Monday Morning Friends Report, Part 2., June 30, 2008

MANY THANKS - to all the people who planned the Riverside Film Festival and made it work and who attended any of the showings. Many fine movies were shown. Let's hope more people attend next year. It's a wonderful event.
The Coffee Klatch (or "clutch" depending on your preference, says SPARTY ) met and were making proud about the interesting people who attend these gatherings. Diverse and funny and opinionated, as well as talented.
====

Some Notes about Some of our Friends.

GIGI - has been heard singing, "I wanna hold your Tooth" to someone she loves. Then, she giggles.

FELIX - reports a horrendous run of bad luck which includes expensive repairs to a truck, having to replace a computer, power outages, and other misfortunes. Your sympathy is truly appreciated.

MARY - is loving her time off work. Who knew you can be so busy without a job?

BILL FROM WNNCO - Sometimes celebrities show up at the races Bill is in, but he tends to avoid them. He says: "I usually don't spend too much time with these guys are they usually want my autograph and speed secrets."

MARSHA - is on her way to Michigan.

SANDY - and her tour (ex: LEN, BARB, SUE, and MIKE T.) are home from Central Europe where they crossed paths with lots of crazy Europe2008 crowds from all over, who were dressed in their soccer finery, especially in Vienna, one of the stadium cities. One of SANDY'S most moving days, the Berlin Wall and the Monument to the Jewish holocaust victims.

PAT W. - are those golfing lessons paying off at all?

SPARTY - ditto.

MARGARET - happy belated birthday (Sunday).

PAT W. - heading for a brief vacation "up north" as we say around here.

BRENDA and STEVE - off on a wine buying mission to Northeast Michigan wineries, and then to Cedar Point. No connection actually between these two things.

ALICE and GIGI - report that prayers have been answered. Those who are believers, take note. Those who are not, well, hmm.......

SCOT - Busy planning his brother's bachelor party.
===

What They're reading and/or commenting about:

DASHMANN - A column from Mitch Albom on the gun control decision of the Supreme Court CLICK

---and also, this from the Onion: CLICK

ALICE - "The mystery story of the Maya slowly reveals new twists" CLICK

=====

Some gags from our friends:

JERRY -


Electile Dysfunction : The inability to become aroused over any of the
choices for President put forth by either party in the 2008 election year

JOE - (who doesn't read my blog)

A Catholic priest and a nun were taking a rare afternoon off
and enjoying a round of golf.

The priest stepped up to the first tee and took a mighty swing.
He missed the ball entirely and said 'S - - - , I missed.' The good Sister told him to watch his language.

On his next swing, he missed again. 'S - - - , I missed.'

'Father, I'm not going to play with you if you keep swearing,'
the nun said tartly. The priest promised to do better and the round continued.

On the 4th tee, he misses again. The usual comment followed. Sister is really mad now and says, 'Father John, God is going to strike you dead if you key keep swearing like that.'

On the next tee, Father John swings and misses again.
'S - - - , I missed.'

A terrible rumble is heard and a gigantic bolt of lightning comes out of the sky and strikes Sister Marie dead in her tracks. And from the sky comes a booming voice: "Oh Shit! I missed!"

JERRY - This about the Iowa Flood: TEN BIG QUESTIONS:

1. Where are all of the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons asking for help in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods?
2. Where is all the media asking the tough questions about why the federal government hasn't solved the problem?
3.Why isn't the federal government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in Chicago?
4. When will Spike Lee say that the federal government blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines?
5. Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks?
6. Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen television sets?
7. When will we hear Governor Chet Culver say that he wants to rebuild a "vanilla" Iowa, because that's the way God wants it?
8. Where is the hysterical 24/7 media coverage complete with reports of looters shooting at rescuers?
9. Where are the people declaring that George Bush hates white, rural people?
10. How come in 2 weeks, you will never hear about the Iowa flooding ever again?

BILL FROM WNNCO - 

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 30

You have been pressing people too hard for affection lately. Better to stay in bed today and let the world come to you. If no one shows up, well, there you have it.

Monday Morning Friends Report: The poll

This was a lot of fun! We've never gotten so many answers, and they were great! There a few people who obviously sympathize with McCain and would like to see his ticket strengthened. Then there are some of you who're just damned snotty about him. Then there are those who had a bit of fun with the question.

All the answers are appreciated. Here they are in the order they arrived.

The Question was:

What person could be added to the Republican ticket (as V.P.) to make it more likely for you to vote for John McCain?

MARSHA - You could add God, Mohammed, Buddha and Brad Pitt to the ticket and I still wouldn't vote Republican.

SCOT - I can think of three Veep candidates who would improve McCain's ticket:
1) Supermodel Carla Brunei
2) Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
3) Al Gore

SPARTY - Abraham Lincoln

IRISH MIKE -  I can not think of one Republican that would make McCain more desirable. I'm sorry, even if a liberal Dem was his running mate, I would have a hard time voting for Sen McCain.

