It Is Officially Official

No President can ever be removed from office for doing the worst job possible:

ASSOCIATED PRESS


WASHINGTON (AP) — In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President George W. Bush and his homeland security chief before hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans’ Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.

Bush didn’t ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck Aug. 29 but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: “We are fully prepared.”

They say no question is a stupid question, but I believe he could lay that to rest real quick, and knows it.

"No, no, totally. Dude, totally. Dude, I agree. I'm sure he was probably a cool guy to drink with back in the day. I don't deny that...that's not what I'm saying..."

Nice Touch

Cute:

In its drive to foster a more cooperative relationship with mining companies, the Bush administration has decreased major fines for safety violations since 2001, and in nearly half the cases, it has not collected the fines, according to a data analysis by The New York Times.

Federal records also show that in the last two years the federal mine safety agency has failed to hand over any delinquent cases to the Treasury Department for further collection efforts, as is supposed to occur after 180 days...

Before the January disaster at the Sago Mine near here, where 12 miners died, the operator had been cited 273 times since 2004. None of the fines exceeded $460, roughly one-thousandth of 1 percent of the $110 million net profit reported last year by the current owner of the mine, the International Coal Group

So when a mine collapses, and a few miners die, we MIGHT collect a fine for that...maybe...

It's not really a question of how many miners die, or don't, in any given year. It's a question of whether the industry should have to pay fines to avoid tragedy.

If you know that you're not going to pay a price because you've got jackasses like we have running the show you're less likely to worry about having to fix the problems. If monetary penalties don't exist then there's nothing else, especially when it comes to these people.

So in addition to coal fines not being collected, we can't forget that we're not collecting royalties on oil and gas leases as well.

I sleep easily at night knowing Jesus will save us all in the end...

Monica vs Clinton II?

Clinton Returns to Governors Group With Plea to Fight Obesity

Bush on Tour!

It's a surprise visit! He's going to try to hit all the countries where his approval hovers about 30%.

President Bush made a surprise five-hour visit to Afghanistan today to meet with President Hamid Karzai and to see for the first time the country created after the United States went to war against the Taliban in retaliation for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In a news conference with Mr. Karzai, Mr. Bush said he remained confident that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, would be captured, and that the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar would be apprehended as well. The two are believed to be hiding across the border in Pakistan. "It's not a matter of if they're captured or brought to justice, it's when they're brought to justice," Mr. Bush said.

Once again, another surprise visit by the White House. Which begs too questions. Why do you have to surprise visit? Why not an announced visit? Is it because Afghanistan is in such shambles that from a security standpoint you can't be announced? Possible. Is it because you've bungled the recent War on Terror news so you need to put yourself in good light? Possible. Is it because you don't have the guts to answer candid questions about places like Afghanistan so you have to act like you're doing something? Possible.

All these things are possible. Taken together they all form the answer: it's all a stage. Just like the "Mission Accomplished", and just like fake turkeys on Thanksgiving in Iraq. It's all a stage.

For the record, Afghanistan is a disaster, and not only can't we fix, but we're not even trying to fix it. From the WaPo

The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency told Congress yesterday that the insurgency in Afghanistan is growing and will increase this spring, presenting a greater threat to the central government's expansion of authority "than at any point since late 2001."

"Despite significant progress on the political front, the Taliban-dominated insurgency remains a capable and resilient threat," Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples said in a statement presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee at its annual hearing on national security threats.

As for bin Laden, who we'll never catch (assuming he's alive), Bush makes these pronouncements that he will be caught. As if the Afghans give two shits? Who do you think they like more?

Basically 4%

Considering I discount 30% of the country when it comes to President Bush, I'd say his approval rating stands at 4%

The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high.

Americans are also overwhelmingly opposed to the Bush-backed deal giving a Dubai-owned company operational control over six major U.S. ports. Seven in 10 Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, say they're opposed to the agreement.

I smell a tax cut coming on...

Once Again

I am having issues with getting the website up and running. By week's end it'll be all good.

Meantime, here's the show, edited for you.

Well...

He didn't exactly lie when he said that an Iraqi civil war "won't happen on my watch."

Because, afterall, you know he's not watching. He delegates the viewing to others...

Ball

Lets start slowly here: Fire Gary Waters at Rutgers. He sucks as a coach, and sucks as a recruiter.

There are so few good teams in college basketball it's unbelievable. Wait, let me rephrase that: there are so few good players. There may be good "teams" out there, for I don't watch Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, and so many others. But the derth of talent is unbelievable.

