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Getting Biblical
Author: BobR    Date: 01/09/2009 13:31:10

The escalation of violence and brutality in the Middle East is threatening to make an unstable region implode completely into an all-out shooting match. Jesus's footprints have become blast holes. In an area of the world that brought us the first civilizations and 3 major religions, the stupid brutality is hinting at an impending armageddon. We're at the point where it doesn't really matter who started what - it just needs to stop.

Despite the U.S. abstaining from a UN vote for a cease-fire, the UN has still voted for a resolution demanding Israel withdraw from Gaza immediately:
The UN Security Council voted to call for an "immediate, durable" ceasefire in the Gaza Strip leading to the "full withdrawal" of Israeli forces, but the United States abstained.

Fourteen of the council's 15 members voted in favor of the compromise resolution worked out in three days of intense bargaining involving several Arab foreign ministers, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

The text "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."

The fact that it required 3 days of intense bargaining for a resolution shows just how hard it will be to get anything done at all. Israel has always played the victim, a small country surrounded by hostile governments. Yet they make it very hard to feel sorry for them by their actions, when they've treated the Palestinian people like animals for years.
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151 comments (Latest Comment: 01/10/2009 03:52:29 by trojanrabbit)

Killing thrift, Choking Small Business
Author: Raine    Date: 01/08/2009 13:44:22

On Monday, Our Scoop asked us to sign a petition to help KEEP Handmade toys on American Shelves. I signed the petition. While I too was glad to see regulation placed BACK, it seemed as those a few provisions were a bit out of whack. Specifically this:
However, I am very concerned that the CPSIA's mandates for third party testing and labeling will have a dramatic and negative effect on small toy makers and in the USA, Canada, and Europe, whose toy safety record has always been exemplary. It will also devastate small manufacturers of children's clothes and other handmade goods for children.

Because of the fees charged by Third Party testing companies, many manufacturers, especially makers of beautiful wooden toys and unique children's clothes from Maine to Oregon will be driven out of business. Their cottage workshops simply do not make enough money to afford the $4,000 price tag per toy that Third Party testers are charging.
That is a lot of money to make sure a toy is safe. What many people may have missed is that it doesn't stop there.
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139 comments (Latest Comment: 01/09/2009 04:17:15 by clintster)

The Elitists
Author: BobR    Date: 01/07/2009 13:14:03

The late great Ann Richards of Texas was one of the best at pointing out the elitist rich boy slackard that was Bush as governor with such lovely gems as "Poor George, he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth". Jim Hightower referred to King George I as "born on third base and thinks he hit a triple". That goes double for the son who partied his way through life and has always felt like he earned all the ruined opportunities continuously dropped into his lap his entire life.

Throughout the election, the Republicans tried to "taint" Obama by calling him an "elitist". They tried to convince the electorate that the man with one house in a Chicago neighborhood was out of touch, while the man with 9 houses spread throughout the country was a regular "Joe".

And yet - the truth always has a way of showing us what a bunch of hypocritical scumbags these Republican "leaders" really are...
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108 comments (Latest Comment: 01/08/2009 06:03:41 by livingonli)

Ask A Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 01/06/2009 11:27:56

Good Morning.

Today is our 2,120th day in Iraq.

We'll start this morning as we always do, with the latest casualty figures from the warron terra...courtesy of Antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4221
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4082
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3760
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3362
Since Election (1/31/05): 2783

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 316
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 630
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 412
Contractor Deaths - Iraq: 445

We find this morning's Cost of War passing through:

$ 585, 898, 600, 000.00




So. We've all torn the page off the calendar, and most of us are looking at 2009 with a fair amount of hope and optimism. Unfortunately, for families with someone in the military, 2009 is the same as 2008, or 2007, or 2006, or....

Some families are adopting unusual coping mechanisms to deal with the endless cycle of separation and worry. There's an interesting story from yesterday's Globe about one family.

