Romney needs his presidential salary??

Chicago Tribune reported that Mitt Romney will donate his $400,000 annual salary if he gets elected as president. He declined his $135,000 salary as governor.

"I never anticipated that I'd be as financially successful as I was," stated Romney.

Well considering Romney's financial assets are as high as 250 million dollars I'm sure the presidential salary is not that big of a donation for him.
Romney's top rivals, McCain and Giuliani are also wealthy men. McCain is reported to have assets from 20 to 30 million dollars, inherited by his wife Cindy who is an heiress to Hensley & Co, a beer company her father founded. Giuliani is said to have up to an average of 88K per speech last year. Last year, he earned up to 11.4 million dollars in just speaking fees.

Al Gore hasn't ruled out the '08

Al Gore said today that he isn't ruling out running for president in the 2008 campaign but he also doesn't believe he was the skills necessary to be president right now. So...I hope this means that he definitely rules running for president out because if he does decide to run....

Steve Jobs also said that if Al Gore decides to run he will endorse him.

Don't wait too long.

The Supreme Court limited workers' ability to sure for pay discrimination. They ruled against a Goodyear employee who earned thousands of dollars less than her male coworkers but waited too long to complain.

It was a 5-4 decision and it set a 180 day deadline for employees to claim they are being paid less because of their race, sex, religion, or national origin.

The lady who sued waited 19 years...was she sitting around one day and just decided to finally sue? 19 years later? I wonder if she was dwelling on it for 19 years.

Clintons get sued!

Shareholders sue company for donating funds for Hillary's campaign. The company is infoUSA and Vinod Gupta is investigated to have flown the Clinton's on nearly 3million dollars worth of personal vacations and business trips.

The shareholders claimed that this was a "serial misuse of corporate assets and resources."

I thought this was why politicians get involved in politics.

Hamas Mickey

What about the copyright Disney has on Mickey Mouse?

Edwards leading in a state.

Democrats

Fred Thompson is 5 points behing Rudy.

Democrats
Edwards 26
Clinton 24
Obama 19
Richardson 7
Biden 6

Clinton has a 18-point lead in the RCP Average.

Republicans
Giuliani 27
Thompson 22
Romney 18
McCain 12

Giuliani holds a 13.5-point lead in the RCP Average.

Israel-Palestinian conflict

This is a very interesting read on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Here is an excerpt:

"Right now both continue to offer too little and demand too much. Israel has at least abandoned the dream of a Greater Israel that bewitched it after the great victory of 1967. The illusion that the Palestinians would fall into silence has been shattered by two intifadas and every rocket Hamas fires from Gaza. Israel's present government says it is committed to a two-state solution. But it is a weak government, and has lacked the courage to spell out honestly the full territorial price Israelis must pay. The Palestinians have meanwhile gone backwards. If Hamas means what it says, it continues to reject the idea that Jews have a right to a national existence in the Middle East.

What self-defeating madness. For peace to come, Israel must give up the West Bank and share Jerusalem; the Palestinians must give up the dream of return and make Israel feel secure as a Jewish state. All the rest is detail."

Last I checked, it was a religious disagreement. It's not really what I would distinguish as Ethnic. Apartheid was Racial, Black, White, Colored and Asian. Each race had different rights, about where they could go, what they could do. I'm pretty sure in Israel, regardless of your faith, you can sit down on a bus, or eat at a restaurant of your choosing. I'm pretty sure that the Israeli government isn't trying out biological weapons on its own people, and I'm fairly certain that Israel actually considers a Palestinian a person, unlike the South African government in the Apartheid years.

No representation for Republican

Republicans call for McCain's resignation as a senator.

Arizona doesn't feel represented by McCain and wants him to put in his resignation. Yeah, considering he's only been there 50% of the time and the rest of the time dedicated to campaigning he really isn't a senator. Hopefully he'll show up to the next vote or citizens won't be happy. He recently missed out on a vote for the 2008 fiscal year.

Reagan says getting shot hurts

Reagan's diary was just released.

He made his diary 787 pages long and debuted at the Reagan libraries. He wrote entries for each night of his eight years. He didn't write in it a few days after he got shot but when he did recover and was abhle to write in it again he wrote..."getting shot hurts"

The night before Bush snior was to become president, he wrote, "Tomorrow I stop being President."

''Insanity is hereditary you catch it from your kids.''

His fears of the Middle East. ''Sometimes I wonder if we are destined to witness Armageddon.''

''29 years of more happiness than any man could rightly deserve.'' - Wedding anniversary.

