits.

on another note the u.s. government has told a texas court that pope bendict should be given immunity from a lawsuit accusing him of conspiring to cover up the sexual molestation of three boys by a seminarian. assistant u.s. attorney general peter keisler said in a filing that as pope, benedict enjoys immunity as the head of a state....the vatican and that allowing the lawsuit to go forward would be "incompatible with the united states foreign policy interests". first off dont refer to it as ENJOYING immunity because i guarantee those young boys didnt enjoy the molestation. it just shows that religion is a little too intertwined with our government. this administration would hate to lose the religious fundamentalist vote.

in the islamic version of the christian right nigerian islamic judges have ordered that a teenager from niger have his hand cut off for stealling a scooter. the teenager was convicted under sharia law (islamic fundamentalism). he has thirty days to appeal. how barbaric but who doesnt believe that pat robertson thinks this should happen to the penises of gay men?

its monday...start questioning all authority.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Sundays truths.........

in an incredible turn of events i am posting on a sunday. i have come to a decision that i will not be attending church on sundays for the forseeable future. my wife isnt thrilled with my decision but i have to be true to myself. i have given this alot of thought for along time and it just feels like the right thing to do. its not that i dont believe in god....i do, its just that organized religion offers nothing to me at all anymore. i was raised catholic. i didnt get a choice thats just it. it was picked for me. i never got to look at other religions i was just told that this religion was the right one. isnt it funny how sure some people are that their religion is the one true religion when they have never looked at anything else? anyway as i got older i looked at alot of other religions and even though all had some things i liked alot they all had one underlying theme....they wanted to make people feel bad. when you put someone up whos perfect how can one live up to that and everytime you dont you guilty. hell, catholics have original sin. you have sin on you as soon as you are born. i really dont think god is like that. i hope that god would judge a man on what he did. i think this is just a way for religions to keep you coming back. the only way you can get into "heaven" is to come back to church......oh, and give money. thats why they send out envelopes. its not for your convenience, its to track how much your giving. being a catholic i'm harder on the church than other religions but basically they are the same. i used to argue with my father when he said that catholics are right and i would point out what a shame for the billion hindus that are going to hell only because they werent born to catholic parents. the nuns in my grade school didnt like that either. i understand that religion is a leap of faith, you cant look at it logically, but i did. all through catholic grade school. i was the only child to flunk religion in eighth grade (thank god they couldnt hold me back). it all came to a head when it came time for confirmation. i didnt know what thaqt even meant in eighth grade, we all just did it. i didnt realize that i was confirming my faith,m which i didnt have much use for even then. i wouldnt go to confession because, as i was taught, god is everywhere. if i was truly sorry wouldnt he forgive me....and i could cut out the middle man. they threatened me with not being able to attend confirmation to which i said ok. they threatened to tell my father but then i explained that he would ground me but he couldnt drag me to the altar and force me to say anything and that my grounding would eventually end....surely in time for summer. the nuns relented. then you had to pick a name. a saints name. you were supposed to read up on saints and pick one you thought you would like to be like. seeing there was no saint satan and all my friends called me barney (as in barney rubble) i chose saint barnabas. the nuns seeing through this thinly veiled plot and vetoed my choice. my second option was my first name again...james. i went by my second name as everyone did in my family, a little prank my parents played on all their kids. the nuns said no to that one too. i asked to see hte rule book but was never shown one so i told them its their call, barnabas , james or i dont do it. after going through their threats and me explaining it all again they relented and the nuns chose james. i cant understand why the nuns disliked me. actually i can, i was a smartass and if they said two and two was four i'd say five and argue the point. if i was my own father i would have beat myself to death. the church has let me down since then. i'm divorced and remarried outside the church. i cant recieve the sacraments nor can my wife. shes a good catholic and suffers because of me. so the church is punishing her because of me. that seems logical. i've also dodged my childrens questions as to why i cant go to communion. my wife would prefer it if i didnt explain the inequities of catholicism to them at such a young age. so i guess what this long winded speech is all about is that i cant be that much of a hypocrite anymore. i wont say that i will never be back in church because i'm sure i will be at a wedding or a christening or some such thing but i wont be going back to have my soul cleansed. god and i will work that out between ourselves......as i think everyone should.

ok go watch your game....its sunday

Friday, September 23, 2005

Football friday, week 2.........

how bout them steelers. a second week of kicking ass. lets start with the fact that week ones ass kickin off the titans looks a little better after they put the lumber to baltimore in week two. the texans looked just as confused, if not more, than they did in week one. david carr might have just been ruined by how the texans have used him. hes so gun shy after being beaten up for two years. carr just kept running out of bounds, he didnt even throw the ball away. lets give out some grades...

