Where’s the Outrage?

First let me say, this was President Bush’s least stumbly speech that I’ve ever heard. it was his best delivery. the substance of the speech, on the other hand, was more of the same. Basically, we’re doing great and we’re going to continue to do great. He really offered no significant new programs. He did try to justify domestic spying (in the Republican world this is known as terrorist surveillance).

Early polling really does not show much. From CNN.com, “In interviews with 464 adult Americans who watched the speech, 48 percent said they had a very positive reaction. That’s well short of the three-quarters of viewers who reacted favorably to Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address.

Twenty-seven percent of Tuesday’s viewers said they had a somewhat favorable reaction to the speech, while 23 percent said they felt negatively about it.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Because the poll reflects the opinions of only those who watched the State of the Union, it reflects more favorable opinions than a random sampling of the country as a whole. The audience was 43 percent Republican, 23 percent Democratic and 34 percent Independent.”

so what you think?

Tags: Domestic Issues, Other Political Thoughts by ecthompson
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The question isn’t whether Alito has the brains to be on the Supreme Court. The question is whether he should be on the Supreme Court. With questions about presidential power, easesdropping, torture, and civil liberties at stake it is time for the Democratics to grow a pair and stand up. If you lose you lose but fight DAMN IT!

It is ironic that Alito’s testimony ended just before the MLK holiday. Civil Rights should have been the key question. Alito’s writings don’t seem to support civil rights at all. No affirmative action. No women’s rights. None.

Also, the 2 mining tradegies happened to come during this Alito time. Alito has sided with business against the little every time that he could.

NO. NO. NO!! Alito is replacing Sandra Day O’Conner. A moderate. We must fight against this extremely conservative appointment.

Clinton consulted with Congress and go a nominee with Republicans and Democrats could live with. Bush listened but didn’t hear the Democrats. He didn’t. He chose someone to please his base.

Fight. Dem’s fight.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Supreme court by ecthompson
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Senate judiciary committee voted to approve Alito. Now the vote goes to the full Senate. The vote was on party lines. There were no surprises. Interesting a poll was done by CNN/USA Today/Gallup which revealed only 30 percent of Americans opposed Alito. The poll didn’t ask if those Americans were following the hearing closely.

Alito will get confirmed but he is clearly out there with Scalea and Thomas. I think that the rules for the judiciary hearing should be changed. We should know more or scratch the hearings, period.

Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson
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Hiliary. What’s up with this? Did you not think that there were cameras and recording devices in the room? Did someone write that and you read it? No matter how you spin this it looks stupid. Didn’t the Dem’s learn anything from Dick Durbin’s comments? By using in your face analogies the R’s stop talking about substance and begin to focus on content. When that happens they win. Hello!! Any Dem listening!!

Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson
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On MLK day, Mayor Nagin had a few comments. “I don’t care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day,” he said. “This city will be a majority African-American city. It’s the way God wants it to be.” He called for a Chocolate City? What the hell? Maybe he has cracked under the pressure. That’s all I can figure. Oh, and when did God tell Mayor Nagin his overall plan for New Orleans? I’m just asking.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Talkin' out Loud by ecthompson
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The Pittsburgh Steelers at the Denver Broncos — the Steelers will bring pressure from everywhere. The key to the game is the Broncos ability to protect Jake Plummer. If Plummer again plays mistake free football, the Broncos go to the Super Bowl.

Seattle Seahawks host the Carolina Panthers — Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers is having his way with every defense of back the last three weeks. the Seahawks defense will have to find a way to slow him down. The Panthers may not have a significant rushing game. Again, the Panthers will try to bring a significant amount of pressure on Hassellback. if the Panthers get off to a quick start it will be a long day for the Seahawks. Seattle’s defense is better than we give it credit for and their offense is more than Shaun Alexander.

Last weekend, with some of the best football we’ve seen all year. I’m looking forward to Sunday’s games.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson
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Charles Colson, of Watergate fame, who is now a Christian activist stated in his radio commentary that Martin Luther King Jr. was a great conservative who would have supported the nomination of Samuel Alito.

This is so wrong. Martin Luther King is turning over in his grave right now. Martin Luther King fought for civil rights for over 15 years before his death. Judge Alito’s record on civil rights is clear. He does not believe that the Constitution supports minority rights or women’s rights.

Tags: Civil Rights, Domestic Issues by ecthompson
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So, Hannity says, “Liberals want to tie this to the War on Iraq as a means for having not gotten him. The best opportunity we did have was when Sudan offered Bin Laden to America to Clinton and we passed on it 3 times.”

Aren’t Republicans the party of responsibility? Then why hasn’t the R’s gotten bin Laden yet? Why did we allow Bin Laden to escape from Kabul? Why did we allow Bin Laden to escape from the Tora Bora mountains? As a matter of fact, wasn’t that the purpose for going to Afghanistan? To kill or capture those responsible for September 11th?

Clinton being offered Bin Laden…Only a couple of right wing dudes have claimed this. There is no collaborating data that I’m aware of. But Hannity continues to bring this up like it was fact.

Missing Bin Laden in Tora Bora is a fact but for some reason Hannity doesn’t seem to want to talk about that.

Again, the R’s are trying to deflect attention away from the real problem. Spying on americans. The War in Iraq is still not going as we had hoped.

Tags: Bin Laden by ecthompson
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Who do you have this weekend?

If the Skins can slow Alexander the Skins can win. I just don’t think that will happen. If Seattle is able to get Alexander going it will be a long day for the Redskins.

The Patriots versus the Denver Broncos — the Patriots were humiliated at Denver earlier this year. The Patriots will have to stop the Denver offense. If they can create turnovers and hold the Broncos to less than 24 points the Patriots will win. Look for New England to do just about anything to tip the balance in their favor.

