I love politics!

I love politics!

'Please don't call me ignorant coward anymore.'

how about if we just call you zoukie, like we always did?

stupid. just stupid

I think this name will be good for me from now on. Please don't call me ignorant coward anymore.

nobody on-topic today?

What is it that the 'whales' are buying? There was something in Bush that they liked, and apparently they see it in Giuliani as well. What is it? Is it the eternal war in the Mid-East implied by Rudi 'nuke'em' Giuliani? Is it that Giuliani, like Bush, never met a tax cut that he didn't like?

These people are rounding up a lot of money in the hope that their guy gets elected; are they looking for 8 more years of the same, or something different?

BAGHDAD, June 10 -- With the four-month-old increase in American troops showing little success in curbing insurgent attacks, American commanders are turning to another strategy that they acknowledge is fraught with risk: arming Sunni Arab groups that have promised to fight militants linked with Al Qaeda who have been their allies in the past.

In some cases, the American commanders say, the Sunni groups are suspected of involvement in past attacks on American troops or of having links to such groups. Some of these groups, they say, have been provided, usually through Iraqi military units allied with the Americans, with arms, ammunition, cash, fuel and supplies.

The Army fell quite short of its recruiting goal for May,
The active-duty Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force barely met their May targets, but the Army National Guard and Air National Guard fell far short.

'Former Secretary of State Colin Powell condemned the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay yesterday, calling it "a major problem for America's perception" and charging, "if it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo -- not tomorrow, this afternoon."

Later, on CNN's Late Edition, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) expressed his disagreement with Powell about closing Guantanamo, saying "most of our prisoners would love to be in a facility more like Guantanamo and less like the state prisons that people are in in the United States."

Yes, I'm sure most people would like nothing more than to be locked in a small steel cage and subjected to torture and abuse. How did republicans all get so brain-damaged?

BREAKING: Bush Administration Loses Major Terror Detention Case
In a "major setback" to President Bush's terrorism detention policies, a federal appeals court ruled today that the administration "cannot legally detain a U.S. resident it believes is an al-Qaida sleeper agent without charging him."

In the 2-1 decision, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel found that the federal Military Commissions Act doesn't strip Ali al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident, of his constitutional rights to challenge his accusers in court.

It ruled the government must allow al-Marri to be released from military detention.

Al-Marri has been held in solitary confinement in the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., since June 2003. The Qatar native has been detained since his December 2001 arrest at his home in Peoria, Ill., where he moved with his wife and five children to study for a master's degree.

"To sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians, even if the President calls them 'enemy combatants,' would have disastrous consequences for the constitution -- and the country," the court panel said.'

I am such a complete imbecile, I can't even name myself.

Simply put, Rudy with his finger on the nuclear button should scare the hell out of all Americans.

'Rudy Giuliani says 'yes' to nukes as a way to deal with Iran'

From CNN -- just another ultraviolent neocon nutcase, itching for WW3.

I noticed that nobody from Michigan was on that list. I realize that Guiliani thinks Michigan is a battle between Romney and McCain but he is going to need Michigan during the general election.

Posted by: jeff | June 11, 2007 01:57 PM

Agreed, the polls in michigan from a few months ago had him in the lead, but anything can happen between now and possibly feb 5.(mi is also joining clusterf*ck tuesday) if rudy survives iowa and NH its possible, considering McCain's stunning win in 2000,and the romney's history in the state(his father, a mi gov and former presidental canidate in 68) mi could decide the gop canidate.

sort of off topic question, and it may be too early to predict. what states if any can rudy g win in a primary election, or better yet in the general election?

Chris writes, about GOP donors
"And, just in case you were wondering, here's our full Whale list -- the Bush Rangers and Pioneers who have signed up with 2008 campaigns."

I'd be curious to hear from those folks, whether their prior donations were good investments or not, and whether they think they're buying the same thing this time around - or something different.

Of course, Fox News isn't a real "news" outlet, so it's not required to report the actual news.

Fox spent half as much time covering the Iraq war than MSNBC during the first three months of the year, and considerably less than CNN, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The difference was more stark during daytime news hours than in prime-time opinion shows. The Iraq war occupied 20 percent of CNN's daytime news hole and 18 percent of MSNBC's. On Fox, the war was talked about only 6 percent of the time.

Remember, there is no more reliable constituency for Republicans than Fox News viewers (they went for Bush 88-7, more so than conservatives, gun owners, evangelicals, and war supporters).