defense A....the line was controlled by the steelers. troy polamalu was running his own stunts and had three sacks and numerous hurries. the d had eight sacks overall. the poor texans looked helpless. it was never in doubt after the steelers recovered a fumble on the texans second possesion

offense A....big ben looks better every week. he looks composed and even when hes flushed from the pocket hes looking for an open receiver downfield. fat willy parker looks like a steal. what was north carolina thinking that this guy didnt start there. bettis and staley can rest up and get healthy but will be backups as long as willy keeps running wild. hines ward is back to mid-season form and the rest of the receivers are doing fine. the line controlled the texans in every way.

special teams B.....the steelers didnt have to punt often but almost had one blocked. reed has made 21 straight field goals....a new steeler record. its only a matter of time before a punt is broken and the kick coverage teams have been great so far.

this week is going to be a little stiffer competition. the patriots arent what they were but are still a formidable team. they really miss the two teds on defense and their running game is in the toilet. dillon only has 99 yards rushing so far and brady doesnt want to throw 45 times a game. not having ty law isnt helping them either. i think this game works out just like the others. look for the steelers to test their d by running...early and often. if the running game is going good it will open things up for ben and the steelers can grab an early lead. this game might be over by half time. this will be a test of belicheks defensive prowess. they need to shut down the steelers offense to have a chance.

well its friday, lets tip some beers and see where it leads.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

I hope this doesnt suprise any christians........

dateline philadelphia......
i always wanted to say that. it sounds so important but the story does come from there. i used to live in philly so i feel i have the right to tell you that that is a dirty filthy city , its new york light. anyways a grand jury in philly issued a scathing report of the archdiocese of philadelphia. in their report they say that at least 63 and probably many more priests sexually abused hundreds of minors over the past several decades. the most disturbing thing though is that this was known to the higher up who hid it. the grand jury haas stated that this corruption runs all the way up to cardinals john krol and anthony j. bevilacqua who the concluded excused and enabled the abuse and put the legal and financial interests of the archdiocese ahead of protecting the children entrusted to their care. it was found that krol and bevilacqua left priests who abused in parishes where they access to children or moved them to other parishes without notifying even the pastor. the only times anything was done was when a lawsuit was threatened and even then the families were lied to when they asked if the priest had a previous record. this isnt just touching children or anything that could be misconstrued. some of the acts are
*an 11 year old girl who was raped by her priest and then got pregnant. the priest took her for an abortion
*a fifth grader who was molested inside a confessional booth
*a 12 year old boy who was was raped and sodomized by his priest who tried to commit suicide and is still in a mental home as an adult
*another 12 year old boy who was raped by his priest who then told the boy his mother approved of it.
if you are outraged by these acts then these acts should just push you right over the edge....
*one priest who was described by a church offical as "one of the sickest people i've ever known" was left in place by bevilacqua (with access to children) until the scandal bloke in 2002
*one archdiocese official comforted one of the abusing priests by telling him that he was seduced by his victim.....the victim was 11 years old
*bevilacqua harbored a known abuser from another diocese when it got too hot for him there. the practise was known as bishops helping bishops.

sure , this goes after the catholic church but if you think your church is different.....think again. these arent gods these are just men and when you leave you children alone with them you might run into problems. it also shows that organized religion is nothing more than big business. tend to their flock? more like tend to your flocks wallets. sure tese men care about your soul but they would throw you and your soul under a bus to save their asses. i hope they get sued so bad they have to sell off all the churches. lets see how well they do outdoors. lets also remember the churches stand against abortion...until one of their own needs one. the worst part of all this is that the grand jury worked on this for three years and the diocese in philly says its all a lie and a misunderstanding and there are people who will say that they cant believe what the press and the heathens are saying about their beloved church. remember that the next time you see a bunch of priests protesting against abortion that some of them might have had use for one.

alright , back to work. their not paying you to sit there and read this.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

The gulf coast, round 2.........

ok , maybe god does hate the people from new orleans. they move to houston and he sends another hurricane there. alright, you know i dont believe that and if you do it would be smart if you just hit the next blog button now. i seem to run to people who are convinced that god send huricanes (along with tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes and apparently planes into buildings) because hes mad. my only reply to them is to tell them their god is kinda petty. if thats what god does then hes the ultimate small thinker. hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes and earthquakes are just things this planet does. its been doing these things long before us (regardless of the religious kooks who tell you the earth is 6000 years old) and will be doing these things long after people are gone. as for the planes well, that was done by the same kind of religious kook who tells you things in nature are gods retribution.

simon wiesenthal died yesterday. if you dont know who he was...shame on you. mr wiesenthal lived in europe during ther holocaust and spent time in five different concentration camps. he lost 89 family members during the holocaust. after being freed he thought he might spend a little time helping to hunt down the people responsible for this nightmare. a little time turned into 50 years. he brought to justice many nazis including adolf eichmann. he is a tribute to mans ability to overcome even the most horrific circumstances that can be put upon a person. he spent his later years fighting anti-semitism and predjudice against all people. the world needs more people like simon wiesenthal to stand up for the people who cant do it themselves. the phrase "if not me , who. if not now, when." comes to mind.

