Theodore's World

Speaker-to-Be Accused Of Strong-Arm Tactics
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Washington Post

A showdown over the House majority leader’s post today has Democrats bitterly divided only a week after their party took control of Congress and has prompted numerous complaints that Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and her allies are using strong-arm tactics and threats to try to elect Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.) to the job.
Murtha, 74, a former Marine who was among the first on Capitol Hill to call for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, may have hurt his own chances Tuesday night when he derided the Democrats’ ethics and lobbying package before saying he will push for its passage anyway out of deference to Pelosi. His statement, at a gathering of conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats, was cited by backers of his rival, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), as further proof that Murtha’s controversial ethics record disqualifies him to lead the party in a new political era.
Pelosi’s aggressive intervention on behalf of Murtha has baffled and angered many Democrats, who think she has unnecessarily put her reputation on the line out of misplaced loyalty to a friend and because of a long-standing feud with Hoyer, the minority whip. Pelosi has pushed Murtha’s candidacy at social events, in private meetings and with incoming freshman Democrats; they have been called to her office to discuss committee assignments, only to hear first that she needs Murtha in order to be an effective leader.

Wild Thing’s comment……
I thought a lot about this and I agree with Rush Limbaugh. This is hilarious!!!!!
From Rush Liombaugh….

“We want him there, folks, we want him in the Democrat leadership because we want the Democrats to be who they are — especially after all this, we want Murtha elected. I therefore today endorse the candidacy of Jack Murtha to be the number two Democrat in the House of Representatives.
This is his time and now his own party is trying to savage him, not because they’re worried about him, but because they’re worried about themselves. Well, they’re saying he was almost a crook, but, see, the difference is, it was okay to be a crook before the election but it’s not okay to be a crook after the election when you want to be in the Senate Democrat leadership. This man, Jack Murtha, held out as some kind of icon on all of the Sunday shows without a whiff of comment about any of these scandals, the Abscam scandal, the earmarks, the funny money back and forth with his family and lobbyists and so forth. That’s because Murtha was useful to them during the campaign.
By the way, the Democrats owe this man. He was the one that first stuck his thick neck out there and demanded that we retreat and get out of Iraq. He was the architect of the cut-and-run policy that the American people have now endorsed with the election to power of Democrats in the House and Senate, and this is the way they show their gratitude?
This man was a Vietnam vet. We’re not allowed to look any further; we’re not allowed to ask any more questions. I mean, we all know that if Jack Murtha had been a conservative, none of that would have mattered. It would have been the ethically challenged Murtha prior to the election. These guys have had this tape of him with the FBI and Abscam, and they didn’t play it on their Nightly News segments last night. This is amazing to me.
This is a guy who wants the number two job in the House of Representatives. He’s being supported by the speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi. Speaking of her, notice this, ladies and gentlemen. Pelosi is being criticized for starting the fight about Murtha but not for backing an unethical hack who came within an eyelash of being indicted. He was an unindicted coconspirator. He’s probably now the second most famous unindicted coconspirator in the history of American political scandal.
Now, Pelosi is being criticized for taking a position. She’s supposed to stay out of this race. She’s not being criticized for backing an unethical hack. Now, if Murtha’s ethical lapses are so deep and numerous, as they obviously are, then why was he fit to be reelected?
Everybody is trying to feed off him, and now they’re trying to get rid of the guy who is their true star, Jack Murtha, more than any Democrat, told us who they are. It’s a close contest, but he’s in — and for that reason, he needs to stay in a position of prominence. “

Wild Thing’s comment continued…..
Y’all heard it from Rush: He’s endorsed John Murtha! You know what this means? Jack’s OUR BOY – our b*tch! As they say. hahahaha Now watch as the Democrats swiftboat him from the leadership. A Democrat like Sheikh Down Murtha being endorsed gasp!…..by a conservative is a like the kiss of death!

Kucinich Calls for Cutting Off Iraq War Funds
“That’s the only way we’re going to end this war.”
Nov 15, 2006
Congressman Kucinich called Wednesday for cutting off funding of the Iraq war, as the surest way out of Iraq. His statements were made in an interview by Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman.

