Council Chambers

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I think I need help. No, seriously...

2006-10-06T12:06:00.000-05:00

In the last several weeks...ok, scratch that. At different periods of time in the last several years the idea that I might be bi-polar has crossed my mind. Usually it's because I'm having various highs and lows that last for periods of a few weeks or more (for instance, I was "up" for a whole year when I turned 18). Whenever I've bitten the bullet and tried to talk about how I'm feeling, people would just brush it off as "normal" teenage stuff.

I'm not a teenager anymore.

Granted, I've only been out of my teens for 6 months, but I cannot let myself continue on like this. In the last year, I've experienced six months of depression followed by 2 months of rapid cycling between manic euphoria and depression--extreme depression. It's gotten to the point, and I've said this many times, that I never know what my life is going to be like from day to day. I don't know if I'm going to love every one and every thing or if I will want to drive my car into a brick wall.

I don't think any of this is helped by the fact that I'm taking a class on mental illness right now and we're discussing Bi-polar Disorder in depth. I seriously sit in class feeling like we're reading a textbook of my life. It's not a good feeling.

I guess I realize that I should try to get some psychological help, but I'm kind of scared. I feel like we live in a society and a culture where the answer to every thing is drugs. I don't want to be put on Paxil or Zoloft or what-ever-the-fuck if I really am just dealing with "normal" teenaged stuff. I certainly don't want people to think I'm crazy. I just want to feel "okay."

I have no idea why I just poured my little heart out into cyberspace. And I don't know why I picked this space, but I guess I'm glad that I did.

Alone in a Crowd

2006-09-14T22:17:00.000-05:00

That title sums up what a few of us have been going through. One thing that I have found out in my life is that I hate being alone. Truly alone.
Sure we all need space from time to time but as a race of social beings we are not meant to be alone. People keep asking me why I have five Aces on my arm "Because life ain't fair."is what I say, but come on people just because life is a bitch does not mean we have to make it worse! In the end all we do is tear each other apart,and for what the gloating rights of OH LOOK AT ME I AM RIGHT AND YOU ARE A DUMB ASS, when all we need is a bit of support. It all just makes a caring person want to howl in frustration at the masses to just open their eyes! And it makes the uncaring just that more entrenched in their ways. How are we to help improve life if we don't care about it at all? And I don't want to hear that old cop out of it was broke before I got here or why should I fix what they broke, if you draw breath then you have a duty to make things better if only by a smile every now and then! That's it I am done for now comment or don't it is your choice, just think about what I am saying here before you condemn it as garbage.

It's been awhile...

2006-08-23T13:21:00.000-05:00

...but Deadpool's dream doesn't have to end. I don't get online as much as I used to, and I'm sure busy other's don't as well, but I really liked the blog thing. I felt like I got to know my cousin's friends, even I only got a "peek" into your worlds. Anyway...

I don't really have anything insightful or interesting to say. I'm about to start my third year of college next week and I think I may have finally figured out what I want to do when it's over. I've heard talk that soon I'm going to be very well connected to a cardio-thoracic surgeon, but we'll see when it's over and done with.

If anyone feels qualified to give romance advice, give me a holla.

C.

Any Life out here

2006-06-30T20:37:00.002-05:00

Hey People! Where did we go wrong with this? I know that if you are busy like me well sometimes its next to impossible to even get to a computer,but I would like to see this back and going! K O Derf?? (for any one whos a Short Circut 2 fan)

How do you...

2006-01-19T11:10:00.000-06:00

How do you find yourself when you are lost? Well, I guess I don't mean "how do you, personally, find yourself." It's more like...I feel lost right now, and I'm having difficulty finding my way. I recently made a life decision to change my living arrangements, and my mother disapproves. That's cool...she's not going to approve of everything I do, and I accept that. However, every time I speak with her now, she says something that reiterates her disappointment, or her expectation of my failure, or, well, something that just needles me. Because of this, I can't seem to get over needing her approval, or at least for our relationship to return to normal.

I don't know. Not talking to my mom isn't an option, she's my best friend. I haven't let her opinions sway me, mostly because I know that I'm supposed to be growing and doing things for myself, and doing them my way. But this conflict is affecting my mood, and the mood of the folks around me. At least...I hope that's what's affecting my mood, cuz if it isn't...well, that's another blog entirely.

New looks

2005-08-29T10:19:00.000-05:00

I now have a new look on life! I found my father and will be visiting him and my new family again this weekend! it is just great to finally know what I have been missing out on for so many years. My wife and kids are excited also,all we talk about is the trip to see them.

Still alive

2005-08-11T10:24:00.000-05:00

Your body can do many wonderful things but without the use of heart they become droll.How does someone kick start thier soul? If you turn off your emotions for a year or more can you get them back? Without these things are you still alive?

Tell me something good...

2005-06-23T09:50:00.000-05:00

I wanna hear good news...and good news only.

Um...for my part...I'm going to be home with my family for the 4th of July. That's great news, I think.

Is it Just me

2005-06-14T07:59:00.000-05:00

I would just like to say I am so tired of all this Michael Jackson stuff. I personally think he is guilty and it sucks that people have money can buy themselves out of trouble. I know that did not work for my sister Martha Stewart, but even when she got in trouble she really didnt go to a prison that you or I would go to. Is it just me or do people get out of trouble if they have money. What example to other countries does that set? I dunno, but I will give him the fact that some of his music still rocks. I just dont know if its just me thats tired of all the retardedness of the whole thing. Let me know.

We were doing so well...

2005-06-09T14:56:00.000-05:00

...don't stop posting again.

What's new with everyone?

hmmmm

2005-06-01T02:29:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know a few weeks back I got my ASVAB scores... Now before you continue reading I want you to think about this before you go to sleep every night. I got into the 98th percentile. That means I tested into the "Nukes" program in the US militery. Just wated you all to know Winkelmann was that close to haveing his finger on the perverbial "Button". Dont worry I just want to do Air, Weather, And Combat Signals. (AWACS) So I will just be doing battle management. That means I get Top Secreat Clearence, and 90% of AWACS crew members work for the department of home land security after their done in the AF. Now.... go try and sleep :)

My Gosh...there IS life out there in cyberspace

2005-05-23T14:49:00.000-05:00

I never, never expected to see so much activity on the Council blog again. Good to see that y'all wouldn't give up, even when it looked hopeless. I know that you guys are all into deep intellectual type stuff, but I'm not deep and I'm hardly an intellectual. I do have a question though...

How many times should you date someone before you kiss them? One? Two? Three? Five years?

Am I Cursed??

2005-05-22T14:22:00.000-05:00

Ok I need some advice from the rest of the council. Ok some know that I was in a bad car accident. It wasnt my fault some old lady from Chesterfield decided to sideswipe me and hurt my little KIA doing 26hundred dollar damage. Well while that was getting fixed I was driving exactly one week later and was in a fender bender with my rental. Am I cursed??? I have gone almost 7 years with out any accidents or tickets till now. Hell I am even now leary about driving. None of them was my fault but still any opinion out there?? I am going nuts.=)

funny!

2005-05-19T10:28:00.000-05:00

I woke up yesterday to find this tacked to my door:

U.S. Air Force Oath of Enlistment

I, Zoomie, swear to sign away 4 years of my useless life to the United States Air Force because I'm too smart for the Army and because the Marines frighten me. I swear to sit behind a desk and take credit for the work done by others more dedicated than me who take their job seriously. I also swear not to do any form of real exercise, but promise to defend our bike riding test as a valid form of exercise.

I swear to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, even though I believe myself to be above that. I promise to walk around calling everyone by their first name because I know I'm not really in the military and I find it amusing to annoy the other services. I will have a better quality of life than all those around me and will at all times be sure to make them aware of that fact.

After completion of my "Basic Training," I will be a lean, mean, donut-eating, lazy-boy sitting, civilian-wearing-blue-clothes, chairborne Ranger. I will believe I am superior to all others and will make an effort to clean the knife before stabbing the next person in the back with it. I will do no work (unless someone is watching me and it makes me look good), will annoy those around me, and will go home early every day.

I consent to never getting promoted (EVER) and understand that all those whom I made fun of yesterday will probably outrank me tomorrow.

So help me God.

______________________________
Signature
Date

So since Josh is going into the Marines, I thought it would be nice to retort:

U.S. Marine Corps Oath of Enlistment

I, state your name, swear... uuhhhh... high-and-tight...
cammies... uhh... ugh... Air Force women... OORAH!

So help me Corps.

______________________________

Thumb Print
Date (Y/N)

Just wanted to share that.

Its about time

2005-05-16T07:15:00.000-05:00

Its about time that we all get together again and try to take over the world, well get together and act like as civil adults. I left the council for a brief time to get my life straight. There are members of the coucil I feel as if i need to bury a hatchet with,but I dont know if thats possible. Either way I am here if you want me to be apart of this again. Just one shout out- Dante good luck in the Air Force, if you go to Lackland in San Antonio Texas I know someone who works there. But I know that you figured to help Mr. Bush and good luck with that.

takes pattles to the heart Clear blog jumps up and we hear beeping Thank god we got a pulse

2005-05-12T12:17:00.000-05:00

YAY!!!! We still have a pulse. Now back to the subject of making this blog into the inciteful, intresting, fun place to go. Shark, Dante, what can we do to recruit more of the old council back into writing. Does anyone hear from the Voice anymore? I know Deady has limited internet access, and K is in Phoenix, AZ. Angel would be needed too... IF you all can help get these guys back to the council and back into writing here, with there observations we can keep this idea alive. Please help the firebird!!!!

Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey

2005-05-06T13:30:00.000-05:00

OMG, What's happened here. We used to be a very knowledgeable group of people, where we would take our observations of the world to each other and we would help sort out some of the injustistious in the world... Then all of a sudden we became a mix of bickering, sniveling drivel, that now doesn't even bother doing anything at all insightful any more. This is the first post in, what, 4 months? Apparently I am the only one who is going to make a comment about this, and I may be out of place. The concept no rules cost alot of us from comming here, since there was so much political junk being posted. Though I still agree with the whole concept of freedom of speech and the right to say what you want where ever you want, there is a point in which the writer should realize when he or she is damaging the groups moral, and he or she should refrain from said comments. It's a matter of common curtisy.. or I think so anyway. I stopped comming to the Council because of all the politics. It didn't end at the election and then there was more bickering and fighting, and eventually we all lost intrest. This was a great noble idea. This was Deady's way of being able to communicate with everyone and have discussions like we used to. Maybe I am being to hopeful, but what are the chances of us becoming the council again, and talking, about our observations and commenting on our lives? DOES ANYONE REALLY CARE ANYMORE?????

It's Been Awhile

2005-01-20T00:29:00.000-06:00

Since anyone posted anything here. I'm just starting the second half of my first year of college and I'm determined to become a total party chick. Well, maybe not totally...but I'd like to get hammered a few times at least.

What's everyone else up to?

elevator, elevator... I got the shaft!

2004-12-24T03:05:00.000-06:00

I'm just wondering, you know if maybe this is just my lot in life. Every year I have a birthday in december. I can only recall 2 birthdays that were actualy fun for me.
1. The time when Shark and Angel surprised the liveing crap out of me and were the only ones to remember it was my birthday. (I think it was my 22nd or 23rd) Well beaver did too, but never called.
2. The one that just passed. Lissan did a wonderfull job.

Now I am not blameing my friends for this. It is my family. Today my sister and I went shoping for my mom. She also decided today to get me my birthday gift... she said she had $200 cash and half of it was for my birthday. So off we went to EB games in oakville. After getting some very cool (and very politicaly incorrect games) my sister informed me I was not allowed to have my gifts untill tomorrow night! Then my mom promissed for dinner we cold have what ever I wanted. Well the grandparents came over. I wanted a veggie lovers stuffed crust pizza from Pizza hut and my mom said no. Because my grandparents didnt want to eat pizza for dinner. Every year its the same bullshit from them. I am so tired of being treated like a 2nd class citizen. The cats get treated better then I do in my family. Its been this way for years! When I moved out and moved in with what was my girlfriend at the time (who later became my ex-wife). My mom threw a fit that I was moveing in with my girlfriend. Wendy (my sister) goes and moves in with her boyfriend Matt. My mom dosent say 2 words! Infact she gives her permission! My Mom goes and buys Wendy a new car. Brand new Honda civic. She brings it home and asks for the keys to my Volkswaggon. I asked why and Wendy said it was because it was a new car and she didnt want to get dirt on it! I tell my sister no, and my mom just gives her a spare key set to my car! Am I like Malcome in the middle or something? This type of thing happen to you guys?

A Birthday Wish

2004-12-19T06:58:00.000-06:00

I know this is a day early(really December 20) but i wanted to do this before it slipped my mind. I have been working non stop that yes, yesterday I actually got into it with a manager at work over what day it was. Dont worry surprsing enough not to get fired,though it was close. I dont care anyway I am smarter than most of those Jeff.Co people. Anyway I want to share this and i know some may think I am out of my mind and maybe i am but here it goes. MAY YOU HAVE THE BEST YEAR NEXT TO COME NOW AND ALWAYS!

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Dante
Happy Birthday to you

Figured this was ok to do. I did have the card I orderd from the white house to send, but I think I will give it to my brother on his, its even got a pic of Bush so. But I didnt know what to do and I wanted to awknowledege your birthday at least so there you go!

My Christmas List

2004-12-18T18:27:00.000-06:00

I finally finished. I just hope I didn't mail it too late...

Need an opinion

2004-12-14T19:56:00.000-06:00

Ok I need other members opinions here cause yes I value most in here. Ok heres what I need : There is a GREAT possibility that I may do a swing dance routine at the Inageral (sorry about the spelling) Celebration at the governers mansion next month. I would be dancing with my friend matt(the national champ)My question is would be of poor representation to dance to the "Cant get no Satisfaction"by Brittany Spears. My outfit is a school girl uniform with a white sparkle shirt that just covers what it needs to (ties in a knot in the front)and a plaid short skirt with knee highs. Yes I will be in the ballroom heels.Some may say that my brother would kill me for going out in it, but he told me today "if you got it flaunt it" I dont know what other routine to do otherwise. I did vote for Mr. Blunt and did have dinner with him when I was miss italian. I just need an opinion. I want to do something different. Let me know what all thinks. Thankyou

Question

2004-12-13T01:49:00.000-06:00

My PS2 died today and I am really broke up over this. It that a bad thing?

Family

2004-12-10T21:12:00.000-06:00

I was reading a council members blog tonight before i went out and decided to see what is out there to experiment with(i know i got a ginormas final i need to be at home for and nothing to rash to deal with), but there was a comment about all of us here as family. I had to agree with that. We all in someway resimble a family. Though one member better not make the presence known(i know he worked hard on his drawings,but get it through your head N0!)Sure we have our bitching and bickering but I wanted to say to all of you here (minus Simon and his drawings left on my car)I see you as family. I hope we can put whatever behind and go move on.Hell I am even glad theres two other red heads here, try being the only Sicilian red head in your immediate family.You have all helped me in some way and if you guys need anything holler

Question for the parents out there...

2004-12-09T19:37:00.000-06:00

Did you think your baby was beautiful when he/she was born and if so, were you biased? LOL...just a random thought (my sister just had her first baby).

Going Under the Knife

2004-12-09T16:53:00.001-06:00

Hey all I just wanted everyone to wish me luck when I go under the knife on Tuesday. Its no big thing just getting my knee worked on. I hate going under so much but I know this has to be done if I want to feel better. Shark I know you can't be here for me, but you will be in my heart. I really hope everything goes ok. Well wish me luck.

Loss of Spark??

2004-12-08T08:58:00.000-06:00

Ok I am asking you guys that makes me spin in agrivation- Why do we make a big deal over Christmas?? I used to love this time of year, but ever since last year I have hated it. Why do we need songs for one holiday? I have yet to hear a song about Easter or Memorial Day for that matter.I even feel sorry for the people who have to have a birthdaythis month on top of it because they always seemed to get jiped out of having things seperate. This morning on my way in to class I had it and just for the hell of it knocked down my neighbors moving Santa outside their front yard.To top it all off my friend from Houston sent me another plane ticket to go there and some money and told me to put some ground effects on my car. I dont know about anyone but I dont think you can do that to a KIA. So do I send the money back? If I can though i want purple ground effects.Seriously I think this Christmas hype gets bigger and bigger each year and we tend to loose site of what the meaning is. If anything the best gift I could give anyone is to my parents- I will have that degree less than a week.But I want to know-As we get older does everything loose that magic that we once knew?

Tora Tora Tora

2004-12-07T09:53:00.000-06:00

At 0815 hours on Dec. 7th, 1941 abunch of jackasses had to fly their panes into pearl harbor and wake everyone up.

Just remember what happened today 63 years ago.

For this Holiday Season

2004-12-07T09:18:00.000-06:00

I know i havent posted on here in sometime but I wanted to say this to everyone:
For this holiday season I wish everyone the best of time. Some of us cant be home for the time, but know that you are thought of each and everyday.I hope you make it home safetly I want to know that we(and this does mean me as well)all need to let by gones be by gones and not hate one another. Life I have learned is to short to have any hostility with one another(no im not turning into some democratic tree hugger)I know none of us cannot change the hands of time and I am not saying we should, i just want to move on and continue everyones friendship,means more to me than you will ever know. If anything I have learned that happiness is how you make it.I know some of you are upset with me and I dont blame you I am just wanting forgiveness and to move on in 2005 in a new direction with you as friends.
Thankyou!

Please Pray for Me

2004-12-06T02:48:00.000-06:00

It's finals week at school and my stress level is likely to go through the roof. Someone pray for me...not only do I need to pass, but I need to not lose my mind and go off on some of these bitches I go to school with. Pray for me, someone! LOL...

karma

2004-12-01T01:35:00.000-06:00

you can justify any and everything you do today, tomorrow, or have done in the past, but when it comes down to it newton was right. every action does have an equal and opposite reaction. most people call it karma...i call it a bitch.

250 mil

2004-11-29T06:01:00.000-06:00

I saw this and almost died laughing... thoughts???? I bet his wife could loan him the money, she should, she cost him a big part of the election.

rambleing....

2004-11-26T07:45:00.000-06:00

I like to dream yes, dream yes.

For Christmass

2004-11-26T07:20:00.000-06:00

In my family every year the day after thanksgiveing, my sister and I would make our list to Santa clause and write him a letter. My dad always told me it would beat the rush at the north pole. Just out of curosity, what everyone else asking for? So here is mine:

Dear Santa,

Last year I wrote you a letter. I still have not receaved my list of demands from that one. Back in 1982 I requested a rock em' sock em' robot set. WHAT BALLS YOU HAVE LEAVING ME A FUCKING YO-YO, A STUPID ASS WHISTLE, AND A PAIR OF SOCKS THAT YEAR! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING, YOU FAT SON OF A BITCH? YOU'VE TAKEN ME FOR A SUCKER THE WHOLE FUCKING YEAR, TO COME OUT WITH SOME SHIT LIKE THIS UNDER THE DAMN TREE. AS IF YOU HADN'T FUCKED ME ENOUGH, YOU GAVE THAT LITTLE SHITHEAD ACROSS THE STREET SO MANY FUCKING TOYS, THAT HE CAN'T EVEN WALK INTO HIS DAMN HOUSE! PLEASE DON'T LET ME SEE YOU TRYING TO FIT YOUR BIG FAT ASS DOWN MY CHIMNEY NEXT YEAR! I'LL FUCK YOU UP! I'LL THROW ROCKS AT THOSE STUPID ASS REINDEERS OF YOURS, AND SCARE THEM THE FUCK AWAY, SO YOU'LL HAVE TO WALK YOUR BIG FAT ASS BACK TO THE NORTHPOLE, YOU PUNK BITCH!! YOU KNOW WHAT SANTA, FUCK YOU!! THIS YEAR YOU'LL FIND OUT HOW BAD I CAN REALLY FUCKING BE...YOU'VE BEEN SLEEPING ON A MOTHERFUCKER FAR TOO LONG! SO WATCH YOUR BACK THIS TIME, YOU FAT BITCH! With that in mind I want you to fire what ever elf is in charge of makeing sure that the child gets what they want. Now before I submit myself to your moral scrutany, I would like to remind you that the proof of guilt is on the prosacuetion. With that in mind, I should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Also I would encourage you to interpret "Reasonable Doubt" as broadly as possable. I also DEMAND to know WHO THE HELL MADE YOU master of my fate? Who are YOU to question my behavior. HUH????? What gies you the right???? So! Whith all of this being said, here is what I want.

1. 20 million dollar's in unmarked bills. Nothing is to be larger than a $20

2. Last year I asked for clones of Britney Spears and Jessica Alba to clean my room every day. They never showed up! This year I want clones of Bridgette Wilson (she was in Billy Madason, x-treeme Ops, and house on haunted hill), Ziyi Zhang (she was in crouching tiger hiddon dragon, rush hour 2), and the 2 japaneese twins from Auston Powers: Goldmember (Fookme, and Fooku) They are to do what ever I say when ever I say.

3. I asked for this last year, lets see if you can get it right this time. I want a BMW Z3 or Z7 roadster. If you can not get the Roadster I'll take a BMW 545i (all of them are the offical car of James Bond)

4. I want all the Score's girls to line up nude and sing for me everyday.

5. Last but not least. I want my own Brewery to make beer for me everyday.

I feal that with the time I have put in over the last year none of these demands are unreasonable. You have untill December 25, 2004 at 0700 hours central time, U.S.A. to deleaver this to my house. If my demands are not met, I will release those pictures of you with the girls on your "Really Naughty List" to Mrs. Claus! Have a merry Christmass.

your pal.

-Jay

P.S. I also know about what you did to little Johney's mom!

For tomorrow

2004-11-24T15:41:00.000-06:00

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes and gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious and your pies take the prize,
and may your Thanksgiving dinner stay off your thighs!