everytime i get a comment from someone i dont recognize i go and check out their blog. i find some gems and once in awhile i find dud. sometimes i find a site that is so far off from my beliefs that i know that because they gave me a nice comment that thewy have never read a thing on my site....ever. it happened today. i wont even link this religious kooks site here but i did go onto another site i do link and he did link him. this person and i dont always agree but he makes good points mot of the time. i respect his right to blog. i began to think that maybe who you link to tells more about you than you care to know. i think in the future i'll be more careful who i link to. linking to kooky people make you look kind of kooky yourself.

its midway through the work week kids.....its all downhill from here.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

I hope this continues..........

executives in companies across america are out of control. we the taxpayers end up bailing them out. so its abiut time these assholes take a hit. former tyco execs dennis kozlowski and mark swartz were both given 8 1/3 to 25 year sentences yesterday for the rape of that company. they were also ordered to pay a total of 134 million in restitution to tyco international ltd. the judge also fined kozlowski 70 million and swartz 35 million. now i know that all you bleeding heart big business republicans are going to say this is wrong. real criminals get lesser sentences. well too bad. these men affect thousands of people worldwide. they screw up the company costing people their jobs and in some cases their pensions (see enron). they would be given worse penalties if it were up to me. these two tyco asswipes were throwing lavish parties and living in these luxury homes on the company tab. one guy had a $6000 shower curtain in his $31 million fifth avenue apartment. i'm glad his wife was crying when they hauled his ass out of the courtroom in handcuffs. they should take the apartment now and toss her privleged ass out in the street right now. this is going good now that the guys from enron, worldcom and adelphia communications got stiff sentences also. i'm all for that. throw these bastards in jail until they pay back all the money they stole. remember these sentences werent for making a bad decision that cost the company money these are for guys who used the companies as petty cash. they deserve what they get.

this story makes my tuesday better, i hope it does for you too.

Monday, September 19, 2005

It takes some balls......

a kid in florida got kicked out of school last week. why? maybe he was disruptive in class. no? maybe he was fighting with other students. no? what did he do you ask? he was wearing a shirt that depicted two black men being dragged by a car. nice kid. his parents should be proud. now i happen to read alot of blogs and i came across one from this kids area. he seemed to not be able to understand why this wasnt acceptable. see, this kids lives in a neighborhood that was described as " a place white people went to get away from the bad schools in jacksonville". i've given this some thought and came up with some ideas for this kid. he can wear this shirt in his lilly white school only if he wears it for a day in an all black school in jacksonville. cmon, i'm sure this bastion of morality would love to stand up for his beliefs. he could show those blacks how he feels AND if he lives through the day he can wear it at his school every day if he so desires. sounds like a good solution to me. this blogger also absolved his parents of blame by saying the kid snuck it out of his house under another shirt. first, parents know what the kid has in his drawer and second where does a kid learn this stuff......from his parents. they have to shoulder some of the blame here. so the lesson here is if you want to be a racist then do it proudly. dont hide behind hoods or masks or flaunt it around your white friends. go to the black neighborhood (without the police) and try to convert them to your thinking.

another blogger wrote what he thought the world would be like if john kerry had been elected. you know things like iraq would still be under the control of hussein...etc. things like that. well those guys never point out what the world is like today. bush was elected and.....
1. will still havent caught osama bin laden (a 6'5" arab on dialysis)
2. will still havent found the wmd's (that is the reason we attacked them)
3. gas prices have gone through the roof
4. iraq still isnt under control (husseins or ours)
5. we have 1900 of our soldiers dead and 14362 casualties
well thank god we didnt elect john kerry. look at all the good things bush has done. why it almost makes america being raped by his oil buddies tolerable.

enjoy your monday. its going to be a long week.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

The 60's , where did you go..........

as i sit and listen to bob dylan sing the times they are a changin i wonder what that time must have been like to grow up in. i also wonder where those people are today. that mind set could be used right now. that generation was actually able to make things happen. they got together and took a stand that people today arent willing to take...and i wonder why. i was very young in the late sixties and remember so little now but from all that i can gleen from things well, people hadnt given up hope. was government so different then? people were willing to take a stand against things that were wrong. against there parents in most cases. why wouldnt someone young do that today. it seemed that generation didnt care if mom and dad threw them out because they could go it on their own. now it seems like the mindset is "what if mom and dad cut off the money train". that generation had hopes that jobs would be there and they would survive but i dont see that in most people today.this was a comment that was left on the blog monday.....
AllyCat said...
I don't understand why you just can't relax and realize that what ever is going on is out of your hands and you can't do anything about it but worry. So why don't you save your self some energy and time, and ulcers and just leave it to those responsible and in charge, no matter how they decide to handle things. You can, however, ever have your own opinion, but just chill out dude.