MIKE C -  I would have to pick Jesus Christ. If he can change water into wine, he can change McCain into more of a liberal and make him a lot younger.

ANONYMOUS - Seriously, I would be more likely to vote for him if he had Mitt Romney. 

SANDY - Sorry, there is no one that you could add to his ticket that would make me vote for him!

FLETCH - There is no one that John McCain could choose as a running-mate that would allow me to vote for him.To paraphrase old Ted Hallam of Kentucky, I would rather vote for an old yellow dog than McCain.

BILL FROM WNNCO - Mit Romney! He is well qualified in that he has had executive experience as a govenor and financial experience as a successful businessman. In addition he has a stable family life and no skeletons in his closet. In reality he should be the one that is running for president however that was not to be. His two drawbacks are that he is too good looking and he is too honest.

PAM - Hilllary Clinton

ALICE- Steve Colbert

PAT C - Scott McClellan because we'd eventually get the truth about all the deception that will take place in the administration. Also, we could be subjected to another tell all money making book from Scott.

GIGI - I'd NEVER vote for John McCain even if Jesus were his running mate.

FELIX - Ya know...I know so little about the Republicans (and, Democrats) that it'd be hard to give a fair guess. I will say that McCain has always been my favorite Republican...since Lincoln.

STEVE - There are several:
1.) Obama
2.) Howard Dean
3.) Stephen Colbert
4.) Mickey Mouse

LAURA -Kathy Griffin for VP

CHRIS - The only way I'd vote for McCain is if Ronald Reagan was his running mate.

SKUZZA - I wouldn't vote for McCain if his running mate was the Pope

DASHMANN- No one. Same reason I wouldn't want any part of Hillary.Obama is our only chance to break this Bush - Clinton thing and make a real change.

BINA - Sorry but no one could make me vote for John McCain. I have had more than I can stand of the Republican regime!!!!

TONY - Fidel Castro

IRENE - Nobody. Maybe Bud Woods.
(ed: THAT'S THE SAME THING!)

Message from Dashmann

"Sickening to see Hillary and Obama act like high school sweethearts, eh ???? [I] also wish he hadn’t caved in on the flag pin and voting for immunity for the communications companies."

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 29

You want people to pay more attention to you as an individual, but is there really anything unique or interesting about you?

Sunday silly Sites, 06/29/08

Learn How to Deliver Your Own Baby CLICK

Go here to order your 'Bacon Flavored Dental Floss' (yum,yum) CLICK

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 28

You are better able to interface with a wide variety of people now that you've had your gingivitis treated.

Wacko of the Week, June 28, 2008

A FIGHT OVER FRUITCAKE ---

Wacko of the Week: JAMES DOBSON - "Focus on the Family" founder whose good motive of protecting us all from sin has obscured his understanding of many other things ...

For leaping into the political foodfight with this, about Barack Obama:

"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said."... He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

Dobson reserved some of his harshest criticism for Obama's argument that the religiously motivated must frame debates over issues like abortion not just in their own religion's terms but in arguments accessible to all people. He said Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality," labeling it "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution." CLICK

HA
HAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHA
HAHA
HAH
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==
Runners-UP

VERNE TROYER - a "person of slight stature" or, ahem, midget, whom most of you will have seen on TV or in the movies ("Mini-Me"). He had the indiscretion of making a sex tape with a past girlfriend. Now, I won't speculate as to the motives of a young lady who has herself filmed shagging a little person, use your own imagination, although it's certainly a spectacle I would like to see. However, now he is suing the guys who made that tape public. For $20 million dollars! Hmm that gives me an idea ....
CLICK
Oh, by the way, Troyer was "Griphook" a goblin in one of the Harry Potter movies. Maybe you'd recognize him with his goblin goodies concealed.


DON IMUS - Blew right through a verbal red light, threw out another racial reference and once again ran smack into some irate reverends. As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a maroon!" (BIRCHES remains totally in support of free speech, vis the Supreme Court).

FRED McKANEY - Ypsilanti, MI, who was arrested on two felony assault charges, s one count of assault and battery, and another count of resisting an officer.Prosecutors said McKaney stabbed his mother in the back of the neck with a fork Monday night.He later, struck another woman in the head with a plastic bag of frozen chicken. They had exchanged rude words while he rode his bicycle. She needed five surgical staples to close her wound. CLICK

Republican humor (55)

Thanks to JERRY for sending along this cartoon. We don't know who made it, nor where it might have been originally featured, but it's pretty funny all right. It has the advantage of making fun of Hillary and reminding us of Bill's peccadilloes all in one delicious little bundle.
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For What It's Worth

In my opinion, for what it's worth ...