Happy Holidays

2004-11-22T02:15:00.000-06:00

To all of you that can be with family and freinds this time of the holidays be thankful of it.Treasure every little nuance that comes your way.Look around at the people and just be happy that you are so fortunate.Watch the children play and the older folks tell their stories and listen to the sounds of a full home.Remember those who are away but rejoice in the spirt of the day.No matter where we go in life our family is always with us in heart.Do not weep for me in the days to come,my family is with me always.And I make new family where ever I go!Take the time to tell each other just how you feel,dont let a chance to says I love you slip away.Dont miss a hug or a kiss.So to all of you from all of us Happy Holidays!!

Key Issues in 2029

2004-11-22T01:24:00.000-06:00

Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions in the seventh largest country in the world, Mexifornia (formally known as California).

White minorities still trying to have English recognized as Mexifornia's third language.

Spotted Owl plague threatens northwestern United States crops and livestock.

Baby conceived naturally . . . scientists stumped.

Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.

Last remaining Fundamentalist Muslim dies in the American Territory of the Middle East (formerly known as Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon).

Iraq still closed off; physicists estimate it will take at least 10 more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels.

France pleads for global help after being overtaken by Jamaica.

Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.

George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.

Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.

85-year, $75.8 billion study: Diet and Exercise is the key to weight loss.

Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.

Japanese scientists have created a camera with such a fast shutter speed, they now can photograph a woman with her mouth shut.

Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative.

Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.

Average height of NBA players now nine feet, seven inches.

New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters and rolled-up newspapers must be registered by January 2036.

Congress authorizes direct deposit of formerly illegal political contributions to campaign accounts.

Capitol Hill intern indicted for refusing to have sex with congressman.

IRS sets lowest tax rate at 75 percent.

Floridians still don't know how to use a voting machine.

The Queen has left the Blog

2004-11-20T20:36:00.000-06:00

The time has come for me to leave this council. This used to be an extension of my "happy place"(my blog) . This used to be a fun place to go to and see what was on everyones mind, but I got to go bye bye. Having things rubbed in my face is not a way to live my life sainly.I have been told that I have gotten some members mad, and Im not welcome in certain situations.i am sorry for whatever I have caused. I never meant to hurt anyone here either.Shark- Hurry home!! I hope you have gotten my stuff. I hate mail thats not email. Look for a package soon for Christmas. Hope you like the items inside. I figured it would put a smile to your face.Hope I can just say hi when you come home. If anyone wants to reach me you know how to get ahold of me. I am just tired of all the mental strain this has put me through."You Win", which this is a defeat I must carry. Sorry I was such a chore. Hope no ones mad something i need to do to regain my sanity.

Well Wishes

2004-11-20T01:12:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm headed home for the entire Thanksgiving week. I hope you all have a great holiday and stay safe. As for me, I'm going to sleep in and not think about tests and projects while shopping and cruising around familiar territory. Happy Thanksgiving!

Power of Words

2004-11-19T08:02:00.000-06:00

We have all heard the phrase "Actions speak louder than words", but this morning ,and trust me I have been up for a while, I am wondering if its the other way around. Are words louder than the actions that we do to one another. I was up this morning at around 3am flipping through the channels and was thinking of things I have been told in my life that have pierced in my head to the point where I can still hear them from the person that had said them to me.Some people more than others have said things that I will never forget. Im not trying to only talk about what has been in my life this past couple of months, but I was remembering the time when i left home and can recall something harsh that was said to me by my brother. Somethings that people say can have a bigger effect than if they just out right did something to that person. For some of us here we are married. did the phrase "I do" and "Death to us part" have a bigger effect on you than to just go get married? I dont know whether or not ill experence that phrase in my lifetime. I dont know maybe this is my lack of sleep kicking in while im trying to get through school with what ever sanity I got left. But i want to know do the words we say to one another have more effect on someone than how we act towards them.

PS2 and Civel War

2004-11-19T01:08:00.000-06:00

I was sitting in my room playing videogames, to clear my head. I poped in my copy of Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skys. I was doing a bombing mission on the siege of Farenbanti when it hit me. This game is not to far from the truth. For those who dont know. The prefface to the level is that a city has become split. You have ICAF and The Republic. How long is it going to be before America is split again. Look at all the termoil the last election caused! On the Laura Ingrum show several of her callers talked about how families have disowned people for voteing against Bush or voteing for Bush. Fox news hundreds of people were telling their shrink in NY City that because of Bush being the white house, they were thinking of killing themselfs. Its not going to be North or South, Blue or Grey, Grant or Lee... Its going to be Red or Blue states, Concervative or Libral. I wake up every day and see this battle going on. CNN saying that Yasser Aerofat was a great man who help the plalstinian people, and should be respected in death! Fox News saying that Yasser Aerofat was the grandfather of global terrorism and should be given the same funeral as Hitler and should be treated as a tyrant. (On a personal note, I agree with Fox.) The days are comeing where yet agean America's sons and doughters will have to pick up the gun and make a choice. As for me I'll see you ontop of Blueberry Hill with a 30 aut 6 picking off hippies. Singing their songs "Hello darkness my old friend.... *BANG*... I have come to you again.... *BANG*"

Something to Remember in Life

2004-11-18T08:16:00.000-06:00

So I received this memo in my mail box from someone who knows Im going through a rough time. Yes, I have moved up to where I finally got my mailbox, and no it didnt have to do with getting to fire someone in my department with my boss Here it goes:

Too often, we loose sight of life's simple pleasures. Remember when someone annoys you it takes 42 muscles in your face to frown, BUT it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and bitch slap that mother f*%@&*$ upside the head.

Just something to think about I guess.

Soap Opera's and how they affect relationships

2004-11-17T15:15:00.000-06:00

Ok, I am watching my Soap, that I haven't really watched in months, and I am begining to see why women become discontented with there husbands. The men on these things are very romantic, always trying to reinvent the relationship. Just because the couple is married, doesn't mean the chase is over, on a soap opera. Maybe its because the charactors are always in these life and death sits, or maybe it's because the writers are all women, but it gives most girls the illusion that there husbands are going to be like that. I say girls because we start watching Soaps when we are 12-13, and we watch the same soaps our mothers watched. Now in reality, once a man walks down the aisle, he feels that he has caught you, and that is all he has to do in the relationship. There are some men out there that can hold that feeling off until the first child is born, but in the end, the husband stops the chase and spends his time persueing his hobbies/intrests. Now us females begin to wonder what we did wrong to stop getting that attention from our significant other, and we start doing things to our selves to make him want to chase us more. But as I was told by a good friend, Quill, guys don't get hints. In fact our efforts go unnoticed because we don't staple to the guys forhead that we are unhappy. So we start to spiral down a horrible winding road to depressionvile, while we are trying to blance these little bundles of joy on our lap and wonder where we went wrong. Now if a guy out there shows a married woman even the slightest intrest, she begins to doubt her husbands love and starts to see it as a good leaving point. And this is all because we have the believe that our husbands should be like the men on Soap Operas. In the past, I would have argued against this, saying that it wasn't true, and that this is making Soap Operas a scapegoat for a woman to leave her husband. But that was before I had been married, and started down this winding road. Now it has become very clear to me exactly why I am un happy. As I write this blog, Justin is out with my dad looking at motorcycles. He never goes to hold my hand any more, or put his arm around me. We have become like my parents, to friends that just have sex occationally and do our own thing. When we were about to get married I told Justin that concept was not what I was looking for in a spouse, and he agreed. But here we are, doing what we swore we never do. Maybe it's because we have become to comfortable in the relationship, or maybe we are to tired at the end of the day to do anything but a chase kiss goodnight and go to sleep. I talked to Justin about this yesterday, telling him I felt that he no longer desired me, because of the fact he doesn't chase me anymore. In fact yesterday wasn't the first time I told him this, but maybe because of the time we have spent apart, he actually heard me this time. Now it seems he is trying to make a consious effort to be more doting, and with me now really sick, I am pushing him away. Life is funny that way. I just don't want him catching what I have if it is contagious, because this isn't any fun, and I explained that in no minced words. I think he got the point. Now time will tell if he will remain the doting husband he was when we first crossed the threshold to marrage or if he will revert back to the comfort zone we have come to know all to well.

Fun with kids

2004-11-17T02:33:00.000-06:00

Tonight Angel, Phoenix, and I had a feast from KFC. I just wanted to say congrats to Justin for joining the U.S.M.C. Stemper fi! Now on a more personal note... SHARK! I WARPED YOUR KID!!!! Alex and I were wrestling on the floor. Some of my cologune rubbed off on him. When he sat down Angel said that he smelled like me. Then a comercial for Cartoon Network's new show Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi. (Just a side note yes I like J-pop music and think their a good band sue me!!!! Its a raver thing!) Well in the comercial the two little asian chicks came on the screen. Alex took off and started kissing the TV. Now not only does your son smell like me, he is kissing asian chicks! Angel imeadeately turned and said it was "All my falt!" Just thought you would find that humorous. Phoenix just cracked up.

This time it is for real.

2004-11-15T10:46:00.000-06:00

Voice, K, Deadpool, Pheonix, Cheri, Fran - Thanks for having me here, and for putting up with my politicizing, and not seeking to silence or censor me. Deadpool, I am truly sorry; I definitely "got it" with what you sought to do, and I'm sorry that I can't be part of it any longer.

Scott, Hizzy, Beaver, Neo - thanks for the support in joining me here.

Everyone else - whosoever wished to silence me or censor me; congratulations, for you are the reason this once-promising creation of Vince's turned to utter and total shit.

I don't need the hassle of being told to shut up every five minutes on here. This place is supposed to be for every member to use their voice, and I can't do that here because every time I do, I get jumped on. I've taken it with a grain of salt all that I can. I'm done with this Council.

If you guys wish to find me, my personal blog is always there for updates on me, and the Bug-Juice Forums are a constant dwelling place for my thoughts and opinions.

Bye.

What A Day

2004-11-14T21:51:00.000-06:00

My day started with a dream I had. Now, for those who know me and my dreams and when my grandmother is in it trouble arises. Well she was in it telling me that my mom is going to get Cancer in the stomach. Im hoping it isnt true, that had me down.I called my mom and just told her I love her, which some know that wasnt easy for me to do, but I do shes been there when I have messed up. Next, I resolved some issues with people,but it left me with some of the stitches popping back open that were once starting to finally desolve.For those who know me I shed very few tears, well today if you were around around 10 am you would have seen a wall broken and seen me in tears for a hour.I guess that was good to do, I dont know. I realized that yes, I can still be apart of everyones lives,I just need to maybe in time move out of town and start new.Also, it left me wanting to go back and change the path of the choices that I took.As far as me moving, yes I will be when I can get enough money too. I am looking at Houston, though I vowed never to go back to Texas.As someone once told me "You got to do what you got to do''.I love all of you (yes all of you) and care for you more than you know, but I just need to get somethings in order. Today was a start. Dante- Dont be a stranger. I hope you can find something that I could never give to you. Shark- get home!! Mama Pheonix- Your the best!! I will stay here,just keep in on the low. Feel free to check my blogs if you wish..

Phoenix Furies or AKA WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE TO YOU, YOUR MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2004-11-13T19:48:00.000-06:00

OMG, What the Fuck is going on. I mean, Jesus H Christ. I stop comming for a while in the hopes you all will get your mother fucking shit together, and I see people pulling out, people being bullied. What the Fuck?!?!?!?!?!

I am not your mother, I don't want to say this, but you are all acting like a bunch of spoiled rotten children, that need a switch. I mean come on. This was Deaddy's vision of Eurotopia and you all are fucking it all up. What ever happened to deep thought, and observation on this board? What ever happened to the idea that a bunch of friends could take there fears, worries and grips to each other not at each other? How hard is it to play nice? No one says you all have to be friends on this board, but my god, some tolerance would be apperciated.

I don't want to be the big bad parent figure, I don't want to have to resort to pentalizing ill tolerance on this board. Please don't make me. I will say this, this is your last warning. If I read any of the council members making any threats to each other, or making this board not a good place, I will personally see to it that it stops. That is not a threat that is a promise.

Please just get the fuck along.

Sidelines

2004-11-12T01:12:00.000-06:00

Yes, the time really has come for me to stand on the sidelines for a while here on the council.I am tired of the annomicity here. On my way home from O' Learys I decided to try to bring some stability back of whats left in my life. Im just worn out from the past month.Like I have said before things went to hell in one night. Wish I could get it all back.I want peace and its hard to get.You win!!I will be like Kerry and accept my defeat.I am not going to make some public appoligy to anyone, not when I did anything wrong. I dont know anymore, my brother and I got on something about trust, and it just bummed me out to just say forget about it.Trust is hard to come by especially when you get burned in the end. Shark- Hurry home please. i am tired of hearing about all the stuff going on there, I just want you home to your family safe and sound.I will read the other blogs. But got to go, you guys know how to get ahold of me- Be nice kids......

Happy Vets Day!!!!!!

2004-11-11T12:58:00.000-06:00

I want you all to remember that today some vet gave their life for the right of freedom. Shark Thank You! My grandfather Ed Winkelmann (1923 - 1982 US Army) Who fought in the Normandy Invasion. My Grandfather Ralph O'niel (USMC) who fought in Japan. My Uncle Fritz Winkelmann (1920 - 1945) who died while fighting for Germany as a member of the Luftewaffa. Yes I know he fought on the wrong side of the war, But I feal he diserves recognision. So I want you all to remember. If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veterian.

...Kerry Won - Here are the Facts...

2004-11-11T09:45:00.000-06:00

Kerry Won. Here Are The Facts.

...well, I think it's time to say 'see you later'...

2004-11-10T15:46:00.000-06:00

I have attempted to adhere to all suggestions given to me regarding posting. For some reason, new "problems" keep surfacing with the way I comment and post. Because of this, I'm stepping down for awhile; I'm not leaving the Council (and if I DO disappear, it's because I was forcibly removed), but I am going silent for awhile.

I am tired of being restricted and threatened. (If you don't know, don't worry about it.)

Day of Peace

2004-11-10T09:11:00.000-06:00

Well whatever was brought down yesterday helped. Today I awoke to nothing out of the ordinary for a change. Maybe the snake went back to pasture for some moment in time. Mama Phoenix- You have a safe trip. I am sure Justin will be glad to see you.Thanks for keeping me sain last night.Quill-Thanks for never doubting anything, I am sure and I hope the "guilty"party here will feel some remorse, but then again do they ever? Shark- Get yourself home in one piece. I am sending you a card to try to brighten your spirits up there, thankyou for fighting for our freedom, because I know freedom isnt free. Have a good day everyone.

Acting Before I Think

2004-11-09T09:52:00.000-06:00

On my way to school here today I thought about my previous post about leaving. I thought "hell no!!!" You all know me as a fighter and well I am not going to give up something that I like for some asshole. Yes I know I was a dumbshit for leaving my house open when I took my dog to the vent with my mom,but hey we all do dumb things(god knows Ive had my share),probally got some other information when he was there. So yeah I figured that if this ass wanted to do me in he would have done so by now.In the famous words of my Texas hero Mr. Bush"WE CANNOT LIVE IN FEAR", and i am not.But as for some formal appoligy that I am supposed to give thats another "HELL NO" Like you said you made your bed now I intend to sleep in it. Hell will have to freeze before you get that one.I intend to still be around you guys and get drunk with you at o'learys (didnt happen last week-was food poisoned)Have a good day and remember that Velma can dodge bullets.

Snake in the grass

2004-11-09T09:06:00.000-06:00

This is in refrence to Fran's stalker Snake.

Hello, dickwad.... You are quite the ass wipe. I am an achomplished hacker, and I have traced your computer down, and am turning the IP address into the police. You really SHOULD be careful about what you do to our friends. Now if I see your sick pathetic mug on this web site or any of our blogs again, I will personally hunt you down . And I know how to do it with out getting caught. So I hope you have a wonderful time in Jail and best of luck with the anal rapings, (and you will get them... I happen to know quite a few prisioners that would LOVE to get there hands on a round ass such as yours. ) Oh, and if I see you in public.... well, lets just say the the Phoenix always rising from the ashes. Snakes just burn up and die. Have a nice day.

My Turn

2004-11-09T08:20:00.000-06:00

Dear members of the Council: Its time for me to address you about whats going on. Yes, as you all know someones after me, reasons I dont know. I think it has to be what has happend to me and my relations with a certain council member over the past month, because this is when it all started.If I could take it all back and knew what I was getting into I would have never gotten involved. I made that mistake.But I feel the guilty party knows and is not saying anything.You win!!I give up. I cant fight anymore. I have been a mess trying to figure out as to why,but I cant .I guess if you cant see whats going on ,taking peoples word,well your just as screwed in the head as well. As for this so called "Snake"person-Bring it on!! You two are getting what you want for me to break.I love everyone here(yes all of you),but I think i need to break away for sometime. This blog used to be fun for me to see what everyone had to say(Quill had fun arguing valid points with you),but now it seems that I am not welcome by someone. I will leave for a short time, read the other blogs, and still post on mine.I will still find ways to keep in touch with you otherwise,but for now I may take off for a while. Play nice children!!Phoenix-let me know if they all are.Shark- Get back home safely.Quill-Keep it real

Libbral dubble standard

2004-11-09T01:17:00.000-06:00

Libbral dubble standard

France Invades Ivory Coast

So why arnt we protesting this? France has invaded the Ivory Coast. This was done WITHOUT U.N. aproval. French troops are being killed in record numbers. People of the Ivory Coast dont want them their... Hmmmmm sounds alot like the Iraq war!

...an ongoing problem...

2004-11-08T20:46:00.000-06:00

I want to take a moment to address the entirety of the council. There is some controversy surrounding Fran and certain things and people bothering her and generally harrassing her. Because of this, she is considering quitting the Council.

@Francesca: I don't care if Dante, or someone else, wants you out of this Council. As an administrator, I want you here. Deadpool wants you here also, albeit he is absent at this time. Don't quit our circle just to cave to someone who is clearly a "fucking asshole."

So yeah...this is a message to Fran: You are wanted on this Council by the majority, despite what certain members may or may not wish.

And to the individual(s) who are harrassing Fran; I sincerely hope that I never have the opportunity to get my hands on you, because I will be sent to jail for assault. That's not a threat, it's a promise.

Casualties in Iraq: What The War Is Costing Us

2004-11-08T14:18:00.000-06:00

Casualties in Iraq: What The War Is Costing Us

I thought I would bring this point home. We seriously should be done in Iraq. I don't say this as a political statement, I just say this as a human being. The costs of this war casualty-wise is NOT going well for our nation at all right now.

We're not making much headway in "winning" this thing. The insurgencies are ongoing and it's stretching our forces thinner by the day. "There won't be a need for a draft." Yeah...right.

...Post-Election Events/Fallujah Report...

2004-11-08T10:51:00.000-06:00

Here's a report of possible election fraud that took place:

Should America Trust the Results of the Election?

Also:

Broward Machines Count Backward / Computer Loses 4,500 Votes in N.C.

...and here's a report about the current invasion of Fallujah. It is also linked in the title of this post:

Fallujah

I am trying something new here: just posting links. Yes, I know I said I was going to do that before and didn't, but I am now. I'm doing this so as to give people the option to read the truth, instead of cramming in down their throats...

HoodyHoo

2004-11-08T04:31:00.000-06:00

Aight y'all, fuck all this boring shit! Somebody start some hellraisin or sumpin!!! ;

Something to adress

2004-11-07T08:12:00.000-06:00

I just want to adress something that I need to get out. I am tired of the annomocity between me and certain members here. Im tired of it all. I dont see why we cant work this out somehow. I know you may say I created it,and maybe so, but I am tried of it all.I never meant to cause anything. I just want to sit down civily and talk about it. Today I found a dead snake on my car with a string near its head. and Im not saying someone here did, I am mearly wanting it to stop. I dont know if I can gone much longer with all this stress. It is making me not myself. Im gaurded of where i am half of the time. All I am asking is to talk.Next, Shark- please be careful over there. Im worried that something is going to happen. I will be certain that I am not going to loose someone else in my life. I lost 2 in one month. My grandfather is ill now and I hope he pulls through. Hes been more of a dad to me then my own.He is more worried about me than he is his health and thats not good. People come first, I second.Just come home safe and sound to everyone. Anyway, I am sorry i had to adress a few things it just has me all frazzled.

Council Chambers

2004-11-07T03:37:00.000-06:00

I have been waiting for the invasion of Faluja all day. The librals are being no help. They are twisting everything that has been done in Iraq. I saw "Faren Height 9-11" and Mr. Moore did nothing but piss me off and make me want to kill more brown people. I hate what those Islamo faccists did. I mean hell if WW2 was reported by todays media it would sound like this:

June 6, 1944. -NORMANDY-

Three hundred French civilians were killed and thousands more wounded today in the first hours of America's invasion of continental Europe. Casualties were heaviest among women and children. Most of the French casualties were the result of artillery fire from American ships attempting to knock out German fortifications prior to the landing of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops.

Reports from a makeshift hospital in the French town of St. Mere
Eglise said the carnage was far worse than the French had anticipated and reaction against the American invasion was running high. "We are dying for no reason," said a Frenchman speaking on condition of anonymity. "Americans can't even shoot straight. I never thought I'd say this, but life was better under Adolph Hitler."

The invasion also caused severe environmental damage. American troops, tanks, trucks and machinery destroyed miles of pristine shoreline and thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive wetlands. It was believed that the habitat of the Spineless French Crab was completely wiped out, threatening the species with extinction.

A representative of Greenpeace said his organization, which had tried to stall the invasion for over a year, was appalled at the destruction, but not surprised. "This is just another example of how the military destroys the environment without a second thought, " said Christine Moanmore. "And it's all about corporate greed." Contacted at his Manhattan condo, a member of the French government-in-exile who abandoned Paris when Hitler invaded said the invasion was based solely on American financial interests. "Everyone knows the President Roosevelt has ties to big beer," said Pierre LeWimp. "Once the German beer industry is conquered, Roosevelt's beer cronies will control the world market and make a fortune."