''I pray I'll never face a day when she isn't there.'' - on Nancy Reagan

john mccain gets cranky

Johh McCain makes a comment on Mitt Romney using illegal aliens for his for his lawn.

Romney attacks McCain's policy and McCain responds with personal attacks.

Romney hired a company that hired illegal immigrants.

missing iraq votes

John McCain misses another vote today on a resolution related to the Iraq war. His missed vote today marked his 5th straight week w/o casting a vote on the floor, with this morning' s vote maring teh 42nd straight roll call he's missed. Since the 1st quarter fundraising period for pres. candidates he has only made 3 floor votes. If he misses three more votes, he will have missed 50%. The vote for the 2008 budget will be voted on this afternoon.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/05/mccain_misses_42_straight_vote.html

john mccain interviews himself

blame game

Now that Alberto's Deputy Attorney General, Paul McNulty, will step down at the end of summer, Alberto can blame the firing of the 8 US attorneys all on him!

"At the end of the day, the recommendations reflected the views of the deputy attorney general. He signed off on the names," Gonzales told reporters after a speech about Justice Department steps to curb rising violent crime.

"The one person I would care about would be the views of the deputy attorney general, because the deputy attorney general is the direct supervisor of the United States attorneys," Gonzales said.

Gonzales called McNulty's pending departure "a loss. ... I'm really going to miss him."

McNulty acknowledged last year in October the list of prosecutors who were ordered to leave. On the contrary, recent documents released by the Justice Department show that McNulty was not closely involved in picking allt he U.S. attorneys who were put on the list; it was the job mostly carried through by Gonzales' staff with little prosecutorial experience.

Rush IS nature.

Rush Limbaugh saves a turtle because he's as much part of nature as a crow.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I did my good deed of the week yesterday. I was playing golf yesterday morning at a course down here that's closing for the summer. It always closes on Mother's Day. It's Seminole. I shot a hell of a round. I shot an 85, so 42-43. But I was plus five on the par threes. If I could have just parred the par threes, I would have shot an 80. I mean, if -- if, you know, if is for children. Anyway, as we're heading up to the 16th, all of a sudden as I'm walking up, I see something that looks huge in the middle of the fairway with a bird prancing around. I got closer, and it's a turtle, a pretty big turtle. Not a sea turtle, but a pretty big turtle and this bird is just harassing this turtle like you can't believe. My caddy said, "You know what's going on there? That turtle is heading for the sand traps. She's going to lay her eggs, and the bird knows it, and the bird's just waiting to get the eggs," and I said, "Well, this isn't going to happen when I'm out here." So I went over and picked up this turtle, and took it back over to the creek, because the turtle had turned and was aiming for the sand trap. But when we turned it away from the sand trap, it started heading back to where the little stream or creek is in the rough. So we figured, "Okay. The turtle has figured out here that the bird wants its eggs and is going to wait to lay them. The turtle was just laboring. You've seen turtles just laboring to move. So the bird finally flew off when the turtle turned around. I picked the turtle up, took it back to within a foot of the creek, and it got scared. Its head was bopping in and out. It was not a snapper turtle. Its nose looked like nasal spray, one of those bottles of nasal spray. But it was a good deed. I picked up that turtle and we took it over there and I hope that it laid its eggs somewhere. She was doing this in broad daylight, folks, so there was plenty of light out there. Normally, these turtles do this at night to prevent other animals and beasts like birds getting in there and doing (interruption). Yeah, you could say that. You could say I interfered with nature. But I didn't interfere with nature because I am nature. I'm as much a part of nature as the stupid bird. It was a crow. To hell with those things! Those things... People ride golf carts. If you get to the halfway house and you put some cookies or snacks in there and then get out of the cart to go putt, those damn things steal your cookies out of the cart. If they find something they start cawing like crazy. All their buddies show up and you're in The Birds. It's like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. So I have no love lost for those crows. They're scavengers, just sitting around waiting for the disadvantaged to get weak. That's why I interceded. I am nature. I am as much a part of nature as they were.

END TRANSCRIPT

On a related note, I saw a roly poly on the sidewalk while walking back from class and I kept my shoe from squashing it by taking a longer step.

Stubborn Al

Alberto Gonzales' classmates ran a one page ad in the Washington Post urging him to resign.
At this point, Gonzales could care less about what anyone thinks except for Bush. No one can get him to step down.

His classmates didn't check up on Ben's quote...

• Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
  • This statement was used as a motto on the title page of An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania. (1759) which was attributed to Franklin in the edition of 1812, but in a letter of September 27, 1760 to David Hume, he states that he published this book and denies that he wrote it, other than a few remarks that were credited to the Pennsylvania Assembly, in which he served. The phrase itself was first used in a letter from that Assembly dated November 11, 1755 to the Governor of Pennsylvania. An article on the origins of this statement here includes a scan that indicates the original typography of the 1759 document, which uses an archaic form of "s": "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchaſe a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Researchers now believe that a fellow diplomat by the name of Richard Jackson is the primary author of the book. With the information thus far available the issue of authorship of the statement is not yet definitely resolved, but the evidence indicates it was very likely Franklin, who in the Poor Richard's Almanack of 1738 is known to have written a similar proverb: "Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power."
  • Many paraphrased variants derived from this saying have arisen and have usually been incorrectly attributed to Franklin:
    • "They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
      "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
      "Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither"
      "He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security"
      "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither"
      "People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both."
      "If we restrict liberty to attain security we will lose them both."
      "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
      "He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither"

Bush or Democrats

The Democrat controlled Congress is less popular than Bush. A recent Gallup Poll showed that Congress' approval rating is 29%; 4 points less than Bush's 33%.

The article states:
"Even though Democrats now control both houses of Congress, the poll shows that only 37% of Democrats approve of the job Congress is doing right now. These marks are, however, significantly better than those given to Congress by independents (24%) and Republicans (25%). Democrats have been more likely than Republicans to approve of Congress this year, whereas Republicans expressed a higher level of approval prior to the change of power experienced after the midterm congressional elections in November 2006. So far this year, Republicans' "

French Only

Quebec plan to have another language crackdown.

"

Molière's language will be protected in Quebec: Liberals

Last Updated: Friday, May 11, 2007 | 9:32 AM ET

CBC News

Quebec's new language minister says she intends to apply the province's tough language laws using a zero tolerance policy.

"The question of the French language, it's a priority for our government," said Christine St-Pierre, minister responsible for the Charter of the French Language. "It's also a priority for Premier [Jean] Charest."

"There will be zero tolerance on questions of the French language. We will be present, we will monitor and we will apply the law."

St-Pierre issued the dictum in response to a question from Parti Québécois MNA Pierre Curzi, who raised the language question at the national assembly on Thursday.

French remains fragile in Quebec's cosmopolitan areas, especially Montreal, and the government has a role to play to ensure its primacy, said Curzi.

"It's so easy in our environment, which is essentially English, to slide away, and especially in Montreal, where there are so many people coming from everywhere."

Quebec's Charter of the French Language, known as Bill 101, spells out the rules for using French in Quebec public spaces, workplaces and institutions."

What if we didn't allow Spanish?

52 states

Former Max Cleland appeared on CNN's Late Edition and said the Bush administration sees Iraq as the 51st state.

"It is this president that vetoed full funding of the war, actually more money for the troops that he requested, but he rejected the exit strategy. ... It is time for an exit strategy."

Cleland also said after hearing a clip of Vice President Cheney, "This administration for five years has tried to make Iraq the 51st state. It won't work. It belongs to the Iraqis. ... We can't micromanage Iraq."

No...Israel is the 51st state silly!

Adolf Hitler vs Mahmud Ahmadinejad

Bush met with James Dobson and other Christian leaders last week to rally support for his policies with Iraq and Iran.

Dobson later describes his meeting with the President on his radio show and drew a parallel between current Iranian President Ahmedinejad and Hitler.

“The world looked at Hitler and just didn't believe him and tried to appease him the way we're hearing in Washington today,” Dobson remarked. “You know, the President seems to me does understand this, as I told you from that meeting I had with him the other day, but even there it feels like somebody ought to be standing up and saying, ‘We are being threatened and we are going to meet this with force -- whatever's necessary.’”

Dobson continued, “Some of our listeners might not like that but I tell you, if we didn't stand up to Hitler, we'd be speaking German today.”

Um, I don't think we entered WWII because of Hitler. Dobson, we entered because Japan bombed us. And why would Bush talk to them about this issue? Peace loving Evangelical Christian. Gotta love it.

Stinky Bush Fart!

hahah

President Bush



Add to My Profile | More Videos

Dear Abby,

I am a crack dealer in Beaumont , Texas

who has recently been diagnosed

as a carrier of HIV virus. My parents

live in Fort Worth . One of my

sisters lives in Pflugerville and is

married to a transvestite.

My father and mother have recently been

arrested for growing and selling

marijuana. They are financially

dependent on my other two sisters, who

are prostitutes in Dallas .

