Cheney travels to Georgia, Ukraine next week
Aug 25 09:01 AM US/Eastern
US Vice President Dick Cheney will visit war-torn Georgia as well as Ukraine and Azerbaijan next week and meet with the three countries' presidents, the White House said Monday.
"President Bush has asked the vice president to travel to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Italy for discussions with these key partners on issues of mutual interest," the White House said in a statement.
Cheney will be the most senior US official to visit the region since Russian troops invaded Georgia two weeks ago amid a dispute over the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium
Sunday, August 31, 2008
DICK CHENEY goes to GEORGIA.....not clost to ATLANTA
For those of you that are so ignoraant in WORLD GEOGRAPHY!
Now that the eyes are on LA and MN , DICK will sneak off to UKRAINE and GEORGIA.
IS anyone watching this LIAR and NEO CON that took us into a IRAQ?
UPDATE 2-Cheney to visit Georgia, Ukraine in September
Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:12pm BST
which hosts two major energy pipelines
CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will visit Georgia early next month, the White House said on Monday, in an effort to help shore up the small but vital ally after its war with Russia.
At the request of President George W. Bush, Cheney will meet Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and also visit Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Italy during his trip, which will begin on Sept. 2, his office said in a statement.
"The president felt it was important to have the vice president consult with allies in the region on our common security interests," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in Texas, where Bush was spending two weeks at his ranch.
Cheney is due to meet President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Viktor Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine, who has pressed to join the NATO alliance quickly after the Russia-Georgia crisis that unnerved many former Soviet republics.
Russia and Georgia, which hosts two major energy pipelines, went to war after Tbilisi tried to retake the breakaway pro-Russian province of South Ossetia on Aug. 7-8, prompting an overwhelming counter-attack from Moscow.
Russian troops moved into Georgia beyond South Ossetia and a second separatist region of Abkhazia, leading to criticism from the United States and others that Moscow had gone too far.
In Italy, Cheney will meet leaders including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and address a forum in Lake Como entitled "Intelligence on the World, Europe and Italy," the vice president's office said.
An administration official said the trip had been planned before the fighting broke out between Georgia and Russia but "obviously it has taken on greater importance since recent events." (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
Now that the eyes are on LA and MN , DICK will sneak off to UKRAINE and GEORGIA.
IS anyone watching this LIAR and NEO CON that took us into a IRAQ?
UPDATE 2-Cheney to visit Georgia, Ukraine in September
Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:12pm BST
which hosts two major energy pipelines
CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will visit Georgia early next month, the White House said on Monday, in an effort to help shore up the small but vital ally after its war with Russia.
At the request of President George W. Bush, Cheney will meet Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and also visit Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Italy during his trip, which will begin on Sept. 2, his office said in a statement.
"The president felt it was important to have the vice president consult with allies in the region on our common security interests," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in Texas, where Bush was spending two weeks at his ranch.
Cheney is due to meet President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Viktor Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine, who has pressed to join the NATO alliance quickly after the Russia-Georgia crisis that unnerved many former Soviet republics.
Russia and Georgia, which hosts two major energy pipelines, went to war after Tbilisi tried to retake the breakaway pro-Russian province of South Ossetia on Aug. 7-8, prompting an overwhelming counter-attack from Moscow.
Russian troops moved into Georgia beyond South Ossetia and a second separatist region of Abkhazia, leading to criticism from the United States and others that Moscow had gone too far.
In Italy, Cheney will meet leaders including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and address a forum in Lake Como entitled "Intelligence on the World, Europe and Italy," the vice president's office said.
An administration official said the trip had been planned before the fighting broke out between Georgia and Russia but "obviously it has taken on greater importance since recent events." (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?
Just goes to show you HOW STUPID and IGNORANT the AMERICAN INTELLECT IS!
just another reason why the entire WORLD LAUGHS at our STUPIDITY!
Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 4:34 PM
McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What? Andrew Romano
The liberal blogosphere's outrage du jour? John McCain's professed "computer illiteracy." "Did the GOP really pick one of the last few cavemen among us who has yet to learn how to use the internet or e-mail?" writes commenter Tony over at the Politico. "Pathetic," add DailyKos's BarbinMD. "How long should it take to 'learn' to get online? It's one point and a click."
I understand the temptation to sic some snark on the senator from Arizona. Compared to Barack Obama--a 46-year-old who's comfortable thumbing his BlackBerry every "seven seconds" and teleconferencing by Mac laptop with his young daughters--it's easy enough to paint McCain as a doddering old dinosaur by, say, trotting out the clip where he admits that he's "an illiterate [who] has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance I can get." Or the one where he uses the nonexistent phrase "a Google" to describe an Internet search. Or his assurance during an interview yesterday with the New York Times that even though his aides "go on for [him]" right now, "[he's] learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon." That latest outburst has earned McCain a round of liberal scorn over the past 24 hours, with Politico commenter Veritas claiming "it shows he is stubborn, stuck in the past and slow to learn" and Democratic blogger Jed Lewison wondering what would happen if the famous 3:00 a.m. call arrived via email. Elsewhere, Jane Hamsher has written that "someone who is going to be expected to lead the country through the social, political, economic and communication upheavals that are happening as a result of the changes in computer and online technology very much needs to be able to use [a PC].” In other words, no email = incompetent president. Also, he's, like, old. LOL.
just another reason why the entire WORLD LAUGHS at our STUPIDITY!
Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 4:34 PM
McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What? Andrew Romano
The liberal blogosphere's outrage du jour? John McCain's professed "computer illiteracy." "Did the GOP really pick one of the last few cavemen among us who has yet to learn how to use the internet or e-mail?" writes commenter Tony over at the Politico. "Pathetic," add DailyKos's BarbinMD. "How long should it take to 'learn' to get online? It's one point and a click."
I understand the temptation to sic some snark on the senator from Arizona. Compared to Barack Obama--a 46-year-old who's comfortable thumbing his BlackBerry every "seven seconds" and teleconferencing by Mac laptop with his young daughters--it's easy enough to paint McCain as a doddering old dinosaur by, say, trotting out the clip where he admits that he's "an illiterate [who] has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance I can get." Or the one where he uses the nonexistent phrase "a Google" to describe an Internet search. Or his assurance during an interview yesterday with the New York Times that even though his aides "go on for [him]" right now, "[he's] learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon." That latest outburst has earned McCain a round of liberal scorn over the past 24 hours, with Politico commenter Veritas claiming "it shows he is stubborn, stuck in the past and slow to learn" and Democratic blogger Jed Lewison wondering what would happen if the famous 3:00 a.m. call arrived via email. Elsewhere, Jane Hamsher has written that "someone who is going to be expected to lead the country through the social, political, economic and communication upheavals that are happening as a result of the changes in computer and online technology very much needs to be able to use [a PC].” In other words, no email = incompetent president. Also, he's, like, old. LOL.
CNN likes to brag on their coverage.....really?
John McCain Doesn't Know How to Use a Computer (Video)This video appears to be from at least six weeks ago, but no one has really commented on it. Do we want a commander-in-chief who can't use a computer without assistance?
Washington is full of these guys, and it's so depressing. Larry Craig once said "I've never used the internet" (though we know he was lying). Ted Stevens thinks the internet is a series of tubes. Bush uses "the Google." I can't wait until we have a computer-literate generation of leaders in our Capitol.
McCain Computer Illiterate Opinion and Commentaries
The Atlantic: The Information Age (June 24, 2008)
The Caucus (The New York Times): McCain and the Internets (June 24, 2008)
David Corn: Can a Guy (McCain) Who Doesn't Know How To Use a Computer... (June 24, 2008)
Online Media Daily: McCain Camp Downplays E-Factor In Face Of Obama's... (June 24, 2008)
BuzzFlash.org: If you are running for president, you should have a clue.. (June 17, 2008)
The New York Sun: McCain and the Computer (June 17, 2008)
McCain Computer Illiterate Blogs
Google Blog Search: McCain Computer Illiterate
NewsBusters: CNN: Computer Illiterate McCain Too Stupid to be President (June 26, 2008)
The Gun Toting Liberal: Sheriff John McCain Doesn’t Understand “The Internets” (June 25, 2008)
The Talent Show: A Series of Tubes (June 24, 2008)
It's Not Me, It's You: Sad or Hilarious? You Be the Judge ... (June 24, 2008)
Crooks and Liars: “Aware of the Internet,” Computer Non-User McCain Touts... (June 24, 2008)
Gizmodo: Mac vs. PC: The Republicans (February 4, 2008)
Related Searches
John McCain | Computers
Washington is full of these guys, and it's so depressing. Larry Craig once said "I've never used the internet" (though we know he was lying). Ted Stevens thinks the internet is a series of tubes. Bush uses "the Google." I can't wait until we have a computer-literate generation of leaders in our Capitol.
McCain Computer Illiterate Opinion and Commentaries
The Atlantic: The Information Age (June 24, 2008)
The Caucus (The New York Times): McCain and the Internets (June 24, 2008)
David Corn: Can a Guy (McCain) Who Doesn't Know How To Use a Computer... (June 24, 2008)
Online Media Daily: McCain Camp Downplays E-Factor In Face Of Obama's... (June 24, 2008)
BuzzFlash.org: If you are running for president, you should have a clue.. (June 17, 2008)
The New York Sun: McCain and the Computer (June 17, 2008)
McCain Computer Illiterate Blogs
Google Blog Search: McCain Computer Illiterate
NewsBusters: CNN: Computer Illiterate McCain Too Stupid to be President (June 26, 2008)
The Gun Toting Liberal: Sheriff John McCain Doesn’t Understand “The Internets” (June 25, 2008)
The Talent Show: A Series of Tubes (June 24, 2008)
It's Not Me, It's You: Sad or Hilarious? You Be the Judge ... (June 24, 2008)
Crooks and Liars: “Aware of the Internet,” Computer Non-User McCain Touts... (June 24, 2008)
Gizmodo: Mac vs. PC: The Republicans (February 4, 2008)
Related Searches
John McCain | Computers
COMPUTER for MCCAIN? BIN LADEN uses her computer!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R9wnMVZE_Q
John Mccain Admits He Cant Use a Computer
John Mccain Admits He Cant Use a Computer
WHAT A MOTHER! Sarah Palin.....GO GO GO !!
let';s really look at this MOTHER!
HELP ALASKA!
YES, ALASKA is what we are all concerned with!
After all, their REVENUE sharing is only shared with ALSAKANS, not the COUNTRY!
ALL women that delivered a baby and went back to work THREE DAYS LATER, PLEASE STAND UP NOW!
Notice, the woman 'mother' did nto come on stage with the baby in arms , did she?
Nor did her ESKIMO husband......
The daughter held that FOUR MONTH OLD baby during that entire campaign stump with TEN THOUSAND people clapping their loudest and not ear plugs for the baby!
WHAT A MOTHER!
Palin Comparison: Not Enough "Northern Exposure" in the Press?
Interviewed by a reporter from Alaska, Sarah Palin could not testify to her national security experience. And Cindy McCain says it amounts to Alaska being close to Russia.
By Greg Mtichell
(August 31, 2008) -- It has come to this.
When a Fox News morning host, Steve Doocy, testified to Sarah Palin's national security experience on Friday by saying that her state, Alaska, was so close to Russia, it drew hoots across the media and blogosphere (and even, no doubt, from a few Fox viewers).
This morning, on ABC in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Cindy McCain, wife of the GOP standard bearer who had just picked Palin as his running mate, endorsed this very view.
Asked about Palin's national security experience, Cindy McCain could not come up with anything beyond the fact that, after all, her state is right next to Russia. "Remember that Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia," she declared. She added that Palin has "way more experience than...." but Stephanopoulos cut her off before she could say, for example, "Barack Obama" or maybe "others give her credit for."
Earlier, she said that Palin was "heavily experienced" in general, citing her going from the PTA to mayor to governor -- and having a son headed for Iraq. She actually said that she started her political career at the PTA "like everybody else."
Meanwhile, Palin's mother-in-law, Faye Palin, told a New York Daily News reporter that she didn't agree with Sarah on everything and hadn't yet decided how she would vote. She added: "I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative. Well, she's a better speaker than McCain," Faye Palin said with a laugh.
But this actually isn't as appalling as a phone interview Palin herself gave yesterday to reporter back home, at the Anchorage Daily News. (E&P has been covering for three days now reports from the Alaska press.)
The reporter, Kyle Hopkins, asked, according to the transcript posted today, "Are you ready to be President Palin if necessary?"
"I am ... I am up to the task, of course, of focusing on the challenges that face America," she answered, and that was all she could say on her behalf on this question. Then she abruptly shifted to how her candidacy would help Alaska. "And I am very pleased with the situation that I am in, when, when you consider the situation now that Alaska will be in.