Administration supporters said America's aggressive actions were based in part on the assertions of controversial scientist Albert Einstein, who sent a letter to Roosevelt speculating that the Germans were developing a secret weapon, a so-called "atomic bomb." Such a weapon could produce casualties on a scale never seen before and cause environmental damage that could last for thousands of years. Hitler has denied having such a weapon and international inspectors were unable to locate such weapons even after spending two long weekends in Germany. Shortly after the invasion began reports surfaced that German prisoners had been abused by Americans. Mistreatment of Jews by Germans at so-called "concentration camps" has been rumored but so far, remains unproven.

Several thousand Americans died during the first hours of the invasion and French officials are concerned that uncollected corpses pose a public health risk. "The Americans should have planned for this in advance," they said. "It's their mess and we don't intend to clean it up."

See how stupid they sound! I hope the U.S. kills these fucking people wholesale in Faluja. Shark Good luck and godbless.

..."This Is War" - Smile Empty Soul...

2004-11-04T08:46:00.000-06:00

"This Is War" - Smile Empty Soul

i'm just a normal man
i wouldn't hurt nothing at all
but here we are

our leaders have a plan
i'd only kill if it's for them
now here we are

i drove in a car and flew in a plane
to come to your house and kick your door in
now it's down to this, it's just you and me
i'll blow your fucking head off for my country

i go to church and tithe
i go to work in a suit and tie
but this is war
i'm really not sure why
but the tv says that you are wrong
now here we are

[chorus]

my feet hurt from the sand
but still i march on gun in hand
cause this is war
this isn't what i planned
i wanted to be so much more
but this is war

[chorus]

(These are lyrics to a song by the band Smile Empty Soul. I recommend them highly.)

...Council unity...

2004-11-04T07:40:00.000-06:00

"Earlier today, I spoke to President Bush, and I offered him and Laura our congratulations on their victory. We had a good conversation and we talked about the danger of division in our country and the need – the desperate need – for unity, for finding the common ground, coming together. Today, I hope that we can begin the healing." - John Kerry, taken from the concession speech

I agree with this. This is exactly why Kerry was MY candidate for president. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be this time around. However, this statement holds much water and salt for this Council right now.

Contrary to what may or may not be the popular opinion, I did not join here to splinter and divide, to bicker and to bitch. One of the few curses in my life seems to be the way conflict and controversy surrounds me, if for no other reason than my out-spoken ways.

I have considered on several occasions leaving this Council, first for the good of myself, second for the good of the rest of you, to end the bickering. That is not the way. Deadpool, our grand Cheif Councilor, the King of Q-Town, told me during one of those periods I was pondering my exit, that he invited me for a reason. That he respects and loves my voice, and what I have to say, and also how I use it. I started as an administrator here, the first in a line of many that were appointed, largely because I knew how to add links; Deadpool decided to keep me.

I have had misunderstandings with Voice; I have a continued, underlying animosity with Shark, although less-so since we put certain issues to rest; I have a continued animosity towards Angel69. But none of that matters.

I don't like the fact that Bush is our president; but his re-election symbolizes our nation coming together to vote, to speak with their voices. That's similar to what is supposed to be happening here on the Council Chambers.

It would be foolish to assume that we're going to be a happy congregation of members; there are pasts that are not exactly friendly between some of us. However, I think that if we accept the fact that we're just as likely to be cynical and bitchy as we are capable of friendly musings and exchanges, we'll be all the better for that.

As Council Administrator Quill, better known as Viceroy Kakkarot to some (or just one), I am going to now use my power for the first time. An amendment to the second rule, about civility, if you will.

Rule #2) Keep it civil, guys & girls
Sub #A) Respect the differences; expect human bias and emotion (anger, sorrow, etc.) to occur; be open-minded and roll with punches; remember, even in the face of seeming disrespect, the crucial importance of unity within the Council.

I know it would seem a bit unorthodox for a Viceroy Admin to dictate the law of the Council; however, if it is acceptable to you - and I can't see a reason why it wouldn't be - we can preserve the civility here in an easier way.

As I supported John Kerry during his campaign, supported his views for our country, so I support his idea of the importance of unity. Join me now in making that a reality. And, if I must be the pioneer for this...

Dante; Francesca - congratulations.

If Shark isn't going to run in in 2016.......

2004-11-04T07:18:00.000-06:00

My fellow council members, I am announcing that I intend to run for President in 2016. I feel that this country needs a MOM, more than it really needs a leader. It needs some one to wipe it's nose and send it to bed with out desert. I feel I can be that MOM. I will stand semi conservitive on most issues, and I refuse to flip flop. I am not sure what party ticket I would be a member, as of yet, but I am leaning to Republican. Why Republican, you ask? My grandfather is a member of the that party, and could use his influence to get that parties support. I announce that Angel will be my running mate, and I feel her oppinion as VP will be unique from my own and she will take a different stance on some subjects to help balance me out. I am not quick to anger and she is, so it will be a good balance of reaction. We have decided that our entire cabinet will be female, and as many mothers as we can find. It will look like a regular PTO meeting. Shark and Deaddy, we would like you two to be our press agents, and to help guide us when we get the way we get. We still intend to be full time mothers, and heaven forbid if I have to miss my son's soccer/basketball/baseball/football game to go sort out some stupid issue in congress. Congress will learn quickly that I will not take this, moaning and complaining that it likes to do. If I have to, I will have the Senate stare at one wall, and the House stare at another wall until they can come to an agreement. No they will not be fed or allowed to leave until this happens. I am hoping just the threat of this will scare them in agreeing what is best for the people, and not them. Everyone help me start planning now, so Angel and I can be the youngest, female Pres, and VP in US history. (Hey we can dream can't we?)

Where has Council gone?

2004-11-04T02:47:00.000-06:00

In the beginning the Council was smaller and had a sense of unity that was the backbone of the "table".Now it seems that the Council has lost the path and some of the members that started it.The posts are more argumentative than helpful,more full of spite than care.Where has the wisdom and grace gone? Why does this happen more and more once something good is uncovered?If I were to go outside right now and trip over a box of jewlels and went to share them with everyone I know there would be those that would distort it into a show of pomposity rather than generosity.Let us try to help each other rather than shit in our cereal.Do you think it worth the time and trouble that it will take for us all to act like the adults that I know we are and let bygones be bygones and just exsit together in a peaceful mob.

Victory

2004-11-03T13:13:00.000-06:00

In the famous words of our leader"Justice will pre-vail''. I just got news from the Fox news that they are showing at school that Kerry plans on calling Bush and congratulating him.Sorry Quill really I am not being smart about it thoughI think the Gap has some nice black shirts for guys there.(Sorry trying to add some humor in my rough week here).Anyway not many people our age do get all hyped up about it. I respected all your points on Kerry. I know we risk a chance to have another draft and having all you guys go there and that would suck, but Kerry confused me with what he wanted to do. Take care and have a good day.

Victory? Not For America.

2004-11-03T13:08:00.000-06:00

Well, the final hammer has been dropped. George W. Bush retains his position as president of the United States of America. This is a dark, dark day for our country.

To ALL Bush voters:

The blood of all the soliders in Iraq; the innocent people to be killed with more ‘pre-emptive’ strikes; it’s on YOUR hands.

When decent people like Shark, and Pheonix’s husband are sent away to war to DIE for the wrong reasons when they didn’t have to; I blame YOU. That’s YOUR fault.

The next person to blow their life savings on medicine or an operation; the next person to die of disease or injury because they couldn’t pay; is YOUR fault.

The next gay person to be a victim of a hate crime, or hatred in general; the misery of couples who now must continue to struggle; is YOUR fault.

When our Freedom of Speech disappears; it’s YOUR fault.

The next person that can’t find a job; gets laid off and can’t find other work because of our job market; that’s YOUR fault.

The next batch of jobs that are outsourced overseas and replaced with lower paying jobs for our citizens; that’s YOUR fault.

Thousands of people who are now denied the right to choose with abortion; that’s YOUR fault.

When middle-class individuals have to tighten their belts so much that they can’t even breathe to make ends meet; that’s YOUR fault.

When most of our “great new jobs” only pay the frozen-in-place minimum wage of $5.15 per hour; that’s YOUR fault.

The next time a person dies or succumbs to spinal injuries, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cancer; when people in YOUR OWN FAMILIES – your friends, your loved ones, even your spouse – are diagnosed with these ailments and afflictions and there IS NO CURE available to save them, to help them; that’s YOUR fault.

When there is no Social Security left for you or I when we are older; that’s YOUR fault.

The “moral” man that you’ve elected and chosen is leading this country to ruin. For all his morality, for all his compassion for people, he’s nevertheless lacking in the intelligence and judgment that should be required of our leader. Yet you elected him anyway.

Four more years of a horrible economy. Four more years of civil rights being trampled on. Four more years of right wing, conservative oppression for gays, women, and minorities. Four more years of struggling for the lower and middle classes. Four more years of further decline for our healthcare system. Four more years of money being stolen from Social Security, money that is supposed to go to help the elderly. Four more years of wars which cause the rest of the world to hate us. Four more years of soldiers dying unnecessarily; men and women with families, men and women with children. Four more years of the worst decisions defended as being right and justified. Four more years of the richest people in our country living like kings, while the rest of us struggle and suffer. Four more years and beyond without cures for several diseases, due to bans on Stem Cell research; in fact, four more years of good, decent people suffering when there could easily be hope for them, a cure for them.

When all these things take place and more, you’ll complain about them. You’ll complain about them and you’ll see.

“Steve, you just don’t know when to quit, do you? You’re completely wrong about all that, or at least partially wrong.”

Yeah? You’ll see.

In my political posts in the past, I’ve ended several times with “God bless America.” Now I say:

God save America.

Lesson Figured out

2004-11-03T09:08:00.000-06:00

The suspence is still on from this election week. I guess I should have prepaired myself since this just a repeat of last year only this time it is the state of Ohio(which is a decent state). I have had my mind on other things as everyone all knows. With that I figured that I am now being put to the test by some other power higher than my own(please read my blog if you need further understanding) After all my questioning about why we loose the ones we love (even if they are still with us)I have come to the understanding that it is to teach us something that we might have not seen in that person or that it was a lesson we needed to learn from them. Hope that just made sence.I know for some of you trying to get ahold of me has been hard. Im sorry but I just needed time to be by myself and figure things out. I will be there tommorow night though at O'Learys I have to get out of my rut I have been in. ***Shark- I am getting a box ready to send to you What would you like or what do you need over there?? Let me know! Hope everything so far has made it. Hope you liked the mini vacation thing i sent. If its sendable let me know please.

Fear For This Country

2004-11-02T10:44:00.000-06:00

Today is election day, and I am terrified. Either way I choose, I feel, I lose. Kerry and my beliefs don't even come close to meshing, and Bush will get my husband killed. I think this will be the last election of the people (and that's if the people ever had a say to begin with). Reguardless of the results, I will wear black tomorrow. I morn this country, which was great. I morn our freedoms, that as time goes by, will still slowly disappear. (again that is if we ever really had any). I morn all that was good and decent in the world. I morn.... Those of you who believe that one of the canidates will make this country great, I morn for you. I feel that the veil of propaganda has been lifted from my eyes, and I now see the world as it is. I am more afraid of that, than anything else. Our country is hated. Our country is war like. Our country can't take care of it's own problems and are neive enough to believe that a New/Current President will make it better. Wake up and smell the coffee, all polititions are liars. Kerry will say what he thinks will get him votes, so will Bush. In the end, we are stuck with a man with personal ambitions for personal gain, what ever that may be (and don't say that there are none, because every one as personal ambitions and gain). In the end we are going to be controlled by the media, and the propaganda will continue to fly. In the end, we won't realize all that we lost till one magical day when we wake up in a comunist (or worse) country. We are on the road to WW3, and we don't even realize it. It frightens me, that I will have to raise my son in this world. It frightens me to live in this world. I wish it were better, that my fears were unfounded, but I can't say that. None of you can. So on this Nov 2, 2oo4 I will find my self back in a church praying that our next president (whoever that may be), our country, and all of humanity, comes to it's senses and see the world as it is, and does something to make it better. Maybe if I pray enough, this country will survive long enough for us to hand the reign of power to our children, and have the confidence that things will get better.

4 NEW Years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2004-11-02T07:33:00.000-06:00

100 UNDISPUTABLE Facts about the Bush Administration & 1 Opinion

On this Election Day, Bush supporters will tell you that Kerry is a flip-flopper, that he cannot be trusted with the security of our country. They will tell you that Kerry supporters believe that Kerry transcends fault, and that we who support Kerry blame everything on George W. Bush.

I admit that not EVERY bad thing that has happened in this war is a direct result of Bush. However, do not forget how he rushed us into this war without the proper preparation to get the job done with the least amount of casualties. Do not forget about the way Bush LIED to the American people about WHY we were going into the war; and then later, in light of overwhelming evidence, boldly stated that he would do it all over again, the same way, had he known then what we know now – that he would repeat the mistake. Don’t forget how bad things have gotten for the middle class, with our jobs being shipped over seas. Do not forget the fact that Bush NEVER served in a war himself, but is so very eager to send other people’s children and fathers and mothers to war and put them at risk. Do not lose sight of the fact that even though good is being done in Iraq, the war is costing our country heavily. Do not lose sight of the fact that we began this “War On Terror” with a campaign against Al-Qaeda, and then suddenly attacked a country that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the 9/11 terror attacks. Do not forget the fact that under his watch, our healthcare system has fallen and is failing fast. Do not forget the fact that Bush has other pre-emptive strikes in mind for the future; he holds fast and true to his methods of how to lead his war, and he doesn’t plan on stopping it.

They attack Kerry’s military record; at least Kerry HAS a record that shows that he was willing to put his own life on the line for the U.S. And no one can dispute that Vietnam was a war we should never have fought in the first place, and Kerry knew it then, before most people, and did the right and honorable thing; and Bush and Bush-supporters attack that (except for Francesca, of course). They attack Kerry on the flip-flopping issue; at least Kerry is a man who can alter and update his opinions and positions in light of new evidence, unlike Bush, who would defend colossal mistakes no matter what.

Friends…Council members…you can’t honestly tell me that Bush has done a good job leading our nation. Forget about the war, set that aside. Look at the state of our country RIGHT HERE and NOW. Everything is falling apart. Just think of how damaging four more years with Bush in office could be. The right choice for president today, the ONLY good choice, is John Kerry. The absolute wrong choice is George W. Bush. You’ll either know that fact today, or a year or two down the line when he’s ruining this country further. You’ll know Kerry is the right man for the job, either way, sooner or later. Wouldn’t you rather know it sooner? Wouldn’t you rather vote for the right man?

I am not an unintelligent drone like most people would lead you to believe, or like most voters you’ll run into at the polls. I was behind Bush in the days and weeks after 9/11 – I supported our president, and argued in his favor many times. I have researched the facts and looked at the hard evidence. I am NOT a democrat. I am NOT a republican. Like my parents, I vote for the man, not the party. And because of that, I always, without fail, seek out every angle that I can, so I don’t make the wrong choice. Bush, overall, is the wrong choice. Dante stated, in his most recent posting on the Council, and I quote:

“Now go out and Vote Bush!!!!! BUSH IN 04 SEIG HILE!!!!!!!!!!”

I couldn’t agree more, Dante…seig hile is EXACTLY the right thing to say about George W. Bush.

IF you love our country, and what it stands for, vote for individual freedoms. Vote for freedom of speech, and the right to live your life on your OWN ideals, instead of the ideals of one man. Vote for a better tomorrow. Vote for the safety of our country. Vote for the safety of our boys at war. Vote for a better job market. Vote for a better economy. Vote for JOHN KERRY!!!!!!!!!!!

**ADDITION** Originally posted as a comment on Pheonix's post:

Council Chambers - Pheonix: Fear For This Country

"IF you love our country, and what it stands for, vote for individual freedoms. Vote for freedom of speech, and the right to live your life on your OWN ideals, instead of the ideals of one man. Vote for a better tomorrow. Vote for the safety of our country. Vote for the safety of our boys at war. Vote for a better job market. Vote for a better economy. Vote for JOHN KERRY!!!!!!!!!!!"

The above was part of my post "4 NEW Years" and I believe every word of it. I agree with you that Kerry, like all politicians, is not above personal motive and saying things to become elected. But do not forget that Bush and his administration is the reason things have gotten so bad; the reason that now, more than EVER before, the rest of the world hates the United States of America. We did not have this fear under the presidency of Bill Clinton. We did not have this fear under the presidency of George Bush Sr., although we DID have war. Bush Jr. is the ONLY president to actually USE the power of pre-emption, and unfortunately, we are now on dark times that seem to only grow darker over the horizon.

I vote for Kerry not because I believe he is some righteous savior, exempt of being polluted or free from hypocrisy; I vote for Kerry because it's a chance for a better tomorrow. Under Bush, we will have four more years of turmoil and misery and an even worse fate after four years - a mess that we, in all likelihood, cannot fix or clean up. I'm not saying things aren't bad now, but it's better NOW than it WILL BE in four more years. With John Kerry, our great nation has the opportunity to begin a clean-up of the terrible messes caused by the as-of-now current administration.

I understand your fears. I hear them. I share some of them. But unlike you, I have not lost my hope, and I know my voice can make a difference. I see the truth in front of my eyes; unhindered by propaganda, untainted by mud-slinging. I look at the hard facts of Kerry and of Bush. I see all that Bush has done. I see what Bush's administration has done to healthcare, to stem-cell research, to basic civil rights, to our soliders, to our nation's economy. I see all that Kerry has done that can be legitimately questioned; not the war-record, not the flip-flopping - but the questionable senate record. I look at all of it, setting aside all else, and I weigh the pros and the cons of having each in office. Bush has, UNDENIABLY, racked up an infinitely HIGHER list of cons than Kerry has. There IS a lesser of two evils. There IS a hope for our country.

That hope is John Kerry. If you truly pray for our country, for Peter's future, for the life of your husband; then I join you in your prayers, for I believe that God will see us through this rough time. I believe that your prayers will be answered and John Kerry will be elected.

4 More years!!!!!

2004-11-02T02:59:00.000-06:00

As we all step out into the world tomorrow to go vote, please remember the missing WMD's/ missing Explosives?And to think John Kerry stands there and says it's Bush's fault. That's like saying it was Burger King's fault for the cold McDonald fries! Unless Bush was the one over there at the moment and in charge of watching over that stuff..... It's the person who was in charge of that particular area at the time. If John Kerry held himself responsible for things that were his fault and weren't his fault...like he wants Bush to do... Hell would freeze over!
I smell a rat, and I am pretty sure it is in the UN. The IAEA, (the UN's atomic agency) was asked to get rid of this stuff in 1995! The IAEA said, no, and simply ignored it. They decided to let Saddam go ahead and have the explosives. This whole thing is outrages, and really makes me angry because first of all, they went missing before our troops arrived, (Kerry is trying to make it look like they went missing yesterday), and second, these weapons are considered WMDs, especially if they are capable of setting of a nuclear device. According to Kerry, these are some of the most dangerous weapons in the world. EXCUSE ME, isn't that why we went!!! The incompetent one here is the U.N.!Oh, you know it- It was all planned. Problem here is they told such a big whopper, that the calculations do not add up. They said that insurgents made off with 380 tons of high explosives. "Just vanished; disappeared." If you calculate how much time, and equipment it would take to achieve such a feat, the only conclusion one can come up with is that it would take a small company two weeks, and that is by using 18 wheeler trucks! 60 minutes was also planning on running this story Sunday night (Oct 1st) but decided not to because it has fallen apart and blown up in their faces. Also, the New York Times got their information from an anonymous letter from guess where- The U.N.! The U.N. is trying to influence the outcome of our election! I say it is time to leave the U.N., and kick them out of our country. Now seeing that John Kerry Lied about WMD's... what is it that a Kerry Supporter believes?
John Kerry Supporters Believe That:
A man, honorably discharged from his military obligations, is beyond reproach and that his service should never be questioned. A man, honorably discharged from his military obligations, must be required to prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that a slanderous allegation, presented without supporting evidence, is false. --- A Senators voting record is the single most important factor in determining if that Senator should be reelected or elected to higher office. An attack on a sitting US Senators voting record, during a campaign is a slanderous attack on that mans patriotism and is to be strongly condemned. --- 5.6% unemployment under Clinton represents the strongest economy in fifty years. 5.8% unemployment under Bush represents the worst economy in fifty years. --- Nancy Pelosi represents mainstream political thinking today. Bush/Cheney represent a vast right wing conspiracy, which is an assaul! t on all that Americans hold dear. --- A man who missed 29 of 38 meetings, as a member of the Senate Intelligence committee, is best suited to solve todays intelligence problems. A man, who has overseen the elimination of the Taliban, the deposement of Sadaam Hussein, the disintegration of the Al-Qaeda organization and prevented any further terrorist attacks in the USA, is not qualified to further these efforts. --- A Senator, having served, with honors, in Vietnam for four months, has the unique qualifications to make him highly qualified to be the President. Vietnam, and any actions taken to avoid the draft and military service during those turbulent times, is ancient history and that bringing up old wounds will not serve the nations needs today. --- A multi BILLIONAIRE, whose hatred for George Bush is so strong that he has spent tens of millions of dollars in support of extremist organizations, has done so without consultations of high ranking Democrats, ! purely out of his altruistic desires to help his adopted country. A man, who is a moderately wealthy Republican from Texas, and who has donated about $200,000 in support of a veterans organization, is proof positive that the Republicans have joined in an illegal campaign aimed at destroying John Kerry. --- Moveon.org, an organization formed by two little known people from Berkeley based solely on their hate and contempt for Republicans and whose hate filled, profanity laced verbal attacks against a sitting President are so shameful that the DNC refuses to release their tapes, is a grass roots organization that is simply expressing their First Amendment rights. SwiftBoat Veterans for truth, an organization of dozens of decorated Veterans who served with honor and distinction, is a group that has charged John Kerry with libelously false charges and has entered into an illegal conspiracy to destroy a man they served with. --- A President, who inherited a recession,! then presided over almost ten years of the worse economic crisis in US history, including double digit unemployment, is one of the greatest Presidents, ever. A President, who inherited a recession and the worse terrorist attack in world history, one whose economic stewardship brought the nation out of recession and into recovery mode in less the 30 months, is one unqualified to hold the office. --- The current President is one who lacks the intellectual capacity to grasp the complex nuances of international relationships to such a degree that the he is commonly referred to as an idiot. The current President was the leader of a vast conspiracy that succeeded in the largest political theft in US history and thwarted the best efforts of the most intelligent Lawyers available today to attain his office via illegal methods.
So please remember that we should all flip - flop and remember to vote for John Kerry then vote against him. Now go out and Vote Bush!!!!! BUSH IN 04 SEIG HILE!!!!!!!!!!

