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Zippo is made in PA.
@Zero G: Baltaza Garzon is spanish for Don Siegelman.
@rewinn
Spain's Baltaza Garzon, who gained notoriaty by indicting Augusto Pinochet, is hinself in legal troubles for daring to investigate the crimes of Franco:
Spain's 'human rights judge' facing own legal worries
Madrid - When Spain's most famous judge, Baltasar Garzon, decided in 2008 to investigate the crimes of General Francisco Franco's 1939-75 dictatorship, he broke a taboo. Spain had never conducted a legal investigation of the Franco regime, which Garzon holds responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 alleged opponents during the 1936-39 civil war and the ensuing dictatorship.
A few months later, however, Garzon bowed to pressure from some legal experts and conservative politicians to drop the probe. Now he could face his own trial for his aborted investigation.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310103,spains-human-rights-judge...
@Zero G re: Iran: We Americans never get tired of hearing "wolf!".
I am tired of losing all the perception wars to the republicans and the right wing echo chamber.
this is what Obama needs to unveil for his health care reform proposal (which should have been called "health insurance reform" in the first place):
MEDICARE FOR ALL, OR MEDICARE FOR NONE.
if we all can't get medicare, then abolish it for EVERYONE. let the republicans try to end medicare and see how far they get with that one.
Errata: Earlier i reported that "my" rep Mike McCaul(R) is sponsoring several upcoming Tea Party events. The original reporting source, local NBC affiliate,now denies that report. Musta gotten a McCaul call.
As Ray McGovern points out, the NY TIMES, long the epitome of the so called "liberal media" is banging the drum against Iran, just as they fanned the flames with Judith Miller and Gordon Brown in Iraq.
New Grist for Hype on Iran
By Ray McGovern
February 21, 2010
Here we go again. A report issued by the new Director General of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, injected new adrenalin into those arguing that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon.
The usual suspects are hyping — and distorting — thin-gruel language in the report to “prove” that Iran is hard at work on a nuclear weapon. The New York Times’ David E. Sanger and William J. Broad, for example, highlighted a sentence about “alleged activities related to nuclear explosives,” which Amano says he wants to discuss with Iran.
http://consortiumnews.com/2010/022110a.html
@rewinn - In the case of my other Senator, Voinovich, he appears to be taking the roll of lame duck seriously and has checked out. I couldn't even get a response, pro or con, from his office. "Thank you for your comment."
I am grateful my active Senator is Sherrod Brown. One of the originators of the current public option push.
Hey Thom. Yesterday I called into the Bill Cunningham show and I
argued with him over the 16% income tax that the wealthiest Americans
pay. He began yelling at me, calling me a liar and fool, and he even
spelled out "fool" F-O-O-O-L. I got him so angry that he finally hung
up on me and continue to rant about me for the next half hour or so.
The link to the sound clip is pasted below and the call I made is
approx 20 minutes into the sound clip. I was hoping might be
interested in using the clip on your show. Thank you!
http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/1...
Richard L. Adlof,
Re: "The folk we are labeling “Moderate” are RIGHT- WINGERS."
Yes, I am SO tired of Democrats like Sen. Evan Bayh referring to themselves as "centrists" or "moderates." I also bristle at the so-called "conservative" self description by the Repugs. and the tea baggers. They are anything BUT!
Then the corporate media happily reinforces this nonsense.
@ Richard - I completely agree with your assessment. What I never hear from the Big 3 cable "news" talking heads is exactly what does moving to the center really mean. They offer up blathering talking heads and meaningless polls that suggest politician (Dems) move to the "center" in order to get bipartisan support. There is rarely, if ever, any substance of what that center looks like.
I think it's a real mistake to give Stack a podium after what he did -the Unabomber had a manifesto as well, probably with some valid points -some sick people agree with Tiller's murderer too -I don't see any difference just because Stack might have had some valid grievances.
Stack's actions nullified his points -he vacated his own position with anyone whose values are civil instead of political first. That his daughter and others should see him now as a hero worries and sickens me.