Liberals have been claiming for generations that the Second Amendment to the Constitution did not mean that every citizen had the right to own a handgun.

Now the Supreme Court has decided that every citizen does indeed have the right to a gun. This decision may have very little impact on the lives of ordinary Americans who have been arming themselves to the teeth even without the approval of the "Nine Old Men."

It's impact will be on the society as a whole, because a chance has been missed to introduce a little 21st Century sanity into a 18th Century concept of right. We can also, I hope, face a new round of government restrictions on guns.

While I haven't read the majority decision about guns, and I would like to do that when I have the time, I am truly hoping that the Court hasn't propounded, even in dicta, that this right is unregulated. If the Court has determined that the expression in the Second Amendment which says "a well regulated militia" now applies to every citizen, then I say---

Let's get on with the "well-regulated" part. We're way ahead on the right to bear arms and way, way behind on the regulations.
-Bud

Meanwhile,in Bang-Bang News:


An off duty cop was shot down in Chicago. CLICK

A Virginia teen-ager was shot in the belly by a bicyclist. CLICK

A Hollywood man was shot in the chest for telling teens not to paint grafitti on his garage. CLICK

In Boca Raton Fla, A 17-yr old boy was shot dead while watching TV at a friend's house by someone passing by: CLICK

the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reports that between 1999 and 2005, homicide involving firearms increased 31 percent among black men ages 25 to 44 and 12 percent among white men 25 to 44 years of age.CLICK

And, The Centers for Disease Control report our 17 year old are dying at a remarkable rate, from gunshot: CLICK



And, murder is the #2 cause of death among 15-24 year-olds. Suicide (often with guns) is the #3 cause of death. CLICK

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 27

You are prone to prying again today, because you're overly suspicious or have a misplaced sense of curiosity. The neighbors know what a nosy busybody you are, and they've seen you with the binoculars.

quoted without further comment

San Francisco may name sewage treatment plant after Bush
The International Herald Tribune
By Jesse McKinley
June 25, 2008


"... a group going by the regal-sounding name of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is planning to ask voters here to change the name of a prize-winning water-treatment plant on the shoreline to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.

The plan - hatched, naturally, in a bar - would place a vote on the November ballot to provide "an appropriate honor for a truly unique president."Supporters say that they have plenty of signatures to qualify the initiative and that the renaming would fit in a long and proud American tradition of poking political figures in the eye.

"Most politicians tend to be narcissistic and egomaniacs," said Brian McConnell, an organizer who regularly suits up as Uncle Sam to solicit signatures. "So it is important for satirists to help define their history rather than letting them define their own history."

Not surprisingly, those Republicans in a city that voted 83 percent Democratic in 2004 are not thrilled with the idea..." [this story is shortened] CLICK

A Light Through the Leaves

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one."
- Elbert Hubbard

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 26

The atmosphere around you is highly melodramatic, and you're apt to act out and exaggerate. Better keep that appointment with your gastroenterologist.

Thursday Morning Smile-Maker (50)

in any country

bang-bang

Police: 5 dead in Henderson, Ky., plant shooting

Jun 25  2008
RYAN LENZ
Associated Press Writer

HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) - An employee got into an argument with a supervisor early Wednesday, then shot and killed four people at a western Kentucky plastics plant before killing himself, police said.

The shooting victims were scattered around the plant, [Henderson police lieutenant] Piller said. "It appears the shooting was random at this time," he said.
=====

COMMENT - well, at least it wasn't personal.

What People are reading and talking about 06/25/08

DIG S - has sent a couple of articles about the difficulty of dealing with Pakistan as an ally. For one thing, Pakistan threatens Afghanistan if it crosses the border to chase invaders crossing from Pakistan. Figure that one out! As Dig says, "with friends like these..." CLICK

SPARTY - recommends an article from "The Nation" by Barbara Ehrenreich which points out that the rich are taking over all the beautiful places in the country and cutting the common folk out. They make it too expensive for the rest of us to even be there. CLICK

ALICE - While the membership of the Mormon Church may be divided about the issue of gay marriage, the Church bureaucracy Itself is fighting it in every state, and now California. CLICK

PAT W. - is reading "The Laws of Our Fathers" by Scott Turow.

IRISH MIKE - talks with great respect of the book, "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin

SPARTY and BUD - both recommend this article from The New York TIMES about the increase in rail travel with this expensive gas we're enjoying. And the difficulty of expanding rail travel because of built in limitations. CLICK

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 25

You are not able to keep up with the information coming in from all directions today. because you are losing your hearing.

Tuesday Evening Quiz, June 24

Dogs That Kill ---
Among the top breeds of killer dogs, is one listed as "mixed breed, non-specific."
How many of the other top 9 can you guess right?

Or do some research. :)
Send an email.