Walking in to sad News

2004-11-02T00:30:00.000-06:00

Ok I know I have been excited about this whole election deal, but my bubble of happiness broke when today I found out as I walked in that my friend Matt (who some know for being someone I went to hs with and taught me my Swing Dancing) dad died of a brain tumor. I know people do not leave this world but I am so tired of going to funerals. It seems the past year I have now gone to my fifth one.I am going to miss his dad alot. When he was well he always made not only me laugh.Now I really could care less about the whole election and everything thats been going on with me personally. I dont know whether or not to be mad at the guy upstairs for taking the ones we love or be thankful for bringing them into our lives for just a short time. I guess I am tired of going to funerals. Right now I dont know how to deal with things. I am tired, stressed, and overwhelmed with everything. The past few days I have wanted to get away from it all. I dont know.I give up trying to find answers.But have a good election day I guess.

It only takes one person

2004-11-01T23:19:00.000-06:00

I've felt like hell all day (physically and mentally) and I haven't had much patience, either. Consequently, I snapped at an obnoxious male friend because instead of just letting me sleep, he kept trying to see if I was all right. I'm really glad that he cares, I just didn't feel like being bothered, and I'll apologize tomorrow. Tonight there was also a surprise party for one of my neighbors and a friend woke me up so that I could go. On the way back to my room, I ran into one of my classmates and she told me she'd come check on me later. She brought me a little tea tray complete with two different teas, chewy candy and sugar. What a sweetheart...I already feel that much better because someone cared enough to do something nice for me.

I really don't know why I am posting this here, except to say that people do notice and appreciate when people do little things like that to brighten their day. So to everyone out there that goes the extra mile, thanks a lot.

Can't Wait till Tommorow

2004-11-01T13:41:00.000-06:00

Ok I have to get this out of my system, I CANT WAIT TILL VOTING DAY!!!I have my"Bush is my homeboy" shirt ironed and ready to go. Today I put my Bush action figure out to for the occasion(hey its awsome hes in a suit with his power tie-you know the blue with the white dots and it talks!) Ok so I am going alittle to far, but who cares. I dont know why I am so excited for Election Day I have never been before. Its like my birthday or something(which after this years birthday I do want to forget). Maybe somewhere I have been brainwashed, but I dont think so because I am one who will listen to one side of an arguement but go with what I believe in anyway.Anyway may the best one win i guess. I just wonder if Kerry wins will Botox injections become cheaper

...message to deliver...

2004-11-01T08:25:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow is November 2nd. It is the day when we discover who our president will be for the next four years. I have done all I can do to help the cause of our nation. I’ve posted on Quilled Scripts, I’ve posted here, I’ve posted on blogs created just on the off-chance that someone might read and be enlightened, I’ve posted on political forums…now, the hour of truth is upon us. I have my all-black outfit all ready to go in the event that Bush is re-elected. I could go on and on about why, but the simple truth is: he’s the worst president this country has ever had. No one can convince me otherwise, and no one can prove otherwise, because they CAN'T disprove that statement. It has to be John Kerry. It has to be. I have avoided saying what I’m about to say just because I felt it a little harsh, but…a vote for Bush means taking responsibility, in part, for his continued fuck-ups. You become responsible for the next unnecessary death of a solider. You’re responsible for more people losing their healthcare. You’re responsible for more jobs being taken from our citizens, and replaced by jobs with less pay and no benefits. You’re responsible for the demise of freedom of speech. You’re responsible for the innocents slaughtered with Bush’s next pre-emptive strike. You're responsible for the next person that has to struggle to make ends meet, to even FIND decent work. You’re responsible for letting this man continue to out-right ruin the United States of America. That's a lot of responsibility. Yeah, I know, that’s a really ballsy and harsh statement for me to make. But it’s what I believe. I’m not going to hate anyone who votes for Bush; but I WILL believe what I just said, and I will stand by it.

I know that may piss some people off. But it doesn't stop it from being true.

Make America great again. Vote John Kerry.

Greed

2004-10-31T03:07:00.000-06:00

People as a whole are greedy of one thing or another,they just do not see it.Yes we all know about the ones who want money or possessions,but what about the ones that want your time,or the ones that are greedy for praise or attention.These are the ones that are the worst ,the people that do not let you have time to yourself or just get in the way of life itself.Like the guy the is telling you about his whole life story while you just want to grab a soda and leave.You do not want to be rude,yet you have to go and then you are put in a awkward sate.As social beings we are limited to what is acceptable behavior,like we are not supposed to yell at the guy "YOU JUST WASTED 10 MINUTES OF MY LIFE YOU F***ING IDIOT!!!FOR THAT YOU WILL PAY!!!"That seems to be the wrong way to handel the situation.So is shooting him in the foot and running away laughing.But sometimes it just seems like the right thing to do go figure. Like here is another one that happened just last night: A guy was beating himself up by trying to make me bend to his rules about a subject and in his own experiences it was correct,but it has now changed and that is what I was going by.I looked at this guy and thought "Wow so this is what a person looks like when they cannot see outside the box.What a shame."As most of the council already knows I think outside the box as far as I can while still seeing the box.I try to be as impartial as I can,on most subjects I will be right down the middle.But when I have made a decision on something I stick with it for as long as it is still right to me.I just realized that this is the longest blog I have done in a long time.And here I usually try to keep it short and to the point,damnit I guess that I will just have to make the next blog that I do just that much shorter.
Well thank you for your time and have a pleasant day or F*** off the choice is yours,and yours alone.

Here is how we rate:

2004-10-30T01:45:00.000-05:00

I was bored so I looked up the amount of blogs from the very first until now and here is the list :

1- the undisputed Post Master is Steve aka Quill with 59 posts

2-second place goes to Deadpool with 29 posts

3-third place by a hair is The Voice with 22 posts

4-forth place is held by Pheonix with 21 posts

5-fifth place including this post goes to Shark with a lucky number of 13 posts

6-sixth place goes to K with 8 posts

7-seventh place goes to Dante with 6 posts

8-eighth place is a three way tie:Angel69,Francesa,and Cheri with 4 posts each

9-ninth place is co-opted by Scott and Hizzy with 2 posts each

10-and the final spot goes to Beaver and triponXTC with a whopping 1 post under their belts

that is a total of 176 posts plus 3 drafts(drafts were not included in the count for ranking)
for a grand total of 179 blogs to the site to date

Regrets

2004-10-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

On my way 0ut and about I was thinking about my regrets i have in my life. Sure we at some point all have them, but I have tried to not regret anything in my past. But today one that I have and want to share is the aspect of trust. I know people besides me do have trust issues not only with others but with them selves trusting themselves that they would never do anything wrong to another person. Well mine is trusting others. There are people that I regret even letting them see what I was about. Thought maybe for once i couldnt be so cautious and let someone in my bubble of happiness. It seems that now I dont know who to believe anymore. There are many other things I wish I could go back and change get that second chance to change the past 3 years of my life.If I had to do them over trust me I would have never gotten myself into things. I also regret comming off so naive at times.If I would have known what the money I gave out one night for "gas" was going towards I guess I wouldnt regret being naive Maybe that is why too I have this getting to me. I do not regret meeting some of the other council members for I owe great gratitude to you all for being there for me. I am not here to be stirring the pot I just need some answers from people.But enough Babbling for a change, I just want answers from people instead of feeling like i am in the dark still. So for some therapy its time to jam to my Duran Duran CD i got yesterday.

...Quill's one political post for 10/29/04; Bushisms - pt 4...

2004-10-29T08:33:00.000-05:00

As requested, and as promised, I am now limited to ONE political post per day. If I feel the need to post more than one topic, I am required to attach it to the end of the first post, and so on. These are the rules that Admin Shark put forth, and I am more than happy to oblige. This is the Quill political post for October 29th, 2004.

(Note: Due to the fact that I am required to post articles back to back, this is, unavoidably, a long post. However, those WERE the rules put forth to me, and I am pointing out now that I am now following them to the letter exactly, so there are no questions.)

Here are the individual links for the articles/news bits available this post:

Kerry Uses Bush’s Own Words to Call Him Unfit

John Kerry: The Rolling Stone Interview

Molly Ivins: ‘Clueless People Love Bush’

Déjà vu in Florida

‘Bushisms – pt 4’ is also located in this post, before the Déjà vu article.

**********************************************************

Kerry Uses Bush’s Own Words to Call Him Unfit

Kerry Uses Bush's Own Words to Call Him Unfit

By Patricia Wilson

TOLEDO, Ohio (Reuters) - Democratic challenger John Kerry (news - web sites) turned President Bush (news - web sites)'s own words into a weapon on Thursday and said it was the Republican incumbent who had jumped to conclusions in Iraq (news - web sites), disqualifying him from being commander in chief.

The Massachusetts senator, energized by his beloved Boston Red Sox's long-awaited win in baseball's World Series (news - web sites) and a joint appearance with rocker Bruce Springsteen, launched a withering attack on Bush over 380 tons of missing explosives in Iraq and chided his rival for invoking the memory of President John Kennedy.

Kerry said the weapons were not "where they were supposed to be, you were warned to guard them, you didn't guard them. They're not secure, and, guess what, according to George Bush (news - web sites)'s own words, he shouldn't be our commander in chief and I couldn't agree more."

With Tuesday's election deadlocked, Kerry took aim at the president's perceived strength -- national security -- and hammered him for a fourth consecutive day on the missing explosives.

Bush on Wednesday accused Kerry of opportunism, saying: "A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as commander in chief ... that is part of a pattern of a candidate who will say anything to get elected."

Kerry threw the words back at the president 24 hours later, announcing he was going "to apply the Bush standard" and declaring: "Mr. President, I agree with you."

"George Bush jumped to conclusions about 9/11 and Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)," he said. "George Bush jumped to conclusions about weapons of mass destruction and he rushed to war without a plan for the peace. George Bush jumped to conclusions about how the Iraqi people would receive our troops. He not only jumped to conclusions, he ignored the facts he was given."

KENNEDY INVOKED

Almost drowned out by a thunderous wave of foot stomping from thousands of supporters packed into a University of Toledo arena, Kerry added: "I hope George Bush can hear that. That is the rumble of change coming at him."

Kerry recalled how President John Kennedy took the blame for the bungled Bay of Pigs operation in Cuba in 1961.

"Can you imagine President Kennedy ... standing up and telling the American people he couldn't think of a single mistake that he had made? When the Bay of Pigs went sour, John Kennedy had the courage to look America in the eye and say to America 'I take responsibility, it is my fault."'

Challenging Bush, Kerry said: "Mr. President, it is long since time for you to start taking responsibility for the mistakes that you've made."

Wearing a Red Sox cap and reveling in the team's World Series championship after an 86-year drought, Kerry saw a metaphor for his own White House bid.

"About a year ago, when things weren't going so well in my campaign, somebody called a radio talk show and they said, thinking they were just cutting me right to the quick, they said 'John Kerry won't be the president until the Red Sox win.' Well, we're on our way."

(Found @ http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20041028/pl_nm/campaign_kerry_dc_70)

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John Kerry: The Rolling Stone Interview

John Kerry: The Rolling Stone Interview
By Jann S. Wenner
Rolling Stone Magazine

For two days in October, the John Kerry campaign came to a brief stop at a hotel and conference center on the high-plains sprawl of suburban Denver, where the candidate holed up with his staff and prepared for his second debate with George Bush. While the traveling press idled over endless buffets in one of the hotel dining rooms, Kerry and his closest advisers sequestered themselves behind closed doors, getting ready for the next night's crucial events.

The morning's calm was broken when Kerry's press advisers began circulating word that the candidate would soon be making a statement about the war in Iraq, a canny move to seize control of the day's news cycle, which was already full of bad news for President Bush: A government-commissioned report had concluded that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction; Paul Bremer, until recently his chief administrator in Iraq, had been quoted as saying that the U.S. invasion of Iraq had been done with too few troops; and Donald Rumsfeld had conceded that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. The press was herded out to a field in front of the hotel, chosen for its view of the mountains in the distance. When Kerry emerged, he was wearing his presidential blue suit, and with little fanfare or preamble he ripped into Bush with icy efficiency, saying how in light of the morning's news it was now clear that George Bush and Dick Cheney "may well be the last two people on the planet who won't face the truth about Iraq." After some questions from reporters, he disappeared, projecting the attitude that he had more important things to do.

A few minutes later, we were ushered up to Kerry's suite, where the candidate was tucking into a huge lunch. Gone was the crisp blue suit. He'd changed into khakis and running shoes and had dropped the formal manner. By the door stood a battered guitar case. Through an open door, one could see a framed picture of his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, on a bedside table. For the hour that we spoke with Kerry, he was conversational and forthright, relaxed but clearly wearing his game face.

You were tough out there today.

Well, I should be tough on him. This is an amazing moment in American history - where a president of the United States is finding the rationale for invading another country after the fact.

The president has now given twenty-four reasons for going to war. Why do you think we really invaded Iraq?

Well, I think you've heard all the reasons. I can't psychoanalyze them. They were driven by ideology; they were driven by a fixation on Saddam Hussein. They took their eye off of Osama bin Laden and the real war on terror, and the consequences for our country are gigantic: $200 billion, and counting; the loss of credibility and prestige in the world; the loss of alliances that we need to be helping us. The American people are paying a very, very bitter price for their bad judgment - no matter what the cause is.

Did you walk out of the first debate with the sense that you'd won?

You can't ever tell. We're the last people to ask - the people on the stage. It's always tricky how people see it on TV. But I felt good, like I'd done the things I came to do, and I felt confident about the message.

How do you assess Bush's performance?

You don't have time to do that. I was listening very carefully and focusing on what I wanted to share with America, and it's a pretty intensive process of focusing.

The Bush administration says it's a certainty there will be more terrorist attacks. Is this a scare tactic?

They are privy to more intelligence and more analysis than I am. But I have had briefings, and I am deeply concerned about the potential of another attack. I think there's much more we can and should do to protect ourselves.

What has Bush failed to do to protect us?

The list of things undone by this president to make America safer is staggering. The 9/11 Commission report contains a full list of what a creative, proactive leadership should have done by itself - rather than resist the 9/11 Commission, as they did.

On homeland security they've talked a good game, and not implemented or acted. Ninety-five percent of the containers that come into our country don't get inspected. Bridges and tunnels don't have the security and escape routes that ought to have been put in place. On planes, the baggage is X-rayed but not the cargo holds. It's absurd. Firehouses are understaffed. Police officers are being cut from the streets of America - not added.

There are chemical, biological and nuclear plants around the country that don't have the protection that they ought to. The president actually gave in to the chemical industry and folded, instead of doing what was necessary for some of the chemical-plant protection.

Now, can any president guarantee the absence of any attack? The answer is no. I mean, if someone wants to blow themselves up, they can pretty much find a way to do it and hurt somebody. The question is: Are you doing all that's possible to protect against the greatest catastrophe? And there this administration has clearly failed.

Why do you think they've dropped the ball on this issue?

I think Senator Richard Lugar summed it up. He said their administration of the reconstruction funds has been incompetent, and I think their administration of the Homeland Security department has been incompetent.

What do you think of the color-coded terror alerts the Department of Homeland Security issues?

I think Americans, sadly, laugh at it. They don't know what to do.

Will you continue that program?

No. I'm going to find some more thoughtful way of alerting America. If we have to alert America, I think the most important thing to do is alert law enforcement more effectively across the country. Law enforcement doesn't have even a single, unified watch list yet. They still have separate watch lists, with different names and different people. This is the single, simplest, most important thing the Department of Homeland Security was supposed to do, and they haven't done it.

Doesn't it seem the threat level gets raised at key moments during the campaign?

Yeah. But you know what? I'm not going to question motivations that I can't . . .

Who's the enemy in the "War on Terror"?

Americans should have no doubts that there is a real enemy out there, one who wants to wreak destruction. And that enemy is a conglomeration of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and radical, extreme - mostly Muslim - fundamentalist groups that want to create a radical Islamic state. These groups want to take over the perceived-to-be-moderate governments of the region, radicalize the populations and have a dominant presence, throughout the Middle East and parts of Europe. I mean, it is real, and it is a serious challenge to us.

Bush says, "They hate our freedoms and resent our democracy." Do you think their motives are so simple?

I think it's more complicated than that. There is a lot about us they don't like, but they believe that these moderate regimes in the Middle East have sold out. They are attacking the Saudi royal family, as they are attacking Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan, because those leaders deal with the West and have a sense of engagement in the world.

There is also power involved. They're preaching a very different kind of power - through the madrasas and otherwise - to populations that are impoverished and uneducated, and disenfranchised in their countries. And they're offering them someone to hate.

Do you think it's directed at the United States?

It is now. Look, there's no negotiating with these guys. They don't hold territory; they don't have a kingdom; they don't have a government; they don't have a guiding philosophy - they just hate. They hate what they are not. And they want everything to be what they are, and they want that kind of control.

They certainly view their struggle as a holy war. Do you think the White House does, as well?

You have to ask the White House. But, certainly, George Bush has described it like that, occasionally.

As a war between two fundamentalisms?

I think you're looking at a war right now against people who attacked the United States of America. And it is appropriate, and was appropriate, for us to invade Afghanistan and to go after Al Qaeda, and I'm glad we did. What I regret is that George Bush didn't do the job. When he had Osama bin Laden cornered in the mountains, he didn't do what was available to him - which was use the best-trained military in the world to go after bin Laden and kill him or capture him. He turned to Afghan warlords and outsourced the job to them. I think that was a terrible judgment by the president.

What are the parallels between Iraq and Vietnam?

Right now there is one parallel that's very disturbing, and that is the leadership in Washington has not told the truth to the American people. Unless this president begins to change direction, and recognize his mistakes, and get the policy right in Iraq, he could create a whole lot more parallels. But it doesn't have to be. And that's what I'm trying to offer America right now - a realistic way to get our troops home, with honor, by achieving our goals but by sharing the burden and risk.

I am convinced that we can do that, because the rest of the world has a stake in the outcome. A failed Iraq is not in the interests of Arab states, and it's not in the interests of the European states - but they're absent from the kind of effort necessary to prevent that from happening. That's where leadership is going to be necessary.

That's the difference that I intend to make, and that I must make - for the sake of our country. To make ourselves safe in the long term, we're going to have to rebuild relationships and re-establish American credibility. Bush's mistakes don't have to become America's misfortune for the long term, and it's my job to undo his mistakes and turn this into a success.

If you send troops into Iraq, how will you be able to tell them they're not risking their lives for a mistake?

Because I'm going to make it a success, 'cause we're going to win. We're going to do what we need to do to get this job done. And I'm committed to doing that - and I know how to do it. I'll put a foreign-policy team together that talks the truth to the American people.

What do you mean when you say you know how to do it?

I've spent thirty-five years dealing with these kinds of issues. When I came back from fighting in a war, I fought against the war here in America. As a senator, I led the fight to stop Ronald Reagan's illegal war in Central America. I helped expose Oliver North and Manuel Noriega. I've been at this for a long time. You know, I led the initial efforts to change our policy on the Philippines - which ultimately resulted in the elections, and became part of the process that helped get rid of Marcos.

I negotiated personally with the prime minister of Cambodia, to get accountability for the killing fields of the Pol Pot regime. I've negotiated with the Vietnamese to let me and John McCain in and put American forces on the ground to resolve the POW-MIA issue. I've spent twenty years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; I've been chairman of the Narcotics Terrorism Subcommittee. I have five times the experience George Bush does in dealing with these issues, and I know that I can get this done.

What is America's role in the world? What are you going to tell the world about the United States right now?

We are going to live up to American values in our foreign policy. Rather than building a new set of nuclear weapons, like President Bush is, we're going to lead the world in containing nuclear weapons - with a whole new protocol for tracking and dealing with precursor chemicals and with nuclear fissionable materials. We're not going to wait to intervene in places like Liberia or Darfur, where another genocide is taking place.

An America that is not just there for its own goals and ends. We're going to re-engage with our Latin American neighbors in a positive way - unlike this administration. We're going to implement the global AIDS initiative that I wrote four years ago, that this administration is still dawdling with. We're going to offer the moral leadership with respect to environmental catastrophes that are staring us in the face. We're going to go back to the table on global warming. We're going to deal with poverty and disease in the less-developed nations in a more effective way. Those things will help to bring nations to our side. That will make us more effective in the war on terror and make our country safer.

If you're elected, what would be your number-one environmental priority?

Number one is global warming.

How bad do you think that is? How real?

Very serious. The science is real.

Do you have a time frame for dealing with it?

Well, we can't meet the 1990 standards that we set, because we're too far beyond it now. So we're going to have to sit down with our scientists and our businesses and see what's feasible. But I intend to set America on the course of energy independence - hopefully within ten years. And we're going to accelerate our research and development into alternative and renewable fuels.

We're going to greatly encourage the use of more fuel-efficient vehicles. We're not going to mandate them - we're going to offer people choices that make sense economically. So we're going to give a big tax credit for people who purchase a fuel-efficient vehicle.

