LIGHT BLOGGING BECAUSE TAX SEASON IS HERE!

First of all, anyone reading this blog, I thank you for your time. I have more posts on this blog than Carter has liver pills (ole time saying of my Aunt Eva's Ha!), so look in the archives from past months if you have more time than you know what to do with. There are funny posts, and plenty of serious ones. Have a great year, and don't cry about high gas costs, high taxes, high utilities, high medical insurance and crooked politicians because it could be worse. You could be six feet under right now!

THIS IS SAD REALLY SAD THAT THIS GUY IS AN ICON FOR SO MANY KIDS

50 CENT DISAPPOINTED HIS BULLETPROOF CARS HAVEN'T BEEN SHOT AT





Rapper is disappointed nobody has tried to shoot him while he's been out driving - because he spent $200,000 (GBP105,000) bulletproofing two of his cars.
The MAGIC STICK hitmaker, who was shot nine times in an attack before rising to fame, has spent a lot of time and money on ensuring he's safe when he's on the road - but he's never had the opportunity to put the efficiency of the safeguards to the test.
He tells BLENDER magazine, "I have two (bulletproof vehicles), one in New York, one in LA, and it was about 100 grand each,
"I'm actually disappointed though: Nobody's shot me. I spent a lot of money on that s**t!"
And when he's outside of his vehicles, 50 Cent, real name CURTIS JACKSON, relies on the efforts of just a single bodyguard.
He adds, "I don't like everybody around me like that. The biggest security detail I've rolled with was about 10. That's when you had me, LLOYD BANKS and YOUNG BUCK together."

FARMING USED TO BE PEOPLE BUT NOW IT IS CORPORATE GREED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joNzRzZhR2Y  "Rain On The Scarecrow" by John Cougar Mellencamp updated June 12, 2013....the old song link from 2006 is no longer available.  Linda Poole aka BEEBEE.

BY BEEBEE: John Cougar and I grew up a stone's throw from each other. I grew up in Madison, Indiana and he grew up about sixteen miles away in Seymour, Indiana. This is how it was for us grandchildren of farmers. This is what has been robbed from the heartland of America. First it was the farmers, now its the blue collar workers, the globalization is even causing white collared workers to be replaced, which should leave all of us asking what American dream will disappear next. After my Grandfather, Lawrence Grandville Means, passed away, I was sad because we could not save the farm. All the generations of Means farming gone with the call of an auctioneer. God Bless America.

Rain On The Scarecrow
John Cougar Mellencamp
Scarecrow on a wooden cross Blackbird in the barn
Four hundred empty acres that used to be my farm
I grew up like my daddy did My grandpa cleared this land
When I was five I walked the fence while grandpa held my hand
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
This land fed a nation This land made me proud
And Son I'm just sorry there's no legacy for you now
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
The crops we grew last summer weren't enough to pay the loans
Couldn't buy the seed to plant this spring and the Farmers Bank foreclosed
Called my old friend Schepman up to auction off the land
He said John it's just my job and I hope you understand
Hey calling it your job ol' hoss sure don't make it right
But if you want me to I'll say a prayer for your soul tonight
And grandma's on the front porch swing with a Bible in her hand
Sometimes I hear her singing "Take me to the Promised Land"
When you take away a man's dignity he can't work his fields and cows
There'll be blood on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Blood on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Well there's ninety-seven crosses planted in the courthouse yard
Ninety-seven families who lost ninety-seven farms
I think about my grandpa and my neighbors and my name
And some nights I feel like dyin' Like that scarecrow in the rain
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
This land fed a nation This land made me proud
And Son I'm just sorry they're just memories for you now
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
This land fed a nation This land made me proud
And Son I'm just sorry they're just memories for you now
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow

"BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN"

MR. OPPORTUNITY OF NEW ORLEANS NUMBER ONE DRAFT FOR NBA

When questioned about his ablity to hold down so many jobs at once, Mr. Opportunity said that it will be quite a while before a seat opens on the US Supreme Court, and that the Mayor's race in New Orleans is not for several more months. It is likely that Opportunity will not be called as a witness to Brian Nichol's upcoming trial, so he has time to play basketball. It will be great for Heinekin Beer to gain in market share with new advertising plans with the NBA.