I have two brothers: one is currently

serving a non-parole life sentence

at Huntsville for the murder of a

teenage boy in 1994. My other

brother is currently in jail awaiting charges of

sexual misconduct with his three children.

I have recently become engaged to marry

a former prostitute who lives in

Longview . She is a part time "working

girl". All things considered, my problem is

this. I love my fiancé and look

forward to bringing her into the family.

I certainly want to be totally

open and honest with her.

Should I tell her about my cousin who

supports Hillary Clinton for

President?

Signed,

Worried About My Reputation

oh annie

DC MADAMNED TOBIAS

So..Randall Tobias, director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) resigned claimiing it was for "personal reasons."

He also claims that he did enjoy Madam Jeane Palfry's escort service but he didn't have sex with any of the escorts, he just needed them for massages. The prostitutes do give better massages than masseuses, I'm sure.

Tobias told ABC News that he also used another escort service with "Central American" girls to give him massages too.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/senior_official.html

It doesn't really matter to me what politicians do on their own time, but when they're private life conflicts with issues that they advocate in office, it reveals a certain amount of hypocrisy about themselves.

Randall Tobias who was also the former ambassador for Bush's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief rallied for abstinence rather than using condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS.

Tobias explained his approach as "A and B and C. . . Abstinence works. 'Be faithful' works. Condoms work. They all have a role. But it's not a multiple choice, where there is only one answer."

Tobias served as one of the top officials overseeing global AIDS funding to other countries and was responsible for a U.S. policy that calls for the recipients to pledge they oppose PROSTITUTION and SEX TRAFFICKING.


Hmmmm....Prostitution strike one...Central American ladies? strike two....I wonder if he used condoms with the escorts...

donate your profits....

So is he telling the truth when he exposes any "truth" about the serious crimes he claimed the Bush administration has commiited? I don't know...it's a little fishy when he can't give any classified information from the CIA.
So he decides to profit off his book by coming out with the information now...after 3,000 American lives have been spared...

Bill Huffington rules out the fact that Al Gore will run.
I don't think Gore will dare to run against Hillary.

Another terrorist attack?

Rudy Giuliani suggested that if a Democrat president gets elected for 2008, America may face another terrorist attack.

"If any Republican is elected president--and I think obviously I would be the best at this--we will remain on offense and will anticipate what [the terrorists] will do and try to stop them before they do it... ...I listen a little to the Democrats and if one of them gets elected, we are going on defense. We will wave the white flag on Iraq. We will cut back on the Patriot Act, electronic surveillance, interrogation and we will be back to our pre-Sept. 11 attitude of defense. The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorists war against us."

Barack Obama responded by saying this:

"Rudy Giuliani today has taken politics of fear to a new low and I believe Americans are ready to reject those kinds of politics. America's mayor should know that when it comes to 9/11 and fighting terrorists, America is united. We know we can win this war based on shared purpose, not the same divisive politics that question your patriotism if you dare to question the failed policies that have made us less secure. I think we should focus on strengthening our intelligence, working with local authorities and doing all the things we haven't yet done to keep Americans safe. The threat we face is real, and deserves better than to be the punchline of another political attack."

Rudy obviously ignored the last electoral contest. A majority of people who voted in the last midterms displayed that they were obviously unhappy with the situation in the Iraq. Playing the fear card clearly is not working for the voters in the last election. If a majority of these voters support a withdrawal of American troops, Rudy should re-think his lines if he wants to actually keep the 2008 presidential vote out of the hands of the Democrats.

McCain Enters

Here is an excerpt of John McCain's speech that he will deliver later on today. It's worth the read:



We are fighting a war in two countries, and we’re in a global struggle with violent extremists who despise us, our values and modernity itself. If we are to succeed, we must rethink and rebuild the structure and mission of our military; the capabilities of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies; the purposes of our alliances; the reach and scope of our diplomacy; the capacity of all branches of government to defend us. We need to marshal all elements of American power: our military, economy, investment, trade and technology. We need to strengthen our alliances and build support in other nations. We must preserve our moral credibility, and remember that our security and the global progress of our ideals are inextricably linked. ...

Government spends more money today than ever before. Wasteful spending on things that are not the business of government indebts us to other nations; deprives you of the fruits of your labor; fuels inflation; raises interest rates; and encourages irresponsibility. ...

Our dependence on foreign sources of energy not only harms our environment and economy, it endangers our security. So much of the oil we import comes from countries in volatile regions of the world where our values aren’t shared and our interests aren’t a priority. ...

