Rex Kickass

Lowes and Menards would definitely get the shaft. We've never gone blue before.

Really? Carl Cameron is the Chief Political Correspondent at Fox News. Or are you just saying that the Fox News news gathering organization simply pales in comparison to CBS?

Saw that. Interesting piece. Makes a good point though. Carl Cameron files a fake news story on foxnews.com during the campaign, but there were no "Carl Cameron Must Go" commercials anywhere. Dan Rather makes a mistake, retracts and apologizes for it, even though the documents don't invalidate the rest of the story - and he's basically lynched for it. I'm no Dan Rather fan, or O'Reilly fan, but he's right - the guy was smeared. Too bad O'Reilly didn't speak up when it counted.

So I think this argument is reaching an impasse. I have to agree with Tex when he says that torture by proxy is a stain on all our hands. And here's why. If we are fighting a war over our principles, it stands to reason that we have to be principled in war. I'm sorry to say this but the "They'd do it to us" argument isn't good enough for me. If we're fighting a war to be better than them, we have to be better than them. I also agree with Nuke by saying handing these folks a sandwich isn't going to fix the problem. But something tells me there's a limit we should reach and its not making our prisons seem like a hotel, which Nuke thinks the left wants to do, and its not fitting suspects with testicular electrodes like Apu thinks the right wants to do (and there is some evidence - to show that may be the case with some people in the administration). Something tells me there's a middle ground here. Something a little more extreme than a bubble bath, and a little less extreme than torture by proxy.

Dood. Calm down. The Onion is a parody.

I understand now, we have to change our way of life and our moral code to save our way of life and moral code.

Hostettler is a real guy. I believe his election was fairly close.

It's slow at work today. http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=1799771

Actually the degree of confidentiality seems odd to me. This jet has an identifiable number and is required to file flight plans with the FAA. Like all planes. The London Times is owned by the same company that owns Fox News. So if this newspaper as your source is giving you the grain of salt, it oughta be the same grain of salt that you use when you watch Shep or Brit or Hannity.

I just think its awesome. There's this really ugly building blocking my view - maybe if I pee on it enough...

Urine may cause bridge to collapse.

There's a disconnect I don't follow here. Aren't we fighting to protect freedom, to protect our way of life and morals? If we sink to their level to fight the terrorists, don't they win right there? Just askin.

I don't know if it is the case about the PACs and helping the side in power. The best way to figure that out is to look at PAC donations from 1994 and see where the bread was buttered. I will say this, that the Democrat party is beholden to special interests as well. Some of these are funding 527s sure, but these PACs are corporate PACs, which is to say they are set up and funded by the individual corporation - as far as I'm aware. Democrats are given big helping hands by organized labor. Far more than Republicans. So there are some advantages to the Dems. But I think it's important to know who is getting all this fundage. It provides a nice clue as to who is repaying a favor - and who is simply making a policy decision.

Which party is in the pocket of corporations? According to public record, it would appear to be the GOP. Top Corporate PACS favored GOP

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-...0,1455814.story

Rushmore, Big Lebowski and believe it or not, I think the Fahrenheit 9/11 movie does have a kick ass soundtrack.

I had some moon gas last night. Too much starch in the stuffing, I think.

The problem with state DOTs is that some states are funded better than others. If we are trying to ensure a national transportation grid, we need to create a national priority system, something that could be easily done through the department of transportation. With the power grid, I'm not talking about bringing more plants online. That wasn't the problem with the power outage a year ago. I'm talking about upgrading the grid itself, the method of distribution. They are privately owned but subject to government oversight. And that's a job we aren't doing effectively. Seaport and Airport security is sorely lacking and there is no active plan to beef it up. Instead, we're talking about privatizing airport security at smaller, regional airports - which would create a situation identical to pre 9/11 airport security. In October, Newark Liberty International announced that they couldn't guarantee the safety of planes flying in or out of the airport, 95% of cargo is not screened, period. Seaport or airport. As for intelligence reform, everyone seems to be for it, yet the GOP leadership won't allow a vote on it. Not all pork barrel spending is pure pork barrel. Not all of it is misguided or bad. But the method that the GOP uses to pass spending bills is a terrible one and has helped discretionary spending increase at a faster rate under the last ten years than when the "left" held the purse strings of this country. The GOP came to control the legislative branch by promising a responsible and accountable government. They have provided neither.

Amtrak does own its own track in the Northeast Corridor. That's why it works. You'd much rather fly and so would I, but there aren't a lot of airlines doing very well either at the moment. The high speed rail network, expanded across country could do wonders for reducing emissions by reducing long haul truck traffic across this country. It would also help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, in a more meaningful way then drilling ANWR. There are all sorts of priorities across this country which we are ignoring: There are bridges across this country poorly maintained and close to falling down. The CTA is in desperate need of a cash infusion to make sure the L doesn't fall down. Columbus, LA and a ton of other cities are in desperate need for a public transportation system that works. We need to upgrade our national power grid system. We need to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 commission including greater airport and seaport security. Instead, our Congress is spending its time inserting provisions allowing members of Congress to examine personally your tax return. Putting all this pork barrel money in. Allocating funds for the construction of a Presidential yacht. Changing the rules of Congress so that indicted Congressmen aren't forced to leave the leadership.

We waste all this money and we can't fund Amtrak fully enough to ensure that all its rolling stock is operable or that the track that it owns is maintained. Instead, the Frankenstein railroad that we created 30 or so years ago to ensure a national means of public transportation is dying and underfunded. And doesn't work either.

Blistering NYT column today. It's subscription on the web, so I'm posting the text too. In My Next Life, by Thomas Friedman

The line item veto wouldn't help anything. He probably wouldn't use it for anything other than specific punishment for specific legislators. Rather than that, what would help control spending is ending omnibus spending bills in the first place. If legislators don't read the bills to begin with, what makes you think the President would?

I remember hearing VHS was due for something like this back when I went to Marquette ten plus years ago.

I know, you almost think that Carter WASN'T an abject failure when he's building houses for Habitat.

Wait, didn't the plane crash when it was coming to pick Bush up? It clipped a light pole in the fog, there's no scary coincidence there really.