One of the most interesting games is the Indianapolis Colts versus the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are on a roll. They will have to run the ball effectively and keep the ball away from Peyton Manning and company. No turnovers. They must take the crowd out of the game early. On the other hand, Tony Dungey has a lot to prove.he has clearly proven that he can win in the regular season. He is yet to prove that he can win in the postseason. With the recent tragedy and the distractions of the winning streak the Colts have a lot of challenges. I look for the Colts to try to get on top early. Possibly a couple of long passes. If the Colts jump on top early, I look for them to cruise to victory.

Carolina travels to Chicago. An outdoor football game in January in Chicago. The temperature will be in the 30s but the wind will be coming off the lake to make it filled much much colder. The advantage automatically must go to the Chicago Bears. Both of these teams can play excellent defense. The big question mark is their offenses. The offense which turns the ball over the least will win.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson
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Now, that it has been several months, what do you think should come out of the Terri Schiavo case?

Tags: Medical Ethics/Issues, Talkin' out Loud by ecthompson
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A recent report found that children are no safer in an SUV then they are in any other car. NO Duh!! This has been proven by a number of studies. BUT it should be mentioned that SUV’s are safer today than there were 5 or 10 years ago. Please note that SUV’s have for the most part gotten smaller and more maneuverable.

New research indicates that, as far as children are concerned, SUVs’ benefits of size are offset by their increased risk of rolling over, making them no safer than ordinary passenger cars.  mo

Tags: Medical Ethics/Issues by ecthompson
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With Delay offically stepping down and Abramoff singing like a bird, the R’s have a right to be scared. Several Republican congressmen will be going down. The question is how many? 4 to 5 is probably a reallistic number but that’s going to hurt. The party of moral standards goes down in a corruption scandal? Then almost everything else that they have said must be true …right?

Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson
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In an article in tonight’s CNN.com:

The CIA reports that an airstrike on a building in Pakistan may have killed Bin Laden’s #2 man - al-Zawahiri. If this turns out to be true, this would really and truly be the best news from the War on Terror since the fall of Afghanistan.

We need to put more resources in hunting down and capturing or killing more of the known leaders of Al Qaeda.

Tags: Afghanistan, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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Here are some questions that should be asked of Judge Alito.

The first kind asks for answers that offer a sense of a nominee’s thinking without committing that nominee to any future rulings. For instance:

Everyone seems to agree it’s wrong for judges to “legislate from the bench.” Give us two or three examples from the court’s past where, in your view, the court legislated from the bench.

Name two or three justices from the past whom you do not admire. Why not?

The Ninth Amendment says that the enumeration of certain rights [in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights] should not be held to disparage other rights… .” What does this mean?

Justice Scalia says that the court was wrong 80 years ago, when it began to apply the Bill of Rights to the states. Do you agree?

If a punishment — say, branding or flogging — was widely accepted at the time the Bill of Rights was written, could it be considered “cruel and unusual” today?

The second type of questions would give us a much broader sense of how a nominee thinks. For instance:

Favorite Beatle? (Paul means a right-brain view of things, John, a left-brain view. Ringo means outside the mainstream.)

Do you support the designated-hitter rule? (Yes means a pro-labor, pro-federalist outlook — different rules for different leagues.)

Beer or wine? (populist vs. elitist)

Marital exception — Halle Berry or Diane Lane? (Other answers acceptable, of course.)

Tags: Domestic Issues, Supreme court by ecthompson
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How many times has Iran proved that the Bush Administration’s foreign policy has failed? Bush and Cheney have stated many times that the UN is powerless but the White House wants to take Iran to the UN security council.

Tags: Iran, Other Political Thoughts, Talkin' out Loud by ecthompson
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Here’s how you flush your future NFL career down the toilet.
1) Step on a player while he is on the ground.
2) Have multiple run ins with the law.
3) Get kicked off of your college football team.
4) Have several kids say that you pointed a gun at them.

Perfect. That just about makes you too hot for the NFL and that says something.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson
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Terrible weekend of football. The Benagals folded. The Giants didn’t even show up. The ‘Skins winning a game with only 120 yards of total offense??? That’s offensive to me the viewer. Jacksonville almost showed up but not really.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson
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What was that? Today’s questioning gave us a large, truck-load of nothing. If we look at something very simple, he was asked about a reactionary group he belonged to while at Princeton. He mentioned the group when he applied for a job in the White House in 1985. He was 35 at the time. He stated that he didn’t know that the group said that there were too many minorities and too many women at Princeton. What? How do you not know this? He decided to place this group on his application because he thought it would be of benefit. It would give him an edge to get the job. Any 21 year old knows this. It seems to me that either Alito is stupid or a reactionary (read racist).

Tags: Domestic Issues, Supreme court by ecthompson
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President Bush believes or states that he believes that he is keeping us safe. My question is how stupid does he think we are? There have been 3 major reports given to the President since he took office in January 2001. 9-11 Commission, Joint Intelligence Committee and Hart-Rudman Commission. They all had many recommendations. None of them recommended spying on Americans. So why?

Tags: 9-11, Domestic Issues, Domestic Spying by ecthompson
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Did you hear Delay’s letter to his republican colleagues? Yes, he steps down as majority leader but he also said, “During my time in Congress, I have always acted in an ethical manner within the rules of our body and the laws of our land. I am fully confident time will bear this out.” What? Isn’t he the same Tom Delay who has been sited by the Republican controlled House Ethics committee on 4 different occasions?

 

 Delay Steps down [2:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson
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