Mood:  rushed

Pa. Man Gets Letter Postmarked 1954

Ferndale, Pa. -- A western Pennsylvania man is trying to solve a mystery that recently landed in his mailbox: a letter mailed more than 50 years ago and addressed to a Frederick Zane Yost.

The letter, with a 3-cent stamp and postmarked Oct. 26, 1954, was encased in a large Postal Service window envelope. There is a return address -- in nearby Richland Township -- but no sender's name.

Brian McAteer said that the letter appears to be sealed and has not been damaged, and that he will not open it. However, he hasn't had any luck finding Yost. Among his efforts have been to contact Yosts in the area, speak with longtime residents and search on the Internet.

"I haven't given up trying to find him," McAteer, a road foreman, told the Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown.

The newspaper reported that its archives show Yost's parents, both of whom are dead, lived in Ferndale in 1954. His father was a sports editor at the newspaper, which reported that the younger Yost had moved to Florida.

Tad Kelley, a spokesman for the Postal Service in Pittsburgh, said he could not comment specifically on the letter without investigating.

"Sometimes pieces of mail do get lost behind equipment or transporting equipment. ... It is infrequent, but every once in a blue moon, it does happen," Kelley said. "No matter how old it is, we will deliver it."

Ferndale is about 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

San Francisco Chronicle ~ Associated Press ** Pa. Man Gets Letter Postmarked 1954

Lurch Heinz Kerry's missing SF-180, perhaps?

Posted by yaahoo_ at 4:51 PM EST

Updated: Monday, 8 January 2007 4:58 PM EST

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Anti materialist libtard wants free computer

This is an actual ad on Craigslist in Portland, Oregon.

Anti-Corporate, Pro-Peace revolutionary needs laptop
Reply to: sale-258633691@craigslist.org

Hello. I am a homeless political advocate who, sadly, needs a laptop replaced to continue my work on spreading the message of anti-corporation, anti-profit and greed, anti-machine materialism as perpetrated by American terrorists. I am an ex-computer science student with web and network skills trying to work with and spread a message of peace amongst religious buddhists, ecologically aware vegetarians, and any and all spiritual advocates with a message of peace and anti-materialism. I work actively in bringing insight and donations to spiritual communities such as buddhist monasteries, communes, and intentional communities.

Recently, I was hassled by American police force terrorists, my laptop confiscated and its data destroyed, simply because it failed to comply with their policy of profit, materialism, and genocide.

If you have a cheap, spare laptop lying around, something near an old pentium 3 or 4 that is not being used, I would greatly appreciate the donation to continue my work. Any type of laptop at all would be of great benefit to me."

The Craigslist posting is here.

You can email the bone idle lazy fart at this address if you care to rattle his cage. I'm sure you can have quite a discussion about his hypocricy in being anti-materialistic but desiring a computer.

Do it quickly as he will get flagged of real fast. Even Liberal Portland will dump this moron in short order. Oops, he's already been flagged. Those damn corporate, greedy, materialistic Craigslist users! Fascist terrorists!

Does he have money to pay for internet access? Maybe he loiters in a wi-fi community.

It's like when people go on TV to decry TV... Badmouthing the rich at a thousand dollar dinner. Or like when Tim Robbins got up to a microphone to explain how Bush was shutting down free speech. Or anything else the libtard activists have done in the last twenty years.

In reading this, I laughed as hard as I usually do when I see "anarchists" in chat, on a computer (running in perfect digital order.)

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:28 PM EST

Updated: Sunday, 7 January 2007 12:58 PM EST

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The Demented-crats' promise: "A New Direction For America"

The stock market is at a new all-time high and America's 401Ks are back. A new direction from there means, what?

Unemployment is at 25-year lows. A new direction from there means, what?

Oil prices are plummeting. A new direction from there means, what?

Taxes are at 20-year lows. A new direction from there means, what?

Federal tax revenues are at all-time highs. A new direction from there means, what?

The Federal deficit is down almost 50%, just as predicted over last year. A new direction from there means, what?

Home valuations are up 200% over the past 3.5 years. A new direction from there means, what?

Inflation is in check, hovering at 20-year lows. A new direction from there means, what?

Not a single terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11/01. A new direction from there means, what?

Osama bin Laden is living under a rock in a dark cave, having not surfaced in years, if he's alive at all, while 95% of Al Queda's top dogs are either dead or in custody, cooperating with US Intel. A new direction from there means, what?

Several major terrorist attacks already thwarted by US and British Intel, including the recent planned attack involving 10 Jumbo Jets being exploded in mid-air over major US cities in order to celebrate the anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks. A new direction from there means, what?

Just as President Bush foretold us on a number of occasions, Iraq was to be made "ground zero" for the war on terrorism -- and just as President Bush said they would, terrorist cells from all over the region are arriving from the shadows of their hiding places and flooding into Iraq in order to get their faces blown off by US Marines rather than boarding planes and heading to the United States to wage war on us here. A new direction from there means, what?

Now let me see, do I have this right? I can expect:

The economy to go South
Illegals to go North
Taxes to go Up
Employment to go Down
Terrorism to come In
Tax breaks to go Out
Social Security to go Away
Health Care to go the same way gas prices have gone
But what the heck!

I can gain comfort by knowing that Nancy "Nambla" Puglosi, Shrillary Clintax, Lurch Heinz Kerry, Sled "The Swimmer" Kennedy, Coward Deanpeace, Harry Greid, and Barack "Osama-Hussein" Obama have worked hard to create a comprehensive National Security Plan, Health Care Plan, Immigration Reform Plan, Gay Rights Plan, Same Sex Marriage Plan, Abortion On Demand Plan, Tolerance of Everyone and Everything Plan, How to Return all Troops to the U. S. in The Next Six Months Plan, A Get Tough Plan, adapted from the French Plan by the same name and a How Everyone Can Become as Wealthy as We Are Plan.