i guess i just cant understand this reasoning. things shouldnt be out of our hands. we are the voters. the country belongs to us. not the republicans and not the democrats. they work for us folks but lately we are working for them. its all backwards. leave it those responsible and in charge? no matter how they decide to handle things? those people arent very responsible. eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. no matter how they decide to handle things....what if they decide something you like is wrong. what if they decide that dancing or music or alcohol or dark skin people are wrong? just relax? i cant. i cant bury my head in the sand while this country seperates into the haves and the have nots. when people who played the stocks got rich while hard working people from a factory town cant make ends meet. when rick santorum calls for mothers to quit working and stay home and then votes to cut the minimum wage. and i dont think you should either. i think republicans and democrats need to get together and vote in good people. politcian shouldnt be a career. its something you do to serve your country and then get on with your lifes work. no one should come out of office wealthy......and they all do, with pensions that pay them in full for the rest of their lives and paid benefits. trust me YOU cant find a job like that now no matter what. we are allowing our rights to be taken from us. the patriot act is against everything the constitution stands for. they can throw a person in jail indefintely, without a lawyer or contact to the outside just by going before a judge and saying hes a terrorist......without proof i might add, and its going on right now. and dont give me that shit about us being at war. our constitution was made while war loomed for this country. most of those men who signed the constitution were hunted down for that. what if they decide my blog is wrong and i should be jailed....what if they decide that about yours?


well these are just some thoughts that have been running through my head lately. i hope that someone might think about what i wrote and do something.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Football friday...........

college: nothing to say here. pitt sucks. good luck turning this around. i dont mind them getting clocked by notre dame but when ohio kicks your ass well..........call it a season.

pros: go steelers. my boys kicked some titan assmlasat week. big ben was perfect. lets say that again....PERFECT. can someone explain why a perfect rating is 158.3. that makes absolutely no sense. bens knee is bruised and they say he might not start this week. hes gonna play kids. if he aint in a cast hes playin. willie parker ran wild over the titans and he should be able to run on houston too. the defense looked shaky on the titans first drive but then squashed them the rest of the game. turnovers can change the game and it looks like this defense is going to be a turnover creatin machine this year. the texans look like they have another lost year going for them. david carr looked very confused and just wait until he sees what the steelers throw at him. there is no reason to think that the steelers wont roll over the texans this week. the steelers are favored by 6 at houston this week so i say take the steelers, give the points and watch the cash roll in.
i really dont see any competition in the afc north this year. baltimore is done already. kyle boller sucks as a quarterback andnow they have to use the guy who couldnt beat him out. great defense but those guys better start to score. cincy will fold up as they usually do. that has less to do with the team and coaches as it does to do with the owners....the cheapest in the league. the browns, well......they just suck. bad drafts and poor decisions have doomed them right now. you sent your entire defensive line to denver and now they suck.oh, and your coach is named romeo.

ok kids, this blog has been real serious this week so fridays will now be football fridays featuring the afc north. GO STEELERS

Thursday, September 15, 2005

its an even rarer three post thursday......

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Wednesday scuttled an attempt by Sen. Hillary Clinton to establish an independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate what went wrong with federal, state and local governments' response to Hurricane Katrina.

The New York Democrat's bid to establish the panel — which would have also made recommendations on how to improve the government's disaster response apparatus — failed to win the two-thirds majority needed to overcome procedural hurdles. Clinton got only 44 votes, all from Democrats and independent Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont. Fifty-four Republicans all voted no.
"Just as with 9/11, we did not get to the point where we believed we understood what happened until an independent investigation was conducted," Clinton said.
The Senate vote is hardly likely to be the last word on whether to create an independent commission or as an alternative a special congressional committee to investigate Katrina. The 9/11 Commission was established in 2002 after resistance from Republicans and the White House, and opinion polls show the public strongly supports the idea. In a CNN/USA Today Gallup poll taken Sept. 8-11, 70 percent of those surveyed supported an independent panel to investigate the government's response to Katrina. Only 29 percent were opposed.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has rebuffed a bid by House and Senate GOP leaders to create a committee patterned after the 1987 Iran-Contra panel that would have a GOP majority — reflecting their dominance of Congress.
Reid has instead vowed that any bid by Republican leaders to establish a special bipartisan committee involving lawmakers from both House and Senate will go forward only if Democrats have equal representation.
Separately, Senate Homeland Security Committee chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Wednesday that Post-9/11 changes to improve the government response to catastrophic disasters failed their first major test in Hurricane Katrina's wake.
Despite billions of dollars to boost disaster preparedness at all levels of government, the response to Katrina was plagued by confusion, communication failures and widespread lack of coordination, said Collins as she opened hearings into the disaster.
"At this point, we would have expected a sharp, crisp response to this terrible tragedy," Collins said. "Instead, we witnessed what appeared to be a sluggish initial response."
The hearing marked Congress' first step in investigating major gaps in the country's readiness and response systems that Katrina exposed. It comes even as Republican and Democrats grapple over whether to appoint an unusual House-Senate panel to investigate the matter, or to create an 9/11-style commission.
Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the committee, said the response to Katrina "has shaken the public's confidence in the ability of government at all levels to protect them in a crisis."
Lawmakers said they did not ask officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Homeland Security Department to appear at the hearing out of fear that would disrupt the ongoing recovery process in the battered Gulf Coast. Instead, a slew of former city and state officials testified about their experiences in facing faced major disasters in their communities.
Calling Katrina a "national tragedy," former New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial put the primary responsibility for disaster response squarely on the federal government's shoulders. Morial, president of the National Urban League, was New Orleans' mayor from 1994 to 2004.
Meanwhile, the House, by voice vote, on Wednesday approved legislation that provides liability protections for people and groups providing volunteer aid for Hurricane Katrina victims.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the Red Cross has cited lawsuit concerns among people interested in taking evacuees into their homes and that doctors traveling to states where they are not licensed face increased liability.
The bill, which needs Senate action, would protect from lawsuit volunteers who in good faith and without expectation of compensation offer aid or medical assistance. It would not protect those who willfully carry out criminal acts.
Other bills, however, to cut federal red tape and otherwise make it easier to get aid to Katrina victims have hit a slow patch as lawmakers wrestle over how to shape their response.
They include proposals to provide Medicaid health benefits to those made homeless by Katrina, lift work rules for welfare recipients, and implement tax changes to help hurricane victims and charitable donors.