IT IS JUST NOT THE FAR LEFT WANTING US TO GET OUT OF IRAQ

Iraq
Last Updated: Jan 11th, 2006 - 13:55:20
Retired War Hero Speaks Out (Excerpt)by John F. McManusJanuary 9, 2006One of our nation's most highly decorated combat veterans offers his thoughts on the current war against Iraq, including why "we should get out fast!"
Brigadier General Andrew Gatsis is one of our nation's most highly decorated veterans. Awarded numerous medals for bravery in combat during both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, he retired from active duty in 1975 after more than three decades of service in the U.S. Army.
THE NEW AMERICAN sought him out for his thoughts about the current war against Iraq, and he minced no words. "We never should have gone in there in the first place since we weren't immediately threatened," he thundered. "There were no weapons of mass destruction; Saddam Hussein's regime had no connection to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, and wasn't responsible for the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center; and there wasn't any evidence to back up the claim that Iraq was building nuclear weapons capability. All the reasons given by the administration to justify this war have been shown to be false."
The general is angry at what the president and his administration have done. They originally claimed the attack on Iraq was needed to fight terrorism and now insist that the effort is needed "to build democracy" in Iraq. He wants to know: "Who are we to tell the Iraqi people what kind of government they should have?" Further: "Our efforts are not resulting in freedom for the Iraqi people anyway. It is becoming increasingly clear that Iraq is becoming a radical Islamic regime aligned with Iran."
"We invaded a country that posed no threat to us," says the general. "What's different about what we have done in Iraq and what Hitler did when he sent his forces into Czechoslovakia in 1939? This war in Iraq has already cost the lives of 2,200 Americans, wounded over 15,000 more, and left at least 30,000 Iraqis dead, most of whom were non-combatants caught in crossfires or victimized by Islamist terrorists. And look at the billions of dollars being poured into this flawed effort. It saddens me to see all of this happen to our troops -- and all for an unjust cause."
"Declare Victory" and Leave
Asked what he believes the Bush administration should do, he declared, "We should get out fast! We should declare victory....To continue reading the complete article, place an online order for a PDF version of the January 9th issue of The New American, and get instant access to the full-text of this article along with the full-text of all the other articles in the same issue. Similarly, if you place an online order for one or more copies of the print version of the January 9th issue, you'll receive a complimentary link to the PDF version of that issue, also giving you instant access to the full-text of the "Retired War Hero Speaks Out" article and all of the other articles in that issue.

WE DO NOT NEED ANOTHER WAR-ESPECIALLY A NUCLEAR WAR

January 18, 2006
Another Undeclared War?
by Patrick J. Buchanan
Is the United States about to launch a second preemptive war, against a nation that has not attacked us, to deprive it of weapons of mass destruction that it does not have?
With U.S. troops tied down in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Pakistanis inflamed over a U.S. airstrike that wiped out 13 villagers, including women and children, it would seem another war in the Islamic world is the last thing America needs.
Yet the "military option" against Iran is the talk of the town.
"There is only one thing worse than … exercising the military option," says Sen. John McCain. "That is a nuclear-armed Iran. The military option is the last option, but cannot be taken off the table."
Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, McCain said Iran's nuclear program presents "the most grave situation we have faced since the end of the Cold War, absent the whole war on terror."
Meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bush employed the same grim terms he used before invading Iraq. If Iran goes forward with nuclear enrichment, said Bush, it could "pose a grave threat to the security of the world."
McCain and Bush both emphasized the threat to Israel. And all the usual suspects are beating the drums for war. Israel warns that March is the deadline after which she may strike. One reads of F-16s headed for the Gulf. The Weekly Standard is feathered and painted for the warpath. The Iranian Chalabis are playing their assigned roles, warning that Tehran is much closer to nukes than we all realize.
But just how imminent in this "grave threat"?
Thus far, Tehran has taken only two baby steps. It has renewed converting "yellowcake" into uranium hexafluoride, the gaseous substance used to create enriched uranium. And Iran has broken the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seals at its nuclear facility at Natanz, where uranium hexafluoride is to be processed into enriched uranium. But on Saturday, the foreign ministry said it was still suspending "fuel production."
However, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declared, "There are no restrictions for nuclear research activities under the NPT," the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Iran has signed.
Here, Iran's president is supported by his countrymen and stands on the solid ground of international law. Yet Secretary of State Condi Rice said last week, "There is simply no peaceful rationale for the Iranian regime to resume uranium enrichment."
Is Condi right?
Unlike Israel, Pakistan, and India, which clandestinely built nuclear weapons, Iran has signed the NPT. And Tehran may wish to exercise its rights under the treaty to master the nuclear fuel cycle to build power plants for electricity, rather than use up the oil and gas deposits she exports to earn all of her hard currency. Nuclear power makes sense for Iran
True, in gaining such expertise, Iran may wish to be able, in a matter of months, to go nuclear. For the United States and Israel, which have repeatedly threatened her, are both in the neighborhood and have nuclear arsenals. Acquiring an atom bomb to deter a U.S. or Israeli attack may not appear a "peaceful rationale" to Rice, but the Iranians may have a different perspective.
Having seen what we did to Iraq, but how deferential we are to North Korea, would it be irrational for Tehran to seek its own deterrent?
And, again, just how imminent is this "grave threat"?
"We don't see a clear and present danger," Mohamed ElBaradei of the IAEA has just told Newsweek.
Some put the possibility of an Iranian bomb at 10 years away. Con Coughlin, defense and security editor of the London Telegraph, writes that the 164 centrifuges in the Natanz pilot plant could enable Iran to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a single bomb – in three years.
If the threat were imminent, Israel, which invaded Egypt in 1956, destroyed the Syrian and Egyptian air forces on the ground in a surprise attack in 1967, and smashed an Iraqi reactor before it was completed in 1981, would have acted. And with an estimated 200 nuclear weapons, Israel is fully capable of deterring Iran – and of massive retaliation if she is attacked by Iran.
Iran has attacked neither Israel nor our forces in the Gulf, and the Ayatollah Khamenei is said to be reining in Ahmadinejad. So it would seem that Iran does not want a war.
Congress thus has the time to do the constitutional duty it failed to do when it gave Bush his blank check to invade Iraq at a time of his choosing.
Few today trust "intelligence reports," War Party propagandists, or the word of exiles anxious to have us fight their wars. Congress should thus hold hearings on how close Tehran is to a nuclear weapon and whether this represents an intolerable threat, justifying a preventive war that would mean a Middle East cataclysm and a worldwide depression. Then it should vote to declare war, or to deny Bush the power to go to war.
The "Bush Doctrine" notwithstanding, if Congress has not put the "military option on the table," neither George Bush nor John McCain can put it there. That is the Constitution still, is it not?

