Friday, January 11, 2008

Hillary, Not as in the Mount Everest Guy


Sir Edmund Hillary's death this past week calls to mind this example of Senator Clinton's lack of veracity...

For more than a decade, one piece of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s informal biography has been that she was named for Sir Edmund Hillary, the conqueror of Mount Everest. The story was even recounted in Bill Clinton’s autobiography.

But yesterday, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign said she was not named for Sir Edmund after all.

In May 1953, Sir Edmund and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, became the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In 1995, shortly after meeting Sir Edmund, Mrs. Clinton said that her mother, Dorothy Rodham, had long told her she was named for the famous mountaineer.

“It had two l’s, which is how she thought she was supposed to spell Hillary,” Mrs. Clinton said at the time, after meeting Sir Edmund. “So when I was born, she called me Hillary, and she always told me it’s because of Sir Edmund Hillary.”
But one big hole has been poked in the story over the years, both in cyberspace and elsewhere: Sir Edmund became famous only after climbing Everest in 1953. Mrs. Clinton, as it happens, was born in 1947.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Even Republicans Are Seeing That The End Is Near


Interesting perspective from a Republican....


Slowly but surely the United States is morphing into a larger size twin of Mexico. A small elite ruling class controls politics and enjoys wealth on a scale that is multiples of the average citizen. While the average person is able to enjoy an increase in their quality of life if measured in consumer goods, currency devaluations accomplished no significant increase in prosperity. If it wasn't for Mexican law that made 100% foreign ownership difficult, Mexico today would be totally owned by U.S. based entities. The next presidential election will be the line in the stand to stabilize the U.S. ship of state. That stabilization must tax the wealthy elite, regardless of political affiliation, end the Roman empire like military base expansion globally, and turn our fighting ability to a war on energy with a real solution in the very short term. The U.S. needs a "dark horse" candidate to win and that individual faces the prospect of being a one term candidate if the measures enacted early in the new term do not show meaningful progress. Failure to elect a agent of change will surely see this decade as the turn in the "American Empire" no different than the turn of the British Empire many years ago. A visit to Mexico spent with the ruling elite (as I have) will open any doubters eyes to the future of the U.S. In conclusion, I must add that I am a lifelong Republican aged 63 who enjoyed a wonderful career on Wall Street and can do whatever I want. Sadly, I don't see the U.S. as a wonderful environment for my grandson age eight unless changes occur very fast. This election as evidenced in a tiny way last night in Iowa (and some may say that basing forecasts on Iowa is laughable) offers a glimmer of hope. Not because of the stature of the candidates but because of the outpouring of voters who are demanding change.


Unfortunately, the candidate who would happily do all that this guy is asking is Dennis Kucinich who is already on his way out of the race. The fact is that Americans do not yet want REAL change....only make believe change!

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

And In Case You Forgot About The War....


With all the fuss over primary elections, many tend to forget that Americans are still dying for Bush's pointless war in Iraq.....



BAGHDAD, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Six U.S. soldiers were killed in a house rigged with explosives on Wednesday in Diyala province, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched a major operation against al Qaeda, the U.S. military said.
It was one of the highest daily death tolls for U.S. troops in Iraq for months. The military said four U.S. soldiers were also wounded in the explosion.
Earlier on Wednesday, the military reported the deaths of three other soldiers the day before in northern Salahuddin province, another target area of the new offensive against al Qaeda that was launched on Tuesday.

Newsflash: God Does Not Cause Tornados!!!


I am a little sorry for focusing so much on this nutcase Huckabee lately. However, when there is so much juicy stuff out now about his lunacy it is hard to stop....


Five days after the tornado tore through the Arkadelphia, Arkansas, the city of 10,000 lay in ruins. The cyclone destroyed an office building, a bank, a pharmacy and 70 other businesses. The electricity was out. The National Guard patrolled the streets. Six people were dead.

In Little Rock, GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee was reviewing a disaster insurance measure that he intended to support when he become troubled: The bill, drawing on centuries-old legal terminology, referred to natural disasters as "acts of God."So, because he could not fathom his God wreaking such senseless destruction upon the world, Huckabee held up the measure for three more weeks, imploring lawmakers to change the apparently contentious wording from "acts of God" to "natural disasters."


Well, hopefully it won't be much longer before Huckabee vanishes from the political landscape. The only problem is that all of the other Republican candidates seem just as wacky!

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Thanks George!


Hard times have now arrived, due in large part to
1.) rising oil prices which have been skyrocketing because of the chaos in the middle east that our unlawful Iraq invasion has spawned;
2.) our failure to wean ourselves from a messy oil addiction; and
3.) an unregulated lending industry that made ridiculous mortgage loans that are now collapsing all over the country.

The feared recession in the US economy has already arrived, according to a report from Merrill Lynch.
It said that Friday's employment report, which sent shares tumbling worldwide, confirmed that the US is in the first month of a recession.
Its view is controversial, with banks such as Lehman Brothers disagreeing. An official ruling on whether the US is in recession is made by the National Bureau of Economic Research, but this decision may not come for two years.
The NBER defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months". It bases its assessment on final figures on employment, personal income, industrial production and sales activity in the manufacturing and retail sectors.
Merrill Lynch said that the figures showing the jobless rate hitting 5% in December were the final piece in that puzzle. "According to our analysis, this isn't even a forecast any more but is a present day reality," the report said.
It added that the current consensus view on Wall Street that there is a good chance of avoiding a recession is "in denial".