i guess money was better spent getting a commission together to find out if clinton got a knobber in the oval office. the republicans thought that was a good idea. i guess you wouldnt want a commission that would point the finger of blame squarely at your parties leadership. i cant believe that not one republican thought this was a good idea.

The bush-cheney connection.......

thisa is from cnn.com. i know that liberal commie website. god forbid they actually tell us what the hell is going on. if this isnt illegal it should be....
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
Experts say it has been common practice in both Republican and Democratic administrations for policy makers to take lobbying jobs once they leave office, and many of the same companies seeking contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have already received billions of dollars for work in Iraq.
Halliburton alone has earned more than $9 billion. Pentagon audits released by Democrats in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton's work in Iraq.

Watchdog groups take notice
But the web of Bush administration connections is attracting renewed attention from watchdog groups in the post-Katrina reconstruction rush. Congress has already appropriated more than $60 billion in emergency funding as a down payment on recovery efforts projected to cost well over $100 billion.
"The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further private commercial interests," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight.

Bush appointees at Halliburton
Allbaugh formally registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root in February.
In lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Senate, Allbaugh said his goal was to "educate the congressional and executive branch on defense, disaster relief and homeland security issues affecting Kellogg Brown and Root."
Melissa Norcross, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said Allbaugh has not, since he was hired, "consulted on any specific contracts that the company is considering pursuing, nor has he been tasked by the company with any lobbying responsibilities."
Allbaugh is also a friend of Michael Brown, director of FEMA who was removed as head of Katrina disaster relief and sent back to Washington amid allegations he had padded his resume -- which he denies.
A few months after Allbaugh was hired by Halliburton, the company retained another high-level Bush appointee, Kirk Van Tine.
Van Tine registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton six months after resigning as deputy transportation secretary, a position he held from December 2003 to December 2004.
On Friday, Kellogg Brown & Root received $29.8 million in Pentagon contracts to begin rebuilding Navy bases in Louisiana and Mississippi. Norcross said the work was covered under a contract that the company negotiated before Allbaugh was hired.

Cheney's relationship with Halliburton
Halliburton continues to be a source of income for Cheney, who served as its chief executive officer from 1995 until 2000 when he joined the Republican ticket for the White House. According to tax filings released in April, Cheney's income included $194,852 in deferred pay from the company, which has also won billion-dollar government contracts in Iraq.
Cheney's office said the amount of deferred compensation is fixed and is not affected by Halliburton's current economic performance or earnings.
Allbaugh's other major client, Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group, has updated its Web site to say: "Hurricane Recovery Projects -- Apply Here!"
Shaw said on Thursday it has received a $100 million emergency FEMA contract for housing management and construction. Shaw also clinched a $100 million order on Friday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Shaw Group spokesman Chris Sammons said Allbaugh was providing the company with "general consulting on business matters," and would not say whether he played a direct role in any of the Katrina deals. "We don't comment on specific consulting activities," he said.


and they dont have to pay the prevailing wages there either.......bend over and take it america

Bush, bush and more bush.............