Al Gore says the era of the internal-combustion engine is ending. Do you see that? And how can we get beyond that?

I wouldn't make that kind of a bold pronouncement. I respect Al Gore's work on that stuff a lot. I mean, we're going to be drilling oil and natural gas for forty or fifty years to come, at least. But I've laid out a very aggressive energy policy. We're going to move rapidly to be independent of Mideast oil and reduce our fossil-fuel base as fast as we can. I'm going to create the incentives that excite the research and development.

We're going to create a race for the new sources of energy - whatever they may be.

How do you face the opposition of the oil and auto companies?

Let me tell you something: As gas prices go up, and fuel hits sixty bucks a barrel, I'm going to have a lot of allies. This does not have to be combative and confrontational. I'm going to reach out to the companies and offer them a very significant helping hand in the retooling and transformational costs.

I want American workers working; I want American cars made in America; I want American cars to be able to be sold anywhere in the world. I want to lead the world in these technologies. So I want these companies part of the solution - not the problem. I think we can get there - I really believe that.

How big a priority is that for you?

Huge. Creating jobs is one of the top five priorities of my administration. First of all, make America safe, and deal with nuclear proliferation and the global confrontation. Second, we have to create jobs and be fiscally responsible - so that we're creating the framework for America to be strong at home.

Third, we have to have a system that provides health care for all Americans, and I have a plan to do that. Fourth, we're going to have education that works for everybody - that lifts people up. Ongoing adult education - a system that works. And fifth, we're going to have an environmental policy that leaves this planet to our kids in better shape than we got it from our parents.

That's it - that's the agenda.

Why has environmental policy disappeared from the radar this election cycle?

I don't think it has.

But why do we hear so little about it?

Well, you have Iraq blowing up on the front pages of newspapers every day. But every speech I make, wherever I go, I talk about energy independence. I've talked about energy independence every single day of this campaign.

Will you communicate to the American people the size of the crisis we face?

I'm doing it in the course of this campaign. I'm already talking about it - and I will as president. Look: I'm a person who has always believed that you tell people the truth and they'll make reasonable decisions. Truth is powerful.

This administration disrespects the truth, because they have a different credo. The truth unfortunately works against their interests, because their interests are in keeping power and in making money. And so they feed the drug industry, and they feed the oil industry, and they feed the big power companies.

And that's the difference between us. I'm fighting for the middle class - he's fighting for a tax cut for people who earn more than $200,000 a year. He won't raise the minimum wage - I'm going to raise the minimum wage. He won't give people extended unemployment benefits - I will. He cut job training - I'm going to restore job training. He's made it more expensive for kids to go to college - I'm going to raise the Pell grants and the Perkins loans. He gave the drug industry a windfall profit of $139 billion - while he was shutting down the ability of people to bring drugs in from Canada and shutting down Medicare's ability to negotiate a lower price for drugs. That's wrong - morally and economically.

People say this is the most important election of our lifetime - do you agree?

I believe it is. And I want your readers to stop in their tracks and consider what's at stake for them. Because not enough people connect the things they hate, or feel or want, to the power of their vote. And they've got to be willing to go out and work in these next couple of weeks.

How do you yourself feel? What burden does it place on you?

You know, I've been in public life all my life - with one brief exception, when I was a lawyer and started a small business. I accept the weight, but I don't feel it. I've lived out so much frustration over the last few years that this is a liberating experience for me. I feel excited by it. I feel energized by it. I welcome it. And I just want other people to understand what's at stake here.

I mean, the next president may appoint three or four justices to the Supreme Court. The rights of Americans may be affected for the rest of our lives by what happens on November 2nd: whether or not we're going to have equal opportunity; whether we fight against discrimination; whether we're going to have equal pay for women; whether we protect women's right to choose; whether we're going to have a country in which people can grow up and live out the full measure of citizenship.

Why do you think you'd be a good president?

Because I'm a good executive, I'm a good leader, and I know what we have to do. I'm tough, I'm strong, I'm decisive. I know exactly what this country needs to do to move forward. All my life I've never shied away from standing up and telling people what I think, and what I think is true - and I've taken the consequences of it. I'm even hearing about what I said in 1971.

What have you learned about yourself in this campaign?

That the intrusiveness is greater than I thought it would be. And there are parts of me that dislike that more than I thought I would, but it's something I have to put up with in order to achieve what I want to get done. I always knew that I was tough enough to do it; I always knew there'd be tough moments and I'd be tested - because everybody is tested on the road to the presidency. But I think the intensity of it is greater than I could imagine. It is, actually, beyond description. You have to experience it to know what that is.

How did you feel when you first saw those Swift-boat ads?

Disappointed - a sense of bitter disappointment. That people will stoop to those depths of lying - for their personal reasons.

Did you get angry at Bush personally?

Look, I know politics is tough, and I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what they do to me. But I do worry, and I am angry, about what they do to the American people. That's what this race is about. It's not about me. I can take it - I don't care. I've been in worse things. I was on those boats - I got shot at. I can handle it.

What I worry about is that they lie to America. What I worry about is that they tell the middle class, "We're giving you a tax cut," and the top one percent of America gets more than eighty percent of the rest of the people. I worry that they are unwilling to do anything about the 5 million Americans who have lost their health care.

I worry that there are twenty-eight states in America where you can't go fishing and eat the fish, because of the quality of the water. I worry that they've gotten us into a war where young kids are dying, and they haven't done what's responsible to protect them. That's what I worry about. The rest of it is small pickings.

You don't get angry when Bush outright lies about you?

No, I don't get angry at it. I think it's sort of pathetic.

Were you surprised by how the Swift-boat thing blew up?

I was surprised that the media, even when they knew it was lies, continued to cover it and treat it as entertainment.

Looking back, do you think you handled it correctly?

I think so. Look, when people hold up something that's a complete and total lie, it takes a few days to show people and convince them. We did. They've been completely discredited.

How do you stay normal during a campaign?

Eat a hearty meal.

How do you stay fit?

I'm not. I'm in the worst shape I've been in in a few years. I'm not getting enough exercise.

You were criticized for wearing a windsurfing outfit.

It shows how pathetic and diversionary they are. They can't talk about having created jobs for America; they can't talk about giving people health care; they can't talk about having protected America and made it safer.

Did anyone say, "Senator, you shouldn't be wearing windsurfing clothes"?

Yeah, a few people said . . .

And you said, Fuck it?

You're damn right. I said, "I'm going to be who I am" - I think people care about authenticity. There are much bigger issues.

What do you think of Karl Rove? Is he an evil genius?

I don't know him. I've met him once. I'll tell you November 3rd.

What do you think of the Vote for Change concerts that Bruce Springsteen organized?

I haven't been able to go. I'm jealous of everybody who is. It's separate from us - they've done it by themselves. But I'm obviously elated. His music has been the theme song of our campaign from Day One. To have him out there is both a privilege and exciting. I hope it has an impact on the outcome.

Who are your favorite rock & roll artists?

Oh, gosh. I'm, you know, a huge Rolling Stones fan; Beatles fan. One of the most cherished photographs in my life is a picture of me with John Lennon - who I met back in 1971 at an anti-war rally. But I love a lot of different performers.

Do you have a favorite Beatles song - or Stones song?

I love "Satisfaction" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Brown Sugar." I love "Imagine" and "Yesterday."

You're a greatest-hits kind of guy.

My favorite album is Abbey Road. I love "Hey Jude." I also like folk music. I like some classical. I love guitar. Oh, God. I mean, you know - Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Buffett . . .

OK - enough. Let's talk about movies quickly. Of the Vietnam movies you've seen, what's the most accurate? And your favorite?

The most powerful Vietnam movie, to me, was The Deer Hunter, which was more about what happened to the folks who went, and about their relationships . . . and about what happened to this small-town community. I thought it was a brilliant movie, because the metaphor of Russian roulette was an incredible way of capturing the fatalism about it all: the sense that things were out of your control. And it really talked to what happened to the folks who went. So I thought it was a very, very powerful movie. Also, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Coming Home, Born on the Fourth of July - those are powerful too.

How about Apocalypse Now? Was that what it was like going up river, on those boats?

That's exactly how it was, man. Sitting in that river, waiting for someone to shoot you - but the later part of the movie, after the point where they get to the bridge, then everything becomes a little psychedelic. That got a little distant from me.

Finally, if you were to look back over eight years of a Kerry presidency, what would you hope would be said about it?

That it always told the truth to the American people, that it always fought for average folks. And that we raised the quality of life in America and made America safer. I want to be the president who gets health care done for Americans. I want to be the president who helps to fix our schools and end this separate-and-unequal school system we have in America. And I want to be the president who re-establishes America's reputation in the world - which is part of making us safer. There's a huge opportunity here to really lift our country up, and that's what I want to do.

(Found @ http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/102204E.shtml)

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Molly Ivins: ‘Clueless People Love Bush’

Molly Ivins: 'Clueless people love Bush'
Posted on Wednesday, October 27 @ 10:17:45 EDT

Studies show Bush supporters are misled on Bush policies and the news

Molly Ivins, Working For Change

ST. LOUIS -- Oh, you sweet, innocent, carefree citizens in non-swing states. You have no idea how much fun and slime you are missing.

In the swingers, wolves stalk us mercilessly (as the pro-wolf lobby points out indignantly, no one has ever been killed by wolves on U.S. soil, but try arguing that in the face of the relentless new TV ad campaign). Breaking news everywhere -- 380 tons of high explosives in Iraq left unattended, stock market down to year's low, leading economic indicators down, more tragedy in Iraq, the Swift Boat Liars are back, more Halliburton scandal, George Tenet says the war in Iraq is "wrong" -- it feels like you're dodging meteorites here in the Final Days.

Actually, the best evidence suggests we need to slow way down and go way back, because far from being able to take in anything new, it turns out many of our fellow citizens, especially Bush supporters, are stuck like bugs in amber in some early misperceptions that have never been cleared up.

It seems the majority of Bush supporters, according to recent polls, still believe Saddam Hussein had ties to Al Qaeda and even to 9-11, and that the United States found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Many of you are asking how that could possibly be, since everybody knows...

But everybody doesn't know. There it is. And if you are wondering why everybody doesn't know, you can either blame it on the media, always a shrewd move, or take notice that the administration is STILL spreading this same misinformation.

Both Donald Rumsfeld and Bush have publicly acknowledged there is no evidence of any links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. However, as Dick Cheney campaigns, a standard part of his stump speech is the accusation that Saddam Hussein "had a relationship" with Al Qaeda or "has long-established ties to Al Qaeda." He makes this claim up to the present day. The 9-11 Commission, however, found that there was "no collaborative relationship" between the two.

Cheney, of course, also has never given up his touching faith that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, recently referring to a "nuclear" program that had in fact been abandoned shortly after the first Gulf War. Bush and Cheney misled the country into war using these two false premises, and it turns out an enormous number of our fellow citizens still believe both of them to be true. It's not because they're stupid, but because an administration they trust is still telling them both phony propositions are true.

Normally, when you get a situation like that -- where people are simply not acknowledging reality -- it is considered a cult, a form of groupthink based on irrational beliefs propagated by what is normally a charismatic leader. So those Kerry volunteers earnestly engaging Bush supporters on the latest outrage are way off base. They need to go all the way back to the Two Great Lies that got us into this: Many American soldiers marching into Iraq believed it was "payback for 9-11."

A third slightly blinding fact (to me) is that more people now think Kerry behaved shamefully in regards to Vietnam than did W. Bush. Incredible what brazen lying will do, isn't it?

A friend of Bush's dad got him into the "champagne unit" of the Texas Air National Guard, a unit packed with the sons of the privileged trying to stay out of Vietnam, and he failed to complete his service there. Kerry is a genuine, bona fide war hero. The men who served on his boat are supporting him for president, but those who didn't serve with him, who weren't there, who don't know what happened, have been given more credence. Wolves will get you!

In further unhappy evidence of how ill-informed the American people are (blame the media), the Program on International Policy Attitudes found Bush supporters consistently ill-informed about Bush's stands on the issues (Kerry-ans, by contrast, are overwhelmingly right about his positions). Eighty-seven percent of Bush supporters think he favors putting labor and environmental standards into international trade agreements. Eighty percent of Bush supporters believe Bush wants to participate in the treaty banning landmines. Seventy-six percent of Bush supporters believe Bush wants to participate in the treaty banning nuclear weapons testing. Sixty-two percent believe Bush would participate in the International Criminal Court. Sixty-one percent believe Bush wants to participate in the Kyoto Treaty on global warming. Fifty-three percent does not believe Bush is building a missile defense system, a.k.a. "Star Wars."

The only two Bush stands the majority of his supporters got right were on increasing defense spending and who should write the new Iraqi constitution.

Kerry supporters, by contrast, know their man on seven out of eight issues, with only 43 percent understanding he wants to keep defense spending the same but change how the money is spent, and 57 percent believing he wants to up it.

So what's going on here? I do not think Kerry people are smarter than Bush people, so why are they better-informed? Maybe a small percentage of ideological right-wingers don't believe anything the Establishment media say, but I don't think this is a matter of not believing what they hear, but of not hearing what's factual.

The great triumph of the political right in this country has been the creation of a network of alternative media. There are people who listen to Rush Limbaugh for more hours every day than the Branch Davidians listened to David Koresh. Watch Fox News, read The Washington Times -- hey, that's what the Bush administration does, according to its own words.

But it's not just the right-wing media purveying lies -- they are quoting the administration. These misimpressions come directly from the Bush administration, still, over and over.

Molly Ivins is the former editor of the liberal monthly The Texas Observer. She is the bestselling author of several books including Who Let the Dogs In?

© 2004 Working Assets.

Reprinted from Working For Change:
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=17962

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…Bushisms – pt 4…
(Bushisms, continued, part 4)
Bushisms from 2001
"But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." —George W. Bush, summing up his first year in office, Washington, D.C., Dec. 20, 2001

"I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah." —George W. Bush, at a White House Menorah lighting ceremony, Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2001

"We need to counter the shockwave of the evildoer by having individual rate cuts accelerated and by thinking about tax rebates." —George W. Bush, Oct. 4, 2001

"I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 2001

"We are fully committed to working with both sides to bring the level of terror down to an acceptable level for both." —George W. Bush, after a meeting with congressional leaders, Washington, D.C., Oct. 2, 2001

"The folks who conducted to act on our country on September 11th made a big mistake. They underestimated America. They underestimated our resolve, our determination, our love for freedom. They misunderestimated the fact that we love a neighbor in need. They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the Commander-in-Chief, too." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2001

"When I take action, I'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It's going to be decisive." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C. Sept. 19, 2001

"The suicide bombings have increased. There's too many of them." —George W. Bush, Albuquerque, N.M., Aug. 15, 2001

"One of the interesting initiatives we've taken in Washington, D.C., is we've got these vampire-busting devices. A vampire is a — a cell deal you can plug in the wall to charge your cell phone." —George W. Bush, Denver, Aug. 14, 2001

"There's a lot of people in the Middle East who are desirous to get into the Mitchell process. And — but first things first. The — these terrorist acts and, you know, the responses have got to end in order for us to get the framework — the groundwork — not framework, the groundwork to discuss a framework for peace, to lay the—all right." —George W. Bush, referring to former Sen. George Mitchell's report on Middle East peace, Crawford, Texas, Aug. 13, 2001

"My administration has been calling upon all the leaders in the — in the Middle East to do everything they can to stop the violence, to tell the different parties involved that peace will never happen." —George W. Bush, Crawford, Texas, Aug, 13, 2001

"A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it." —George W. Bush, July 27, 2001

"You saw the president yesterday. I thought he was very forward-leaning, as they say in diplomatic nuanced circles." —Goerge W. Bush, referring to his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, July 23, 2001

"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe — I believe what I believe is right." —George W. Bush, in Rome, July 22, 2001

"It is white." —George W. Bush, asked by a child in Britain what the White House was like, July 19, 2001

"It's my honor to speak to you as the leader of your country. And the great thing about America is you don't have to listen unless you want to." —George W. Bush, speaking to recently sworn in immigrants on Ellis Island, July 10, 2001

"Well, it's an unimaginable honor to be the president during the Fourth of July of this country. It means what these words say, for starters. The great inalienable rights of our country. We're blessed with such values in America. And I — it's — I'm a proud man to be the nation based upon such wonderful values." —George W. Bush, visiting the Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C., July 2, 2001

"I want to thank you for coming to the White House to give me an opportunity to urge you to work with these five senators and three congressmen, to work hard to get this trade promotion authority moving. The power that be, well most of the power that be, sits right here."—George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., June 18, 2001

"We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease." —George W. Bush, at a news conference in Europe, June 14, 2001

"It's amazing I won. I was running against peace, prosperity, and incumbency." —George W. Bush, June 14, 2001, speaking to Swedish Prime Minister Goran Perrson, unaware that a live television camera was still rolling.

"I haven't had a chance to talk, but I'm confident we'll get a bill that I can live with if we don't." —George W. Bush, referring to the McCain-Kennedy patients' bill of rights, June 13, 2001

"Can't living with the bill means it won't become law." —George W. Bush, referring to the McCain-Kennedy patients' bill of rights, June 13, 2001

"Anyway, I'm so thankful, and so gracious — I'm gracious that my brother Jeb is concerned about the hemisphere as well." —George W. Bush, June 4, 2001

"It's important for young men and women who look at the Nebraska champs to understand that quality of life is more than just blocking shots." —George W. Bush, in remarks to the University of Nebraska women's volleyball team, the 2001 national champions, May 31, 2001

"So on behalf of a well-oiled unit of people who came together to serve something greater than themselves, congratulations." —George W. Bush, in remarks to the University of Nebraska women's volleyball team, the 2001 national champions, May 31, 2001

"If a person doesn't have the capacity that we all want that person to have, I suspect hope is in the far distant future, if at all." —George W. Bush, May 22, 2001

"For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It's just unacceptable. And we're going to do something about it." —George W. Bush, May 14

"There's no question that the minute I got elected, the storm clouds on the horizon were getting nearly directly overhead." —George W. Bush, May 11, 2001

"But I also made it clear to (Vladimir Putin) that it's important to think beyond the old days of when we had the concept that if we blew each other up, the world would be safe." —George W. Bush, May 1, 2001

"First, we would not accept a treaty that would not have been ratified, nor a treaty that I thought made sense for the country." —George W. Bush, on the Kyoto accord, April 24, 2001

"It's very important for folks to understand that when there's more trade, there's more commerce." —George W. Bush, at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, April 21, 2001

"Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican." —George W. Bush, declining to take reporters' questions during a photo op with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, April 21, 2001

"It is time to set aside the old partisan bickering and finger-pointing and name-calling that comes from freeing parents to make different choices for their children." —George W. Bush, on "parental empowerment in education," April 12, 2001

"I think we're making progress. We understand where the power of this country lay. It lays in the hearts and souls of Americans. It must lay in our pocketbooks. It lays in the willingness for people to work hard. But as importantly, it lays in the fact that we've got citizens from all walks of life, all political parties, that are willing to say, I want to love my neighbor. I want to make somebody's life just a little bit better." —George W. Bush, April 11, 2001

"This administration is doing everything we can to end the stalemate in an efficient way. We're making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end." —George W. Bush, April 10, 2001

"It would be helpful if we opened up ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). I think it's a mistake not to. And I would urge you all to travel up there and take a look at it, and you can make the determination as to how beautiful that country is." —George W. Bush, at a White House Press conference, March 29, 2001

"I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically." —George W. Bush, speaking at the Radio & Television Correspondents dinner, March 29, 2001

"A lot of times in the rhetoric, people forget the facts. And the facts are that thousands of small businesses — Hispanically owned or otherwise — pay taxes at the highest marginal rate." —George W. Bush, speaking to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, March 19, 2001

"But the true threats to stability and peace are these nations that are not very transparent, that hide behind the—that don't let people in to take a look and see what they're up to. They're very kind of authoritarian regimes. The true threat is whether or not one of these people decide, peak of anger, try to hold us hostage, ourselves; the Israelis, for example, to whom we'll defend, offer our defenses; the South Koreans." —George W. Bush, in a media roundtable discussion, March 13, 2001

"I do think we need for a troop to be able to house his family. That's an important part of building morale in the military." —George W. Bush, speaking at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, March 12, 2001

"I suspect that had my dad not been president, he'd be asking the same questions: How'd your meeting go with so-and-so? … How did you feel when you stood up in front of the people for the State of the Union Address—state of the budget address, whatever you call it." —George W. Bush, in an interview with the Washington Post, March 9, 2001

"Ann and I will carry out this equivocal message to the world: Markets must be open." —George W. Bush, at the swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, March 2, 2001

"My pan plays down an unprecedented amount of our national debt." —George W. Bush, in his budget address to Congress, Feb. 27, 2001

"I have said that the sanction regime is like Swiss cheese — that meant that they weren't very effective." —George W. Bush, during a White House press conference, Feb. 22, 2001

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.'' —George W. Bush, Feb. 21, 2001

"It's good to see so many friends here in the Rose Garden. This is our first event in this beautiful spot, and it's appropriate we talk about policy that will affect people's lives in a positive way in such a beautiful, beautiful part of our national — really, our national park system, my guess is you would want to call it."—George W. Bush, Feb. 8, 2001

"We're concerned about AIDS inside our White House — make no mistake about it." —George W. Bush, Feb. 7, 2001

"There's no such thing as legacies. At least, there is a legacy, but I'll never see it." —George W. Bush, speaking to Catholic leaders at the White House, Jan. 31, 2001

"I appreciate that question because I, in the state of Texas, had heard a lot of discussion about a faith-based initiative eroding the important bridge between church and state." —George W. Bush, speaking to reporters, Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2001

"I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2001

"Then I went for a run with the other dog and just walked. And I started thinking about a lot of things. I was able to — I can't remember what it was. Oh, the inaugural speech, started thinking through that." —George W. Bush, in a pre-inaugural interview with U.S. News & World Report

"Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment." —George W. Bush, Jan. 14, 2001

"I'm hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure." —George W. Bush, Jan. 18, 2001

"The California crunch really is the result of not enough power-generating plants and then not enough power to power the power of generating plants." —George W. Bush, Jan. 14, 2001

"If he's — the inference is that somehow he thinks slavery is a — is a noble institution I would — I would strongly reject that assumption — that John Ashcroft is a open-minded, inclusive person."—George W. Bush, Jan. 14, 2001

"She's just trying to make sure Anthony gets a good meal — Antonio." —George W. Bush, on Laura Bush inviting Justice Antonin Scalia to dinner at the White House, Jan. 14, 2001

"I want it to be said that the Bush administration was a results-oriented administration, because I believe the results of focusing our attention and energy on teaching children to read and having an education system that's responsive to the child and to the parents, as opposed to mired in a system that refuses to change, will make America what we want it to be — a more literate country and a hopefuller country." —George W. Bush, Jan. 11, 2001

"It'll be hard to articulate." —George W. Bush, anticipating how he'll feel upon assuming the presidency, Jan. 2001

"I do remain confident in Linda. She'll make a fine labor secretary. From what I've read in the press accounts, she's perfectly qualified." —George W. Bush, commenting on Linda Chavez, Jan. 8, 2001

"I mean, these good folks are revolutionizing how businesses conduct their business. And, like them, I am very optimistic about our position in the world and about its influence on the United States. We're concerned about the short-term economic news, but long-term I'm optimistic. And so, I hope investors, you know—secondly, I hope investors hold investments for periods of time — that I've always found the best investments are those that you salt away based on economics." —George W. Bush, Austin, Texas, Jan. 4, 2001

"The person who runs FEMA is someone who must have the trust of the president. Because the person who runs FEMA is the first voice, often times, of someone whose life has been turned upside down hears from." —George W. Bush, Austin, Texas, Jan. 4, 2001

********************************************************

Déjà vu in Florida

Deja vu as Florida struggles to hold pristine election
Opinion polls show Bush, Kerry in dead heat
Thursday, October 28, 2004 Posted: 8:42 PM EDT (0042 GMT)
MIAMI (Reuters) -- Lawsuits, missing absentee ballots and accusations of bias -- from afar Tuesday's presidential election in Florida already looks like the Third World-style fiasco of 2000 that everyone wanted to avoid.
But election officials in the state run by President Bush's brother insist a massive turnout for early, pre-Election Day voting and a growing capacity to deal with lengthy queues show that Florida will get it right.
That view is partly shared by the Florida Democratic Party, even as it pursues five lawsuits against the Republican state government.
"(Gov.) Jeb Bush and his administration had four years to fix the problems and there's still problems out there," said Florida Democratic Party spokeswoman Allie Merzer.
Yet she added, "We are cautiously optimistic ... We're really hoping to just turn out the vote in such a large number, with such a large margin, that it's not an issue."
Reflecting strong international interest in avoiding another 2000, a group of international election monitors said it has made repeated requests to observe polling in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, two counties where ballots were most disputed four years ago. They have not responded but Leon county has agreed to grant access.
Opinion polls show Bush and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry locked in a dead heat in a state that could again be crucial to clinching the presidency.
Four years ago, Florida became a laughing stock when the race was so close it generated an avalanche of lawsuits and five weeks of recounts. The U.S. Supreme Court finally halted the recounts and Bush took the White House after winning Florida by 537 votes.
The discredited punch card ballots that lay at the heart of the disputed 2000 election have been replaced in 15 counties by touchscreen voting machines and just over half the state's 10.3 million voters will cast ballots that way. The other 52 counties will use optical scanners to read paper ballots.
Critics say the new system is still not foolproof.
No paper recount
In particular, the state's decision not to ensure there would be a paper trail through which to recount votes cast on touchscreen systems has alarmed democracy advocates.
A court struck down a state law banning manual recounts in touchscreen counties, and Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood had to produce an emergency order to settle the issue.
Unfortunately, said the American Civil Liberties Union, nothing in Hood's order actually allows for a recount.
"If there are malfunctions, or tampering, in this election, we may never know," the ACLU's attorneys wrote to Hood.
The machines are the least of some peoples' worries.
Civic groups have launched lawsuits against a range of policies they say disenfranchise thousands of Floridians.
Complaints cover issues from voters being disqualified because they forgot to tick a citizenship box on their registration cards, even though they signed an oath that they are U.S. citizens, to a controversial list of felons banned from voting, which the state ended up abandoning.
Missing absentee ballots
In Democrat-leaning Broward County, by the coastal city of Fort Lauderdale, fears eased that 60,000 absentee ballots never reached voters as the forms began to arrive. But officials say they will still have to send 15,000 replacement ballots.
Florida's interpretation of a new federal law designed to improve voter access by creating provisional ballots for voters whose status is questioned has also come under fire. Like many states, Florida allows voters to use provisional ballots only if they are in the correct precinct, but many voters may resort to a provisional vote precisely because they do not know which precinct they should be in.
In addition, state police are investigating scores of allegations of fraudulent voter registrations.
"I wouldn't be surprised frankly if we even wind up with the registration of dead people," said Tom Berlinger, spokesman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Pressure groups shied away from commenting on whether lawsuits could again delay the election result, a prospect financial analysts say they find increasingly unsettling.
"We've been trying to clear the path for some time, trying to remove barriers before the election so we would not be involved in post-litigation," said Edward Hailes, senior attorney of racial advocacy group the Advancement Project.
Gov. Bush has accused Democrats of using lawsuits to lay a basis for disputing the result if Kerry loses.
And election officials -- including those from Democrat strongholds -- point to high turnouts for early voting, and a growing ability to cope, as proof the doomsayers are wrong.
In Miami-Dade County and neighboring Broward, officials expect 20 percent of the electorate to have cast votes through absentee ballots or early voting before Election Day.
That enthusiasm in turn has raised fears of endless queues that could deter voters. But officials shrug off concerns.
"People wait in line for an hour at Disney World to go on a roller coaster, you know," said Miami-Dade elections spokesman Seth Kaplan.

(Found @ http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/28/campaign.florida.reut/index.html)

Got Beef????

2004-10-29T01:24:00.000-05:00

It has been brought to my atention, that several of you are haveing issues with me. I would like to know why. Two people in here have acused me of makeing prank phone calls to someone on the council. If its about these phone calls, its not me. Its not my style. I've never been a "crush your enemy compleetly" type person. I have done a few "burn the village" type things. (Ask Liessan what I did to Mike last week Sheesh!) So whats everyones beef with me? If you have a problem, lets hear it. If not go on and squash it!

...Shark, this is, in turn, for you; address to the Council...

2004-10-28T13:32:00.001-05:00

Shark: Ahh, gotta love the censorship. I, as an administrator, have never removed anyone's comments or posts, nor have I ever stated or threatened to do so; and I would not, even if said posts and comments held first names, last names, or personal info (in these cases, I would simply modify the posts and either put ***** in their place or omit the names in place of monikers.) In fact, the ONLY time I will EVER use the power of admin status to delete posts will be to remove my OWN. However, you DO have the ability to delete my posts, and even excise my person from the Council. Therefore, I concede to your idea/request, however I do find the method in which you communicated it to me rather pissy. And by the way, why would you think I could 'call you' anything for posting such a request? Actually, just fyi, I would have conceded to such a reasonable request/idea if you had asked nicely or emailed said request, before airing it on the Council in a slightly hostile tone.

Council Members: I find Shark's request to be completely reasonable, albeit delivered in a less-than-passive manner. From now on, I will have ONLY one political-type post per day. If I have two or three diatribes that I feel are post-worthy, I will post them together, separated by lines or whatnot. All of this, per Shark's very reasonable idea.

*UPDATE* Also, for those who might, please do not attack Shark about this. What he does he does with the good of the rest of the Council in mind (even if it was handled less-than-correctly).

This may/may not come as a shock to those who view me as a controlling, domineering, and overall unfair person. I'm not saying anyone HERE on this COUNCIL is that kind of person, I'm just saying.

Hey Quill this is for you!

2004-10-28T11:59:00.000-05:00

As of now I am limiting you to one political blog a day.If you need to post more than one then you will have to attach it to the pre existing blog of that day.I will be monitoring the site and will erase the extra political blogs as I see fit.This is to be fair to all of the council who do not want the site to be taken over by politics.Say what you will,call me what ever names you want but enough is enough.

...feelings, nothing more than feelings of love (horrible song reference)...

2004-10-28T09:43:00.000-05:00

We're all people of vast experiences and hardships. We've all had these. Do you think feelings about things and issues really ever leave us? For example, when a loved one dies; that doesn't really go away. Or, for an ond love; feelings for that, if they were true feelings and not just infatuation, never truly leave you either. Smells, sounds, songs...these things remind us of things and stir up emotions and feelings.

Is it a bank of emotion that we carry, ever building upon it? Do these feelings every really fade away into oblivion? And, if so, would we want to lose them like that?

...why are horror/monster/thriller movies so popular?...

2004-10-28T09:38:00.000-05:00

I often wonder, just why horror movies are so popular. Most people I know are terrified of these movies. Others, like me, think they rock and are fun. But for the people that are frightened by these films, why do it? What is the thrill of having nightmares, being afraid? What primal need for that drives them? I mean, it's slightly masochistic when you think about it...

What do you guys think?

(And for those of you who LOVE horror films, I have hyperlinked the title of this post to one of the Web's best horror news sites, Bloody-Disgusting! Click and have fun, fellow Council members!)

After Terror - A Secret Re-Writing of Military Law

2004-10-28T09:28:00.000-05:00

After Terror - A Secret Re-Writing of Military Law

(NOTE: I am aware that you guys don't like the articles. You don't have to read them at all. To your right, you will see a hyperlink for every post anyone makes on the Council. You can browse the Council that way, clicking from link to link, instead of scrolling through all MY stuff. I keep to my promise that after Nov. 2, no more election stuff. Although THIS article is more about the war, and is not intended to focus on the election.)

After Terror, a Secret Rewriting of Military Law
By Tim Golden
The Lakeland Ledger

Sunday 24 October 2004

Washington - In early November 2001, with Americans still staggered by the Sept. 11 attacks, a small group of White House officials worked in great secrecy to devise a new system of justice for the new war they had declared on terrorism.

Determined to deal aggressively with the terrorists they expected to capture, the officials bypassed the federal courts and their constitutional guarantees, giving the military the authority to detain foreign suspects indefinitely and prosecute them in tribunals not used since World War II.

The plan was considered so sensitive that senior White House officials kept its final details hidden from the president's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and the secretary of state, Colin L. Powell, officials said. It was so urgent, some of those involved said, that they hardly thought of consulting Congress.

White House officials said their use of extraordinary powers would allow the Pentagon to collect crucial intelligence and mete out swift, unmerciful justice. "We think it guarantees that we'll have the kind of treatment of these individuals that we believe they deserve," said Vice President Dick Cheney, who was a driving force behind the policy.

But three years later, not a single terrorist has been prosecuted. Of the roughly 560 men being held at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, only 4 have been formally charged. Preliminary hearings for those suspects brought such a barrage of procedural challenges and public criticism that verdicts could still be months away. And since a Supreme Court decision in June that gave the detainees the right to challenge their imprisonment in federal court, the Pentagon has stepped up efforts to send home hundreds of men whom it once branded as dangerous terrorists.

"We've cleared whole forests of paper developing procedures for these tribunals, and no one has been tried yet," said Richard L. Shiffrin, who worked on the issue as the Pentagon's deputy general counsel for intelligence matters. "They just ended up in this Kafkaesque sort of purgatory."

The story of how Guantánamo and the new military justice system became an intractable legacy of Sept. 11 has been largely hidden from public view.

But extensive interviews with current and former officials and a review of confidential documents reveal that the legal strategy took shape as the ambition of a small core of conservative administration officials whose political influence and bureaucratic skill gave them remarkable power in the aftermath of the attacks.

The strategy became a source of sharp conflict within the Bush administration, eventually pitting the highest-profile cabinet secretaries - including Ms. Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld - against one another over issues of due process, intelligence-gathering and international law.

In fact, many officials contend, some of the most serious problems with the military justice system are rooted in the secretive and contentious process from which it emerged.

Military lawyers were largely excluded from that process in the days after Sept. 11. They have since waged a long struggle to ensure that terrorist prosecutions meet what they say are basic standards of fairness. Uniformed lawyers now assigned to defend Guantánamo detainees have become among the most forceful critics of the Pentagon's own system.

Foreign policy officials voiced concerns about the legal and diplomatic ramifications, but had little influence. Increasingly, the administration's plan has come under criticism even from close allies, complicating efforts to transfer scores of Guantánamo prisoners back to their home governments.

To the policy's architects, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon represented a stinging challenge to American power and an imperative to consider measures that might have been unimaginable in less threatening times. Yet some officials said the strategy was also shaped by longstanding political agendas that had relatively little to do with fighting terrorism.

The administration's claim of authority to set up military commissions, as the tribunals are formally known, was guided by a desire to strengthen executive power, officials said. Its legal approach, including the decision not to apply the Geneva Conventions, reflected the determination of some influential officials to halt what they viewed as the United States' reflexive submission to international law.

In devising the new system, many officials said they had Osama bin Laden and other leaders of Al Qaeda in mind. But in picking through the hundreds of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, military investigators have struggled to find more than a dozen they can tie directly to significant terrorist acts, officials said. While important Qaeda figures have been captured and held by the C.I.A., administration officials said they were reluctant to bring those prisoners before tribunals they still consider unreliable.

Some administration officials involved in the policy declined to be interviewed, or would do so only on the condition they not be identified. Others defended it strongly, saying the administration had a responsibility to consider extraordinary measures to protect the country from a terrifying enemy.

"Everybody who was involved in this process had, in my mind, a white hat on," Timothy E. Flanigan, the former deputy White House counsel, said in an interview. "They were not out to be cowboys or create a radical new legal regime. What they wanted to do was to use existing legal models to assist in the process of saving lives, to get information. And the war on terror is all about information."

As the policy has faltered, other current and former officials have criticized it on pragmatic grounds, arguing that many of the problems could have been avoided. But some of the criticism also has a moral tone.

"What several of us were concerned about was due process," said John A. Gordon, a retired Air Force general and former deputy C.I.A. director who served as both the senior counterterrorism official and homeland security adviser on President Bush's National Security Council staff. "There was great concern that we were setting up a process that was contrary to our own ideals."

An Aggressive Approach

The administration's legal approach to terrorism began to emerge in the first turbulent days after Sept. 11, as the officials in charge of key agencies exhorted their aides to confront Al Qaeda's threat with bold imagination.

"Legally, the watchword became 'forward-leaning,' " said a former associate White House counsel, Bradford Berenson, "by which everybody meant: 'We want to be aggressive. We want to take risks.' "

That challenge resounded among young lawyers who were settling into important posts at the White House, the Justice Department and other agencies. Many of them were members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal fraternity. Some had clerked for Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia in particular. A striking number had clerked for a prominent Reagan appointee, Lawrence H. Silberman of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

One young lawyer recalled looking around the room during a meeting with Attorney General John Ashcroft. "Of 10 people, 7 of us were former Silberman clerks," he said.

Mr. Berenson, then 36, had been consumed with the nomination of federal judges until he was suddenly reassigned to terrorism issues and thrown into intense, 15-hour workdays, filled with competing urgencies and intermittent new alerts.

"All of a sudden, the curtain was lifted on this incredibly frightening world," he said. "You were spending every day looking at the dossiers of the world's leading terrorists. There was a palpable sense of threat."

As generals prepared for war in Afghanistan, lawyers scrambled to understand how the new campaign against terrorism could be waged within the confines of old laws.

Mr. Flanigan was at the center of the administration's legal counteroffensive. A personable, soft-spoken father of 14 children, his easy manner sometimes belied the force of his beliefs. He had arrived at the White House after distinguishing himself as an agile legal thinker and a Republican stalwart: During the Clinton scandals, he defended the independent counsel, Kenneth W. Starr, saying he had conducted his investigation "in a moderate and appropriate fashion." In 2000, he played an important role on the Bush campaign's legal team in the Florida recount.

In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Flanigan sought advice from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel on "the legality of the use of military force to prevent or deter terrorist activity inside the United States," according to a previously undisclosed department memorandum that was reviewed by The New York Times.

The 20-page response came from John C. Yoo, a 34-year-old Bush appointee with a glittering résumé and a reputation as perhaps the most intellectually aggressive among a small group of legal scholars who had challenged what they saw as the United States' excessive deference to international law. On Sept. 21, 2001, Mr. Yoo wrote that the question was how the Constitution's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure might apply if the military used "deadly force in a manner that endangered the lives of United States citizens."

Mr. Yoo listed an inventory of possible operations: shooting down a civilian airliner hijacked by terrorists; setting up military checkpoints inside an American city; employing surveillance methods more sophisticated than those available to law enforcement; or using military forces "to raid or attack dwellings where terrorists were thought to be, despite risks that third parties could be killed or injured by exchanges of fire."

Mr. Yoo noted that those actions could raise constitutional issues, but said that in the face of devastating terrorist attacks, "the government may be justified in taking measures which in less troubled conditions could be seen as infringements of individual liberties." If the president decided the threat justified deploying the military inside the country, he wrote, then "we think that the Fourth Amendment should be no more relevant than it would be in cases of invasion or insurrection."

The prospect of such military action at home was mostly hypothetical at that point, but with the government taking the fight against terrorism to Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world, lawyers in the administration took the same "forward-leaning" approach to making plans for the terrorists they thought would be captured.

The idea of using military commissions to try suspected terrorists first came to Mr. Flanigan, he said, in a phone call a couple of days after the attacks from William P. Barr, the former attorney general under whom Mr. Flanigan had served as head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel during the first Bush administration.

Mr. Barr had first suggested the use of military tribunals a decade before, to try suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Although the idea made little headway at the time, Mr. Barr said he reminded Mr. Flanigan that the Legal Counsel's Office had done considerable research on the question. Mr. Flanigan had an aide call for the files.

"I thought it was a great idea," he recalled.

Military commissions, he thought, would give the government wide latitude to hold, interrogate and prosecute the sort of suspects who might be silenced by lawyers in criminal courts. They would also put the control over prosecutions squarely in the hands of the president.

The same ideas were taking hold in the office of Vice President Cheney, championed by his 44-year-old counsel, David S. Addington. At the time, Mr. Addington, a longtime Cheney aide with an indistinct portfolio and no real staff, was not well-known even in the government. But he would become legendary as a voraciously hard-working official with strongly conservative views, an unusually sharp pen and wide influence over military, intelligence and other matters. In a matter of months, he would make a mark as one of the most important architects of the administration's legal strategy against foreign terrorism.

Beyond the prosecutorial benefits of military commissions, the two lawyers saw a less tangible, but perhaps equally important advantage. "From a political standpoint," Mr. Flanigan said, "it communicated the message that we were at war, that this was not going to be business as usual."

Changing the Rules

In fact, very little about how the tribunal policy came about resembled business as usual. For half a century, since the end of World War II, most major national-security initiatives had been forged through interagency debate. But some senior Bush administration officials felt that process placed undue power in the hands of cautious, slow-moving foreign policy bureaucrats. The sense of urgency after Sept. 11 brought that attitude to the surface.

Little more than a week after the attacks, officials said, the White House counsel, Alberto F. Gonzales, set up an interagency group to draw up options for prosecuting terrorists. They came together with high expectations.

"We were going to go after the people responsible for the attacks, and the operating assumption was that we would capture a significant number of Al Qaeda operatives," said Pierre-Richard Prosper, the State Department official assigned to lead the group. "We were thinking hundreds."

Mr. Prosper, then 37, had just been sworn in as the department's ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues. As a prosecutor, he had taken on street gangs and drug Mafias and had won the first genocide conviction before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Even so, some administration lawyers eyed him suspiciously - as more diplomat than crime-fighter.

Mr. Gonzales had made it clear that he wanted Mr. Prosper's group to put forward military commissions as a viable option, officials said. The group laid out three others - criminal trials, military courts-martial and tribunals with both civilian and military members, like those used for Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg.

Representatives of the Justice Department's criminal division, which had prosecuted a string of Qaeda defendants in federal district court over the previous decade, argued that the federal courts could do the job again. The option of toughening criminal laws or adapting the courts, as several European countries had done, was discussed, but only briefly, two officials said.

"The towers were still smoking, literally," Mr. Prosper said. "I remember asking: Can the federal courts in New York handle this? It wasn't a legal question so much as it was logistical. You had 300 Al Qaeda members, potentially. And did we want to put the judges and juries in harm's way?"

Lawyers at the White House saw criminal courts as a minefield, several officials said.

Much of the evidence against terror suspects would be classified intelligence that would be difficult to air in court or too sketchy to meet federal standards, the lawyers warned. Another issue was security: Was it safe to try Osama bin Laden in Manhattan, where he was facing federal charges for the 1998 bombings of American Embassies in East Africa?

Then there was a tactical question. To act preemptively against Al Qaeda, the authorities would need information that defense lawyers and due-process rules might discourage suspects from giving up.

Mr. Flanigan framed the choice starkly: "Are we going to go with a system that is really guaranteed to prevent us from getting information in every case or are we going to go another route?"

Military commissions had no statutory rules of their own. In past American wars, when such tribunals had been used to carry out battlefield justice against spies, saboteurs and others accused of violating the laws of war, they had generally hewed to prevailing standards of military justice. But the advocates for commissions in the Bush administration saw no reason they could not adapt the rules, officials said. Standards of proof could be lowered. Secrecy provisions could be expanded. The death penalty could be more liberally applied.

But some members of the interagency group saw it as more complicated. Terrorism had not been clearly established as a war crime under international law. Writing new law for a military tribunal might end up being more difficult than prosecuting terrorism cases in existing courts.