"And that is Alaska, and Alaskans will be allowed to contribute more to our great country and they'll be allowed to do that because I -- if we're elected -- will be in a position of opening the eyes of the country to what it is that Alaska is all about and what Alaska has to offer. So, I am happy to and very honored to be asked to do this. I know it's going to be great for Alaska."
Who said the woman was against earmarks?
The early returns are not good, with most in the media still stepping lightly around the issue of John McCain's hypocrisy in asserting, for months, that Barack Obama is "dangerously" inexperienced in facing international threats -- and then appointing Sarah Palin as his running mate. If you don't believe it, just keep reading the Alaska newspapers.
Or, take conservative ultra-hawk columnist Charles Krauthammer's word for it, in his blog posting at The Washington Post: "The Palin selection completely undercuts the argument about Obama's inexperience and readiness to lead -- on the theory that because Palin is a maverick and a corruption fighter, she bolsters McCain's claim to be the reformer in this campaign. In her rollout today, Palin spoke a lot about change. McCain is now trying to steal "change" from Obama, a contest McCain will lose in an overwhelmingly Democratic year with an overwhelmingly unpopular incumbent Republican administration. At the same time, he's weakening his strong suit -- readiness vs. unreadiness.
"The McCain campaign is reveling in the fact that Palin is a game changer. But why a game changer when you’ve been gaining? To gratuitously undercut the remarkably successful 'Is he ready to lead' line of attack seems near suicidal."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Mtichell (gmitchell@editorandpublisher.com) is editor. His ninth book, on Iraq and the media, is titled "So Wrong for So Long."
HELP ALASKA!
YES, ALASKA is what we are all concerned with!
After all, their REVENUE sharing is only shared with ALSAKANS, not the COUNTRY!
ALL women that delivered a baby and went back to work THREE DAYS LATER, PLEASE STAND UP NOW!
Notice, the woman 'mother' did nto come on stage with the baby in arms , did she?
Nor did her ESKIMO husband......
The daughter held that FOUR MONTH OLD baby during that entire campaign stump with TEN THOUSAND people clapping their loudest and not ear plugs for the baby!
WHAT A MOTHER!
Palin Comparison: Not Enough "Northern Exposure" in the Press?
Interviewed by a reporter from Alaska, Sarah Palin could not testify to her national security experience. And Cindy McCain says it amounts to Alaska being close to Russia.
By Greg Mtichell
(August 31, 2008) -- It has come to this.
When a Fox News morning host, Steve Doocy, testified to Sarah Palin's national security experience on Friday by saying that her state, Alaska, was so close to Russia, it drew hoots across the media and blogosphere (and even, no doubt, from a few Fox viewers).
This morning, on ABC in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Cindy McCain, wife of the GOP standard bearer who had just picked Palin as his running mate, endorsed this very view.
Asked about Palin's national security experience, Cindy McCain could not come up with anything beyond the fact that, after all, her state is right next to Russia. "Remember that Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia," she declared. She added that Palin has "way more experience than...." but Stephanopoulos cut her off before she could say, for example, "Barack Obama" or maybe "others give her credit for."
Earlier, she said that Palin was "heavily experienced" in general, citing her going from the PTA to mayor to governor -- and having a son headed for Iraq. She actually said that she started her political career at the PTA "like everybody else."
Meanwhile, Palin's mother-in-law, Faye Palin, told a New York Daily News reporter that she didn't agree with Sarah on everything and hadn't yet decided how she would vote. She added: "I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative. Well, she's a better speaker than McCain," Faye Palin said with a laugh.
But this actually isn't as appalling as a phone interview Palin herself gave yesterday to reporter back home, at the Anchorage Daily News. (E&P has been covering for three days now reports from the Alaska press.)
The reporter, Kyle Hopkins, asked, according to the transcript posted today, "Are you ready to be President Palin if necessary?"
"I am ... I am up to the task, of course, of focusing on the challenges that face America," she answered, and that was all she could say on her behalf on this question. Then she abruptly shifted to how her candidacy would help Alaska. "And I am very pleased with the situation that I am in, when, when you consider the situation now that Alaska will be in.
"And that is Alaska, and Alaskans will be allowed to contribute more to our great country and they'll be allowed to do that because I -- if we're elected -- will be in a position of opening the eyes of the country to what it is that Alaska is all about and what Alaska has to offer. So, I am happy to and very honored to be asked to do this. I know it's going to be great for Alaska."
Who said the woman was against earmarks?
The early returns are not good, with most in the media still stepping lightly around the issue of John McCain's hypocrisy in asserting, for months, that Barack Obama is "dangerously" inexperienced in facing international threats -- and then appointing Sarah Palin as his running mate. If you don't believe it, just keep reading the Alaska newspapers.
Or, take conservative ultra-hawk columnist Charles Krauthammer's word for it, in his blog posting at The Washington Post: "The Palin selection completely undercuts the argument about Obama's inexperience and readiness to lead -- on the theory that because Palin is a maverick and a corruption fighter, she bolsters McCain's claim to be the reformer in this campaign. In her rollout today, Palin spoke a lot about change. McCain is now trying to steal "change" from Obama, a contest McCain will lose in an overwhelmingly Democratic year with an overwhelmingly unpopular incumbent Republican administration. At the same time, he's weakening his strong suit -- readiness vs. unreadiness.
"The McCain campaign is reveling in the fact that Palin is a game changer. But why a game changer when you’ve been gaining? To gratuitously undercut the remarkably successful 'Is he ready to lead' line of attack seems near suicidal."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Mtichell (gmitchell@editorandpublisher.com) is editor. His ninth book, on Iraq and the media, is titled "So Wrong for So Long."
Thursday, August 28, 2008
NO COMPUTER? BIN LADEN HAS A COMPUTER!!!
The Republican Party and their electorate overlooked GW Bush’s lack of knowledge on most everything for EIGHT YEARS!
I am appalled at the fact that any party in this country’s government would even allow a contender for President to the most powerful country in the World with ABSOLUTELY NO KNOWLEDGE to use a computer. This just amazing to me!
The fact that the American people would even consider voting for someone that does not know how to use a computer is embarrassing as an American. Osaama Bin Laden knows how to use a computer! Are we that ignorant to elect what is supposed to be our leader?
According to Webster, Leadership is:
Capacity or ability to lead
I do believe that Senator Obama will do, as most great CEO’s have done; hire the BEST people to surround him to make the best decisions to move our country forward into the 21st Millennium.
I was aware of Barack in Illinois, as one of my Senators but was really moved by his speech at the 2004 Convention. I was speaking to my girlfriend in California and expressed my regret that she missed it. (She is from Chicago also) She mentioned she had Time Warner and could replay it. I asked her to tape it for me and I have it in my possession today.
The decision to ask Joe Biden, to be his Vice President, quite capable of being President should something tragic should happen while in office, displays his judgments and ability to make the tough decisions. The fact that pre September 11, 2001 it was not more than 10% or the American People that held passports. We will be led by the best teacher moving forward to EDUCATE the AMERICAN people transitioning to a
GLOBALWORLD is very reassuring as a world traveler myself.
I am appalled at the fact that any party in this country’s government would even allow a contender for President to the most powerful country in the World with ABSOLUTELY NO KNOWLEDGE to use a computer. This just amazing to me!
The fact that the American people would even consider voting for someone that does not know how to use a computer is embarrassing as an American. Osaama Bin Laden knows how to use a computer! Are we that ignorant to elect what is supposed to be our leader?
According to Webster, Leadership is:
Capacity or ability to lead
I do believe that Senator Obama will do, as most great CEO’s have done; hire the BEST people to surround him to make the best decisions to move our country forward into the 21st Millennium.
I was aware of Barack in Illinois, as one of my Senators but was really moved by his speech at the 2004 Convention. I was speaking to my girlfriend in California and expressed my regret that she missed it. (She is from Chicago also) She mentioned she had Time Warner and could replay it. I asked her to tape it for me and I have it in my possession today.
The decision to ask Joe Biden, to be his Vice President, quite capable of being President should something tragic should happen while in office, displays his judgments and ability to make the tough decisions. The fact that pre September 11, 2001 it was not more than 10% or the American People that held passports. We will be led by the best teacher moving forward to EDUCATE the AMERICAN people transitioning to a
GLOBALWORLD is very reassuring as a world traveler myself.
National Security is not important to the American Mainstream Media
Chuck Todd from MSNBC warned his colleagues that they would be sorry they missed so much of the DNC Convention while lamenting over the CLINTONS for the first three days of the Convention. The media missed so much and I am very angry you decided to take this programming strategy and MIS-INFORM the AMERICAN PEOPLE, ONCE AGAIN!
I guess it wasn’t enough “RED MEAT” for the media. But let us not forget, the fourth arm of the People’s GOVERNMENT, the Media, and how well they did informing the AMERICAN PEOPLE prior to being MIS LEAD by CHENEY/BUSH into Iraq!
YES! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!
I have my critique of the mainstream media but am more concerned of the continuous EXPLOITATION of the ignorance of Americans and allowing the Bush administration to bring this country to its lowest levels across the board. Domestic and Foreign!
Apparently, the National Security is not important to the American Mainstream Media and it’s responsibility to inform Americans of THE REAL ISSUES!
Wow! Amazing! The only MEDIA outlet that showed the CHAIRMAN of the Foreign Intelligence Committee Speech was C-SPAN.
After all, while banks were robbing the American treasury and its people, we were all exposed to the talking heads, misrepresenting themselves as reporters but bringing in the cash while focusing on Paris & Brittany.
As a matter of fact, the American Mainstream media has continuously exploited the ignorance of the American people and the fact that the education of its people has been fast eroding.
The mainstream media continues to bash government yet they are right there playing the same old game and not INFORMING the AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Now, NBC has refused to allow the T-Bone Pickens advertisement to be aired.
I guess it wasn’t enough “RED MEAT” for the media. But let us not forget, the fourth arm of the People’s GOVERNMENT, the Media, and how well they did informing the AMERICAN PEOPLE prior to being MIS LEAD by CHENEY/BUSH into Iraq!
YES! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!
I have my critique of the mainstream media but am more concerned of the continuous EXPLOITATION of the ignorance of Americans and allowing the Bush administration to bring this country to its lowest levels across the board. Domestic and Foreign!
Apparently, the National Security is not important to the American Mainstream Media and it’s responsibility to inform Americans of THE REAL ISSUES!
Wow! Amazing! The only MEDIA outlet that showed the CHAIRMAN of the Foreign Intelligence Committee Speech was C-SPAN.
After all, while banks were robbing the American treasury and its people, we were all exposed to the talking heads, misrepresenting themselves as reporters but bringing in the cash while focusing on Paris & Brittany.
As a matter of fact, the American Mainstream media has continuously exploited the ignorance of the American people and the fact that the education of its people has been fast eroding.
The mainstream media continues to bash government yet they are right there playing the same old game and not INFORMING the AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Now, NBC has refused to allow the T-Bone Pickens advertisement to be aired.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Letters to LOU DOBBS
8-22-08
As usual, you mouth off on topics you have no educated or INFORMED, at least credible, statements on the subjects you SCREAM about!
Once again now the truth will be told and proven testimony from South Ossetians themselves, stating that the Georgians were not as innocent as YOU MOUTHED OFF they were! The RUSSIANS ARE COMING! THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!
Once again, you are the ECONOMICS GURU…. Aren’t you?
Where were you when the FINANCIAL INSTITUTES COMMITTED Fraud AND ROBBED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!
Where were you MR INDEPENDENT?
LIAR!
8-21-08
Do not flatter yourself too much regarding Barack’s Employer Fined penalties for hiring “illegal” workers. If you had watched any of Barack Obama’s stump speech in 2007, you would have known he has been on EMPLOYERS from its conception of the Comprehensive Immigration reform that the REPUBLICAN CONGRESS, and this REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT composed, Even thought they called it BI-Partisan, whatever the case, you helped defeat. That is all you did, stir up hateful feelings towards immigrants who had an OPEN DOOR BY THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS & REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT. You and your RANTS caused hate crimes and even murders to INCREASE against the LATINO Community because the WHITE RED NECK was afraid he could nto find another job,
Do not take into consideration that the WHITE Red neck NEVER PERFROMED 100% LIKE THE illegal Latinos do and did.