The Vicissitudes of Life #7, be glad ..

.. it isn't you.

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 24

If ever there were better persons born on June 24 than you, the astrological signs have not found them; so go forth and shine.

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 23

Learn to respect the intellectual authority of experts; hire a dominatrix.

Goodbye George Carlin

Who remembers the Hippy-Dippy Weatherman?
(Smothers Comedy Brothers Hour)


CLICK FOR REPRISE

Monday Morning Friends Report, June 23, 2008

A FEW GLIMPSES:

[trivia team: "We're Number 2"]

A Thousand Points of Fight, June 22

The wonder of democracy is the ample opportunity to fight over stuff. Wouldn't have it any other way, would we? Here are a few of BIRCHES' ineffectual jabs ---
===

JOHN McCAIN - In his new commercial he says that he "sounded the alarm" on global warming many years ago. Would that have been during the campaign he fought so vigorously against Al Gore, working so hard to get Bush elected in 2000?

THREE STUDENTS- in a Brooklyn N.Y. high school have been suspended and charged with a felony after baking a cake laced with a laxative that sickened two teachers. Many people are not aware of the struggle that goes on between the creative mischief of their children against the need to maintain vigilance by their children's teachers. You remember that contest from when you were in school? Unfortunately, today's students have less parental restraints, so the forces of law have to be called in more often. We should probably be arresting more parents. 

BARACK OBAMA - says he will opt out of the public financing system and raise huge amounts of money to fight for reform and change in our corrupt society. So this is why so many of us have been checking the little box to contribute to the election fund every year on our income tax form: so now the first true "reformer" to come along can piss on our efforts so blatantly? Thanks, Barack. And now, should we vote for you or for Nader?

Add to Your Day -- from 35 years ago

For years, when I heard this song, it prompted a feeling of passing childhood in my mind, -- a certain nostalgia for easier times.  I have always liked the music and the perfect voicing which goes with it.  But, later I found it was not about those things at all.  

Still, that old feeling comes back. Goodbye Land of Oz. CLICK  

When are you gonna come down

When are you going to land

I should have stayed on the farm

I should have listened to my old man

You know you can't hold me forever

I didn't sign up with you

I'm not a present for your friends to open

This boy's too young to be singing the blues

So goodbye yellow brick road

Where the dogs of society howl

You can't plant me in your penthouse

I'm going back to my plough

Back to the howling old owl in the woods

Hunting the horny back toad

Oh I've finally decided my future lies

Beyond the yellow brick road

What do you think you'll do then

I bet that'll shoot down your plane

It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics

To set you on your feet again

Maybe you'll get a replacement

There's plenty like me to be found

Mongrels who ain't got a penny

Sniffing for tidbits like you on the ground

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 22

It's time for you to turn to education for self improvement. The fourth grade would be a good place to start.

Sunday silly Sites #30

Pic of NY Polar Bear Club swimming on New Years click

Get your child a Talking Jesus Doll click

Wacko of the Week -- 06/21/08

Whoever designed this.
Gumdrop lighthouses

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 21

There is never a dull moment as you get involved with a strange cast of characters in your real life. Drunk tanks are like that.

ASK BUD: (from whence cometh wisdom)

Many people have written asking what is the source of the feet that have been appearing on the shores of British Columbia in Canada.

Nothing could be simpler. These feet are self-generating. Everyone who has ever been there knows that along the coast of British Columbia there are a great many undertoes.

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 20

Try not to hold back; think of ways you can be proactive. For example, slap a racist.

Bang-Bang

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE
Riding your bike more often these days?
Don't forget to duck.

====

Bike Rider shot on Leydell Ave in Rochester NY http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

Daytona Bicyclist shot to death
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/port-orange-fl/TPCHCMNB7HHT8I0NT

San Francisco Cyclist dies of gun shots
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/12/BAGOEO35481.DTL

Cyclist shot in Corpus Christi
http://www.caller.com/news/2008/jun/05/local-shot-overnight/

Mar Vista CA Cyclist shot dead
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/12/BAGOEO35481.DTL

Hartford Conn Cyclist shot http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/14293627/detail.html

Republican Humor (54)

(click on picture to enlarge it)

Thanks to Bill from WNNCO for forwarding this.

What Bad People Do

[Put this story under the category of living and learning.  Some people live and learn. Some people just live!]

=== 

5-year-old boy killed by pit bull in Texas

Associated Press
7:30 AM EDT,
June 19, 2008

WESLACO, Texas - A pit bull fatally mauled a 5-year-old boy staying at a southern Texas home with relatives, authorities said.

The boy was pronounced dead at the scene Wednesday. Hidalgo County Justice of the Peace Rosa Trevino said the condition of the child's body suggested there was no way emergency responders could have saved his life. CLICK

Thursday Morning Smile-Maker (49)

Angling for sunfish, maybe?