When I’m President I’ll offer common sense, conservative and comprehensive solutions to these challenges. Congress will have other ideas, and I’ll listen to them. I’ll work with anyone who is serious and sincere about solving these problems. I expect us to argue over principle, but when a compromise consistent with our principles is within reach, I expect us to seize it. Americans expect us to disagree, but not just to win the next election. They want us to serve the same goal: to ensure that a country blessed with our matchless prosperity, ingenuity, and strength can meet any challenge we confront

employers pay for employees eating habits?

A recent study, conducted by Duke University, found that obese workers cost employers more money than fit workers. Injury claims are filed more by obese workers than by fit workers. THe article I read then went on to say:

"Obesity experts said they hope the study will convince employers to invest in programs to help fight obesity. One employment attorney warned companies that treating fat workers differently could lead to discrimination complaints."

What? The employers now have to PAY for why the employees are obese?

everyone should have guns...?

Fox news was showing a different perspectives on the gun control laws. Instead of controlling the sales of gus, Fox had suggested that to prevent another event like this, Virginia Tech along with other colleges should get rid of the "no gun" law on campus. So if something like this were to go on again, college students won't have to wait for cops next time. They can take matters into their own hands by shooting the killer....

darfur

Today I saw that the news had finally covered something on the genocide in Sudan.

"Media coverage of the ongoing genocide in Darfur has been woefully inadequate. The Center for American Progress found that during June 2005, CNN, FOX News, NBC/MSNBC, ABC, and CBS ran 50 times as many stories about Michael Jackson and 12 times as many stories about Tom Cruise as they did about the genocide in Darfur."

Bush pressures Sudan on Darfur, citing possible US sanctions.

Bush said he would give Mr. Bashir "a short period of time." If Mr. Bashir doesn't comply, Bush said he would direct the Treasury Department to block transactions between the Sudanese government, something that should have been enforced a long time ago. Bush also threatened to bar 29 Sudanese companies from doing business in the US. Bush threatened to also impose sanctions against individuals that were responsible for the violence. I am interested to see if Ms. Rice will seek any new sanctions from the United Nations.

gun control

I doubt the massacre at V Tech will change any gun control laws. The Virginia store where Cho had bought the gun linked to four previous murders.
The candidate's will maybe focus their attention to stronger gun control laws. However, I don't believe anything will be done to push restrictions on the Second Amendment.

Could the horrific shooting have been prevented? What can the college students do in this imaginable situation?

V Tech

I was watching the news earlier on the Virginia Tech massacre.

"Recently elected Govenor Tim Kaine has announced that Blacksburg is in a state of Emergency after an alleged lone gunman allegedly killed two students, one male and one female, early this morning at 7 a.m., and later allegedly massacred Norris Hall, an academic building raising the death toll up to 33. Two hours after the first shooting the gunman was seen inside the second floor of Norris Hall allegedly searching for someone. At around 9:15 this morning the shooter began opening fire on students and faculty in classrooms, who attempted to barricade themselves inside their classrooms. The alleged murderer had apparently planned his move into Norris Hall after police reported he had chained entrances closed to prevent easy exit for potential escapees."

I don't think that the reporters questioning the chief of police for Virginia Tech should be focusing on the "what if's" of the situation. The emphasis of the story on CNN is that Virginia Tech failed to shut the school down after the first incident at 7am and that only an email was sent two hours later. Grilling the President and Chief of Police of V. Tech on these issues are a waste of time. Deciding after an incident to this degree that shutting down the school was the best idea should not be of importance. If the shooter of both these times is the same…who knows whether or not he would have gone somewhere else where students gather to act out.

Imus under fire

Imus made some incredibly ridiculous remarks about the females of the Rutgers basketball team. He called them "nappy-headed-hoes." After his remarks get noticed, he apologized for them and characterized them as "stupid" among other things. His apologies were not sincere if sincere at all. I can't see why other people aren't under fire for saying things just as bad if not worse.
David Ehrenstein writes an article titled "Obama the 'Magic Negro'
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ehrenstein19mar19,0,5335087.story?coll=la-opinion-center

AS EVERY CARBON-BASED life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters — musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House.

But it’s clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the “Magic Negro.”

The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. “He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist,” reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.-wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro.

He’s there to assuage white “guilt” (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.

The article gets worse. The article ends with this...

"Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn't project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him. "

Are the liberal elitists just as racist as their accused victims, the right-wing conservatives?

Welcome to my blog. Since I will be interning at Assemblyman Van Tran's office, I will make this blog about what I learn from interning at his office. I will also try to comment on current topics in news.