Once again, LOU Dobbs mouthing off, big fat racist opinion and NO SOLUTION,
Why don’t you EDUCATE yourself because the more I can bear to hear anything you say anymore, I can ALWAYS CATCH A FLAW with your comments and opinions, because just like RUSTY “Limbaugh” Prosecutions when it is revealed you are not factual at all
8-21-08
(From David Sirota’s email)
WHITE HOUSE '08 - GOP CITES RICHEST COUNTY IN AMERICA AS PROOF ECONOMY IS GREAT
The Roanoke Times reports that as Barack Obama convened a discussion about unfair trade policies in economically ravaged regions of Virginia, the national Republican Party countered by citing Fairfax County as proof the economy is doing just fine. "It doesn't take a lot of courage to go to Martinsville and talk about trade," said U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R) said in a Tuesday conference call arranged by McCain's campaign. "What would be courageous is to come to Fairfax County, where you have 362 foreign-owned companies and tens of thousands of employees with foreign-owned firms...and take the same stand up here."
Besides the tone deafness of holding up foreign-owned firms as proof of a solid domestic economy, Davis forgot to mention that according to Forbes magazine, Fairfax County has long been the wealthiest county in the United States - a place where the median (the median!) household income is over $100,000 a year. The county is home to many of the millionaire corporate lobbyists that have been instrumental in the passage of rigged trade deals. Davis citing Fairfax County today as proof that trade policies are working for the vast majority of the country would be like FDR citing the Rockefeller family during the Great Depression as proof that the economy was working for most Americans.
8-18-08
Any other MOUTH OFF on more GEO-POLITICAL ISSUES THAT IS EVIDENT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!!!
FRANCE...RUSSIA...GEORGIA...MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUSTPULL OUT A MAP AND HAVE a GEOGRAPHY CLASS!!
MR ECONOMICS!!!
IDIOT!!!
KEEPEM STUPID.... LIAR!
8-18-08
Hey PHIONY!
Don’t forget when you mention this Congress, COMPARE, key word, COMPARE, it to YOUR party, the REPUBLICAN CONGRESS which HELD THE MAJORITY, YES, MAJORITY another word I am sure you will omit just to distort the FACT…. as usual! MR INDEPENDENT...LIAR
6:00pm…quotes the POLLS of 500 ……
More qualified?
A little SPIN.
Anyway, I would like to know WHAT 500 VOTERES were polled...Did any one of them own a passport?
You are such a RACIST PIG!
MR REPUBLICAN...LIAR!
How many Americans had a passport pre 9 /11?
5%...(I KNOW YOU DID NOT KNOW THAT)
MR ECONOMICS.... WATCHED THE FRAUDULENT BANKS STEAL MY, YES, MY, COUNTRY, BLIND!!!
CAN MCCAIN TALK WITHOUT READING ANYTHING?
We will see what OFF-SHORE DRILLING YOU WILL GET, by the way...
YOU PREDICTED...REALLY...WHERE WERE YOU IN THE FINANACIAL FRAUD
IN THIS COUNTRY...RACIST PIG! NO...YOU ARE NOT AN INDEPENDENT...NO YOU ARE NOT
August15, 2008
Susan Golden
Earlier this week, (August15, 2008) John McCain was out stumping and blatantly lying that he was the one to legislate for the increase in death benefits for our troops at war in Iraq& Afghanistan.
This is not true. As a matter of fact, the truth is that it wasn’t until the Don Imus, 'Imus in the Morning' Show, on MSNBC, which McCain was a frequent guest, brought to the embarrassment and the DISGRACE to the Senator regarding the $6,000.00, yes SIX THOUSAND dollar death benefit in 2003,2004,2005 for our troops. All one has to do is get the transcripts and Imus gave credit after legislation was passed to Rick Santorum of PA not John McCain!
Maybe McCain was referencing the first increase to $12, 400, but was still scolded by IMUS! Imagine that! And Imus is and always was a big supporter of John McCain
As a matter of fact, it was CHUCK HAGEL, NOT MCCAIN!
Jan. 26: Is the troops' death benefit enough? Families of fallen service members and one senator are hoping to change the amount paid out. NBC's Bob Faw reports.
Three years later,
NBC Correspondent
TODAY
Updated 2:09 p.m. CT,
Wed., Jan. 26, 2005
Ben was the love of Stacey’s life. In 2003, when Marine Captain Benjamin Sammis, a helicopter pilot, was killed in Iraq, Stacey was devastated — emotionally, and financially.
Since Ben, 29, had not bought the $250,000 life insurance policy the military makes available, the death benefit the government paid his widow was just $6,000.
“I guess it did seem kind of low,” said Sammis. “I mean, I'm not getting my husband back, and here's a $6,000 check. I guess, at that time, it seemed a little absurd.”
That figure has now been raised to just over $12,400, but Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., says it's still too low. He's campaigning for the benefit to be raised to $100,000.
“We spend billions and billions of dollars on things that never work,” said Hagel. “Certainly to invest in our people, in our warrior's families, seems to me the least we can do.”
The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, headquartered on the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, tries to add on to the government’s benefit and provide grieving military families with extra assistance. Relying solely on private contributions, it gives $11,000 to each surviving spouse and $5,000 for each dependent child.
For spouses like Sammis, who moved from California to be near her husband's grave at Arlington National Cemetery, it is impossible to assign a dollar figure to any life.
“Every day I wake up, I deal with it,” said Sammis. “Every second of every day, I think about what's missing in my life.”
But she believes that raising the $12,400 figure would be appropriate.
“I'm proud of him. And he went willingly,” she said. “However, he needs to be paid for the sacrifice.”
A life lost, a marriage destroyed, and a crying need, many argue, for a government to do more.
8-19-08
John McCain says he plans to consult with Democratic Rep. John Lewis when he's president. That's news to Lewis.
During Saturday's presidential forum at Rick Warren's California mega church, John McCain was asked to name the "three wisest people" he would "rely heavily on" if elected president. He didn't cite close confidantes Phil Gramm and Randy Scheunemann, possibly because they have gotten McCain into trouble politically. Instead McCain chose Gen. David Petraeus; former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, one of his economic advisers; and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a leading figure in the civil rights movement.
This is not the first time McCain has invoked Lewis' name on the campaign trail. Earlier this year, in Selma, Alabama, he told the story of civil rights marchers trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in a 1965 march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery. Waiting at the crest of the bridge were a brigade of police and state troopers who meted out an attacks so violent that the day is known today as Bloody Sunday.
Central in McCain's telling was John Lewis, a man of just 25 who was at the front of the march and absorbed the first blow. Millions of Americans, McCain noted, "watched brave John Lewis fall."
But even though McCain has now repeatedly cited Lewis as a role model and potential adviser, McCain has not established a relationship with the Georgia Democrat in the 22 years they have served in Congress together. At the time of McCain's Selma speech, a Lewis associate told my colleague David Corn that McCain has never been close to Lewis. Lewis was not told about McCain's speech in Selma in advance, nor was he invited to attend.
In response to McCain's latest invocation of his name, Rep. Lewis said in a statement requested by Mother Jones, "I cannot stop one human being, even a presidential candidate, from admiring the courage and sacrifice of peaceful protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge or making comments about it." But, he added, "Sen. McCain and I are colleagues in the US Congress, not confidantes. He does not consult me. And I do not consult him."
It took McCain years to fully embrace the goals that Lewis was fighting for on Bloody Sunday. In 1983, McCain voted against making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday, in opposition to most members of Congress, including many of his Republican colleagues. In 1987, the governor of Arizona repealed the state's recognition of King; McCain supported the move. It was only in 1990, 25 years after Lewis marched in Alabama, when Arizona reversed its decision that McCain changed his own stance on the issue.
And there are, of course, the fundamental differences between John McCain's political philosophy and the goals of Lewis and his fellow marchers. Lewis hoped that the federal government would use its influence to protect the rights of disenfranchised individuals; he sought an expanded role for government because of what he believed was government's power to do good. It explains, in part, why Lewis is a Democrat today and supports Barack Obama for president. McCain, on the other hand, is a fanatical enemy of government spending and has said, "I've found over time that less government involvement is better." It's a philosophy that would have left Lewis and his cohorts out in the cold.
So why does John McCain promise to consult a man who he is not close to and has never consulted before? I put the question to the McCain campaign. If and when they respond, I'll update the post.
As usual, you mouth off on topics you have no educated or INFORMED, at least credible, statements on the subjects you SCREAM about!
Once again now the truth will be told and proven testimony from South Ossetians themselves, stating that the Georgians were not as innocent as YOU MOUTHED OFF they were! The RUSSIANS ARE COMING! THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!
Once again, you are the ECONOMICS GURU…. Aren’t you?
Where were you when the FINANCIAL INSTITUTES COMMITTED Fraud AND ROBBED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!
Where were you MR INDEPENDENT?
LIAR!
8-21-08
Do not flatter yourself too much regarding Barack’s Employer Fined penalties for hiring “illegal” workers. If you had watched any of Barack Obama’s stump speech in 2007, you would have known he has been on EMPLOYERS from its conception of the Comprehensive Immigration reform that the REPUBLICAN CONGRESS, and this REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT composed, Even thought they called it BI-Partisan, whatever the case, you helped defeat. That is all you did, stir up hateful feelings towards immigrants who had an OPEN DOOR BY THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS & REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT. You and your RANTS caused hate crimes and even murders to INCREASE against the LATINO Community because the WHITE RED NECK was afraid he could nto find another job,
Do not take into consideration that the WHITE Red neck NEVER PERFROMED 100% LIKE THE illegal Latinos do and did.
Once again, LOU Dobbs mouthing off, big fat racist opinion and NO SOLUTION,
Why don’t you EDUCATE yourself because the more I can bear to hear anything you say anymore, I can ALWAYS CATCH A FLAW with your comments and opinions, because just like RUSTY “Limbaugh” Prosecutions when it is revealed you are not factual at all
8-21-08
(From David Sirota’s email)
WHITE HOUSE '08 - GOP CITES RICHEST COUNTY IN AMERICA AS PROOF ECONOMY IS GREAT
The Roanoke Times reports that as Barack Obama convened a discussion about unfair trade policies in economically ravaged regions of Virginia, the national Republican Party countered by citing Fairfax County as proof the economy is doing just fine. "It doesn't take a lot of courage to go to Martinsville and talk about trade," said U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R) said in a Tuesday conference call arranged by McCain's campaign. "What would be courageous is to come to Fairfax County, where you have 362 foreign-owned companies and tens of thousands of employees with foreign-owned firms...and take the same stand up here."
Besides the tone deafness of holding up foreign-owned firms as proof of a solid domestic economy, Davis forgot to mention that according to Forbes magazine, Fairfax County has long been the wealthiest county in the United States - a place where the median (the median!) household income is over $100,000 a year. The county is home to many of the millionaire corporate lobbyists that have been instrumental in the passage of rigged trade deals. Davis citing Fairfax County today as proof that trade policies are working for the vast majority of the country would be like FDR citing the Rockefeller family during the Great Depression as proof that the economy was working for most Americans.
8-18-08
Any other MOUTH OFF on more GEO-POLITICAL ISSUES THAT IS EVIDENT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!!!
FRANCE...RUSSIA...GEORGIA...MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUSTPULL OUT A MAP AND HAVE a GEOGRAPHY CLASS!!
MR ECONOMICS!!!
IDIOT!!!
KEEPEM STUPID.... LIAR!
8-18-08
Hey PHIONY!
Don’t forget when you mention this Congress, COMPARE, key word, COMPARE, it to YOUR party, the REPUBLICAN CONGRESS which HELD THE MAJORITY, YES, MAJORITY another word I am sure you will omit just to distort the FACT…. as usual! MR INDEPENDENT...LIAR
6:00pm…quotes the POLLS of 500 ……
More qualified?
A little SPIN.
Anyway, I would like to know WHAT 500 VOTERES were polled...Did any one of them own a passport?
You are such a RACIST PIG!
MR REPUBLICAN...LIAR!
How many Americans had a passport pre 9 /11?
5%...(I KNOW YOU DID NOT KNOW THAT)
MR ECONOMICS.... WATCHED THE FRAUDULENT BANKS STEAL MY, YES, MY, COUNTRY, BLIND!!!
CAN MCCAIN TALK WITHOUT READING ANYTHING?
We will see what OFF-SHORE DRILLING YOU WILL GET, by the way...
YOU PREDICTED...REALLY...WHERE WERE YOU IN THE FINANACIAL FRAUD
IN THIS COUNTRY...RACIST PIG! NO...YOU ARE NOT AN INDEPENDENT...NO YOU ARE NOT
August15, 2008
Susan Golden
Earlier this week, (August15, 2008) John McCain was out stumping and blatantly lying that he was the one to legislate for the increase in death benefits for our troops at war in Iraq& Afghanistan.
This is not true. As a matter of fact, the truth is that it wasn’t until the Don Imus, 'Imus in the Morning' Show, on MSNBC, which McCain was a frequent guest, brought to the embarrassment and the DISGRACE to the Senator regarding the $6,000.00, yes SIX THOUSAND dollar death benefit in 2003,2004,2005 for our troops. All one has to do is get the transcripts and Imus gave credit after legislation was passed to Rick Santorum of PA not John McCain!