the president finally owned up for the mistakes during and after the hurricane. i think it was truman that had a sign that said "the buck stops here". bush has that same sign but he hung it on the door of the dnc. lets see what this administtration did right after the hurricane. condy rice went to see a broadway play and then went shoe shopping. dick cheney went on vacation at his ranch. dubya had b'day cake with mccain and then did a fly over of the gulf coast on his way back to washington. this administration has a teflon coating. they walk about, with privledge, knowing that nothing will stick to them. karl rove will make it all better and show them how to blame the democrats. its about time dubya admitted he screwed up now its time for him to admit he screwed up iraq.things seem to be going so well there lately. 162 dead yesterday if we can believe the liberal media. why did we go in there without the support of the world (even his daddy was smarter than that)? why didnt listen to his generals and have a strategy for the occupation? why werent our soldiers properly outfitted? why doesnt he have an exit strategy? answer any or all of these mr president. you owe america an apology for these mistakes too.

this is so shaocking and it wasnt reported on tv. i blame the liberal media for that. dubya also issued an executive order allowing federal contractors rebuilding in the aftermath of hurricane katrina to pay below the prevailing wage. see there this thing called the the davis-bacon law that requires all federal contractors to pay workers at least the prevailing wage in the area where the work is conducted. dubya's executive order suspends the requirements of the davis-bacon law for designated areas hit by the storm. in a notice to congress bush said the hurricane had caused a "national emergency" that permitted him to take such action. so lets get this straight...halliburton (cheneys love child) gets contracts to rebuild the gulf coast and now they dont have to pay prevailing wages. well if halliburton pays employees less will they give a discount to our government? dont bet on that. cheney and the rest of the stockholders make another killing at our expense. bend over and take it america.

its thursday so all you right wingers will have to figure out how to blame the democrats and the media for this. better hurry

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Pat robertson rears his stupid head once more.......

i've always pondered this idea about religion and their gods. why would a god care about what we think or do? its like if you had an ant farm and got mad because you thought the ants didnt listen to you. why would god care if people were gay or believed in him under a different name. what kind of self respecting god would give a damn? pat robertsons god would....and does. see pats god sent the hurricane to new orleans. why? because of the general lawlessness that new orleans is known for? the mistreatment of the poor people there? he got rolled by a whore while drunk in the french quarter? no. its gods way of expressing his anger at the acedamy of television arts and sciencesfor its selection of ellen degeneres to host this years emmy awards. "by choosing an avowed lesbian for this national event, these hollywood elites have clearly invited gods wrath". thats what he said sunday on the 700 club. "is it any suprise that the almighty chose to strike at miss degeneres' hometown". well actually it is pat. why would a thinking god punish everyone because he was mad at one lesbian? he created her according to your beliefs. didnt he know ahead of time what she would be? he is a god right? robertson also added that the last time she hosted was shortly before the 9-11 tragedy. robertson stated that " god already allows one awards show to promote the homosexual agenda but clearly he will not tolerate such sinful behavior to spread beyond the tonys". well clearly pat is absolutely insane. when is someone going to pull the plug on this circle jerk. he called for the murder of one man and now this. better yet, imagine the idiots that inspired to send him cash after hearing this motivational speech. so i guess what this all means to me is that either we have picked some pretty lame gods or hes getting tired of the job. if god really created everyone and he knows everything then shouldnt he have known that ellen was going to be a lesbian. maybe he isnt mad because shes a lesbian...maybe god just doesnt like ellen. possibly one of her jokes offended him. maybe he didnt like her talk show. whatever.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

A rare 2nd post of the day.........

do you know dr. ben marble? bet you dont. but you should. see he lives in gulfport mississippi. his home got hit pretty good by hurricane katrina....not as bad as some others, but pretty bad. hes no charity case and doesnt want donations. he says if you care to donate than give to the salvation army or red cross. so why should you know this man? because he told cheney to go fuck himself. not once.....TWICE. so to steal a line from the beatles
so let me introduce to you
the act you've known for all these years
dr. ben marble

check him out at www.hurricanekatrinasucked.com

great video taken while he tells cheney to go fuck himself

My favorite player is back......

barry bonds made his return to baseball last night. he barely missed a homerun when a fan reached out from the stands. GOOD. i cant stand that steroid ridden jackoff. hes a horrible person and if it wasnt for his ability to hit a baseball he wouldnt be able to keep a job anywhere else. who would put up with this surly jackass but baseball owners? please god, never let him beat hank aaron. he couldnt carry hank aarons jock. sure he hit alot of homeruns but most came after he started to take the performance enhancing drugs and they came during the most diluted era of baseball. too many teams means that people that have no right being in the majors are pitching. they allow him to wear body armor and charge the mound if a pitcher dares to throw inside. i would have loved to see him hit against bob gibson in his prime (you know, before they lowered the mound to aid the batters). bob gibson would have pitched him inside and then when he glared at bob he would have put the next pitch in his ear then when barry charged the mound bob would have given him a good old fashioned beat down. my only hope is that his knee has swollen to the size of a basketball this morning. i hope it needs gallons drained from it.

with that in mind the baseball playoff races couldnt be better. so many teams still have a shot at making the playoffs. sure baseball is screwed up badly but this is prime time for the game right now. i hope everyone enjoys it now.

