“Dude, have the nurse check your diaper!

What kinda drug does the Whack Shack Doktor have you on today?

I smell a John Bircher here.
All of the world's problems are the fault of Evil Liberals.

Does Circular Logic make you dizzy.....kinda like spinning around in circles?”

“Once again, Tom, all you have to do is open your mouth....”

“Sorry dude, I forgot to sign my last post.

-Evil T, Liberal”

“You're liberal? Now here I thought you was terrific.

This degeneration is truly evil.”

“Be afraid!”

“Thalidomide was never approved for use in the U.S.

A lone bureaucrat (a woman) at the FDA would not sign off on approval. She did not like the way the tests were conducted and was alarmed by some early reports of birth defects in Europe, where it was approved. There was considerable political pressure on her and her superiors to approve the drug, but they all stuck to their guns.

When the reports of serious birth defects in Canada could no longer be ignored, the entire approval question became moot.

The thalidomide drug is an excellent example of government regulation done right.

To the defense of the Canadian government, they admitted full culpability in premature approval of the drug, and gave all affected children the fullest possible range of assistance and services at no cost to the families. The republicans would never do anything like that in the U.S.”

“Business is neither good nor bad, it just takes the most efficient path to profits. Its the government's job to make sure all the players (businesses) have to clean up their mess, so all are equally handicapped. When government fails to do this fairly, then the business gets screwed. Case in point: US farmers have to follow pesticide regulations (which is fine) but stores are allowed to import produce from Mexico, where the farmers don't have to follow US pesticide regulations. The food has more pesticides, the US farmers can't compete and go out of business, the environment in Mexico gets hit with what we consider excessive application of pesticides: the government has screwed up.

Another good example of the role of government is in strip mining and dredging. The businesses strip and dredge, make their profits and split, leaving the land a mess. The government should require them to clean up the mess, but they don't.”

“arc, I read read your emotional example of the poor orphan slaves and I feel so guilty.

Oh my gawd! You're a liberal!”

“True newspaper article, Nav. I'm not emotional about it at all, so don't be callin' me nasty names please.

Thanks for the info gordon. As I said, my report was on LSD and Thalidomide was a side issue because the birth defects it caused were originally blamed on LSD. That is a good example of government regulation done well. I was wrong to include it in my examples. There are so many better ones I could have chosen.

The government does a lousy job of regulating themselves. Just look to the recent case at the Pentagon. In a socialist system, government and business are one. I would much rather have a "checks and balances" relationship. Government tries to bite off too much when it delves into business. I prefer to keep government small, as our founding fathers had in mind.

Oh no, "founding fathers". Now the liberals will be all over me for not being politically correct. Founding persons.”

“They were "founding fathers", and they should have said "All "persons" are created equal". I wouldn't hold them up as being the last word, although the country was extremely lucky to have them. So many other democracies have struggled where ours was pretty strong, at least until the Civil War. We have had corruption and inequities, but not on the scale that you see in some other, newer democracies, where it practically buckles the economy.”

“A nice quote from Thomas Jefferson, written in 1821. He is referring to judicial usurpation of power, but the quote expresses his belief about the way he thinks our government SHOULD work.

??To this I am opposed, because when all government?shall be drawn to Washington as the center of power, it will render powerless the checks provided?and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.?”

“Are you a history professor?”

“Thomas Jefferson should be required reading for liberals.”

“And conservatives should be required to read John F. Kennedy.”

“No, LyndyS, and sometimes I get my facts a little bit messed up. But I read better literature than Mr. Winky Tinky Monkey Butt.”

“Playgirl is not literature, arc.”

“It was the month they had your picture in it. Nice panties!”

“Thomas Jefferson WAS a liberal!”

“JFK wrote a book?

Comparing JFK to Jefferson is blasphemy.”

“Ok, Attila....
you go boy!”

“Jefferson was pretty liberal even by today's standards.

But don't confuse party labels with ideology. Remember Carter the democrat was more conservative the bush the republican. And despite all the talk of republican economic policies clinton was more fiscally conservative than reagan.”

“That ain't no sh!t, gordon!

These Mad Dog Conservatives are really over the top these days!

What ever happened to loyal opposition and compromise?

Can't we all just get along?

This "take no prisoners" crap is only going to drive voters to more moderate politics, such as liberal and progressive.”

“Actually JFK did write a book. "Profiles in Courage" ring a bell?

"...liberalism is our best hope in the world today. For the liberal society is a free society, and it is at the same time and for that reason a strong society. Its strength is drawn from the will of free people committed to great ends and peacefully striving to meet them."

--J.F.K.”

“to Tom Terrific

I am politically independent. I know all political parties are corrupt liars more interested in power than governing.”

“I reject most labels of "conservative" and "liberal" but I do have fun with them because people like to have labels. It seems to make the world less complicated for some if they can fit things into neat little catagories.