Maybe McCain was referencing the first increase to $12, 400, but was still scolded by IMUS! Imagine that! And Imus is and always was a big supporter of John McCain
As a matter of fact, it was CHUCK HAGEL, NOT MCCAIN!
Jan. 26: Is the troops' death benefit enough? Families of fallen service members and one senator are hoping to change the amount paid out. NBC's Bob Faw reports.
Three years later,
NBC Correspondent
TODAY
Updated 2:09 p.m. CT,
Wed., Jan. 26, 2005
Ben was the love of Stacey’s life. In 2003, when Marine Captain Benjamin Sammis, a helicopter pilot, was killed in Iraq, Stacey was devastated — emotionally, and financially.
Since Ben, 29, had not bought the $250,000 life insurance policy the military makes available, the death benefit the government paid his widow was just $6,000.
“I guess it did seem kind of low,” said Sammis. “I mean, I'm not getting my husband back, and here's a $6,000 check. I guess, at that time, it seemed a little absurd.”
That figure has now been raised to just over $12,400, but Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., says it's still too low. He's campaigning for the benefit to be raised to $100,000.
“We spend billions and billions of dollars on things that never work,” said Hagel. “Certainly to invest in our people, in our warrior's families, seems to me the least we can do.”
The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, headquartered on the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, tries to add on to the government’s benefit and provide grieving military families with extra assistance. Relying solely on private contributions, it gives $11,000 to each surviving spouse and $5,000 for each dependent child.
For spouses like Sammis, who moved from California to be near her husband's grave at Arlington National Cemetery, it is impossible to assign a dollar figure to any life.
“Every day I wake up, I deal with it,” said Sammis. “Every second of every day, I think about what's missing in my life.”
But she believes that raising the $12,400 figure would be appropriate.
“I'm proud of him. And he went willingly,” she said. “However, he needs to be paid for the sacrifice.”
A life lost, a marriage destroyed, and a crying need, many argue, for a government to do more.
8-19-08
John McCain says he plans to consult with Democratic Rep. John Lewis when he's president. That's news to Lewis.
During Saturday's presidential forum at Rick Warren's California mega church, John McCain was asked to name the "three wisest people" he would "rely heavily on" if elected president. He didn't cite close confidantes Phil Gramm and Randy Scheunemann, possibly because they have gotten McCain into trouble politically. Instead McCain chose Gen. David Petraeus; former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, one of his economic advisers; and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a leading figure in the civil rights movement.
This is not the first time McCain has invoked Lewis' name on the campaign trail. Earlier this year, in Selma, Alabama, he told the story of civil rights marchers trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in a 1965 march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery. Waiting at the crest of the bridge were a brigade of police and state troopers who meted out an attacks so violent that the day is known today as Bloody Sunday.
Central in McCain's telling was John Lewis, a man of just 25 who was at the front of the march and absorbed the first blow. Millions of Americans, McCain noted, "watched brave John Lewis fall."
But even though McCain has now repeatedly cited Lewis as a role model and potential adviser, McCain has not established a relationship with the Georgia Democrat in the 22 years they have served in Congress together. At the time of McCain's Selma speech, a Lewis associate told my colleague David Corn that McCain has never been close to Lewis. Lewis was not told about McCain's speech in Selma in advance, nor was he invited to attend.
In response to McCain's latest invocation of his name, Rep. Lewis said in a statement requested by Mother Jones, "I cannot stop one human being, even a presidential candidate, from admiring the courage and sacrifice of peaceful protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge or making comments about it." But, he added, "Sen. McCain and I are colleagues in the US Congress, not confidantes. He does not consult me. And I do not consult him."
It took McCain years to fully embrace the goals that Lewis was fighting for on Bloody Sunday. In 1983, McCain voted against making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday, in opposition to most members of Congress, including many of his Republican colleagues. In 1987, the governor of Arizona repealed the state's recognition of King; McCain supported the move. It was only in 1990, 25 years after Lewis marched in Alabama, when Arizona reversed its decision that McCain changed his own stance on the issue.
And there are, of course, the fundamental differences between John McCain's political philosophy and the goals of Lewis and his fellow marchers. Lewis hoped that the federal government would use its influence to protect the rights of disenfranchised individuals; he sought an expanded role for government because of what he believed was government's power to do good. It explains, in part, why Lewis is a Democrat today and supports Barack Obama for president. McCain, on the other hand, is a fanatical enemy of government spending and has said, "I've found over time that less government involvement is better." It's a philosophy that would have left Lewis and his cohorts out in the cold.
So why does John McCain promise to consult a man who he is not close to and has never consulted before? I put the question to the McCain campaign. If and when they respond, I'll update the post.
Comments to LOU DOBBS @ CNN
8-23-08
Isn't this interesting....
Oh and by the way, your concern for the EFFORTS in Iraq is REALLY, REALLY, about casualties...ARE YOU KIDDING?
Where in the hell were you when DEAD SOLDIERS, that we cannot view draped in the PROUD AMERICAN FLAG coming home to their final resting place, were receiving $6 000.00 Death Benefit. It was Don Imus, yes, DON IMUS, embarrassed you, (while promoting one of your books) , John Mc Cain , Rick Santorum and all the rest of you PHONIES! You only put up the FALLEN HEROES SITE on your CNN website to SHOW YOU CARE about the CASUALTIES in IRAQ! YOU PHONY!
It was DON IMUS, yes, DON IMUS that PUSHED the LEGISLATION to be CHANGED? And it was CHUCK HAGEL that would not accept the $12, 500.00
WHERE WERE YOU?
Another WHERE WERE YOU?
When the ROIBBERY the Fraudulent Financial institutes in this country that you are suppose to be the GURU.... ECONOMICS.... you LIAR!
Funny, troops MIGHT be out by 2011 but we won’t know until NOVEMBER, after the election, if this is agreeable!
Now, we attack PAKISTAN! WOW... PHONY! EDUCATE THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS,, HOW YOU RPRESIDENT, I NEVER would have voted for such an IDIOT,, is playing POLITICS!! SPIN ON THIS LIAR! HELP YOURSELF!
Isn't this interesting....
Oh and by the way, your concern for the EFFORTS in Iraq is REALLY, REALLY, about casualties...ARE YOU KIDDING?
Where in the hell were you when DEAD SOLDIERS, that we cannot view draped in the PROUD AMERICAN FLAG coming home to their final resting place, were receiving $6 000.00 Death Benefit. It was Don Imus, yes, DON IMUS, embarrassed you, (while promoting one of your books) , John Mc Cain , Rick Santorum and all the rest of you PHONIES! You only put up the FALLEN HEROES SITE on your CNN website to SHOW YOU CARE about the CASUALTIES in IRAQ! YOU PHONY!
It was DON IMUS, yes, DON IMUS that PUSHED the LEGISLATION to be CHANGED? And it was CHUCK HAGEL that would not accept the $12, 500.00
WHERE WERE YOU?
Another WHERE WERE YOU?
When the ROIBBERY the Fraudulent Financial institutes in this country that you are suppose to be the GURU.... ECONOMICS.... you LIAR!
Funny, troops MIGHT be out by 2011 but we won’t know until NOVEMBER, after the election, if this is agreeable!
Now, we attack PAKISTAN! WOW... PHONY! EDUCATE THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS,, HOW YOU RPRESIDENT, I NEVER would have voted for such an IDIOT,, is playing POLITICS!! SPIN ON THIS LIAR! HELP YOURSELF!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Jack Cafferty had a question on his BLOG
Jack Cafferty had a question on his BLOG, 8-18-08, and my comments were not accepted?
I wonder why?
August 18, 2008
What are Russia’s intentions when it comes to Georgia?Posted: 04:55 PM ET
Would anyone like to comment on why you think the commnet below was not allowed on his Blog?
8-18-08
How in the world are the people, (Americans) of this country suppose to comment on this? Maybe the American Press should tone it down until they have the FACTS, listen to what the REAL International Reporters are stating and maybe inform the American people of our real interest…ENERGY!
Or maybe we can ask John McCAin’s Foreign policy Advisor//Lobbyist for more informative on Georgia! Maybe he can INFORM and EDUCATE us!
Maybe Russia will attempt to make a point to the US, but also not to be fooled like the American People have been fooled over and over and over by this Administration!
The Russians are by no means behaving as AMERICAN DEMOCRACY does, but HOW DO WE KNOW ANYTHING about the Russians, Soviets and all of their Communistic Cultures?
Really Jack? it is a known fact that we are illiterate with World Geography?
few more thoughts, Russia will cleanse South Ossetia of all Georgians.
Now the news is all about the NEW Missile Defense Treaty in Poland signed during this “Conflict”.
By the way, the Missile Defense this administration had as a goal PRE-9/11~REMEMBER!
The Missile Defense that Poland was having doubts about accepting. The Czechs rejected it, Remember/
I wonder why?
August 18, 2008
What are Russia’s intentions when it comes to Georgia?Posted: 04:55 PM ET
Would anyone like to comment on why you think the commnet below was not allowed on his Blog?
8-18-08
How in the world are the people, (Americans) of this country suppose to comment on this? Maybe the American Press should tone it down until they have the FACTS, listen to what the REAL International Reporters are stating and maybe inform the American people of our real interest…ENERGY!
Or maybe we can ask John McCAin’s Foreign policy Advisor//Lobbyist for more informative on Georgia! Maybe he can INFORM and EDUCATE us!
Maybe Russia will attempt to make a point to the US, but also not to be fooled like the American People have been fooled over and over and over by this Administration!
The Russians are by no means behaving as AMERICAN DEMOCRACY does, but HOW DO WE KNOW ANYTHING about the Russians, Soviets and all of their Communistic Cultures?
Really Jack? it is a known fact that we are illiterate with World Geography?
few more thoughts, Russia will cleanse South Ossetia of all Georgians.
Now the news is all about the NEW Missile Defense Treaty in Poland signed during this “Conflict”.
By the way, the Missile Defense this administration had as a goal PRE-9/11~REMEMBER!
The Missile Defense that Poland was having doubts about accepting. The Czechs rejected it, Remember/
Friday, August 15, 2008
Leter to American Media: :
All of you in the US MEDIA are guilty of continuing the ignorance of Americans and their knowledge or lack of what and how things really work.
Apparently, you must have profited off of the Karl Rove style politics that have caused the IGNORANCE and LACKOF REAL TRUTHFUL KNOWLEDGE!
You all should be ashamed of yourselves. While you headline news about the BESTSELLER list of NYTIMES but most of the media failed to mention the fact that the denotation after the title notes "BULK" sales, and then fails to explain HOW ‘BULK’ sales works. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
Funny, the REPUBLICANS are so quick to jump on the NY Times and almost always will denounce the NYT's for all other truths that they do write about.
No wonder the 4th arm of the GOVERNMENT is failing. Just look at the MEDIA BLITZ with this Russian-Georgia conflict. I think that reporters outside this country will reveal how wrong America was to jump to their conclusions. Funny, Karl Rove was at a meeting with the President of Georgia and Tony Blair. Karl Rove can have a meeting with these two but still is in contempt of U S Congress refusing to testify.
Now why have you not EDUCATED and INFORM the American People of the EXPERIENCE of Dr. Rice has FAILED! And funny, Georgian Lobbyist is McCain's Foreign Policy Advisor...smell a rat?
LETTER TO DOBBS:
You apparently are too concerned about your 3-hour RADIO show and not INFORMING yourself on FACTS...Just MOUTHING OFF as usual.
You insistently kept asking where Europe was during this conflict with Russia & Georgia...YOU IDIOT!
Who is the President of the EU? You are so ignorant and it is really a wonder why CNN can't get rid of you...Once again, you , MR ECONOMY, where were you in the FINANCIAL FRAUD in this country?
All of you in the US MEDIA are guilty of continuing the ignorance of Americans and their knowledge or lack of what and how things really work.
Apparently, you must have profited off of the Karl Rove style politics that have caused the IGNORANCE and LACKOF REAL TRUTHFUL KNOWLEDGE!
You should be ashamed of yourself. While you headline news about the BESTSELLER list of NYTIMES but most of the media failed to mention the fact that the denotation after the title notes "BULK" sales, and then fails to explain HOW ‘BULK’ sales works. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
Funny, the REPUBLICANS and you, so-called, MR INDEPENDENT are so quick to jump on the NY Times and almost always will denounce the NYT's for all other truths that they do write about.
No wonder the 4th arm of the GOVERNMENT is failing. Just look at the MEDIA BLITZ with this Russian-Georgia conflict. I think that reporters outside this country will reveal how wrong America was to jump to their conclusions.