COULD GEORGIA COUNTIES JOIN THIS DREADED LIST?

The states with the most distressed counties are :
Kentucky, 35 distressed countiesWest Virginia with 21 distressed counties Mississippi with 12,Tennessee, 8Ohio, 6Alabama, 5Virginia, 3North Carolina, 1

This Appalachian map shows the highest poverty rates in the United States. Could we become the next Appalachia? We most certainly will become the next Appalachia, if our government does not wake up and realize that taxation by government gets in the way of private investment. Government is not efficient because by its very definition, there is not a profit motive. Many people scoff at one that tries to tell the truth, but when you do not hold on to your good paying manufacturing jobs something has to give. It is either government that realizes that it must consolidate for efficiency or it is more flight out of the County. Our financial demographics are getting more and more like the Appalachian area every year.

Updated from earlier post in October 2005: Now we are losing B&W in Macon, Keebler, First Data in Macon, and we are losing Ford Motor Company in Atlanta area. Folks our education is a failure in this state, and there is a reason we do not have the skilled labor required of world class manufacturers.

FROM A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS-THIS IS PRICELESS-YES WOMEN SHOULD SEE ULTRASOUNDS

ADOLPH RUPP: HALL OF FAME WINNER AND GREAT ALL AMERICAN COLLEGE BASKETBALL COACH WHEN BASKETBALL WAS BASKETBALL AND NOT HANGING ON THE RIM