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140 comments (Latest Comment: 01/07/2009 03:22:09 by Mondobubba)

No Seat for you! (not you, actually - It's Him, that one. Over there)
Author: Raine    Date: 01/05/2009 13:30:14

Can you help me figure out this conundrum? Harry Reid has said that he will not seat Roland Burris as the next Democratic Senator from the state of Illinois because of the taint all around Blago. Harry has expressed the need to make a stand on this issue and has stated that he can use the US Senate to block this from happening. I have a little problem with that and I will get to it in a moment...
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138 comments (Latest Comment: 01/06/2009 04:34:44 by livingonli)

A Fox Rant part II
Author: velveeta jones    Date: 01/04/2009 14:21:21

As I write this morning to fill you in on this weeks events, we are learning that Al Franken is up by 50 + votes! Go Al! We are all rooting for you.

FOX News is none to happy about that, but then, I may be giving them too much credit, as they don't ever seem to be happy unless they have a Dick Cheney interview. If one could label a television network as "miserable" and "most likely to hold a grudge" FOX news would take home this prize each year.

Recently there was some hullabaloo about a text message that aired on New Years Eve. As BobR reported, FOX allowed their brainiac viewers to send a text to them which would then appear on the crawl below the box. Well, it seems that one racist comment made it to the air. Can you imagine that! I'm shocked!
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12 comments (Latest Comment: 01/05/2009 02:01:14 by TriSec)

The Value of Work
Author: TriSec    Date: 01/03/2009 12:47:04

Good Morning!

Ah, before we get into today's entry, I'm looking at the ticker at the top of the page, so I simply MUST quote Mr. Nelson:

17 Days: The rain will come down and U shall have 2 choose. If U Believe, look 2 THE DAWN and U shall never loose!

OK, with that out of my system, lets move on.

2008 was tumultuous in more ways than one for many of us. The Family TriSec was also affected by the Bush economy, and as we struggled through the months, more often than not we got those lovely little notices from the bank, and in the weeks leading up to Christmas had to dip into some hard-won savings (which were expressly put aside for just this purpose) in order to get out of November with some solvency.
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36 comments (Latest Comment: 01/05/2009 01:04:19 by Random)

New Year - Same Ol', Same Ol'...
Author: BobR    Date: 01/02/2009 13:31:13

With the new year comes hopes and dreams of change and improvement. Such is the stuff of New Year's resolutions, psychic's predictions, and retrospectives, the latter seeming to indicate we have a clean slate with which to start over. For most people, however, this new year won't actually start until Jan 20th. Until then, we have to deal with the same old shit from 2008.

We can certainly count on the Bush Administration to obstruct justice and claim "Executive Privilege" right up to the very end. This time, it's Mukasey trying to protect Cheney:
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79 comments (Latest Comment: 01/03/2009 02:32:35 by TriSec)

Bonne Année!!!
Author: Raine    Date: 01/01/2009 14:32:06

Why French? Because it's cool to like France again!

Not only that, with the ringing in of the year 2009, it is officially cool to be smart again, to like science, the environment, to question, to ask for accountability, to hope, to believe in the spirituality of your own choosing, oh -- the list can go on. Basically... We geeks and political wonks are COOL AGAIN! Our long national nightmare is over!
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43 comments (Latest Comment: 01/02/2009 02:42:45 by Will in Chicago)

The Year of Hope
Author: BobR    Date: 12/31/2008 13:27:53

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." So begins "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. It describes countries undergoing revolutions, when the people take their countries back. With the economic meltdown and election, it seems a fitting epitaph for this year.

It was certainly the worst of times for the Republican party this year. They saw their grasp on power slip away in astonishing fashion, as the Democrats nearly took complete control of the Senate, widened their grip in the House, and took the Presidency as well.

Of course, the presidency seemed inevitable. The Republicans had no strong candidate; all were deeply flawed in some respect. I remember thinking "is this the best they can offer?" In true conservative fashion, all the Johnny-come-latelys were quickly jettisoned, and the old familiar face of John McCain remained. Could he do it? The hard-core of his party hated him, but he appealed to moderates...
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125 comments (Latest Comment: 01/01/2009 08:12:43 by Scoopster)

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