Funny, Karl Rove was at a meeting with the President of Georgia and Tony Blair. Karl Rove can have a meeting with these two but still is in contempt of U S Congress refusing to testify.
Now why have you not EDUCATED and INFORM the American People of the EXPERIENCE of Dr. Rice has FAILED! And funny, Georgian Lobbyist is McCain's Foreign Policy Advisor...smell a rat?
Apparently, you must have profited off of the Karl Rove style politics that have caused the IGNORANCE and LACKOF REAL TRUTHFUL KNOWLEDGE!
You all should be ashamed of yourselves. While you headline news about the BESTSELLER list of NYTIMES but most of the media failed to mention the fact that the denotation after the title notes "BULK" sales, and then fails to explain HOW ‘BULK’ sales works. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
Funny, the REPUBLICANS are so quick to jump on the NY Times and almost always will denounce the NYT's for all other truths that they do write about.
No wonder the 4th arm of the GOVERNMENT is failing. Just look at the MEDIA BLITZ with this Russian-Georgia conflict. I think that reporters outside this country will reveal how wrong America was to jump to their conclusions. Funny, Karl Rove was at a meeting with the President of Georgia and Tony Blair. Karl Rove can have a meeting with these two but still is in contempt of U S Congress refusing to testify.
Now why have you not EDUCATED and INFORM the American People of the EXPERIENCE of Dr. Rice has FAILED! And funny, Georgian Lobbyist is McCain's Foreign Policy Advisor...smell a rat?
LETTER TO DOBBS:
You apparently are too concerned about your 3-hour RADIO show and not INFORMING yourself on FACTS...Just MOUTHING OFF as usual.
You insistently kept asking where Europe was during this conflict with Russia & Georgia...YOU IDIOT!
Who is the President of the EU? You are so ignorant and it is really a wonder why CNN can't get rid of you...Once again, you , MR ECONOMY, where were you in the FINANCIAL FRAUD in this country?
All of you in the US MEDIA are guilty of continuing the ignorance of Americans and their knowledge or lack of what and how things really work.
Apparently, you must have profited off of the Karl Rove style politics that have caused the IGNORANCE and LACKOF REAL TRUTHFUL KNOWLEDGE!
You should be ashamed of yourself. While you headline news about the BESTSELLER list of NYTIMES but most of the media failed to mention the fact that the denotation after the title notes "BULK" sales, and then fails to explain HOW ‘BULK’ sales works. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
Funny, the REPUBLICANS and you, so-called, MR INDEPENDENT are so quick to jump on the NY Times and almost always will denounce the NYT's for all other truths that they do write about.
No wonder the 4th arm of the GOVERNMENT is failing. Just look at the MEDIA BLITZ with this Russian-Georgia conflict. I think that reporters outside this country will reveal how wrong America was to jump to their conclusions.
Funny, Karl Rove was at a meeting with the President of Georgia and Tony Blair. Karl Rove can have a meeting with these two but still is in contempt of U S Congress refusing to testify.
Now why have you not EDUCATED and INFORM the American People of the EXPERIENCE of Dr. Rice has FAILED! And funny, Georgian Lobbyist is McCain's Foreign Policy Advisor...smell a rat?
McCain on the StumpSpeech Deceiving Vets.....
August15, 2008
Susan Golden
Earlier this week, John McCain was out stumping and blatantly lying that he was the one to legislate for the increase in death benefits for our troops at war in Iraq& Afghanistan.
This is not true. As a matter of fact, the truth is that it wasn’t until the Don Imus, 'Imus in the Morning' Show, on MSNBC, which McCain was a frequent guest, brought to the embarrassment and the DISGRACE to the Senator regarding the $6,000.00, yes SIX THOUSAND dollar death benefit in 2003,2004,2005 for our troops. All one has to do is get the transcripts and Imus gave credit after legislation was passed to Rick Santorum of PA not John McCain!
Maybe McCain was referencing the first increase to $12, 400, but was still scolded by IMUS! Imagine that! And Imus is and always was a big supporter of John McCain
As a matter of fact, it was CHUCK HAGEL, NOT MCCAIN!
Jan. 26: Is the troops' death benefit enough? Families of fallen service members and one senator are hoping to change the amount paid out. NBC's Bob Faw reports.
Three years later,
NBC Correspondent
TODAY
Updated 2:09 p.m. CT,
Wed., Jan. 26, 2005
Ben was the love of Stacey’s life. In 2003, when Marine Captain Benjamin Sammis, a helicopter pilot, was killed in Iraq, Stacey was devastated — emotionally, and financially.
Since Ben, 29, had not bought the $250,000 life insurance policy the military makes available, the death benefit the government paid his widow was just $6,000.
“I guess it did seem kind of low,” said Sammis. “I mean, I'm not getting my husband back, and here's a $6,000 check. I guess, at that time, it seemed a little absurd.”
That figure has now been raised to just over $12,400, but Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., says it's still too low. He's campaigning for the benefit to be raised to $100,000.
“We spend billions and billions of dollars on things that never work,” said Hagel. “Certainly to invest in our people, in our warrior's families, seems to me the least we can do.”
The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, headquartered on the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, tries to add on to the government’s benefit and provide grieving military families with extra assistance. Relying solely on private contributions, it gives $11,000 to each surviving spouse and $5,000 for each dependent child.
For spouses like Sammis, who moved from California to be near her husband's grave at Arlington National Cemetery, it is impossible to assign a dollar figure to any life.
“Every day I wake up, I deal with it,” said Sammis. “Every second of every day, I think about what's missing in my life.”
But she believes that raising the $12,400 figure would be appropriate.
“I'm proud of him. And he went willingly,” she said. “However, he needs to be paid for the sacrifice.”
A life lost, a marriage destroyed, and a crying need, many argue, for a government to do more.
Susan Golden
Earlier this week, John McCain was out stumping and blatantly lying that he was the one to legislate for the increase in death benefits for our troops at war in Iraq& Afghanistan.
This is not true. As a matter of fact, the truth is that it wasn’t until the Don Imus, 'Imus in the Morning' Show, on MSNBC, which McCain was a frequent guest, brought to the embarrassment and the DISGRACE to the Senator regarding the $6,000.00, yes SIX THOUSAND dollar death benefit in 2003,2004,2005 for our troops. All one has to do is get the transcripts and Imus gave credit after legislation was passed to Rick Santorum of PA not John McCain!
Maybe McCain was referencing the first increase to $12, 400, but was still scolded by IMUS! Imagine that! And Imus is and always was a big supporter of John McCain
As a matter of fact, it was CHUCK HAGEL, NOT MCCAIN!
Jan. 26: Is the troops' death benefit enough? Families of fallen service members and one senator are hoping to change the amount paid out. NBC's Bob Faw reports.
Three years later,
NBC Correspondent
TODAY
Updated 2:09 p.m. CT,
Wed., Jan. 26, 2005
Ben was the love of Stacey’s life. In 2003, when Marine Captain Benjamin Sammis, a helicopter pilot, was killed in Iraq, Stacey was devastated — emotionally, and financially.
Since Ben, 29, had not bought the $250,000 life insurance policy the military makes available, the death benefit the government paid his widow was just $6,000.
“I guess it did seem kind of low,” said Sammis. “I mean, I'm not getting my husband back, and here's a $6,000 check. I guess, at that time, it seemed a little absurd.”
That figure has now been raised to just over $12,400, but Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., says it's still too low. He's campaigning for the benefit to be raised to $100,000.
“We spend billions and billions of dollars on things that never work,” said Hagel. “Certainly to invest in our people, in our warrior's families, seems to me the least we can do.”
The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, headquartered on the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, tries to add on to the government’s benefit and provide grieving military families with extra assistance. Relying solely on private contributions, it gives $11,000 to each surviving spouse and $5,000 for each dependent child.
For spouses like Sammis, who moved from California to be near her husband's grave at Arlington National Cemetery, it is impossible to assign a dollar figure to any life.
“Every day I wake up, I deal with it,” said Sammis. “Every second of every day, I think about what's missing in my life.”
But she believes that raising the $12,400 figure would be appropriate.
“I'm proud of him. And he went willingly,” she said. “However, he needs to be paid for the sacrifice.”
A life lost, a marriage destroyed, and a crying need, many argue, for a government to do more.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
DHHS......OMG!! Leavitt comes from largest family owned INSURANCE BROKERAGE in UTAH!
Feds Combating Rampant Health Care Fraud and Abuse
www.huntingtonnews.net
The Department of Justice, in cooperation with the Department of Health and Human Services, has guided the enforcement efforts of the national Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC) since its inception in 1997.
The program was designed to coordinate federal, state and local law enforcement on cases of health care fraud and abuse as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In 2008, the Department's efforts to investigate and prosecute the individuals and companies who commit health care fraud are as strong as ever, thanks in large part to the Department's many components working closely with partners at the Department of Health and Human Services, and state and local law enforcement.
www.huntingtonnews.net
The Department of Justice, in cooperation with the Department of Health and Human Services, has guided the enforcement efforts of the national Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC) since its inception in 1997.
The program was designed to coordinate federal, state and local law enforcement on cases of health care fraud and abuse as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In 2008, the Department's efforts to investigate and prosecute the individuals and companies who commit health care fraud are as strong as ever, thanks in large part to the Department's many components working closely with partners at the Department of Health and Human Services, and state and local law enforcement.
Add forgery to the list of Bush's crimes
Add forgery to the list of Bush's crimes
Yet another smoking gun that points the way to impeachment
Suskind explains the plot:
"In the fall of 2003, after the world learned there were no WMD — as Habbush had foretold — the White House ordered the CIA to carry out a deception. The mission: create a handwritten letter, dated July, 2001, from Habbush to Saddam saying that Atta trained in Iraq before the attacks and the Saddam was buying yellow cake for Niger with help from a “small team from the al Qaeda organization.”
"The mission was carried out, the letter was created, popped up in Baghdad, and roiled the global newcycles in December, 2003 (conning even venerable journalists with Tom Brokaw). The mission is a statutory violation of the charter of CIA, and amendments added in 1991, prohibiting CIA from conducting disinformation campaigns on U.S. soil."
John W. Dean, who served as Richard Nixon’s White House Counsel, drew the connection on MSNBC between the new allegations and those that brought down Richard Nixon in 1974 just weeks after the House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of Articles of Impeachment.
John W. Dean being interviewed by Keith Olberman stated:
"I don‘t think people are looking at it too narrowly or Suskind is when I read his book. What happens when you tie that with a criminal conspiracy statute, 18 USC 371, which nailed countless people in Watergate for misusing the agencies and departments of government—that‘s where they‘ve got a problem.
"That‘s where Nixon had a problem for telling the CIA to block the FBI for part of the Watergate investigation. Yes, it was obstruction but it was also defrauding the government. This is their real problem with that statute. ... "
Yet another smoking gun that points the way to impeachment
Suskind explains the plot:
"In the fall of 2003, after the world learned there were no WMD — as Habbush had foretold — the White House ordered the CIA to carry out a deception. The mission: create a handwritten letter, dated July, 2001, from Habbush to Saddam saying that Atta trained in Iraq before the attacks and the Saddam was buying yellow cake for Niger with help from a “small team from the al Qaeda organization.”
"The mission was carried out, the letter was created, popped up in Baghdad, and roiled the global newcycles in December, 2003 (conning even venerable journalists with Tom Brokaw). The mission is a statutory violation of the charter of CIA, and amendments added in 1991, prohibiting CIA from conducting disinformation campaigns on U.S. soil."
John W. Dean, who served as Richard Nixon’s White House Counsel, drew the connection on MSNBC between the new allegations and those that brought down Richard Nixon in 1974 just weeks after the House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of Articles of Impeachment.
John W. Dean being interviewed by Keith Olberman stated:
"I don‘t think people are looking at it too narrowly or Suskind is when I read his book. What happens when you tie that with a criminal conspiracy statute, 18 USC 371, which nailed countless people in Watergate for misusing the agencies and departments of government—that‘s where they‘ve got a problem.
"That‘s where Nixon had a problem for telling the CIA to block the FBI for part of the Watergate investigation. Yes, it was obstruction but it was also defrauding the government. This is their real problem with that statute. ... "
Thursday, August 7, 2008
FOLLOW THE MONEY.........Connect BUSH with these folks....
Dallas is competitive in all kinds of ways, but just about everyone agrees on the most common measuring stick: Money.
Who’s got it? Who’s getting it? Who used to have it and now wishes he had it back?
While establishing someone else’s wealth can be dicey business, that doesn’t keep the ambitious folks at Forbes from taking a crack at it. When they put together their list of the 400 richest people in America, plenty of Texans made the cut.