“I want to say that there’s one solution here, and it’s not to engage in a debate with the President, who has taken us down a path of disaster in Iraq, but it’s for Congress to assume the full power that it has under the Constitution to cut off funds. We don’t need to keep indulging in this debate about what to do, because as long as we keep temporizing, the situation gets worse in Iraq.”

“We have to determine that the time has come to cut off funds. There’s enough money in the pipeline to achieve the orderly withdrawal that Senator McGovern is talking about. But cut off funds, we must. That’s the ultimate power of the Congress, the power of the purse. That’s how we’ll end this war, and that’s the only way we’re going to end this war.”

“We need to shift our direction.”

“We have to take a whole new approach. We’re spending over $400 billion a year, money that’s also needed for healthcare, for education, for job creation, for seniors. We have to take a new look at this. We need to be a strong country, but strength isn’t only military. Strength is also the economic strength of the people, their chance to have good neighborhoods. We spend more money than all the countries of the world put together for the military.”

“It’s time for us to start to shift our vision about who we are as a nation, because if we don’t do that — we’re borrowing money right now to wage the war in Iraq. We’re borrowing money from China. We’re not looking at our trade deficit. We’re not looking at conditions, where people are going bankrupt trying to pay their hospital bills. We need to shift our direction, and the direction has to be away from the continued militarization of the United States society.”

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Hey Dennis, terrorists watch the news, you know. They are emboldened by your support. Shut the hell up, you lily-livered coward and crawl back under the rock from whence you came. These people are NOT Americans they are the scum of the earth.
And ah Dennis this is my message to you! CLICK HERE …taken from the film Pulp Fiction, a quote by Samuel Jackson.

A little later…..

Funny as heck, looks like John was sent to the corner

And this one with NO Kerry showing at all and there is plenty of room. tee hee
He’s just been eclipsed in this one. Note the shadows of the legs on the pedestal of the statue, and an extra head shadow on the back wall.

What on Earth Did Schumer Say to Kerry?
World News
For anyone who needed more evidence that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is out of favor with Democrats, it appeared that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) kicked him out of the Democrats’ leadership walk on Tuesday.
As the new Senate leaders departed from the Old Senate Chamber on their way to the Ohio Clock Corridor to talk about their agenda, the election of the leaders, and Iraq, John Kerry — not a member of the new leadership — walked out of the room behind new Majority Leader Harry Reid, Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Caucus Secretary Patty Murray and Caucus Vice-Chair Schumer. It is, after all, a public hallway in the Senate.
This reporter was standing with a scrum of journalists as Democrats left their caucus. It appeared that when Schumer noticed Kerry behind him, he turned around said something to Kerry.
We obviously don’t know what Schumer said, but Kerry stopped in his tracks, watched the four Democratic leaders walk on without him, and when then he ducked between two of the marble statues in the hallway, which leads from the old Senate Chamber to the new Senate floor. Someone trying to project might say that Schumer had told Kerry to get the heck out of the leadership shot and Kerry, after digesting the request for a moment, did it.

Wild Thing’s comment…..
LOL I think this is so funny. The hallway is wide enough so this is kind of a giggle time to see this happen. It may mean nothing but it does make me laugh all the same.
Gosh maybe Kerry forgot to tell Schumer that he was in Vietnam. Yes we know Kerry…”I coulda been a contender”
OH wait, wait….hahaha……Kerry was in the photo before he wasn’t in the photo!
Kerry doesn’t get mad. He gets even. This is going to get real good real fast.

I love this song, the intensity of it and the music.

Meat Loaf – I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)
This song has been around for so long. The song reached number one in twenty-eight countries. I always thought it would have been cool to have this song in the soundtrack of Beauty & The Beast? Haha.. perhaps the future version? That’d be really cool. It’s also based on Phantom of the Opera.
The song was released in 1993 as the first single from the album Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell.

Abramoff ready to flip on Senate Dems, Rove (6-8 Dem Senators)
ABC News
Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff is scheduled to report to federal prison tomorrow, over the objections of federal prosecutors who say they still need his help to pursue leads on officials he allegedly bribed.