By late October 2001, the White House lawyers had grown impatient with what they saw as the dithering of Mr. Prosper's group and what one former official called the "cold feet" of some of its members. Mr. Flanigan said he thought the government needed to move urgently in case a major terrorist linked to the attacks was apprehended.

He gathered up the research that the Prosper group had completed on military commissions and took charge of the matter himself. Suddenly, the other options were off the table and the Prosper group was out of business.

"Prosper is a thoughtful, gentle, process-oriented guy," the former official said. "At that time, gentle was not an adjective that anybody wanted."

A Secretive Circle

With the White House in charge, officials said, the planning for tribunals moved forward more quickly, and more secretly. Whole agencies were left out of the discussion. So were most of the government's experts in military and international law.

The legal basis for the administration's approach was laid out on Nov. 6 in a confidential 35-page memorandum sent to Mr. Gonzales from Patrick F. Philbin, a deputy in the Legal Counsel's office. (Attorney General Ashcroft has refused recent Congressional requests for the document, but a copy was reviewed by The Times.)

The memorandum's plain legalese belied its bold assertions.

It said that the president, as commander in chief, has "inherent authority" to establish military commissions without Congressional authorization. It concluded that the Sept. 11 attacks were "plainly sufficient" to warrant applying the laws of war.

Opening a debate that would later divide the administration, the memorandum also suggested that the White House could apply international law selectively. It stated specifically that trying terrorists under the laws of war "does not mean that terrorists will receive the protections of the Geneva Conventions or the rights that laws of war accord to lawful combatants."

The central legal precedent cited in the memorandum was a 1942 case in which the Supreme Court upheld President Franklin D. Roosevelt's use of a military commission to try eight Nazi saboteurs who had sneaked into the United States aboard submarines. Since that ruling, revolutions had taken place in both international and military law, with the adoption of the Geneva Conventions in 1949 and the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 1951. Even so, the Justice memorandum said the 1942 ruling had "set a clear constitutional analysis" under which due process rights do not apply to military commissions.

Roosevelt, too, created his military commission without new and explicit Congressional approval, and authorized the military to fashion its own procedural rules. He also established himself, rather than a military judge, as the "final reviewing authority" for the case.

Mr. Addington seized on the Roosevelt precedent as a model, two people involved in the process said, despite vast differences. Roosevelt acted against enemy agents in a traditional war among nations. Mr. Bush would be asserting the same power to take on a shadowy network of adversaries with no geographic boundaries, in a conflict with no foreseeable end.

Mr. Addington, who drafted the order with Mr. Flanigan, was particularly influential, several officials said, because he represented Mr. Cheney and brought formidable experience in national-security law to a small circle of senior officials. Mr. Addington turned down several requests for interviews and a spokesman for the vice president's office declined to comment.

"He was probably the only one there who would know what an order would look like, what it would say," a former Justice Department official said, noting Mr. Addington's work at the Defense Department, the C.I.A., and Congressional intelligence committees. "He didn't have authority over anyone. But he's a persuasive guy."

To many officials outside the circle, the secrecy was remarkable.

While Mr. Ashcroft and his deputy, Larry D. Thompson, were closely consulted, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division, Michael Chertoff, who had argued for trying terror suspects in federal court, saw the military order only when it was published, officials said. Mr. Rumsfeld was kept informed of the plan mainly through his general counsel, William J. Haynes II, several Pentagon officials said.

Many of the Pentagon's experts on military justice, uniformed lawyers who had spent their careers working on such issues, were mostly kept in the dark. "I can't tell you how compartmented things were," said retired Rear Adm. Donald J. Guter, who was then the Navy's senior military lawyer, or judge advocate general. "This was a closed administration."

A group of experienced Army lawyers had been meeting with Mr. Haynes repeatedly on the process, but began to suspect that what they said did not resonate outside the Pentagon, several of them said.

On Friday, Nov. 9, Defense Department officials said, Mr. Haynes called the head of the team, Col. Lawrence J. Morris, into his office to review a draft of the presidential order. He was given 30 minutes to study it but was not allowed to keep a copy or even take notes.

The following day, the Army's judge advocate general, Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Romig, hurriedly convened a meeting of senior military lawyers to discuss a response. The group worked through the Veterans Day weekend to prepare suggestions that would have moved the tribunals closer to existing military justice. But when the final document was issued that Tuesday, it reflected none of the officers' ideas, several military officials said. "They hadn't changed a thing," one official said.

In fact, while the military lawyers were pulling together their response, they were unaware that senior administration officials were already at the White House putting finishing touches on the plan. At a meeting that Saturday in the Roosevelt Room, Mr. Cheney led a discussion among Attorney General Ashcroft, Mr. Haynes of the Defense Department, the White House lawyers and a few other aides.

Senior officials of the State Department and the National Security Council staff were excluded from final discussions of the policy, even at a time when they were meeting daily about Afghanistan with the officials who were drafting the order. According to two people involved in the process, Mr. Cheney advocated withholding the draft from Ms. Rice and Secretary Powell.

When the two cabinet members found out about the military order - upon its public release - Ms. Rice was particularly angry, several senior officials said. Spokesmen for both officials declined to comment.

Mr. Bush played only a modest role in the debate, senior administration officials said. In an initial discussion, he agreed that military commissions should be an option, the officials said. Later, Mr. Cheney discussed a draft of the order with Mr. Bush over lunch, one former official said. The president signed the three-page order on Nov. 13.

No ceremony accompanied the signing, and the order was released to the public that day without so much as a press briefing. But its historic significance was unmistakable.

The military could detain and prosecute any foreigner whom the president or his representative determined to have "engaged in, aided or abetted, or conspired to commit" terrorism. Echoing the Roosevelt order, the Bush document promised "free and fair" tribunals but offered few guarantees: There was no promise of public trials, no right to remain silent, no presumption of innocence. As in 1942, guilt did not necessarily have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and a death sentence could be imposed even with a divided verdict.

Despite those similarities, some military and international lawyers were struck by the differences.

"The Roosevelt order referred specifically to eight people, the eight Nazi saboteurs," said Mr. Shiffrin, who was then the Defense Department's deputy general counsel for intelligence matters and had studied the Nazi saboteurs' case. "Here we were putting in place a parallel system of justice for a universe of people who we had no idea about - who they would be, how many of them there would be. It was a very dramatic measure."

Mounting Criticism

The White House did its best to play down the drama, but criticism of the order was immediate and widespread.

Civil libertarians and some Congressional leaders saw an attempt to supplant the criminal justice system. Critics also worried about the concentration of power: The president or his proxies would define the crimes (often after an act had been committed); set the rules for trial; and choose the judges, juries and appellate panels.

Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who was then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was among a handful of legislators who argued that the administration's plan required explicit Congressional authorization. The Congress had just passed the Patriot Act by a huge margin, and Mr. Leahy proposed authorizing military commissions, but with some important changes, including a presumption of innocence for defendants and appellate review by the Supreme Court.

Critics seized on complaints from abroad, including an announcement from the Spanish authorities that they would not extradite some terrorist suspects to the United States if they would face the tribunals. "We are the most powerful nation on earth," Mr. Leahy said. "But in the struggle against terrorism, we don't have the option of going it alone. Would these military tribunals be worth jeopardizing the cooperation we expect and need from our allies?"

Senators called for Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Ashcroft to testify about the tribunals plan. Instead, the administration sent Mr. Prosper from the State Department and Mr. Chertoff of the Justice Department - both of whom had questioned the use of commissions and were later excluded from the administration's final deliberations.

But the Congressional opposition melted in the face of opinion polls showing strong support for the president's measures against terrorism.

There was another reason fears were allayed. With the order signed, the Pentagon was writing rules for exactly how the commissions would be conducted, and an early draft that was leaked to the news media suggested defendants' rights would be expanded. Mr. Rumsfeld, who assembled a group of outside legal experts - including some who had worked on World War II-era tribunals - to consult on the rules, said critics' concerns would be taken into account.

But all of the critics were not outside the administration.

Many of the Pentagon's uniformed lawyers were angered by the implication that the military would be used to deliver "rough justice" for the terrorists. The Uniform Code of Military Justice had moved steadily into line with the due-process standards of the federal courts, and senior military lawyers were proud and protective of their system. They generally supported using commissions for terrorists, but argued that the system would not be fair without greater rights for defendants.

"The military lawyers would from time to time remind the civilians that there was a Constitution that we had to pay attention to," said Admiral Guter, who, after retiring as the Navy judge advocate general, signed a "friend of the court" brief on behalf of plaintiffs in the Guantánamo Supreme Court case.

Even as uniformed lawyers were given a greater role in writing rules for the commissions, they still felt out of the loop.

In early 2002, Admiral Guter said, during a weekly lunch with Mr. Haynes and the top lawyers for the military branches, he raised the issue with Mr. Haynes directly: "We need more information."

Mr. Haynes looked at him coldly. "No, you don't," he quoted Mr. Haynes as saying.

Mr. Haynes declined to comment on the exchange.

Lt. Col. William K. Lietzau, a Yale-trained Marine lawyer on Mr. Haynes's staff, often found himself in the middle. "I could see how the JAGs were frustrated that the task of setting up the commissions hadn't been delegated to them," he said, referring to the senior military lawyers. "On the other hand, I could see how some of their recommendations frustrated the leadership because they didn't always appear to embrace the paradigm shift needed to deal with terrorism."

Some Justice Department officials also urged changes in the commission rules, current and former officials said. While Attorney General Ashcroft staunchly defended the policy in public, in a private meeting with Pentagon officials, he said some of the proposed commission rules would be seen as "draconian," two officials said.

On nearly every issue, interviews and documents show, the harder line was staked out by White House lawyers: Mr. Addington, Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Flanigan. They opposed allowing civilian lawyers to assist the tribunal defendants, as military courts-martial permit, or allowing civilians to serve on the appellate panel that would oversee the commissions. They also opposed granting defendants a presumption of innocence.

In the end, Mr. Rumsfeld compromised. He granted defendants a presumption of innocence and set "beyond a reasonable doubt" as a standard for proving guilt. He also allowed the defendants to hire civilian lawyers, but restricted the lawyers' access to case information. And he gave the presiding officer at a tribunal license to admit any evidence he thought might be convincing to a "reasonable person."

One right the administration sought to deny the prisoners was the ability to appeal the legality of their detentions in federal court. The administration had done its best to decide the question when searching for a place to detain hundreds of prisoners captured in Afghanistan. Every location it seriously considered - including an American military base in Germany and islands in the South Pacific - was outside the United States and, the administration believed, beyond the reach of the federal judiciary.

On Dec. 28, 2001, after officials settled on Guantánamo Bay, Mr. Philbin and Mr. Yoo told the Pentagon in a memorandum that it could make a "very strong" claim that prisoners there would be outside the purview of American courts. But the memorandum cautioned that a reasonable argument could also be made that Guantánamo "while not part of the sovereign territory of the United States, is within the territorial jurisdiction of a federal court." That warning would come back to haunt the administration.

A Shift in Power

Some of the officials who helped design the new system of justice would later explain the influence they exercised in the chaotic days after Sept. 11 as a response to a crisis. But a more enduring shift of power within the administration was taking place - one that became apparent in a decision that would have significant consequences for how terror suspects were interrogated and detained.

At issue was whether the administration would apply the Geneva Conventions to the conflicts with Al Qaeda and the Taliban and whether those enemies would be treated as prisoners of war.

Based on the advice of White House and Justice Department lawyers, Mr. Bush initially decided on Jan. 18, 2002, that the conventions would not apply to either conflict. But at a meeting of senior national security officials several days later, Secretary of State Powell asked him to reconsider.

Mr. Powell agreed that the conventions did not apply to the global fight against Al Qaeda. But he said troops could be put at risk if the United States disavowed the conventions in dealing with the Taliban - the de facto government of Afghanistan. Both Mr. Rumsfeld and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers, supported his position, Pentagon officials said.

In a debate that included the administration's most experienced national-security officials, a voice heard belonged to Mr. Yoo, only a deputy in the Office of Legal Counsel. He cast Afghanistan as a "failed state," and said its fighters should not be considered a real army but a "militant, terrorist-like group." In a Jan. 25 memorandum, the White House counsel, Mr. Gonzales, characterized that opinion as "definitive," although it was not the final basis for the president's decision.

The Gonzales memorandum suggested that the "new kind of war" Mr. Bush wanted to fight could hardly be reconciled with the "quaint" privileges that the Geneva Conventions gave to prisoners of war, or the "strict limitations" they imposed on interrogations.

Military lawyers disputed the idea that applying the conventions would necessarily limit interrogators to the name, rank and serial number of their captives. "There were very good reasons not to designate the detainees as prisoners of war, but the claim that they couldn't be interrogated was not one of them," Colonel Lietzau said. Again, though, such questions were scarcely heard, officials involved in the discussions said.

Mr. Yoo's rise reflected a different approach by the Bush administration to sensitive legal questions concerning foreign affairs, defense and intelligence.

In past administrations, officials said, the Office of Legal Counsel usually weighed in with opinions on questions that had already been deliberated by the legal staffs of the agencies involved. Under Mr. Bush, the office frequently had a first and final say. "O.L.C. was definitely running the show legally, and John Yoo in particular," a former Pentagon lawyer said. "He's kind of fun to be around, and he has an opinion on everything. Even though he was quite young, he exercised disproportionate authority because of his personality and his strong opinions."

Mr. Yoo's influence was amplified by friendships he developed not just with Mr. Addington and Mr. Flanigan, but also Mr. Haynes, with whom he played squash as often as three or four times a week at the Pentagon Officers Athletic Club.

If the Geneva Conventions debate raised Mr. Yoo's stature, it had the opposite effect on lawyers at the State Department, who were later excluded from sensitive discussions on matters like the interrogation of detainees, officials from several agencies said.

"State was cut out of a lot of this activity from February of 2002 on," one senior administration official said. "These were treaties that we were dealing with; they are meant to know about that."

The State Department legal adviser, William H. Taft IV, was shunned by the lawyers who dominated the detainee policy, officials said. Although Mr. Taft had served as the deputy secretary of defense during the Reagan administration, more conservative colleagues whispered that he lacked the constitution to fight terrorists.

"He was seen as ideologically squishy and suspect," a former White House official said. "People did not take him very seriously."

Through a State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, Mr. Taft declined to comment.

The rivalries could be almost adolescent. When field trips to Guantánamo Bay were arranged for administration lawyers, the invitations were sometimes relayed last to the State Department and National Security Council, officials said, in the hope that lawyers there would not be able to go on short notice.

It was on the first field trip, 10 days after detainees began to arrive there on Jan. 11, 2002, that White House lawyers made clear their intention to move forward quickly with military commissions.

On the flight home, several officials said, Mr. Addington urged Mr. Gonzales to seek a blanket designation of all the detainees being sent to Guantánamo as eligible for trial under the president's order. Mr. Gonzales agreed.

The next day, the Pentagon instructed military intelligence officers at the base to start filling out one-page forms for each detainee, describing their alleged offenses. Weeks later, Mr. Haynes issued an urgent call to the military services, asking them to submit nominations for a chief prosecutor.

The first trials, many military and administration officials believed, were just around the corner.

Cleaning the Air

2004-10-27T22:33:00.000-05:00

It was brought to my attention that well someones talking when they shouldnt about me. To clean the air I would like to say that I am not crazy or belong in a psych ward. Some of you have met me so you know what kind of person i am. Its funny who the real crazy one is in all of this.Anyway I just wanted to set things straight with you guys. Thankyou =)

Oh, Yeah, and By The Way

2004-10-27T16:37:00.000-05:00

If it requres the use of the 'cut and paste' function of your computer, ITS NOT WORTHY!!!

God, that's so irritating. Look I love being a part of the Council for the sole reason that I get to hear the thoughts and voices of friends. It's a unique way to get to know people. I don't want to read a goddamn newspaper. I don't subscribe to a newspaper, I don't watch television AT ALL and I don't listen to the news on the radio if I can possibly avoid it. I detest all things associated with the media, and most especially I detest the infectious nature of disturbing and depressing news. It falls into the same category as politics for me--mostly because the media is controlled by a political body. By all means, feel free to post the links you find interesting--no objection to that. But quit cluttering up the blog. It's gotten so I have to search the page inch by inch as I'm scrolling through three miles of junk, just to make sure I don't miss a blog I might actually find important or illuminating. If it weren't for the fact that I USED to like reading this site, I'd probably quit reading altogether.

And Good Riddance!

2004-10-27T16:03:00.000-05:00

It is the official word of the courts that by November 8, I will be officially, totally, completely, and 150% DIVORCED. Finally. I will have 50% custody of my daughter, alternating 5 days one week and 2 days the next, with Wednesday and Thursday being my days every week and Fri, Sat, Sun being rotating days. I will be forced to pay $60 child support every month, but since the standard chart says I was supposed to pay $250, I can't say I'm too upset about that. My ex-wife, however, is being forced to move back to my area, which will cost her and her new man considerably when it comes to gas prices--he still works 30 miles away.

There's the official word, folks--I'm free at last, free at last! Now if I can just find a better job and a new place to live, all my woes will be ended.

2004 Missouri Election Info

2004-10-27T14:45:00.000-05:00

It's almost election time. But there are more things to vote on besides just the presidential race. I have found a website where you not only can research all the other candidates, like those for state treasurer and whatnot, but also find where your local polling place is:

Missouri Election Info/Candidates/Issues (St. Louis County)

Candidates/Issues Info (City of St. Louis)

There are also, as in every election period, propositions up for vote, and usually you just have to pick and choose without prior info. I have also found THAT info for you guys. These particular ones involve redesigning the city of St. Louis, which would mean jobs and whatnot:

Propositions A, B, C, & D (City of St. Louis)

I have linked the Missouri Election Info sit to the title of this blog, and I'm also going to post these two links under the political section on the Council Links, for all of your convenience. I know a lot of you have grown tired of politicizing, so I figured instead of posting another rant or article, I would provide you all with invaluable information and sources so none of your choices this year are wasted. Have a nice day!

...more Quill humor for you...

2004-10-27T09:38:00.000-05:00

A doctor and a lawyer were attending a cocktail party when the doctor was approached by a man who asked advice on how to handle his ulcer. The doctor mumbled some medical advice, then turned to the lawyer and asked, "How do you handle the situation when you are asked for advice during a social function?"
"Just send an account for such advice" replied the lawyer.

On the next morning the doctor arrived at his surgery and issued the ulcer-stricken man a $50 account. That afternoon he received a $100 account from the lawyer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A dog ran into a butcher shop and grabbed a roast off the counter. Fortunately, the butcher recognized the dog as belonging to a neighbor of his. The neighbor happened to be a lawyer.

Incensed at the theft, the butcher called up his neighbor and said, "Hey, if your dog stole a roast from my butcher shop, would you be liable for the cost of the meat?" The lawyer replied, "Of course, how much was the roast?" "$7.98."

A few days later the butcher received a check in the mail for $7.98. Attached to it was an invoice that read: Legal Consultation Service: $150 .

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A new client had just come in to see a famous lawyer.
"Can you tell me how much you charge?", said the client.
"Of course", the lawyer replied, "I charge $200 to answer three questions!"
"Well that's a bit steep, isn't it?"
"Yes it is", said the lawyer, "And what's your third question?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm beginning to think that my lawyer is too interested in making money."
"Why do you say that?"
"Listen to this from his bill: 'For waking up at night and thinking about your case: $25'."

'Saving The Nation' - Metro Times

2004-10-27T09:37:00.000-05:00

Jack Lessenberry: 'Saving the nation'
Posted on Wednesday, October 27 @ 10:28:22 EDT

This column doesn't contain enough space to recite all the appalling deeds of the Bush administration.

By Jack Lessenberry, Metro Times

Nobody among the intellectual and power elites was overwhelmed by the Democratic candidate for president; the only thing they agreed on is that he would be marginally better than the alternative, who was a disaster.

And while they wanted him to win, they worried about whether he was decisive enough. They regarded him as a rich guy with a high society wife who liked hanging out with the beautiful people as well as the movers and shakers. While they didn't expect great things, they thought he'd be pretty safe, at least.

That's what they're saying now about John Forbes Kerry.

Which makes me smile, because that's exactly what they said back in the day about John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Pardon me, but I'm very optimistic about the prospect of a president who is intelligent, tested in battle, has a lifetime record of public service, and who, unlike any other chief executive in decades, actually knows how Congress works.

Incidentally, the record shows that presidents who actually fought in a war are less likely to send young men into half-baked military adventures. I actually have a growing feeling that Kerry might surprise us all and be a superior president. I thought I was out there alone on this until The New York Times, in one of the best editorials I can remember reading, said the same thing last week, praising "his wide knowledge and clear thinking, and adding that "he strikes us, above all, as a man with a strong moral core."

But what if I'm wrong? What if Kerry is merely another establishment politician? Well, at the very least, it will be nice to have a president who's not actively hostile to science and intelligent thought. It will be nice not to have to worry that he'll name Useless P. Claypool to the U.S. Supreme Court, or try to dig up Yellowstone National Park if Halliburton thinks it might have oil.

That is, if John Kerry makes it.

What is dismaying beyond belief is the thought that the smirking chimp, the worst president we've had since at least the Civil War, might still win. The polls are neck and neck, many with a slight edge for Bush. This election ought to have been over the moment it was demonstrated that the Democratic nominee could read, write and wasn't an al Qaeda spy.

The mess is such that Kerry, if he wins, is likely to have to make rapid decisions that will make enemies and disillusion some. You could, in fact, make a powerful case that the best thing that could happen to the Democratic Party would be to have Dubya narrowly re-elected next week.

So monumental are the looming disasters that the Democrats would be a cinch to win both houses of Congress two years from now, and then reclaim the presidency, possibly with John Edwards as the candidate, in two years more.

But I don't especially care about the Democrats; I care about this country. George W. Bush has been a disaster in nearly every way, and a second term would be disaster beyond belief for this nation.