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 19


You are feeling mistrust or inadequacy among people today. Well, duh-h-h.

History Lesson #5

Two Centuries, Two Eds
Can you find 6 differences?

Eddie Grant, 3rd Baseman, Reds, 1911

Edwin Encarnacion, 3rd Baseman, Reds, 2008

(Someone has now proposed six differences ... keep the list going.  You can add them yourself to the comment section, or send them to me and I'll add them!)

noted

Pakistani sentenced to die for blasphemy
By Associated Press
June 18, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -" A Pakistani judge sentenced a Muslim man to death Wednesday on charges he insulted Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a court official said."
====

COMMENT: where religion possesses the power of the state, death is always very close by.
-Bud

Add to Your Day -- Love via Rock 'n' Roll

PETER: CLICK

With Orchestra: CLICK

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 18

In your efforts to stand out today, you will be hit by a street sweeper's swirling brush. You do not really understand the concept: "to stand out."

Guantanamo discussion moved forward

Around here, we have not all agreed about the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The opinion of most is that the men whom our government has imprisoned are entitled to access to American courts to determine if they were being held legally. As it is, they have been held in prison for years without a trial or even a court appearance.

Thursday, The Supreme Court agreed with that point of view. The Bush government did not. Now, we will see whether or not the Court's decision or the Bush stubbornness will prevail. Not all the Justices on the Supreme Court agreed with the court's decision. Justice Scalia wrote the opinion of four members who did not agree with the decision. But the Supreme Court decides by majority opinion, it doesn't have to be unanimous.


[Guantanamo prisoner
being taken for
interrogation.]

One of our friends, Bob (also known as Sparty) has written on this subject. He supports the Supreme Court's decision and opposes the Bush government.

SPARTY'S COMMENTS

"...stand up for our civil liberties when it really matters..."

I really don't know where to begin in responding to this decision and the Administration's policies regarding the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay ...

Justice Scalia characterizes the majority decision as "bait and switch". "Bait and switch" could, in fact, be more accurately attributed to the Bush administration's handling of these prisoners, some of whom have been imprisoned in a U.S. gulag for six years. They were captured as a result of U.S. military action against the Taliban in Afghanistan but the official U.S. position was that they were not prisoners of war and, therefore, not protected by the Geneva Convention's provisions for POW's. However, if they aren't POW's, what is their status - if they are not soldiers in a nation-state's military does that make them criminals because as members of the Taliban they engaged in criminal terrorism against the U.S. and its citizens? If so, why aren't they entitled to the protections of U.S. criminal law, including one of the oldest of Anglo-Saxon legal protections, the right to a writ of habeas corpus? The Bush gang says they're not protected because they are "enemy combatants", not U.S. citizens, and they are not being held on U.S. soil. But what flag flies over the military installation at Guantanamo Bay? It isn't the Cuban flag.

The Bush gang has throughout the last seven years pursued a policy of executive supremacy that contradicts the Constitutional principals of separation of powers and checks and balances. Their position is that these prisoners are subject to only those judicial procedures that the executive branch deems appropriate, the courts (international or U.S.) be damned.

To our great shame, in the wake of the Twin Towers disaster, few Americans have opposed this authoritarian exercise of executive power. I fear that a precedent may have been established that in the passage of time will undermine our basic liberties. In fact, the Attorney General has already announced today that the Supreme Court's decision will have no affect on the military tribunals underway at GITMO. And who will object? The real test of the citizenry's belief in our constitution is its willingness to stand up for our civil liberties when it really matters - when we are under assault. Anybody can be a champion of civil liberties in times of tranquility.

I recall that when the U.S. was engaged in acquiring foreign territories at the beginning of the 20th century the Court was faced with the question of the rights of the inhabitants of those territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands, etc.) the U.S. had forcibly annexed. The question was "does the Constitution follow the flag?" The U.S. secretary of state said something like 'It may follow the flag but it hasn't quite caught up to it.' Yesterday's decision places the flag closer to the U.S. territory at Guantanamo Bay but if the past seven years are any indication this president will feel no obligation to obey the majority's decision.

[Here, Americans protest at the Supreme Court, dressed as prisoners]
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Agree or disagree, BIRCHES would like to get as many responses as possible from you readers. Please join in with your comments either by posting a comment or by email. This encourages future participation. Please...
====
COMMENTS SO FAR

6 Comments


bud said...
This is where I've disagreed with Sparty. I don't believe that prisoners of war (POWs) should have access to American courts.

I don't think that the Supreme Court meant Prisoners of War when they said, "The Constitution follows the flag." My recollection of that doctrine was that it applied to citizens of territories annexed by the US. No matter where on earth these prisoners might be held, as long as they're under the jurisdiction of American forces, they're under the American flag.