Here are the entries from Dallas-Fort Worth, with estimated net worth (in billions) in parentheses:
15. Alice Walton, Fort Worth: 16.1
43. Harold Simmons, Dallas: 7.4
49. Robert Rowling, Dallas: 6.4
57. Robert Bass, Fort Worth: 5.5
76. Henry Ross Perot, Dallas: 4.4
82. Ray Hunt, Dallas: 4.0
91. Richard Rainwater, Fort Worth: 3.5
105. David Bonderman, Fort Worth:3.3
117. Lee Bass, Fort Worth: 3.0
117. Sid Bass, Fort Worth: 3.0
117. T. Boone Pickens, Dallas: 3.0
161. Mark Cuban, Dallas: 2.6
165. Edward Bass, Fort Worth: 2.5
317. Andrew Beal, Dallas: 1.5
317. Gerald J. Ford, Dallas: 1.5
Source: Forbes
WFAA
Who’s got it? Who’s getting it? Who used to have it and now wishes he had it back?
While establishing someone else’s wealth can be dicey business, that doesn’t keep the ambitious folks at Forbes from taking a crack at it. When they put together their list of the 400 richest people in America, plenty of Texans made the cut.
Here are the entries from Dallas-Fort Worth, with estimated net worth (in billions) in parentheses:
15. Alice Walton, Fort Worth: 16.1
43. Harold Simmons, Dallas: 7.4
49. Robert Rowling, Dallas: 6.4
57. Robert Bass, Fort Worth: 5.5
76. Henry Ross Perot, Dallas: 4.4
82. Ray Hunt, Dallas: 4.0
91. Richard Rainwater, Fort Worth: 3.5
105. David Bonderman, Fort Worth:3.3
117. Lee Bass, Fort Worth: 3.0
117. Sid Bass, Fort Worth: 3.0
117. T. Boone Pickens, Dallas: 3.0
161. Mark Cuban, Dallas: 2.6
165. Edward Bass, Fort Worth: 2.5
317. Andrew Beal, Dallas: 1.5
317. Gerald J. Ford, Dallas: 1.5
Source: Forbes
WFAA
Bin Laden determined to strike in US., MIILIITARY COURT......Seven YEARS to CONVICT A DRIVER
Five counts providing support for International Terrorism.....
GUILTY...after thrid time in front of any court
But what was he guilty of:
Driving Osama Bin Laden and carrying weapons
On the anniversary of the DAILY BRIEFING TO THE IDIOT IN THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE:
The following is a transcript of the August 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing entitled Bin Laden determined to strike in US. Parts of the original document were not made public by the White House for security reasons.
Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Laden implied in U.S. television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America."
After U.S. missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a -- -- service.
An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told - - service at the same time that bin Laden was planning to exploit the operative's access to the U.S. to mount a terrorist strike.
The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S.
Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that in ---, Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own U.S. attack.
Ressam says bin Laden was aware of the Los Angeles operation. Although Bin Laden has not succeeded, his attacks against the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Laden associates surveyed our embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.
Al Qaeda members -- including some who are U.S. citizens -- have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks.
Two al-Qaeda members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our embassies in East Africa were U.S. citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.
A clandestine source said in 1998 that a bin Laden cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.
We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a ---- service in 1998 saying that Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman and other U.S.-held extremists.
Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.
The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full-field investigations throughout the U.S. that it considers bin Laden-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group or bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives.
GUILTY...after thrid time in front of any court
But what was he guilty of:
Driving Osama Bin Laden and carrying weapons
On the anniversary of the DAILY BRIEFING TO THE IDIOT IN THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE:
The following is a transcript of the August 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing entitled Bin Laden determined to strike in US. Parts of the original document were not made public by the White House for security reasons.
Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Laden implied in U.S. television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America."
After U.S. missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a -- -- service.
An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told - - service at the same time that bin Laden was planning to exploit the operative's access to the U.S. to mount a terrorist strike.
The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S.
Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that in ---, Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own U.S. attack.
Ressam says bin Laden was aware of the Los Angeles operation. Although Bin Laden has not succeeded, his attacks against the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Laden associates surveyed our embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.
Al Qaeda members -- including some who are U.S. citizens -- have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks.
Two al-Qaeda members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our embassies in East Africa were U.S. citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.
A clandestine source said in 1998 that a bin Laden cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.
We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a ---- service in 1998 saying that Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman and other U.S.-held extremists.
Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.
The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full-field investigations throughout the U.S. that it considers bin Laden-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group or bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives.
IMPEACH BUSH NOW! U.S. ignored intelligence ;
REMEMBER:
In all testimonies, when anyone states: "to the best of my knowledge" We all need to pay close attention and DIG DEEPER!!!!
CIA officials deny fake Iraq-al-Qaida link letter
By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 5, 9:13 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Two former CIA officers Tuesday denied that they or the spy agency faked an Iraqi intelligence document purporting to link Saddam Hussein with 9/11 bomber Mohammed Atta, as they are quoted as saying in a new book.
The White House issued the statement on behalf of the former officials after a day of adamant denials from the CIA and Bush administration about the claim, made in "The Way of the World," a book by Washington-based journalist Ron Suskind.
"I never received direction from George Tenet or anyone else in my chain of command to fabricate a document ... as outlined in Mr. Suskind's book," said Robert Richer, the CIA's former deputy director of clandestine operations.
Richer also said he talked Tuesday to John Maguire, who headed the CIA's Iraq Operations Group at the time and who gave Richer "permission to state the following on his behalf: `I never received any instruction from then Chief/NE Rob Richer or any other officer in my chain of command instructing me to fabricate such a letter. Further, I have no knowledge to the origins of the letter and as to how it circulated in Iraq," the statement said.
Suskind claims the White House concocted the fake letter, meant to come from Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, director of Iraqi intelligence under Saddam, in the fall of 2003 to bolster its case for the invasion earlier that year as it was becoming clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction to be found in Iraq. Those weapons were a chief rationale for the war. The letter was provided to a British journalist by an Iraqi government official, according to the book.
"The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001," Suskind wrote. "It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al-Qaida, something the vice president's office had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link."
Denying the report, White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said, "The notion that the White House directed anyone to forge a letter from Habbush to Saddam Hussein is absurd."
Fratto said U.S. and other intelligence agencies believed Saddam harbored such weapons and that Saddam had tried to make his neighbors believe he had them. In the end, no such weapons were found, undercutting Bush's main reason to go to war.
"We know now that those estimates were wrong, but they were the estimates we all relied on," Fratto said.
Former CIA Director Tenet also rejected Suskind's allegation that the U.S. had credible intelligence, before the invasion that Saddam did not possess weapons of mass destruction.
Tenet, in a statement distributed by the White House, also denied CIA involvement in the supposedly fake letter. "There was no such order from the White House to me nor, to the best of my knowledge, was anyone from CIA ever involved in any such effort," he said.
"It is well established that, at my direction, CIA resisted efforts by some in the administration to paint a picture of Iraqi-al-Qaida connections that went beyond the evidence," Tenet said. "The notion that I would suddenly reverse our stance and have created and planted false evidence that was contrary to our own beliefs is ridiculous."
Suskind told The Associated Press that the criticisms from the White House and Tenet were expected. He said Tenet "is not credible on this issue" and the White House "is all but obligated to deny this."
"If they go in the other direction, I think they're probably going to have to start firing people," Suskind said.
In his book, Suskind writes that Tenet gave Richer the fake letter during a fall 2003 meeting. Suskind quotes Richer as saying, "George said something like, `Well, Marine, I've got a job for you, though you may not like it.'"
Suskind also quotes Maguire about the alleged fake letter. "When it was discussed with me, I just thought it was incredible, a box-checking of all outstanding issues in one letter, from one guy," Suskind quotes Maguire as saying.
The Associated Press was unable to reach Richer and Maguire separately about the book.
Tenet also challenged Suskind's assertion that the U.S. ignored intelligence that Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction.
"There were many Iraqi officials who said both publicly and privately that Iraq had no WMD but our foreign intelligence colleagues and we assessed that these individuals were parroting the Baath party line and trying to delay any coalition attack," Tenet said. "The particular source that Suskind cites offered no evidence to back up his assertion and acted in an evasive and unconvincing manner."
Suskind wrote that Habbush first told British intelligence officer Michael Shipster in January 2003 that invading forces would not find the weapons in Iraq.
"After being told that Habbush had said there were no WMD, Bush was frustrated," Suskind wrote in the book, quoting Bush telling an aide, "Why don't they ask him to give us something we can use to help us make our case?" Suskind quotes Richer as saying Habbush's information was disregarded by an administration determined to invade.
___
Associated Press Writers Terence Hunt and Pamela Hess contributed to this report
In all testimonies, when anyone states: "to the best of my knowledge" We all need to pay close attention and DIG DEEPER!!!!
CIA officials deny fake Iraq-al-Qaida link letter
By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 5, 9:13 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Two former CIA officers Tuesday denied that they or the spy agency faked an Iraqi intelligence document purporting to link Saddam Hussein with 9/11 bomber Mohammed Atta, as they are quoted as saying in a new book.
The White House issued the statement on behalf of the former officials after a day of adamant denials from the CIA and Bush administration about the claim, made in "The Way of the World," a book by Washington-based journalist Ron Suskind.
"I never received direction from George Tenet or anyone else in my chain of command to fabricate a document ... as outlined in Mr. Suskind's book," said Robert Richer, the CIA's former deputy director of clandestine operations.
Richer also said he talked Tuesday to John Maguire, who headed the CIA's Iraq Operations Group at the time and who gave Richer "permission to state the following on his behalf: `I never received any instruction from then Chief/NE Rob Richer or any other officer in my chain of command instructing me to fabricate such a letter. Further, I have no knowledge to the origins of the letter and as to how it circulated in Iraq," the statement said.
Suskind claims the White House concocted the fake letter, meant to come from Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, director of Iraqi intelligence under Saddam, in the fall of 2003 to bolster its case for the invasion earlier that year as it was becoming clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction to be found in Iraq. Those weapons were a chief rationale for the war. The letter was provided to a British journalist by an Iraqi government official, according to the book.
"The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001," Suskind wrote. "It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al-Qaida, something the vice president's office had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link."
Denying the report, White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said, "The notion that the White House directed anyone to forge a letter from Habbush to Saddam Hussein is absurd."
Fratto said U.S. and other intelligence agencies believed Saddam harbored such weapons and that Saddam had tried to make his neighbors believe he had them. In the end, no such weapons were found, undercutting Bush's main reason to go to war.
"We know now that those estimates were wrong, but they were the estimates we all relied on," Fratto said.
Former CIA Director Tenet also rejected Suskind's allegation that the U.S. had credible intelligence, before the invasion that Saddam did not possess weapons of mass destruction.
Tenet, in a statement distributed by the White House, also denied CIA involvement in the supposedly fake letter. "There was no such order from the White House to me nor, to the best of my knowledge, was anyone from CIA ever involved in any such effort," he said.
"It is well established that, at my direction, CIA resisted efforts by some in the administration to paint a picture of Iraqi-al-Qaida connections that went beyond the evidence," Tenet said. "The notion that I would suddenly reverse our stance and have created and planted false evidence that was contrary to our own beliefs is ridiculous."
Suskind told The Associated Press that the criticisms from the White House and Tenet were expected. He said Tenet "is not credible on this issue" and the White House "is all but obligated to deny this."
"If they go in the other direction, I think they're probably going to have to start firing people," Suskind said.
In his book, Suskind writes that Tenet gave Richer the fake letter during a fall 2003 meeting. Suskind quotes Richer as saying, "George said something like, `Well, Marine, I've got a job for you, though you may not like it.'"
Suskind also quotes Maguire about the alleged fake letter. "When it was discussed with me, I just thought it was incredible, a box-checking of all outstanding issues in one letter, from one guy," Suskind quotes Maguire as saying.
The Associated Press was unable to reach Richer and Maguire separately about the book.
Tenet also challenged Suskind's assertion that the U.S. ignored intelligence that Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction.
"There were many Iraqi officials who said both publicly and privately that Iraq had no WMD but our foreign intelligence colleagues and we assessed that these individuals were parroting the Baath party line and trying to delay any coalition attack," Tenet said. "The particular source that Suskind cites offered no evidence to back up his assertion and acted in an evasive and unconvincing manner."
Suskind wrote that Habbush first told British intelligence officer Michael Shipster in January 2003 that invading forces would not find the weapons in Iraq.
"After being told that Habbush had said there were no WMD, Bush was frustrated," Suskind wrote in the book, quoting Bush telling an aide, "Why don't they ask him to give us something we can use to help us make our case?" Suskind quotes Richer as saying Habbush's information was disregarded by an administration determined to invade.