thats it for tuesday. now get to work.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Monday monday, cant trust that day.......

everyone should listen to npr today. my friend turned me on to it on friday and i listened to it this weekend. they have a section for katrina news all by itself. one report gives the timeline of the storm and when people knew what was going on. listening to this you realize how much this administration glosses over their mistakes. the administration dropped the ball all the friends that got cushy jobs were exposed for what they are....people who dont have a clue about their jobs. in the first large scale test of our nations preparedness to handle a large scale emergency after 9-11.....well......we failed miserably. thats a grade of f. if my kid got that in school i would ground him. i think we should ground these politcians on election day.

along that same line republican pit bull rick santorum is back to his old tricks. rick , who blames the downfall of our society on gays and working moms, who thinks people who couldnt get out of the way of a disaster should be punished now knows who to blame for the tragedy in new orleans. the national weather service. yep, rick says they are to blame. the nws didnt give enough warning of this. i guess a weeks notice isnt enough for our government. rick has tried to pass a bill privatizing the national weather service. he would like it disbanded and the job turned over to accu-weather. this company has given rather large amounts of money to his campaigns. its time we boot out rick santorum. remember , he might blame YOU for something next.
www.bobcaseyforpa.com. check out the site

thats a little something to wrap your heads around on a monday. let me know what you think folks

Friday, September 09, 2005

My mind got to wanderin..........

ok, now is their anyone left in the u.s. that thinks that our government could protect us in the case of a terrorist attack? when the president says he will make sure we are protected do you still believe him? does anyone think this administration is capable of handling any major catastrophe? well i for one dont. this administration has shown that unless it is donr to them they really dont care about americans and that fema is the single worst thing next to the patriot act. look, i understand that one of the perks of being elected is to get cushy jobs for all your friends but shouldnt they actually have some understanding of their job. notice that the head of fema haasnt been on the t.v. for a couple of days now since it has been shown he cant do his job and that he was never qualified to do it in the first place (of course the last part really isnt that much of a factor...we did elect dubya). so all the southern states (ie: red states) were let down by the man they voted in. thats right deep south....you voted him in and he let you down. remember that next election.

a couple of broadcast notes:
1. howard stern is playing a tape of rush limbaugh refering to the mayor of new orleans as mayor nigger. he calles him mayor nagor and then immediately says nagin. no mistakes here kids. thats a nod to all the good ole boys that listen to him.
2. on the daily show we get to see some footage that the networks edit. please dont tell me the networks are liberal or we would see different footage. the footage shows cheney holding a little press conference in the middle of some blown away town and as the reporters are asking him questions and someone from the crowd says "go fuck yourself mr cheney". thats right...go fuck yourself mr cheney. not once but twice. the reporter asks cheney if he has heard that alot and cheney says its the first time hes heard it. you should start listening better mr cheney. i know alot of people who say it daily.

well thats my thoughts for friday, now enjoy the weekend.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

The catholic church shows its stripes.......

the catholic church has once again shown its contempt for people. seems like in the town of fano in italy it wasnt enough that caterina bonci had taught religion for 14 years. she had to be fired. we here in america can only imagine why since we seem to have some scandals of our own. did she have sex with an underage child? was she stealing money from the church? the answer to these is no. well then, you might ask, what did she do? she is divorced. now caterina says its because shes to sexy. i've seen her picture and , i'm sorry caterina, that aint it. the church says its because shes divorced. i guess a divorce wiped out what religious knowledge she has. 14 years gone in an instant. this leads me again to the question.....why are women going to catholic churches at all? they dont like you. they DO like your money. thats it. you cant be priests or bishops or god forbid...the pope and lets be honest its not like your 51% of the population. women, quit going to the catholic church and quit submitting your children to this ridiculous dogma that the spew. trust me, the world will be a better place.

thursday again, git r dun

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Just my observations...........

can someone please give dubya some acting lessons. he always has that smirk. i dont even think he knows he doing it (not unlike a monkey). people around him are missing family members, been traumatized and he has that goofy look on his face. i'm sure he doesnt understand sad seeing hes never had a sad day in his life. be a screw up and dad gets you into an ivy league school. dad gets you into a reserve unit so you dont have to go to vietnam. dad gets you a company. after you run company into the ground dad buys you a baseball team.....etc. he doesnt know what a frown is. hes never had one. please hire an acting coach for him so at least he can look like hes sad for these people.

along that same line someone should tell his mother to shut up. she is reportedly one of the biggest bitches to roam the earth. heres a woman who KNOWS she deserves special privileges. in a marie antionette moment barbara bush said of the people in the astrodome (and i quote) "and so many people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this---this is working very well for them". what a wonderful woman this is. i'm not saying that dubya doesnt like black people but it isnt hard to imagine that someone raised by this woman would look at them as anything but the help.