Individual ideas are worth discussing. Eactly what "liberal" ideas do you think JFK was refering to, kleetn? Because most "liberal" philosophy today does not stress free will, it stresses collective will.

YES, gordon! And that is why I prefer less government.”

“I'd join a Labor Party.

The Democratic Party has leaned a bit too far to the right for me, but I still support them.

We need more choices.
A splintering of the present political parties could better serve the public with coalition legislative action on important issues.
That would be better than this winner-take-all ring-around-the-rosey sh!t.”

“I think he meant this:

"...if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.'"

--JFK”

“and a conservative is someone who must listen to talkradio to know where they stand on an issue.”

“Right, kleetn. "Progressive and looking ahead" like not wanting to examine a change in the social security system, not wanting to examine change in the education system, not wanting to change the welfare system...

Oh and right, I forgot, consevatives hate everyone but themselves and don't care about the welfare of society. Your mind has puckered and closed, kleetn. I thought you were better than that.”

“Gee, no need to get all riled up and start calling names. I don't see how a couple of quotes from a great president, whether it be Jefferson or Kennedy, makes me closed-minded.

Have a great day.”

“Names? Mr Winky Tinky Monkey Butt? Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

I am tired of the same ol' same ol' "liberal" refrain: Believe like we do or you don't care about people. That was sick thinking then, it's sick thinking now.

JFK's quote talks about labels, Jefferson's talks about ideas.”

“BTW, I believe there was a minor scandal around "Profiles in Courage," as in JFK may not have actually written it, or at least all of it.”

“General Accounting Office's report reveals Cheney's false statement to Congress?


Where's the outrage?”

“Where's the outrage? It got used up on Iraq, of course.”

“You can see he was lying in that photo too. His lips were moving.”

“I didn’t know he had all those tattoos. wow”

“http://www.charleston.net/stories/011804/wor_18cheney.shtml

Scalia, Cheney socialized as court took on case involving vice president
Associated Press

WASHINGTON--Government watchdogs are raising concerns about a potential conflict of interest for Justice Antonin Scalia because he had dinner and went on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney while the Supreme Court was involved in a case about the vice president's energy task force.

Scalia and Cheney, longtime friends, had dinner at a restaurant on Maryland's Eastern Shore in November, two months after the Bush administration asked the justices to overrule a lower court's decision requiring the White House to identify task force members.

The men went duck hunting in Louisiana this month, not long after the court agreed to hear the case.

Scalia says there is no reason to question his ability to judge the case fairly. Cheney's office referred questions about the propriety of the social encounters to the court.

Watchdogs said Scalia and Cheney should have kept their distance until the court had ruled.

"It gives the appearance of a tainted process where decisions are not made on the merits, where you have judges fraternizing with people before the court," said Charles Lewis, director of the Center for Public Integrity.

Rogan Kersh, a Syracuse University political science professor, said Scalia should withdraw from the case. He said questions remain about the court's evenhandedness in the aftermath of its decision to stop the Florida recount, which gave the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush.

"There's the adage of where there's smoke, there's fire," Kersh said. "There may be no fire in this case. Supreme Court justices, more than any other actors in national politics, want to avoid even a whiff of smoke."

The administration is resisting efforts by Judicial Watch, a watchdog group, and the Sierra Club, an environmental organization, to make public the names of those on the task force.

"It certainly raises questions about the appearance of impropriety, which is the standard that judges are held to," said David Bookbinder, the Sierra Club's Washington legal director.

The groups contend industry executives, including former Enron chairman Ken Lay, helped shape the administration's energy policy.

Scalia, in a written statement to the Los Angeles Times for its story Saturday on the duck hunting trip, said, "I do not think my impartiality could reasonably be questioned."

A court spokeswoman, Kathy Arberg, confirmed the statement Saturday and said Scalia would have nothing more to say.

In September, the administration asked the Supreme Court to overrule a lower court's ruling requiring public disclosure of task force members.

Two months later, Scalia and Cheney joined Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and others for foie gras, lamb and crab cakes at a restaurant on Maryland's Eastern Shore, according to accounts of the dinner in The Star Democrat of Easton, Md., and The Daily Times of Salisbury, Md.

The court agreed to hear the case in December. Earlier this month, Cheney and Scalia spent several days in south Louisiana on the duck-hunting trip.”

“*ahem!*”

“Once again the American people get screwed. This stuff sucks!”

“Enron Tapes Hint Chiefs Knew About Power Ploys

By Jonathan Peterson, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — Enron Corp. employees spoke of "stealing" up to $2 million a day from California during the 2000-01 energy crisis and suggested that their market-gaming ploys would be presented to top management, possibly including Jeffrey K. Skilling and Kenneth L. Lay, according to documents released Monday.