___
Associated Press Writers Terence Hunt and Pamela Hess contributed to this report
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
...Paulson was right to put the Federal government's weight behind Freddie and Fannie, "for better or worse."
I thought the "FREE MARKET" is what this ADMINISTRATION PROMOTES? (BUSH)
Freddie Mac Chief: Don't Blame Me
Posted Aug 05, 2008 12:20pm EDT by Aaron Task
Related: fre, fnm, mer, XLF, ^DJI, ^GSPC
Richard F. Syron, chief executive of troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac, ignored red flags about the financing of questionable loans, according to an article in today's New York Times. The quotes from Syron are incredible, and not in a good way.
"If I had better foresight, maybe I could have improved things a little bit," he told the Times. "But frankly, if I had perfect foresight, I would never have taken this job in the first place."
The warnings about pending financial peril came from David Andrukonis, Freddie's former risk officer. "Everybody understood that at some level the company was putting taxpayers at risk," he told the Times. Of course history has shown as housing prices began declining in 2006, choices that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae made have proved disastrous.
According to Lawrence White, professor of economics at the NYU Stern School of Business, both Freddie and Fannie Mae seem headed toward insolvency. White isn't a big fan of using taxpayer dollars to subsidize the GSE's shareholders, which is the effective result of Treasury Secretary Paulson's rescue plan for the firms. He believes Fannie and Freddie should be totally privatized.
But given the "fragile times" in the economy and credit markets, White says Paulson was right to put the Federal government's weight behind Freddie and Fannie, "for better or worse."
Freddie Mac Chief: Don't Blame Me
Posted Aug 05, 2008 12:20pm EDT by Aaron Task
Related: fre, fnm, mer, XLF, ^DJI, ^GSPC
Richard F. Syron, chief executive of troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac, ignored red flags about the financing of questionable loans, according to an article in today's New York Times. The quotes from Syron are incredible, and not in a good way.
"If I had better foresight, maybe I could have improved things a little bit," he told the Times. "But frankly, if I had perfect foresight, I would never have taken this job in the first place."
The warnings about pending financial peril came from David Andrukonis, Freddie's former risk officer. "Everybody understood that at some level the company was putting taxpayers at risk," he told the Times. Of course history has shown as housing prices began declining in 2006, choices that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae made have proved disastrous.
According to Lawrence White, professor of economics at the NYU Stern School of Business, both Freddie and Fannie Mae seem headed toward insolvency. White isn't a big fan of using taxpayer dollars to subsidize the GSE's shareholders, which is the effective result of Treasury Secretary Paulson's rescue plan for the firms. He believes Fannie and Freddie should be totally privatized.
But given the "fragile times" in the economy and credit markets, White says Paulson was right to put the Federal government's weight behind Freddie and Fannie, "for better or worse."
Congress failing to increase fuel-efficiency standards....2003
CONGRESS 2003......HMMM......WHO HAD CONTROL?
The incentive, part of President Bush's economic stimulus package approved by Congress earlier this year, is gaining attention from car dealers and accountants across the country.
Published on Monday, December 1, 2003 by the Minneapolis Star Tribune
Going Backwards
Tax Breaks Target Big SUVs
by Elizabeth Dunbar and Rob Hotakainen
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Taking the advice of her accountant, Carolyn Hodgson found a way to reduce her federal taxes this year: She spent $38,117 on a sport-utility vehicle.
After deducting the cost of the 2002 GMC Yukon Denali from her 2003 income, Hodgson figures she'll end up saving about $14,000.
"It helps offset some of the other rising expenses businesses are facing," said Hodgson, of Plymouth, who bought the SUV for her Edina delivery business.
Bad policy. It encourages the use of the most fuel-inefficient means of transportation in urban America.
Minnesota Democrat Jim Oberstar
The incentive, part of President Bush's economic stimulus package approved by Congress earlier this year, is gaining attention from car dealers and accountants across the country.
For years, business owners have been able to use vehicle purchases as tax write-offs for equipment, but now the rules have changed dramatically.
In a move intended to encourage businesses to invest in new equipment, Congress is allowing a full deduction of as much as $100,000 for business equipment. In previous years, the equipment deduction was limited to $25,000.
Included in the category of equipment are vehicles weighing more than 6,000 pounds when fully loaded -- which can mean heavy-duty pickups used in construction work or Cadillac Escalades.
For those who buy smaller vehicles, the tax benefit is much less attractive. The maximum deduction businesses can take this year for a new car weighing less than 6,000 pounds is $10,710. And while the deduction for large vehicles can be taken in a single year, the deduction for smaller cars must be spread out over five years.
In New York, RIA senior tax analyst Bob Trinz is urging people who run small businesses or professional practices to "buy yourself an SUV for Christmas." And in the Twin Cities, car dealers are realizing that the break could be good for business.
"We're going to take advantage of this and go after it in the next 60 days," said Michael Kahn, sales manager at Stillwater Motors.
Kahn said the tax break has meant a bigger demand for trucks, vans and SUVs. For example, instead of stocking two or three Chevy Express cargo vans, Kahn has 15. And he's trying to get the word out because he says it will help his business and the economy.
Heft helps
The tax law is encouraging a bigger-is-better mentality among both auto dealers and the buying public.
To qualify, vehicles must be used mainly for business. At least 38 vehicles hit the 6,000-pound weight requirement, including Dodge Durangos, Lincoln Navigators and Toyota Land Cruisers. Buick introduced a new luxury SUV for 2004 that barely meets the cutoff: 6,001 pounds fully loaded. A buyer who has more than $50,000 to spend could shop for a Range Rover or a Hummer H2.
"We've seen a change in the type of vehicles that some people are buying," said Cheryl Meyer, an accountant with Biebl and Ranweiler in New Ulm, Minn. The firm's tax advisers have been talking about the tax breaks at state and national conferences for accountants.
Some dealers are expecting an end-of-the-year rush because small-business owners who buy and use qualifying vehicles before Dec. 31 can deduct the entire amount from their taxable income this year.
So far, Kahn said, funeral homes, construction companies, real estate agents and delivery services are among those taking advantage of the tax break.
"People come in and want to upgrade their whole fleet, so they're coming in with big orders," he said.
Tom Johnson, a Minneapolis tax adviser for Boulay, Heutmaker and Zibell, said he hasn't seen people buy vehicles that they don't need or can't afford.
"It's still an economic decision," he said. "But if they need a vehicle like that, it makes it much more attractive."
Even with the tax break, consumers have to think about how much they'll spend on gas. The larger SUVs generally get between 9 and 15 miles per gallon.
Hodgson said she already discovered the drawback.
"This thing is horrible," she said of her Denali, adding that she's at the gas pump every three days. "I step on the gas and you can just watch the gas gauge drop."
Opponents fuming
Environmentalists and fiscal watchdogs are fuming.
They say that not only is Congress failing to increase fuel-efficiency standards, but now Washington is allowing tax breaks that encourage bigger vehicles.
"Just by increasing the fuel efficiency of our cars and trucks, we could answer a major part of the challenge of America's energy future," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.
"As long as SUVs are flying off of dealership lots, the current break makes no fiscal sense," said Keith Ashdown, vice president of policy for Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., and 26 other House Democrats are cosponsoring a bill that would plug the SUV loophole. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
"Giving tax breaks to encourage the selling of these heavy, gas-inefficient SUVs . . . doesn't do anything to help us reduce our dependency on oil," McCollum said.
Minnesota Democrat Jim Oberstar, the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the tax break is "bad policy," adding: "It encourages the use of the most fuel-inefficient means of transportation in urban America."
While the legislation to plug the SUV loophole is pending, nothing is scheduled to change anytime soon. When Congress considered an energy bill earlier this month, efforts to change the deduction back to $25,000 failed. Under current law, the $100,000 deduction will end on Dec. 31, 2005, returning to the $25,000 level.
For now, business groups argue that the increased deduction is helping businesses expand, even if it means more people are buying SUVs.
"In the big picture, you're stimulating the economy by giving small business owners a bigger deduction," said Raj Nisankarao, president of the National Business Association.
He said that people often forget that the new $100,000 limit is allowing businesses to purchase more equipment and supplies than the $25,000 limit permitted.
But McCollum said the need for an SUV tax break has never come up in conversation with a small-business owner.
Though Hodgson said she appreciates the tax break, she wonders whether the money could be spent elsewhere.
"It just seems like this is helping the people who are already successful," she said.
© Copyright 2003 Star Tribune
The incentive, part of President Bush's economic stimulus package approved by Congress earlier this year, is gaining attention from car dealers and accountants across the country.
Published on Monday, December 1, 2003 by the Minneapolis Star Tribune
Going Backwards
Tax Breaks Target Big SUVs
by Elizabeth Dunbar and Rob Hotakainen
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Taking the advice of her accountant, Carolyn Hodgson found a way to reduce her federal taxes this year: She spent $38,117 on a sport-utility vehicle.
After deducting the cost of the 2002 GMC Yukon Denali from her 2003 income, Hodgson figures she'll end up saving about $14,000.
"It helps offset some of the other rising expenses businesses are facing," said Hodgson, of Plymouth, who bought the SUV for her Edina delivery business.
Bad policy. It encourages the use of the most fuel-inefficient means of transportation in urban America.
Minnesota Democrat Jim Oberstar
The incentive, part of President Bush's economic stimulus package approved by Congress earlier this year, is gaining attention from car dealers and accountants across the country.
For years, business owners have been able to use vehicle purchases as tax write-offs for equipment, but now the rules have changed dramatically.
In a move intended to encourage businesses to invest in new equipment, Congress is allowing a full deduction of as much as $100,000 for business equipment. In previous years, the equipment deduction was limited to $25,000.
Included in the category of equipment are vehicles weighing more than 6,000 pounds when fully loaded -- which can mean heavy-duty pickups used in construction work or Cadillac Escalades.
For those who buy smaller vehicles, the tax benefit is much less attractive. The maximum deduction businesses can take this year for a new car weighing less than 6,000 pounds is $10,710. And while the deduction for large vehicles can be taken in a single year, the deduction for smaller cars must be spread out over five years.
In New York, RIA senior tax analyst Bob Trinz is urging people who run small businesses or professional practices to "buy yourself an SUV for Christmas." And in the Twin Cities, car dealers are realizing that the break could be good for business.
"We're going to take advantage of this and go after it in the next 60 days," said Michael Kahn, sales manager at Stillwater Motors.
Kahn said the tax break has meant a bigger demand for trucks, vans and SUVs. For example, instead of stocking two or three Chevy Express cargo vans, Kahn has 15. And he's trying to get the word out because he says it will help his business and the economy.
Heft helps
The tax law is encouraging a bigger-is-better mentality among both auto dealers and the buying public.
To qualify, vehicles must be used mainly for business. At least 38 vehicles hit the 6,000-pound weight requirement, including Dodge Durangos, Lincoln Navigators and Toyota Land Cruisers. Buick introduced a new luxury SUV for 2004 that barely meets the cutoff: 6,001 pounds fully loaded. A buyer who has more than $50,000 to spend could shop for a Range Rover or a Hummer H2.
"We've seen a change in the type of vehicles that some people are buying," said Cheryl Meyer, an accountant with Biebl and Ranweiler in New Ulm, Minn. The firm's tax advisers have been talking about the tax breaks at state and national conferences for accountants.
Some dealers are expecting an end-of-the-year rush because small-business owners who buy and use qualifying vehicles before Dec. 31 can deduct the entire amount from their taxable income this year.
So far, Kahn said, funeral homes, construction companies, real estate agents and delivery services are among those taking advantage of the tax break.
"People come in and want to upgrade their whole fleet, so they're coming in with big orders," he said.
Tom Johnson, a Minneapolis tax adviser for Boulay, Heutmaker and Zibell, said he hasn't seen people buy vehicles that they don't need or can't afford.
"It's still an economic decision," he said. "But if they need a vehicle like that, it makes it much more attractive."
Even with the tax break, consumers have to think about how much they'll spend on gas. The larger SUVs generally get between 9 and 15 miles per gallon.
Hodgson said she already discovered the drawback.
"This thing is horrible," she said of her Denali, adding that she's at the gas pump every three days. "I step on the gas and you can just watch the gas gauge drop."
Opponents fuming
Environmentalists and fiscal watchdogs are fuming.
They say that not only is Congress failing to increase fuel-efficiency standards, but now Washington is allowing tax breaks that encourage bigger vehicles.
"Just by increasing the fuel efficiency of our cars and trucks, we could answer a major part of the challenge of America's energy future," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.
"As long as SUVs are flying off of dealership lots, the current break makes no fiscal sense," said Keith Ashdown, vice president of policy for Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., and 26 other House Democrats are cosponsoring a bill that would plug the SUV loophole. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
"Giving tax breaks to encourage the selling of these heavy, gas-inefficient SUVs . . . doesn't do anything to help us reduce our dependency on oil," McCollum said.