It's not so much that the man's policies are ridiculously and dangerously wrongheaded, although they are. It isn't even that he'd be in a position to do far more damage to our rights and liberties for decades by naming a bunch of new Supreme Court justices, although that is a hugely legitimate fear.

What's most frightening about George W. Bush is his seemingly total inability to admit error, let alone change course. Asked repeatedly during press conferences and during a debate to name a mistake he has made, he refused.

Worse, he seems to think any admission of error is a weakness. Whether this is because of his own insecurity or, ominously, because he thinks that God talks directly to him, that's a potential prescription for the end of the world.

This column doesn't contain enough space to recite all the appalling deeds of the Bush administration, from running up huge deficits that our children will pay for to needlessly creating new enemies for our nation. Social Security is a mess; public education is getting there, and the national health system is worse.

Cheerfully ignorant of legal and political traditions, Bush has angered even true conservatives with the pseudo-fascist portions of the Soviet-sounding "Department of Homeland Security," and the truly Orwellian "Patriot Act." The Patriot Act, by the way, is so bad that the right-wing Detroit News said it "trashed personal privacy protections, suspended due process safeguards and upset the balance between the power of the government and the rights of the individual."

The full effects of the incompetence and the recklessness of the Bush administration's policies are unlikely to be realized for many years to come. You can count for sure on high inflation, growing unemployment and a health care crisis that will take resources we can't even imagine to solve, not to speak of new waves of terrorism created by our ham-handed actions in the Middle East.

Yet even if the nation were prosperous, if we had caught Osama bin Laden, if thousands of jobs weren't continuing to be shipped offshore, we'd have to vote out George W. Bush for the biggest reason of all: Iraq.

This nation never before launched a pre-emptive attack on another nation that hasn't attacked us. Nor have we gone into war based on a complete lie -- that the "enemy" had weapons he never had at all.

Nor have we ever so blown the aftermath of combat. Our occupation of Iraq has been perhaps the worst failure in our nation's modern history. We have lost the peace. The other night I saw a shaken Martha Raddatz, the veteran ABC correspondent who covered Bosnia, discussing a recent visit to Iraq.

While she was there, the "insurgents" put a dozen Iraqi National Guard (our puppets) against a wall and blew them away. It didn't even make the papers here; things like that are too common. We've lost the occupation; Iraq is, by any rational measure, worse off than under Saddam, and it will get worse still.

Does anyone really believe the American people will tolerate our staying there for much longer? Whoever wins will have to withdraw our troops sooner rather than later, and likely leave the place to civil war and an eventual Shiite strongman. We've taken a baseball bat to the hornet's nest that is the Middle East, and there's no sign that Bush has a clue about what the long-term effects of what he's done are likely to be. The fact is, Osama couldn't have asked for better.

The Detroit News has never -- repeat, never -- endorsed a Democrat for president of the United States. Yet Sunday, in the strongest language possible, they told their readers that George W. Bush was a monumental failure who doesn't deserve another term. (They didn't endorse Kerry either. Apparently afraid that its editorial writers' fingers would fall off if they endorsed a Democrat, The News bizarrely declared Kerry an enemy of the auto industry, and took the weasel course of endorsing nobody, though it's impossible to read its editorial as anything but a call to transplant the Shrub.)

Anyone who sits this one out deserves what they get. And if the wrong man wins this election, we're all terribly likely to get it good and hard.

Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times.

(c)2004, Metro Times, Inc.

Reprinted from The Metro Times:
http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=6900

World Series Opinion

2004-10-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

Ok so I was on my way to class and I heard people saying that Cardinals need to win. I agree with that but I also heard from some that said that they will not be so incline to support them if they loose the Series.Of the few things out there that I have issues dealing with Fair weather fans are next on my list along with other things going on now that I really cant deal with. I dont know if it is just me but I would be just as happy knowing that they went to the Series after the fact they had a rough start. It seems to me that either way (which I would love to go downtown and party if they won the series) people of St. Louis should be happy with the fact that they accomplished getting that far. I know some of us here would like to see our Cardinals drenching each other in champaign (thats how you spell it Dante lol) in those uniforms, but either way I think St. Louisians need to look and what they started out as.** On a side note I did have to comment to that person bailing out on the Cardinals on the radio this morning. Thanks for hearing me out

...please GOD let the Cards pick it up...

2004-10-27T08:32:00.000-05:00

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Only a curse can stop the Boston Red Sox now.

And they know all about such things.

With their baseball stars and lucky stars aligned, the Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 Tuesday night and moved within one win of their first World Series championship since 1918.

Then again, historic collapses are part of their legend.

No one knows better than the Red Sox that a 3-0 lead can be overcome; they just did it to the New York Yankees. And no one knows better than the Red Sox how elusive that last win can be; four times they've been one win away and four times they've lost.

"We're not going to relax that much," Boston starter Pedro Martinez said. "I don't think our team's going to relax as much as the Yankees were."

Martinez made his long-awaited Series debut a special one, bailed out when Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz did as much damage with their arms as bats. Backed by the surprising show of defense, Boston made it look too easy.

"It is big, but we learned our lesson against the Yankees," Ramirez said.

So after being only three outs away from getting swept last week, Boston is on the verge of sweeping the club that led the majors in wins this year and claiming the ultimate prize.

"It's something you've got to notice. It's possible," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "Hard not to get discouraged. They didn't.

"I think the one thing I'm absolutely confident about is that we've come too far to give an effort that will embarrass anybody tomorrow," he said.

Derek Lowe will try to finish it off for Boston on Wednesday night, starting against Jason Marquis in Game 4.

"We don't want people to think this Series is over," Lowe said.

Still, Red Sox fans gathered around the Boston dugout and chanted "One more win! One more win!" after the final out. Meanwhile, this sign curiously was posted on a side scoreboard at Busch Stadium: "Thanks for a great 2004 season."

Pitching a day after his 33rd birthday, Martinez threw seven innings of shutout ball, holding the limp Cardinals to three hits and retiring his last 14 batters.

"He has a history of being pretty good," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.

Ramirez put Martinez ahead with a first-inning homer and the three-time Cy Young Award winner held it, helped by superb defense and shaky baserunning. Added up, the Red Sox set a team record with their seventh straight postseason win, bettering the streak of six capped off by Babe Ruth's win in the 1916 Series.

That Martinez won was hardly amazing. That Boston's defense contributed was downright shocking.

The Red Sox made eight errors and still won the first two games. This time, they were flawless in the field -- and maybe even better than that.

Ramirez, coming off two gaffes in Game 2, threw out Larry Walker at the plate from left field to end the first inning. The lumbering Ortiz, in the lineup because Boston did not have the DH slot, alertly caught losing pitcher Jeff Suppan later.

"I was really happy to see Manny, not even thinking about what happened at Fenway," Martinez said.

Combined with a couple of more two-out runs, the Red Sox were home free.

Ramirez was the MVP of the first inning, by far.

After getting some pine tar from the top of his gooey batting helmet, he hit a solo home run with two outs into the loge level in left field.

But Ramirez's arm hurt St. Louis even more in the bottom half.

A pair of walks wrapped around a slow-rolling single by Albert Pujols loaded the bases with one out, and the ballpark hoped for something big. With the crowd standing and the stadium organ pumping, catcher Jason Varitek made his second trip to the mound to visit Martinez.

Edmonds lofted a fly ball to shallow left and Walker decided to make a run for it, but Ramirez was equal to the challenge and made an accurate throw home. Varitek did his part with a decoy, standing as if there was no play before suddenly catching the ball and slapping on the tag.

Martinez pumped his fist, then gave a nice-try pat on the back to Walker, his old teammate from their Montreal days.

Ahead 1-0, Boston did it again with defense in the third.

Suppan started it with a swinging-bunt single and Edgar Renteria hit a double that sent Nixon sliding feet first into a warning track puddle, a pratfall right out of a Wet&Wild Ride&Slide.

Again the crowd came to its feet, sensing the big hit that St. Louis needed. Walker instead rapped a weak grounder to second baseman Mark Bellhorn, which should have easily been enough to advance the runners and score the tying run.

With third-base coach Jose Oquendo urging him to run, Suppan made a quick break for the plate and then stopped while Renteria took off for third. Ortiz caught Bellhorn's throw, took a second and then noticed the Cardinals' confusion on the bases.

Ortiz made a perfect throw across the diamond to nail Suppan, and a grounder by Pujols ended the inning and brought out the boos.

"Jeff heard, 'No, no' and Jose, he was yelling, 'Go, go,"' La Russa said.

Bill Mueller and Nixon hit consecutive doubles with two outs in the fourth, and Boston scored twice in the fifth for a 4-0 lead.

Ramirez singled home a run and Mueller later chased Suppan with an RBI single. At that point, 10 of Boston's 20 runs in the Series had come with two outs.

St. Louis' lone run was a homer by Walker off Keith Foulke in the ninth inning.

Notes: Ortiz started 32 games at 1B this year. He has a .991 career fielding percentage, and is not known for his range. ... St. Louis has given up a first-inning run in 11 of 14 postseason games this year. ... Ramirez tied Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle for second all-time with his 18th postseason home run. Bernie Williams leads with 22.

...some interesting places to visit...

2004-10-27T08:11:00.000-05:00

As I've said before, I won't link anti-Bush sites on the Council, because it would be unfair to the Bush-supporters here. However, I can still post links on my personal posts:

Anti-Bush Sites

Move On PAC: Leave No Voter Behind

Democratic Underground

Intervention Magazine

...it's a small world...

2004-10-27T07:50:00.000-05:00

It’s amazing how often people and situations crop up and reappear in your life. It truly is a small f-ing world after all.

I just wanted to comment on that. I don’t really have anything lengthy to post on it. It’s just funny how things come around full circle. And no, I’m not referring to anything Council-related.

Bushisms - pt 3

2004-10-27T07:49:00.000-05:00

(Bushisms, continued, part 3)

Bushisms from 2002

"The goals for this country are peace in the world. And the goals for this country are a compassionate American for every single citizen. That compassion is found in the hearts and souls of the American citizens." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2002

"I think the American people — I hope the American — I don't think, let me — I hope the American people trust me." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2002

"There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug and that's me and I know what it's like." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2002.

"In other words, I don't think people ought to be compelled to make the decision which they think is best for their family." —George W. Bush, on smallpox vaccinations, Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2002

"Sometimes, Washington is one of these towns where the person — people who think they've got the sharp elbow is the most effective person." —George W. Bush, New Orleans, Dec. 3, 2002

"The law I sign today directs new funds and new focus to the task of collecting vital intelligence on terrorist threats and on weapons of mass production." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Nov. 27, 2002

"I'm the commander — see, I don't need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president." —George W. Bush, as quoted in Bob Woodward's "Bush at War"

"I know something about being a government. And you've got a good one." —George W. Bush, campaigning for Gov. Mike Huckabee, Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 4, 2002

"These people don't have tanks. They don't have ships. They hide in caves. They send suiciders out." —George W. Bush, speaking about terrorists, Portsmouth, N.H., Nov. 1, 2002

"I need to be able to move the right people to the right place at the right time to protect you, and I'm not going to accept a lousy bill out of the United Nations Senate." —George W. Bush, South Bend, Ind., Oct. 31, 2002

"John Thune has got a common-sense vision for good forest policy. I look forward to working with him in the United Nations Senate to preserve these national heritages." —George W. Bush, Aberdeen, S.D., Oct. 31, 2002

"Any time we've got any kind of inkling that somebody is thinking about doing something to an American and something to our homeland, you've just got to know we're moving on it, to protect the United Nations Constitution, and at the same time, we're protecting you." —George W. Bush, Aberdeen, S.D., Oct. 31, 2002

"I was proud the other day when both Republicans and Democrats stood with me in the Rose Garden to announce their support for a clear statement of purpose: you disarm, or we will." —George W. Bush, speaking about Saddam Hussein, Manchester, N.H., Oct. 5, 2002

"Let me tell you my thoughts about tax relief. When your economy is kind of ooching along, it's important to let people have more of their own money." —George W. Bush, Boston, Oct. 4, 2002

"We need an energy bill that encourages consumption." —George W. Bush, Trenton, N.J., Sept. 23, 2002

"People say, how can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

"You see, the Senate wants to take away some of the powers of the administrative branch." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002 (Click for video)

"See, we love — we love freedom. That's what they didn't understand. They hate things; we love things. They act out of hatred; we don't seek revenge, we seek justice out of love." —George W. Bush, Oklahoma City, Aug. 29, 2002

"There's no cave deep enough for America, or dark enough to hide." —George W. Bush, Oklahoma City, Aug. 29, 2002

"President Musharraf, he's still tight with us on the war against terror, and that's what I appreciate. He's a — he understands that we've got to keep Al Qaeda on the run, and that by keeping him on the run, it's more likely we will bring him to justice." —George W. Bush, Ruch, Ore., Aug. 22, 2002

"I'm a patient man. And when I say I'm a patient man, I mean I'm a patient man. Nothing he [Saddam Hussein] has done has convinced me — I'm confident the Secretary of Defense — that he is the kind of fellow that is willing to forgo weapons of mass destruction, is willing to be a peaceful neighbor, that is — will honor the people — the Iraqi people of all stripes, will — values human life. He hasn't convinced me, nor has he convinced my administration." —George W. Bush, Crawford, Texas, Aug. 21, 2002

"I'm thrilled to be here in the bread basket of America because it gives me a chance to remind our fellow citizens that we have an advantage here in America — we can feed ourselves." —George W. Bush, Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, 2002

"The federal government and the state government must not fear programs who change lives, but must welcome those faith-based programs for the embetterment of mankind." —George W. Bush, Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, 2002

"I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here." —George W. Bush, speaking at the President's Economic Forum in Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"Tommy (Thompson) is a good listener, and he's a pretty good actor, too." —George W. Bush, apparently confusing his Health and Human Services secretary with Sen. Fred Thompson, Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"There may be some tough times here in America. But this country has gone through tough times before, and we're going to do it again." —George W. Bush, Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"The trial lawyers are very politically powerful. … But here in Texas we took them on and got some good medical — medical malpractice." —George W. Bush, Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"I firmly believe the death tax is good for people from all walks of life all throughout our society." —George W. Bush, Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"I love the idea of a school in which people come to get educated and stay in the state in which they're educated." —George W. Bush, Milwaukee, Wis., Aug. 14, 2002

"The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur." —George W. Bush, discussing the decline of the French economy with British Prime Minister Tony Blair

"There was no malfeance involved. This was an honest disagreement about accounting procedures. ... There was no malfeance, no attempt to hide anything." —George W. Bush, White House press conference, Washington, D.C., July 8, 2002

"I also understand how tender the free enterprise system can be." —George W. Bush, White House press conference, Washington, D.C., July 8, 2002

"Over 75 percent of white Americans own their home, and less than 50 percent of Hispanos and African Americans don't own their home. And that's a gap, that's a homeownership gap. And we've got to do something about it." —George W. Bush, Cleveland, Ohio, July 1, 2002

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." —George W. Bush, June 18, 2002

"I'd rather have them sacrificing on behalf of our nation than, you know, endless hours of testimony on congressional hill." —George W. Bush, Fort Meade, Maryland, June 4, 2002

"We hold dear what our Declaration of Independence says, that all have got uninalienable rights, endowed by a Creator." —George W. Bush, to community and religious leaders in Moscow, May 24, 2002

"We're working with Chancellor Schröder on what's called 10-plus-10-over-10: $10 billion from the U.S.,$10 billion from other members of the G7 over a 10-year period, to help Russia securitize the dismantling — the dismantled nuclear warheads." —George W. Bush, Berlin, Germany, May 23, 2002

"After all, a week ago, there were — Yasser Arafat was boarded up in his building in Ramallah, a building full of, evidently, German peace protestors and all kinds of people. They're now out. He's now free to show leadership, to lead the world." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 2, 2002

"The public education system in America is one of the most important foundations of our democracy. After all, it is where children from all over America learn to be responsible citizens, and learn to have the skills necessary to take advantage of our fantastic opportunistic society." —George W. Bush, May 1, 2002

"Do you have blacks, too?" —George W. Bush, to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Nov. 8, 2001, as reported in an April 28, 2002, Estado Sao Pauloan column by Fernando Pedreira, a close friend of President Cardoso

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating." —George W. Bush, as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002

"It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 10, 2002

"And so, in my State of the — my State of the Union — or state — my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation — I asked Americans to give 4,000 years — 4,000 hours over the next — the rest of your life — of service to America. That's what I asked — 4,000 hours." —George W. Bush, Bridgeport, Conn., April 9, 2002

"Sometimes when I sleep at night I think of (Dr. Seuss's) 'Hop on Pop.'" —George W. Bush, in a speech about childhood education, Washington, D.C., April 2, 2002
"We've tripled the amount of money — I believe it's from $50 million up to $195 million available." —George W. Bush, Lima, Peru, March 23, 2002

"We've got pockets of persistent poverty in our society, which I refuse to declare defeat — I mean, I refuse to allow them to continue on. And so one of the things that we're trying to do is to encourage a faith-based initiative to spread its wings all across America, to be able to capture this great compassionate spirit." —George W. Bush, O'Fallon, Mo., Mar. 18, 2002

"I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

"There's nothing more deep than recognizing Israel's right to exist. That's the most deep thought of all. ... I can't think of anything more deep than that right." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

"My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It begins here because for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times. From that alliance has come an era of peace in the Pacific." —George W. Bush, who apparently forgot about a little something called World War II, Tokyo, Feb. 18, 2002

"Ann and I will carry out this equivocal message to the world: Markets must be open." —George W. Bush, at the swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, March 2, 2001

"He [Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi] said I want to make it very clear to you exactly what I intend to do and he talked about non-performing loans, the devaluation issue and regulatory reform and he placed equal emphasis on all three." —George W. Bush, who had meant to say "the deflation issue" rather than "the devaluation issue," and accidentally sent the Japanese Yen tumbling, Tokyo, Feb. 18, 2002

GTA San Andraus

2004-10-27T01:34:00.000-05:00

I have been up for the last 24 hours playing my new copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreus. I am now sitting down to reflect on what I have seen. I have no doubt in my mind, that some of you will be buying this game. If not you already have bought it. Please hear me out and some of you might crucify me for what I am about to say. Rock star games are responsible for making the Grand Theft Auto saga. They are also responsible for making this pile of crap! I am going to compare San Andreus to the rest of the games in the saga. I would like to say first I am speechless. I don’t like it. The game really isn’t all that good. Its way to ghetto (for lack of a better term) for my taste. Don’t get me wrong, I love the movies Menace II society, and Boys in the Hood. I totally like the fact they use gangs and colors to represent. I also had no problem with the soundtrack. All the gangsta rap from the early 90’s. I even found myself singing along to Too $horts “In the ghetto” and Ice Cube’s “It was a good day”. I use to listen to that stuff back in high school. The last thing I like is the fact that you can use a bike. There is something to be said for someone who can pull a drive by on a Schwin. Even with all of the good points I mentioned above. I just can’t get into the game. I even tried to at one point get into the whole gang banger thing by pulling a drive-by and screaming out: “Yeah (gun shots) I’m on yo azz bitch! Yeah! (More gun shots) Duck and hide motha fuckers! (Even more gun shots) Dis is Oakville (can you believe more gun shots) Represent Wes – Side! Run motha fucker, die bitch die!” This spawned a few goofy looks from my roommate and caused my girlfriend to laugh hysterically. (I was then told Jay lay (a roommate of mine) to go to my room and think about why white kids from the suburbs should not talk like that.) Another thing I don’t like is the fact that you have to upgrade your character, feed him, make him work out, cut his hair, ect. I am here to kill people in a game. Not baby-sit a computer generated image. I know I am only on the first part of the game, and have not left for Los Almos (a knock off of Las Vegas) but where the hell are the damn sport cars!!!!! I know, I know, bloods and crips don’t drive Dodge Vipers let alone fancy Italian sport cars. (drool) But what would it hurt to even put in a damn Vet? Last but not least. The story line is way to slow! After the third mission, I started to find the story line repetitive. I personally think that this game was way over hyped and Rock Star didn’t deliver. In short Rock Star I want my Vice City and my money back!

Council Chambers

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Alone in a Crowd

It's been awhile...

Any Life out here

How do you...

New looks

Still alive

Tell me something good...

Is it Just me

We were doing so well...

hmmmm

My Gosh...there IS life out there in cyberspace

Am I Cursed??

funny!

Its about time

*takes pattles to the heart* Clear *blog jumps up and we hear beeping* Thank god we got a pulse

Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey

It's Been Awhile

elevator, elevator... I got the shaft!

A Birthday Wish

My Christmas List

Need an opinion

Question

Family

Question for the parents out there...

Going Under the Knife

Loss of Spark??

Tora Tora Tora

For this Holiday Season

Please Pray for Me

karma

250 mil

rambleing....

For Christmass

For tomorrow

Happy Holidays

Key Issues in 2029

The Queen has left the Blog

Well Wishes

Power of Words

PS2 and Civel War

Something to Remember in Life

Soap Opera's and how they affect relationships

Fun with kids

This time it is for real.

What A Day

Phoenix Furies or AKA WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE TO YOU, YOUR MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sidelines

Happy Vets Day!!!!!!

...Kerry Won - Here are the Facts...

...well, I think it's time to say 'see you later'...

Day of Peace

Acting Before I Think

Snake in the grass

My Turn

Libbral dubble standard

...an ongoing problem...

Casualties in Iraq: What The War Is Costing Us

...Post-Election Events/Fallujah Report...

HoodyHoo

Something to adress

Council Chambers

..."This Is War" - Smile Empty Soul...

...Council unity...

If Shark isn't going to run in in 2016.......

Where has Council gone?

Victory

Victory? Not For America.

Lesson Figured out

Fear For This Country

4 NEW Years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 More years!!!!!

Walking in to sad News

takes pattles to the heart Clear blog jumps up and we hear beeping Thank god we got a pulse