And the network that caters to these deluded can't possibly show them what reality looks like.

Why Rudy Giuliani Can't Stop Cashing in on 9/11."
His settlement with his former wife, Donna Hanover, in the summer of 2002 called for him to pay her $6.8 million over three years as well as child support. Hanover's lawyers estimated that Giuliani's income in 2002 was $20 million, a little more than half from speaking fees and book advances . . ."

Yet once Rudy got a taste of living large . . ."he quickly adapted to his new lifestyle, demanding first-class flights and accommodations for himself and his posse when he traveled and purchasing a $4 million summer house in the Hamptons for himself and Judy Nathan, whom he married in 2003. The couple also have an apartment on Manhattan's East Side worth more than $5 million.

So it all runs together. Rudy's profiting from a great tragedy, selling out American interests to foreign interests, major conflicts of interest between his law firm activities and the funding of his potential run for the presidency, etc. A half dozen writers point out a common theme: Giuliani's insatiable greed as a last step into a bent American Dream.

I noticed that nobody from Michigan was on that list. I realize that Guiliani thinks Michigan is a battle between Romney and McCain but he is going to need Michigan during the general election.

Kevin writes
"Just remember - raising taxes lays people off, cause poverty to increase, and reduces the resources that are available for government to help those who are in desperate need. Reducing taxes increases jobs, moves people from poverty to ownership, and fills the federal coffers with help for those in need."

What an idiotic statement. If that were true, why not just reduce taxes to zero and thusly move people from poverty to ownership at the fastest rate possible? The federal coffers would overflow with 'help for those in need'!!!

That was sarcasm, by the way. Obviously at extreme levels of taxation - 0% or 100% - the system won't work at all. But to make a blanket statement that 'reducing taxes increases jobs' is likewise ludicrous. When the top tax rates were 70% or even 90% there was a compelling argument to make that reducing taxes would boost the economy & government revenue. With the tax rates where they are now, such arguments cease to be valid.

pushing the same old con lies, i see, kevin. sorry bro, but the number of americans living under the poverty line has vastly increased since bush regime took power. and reducing taxes creates jobs? then why has the rate of job creation slowed dramatically since 2000? Too bad fools like you are so credulous you believe the crap shoveled out by the wealthy.

and hello -- the federal coffers are f*cking empty right now, thanks to the policies you espouse. but people like you are too stupid to figure that out.

For uncensored news please bookmark:

www.wsws.org
www.takigaimradio.info
www.onlinejournal.com
otherside123.blogspot.com
www.globalresearch.ca

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2064.shtml

Bracewell & Giuliani, the 'guiding' law firm on the privatization of Texas State Highway 121

By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Associate Editor

What, you didn't know a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination is a partner in the Dallas law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani? It's among the nation's largest, with 400 attorneys and nine offices worldwide. And now B&G is exclusively representing the Spanish company Cintra through the privatization of Texas State Highway 121. Anybody want to call Congress and let them know? It's right here in the linked March 26 Dallas Business Journal.

Yup, Rudy's at it again, milking the old cash cow, the 9/11 sheriff routine to those sympathetic (rich and wannabe richer) Texans. The client, Cintra, has signed an agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to finish the State Highway 121 toll road by 2011, a quarter century faster than possible through traditional sources (i.e. American workers), according to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). What you should also know is that the toll road is part of the NAFTA Superhighway and construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC).

Independent Journalist Cliff Kincaid nails it in his article Giuliani Linked To "NAFTA Superhighway": "Evidence shows that NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement involving the U.S., Canada and Mexico, is being expanded without congressional approval or oversight as part of a plan to create an economic and political entity known as the North American Union." This is "the project that has people in Texas and around the nation up in arms."

Kincaid quotes freelance writer Dianne M. Grassi, who originally broke the story of Rudy's law firm on the TTC toll-road project. She comments, "Most interesting to the whole story is not only has Giuliani's involvement in the NAFTA Superhighway not ever having been publicly addressed, but how a foreign company is awarded the building of a mass highway system, versus maintaining it, for the first time in U.S. history, and negotiated by the law firm of the top Republican candidate running for President of the United States."