The evidence of apparent scheming — in one recorded conversation, traders brag about taking money from "Grandma Millie" in California — is in a filing by a utility in Snohomish County, Wash. The municipal power unit north of Seattle wants refunds for alleged overcharges made by Enron during the electricity market meltdown.

The utility obtained transcripts of routinely recorded trader discussions from the Justice Department, which seized them in its Enron investigation.

While it has long been established that Enron engaged in market-gaming tactics — two top traders have pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges for manipulating California's energy market and a third awaits trial — the 450 pages of recorded conversations provide another vivid look into the organization's exploitive subculture.

They also suggest that knowledge of alleged wrongdoing may have reached the level of Skilling, Enron's former chief executive, and Lay, the former chairman.

In a Sept. 14, 2000, conversation, an employee named "Sue" from Enron's governmental affairs operation checks in with a trader named "Bob" for information that could be used in an in-house presentation to corporate executives.

"This is the time of year when government affairs has to prove how valuable it is to Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling," Sue said, according to the transcript.

The Snohomish utility identified Sue as Susan J. Mara, Enron's California director of regulatory affairs until December 2001, when she and thousands of others lost their jobs as the result of Enron's financial collapse.

In talking with Bob, whose identity couldn't immediately be learned, Mara touts Enron's success in delaying a lowering of energy price caps by state officials.

Then, still seeking helpful material for the planned executive presentation, she asks: "Do you know when you started overscheduling load and making buckets of money on that?"

Overscheduling load — a tactic that Enron traders famously dubbed "Fat Boy" — involved purposely overstating how much electricity would be needed in the future, creating the appearance of power shortages and leading to inflated prices.

Mara, who is now an energy consultant, said Monday that the recorded conversation came about as she gathered information for a budget presentation to be made to executives at corporate headquarters in Houston. "We had to show what our accomplishments were for the year," she said.

Mara said she didn't recall what the final presentation contained or which executives heard it. The presentation was not prepared expressly for Skilling and Lay, she said, even though her statement in the recorded conversation implied that they would hear it.

The trading tactics discussed on the recording weren't considered illegal or manipulative by Enron, Mara added.

Asked Monday about the transcripts, Enron spokeswoman Karen Denne declined to comment, save to say: "We have been and we're continuing to cooperate with all investigations."

Skilling's lawyer, Bruce Hiler, declined to comment. Earl J. Silbert, an attorney for Lay, could not immediately be reached.

Federal prosecutors in February brought a range of fraud charges against Skilling for his actions when he was at the helm at Enron, but none was related to trading in the California market. Lay has not been charged.

In a different conversation in the transcripts, Enron's West Coast trading chief, Timothy N. Belden, discusses the profitability of the company's strategies in California, particularly those executed by a trading desk led by Jeffrey S. Richter:

"Well he makes … between one and two [million] a day, which never shows up on any curve shift…. He steals money from California to the tune of about a million — "

At this point the other speaker interrupts, asking Belden to rephrase what he just said.

"OK," Belden says. "He, um, he arbitrages the California market to the tune of a million bucks or two a day."

Asked about the transcript Monday, Belden's lawyer, Chris Arguedas, said that it was not possible to draw conclusions about the meaning of Belden's remarks without a better sense of the whole conversation. "You can't understand words spoken unless you see the context in which they are spoken," she said.

In October 2002, Belden pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge and has been cooperating with the government. Richter pleaded guilty to similar charges the following February.

A spokesman for California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said the state was continuing to investigate Enron. "The comments made in these transcripts, if they're accurate, contain the kind of information that could bolster" a case against Enron, said spokesman Tom Dresslar.

Eric Christensen, a lawyer for the Snohomish utility, said the transcripts strongly suggest top Enron executives knew of the trading ploys used in California.

"It was common knowledge at least in the government relations unit, and they reported to upper management in Houston," he said.”

“Gotta love it when the chickens come home to roost.”

“I recall Snohomish County getting burned by that Enron deal. They got tricked into locking into electricity rates when they were sky high.”

“You know... If you read the first and last word of each sentence you get through long posts like this one very quickly, while still getting the message the article conveys.”

“

Inventor turns dead cats into diesel

A German inventor says he's found a way to make cheap diesel fuel out of dead cats.

Dr Christian Koch, 55, from Kleinhartmannsdorf, said his method uses old tyres, weeds and animal cadavers.

They are heated up to 300 Celsius to filter out hydrocarbon which is then turned into diesel by a catalytic converter.

He said the resulting "high quality bio-diesel" costs just 15 pence per litre.

Koch said the cadaver of a fully grown cat can produce 2.5 litres of fuel - meaning around 20 cats are needed for a full tank.

He said: "I tank my car with my own diesel mixture and have driven it for 105,000 miles without any problems."
[...]”

“Only a fool would open one of your links.”

“Bitpusher...always was and still is the King of Krap! :)”