Kentucky fans question 'Glory Road' portrayal/ Associated Press Posted: 2 days ago
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - In a movie that seems neatly divided between black and white, fans here are seeing gray - with a strong tint of Kentucky blue.
It's not that most Kentuckians have a quibble with the heroes of "Glory Road" - the 1966 Texas Western team that made basketball history in the national title game by starting five black players. Their dispute is with the perceived villains.
The all-white Kentucky Wildcats lost that game, and actor Jon Voight's portrayal of the late Adolph Rupp has opened a sensitive debate here on whether the Hall of Fame coach was racist.
Some Kentucky fans aren't happy with the portrayal of coach Adolph Rupp (left, played by Jon Voight) in "Glory Road". (Disney Enterprises, Inc./Frank Connor / Associated Press)
"Glory Road," at least in its final form, doesn't say he was. But Voight's Rupp is clearly unlikable and cantankerous and symbolizes the antagonist that underdog Texas Western was fighting against - on the court and off it.
Those who knew him best, however, contend Rupp's only real crime was trying to win a basketball game.
"No matter how strong they make the implications, they cannot make a racist out of Adolph Rupp," said Joe B. Hall, a former Rupp assistant who succeeded him as head coach in 1973.
Rupp's son, Herky Rupp, says he has seen the previews but refuses to watch anything else.
"There has to be a good guy and a bad guy, and Kentucky's going to be the bad guy," he said. "How can someone believe what these revisionists have put out, and how can it grow into such a ridiculous story? This has altered my father's legacy, and not a bit of it is true."
The younger Rupp says his beef isn't with Voight, other than the fact he doesn't think he resembles his father. In fact, Voight called Herky Rupp during shooting to tell him that out of respect for his father's career, he was going to try to make some changes to the script.
Those changes apparently were made, according to Harry Miller III, a Hollywood film editor who grew up in Lexington and saw an early draft of "Glory Road."
In a scene from that version where Rupp gives a pregame news conference, his character used a racial epithet to describe the black players, Miller said. The scene made the movie, but the remark was cut.
Director James Gartner has said only that the Rupp role was handled "with great sensitivity" because the record on the coach's true feelings toward black athletes isn't clear. "I don't want to do any damage to anybody," he told The Associated Press.
Amy Bass, history professor at the College of New Rochelle in New York, agreed that Rupp's record on the subject is murky but said there had long been rumors alleging the coach had racist tendencies. Those perceptions took on new life several years ago, she said, when an article in Sports Illustrated was critical of Rupp's attitudes about race.
"I don't think he was completely an isolationist," said Bass, who this year published the book, "In the Game: Race, Identity and Sports in the 20th Century." "Calling him a racist because he didn't recruit black players is sort of taking him out of a picture that was very large. No one was recruiting black players."
Last month, a Lexington television station aired a documentary - funded in part by the University of Kentucky - that casts Rupp in a far more flattering light than the movie. Based on interviews with former players, coaches and beat writers, it suggests Rupp not only wasn't a racist but spent years actively searching for the ideal player to break the basketball team's color barrier.
Dick Gabriel, the sports manager for WKYT-TV and producer of the documentary, said the issue wasn't home games in Lexington but Southeastern Conference road games in the Deep South. A black player for Kentucky, a disliked program already because of its immense success, would have been subjected to far greater scrutiny than one playing on another SEC team, Gabriel said.
"The South was a dangerous place for African-Americans to begin with," Gabriel said. "Rupp knew his teams were already hated. He said, 'Imagine what it's going to be like when we go down there with a black player who can't stay at the hotel where we stay, can't eat at the restaurants we eat?' Had he not tried to recruit the perfect player - a superstar - then he wouldn't have taken nearly as long."
In 1969, Rupp signed the school's first black player - Tom Payne from Louisville, who spent only a year at Kentucky before entering the NBA draft. By the time Payne joined the Wildcats, the rest of the SEC was almost fully integrated.
At the end of "Glory Road," a note on the screen credits Rupp for recruiting Payne and points out Kentucky's current basketball coach - Tubby Smith - is black. Smith took his players to see the film this past week.
Kentucky president Lee Todd acknowledged the school spent $7,500 to help underwrite Gabriel's documentary, partly to combat fears that "Glory Road" would attempt to torpedo Rupp's reputation.
"It could have been a defensive move," Todd said. "We weren't sure exactly what was going to come out of the movie."
Larry Conley, a player on the 1966 "Rupp's Runts," said he was pleasantly surprised by the film after bracing for an extremely harsh portrayal. Only one line delivered by Voight seems to have racial undertones - when the coach points to the all-black lineup and tells his players, "Clearly, they're going to run at us."
"I really didn't think it was distorted at all," Conley said. "It's hard for people that didn't know the team to look at that and get an understanding of what the team was about after seven minutes on the big screen."
But one longtime Kentucky fan said the movie didn't go far enough in exploring Rupp's racial beliefs.
"It was kind of watered down," said Bill White, a former high school football coach in Louisville. "We perceived him as being racist. I rooted for Kentucky while I was in college, but I'm a black person. I'd imagine every black person in America was rooting for Texas Western."
Danny Haney, a former high school basketball coach in Lexington, attended the same opening night showing with his new players from Coconut Creek, Fla., who were in town for a tournament.
Haney, whose parents have been Kentucky season ticket holders for 46 years, said even Wildcats fans can learn something from the story of Texas Western (now the University of Texas at El Paso).
"This is to educate all our kids about the barriers there were back in the '60's and the difference this made," Haney said. "But, obviously, I'll defend coach Rupp until the day I die."

I AM NOT GOING TO WRITE OFF FORD JUST YET

1965 Shelby GT350 unbelievable Mustangs that could have been bought for less than $6,000 went for staggering amounts at the Barrett-Jackson auction live in Scottsdale, Arizona this weekend. I am talking some that sold for $250,000! We are learning that Ford Motor Company is going to restructure its North American operations and it is being called Black Monday for Ford tomorrow, as the announcements come about 25,000 losing jobs of its 120,000 work force. Ford is coming out with a 2007 GT500 Cobra, and a bidder on Saturday paid $600,000 to be the first owner of this Shelby addition with his teaming up with Edsel Ford. This bidder will get to be at the Ford facility for the design of his dream car to his very own wishes. Am I a car enthusiast, well not exactly. I watched the auctions because my husband is a car enthusiast, and I wish that I could go back in time and buy these muscle cars because I would never have to work another day in my life. Watching this auction was mind boggling, as the top money cars were all American cars. Go Ford go!

HELP FRANCE PAY FOR DAMAGES CAUSED BY RIOTERS BY BUYING SOME VINTAGE WINE

GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD NOT RECOGNIZE THE UNITED STATES-CLICK 191 LINK FOR HIS FAREWELL ADDRESS

"A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one nation the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens who devote themselves to the favorite nation, facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation." - George Washington 191 (emphasis added)

IVORY COAST ON BRINK OF CIVIL WAR-WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT THE UN PEACE KEEPERS? MAYBE FRANCE'S LEADERS WILL OFFER ADVICE!