The Bush government has screwed this whole thing up about as thoroughly as it could be done, I think, by refusing to call Guantanamo prisoners, "prisoners of war." Their status is pretty damned confusing to everyone, and now the courts have got to try to sort it out.

This is just one more case of the Bushites operating as if they were/are a law unto themselves. They are about as tyrannical a bunch as there has been in our government.

June 16, 2008 1:13 PM



dashmann said...
POW or not, why does it take the Supreme Court to dictate common decency in dealing with these prisoners??
This country used to be all about setting an example for the world to follow as far as dealing with human rights, instead of looking for technicalities to permit the very behaviors our Constitution and the Magna Carta before it discouraged.
Put the shoe on the other foot if it was our soldiers imprisoned in this manner and see how we would feel?
The GOLDEN RULE still works, and America should lead the world in promoting it.

June 17, 2008 1:39 AM



irene said...
Oooh - I'm going to sleep on this one - I will post a response in the morning.

June 17, 2008 8:14 AM



irish mike said...
I could not agree more with Sparty's essay. The Bush Admin has repeatedly ignored the Constitution to force it's will. What is sad is they know they can get away with it, because the American people just don't seem to care.

June 17, 2008 4:04 PM



anonymous said...
I have to agree with Sparty that these "prisoners" have been unjustly dealt with and under "our current rulers" rule anyone can end up there with no explanations to anyone. It's wrong! Not the way our country has supposedly set its up as taking the high ground. And most of our news media print as gospel any thing leaked to them. We are hurting badly for some really good investigative reporters. Of course, they would probably end up at
Gitmo. An interesting book to read: THE EXCEPTION TO THE RULERS: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them. by Amy Goodman with David Goodman. It deals with this topic as well as many others in the same vein ignoring the Constitution. Alice

June 17, 2008 6:07 PM




bud said...
So, let us suppose that the U.S. should end up someday in a war with Mexico, which is not at all a far-fetched idea. And let's suppose that in that time, the U.S. would take, oh 50,000 POW's. At what point would each of them be entitled to their habeas corpus and their trial by jury in our courts? 72 hrs. for HC and then 6 months for the trial

June 17, 2008 8:24 PM

friends report -- At The Shower

(click to enlarge)

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 17

You are feeling there is nowhere to go but up. At last, you're seeing yourself as the rest of us see you.

Bloomsday

IRISH MIKE 

-- tells us that this is Bloomsday (June 16) and that all true Irishmen and Irish ladies should have a swig of some spirits to commemorate it.  CLICK FOR INFO

 

Bloomsday (Irish: Lá Bhloom) is a commemoration observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere to celebrate the life of Irish writer James Joyce and relive the events in his novel Ulysses, all of which took place on the same day in Dublin in 1904. The name derives from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses, and 16 June was the date of Joyce's first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle, when they walked to the Dublin village of Ringsend.

The day involves a range of cultural activities including Ulysses readings and dramatisations, pub crawls and general merriment, much of it hosted by the James Joyce Centre in North Great George's Street. Enthusiasts often dress in Edwardian costume to celebrate Bloomsday, and retrace Bloom's route around Dublin via landmarks such as Davy Byrne's pub. Hard-core devotees have even been known to hold marathon readings of the entire novel, some lasting up to 36 hours. The first celebration took place in 1954, and a major five-month-long festival (ReJoyce Dublin 2004) took place in Dublin between 1 April and 31 August 2004. On the Sunday in 2004 before the 100th "anniversary" of the fictional events described in the book, 10,000 people in Dublin were treated to a free, open-air, full Irish breakfast on O'Connell Street consisting of sausages, rashers, toast, beans, and black and white puddings.

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 16

Your emotional tension shows too easily today when you forget to wear your diaper.

Monday Morning Friends Report, June 16,2008

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Spots and Stripes QUIZ answers from last Tuesday's Quiz are posted at the end of this report:
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Around here, we have not all agreed about the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The opinion of most is that the men whom our government has imprisoned are entitled to access to American courts to determine if they were being held legally. As it is, they have been held in prison for years without a trial or even a court appearance.

Thursday, The Supreme Court agreed with that point of view. The Bush government did not. Now, we will see whether or not the Court's decision or the Bush stubbornness will prevail. Not all the Justices on the Supreme Court agreed with the court's decision. Justice Scalia wrote the opinion of four members who did not agree with the decision. But the Supreme Court decides by majority opinion, it doesn't have to be unanimous.


[Guantanamo prisoner
being taken for
interrogation.]

One of our friends, Bob (also known as Sparty) has written on this subject. He supports the Supreme Court's decision and opposes the Bush government.

SPARTY'S COMMENTS

"...stand up for our civil liberties when it really matters..."

I really don't know where to begin in responding to this decision and the Administration's policies regarding the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay ...