Grassi also points out that "Cintra joined with San Antonio, TX-based Zachry Construction Corp. to help land the contracts, in which Zachry owns a 20% interest. The Cintra-Zachry proposal for TTC-35 includes a private investment of up to $6 billion in upfront payments for the complete construction, design and operation of a 316-mile toll road between Dallas and San Antonio, giving Cintra the right to set tolls and keep toll road profits for a period of 50 years, as it will for each road it has contracted.."

Grassi goes on to say, "The NAFTA Superhighway and its corridors will run from Southwestern Mexico through Laredo, Austin and Dallas, TX, into Kansas City, KS, serving as an inland customs port. The corridor will split in Kansas with one leg going to Winnipeg, Canada, through Omaha, NE. The other leg goes to Toronto, Canada, through Des Moines, IA, Chicago, IL, and Detroit, MI. . . ."

Additionally, Terry Hall, founder and director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), notes that "Giuliani clients with an interest in acquiring Texas roads and infrastructure have also invested in his presidential campaign.

"This could explain why Giuliani has spent so much time fundraising in Texas. The monied proponents of the Trans-Texas Corridor, of which there are many, would like to see this man become President."

The big irony here is that Giuliani was opposed to NAFTA, that is, before he became a private business dude with global clients.

This kind of conflict and mixing of interests rolls into the criminal. Especially, as Australian journalist Mark Coultan points out that Cintra is a financial partner with an Australian company, Macquarie, on a toll-road project in Indiana. It seems that Macquarie acquired the business and assets of an investment bank known as Giuliani Capital Advisors, which sold, according to the Washington Post, "for an undisclosed amount as Giuliani was preparing his run for president." The amount is between $76 and $100 million, Coultan writes. This for a bank that ran up a net loss of $1.4 million after generous salaries to partners. The senior staff, who own about 30 percent of the stock, "will come with the deal."

Coultan also points just how greedy Rudy can be: "Giuliani has also been criticized for taking excessive fees at charity events. One occasion involved the Queen Elizabeth Research Hospital in Adelaide, where his reported $200,000 fee left only $15,000 in net proceeds. After criticism, he held a fundraiser in New York which raised $75,000."

Additionally, Dan Collins and Wayne Barrett pointed out, in an Alternet article, Why Rudy Giuliani Can't Stop Cashing in on 9/11." They wrote, "Giuliani had never seemed particularly concerned about money -- he wouldn't have been scheming so desperately for a third $195,000-a-year term as mayor if wealth had been his top priority. But his sudden riches came in handy. His settlement with his former wife, Donna Hanover, in the summer of 2002 called for him to pay her $6.8 million over three years as well as child support. Hanover's lawyers estimated that Giuliani's income in 2002 was $20 million, a little more than half from speaking fees and book advances . . ."

Yet once Rudy got a taste of living large . . ."he quickly adapted to his new lifestyle, demanding first-class flights and accommodations for himself and his posse when he traveled and purchasing a $4 million summer house in the Hamptons for himself and Judy Nathan, whom he married in 2003. The couple also have an apartment on Manhattan's East Side worth more than $5 million, complete with Rudy's Yankee diamond rings displayed in wooden boxes, a lithograph of Winston Churchill above the fireplace, two white Churchill porcelain figures and a Joe DiMaggio shirt encased in glass. . . ."

So it all runs together. Rudy's profiting from a great tragedy, selling out American interests to foreign interests, major conflicts of interest between his law firm activities and the funding of his potential run for the presidency, etc. A half dozen writers point out a common theme: Giuliani's insatiable greed as a last step into a bent American Dream.

And once more I ask you as I did in Ground Zero illnesses come back to haunt Giuliani, is this really the man you want to be the Republican presidential candidate, let alone your president? But then look at that clown race and you find the second runner, Mitt, making his own Times' headlines, Romney's Political Fortunes Tied to Riches He Gained in Business. Is this déjà vu all over again, or just time for a major change in the kind of people we elect to lead this country? I sincerely hope the latter, as well as for a clean election for once.
Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer living in New York City. Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.

As long as liberals will live they will attempt to take more of what does not belong to them, even if it means growing the rate of unemployment, seeing the number of Americans who live below the poverty line increase, and reduces the amount of dollars Washington can use to help those who truly do fall through the cracks.

Just remember - raising taxes lays people off, cause poverty to increase, and reduces the resources that are available for government to help those who are in desperate need. Reducing taxes increases jobs, moves people from poverty to ownership, and fills the federal coffers with help for those in need.