Thu 19 Jan 2006
UN troops look on from their base in Abidjan as supporters of President Gbagbo burn tyres outside the main gates.Picture: Kambou Sia/ AFP / Getty Images
Ivory Coast on brink of a new war
PAULINE BAX AND PETER MURPHY IN ABIDJAN
UNITED Nations peacekeepers fought off armed attackers besieging their compound in Ivory Coast yesterday, as the country appeared to be heading for a fresh outbreak of civil war.
At least four protesters were killed during the assault on the base at Guiglo, in the west of the country, and the UN later evacuated all its staff from that area.

In the capital, Abidjan, the main UN headquarters in the country also came under attack, as gangs of pro-government youths blocked streets and took over television studios, from where they broadcast demands for UN and French peacekeeping troops to leave.
Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian president and a key regional mediator, was flying to the country yesterday for emergency talks with his counterpart.
Ivory Coast was divided in two, between a government-controlled south and a rebel-held north, after a civil war in 2002. The latest protests were orchestrated by government supporters after foreign mediators called for an end to the mandate of the national parliament, which is dominated by allies of the president, Laurent Gbagbo.
UN bases and vehicles have been among the demonstrators' main targets.
Margherita Amodeo, a UN spokeswoman, said: "The Guiglo camp was stormed at about 4am this morning. They were repelled by Bangladeshi soldiers. I know there are four from among the attackers [that were killed]."
An Ivorian army commander, who also confirmed the deaths but asked not to be named, said the peacekeepers had since evacuated from the towns of Guiglo and Duekoue, and this was later confirmed by the UN.
Residents reached by telephone in Guiglo, which is near the Liberian border, said rioters had been looting the offices of humanitarian organisations.
A doctor at the town's main hospital said two dead bodies with bullet wounds were lying in the morgue and there were reports of three further corpses in Guiglo's streets. Ten others had been treated for gunshot wounds, he said.
Peacekeepers inside the main UN headquarters in Abidjan fired in the air and launched tear-gas grenades at demonstrators for a second consecutive day yesterday, keeping about 1,000 protesters at bay.
A pro-Gbagbo student leader, Serge Koffi, appeared on state television, reading a statement saying that the broadcaster had been "liberated".
Demonstrators have, during past crises, seized the TV station, which is state-funded but run by a neutral party under peace accords.
A French army spokesman said the four protesters who died at Guiglo had tried to take weapons and had climbed on to armoured vehicles. He said 12 further demonstrators had been injured.
In Paris, the French army's chief of staff, General Henri Bentegeat, called for UN sanctions against Ivory Coast, saying that both sides appeared unwilling to resolve the three-year-old conflict.
The latest protests erupted on Monday after a UN-backed international mediation group recommended that the parliament's expired mandate should not be renewed.
Mr Gbagbo is leading a one-year government of national unity that has diminished his executive powers. The parliament, which is filled with his supporters, is viewed as his last bastion of power and the decision to dissolve it angered youth activists and the president's backers who sent their followers into the streets.
Businesses shut down across Abidjan, amid fears of a return to all-out violence.
There were no reports of any trouble in the north, where rebel leaders accused Mr Gbagbo of orchestrating the protests to undermine a new transitional government.
"It's an insurrection against the transitional government organised by Gbagbo and [his political party] to bring power back into their hands," said Sidiki Konate, a spokesman for the rebels.
Officials at the office of the president could not be reached for comment.
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, has condemned the fresh violence, saying it threatens the nation's fragile peace.
Last year, Mr Gbagbo cancelled elections planned for October, blaming the rebels in the north. Afterwards, the UN and the African Union endorsed a one-year extension of his five-year mandate, despite fierce objections from rebels and opposition groups, and a new prime minister, Charles Konan Banny, was chosen by the warring sides to shepherd the country towards elections within a year.
He named a new 32-member national-unity government last month, composed of rebel, opposition party and ruling party ministers.
But Mr Gbagbo's ruling Ivorian Popular Front said on Tuesday that it was withdrawing from the peace process and would no longer co-operate with Mr Banny's government.

GOP'S AFTER CHRISTMAS SALES ARE THE BEST

NEW DNC SILVER TRAY PLATFORM (NO 7. SHOULD READ "LET US KNOW HOW WE CAN BETTER SERVE YOU!" EDITING ERROR COULD NOT BE CORRECTED)

HILLARY FANNING THE FLAMES OF RACISM FOR POLITICAL POINTS

MR. OPPORTUNITY WILL RUN FOR MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS

Mr. Opportunity will have his old buddy, Alfalfa, swear him in when he is elected Mayor of New Orleans the end of this year. For those not familiar with Mr. Opportunity, he is the fellow on the right in this photo that captured the heart and mind of a photographer during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. During all of the chaos, Mr. Opportunity helped take a couple of cases of Heinekin beer to a safe location before it got hot in the store. Opportunity was very heroic in wading through the yucky water from the flood, and gave a big smile for the camera. Katrina made him into a beloved hero to fellow New Orleans partiers, and he will definitely beat out Mayor Nagin this year in the Mayoral race. Nagin pretty much blew his chances for getting reelected, when he had a slip of tongue on MLK day by saying that New Orleans was going to become a "chocolate town." Voters will not be swayed to choose chocolate over an ice cold beer, so this blogger predicts that Mayor Nagin will definitely lose out to Mr. Opportunity who is the beer lovers' choice.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF MAKEUP!