well everyones favorite number 3 leader in the senate, rick santorum, shows why he isnt far from being barbara bush. in a weekend interview with a pittsburgh tv station he said that people who do not heed evacuation warnings in the future may need to be penalized. this reminds me of reganomics. you remember...unwed mothers? suck dick next time. the caring this administration shows is not unlike the chinese governments caring for female children. i cant wait to help vote this fuck out of office.

p.s. rick santorum is a very high ranking republican. he seems to be someone who the republicans would put up to be president. he has made many statements beyond this one showing his contempt for americans that arent as well off as he is (dont believe me....look it up). if you would like to see this shithead out of office please go to www.bobcaseyforpa.com and see how you can help. i know everyone is a little tapped out for donations at this time but santorum is bringing in cheney for a fundraising. bob casey is a good man and deserves any help you can spare.

its only your second day of work this week and already the weeks half over......

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Well , back to work losers........

i only refer to you as losers because none of us have hit the lottery and we are all still working.

where to begin. finally it looks like new orleans is mostly cleared out. who knows how long its going to take to drain that city much less make it habitable. i dont know whos to blame for our slow response but i hope the problem gets fixed. i know that everybody wants a quick answer as to whos to blame but like everything the answers are complicated and cant be found in two minutes of research. i do think that the man in charge of fema should actually have some knowledge of how to deal with a disaster. national guard should have been there much sooner. well lets get off that for awhile. this city is going to take months to dry out. every single building will need to be gutted and rehabed. the entire infrastructure of that city will need to be rebuilt. think about that for a second. levee's, roads, sewers, power....everthing needs to be rebuilt. its a daunting task. it will be years before thats a viable city again.

oprah will be doing a live show from the astrodome today. oprah should keep away from those poor people. by doing her show she will make people think that these people are being helped and by that she will be doing more harm. oprah only looks upon these people as ratings. if there wasnt money to be made she wouldnt be there. please oprah...stay out of the astrodome. these people dont need you in their lowest times.

it was interesting to watch kanye west commit tv suicide on nbc. regardless wether what he said was true or not it was great tv. as kanye went on his rant mike myers looked like he was about to drop a duece in his pants. as i watched i turned to my wife and asked her how much longer this was going to be allowed to air and then kanye did it. he said "george bush dont care about black people" and then he was gone. he wasnt allowed to sing with the people at the end. way to go kanye. i applaud people being able to speak their minds on tv. we own the airwaves ...we should be able to speak.

speaking of that the nbc show had tim mcgraw, faith hill, harry connick jr and others. this isnt what i would call the a-team. i figured nbc, the network with snl who gave tons of bands a stage to play on, would call in some favors...but no.....they didnt. at best this was a lukewarm show.

ok people, get a start on your week.

Friday, September 02, 2005

What a country.......

where will all this end. i cant even watch the news its so depressing. new orleans for intents and purposes is gone. it just doesnt exist anymore. the people there just arent being rescued. why does it seem like we airlifted so much stuff to the tsunami victims but we arent doing it there. armed gangs are running the streets. people who were trapped there are being raped and beaten. corpses floating in the water. trucks with hospital supplies are being hijacked. this is like a scene out of a horror movie. this isnt going to end quickly either and its going to affect all of us. gas has shot up 70 cents a gallon here since wednesday. heating oil and natural gas are going to be wildly expensive this winter. gasoline shortages are here. consumer prices are going to rise due to one of our largest ports being closed. in spite of that i'm lucky that i dont live there. my family and i are safe and we have our home.

i dont have any answers....just alot of questions.
1. why wasnt the military brought in earlier to secure that city.
2. would the rescue effort be quicker if most of the people were white.
3. why has our government turned down help from the netherlands to help fix the
levies
4. why did we turn down venezuelas offer of rescue helicopters
5. you can give money to the red cross or whoever but what else can someone do
6. why did we turn down irans offer of 1 billion dollars and 500k barrels of oil at $35/gallon

sorry if my depression gets you down but maybe thats what this country needs right now. have a great weekend

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Lets get some input..........

there are so many things in life that can traumatize you. my grandmother was one of them and so was my first wife but this is peculiar. seems this guy in africa was raped by three women at gunpoint. hes so traumatized that he cant speak. ok, let me point out some of the problems with that story. first off most guys dont need to be raped (especially at gunpoint). what is this guy...a fag? maybe but thats not the end of it. how hideous are these women that they had to use a gun to get laid? how ugly can a woman be that the man cant speak after nailing her? i hope they find these broads because i need to see what kind of women need this. so now i want to poll you readers (especially you patsy...if you get my drift). what three women would traumatize you. heres my choices....
1. starr jones
2. bea arthur
3. oprah
i want to hear from you. who are your picks. ladies please join in.....i value your opinion. no, seriously, i just want women to answer me. its how i get off.

its thursday children. i'm gearing up for a long weekend of drinking