Justice Scalia characterizes the majority decision as "bait and switch". "Bait and switch" could, in fact, be more accurately attributed to the Bush administration's handling of these prisoners, some of whom have been imprisoned in a U.S. gulag for six years. They were captured as a result of U.S. military action against the Taliban in Afghanistan but the official U.S. position was that they were not prisoners of war and, therefore, not protected by the Geneva Convention's provisions for POW's. However, if they aren't POW's, what is their status - if they are not soldiers in a nation-state's military does that make them criminals because as members of the Taliban they engaged in criminal terrorism against the U.S. and its citizens? If so, why aren't they entitled to the protections of U.S. criminal law, including one of the oldest of Anglo-Saxon legal protections, the right to a writ of habeas corpus? The Bush gang says they're not protected because they are "enemy combatants", not U.S. citizens, and they are not being held on U.S. soil. But what flag flies over the military installation at Guantanamo Bay? It isn't the Cuban flag.

The Bush gang has throughout the last seven years pursued a policy of executive supremacy that contradicts the Constitutional principals of separation of powers and checks and balances. Their position is that these prisoners are subject to only those judicial procedures that the executive branch deems appropriate, the courts (international or U.S.) be damned.

To our great shame, in the wake of the Twin Towers disaster, few Americans have opposed this authoritarian exercise of executive power. I fear that a precedent may have been established that in the passage of time will undermine our basic liberties. In fact, the Attorney General has already announced today that the Supreme Court's decision will have no affect on the military tribunals underway at GITMO. And who will object? The real test of the citizenry's belief in our constitution is its willingness to stand up for our civil liberties when it really matters - when we are under assault. Anybody can be a champion of civil liberties in times of tranquility.

I recall that when the U.S. was engaged in acquiring foreign territories at the beginning of the 20th century the Court was faced with the question of the rights of the inhabitants of those territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands, etc.) the U.S. had forcibly annexed. The question was "does the Constitution follow the flag?" The U.S. secretary of state said something like 'It may follow the flag but it hasn't quite caught up to it.' Yesterday's decision places the flag closer to the U.S. territory at Guantanamo Bay but if the past seven years are any indication this president will feel no obligation to obey the majority's decision.

[Here, Americans protest at the Supreme Court, dressed as prisoners]
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Agree or disagree, BIRCHES would like to get as many responses as possible from you readers. Please join in with your comments either by posting a comment or by email. This encourages future participation. Please...


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Spots and Stripes QUIZ answers from last Tuesday's Quiz:

1. cheetah
2. giraffe
3. zebra
4. Jaguar
5. leopard
6. lynx/bobcat
7. tiger
8. dalmatian
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GOLD STARS
to IRENE, MARSHA, PAT W, TRASE.

and a silver star for ALICE, who came within a coyote's howl of getting them all.

Quoted Without Further Comment

"Clearly, the tie business is nothing like the old days. In the early 1970s, when sales peaked, manufacturers sold between 200 million and 250 million ties a year in the U.S. Today annual sales have dropped to about 50 million, according to Lee Terrill, president of the neckwear division of Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., the nation's largest tie maker." CLICK

HOROSCOPE FOR ALL YOU FATHERS
June 15

Today you feel that you're on the verge of great success, but of course, you're mistaken once again.

Sunday silly Sites

A photo record of: World's best beards: CLICK


Try to stay off this list. Florida People attacked by 'gators, where and when and how. CLICK

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 14

You will be forced into a position of justifying yourself, so think of a better explanation for your child's broken arm.

Wacko of the Week, 06/14/08

U.S. Circuit Court Judge ALEX KOZINSKI:

Well, he's always been known as a maverick. CLICK . And that's an appropriate role for a well-known conservative judge appointed by a well-known conservative president (Reagan) to serve on a United States Court out there in wacky California where liberals seem to be running all over the place doing good deeds, willy-nilly.

And now His Honor is sitting as the judge on an obscenity trial that promises to be nasty, salacious, naughty, and even nauseating. You know, naked women painted to look like cows and bounding around on all fours, or naked men with sexually aroused farm animals.

Oh, Wait A Minute! That's not exhibit A at the trial, that's a list of pictures on the Judge's website. Oops! This means that the guy who's going to decide if --- hmm.

The Prosecutor cries FOUL! The Judge says, "DAMN!" The actress says, "MOO!" It is known that the Judge is a very big supporter of free speech and press. So, damn and moo are perfectly legal --- I guess.

The trial has been put on hold, and the judge has put himself on unemployment. CLICK

"In light of the public controversy surrounding my involvement in this case, I have concluded that there is a manifest necessity to declare a mistrial," wrote Alex Kozinski, chief judge for the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. "I will recuse myself from further participation in the case and will ask the chief judge of the district court to reassign it to another judge." CLICK

Here under the BIRCHES, we're a pretty jaded bunch and not much shocks us. This certainly doesn't. We live in a kind of state of nature where the monkeys are swinging around in the altogether and the beavers are always slapping their naked tails on the old mill stream. We certainly don't care what the Judge looks at, and we would have said an expert like him should stay on the case.