MACON GEORGIA GOING DOWN FOR THE COUNT

Because of government officials in the City of Macon and Bibb County unwilling to downsize government and cut taxes, we are going down for the count.

Some businesses that I can recall that have gone out of business or are in the process of going out of business:

Brown and Williamson
Cagles Chicken Processing
Bassett Furniture
Ironwoods Family Golf Center
Bibb Mills
Keebler
Hi Fi Buys
Toys R Us
Media Play
First Data
YKK (considerable downsizing and pay cuts)
Quail's Nest on Gray Highway
Office Max
Countless other small businesses

It is time that people awakened in Bibb County and the City of Macon and realized that a change is long overdue. I was happy that someone wrote a letter to the newspaper about the trouble that he went through to open his business, and how his business license renewal was so disrespectful toward business owners. It is ridiculous that small businesses must pay $50 for administrative fees and then $30 per employee to get a renewal. We could cut Thomas Tedders' office staff drastically and eliminate this per employee fee for small businesses and jump start the private sector. But the people that run our government that have no business knowledge will keep on doing whatever it takes to keep money in their own pockets. The idea that Bass Pro Shops with its $8.50 an hour jobs will make up for the loss of jobs and pay in this community is laughable.

MR. OPPORTUNITY NOMINATED TO SUPREME COURT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8yoSAiwY18
THIS IS A CLIP FORM THE MOVIE "IDIOCRACY" THAT PRETTY WELL DEPICTS THIS FUNNY SKIT I WROTE ABOUT A SUPREME COURT NOMINEE. THE MOVIE IS A LITTLE TOO RATED R FOR MY TASTE, BUT IT DOES GET THE POINT ACROSS ABOUT HOW DUMB OUR SOCIETY HAS EVOLVED INTO OVER THE LAST, WELL I GUESS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME. I THINK THIS IS HUMOROUS, SO YOU KNOW I AM NOT PC AT ALL! ENJOY!


I am anxious for Alito to get confirmed, and then we can move forward and get another liberal on the Supreme Court. This would give President Bush the opportunity to reallly reach across the aisle with reconciliation.
Democrats demand balance on the Supreme Court, when Ruth Ginsberg steps down. The Democrats demand that a real person should be placed on the Court that can get down with the people. So here goes, I had a nightmare about the judicial questions, and thought I would share them.



Senator Hatch: Good morning Mr. Opportunity, just how is it that you became a person down with the people?

Mr. Opportunity: Well you see, I realized the stores had all of this ice cold Heinekin that was going to get warm so I seized on the opportunity to loot me some cold ones in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I did not realize that the media was going to turn me into a real life hero. But hey, I'll take what I can get.

Senator Hatch: Well, Mr. Opportunity do you have a law degreee and if so where did you earn your degree?

Mr. Opportunity: I earned my degree in the school of hard knocks, and I got more experience with the law than anyone in this chamber. I have passed through many bars, and looked through them, too. So, I guess you could say that makes me more than qualifed according to ABA standards.

Senator Hatch: Well, Mr. Opportunity what is your viewpoint on legal precedent?

Mr. Opportunity: Oh, you mean that Starry Decisis stuff, isn't that what Fantasia sang on American Idol? I'm cool with that. Hey man do you mind if I open a cold one? I brought me a cooler of Heinekin. With all of my advertising promotions, I can't drink them fast enough before another truck load gets deliverd to my crib.

Mr. Hatch: Will you please put your feet down and quit leaning back in that chair? It is distracting, and hopefully you can show a little more respect for these preceedings. A long sigh, no further questions. I turn my time over to Ms. Feinstein.

Ms. Feinstein: Now Mr. Opportunity, you do know that it is of vital importance that we maintain our Citizens privacy in our Country don't you? I mean we don't want to ever be humiliated and have to remove our shoes.

Mr. Opportunity: Well mam, I like my privacy too, but if you are worried about removing your shoes then my advice is that you keep your feet clean and make sure your socks don't have holes in them.

Ms. Feinstein: Frowning and rubbing her forehead, well Mr. Opportunity what is your opinion on the Kelo ruling?

Mr. Opportunity: Well mam, you have got to be kidding because I can't afford to buy a dime bag let alone a kilo. You mind if I open another cold one, the more I drink the thirstier I get?

Ms. Feinstein: Sighing and wiping her eyes with a kleenex, Mr. Opportunity what is your stance on the government upholding a woman's right to her reproductive health?

Mr. Opportunity: Well mam, that is cool with me. I met Fantasia last night and we drank a case of Heinekin, and she told me not to be controversial with this question to just be cool about it. That is about the only thought I can give to the matter. Well, I need to go take a leak. Could we have a recess?

To be continued............