Minnesota Democrat Jim Oberstar, the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the tax break is "bad policy," adding: "It encourages the use of the most fuel-inefficient means of transportation in urban America."
While the legislation to plug the SUV loophole is pending, nothing is scheduled to change anytime soon. When Congress considered an energy bill earlier this month, efforts to change the deduction back to $25,000 failed. Under current law, the $100,000 deduction will end on Dec. 31, 2005, returning to the $25,000 level.
For now, business groups argue that the increased deduction is helping businesses expand, even if it means more people are buying SUVs.
"In the big picture, you're stimulating the economy by giving small business owners a bigger deduction," said Raj Nisankarao, president of the National Business Association.
He said that people often forget that the new $100,000 limit is allowing businesses to purchase more equipment and supplies than the $25,000 limit permitted.
But McCollum said the need for an SUV tax break has never come up in conversation with a small-business owner.
Though Hodgson said she appreciates the tax break, she wonders whether the money could be spent elsewhere.
"It just seems like this is helping the people who are already successful," she said.
© Copyright 2003 Star Tribune
“Bush Buy SUVs” program
.....
Now the Federals are fighting dumb with dumber.
The Bush administration has proposed tripling a little-know tax deduction that dermatologists, real estate agents, accountants or business consultants can use to buy the biggest SUVs.
It’s a highly stimulating provision in the administration’s economic stimulus program. The loophole would allow someone who buys an $102,581 Hummer H1 for “business purposes” to deduct $87,135 from his taxes immediately. Seriously. Good deal if you can get it.
In December, The Detroit News first reported that lots of self-employed dentists and lawyers were gettin’ it. The auto industry’s hometown paper also was the first to figure out that the new Bush plan would turn the SUV loophole into a four-car garage in the tax code.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding," said Skip Barnett, a Hummer dealer in Atlanta when the News told him about the Bush tax plan's new SUV subsidy. "That would make a Hummer practically free." Bingo.
In case you were wondering, a businessman who wants to stimulate the economy by buying a Ford Taurus or a BMW convertible can’t get these big tax breaks.
That’s because in the 1980s, Congress put limits on how much small businesses and the self-employed could write-off for fancy cars. But they exempted vehicles that weighed more than 6,000 pounds because they didn’t want to discourage farmers and builders from buying pickup trucks and big vans. SUVs weren’t yet popular with soccer moms and football dads.
So now a chiropractor in Sausalito can buy a top of the line Hummer for that $102,581 and then claim a $75,000 deduction for capital equipment, an $8,274 post-Sep. 11 bonus capital equipment deduction and a first-year depreciation allowance of $3,861. The total deduction: $87,135. Assuming the driver is in the top income bracket, the federal tax savings for buying a Hummer is $33,634.
Bet you feel like a sucker for missing out, don’t you?
The Bush administration certainly thinks we’re suckers when it comes to SUVs.
As the administration’s right-hand writes big deductions for big vehicles into the tax code, the administration’s left-hand is grasping to make these road monsters safer. The country’s top road safety regulator, Dr. Jeffrey Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently told an auto industry group, “The fatality rate per 100,000 registered SUVs is about three times higher than it is for passenger cars. It doesn’t take a statistician to tell you something is wrong here.”
Runge also said that he wouldn’t let his family ride in rollover prone SUVs “if they were the last vehicles on earth.” That really sent Detroit into a tailspin.
The “Bush Buy SUVs” program also collides with the administration’s recent decision to force car companies to improve the fuel economy of SUVs, pickups and minivans by 7 percent over the next few years.
The bottom line is absurd: the government wants to increase its subsidy for buying vehicles it says are unsafe, gas-guzzling polluters.
That makes about as much sense as asking “What Would Jesus Drive?”
Dick Meyer, a veteran political and investigative producer for CBS News, is Editorial Director of CBSNews.com based in Washington.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/23/opinion/meyer/main537649.shtml
Now the Federals are fighting dumb with dumber.
The Bush administration has proposed tripling a little-know tax deduction that dermatologists, real estate agents, accountants or business consultants can use to buy the biggest SUVs.
It’s a highly stimulating provision in the administration’s economic stimulus program. The loophole would allow someone who buys an $102,581 Hummer H1 for “business purposes” to deduct $87,135 from his taxes immediately. Seriously. Good deal if you can get it.
In December, The Detroit News first reported that lots of self-employed dentists and lawyers were gettin’ it. The auto industry’s hometown paper also was the first to figure out that the new Bush plan would turn the SUV loophole into a four-car garage in the tax code.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding," said Skip Barnett, a Hummer dealer in Atlanta when the News told him about the Bush tax plan's new SUV subsidy. "That would make a Hummer practically free." Bingo.
In case you were wondering, a businessman who wants to stimulate the economy by buying a Ford Taurus or a BMW convertible can’t get these big tax breaks.
That’s because in the 1980s, Congress put limits on how much small businesses and the self-employed could write-off for fancy cars. But they exempted vehicles that weighed more than 6,000 pounds because they didn’t want to discourage farmers and builders from buying pickup trucks and big vans. SUVs weren’t yet popular with soccer moms and football dads.
So now a chiropractor in Sausalito can buy a top of the line Hummer for that $102,581 and then claim a $75,000 deduction for capital equipment, an $8,274 post-Sep. 11 bonus capital equipment deduction and a first-year depreciation allowance of $3,861. The total deduction: $87,135. Assuming the driver is in the top income bracket, the federal tax savings for buying a Hummer is $33,634.
Bet you feel like a sucker for missing out, don’t you?
The Bush administration certainly thinks we’re suckers when it comes to SUVs.
As the administration’s right-hand writes big deductions for big vehicles into the tax code, the administration’s left-hand is grasping to make these road monsters safer. The country’s top road safety regulator, Dr. Jeffrey Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently told an auto industry group, “The fatality rate per 100,000 registered SUVs is about three times higher than it is for passenger cars. It doesn’t take a statistician to tell you something is wrong here.”
Runge also said that he wouldn’t let his family ride in rollover prone SUVs “if they were the last vehicles on earth.” That really sent Detroit into a tailspin.
The “Bush Buy SUVs” program also collides with the administration’s recent decision to force car companies to improve the fuel economy of SUVs, pickups and minivans by 7 percent over the next few years.
The bottom line is absurd: the government wants to increase its subsidy for buying vehicles it says are unsafe, gas-guzzling polluters.
That makes about as much sense as asking “What Would Jesus Drive?”
Dick Meyer, a veteran political and investigative producer for CBS News, is Editorial Director of CBSNews.com based in Washington.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/23/opinion/meyer/main537649.shtml
OIL LEASES........GIVE EM UP!!!!! BIG TAX BREAKS FOR SUV PURCHASE!!
Bush plan gives huge tax break to buyers of big SUVs
Let someone or some other company takeover the OIL LEASES that are all COVERED UP!!!
Give me a break!
Where were the REPUBLICANS when the TAX BREAKS were given for the SUV Purchases.
Posted 1/21/2003 9:22 AM Updated 1/21/2003 9:22 AM
Advertisement
RELATED STORIES
Hearings
Criticism flies over automakers' SUV safety plans
Crash tests may make SUVs even more deadly
Top official backs off SUV safety comments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUVs under fire
PR company comes up with 2 campaigns taking SUVs to task
Automakers defend SUVs as criticism grows
Regulator criticizes SUVs on safety front
Anti-SUV movement grows
Bush plan gives huge tax break to buyers of big SUVsBy David Kiley, USA TODAY
DETROIT — Buying big, luxurious sport-utility vehicles could cost a lot less under the Bush administration's economic stimulus proposal, even though a Bush appointee blasted SUVs last week as dangerous fuel hogs.
Small businesses and the self-employed could deduct the entire cost, up to $75,000, from business income the year of the purchase. Normally it would be written off over several years, using a depreciation schedule. Deducting the entire cost in one year considerably reduces that year's taxable income, and income taxes. In some cases, it could result in paying no federal income tax.
A similar deduction in the current tax code is limited to $25,000. Tripling that creates a much more alluring incentive at a time when SUVs are under fire for fuel consumption and safety concerns.
Bush appointee Jeffrey Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, scolded automakers at an industry conference one week ago for not making SUVs safer and more fuel efficient. He told reporters that he considers some SUVs so dangerous he wouldn't allow his family in them "if they were the last vehicles on Earth."
A stung auto industry shot back with statistics showing SUVs are very safe in the most common types of crashes.
White House spokesman Taylor Gross said Monday that the provision "is not designed to favor one vehicle over another, but rather to allow small businesses to buy more equipment and to create more jobs."
Computers and other equipment do also get favorable treatment in the provision to help small businesses and the self-employed upgrade their hardware. But the language regarding vehicles limits the tax benefit to those with a gross vehicle weight rating of 6,000 pounds or more. That means full-size SUVs and pickups.
As a result, an accountant who'd do fine with a 30-mile-per-gallon compact sedan as a company car could be enticed into a big, 15-mpg SUV instead because of the deduction. Or a real estate agent about to buy a 20-mpg midsize SUV that doesn't qualify for the deduction might opt for a full-size SUV instead, because it does qualify.
Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) estimates that the current deduction cuts tax revenue $1 billion for every 100,000 SUVs, and vows to lobby against tripling the amount. "The market for personal-use SUVs has outgrown the original intent of this tax break," says Aileen Roder of TCS.
"When a loophole gives an accountant an incentive to deduct the cost of his luxury SUV, it makes the argument of how ridiculous" it is, says Jonathan Collegio of Americans for Tax Reform.
During furious SUV sales last month, "We did have some people coming in saying, 'My accountant told me I better buy something,' " says Chevrolet dealer Jerry Haggerty in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Contributing: Gannett News Service
Let someone or some other company takeover the OIL LEASES that are all COVERED UP!!!
Give me a break!
Where were the REPUBLICANS when the TAX BREAKS were given for the SUV Purchases.
Posted 1/21/2003 9:22 AM Updated 1/21/2003 9:22 AM
Advertisement
RELATED STORIES
Hearings
Criticism flies over automakers' SUV safety plans
Crash tests may make SUVs even more deadly
Top official backs off SUV safety comments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUVs under fire
PR company comes up with 2 campaigns taking SUVs to task
Automakers defend SUVs as criticism grows
Regulator criticizes SUVs on safety front
Anti-SUV movement grows
Bush plan gives huge tax break to buyers of big SUVsBy David Kiley, USA TODAY
DETROIT — Buying big, luxurious sport-utility vehicles could cost a lot less under the Bush administration's economic stimulus proposal, even though a Bush appointee blasted SUVs last week as dangerous fuel hogs.
Small businesses and the self-employed could deduct the entire cost, up to $75,000, from business income the year of the purchase. Normally it would be written off over several years, using a depreciation schedule. Deducting the entire cost in one year considerably reduces that year's taxable income, and income taxes. In some cases, it could result in paying no federal income tax.
A similar deduction in the current tax code is limited to $25,000. Tripling that creates a much more alluring incentive at a time when SUVs are under fire for fuel consumption and safety concerns.
Bush appointee Jeffrey Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, scolded automakers at an industry conference one week ago for not making SUVs safer and more fuel efficient. He told reporters that he considers some SUVs so dangerous he wouldn't allow his family in them "if they were the last vehicles on Earth."
A stung auto industry shot back with statistics showing SUVs are very safe in the most common types of crashes.
White House spokesman Taylor Gross said Monday that the provision "is not designed to favor one vehicle over another, but rather to allow small businesses to buy more equipment and to create more jobs."
Computers and other equipment do also get favorable treatment in the provision to help small businesses and the self-employed upgrade their hardware. But the language regarding vehicles limits the tax benefit to those with a gross vehicle weight rating of 6,000 pounds or more. That means full-size SUVs and pickups.
As a result, an accountant who'd do fine with a 30-mile-per-gallon compact sedan as a company car could be enticed into a big, 15-mpg SUV instead because of the deduction. Or a real estate agent about to buy a 20-mpg midsize SUV that doesn't qualify for the deduction might opt for a full-size SUV instead, because it does qualify.
Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) estimates that the current deduction cuts tax revenue $1 billion for every 100,000 SUVs, and vows to lobby against tripling the amount. "The market for personal-use SUVs has outgrown the original intent of this tax break," says Aileen Roder of TCS.
"When a loophole gives an accountant an incentive to deduct the cost of his luxury SUV, it makes the argument of how ridiculous" it is, says Jonathan Collegio of Americans for Tax Reform.
During furious SUV sales last month, "We did have some people coming in saying, 'My accountant told me I better buy something,' " says Chevrolet dealer Jerry Haggerty in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Contributing: Gannett News Service
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