Sources close to the investigation say Abramoff has provided information on his dealings with and campaign contributions and gifts to “dozens of members of Congress and staff,” including what Abramoff has reportedly described as “six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators.”

Abramoff has been meeting almost daily in secret locations around Washington with Justice Department investigators who are examining thousands of e-mails and documents, according to sources close to the investigation. The convicted lobbyist was spotted in downtown Washington, D.C., yesterday, carrying a computer laptop case.
But the prosecutors’ easy access to Abramoff has now ended.
After granting several delays, the federal judge in Florida, who sentenced Abramoff to six years for fraud in a casino boat gambling scheme, has ordered him to report to prison tomorrow.
ABC News has learned that the court has granted a request from prosecutors that Abramoff be incarcerated at the closest prison to Washington, D.C., the Federal Correction Institute in Cumberland, Md., where Abramoff is expected to report tomorrow.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Harry Reid will be one of the nervous ones about this. Now that does make me smile.

Ahmadinejad Opens Door to Talks If U.S. ‘Corrects Behavior’
Fox News
TEHRAN, Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted Tuesday that Iran will soon have mastered the production of nuclear fuel, but he added the country was far from producing enough fuel to power its Russian-built reactor.
Addressing a press conference, Ahmadinejad claimed that the world had finally accepted that Iran has the complete cycle of fuel production — from mining uranium to enriching it to the level required for consumption in a nuclear power plant.

“Initially, they were very angry,” Ahmadinejad said, referring to the United States and EU powers that have protested Iran’s enrichment of uranium. “The reason was clear: They basically wanted to monopolize nuclear power in order to rule the world and impose their will on nations.

The U.S. and its European allies are currently negotiating with Russia and China over a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would penalize Iran for its refusal to respect an Aug. 31 deadline for a cessation of enrichment. Russia and China — which have extensive trade with Iran — are rejecting the harsh sanctions that the Western allies want to impose.
Ahmadinejad said Iran would talk to the United States if it behaves correctly, but he did not spell out what he expects Washington to do.

“We will talk to the U.S. government under certain conditions. Should it correct its behavior, we will talk to them,” he said when asked whether his government would talk to Washington “about various issues.”

The comment was the highest-level statement by Iran in recent months that it is willing to talk to the country which it has long demonized as “the Great Satan.” Iran has twice proposed talks with the United States— in March and on Nov. 5.

Wild Thing’s comment…..
Ahmadinejad: Please tell us what behavior is offensive to you so we can keep doing it. Wnat a bunch of bunk! haha Don’t hold your breath Ahmadinejad.

Cleric al-Sadr may hold Iraq’s future in his hands
BAGHDAD — Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric has emerged as one of the most powerful forces in Iraq, commanding a large militia and a growing political organization.
“I believe that the Mahdi Army continues to pose a threat,” Sen. John McCain said in Arizona last week. “I believe al-Sadr has to be taken out.”
That may not be realistic. “There are no good options in dealing with al-Sadr,” says Wayne White, who formerly headed the State Department’s Iraq intelligence team and is now at the Middle East Institute. “He has grown too powerful to be addressed in any reasonable way.”
As President Bush and the Democrats in charge of a new Congress plot a new direction in Iraq, al-Sadr remains a huge obstacle unless the Iraqi government does what it has been unwilling or unable to do so far: neutralize him through political negotiations or a military confrontation.
His political group, for example, controls the Health Ministry and has used it to harbor death squads, infiltrate hospitals and punish al-Sadr’s enemies, says Ayad al-Samarrai, the deputy chairman of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni group.
The U.S. military estimates the Mahdi Army has between 6,000 and 10,000 militants in Baghdad. Al-Sadr’s militia and al-Qaeda in Iraq are among the groups most responsible for religious warfare, according to the latest Defense Department report to Congress.
The Bush administration has urged the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to confront Shiite militias, including al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. Al-Maliki, who relies on al-Sadr for political support, has been slow to act, saying it may not be until next year before militias are disarmed. Al-Sadr’s support was instrumental in putting al-Maliki in power.
Because of al-Sadr, “Al-Maliki was able to become prime minister despite the fact that other political parties had gained more seats in parliament,” says Vali Nasr, author of The Shia Revival. “He is al-Sadr’s prime minister.”
U.S. troops say a two-story complex linked to the al-Sadr organization in a nearby neighborhood also is being used as an illegal detention center. “Torturing, killing, everything under the sun happens there,” says 2nd Lt. David Michael Stroud, a platoon leader with the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry. “It’s the heart of darkness.”
The complex is considered a “no-touch” zone, since it’s aligned with al-Sadr, Stroud says. U.S. and Iraqi army units often need Iraqi government permission before raiding government offices. The Shiite-dominated government sometimes is reluctant to allow raids of al-Sadr associates. “It makes it difficult if someone is sponsoring or being complicit with criminal activity who’s in a government position,” Smiley says. “It disrupts the essentials to making progress.”
Al-Maliki’s government has targeted some Mahdi Army officials, and Iraqi security forces have clashed with the militants several times this year. In August, U.S. and Iraqi troops, working on a tip about a kidnapping ring, raided the Health Ministry offices and arrested five of al-Shemari’s bodyguards.