I love to listen to you Thom, but I turned you off this morning -I just could not stand to listen to any more of Stack's dead empty words.
@Charles and Zero - I'm glad to hear of some action, however small. We need to keep this issue going, if only so that we are not shamed as a nation when Spain indicts them
Meanwhile:
I said the other day that we were on the precipice of disaster in Marjah, in our effort to defeat the Taliban and win hearts and minds...
Ask the Afghanis how that "hopey, changey" thing is working for them.
MARJAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A NATO airstrike in Afghanistan mistakenly killed 27 civilians, the government said on Monday, hurting a campaign to win over the local population and defeat Taliban insurgents.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61L1XJ20100222
@Charles in OH:
The problem is there is no left-wing in American politics at this time and the corporate-owed media has an “all is fair in the middle” story-line to sell. In truth:
1. About 40% plus of the Congress Critters are purely politically motivated, knee-jerk obstructionists,
2. 15 to 25 % are solidly dependable right-wingers,
3. The majority of the rest are centrists, and
4. There is a meager dozen or so in the Senate and House combined that have any moderate pretense toward being ‘Progressive’ or ‘Liberal’.
The folk we are labeling “Moderate” are RIGHT- WINGERS.
@rewinn
I've called both Conyer's & Leahy's offices today, both are scheduling hearings on the torture memos, and asked that they call Mr. Holder in to testify on why he is refusing to prosecute torture.
Leahy's hearing is scheduled for Friday.
mstaggerlee,
I must say, as a former editor and proof reader, I am often ashamed at the errors I make on this blog --- my previous post as an example. (I meant to delete the first heading, but didn't.) My tortured mind isn't what it used to be, I guess...stress+age=imperfection. 'Wish it weren't the case. I keep trying, though. :-~
@mstaggerlee,
lol!
true, in a metaphorical sense. individually, that is.
the "movement" as it is, however, is simply the old republican party with a newly scrubbed face, a face that they hope the electorate won't recognize.
@rewinn - might you be suggesting a Kucinich Congressional Investigation of War Crimes
The Torture Memo lawyers that Thom just referred to may have been exonerated by the same lawyers they worked with, who obviously have a reason for exonerating them.
We don't have to take their exoneration seriously. The Justice Department appears to be hopeless compromised in that regard.
@thebinxter - I think you have it backwards - the tea partiers are the unwashed Republicans, not the other way around. ;-)
Our Politics May Be All in Our Head
rewinn,
Speaking of Republican cowards, you may be more accurate than you know. Did you see this Nicholas Kristof piece from the Feb. 20 NYTimes?
"Our Politics May Be All in Our Head"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/opinion/14kristof.html
If I point out that the White House's just-published, potential healthcare bill appears to be literately the same piece of crap that Senator Lieberman 'extorted' the Senate DEMs to get for the healthcare insurance industry, would I be called impolite names for saying so?
changing the subject.. how do you feel about the "medal count"? I hate the metal count. To me, its the opposite of the whole spirit of the olympics. And we're infecting the rest of the world.
Do ya'll remember olympic gymnast Paul Hahn, who was awarded the gold in (I think) the Tokyo olympics because of a scoring error? The lame IOC left it up to Hahn whether to keep the gold, and he kept it, rather than ceding it to the rightful winner, a Chinese gymnist. That, to me is the epitome of "the ugly american". And this "metal count" crap is a consequence.
Thom asked earlier today if Joe Stack represents a symptom of the screwing of the middle class. I'd have to reply with a resounding "NO!"
I consider myself to be representative of the upper-middle class. Neither I, nor any in my circle of friends owns an airplane that he could fly into any building, if we were so motivated. A couple of us do have pianos, but none of us are looking for ways to write them off our income for our next tax return.
Joe Stack a wealthy, selfish bastard, who thinks the world owes him something, but that he owes the world nothing. He quite simply a sociopath who became too frustrated and enraged with trying to avoid the price of entry into American society (taxes) to continue living. There is absolutely NO lesson to be learned from this incident.