Last night highlighted this incredibly.

Game 1 was # 18 West Virginia v. # 9 Pittsburgh. Two highly ranked teams, playing in the Big East, which is one of the two best conferences, and yet neither team has a single player who will be a force in the NBA. The player with the biggest upside is Kevin Pittsnogle. KEVIN PITTSNOGLE! He's big, can shoot from the outside, can even run a bit, but in the NBA? Marginal player at best. Yet he's the best on the floor. Pittsburgh has a decent rebounder with Gray, who has slow feet, and isn't that tough.

These are some of the top players on the top teams?

Lets take it up a notch to Villanova, a team with 4 guards, that can't rebound, and plays average defense. They're the 4th ranked team in the country. They may have one player suited to play in the NBA. Maybe.

Nova knocked off, at the time, 5th ranked Oklahoma to start the season. Oklahoma is terrible. They followed it up with a victory over #8 Louisville, who is currently unranked, and not making the NCAA tournament. They then lost a close game to Texas on the road, who is one of the beter teams in the land, but still not that good. Regardless, they lost. They did beat the most talented team in the country and that is UCONN. Big win.

Okay, so the Big East is a tough conference, and Nova is holding their own, but they're the 4th ranked team in the country? Yeah, they are. That's how weak the talent pool is.

Duke is ranked #1, and has 2-3 players going to the NBA, the most notable being JJ Redick. If you talk to 10 hoops fans 5 will tell you he'd be lucky to get any time in the NBA. Contrast that with Danny Ferry, who while not being great, was a 10 for 10 guy. There's just no talent.

I'm an Ohio State fan. I watched this team go through the season having lost 4 games, of which 2 of those they should have won. I'm thinking, "are they legitimate?" In this college basketball season, hell yeah they're legitimate. Anyone who can actually shoot the ball has a chance of going to the Final Four, and there are about 6 teams that can pull it off.

The NBA may have saved the college game by making high school players goto at least one year of college. Some of them may enjoy college so much they want to stay. Others will get benched by their coaches and watch their stock fall. A few will realize they're not even that good. Afterall, had Michigan's Jerrod Ward and Wisconsin's Rashard Griffith been high school players two years ago they'd both be Top 15 NBA picks. Both these players sucked in college, with Ward never leaving the bench. This move by the NBA will help college ball get some talent back for more than 5 minutes, and will even make the NBA game a bit better.

In the end, the NCAA tournament is going to be awesome because by it's nature it just has to be. You could field high school teams and it wouldn't matter. Still, watching these "top ranked teams" play is sorta gross.

And just a not about the Oscar Robertson Award (Player of Year). It should obviously goto Sheldon Williams of Duke for a host of reasons. What bothers me is the other candidates up for the award.

Adam Morrison and JJ Redick are deserving, but to include players like Maurice Ager of Michigan St and Dee Brown of Illinois is a joke.

Where's Greg Brunner of Iowa? Where's Terrance Dials of Ohio State? Both these players took their teams from nowhere, and have carried them to the top of the conference, while Brown, and Ager especially, have watched their teams play average basketabll. Both teams recently getting crushed by Ohio State, and both players having done little to avoid that from happening.

Brunner leads the Big Ten in rebounding, and is outscoring Dee Brown (as is Dials). Dials has his team in first place. Ager, well all that team does is score and play no defense. So who cares about his lofty average?

The writers need to pull their heads from their asses. Granted, in the end none of these players are winning, but it's a joke they're even considered.

The Good 'Ole Days

As Scalia reminisces:

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia fondly remembers carrying a rifle around New York City as a boy and says outdoorsmen should attack the idea that guns are only used for crimes.

An avid outdoorsmen who's hunted with Vice President Dick Cheney, Scalia spoke Saturday at the National Wild Turkey Federation's annual convention.

"The attitude of people associating guns with nothing but crime, that is what has to be changed," Scalia told the audience of about 2,000.

"I grew up at a time when people were not afraid of people with firearms," said Scalia, noting that as a youth in New York City he was part of a rifle team at the military school he attended.

"I used to travel on the subway from Queens to Manhattan with a rifle," he said. "Could you imagine doing that today in New York City?"

The leading conservative mind.

Bar K

This is some amazing music I received a while back. If you want more feel free to email me.

Bar Kokhba - Warsaw Summer Days - 1995.6.26

Khebar