Wild Thing’s comment……
I sure hope our troops will be told to take this guy out and soon. Not sure how that works if they have to have the OK first with this kind of a hit, or not, or if he could be just sort of an oops we got him too. But I vote to take him out and not as a prisoner. Just get rid of this jerk. He is nothing but trouble and if our troops do get pulled out of Iraq, to leave this horrible person alive will escalate the worst possible situation immediately.

An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the “Diamondbacks” of Strike Fighter Squadron One Zero Two (VFA-102) completes a super-sonic flyby as part of an air power demonstration for visitors aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63). VFA-102 is one of the nine squadrons and detachments assigned to Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) and embarked aboard Kitty Hawk. Kitty Hawk and CVW-5 is currently deployed off the coast of southern Japan on a scheduled deployment. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class HXXXXXXX

Democrats Tell President Bush: Don’t Propose Judges Against Abortion
Washington, DC
Now that the elections have given them control of the Senate, leading Democrats on judicial issues have a message for President Bush. They don’t want him to send up for confirmation any judges who would be hostile to legalized abortion or they plan vote down or filibuster them.
Democrats now have 51 votes in the Senate and will likely have a slim one vote majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee when Congress starts its new session in January.
Though they technically have enough votes on the panel and in the Senate to defeat any Bush judicial pick, they may still have a tough time keeping their caucus together as some moderate Democrats joined a group of Republicans in making sure filibusters weren’t used to hold up nominees.
But leading pro-abortion Democrats tell Bush he needs to pick someone without a record opposed to abortion in order to get judges — especially for the Supreme Court — confirmed in their Senate.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, told Newsday that Bush should nominate only “consensus” nominees.
Sen. Charles Schumer, of New York, was more strident and vowed to block any nominee he feels is too extreme on abortion.

“We will do everything in our power to see that that happens,” he told Newsday, saying filibusters should be expected. He added that Bush “will have to negotiate with us, because we’ll have the majority.”

There are no current Supreme Court openings, but pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens, who was the subject of retirement speculations shortly before the elections, is 86 years-old and battling significant health problems.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, another abortion advocate is 73 years-old and has her own health concerns.
Had the GOP kept control of the Senate, the liberal judges may have waited to retire, but they could step down feeling that the chances they would be replaced by a less conservative judge are higher with Democrats heading up the chamber.
How Bush reacts to Democratic control may be seen in whether he chooses to re-nominate six conservative appeals court judges who have yet to be confirmed.
Should a Supreme Court opening develop closer to the 2008 presidential elections, that may put more pressure on Senate Democrats to hold off on confirming a replacement until afterwards.

Wild Thing’s comment……
Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/ save trees, geese, algae!!
Total abortions since 1973 — 44,670,812
Damn Democrats!

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For the troops, a little humor……. a digital Cockpit.