So, Judge, you're our Wacko of the Week for running away when the going got, well, dirty.
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RUNNER-UP: Daryl Zutt, Queensland Australia. More-and-more, Australia is becoming the place America used to be with colorful and unconventional characters doing independently minded things and having wondrous adventures.
This one we're not describing, we're going to depend on you to click and read it yourself. However, it begins with a phone call: "Mom, you're not gonna believe this, but --- goodbye!"
CLICK

Goodbye Tim Russert

Every teacher favors the kid who does his homework; and that was you!

Ask Bud

Readers have been flooding me with this question:
WHY IS GOD STRIKING US WITH WICKED TOMATOES AND TORNADOS?


I called together my brain trust, my most competent advisers: BARBARA BUSH, TED NUGENT, PAT ROBERTSON, RON PAUL, ARNOLD SCHWARTZNEGGER, and SCREECH.

They consulted with Jesus, and this is what they have concluded. God is striking us with these calamities because of the teaching of evolution. If you want your tomatoes back and your boy scouts to be safe, you better bear this in mind. Now get out there and recall your school boards.

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY
June 13

You must be shamelessly self-promoting today as most people have stopped liking you

A Light Through the Leaves

""If we continue on business as usual, we are going to see more floods, more droughts, more heat waves, more wildfires, more ice melting, faster sea level rise.

"We really have less than a decade to start getting this right. If we're still dragging our feet in 2015 I think it really becomes at that point almost impossible for the world to avert a degree of climate change that we simply will not be able to manage without intolerable cost and consequences."
- climatologist John Holdren, Harvard

Newsflash

We know who's responsible for this, don't we? You might as well fess up.

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY

You will abruptly discover today that serendipity is not all it's cracked up to be.

2nd update on the survey

The survey results are now in:
14 No
4 Yes
one Doesn't Care

IRENE - (With tongue in cheek) The word from the arse end of the earth [i.e.,Australia] is that no, she shouldn't. Too many people don't like her and won't vote for her, too many people won't vote for Obama cause he's black and a terrorist. So why combine them on the same ticket? He needs to find a god-fearing Christian white man to run with him - what happened to John Edwards?

get ready for the ugliness

It’s good news for Obama that Hillary’s out of the race. But it’s also bad news. Now Republicans can turn their full attention to demonizing Michelle Obama. Mrs. Obama is the new, unwilling contestant in Round Two of the sulfurous national game of “Kill the witch.”
- Maureen Dowd, The New York Times

Thursday Morning Smile-Maker (48)

Ladies Garden Society 

Horoscope

HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY'S BIRTHDAY


This morning, you will find you need to go out and buy larger underwear.

BIRCHES torn between loyal readers

We have one loyal Birchie (ALICE) in Michigan who feels the following should be a big story and we should make a to-do about it.

We have another Birchie in Columbia S.C. (MARSHA) who feels it's not newsworthy and that she can't be held to answer for it.

So, I'm just going to blame it on the usual suspects again: 

1.  The public schools for not holding gun training classes for pre-schoolers

2. The Clintons 

3. Terrorists 

Girl, 4, shoots self with grandmother's gun in a Sam's Club

Monday June 9 2008, 

Columbia S.C.

"A 4-year-old girl shot herself in the chest this morning after taking a small-caliber handgun from her grandmother's purse at a Sam's Club in Columbia, S.C.

The child, who was not identified, was rushed to a hospital and underwent surgery. Doctors said this afternoon the bullet caused "no major damage," the The State newspaper reports.

The girl's grandmother was identified as Donna Hutto Williamson, 47. She has a permit to carry a concealed weapon. No charges were filed."

CLICK FOR STORY

update on the survey

Two more people have answered the survey question: "Should Hillary be Obama's Vice Presidential running mate?"

ANONYMOUS - yes. In fact, it should be the other way around. She is the better Presidential candidate, but he should be Prez some day. She is an amazing woman.

PAM- I kind of do in some way. Hillary made me mad during the campaign with her spinning, etc., but the powers that be always tell us we can't move too fast, can't have both a black person and a woman at the same time--too much change. They've been saying that since before black men got the vote 50 or 60 years before women did.

This makes the results now:
13 No
4 yes
1 don't care.

If I hear from other people, I'll update this again. You can be anonymous, although I would like to know who you are and can keep a secret.

Without Further Comment

click on the cartoon to enlarge it
See more J.D.Crowe cartoons here: CLICK

Tuesday Evening Quiz

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Send an e-mail.

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