HIGH STAKES POKER GAME IN GEORGIA STATE HOUSE JUMP STARTS THE 2006 GOVERNOR'S RACE

The game is on, and Governor Perdue opens with a billion dollar infusion into our glorious education system, that includes a proposed 6% increase in teachers' salaries (reduced to 4% as of second session day). Then Mark Taylor raises the ante with free health care for any child not covered in Georgia, and today free education for college for all four years, if students maintain a B average. And the other Governor contender, Ms. Cox, wants to move the drivers' license bureau to Macon.

Oh, the game gets even more costly, with the state corrections bureau being relocated to the old Tift College in Forsyth that will cost no telling what to remodel for this move to decentralize state government out of Atlanta. But, hey who cares because money grows on trees in Georgia. I suppose that we just need to elect a King for life in our state because elections every four years are getting to be costly affairs.

Where in the tarnation are all of the so-called conservatives that we have elected in Georgia. I suppose that they are in the same black hole, as the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"INTELLIGENCE MANIPULATION" ARE YOU ANGRY? ARE YOU CRYING YET OVER YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES THAT DIED NEEDLESSLY? I AM!!!!!!!!

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com
Intelligence manipulationBy F. Michael MaloofPublished January 3, 2006
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Debate over intelligence manipulation by the Bush administration to justify U.S. action in Iraq in March 2003 needs to be focused directly on the intelligence originators. At the eleventh hour, U.S. intelligence officials brushed off Iraq's unconditional terms for peace to avert U.S. action. A spokesman for the Central Intelligence Agency was quoted as saying the Iraqis should be told the United States will "see them in Baghdad." The spokesman added the CIA was to have had a meeting three months earlier with Iraqis to discuss similar terms but Iraqi participants never showed up. New evidence, however, reveals a meeting occurred in 2002 on similar unconditional terms, which the CIA rejected. The Office of then Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz insists the terms never were known prior to late February 2003. Iraq's six unconditional terms were channeled through this writer to Defense Department policymakers. Those terms were: •Full support of America's Arab-Israeli peace process. •Support for U.S. strategic interests in the region. •Priority to the United States for Iraqi oil. •Elections within two years under U.N. auspices. •Disarmament -- direct U.S. involvement in disarming Iraq. •Full cooperation in the war on terror -- hand over Abdul Rahman Yasin, who was involved in the 1993 bombing of New York City's World Trade Center. It would have taken days -- not months -- to determine their validity, particularly on the issues of disarmament and the handing over of the WTC terrorist. Yet, they were well known to the CIA in late 2002. If Iraq had met its conditions, this would have been enough time to reverse the U.S. buildup. White House and Defense Department officials insist there was follow-up with all reasonable overtures but the February 2003 Iraqi initiative was "neither credible nor legitimate." In a Nov. 6, 2003, New York Times story about the unconditional terms, a senior U.S. intelligence official was quoted as saying, "Signals came via a broad range of foreign intelligence services, other governments, third parties, charlatans and independent actors. Every lead that was at all plausible, and some that weren't, were followed up." This may explain why a CIA spokesman at the time brushed off this particular appeal by saying CIA "did not want to pursue this channel, and indicated they [CIA] had already engaged in separate contacts with Baghdad." Nevertheless, following publication of the New York Times story, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared: "The American people can take comfort in knowing that their country has done everything humanly possible to avoid war and to secure Iraq's peaceful disarmament." Upon learning of the unconditional terms through the Defense Department channel in February 2003, the CIA was informed the appeal for their consideration originated with a prominent Syrian through a Lebanese-American intermediary. The prominent Syrian was Mohammed Nassif, top adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Given its relationship with Syria at the time, the CIA would have known the request for consideration of the unconditional terms came from a serious level. Indeed, Mr. Nassif sought a "back-channel" arrangement with Defense Department policymakers just prior to a request for U.S. consideration of the Iraqi unconditional terms. The back-channel issue was taken so seriously in the Defense Department that it was brought to Mr. Rumsfeld's attention. Through the Defense Department channel, the Syrians were asked if Iraq had stashed its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Syria. Mr. Nassif said Syria officially would deny that, but would have "much to talk about" via a quiet back channel. The CIA also was advised of this. Nevertheless, it prompted anonymous CIA sources to launch through the press an erroneous diatribe that I and others were trying to set up a "rogue" operation within the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy to bypass the CIA. Ironically, Syria had offered to stage some 5,000 U.S. troops to go into Iraq under the unconditional terms to search for WMD. U.S. troops could have walked into Iraq without firing a shot. These developments may explain CIA efforts to portray as a "rogue" operation the effort to bring the Iraqi terms to the attention of Defense policymakers. The terms came through a channel over which CIA had no control, though many of the CIA's own sources were involved. Authorities who know Middle East methods are very aware of similar back channels. The New York Times reported, "Many Arab leaders have traditionally placed a high value on secret communications, though such informal arrangements are sometimes considered suspect in Washington." It is hard to understand why Washington would be suspicious of such an approach. In October 1962, for example, the Soviets worked through an unofficial intermediary, John Scali of ABC News, to resolve the Cuban missile crisis. All this may strongly suggest the CIA manipulated the information that led the United States into war with Iraq. Former CIA Director George Tenet first briefed President Bush in December 2002 on Iraq's WMD program. When Mr. Bush expressed skepticism over the analysis, Mr. Tenet said the evidence was a "slam dunk." This statement followed a September 2002 CIA National Intelligence Estimate saying the same thing. Until then, the concern about Iraq centered on its support for terror. Given his trust of Mr. Tenet, Mr. Bush shifted the basis for war with Iraq from terrorist support to WMD. Numerous published accounts attest to the CIA's opposition to U.S. action in Iraq. Given that opposition, CIA undertook to see the Bush administration fail. The CIA willfully disseminated bad information about Iraq's WMD program. It also undermined back-channel opportunities to avert war in an effort to discredit the Bush administration with which it by then had declared open political warfare. F. Michael Maloof is a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Defense Secretary.

A POST ABOUT A SPIRITUAL REVIVAL

I just returned from Jacksonville, North Carolina from a visit with my oldest son. My son had told me about a small Baptist Church that he had been visiting that is about 40 minutes from his house, and that he had never in his life felt Christ alive in a church. I decided to drive to North Carolina to visit Mark for his 27th birthday, and to attend Wednesday night church services with him. The name of the church was Emmanuel Baptist Church in Swansboro, North Carolina and the pastor is named Dr. Wakefield.

Upon entering the church, we were greeted by men and women that actually looked us in the eye and grabbed our hand to welcome us. I have been in many churches in my life time, but nothing compared to this welcome. About 35 people left their seats in the pews when the service began and went forward to sing in the choir. For a Wednesday night, it was unbelievable. And the prayers involved the minister and anyone that wanted to come forward getting on their knees and praying out loud. I have been to services where people prayed in tongues, and I could not understand. These folks were praying in audible words, and it did not seem at all out of place. It was beautiful, and I could actually feel a calm spiritualness in the sanctuary.

Then one lady in the choir started to share her feelings of anguish over the showing of Daniel on NBC, and other members of the church spoke out about the showing and how to contact NBC and sponsors. It was like a large family of people talking about problems around a dinner table. And then Pastor Wakefield took the microphone, and was very hoarse but said that he was going to give the best preaching that he could. This pastor was so passionate, humble and walked down from the pulpit many times to express something that he was preaching. The main verse that he focused on was in Matthew 24, verse 36, which talks about the unknown return of Jesus Christ. He was talking about a blind woman that wrote many Christian hymns that said she would know her Lord when she felt the nail imprints in his hand, and walked down to a member of the congregation and said do you feel the power of her belief holding out the palm of his hand.

Then when he preached about gathering your children up to be ready for the reunion with Jesus Christ, I looked around the congregation and realized that there were no youth in the pews. And then the pastor talked about his wonder of what Christ would look like, whether he would be six foot two or only 4 foot that it would not matter to him. Well I was thinking about a passage in the old Testament that talked about how no one could view God and live through it because of his power, and the pastor said the very same thing that I was thinking and directed us to turn to old Testament. I thought of the Left Behind movie where families miss their loved ones in the second coming, and he talked about the Left Behind and that it was not true to the scriptures. I was absolutely overwhelmed because I felt that he was preaching to me only. Mark had told me that he felt when he went to the services that the pastor was speaking directly to him, and I actually felt the same feelings. When the service was over, I was sad as I wanted the pastor to keep preaching. I am telling anyone reading this that I have never in my life felt a sadness when a sermon ended. I had forgot to put my visitors card in the offering plate, and when the service was over I approached the pastor to hand it to him. He looked me in the eyes, and said the youth are in another building and the little ones are in the nursery. I know in my heart that through Christ, he had known what my questions were during the sermon. It was so powerful of an experience, as Mark has been to about 30 churches and he had called me and told me, "Momma, I have never experienced a church like this in my life."

After the service, a lady approached me and ask me if I would come back to the church again. She told me that she had seen my son there, and then she told my son to please keep coming back and she said I wish your Mom lived here to come to this church. I told the lady that I was glad that the church addressed the airing of the Daniel show, and she got tears in her eyes, and said that she quit watching television four years ago but that she could not get away from it because people in the church informed her of what was on. I told her that I was sorry if I upset her by talking about it, and she said that was fine. Her sorrow over the ugliness of what is on television was so great that it made me feel sad. Mark had already took a married couple that are friends of his from Virginia, and the young woman is a Christian from Sweden and she said that she had never been in a church that was so spiritual. They both talked to the pastor, and told him that they were definitely going to share their experience with their Baptist Church in Virginia. The congregation was made up of lower to middle income class, and many Marines were in the congregation. Christ was very much in that church, and I only wish that every Christian could get the opportunity to experience this church.