I forgot the No More Katrina Storm Plan,
Barney Frank accuses Bush of 'ethnic cleansing' in U.S., scolds 'policy' of inaction

And their "Energy Independence" plan...
Dems push for Alaska drilling ban, Show their impatience with reasonable pump prices

Now I know why I feel good after the elections. I'm going to be able to sleep so much better at night knowing these dedicated politicians are thinking of me and my welfare.

Because story after story like this are getting "old"...
Another 'surprise' leap in job gains: 167,000 added in Dec., Wages also higher than expected, 8 cents to $17.04

Posted by yaahoo_ at 11:45 AM EST

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A surprise leap in job gains

Employers add many more jobs than expected, unemployment rate remains unchanged.

NEW YORK -- Employers added more workers in December, as a government report Friday showed a labor market that was much stronger than forecasts.

The report showed a net gain of 167,000 jobs on U.S. payrolls in December, up from the 154,000 increase in November, which was also revised higher. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast only a 100,000 rise in payrolls in December.

The unemployment rate stayed at 4.5 percent, in line with economists' forecasts.

Wages also came in higher than expected, as the average hourly wage was up 8 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $17.04. Economists had forecast only a 0.3 percent increase in wages. The November wage gain was also revised higher.

Bond prices took a sharp dive on the report, raising yield on the closely watched 10-year note 4.66 percent from 4.59 percent before the report, as the report raised new inflation concerns and hit hopes that the Federal Reserve might soon cut interest rates.

Stock futures rebounded slightly but were still pointed to a lower open for stocks.

"Stock traders basically got a little bit of good news on employment front since they were worried about weakness, but they'll be concerned about the wages," said Anthony Chan, chief economist for JPMorgan Private Client Services. "It's a small positive."

CNN Money ** A surprise leap in job gains

What is it, about 40 surprises in a row now?

So now, all the credit must go to the demented-crats. There is an aura of optimism in the business community now that they know the libtards are going to pass needed legislation, such as pharmacutical regulation, the roll-back of tax cuts, and windfall profits taxes on oil companies. These acts are sure to be a boon to the economy.

NOT!

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:01 AM EST

Updated: Sunday, 7 January 2007 10:22 AM EST

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So now ethnic cleansing means inaction? I need a new libtard-to-english translation dictionary. I can't keep up anymore...

TROUBLESPEAK

Barney Frank accuses Bush of 'ethnic cleansing'

Democrat lawmaker scolds 'policy' of inaction toward blacks suffering from Katrina

In a private session videotaped yesterday on Capitol Hill, Rep. Barney Frank, D, Mass., accused the Bush administration of "ethnic cleansing by inaction" against poor blacks in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Frank, the new chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, said that after the administration's initial "incompetence," it has done "virtually nothing to alleviate" the loss of housing by the poor in New Orleans, who mostly are black.

"What I believe is, at this point, you're not talking about incompetence, you're talking about values ... when in a calculated way you refuse to do anything for well over a year after the disaster," Frank said.

"The policy, I think, is ethnic cleansing by inaction. …"

Steve Adamske, a spokesman for Frank, clarified the congressman's remarks for WND.

"He's saying it's by government inaction; he's not accusing them of genocide or mass murder," Adamske explained. "He's talking about doing nothing – that it amounts to ethnic cleansing by inaction."

But Frank, Adamske acknowledged, called the alleged Republican inaction a "policy" and "calculated." He affirmed the congressman, who was speaking to a group of "liberal bloggers," would say the inaction is intentional.

Frank said, according to an amateur video clip posted on YouTube, "What they recognize is they're in this happy position for them, where if the federal government does nothing, Louisiana will become whiter and richer. … So by simply not doing anything to alleviate this ... crisis that was so greatly exaggerated by Katrina, they let the hurricane do the ethnic cleansing, and their hands are clean. ..."

It wasn't the first time Frank has made the ethnic-cleansing charge, but the YouTube posting is drawing attention on the Internet today.

"It's great that we have fighters in there willing to do what's necessary," said supportive blogger Matt Stoller, who posted the clip of Frank's remarks on the popular video site.

Last February, Frank spoke to a group of some 400 Katrina survivors who came to the nation's capital for two days of rallies, protests and meetings with lawmakers about the rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the Washington Post reported.

The paper said the crowd "thundered" when Frank called the lack of progress in rebuilding less-affluent neighborhoods "a policy of ethnic cleansing by inaction."

NBC News Producer Mike Viqueira also noted the February quote on his newssite's blog, saying the "room was rockin'" as Frank, Pelosi, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and others "drew shouts and standing ovations as they enumerated the alleged sins of the government on such issues as trailers, insurance, hotel accommodations, etc."

The Post in February said a panel of Democratic members of Congress planned "to hold the administration accountable for the treatment of the region since Katrina and then Rita hit."

Adamske told WND a series of hearings has been held within Frank's committee this past year "to address the serious housing problem."

But when asked for the result, he said, "No specific plan has been determined yet."

The White House has not responded yet to WND's request for comment.

The federal government has approved $88 billion for Katrina relief.

In an interview with BET.com, the Black Entertainment Network's website, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, who is black, addressed charges of racism related to the government's response to Katrina.

Jackson said his agency has helped Katrina evacuees move out of shelters and hotels, but very few are being placed in the New Orleans area.

He said his agency has addressed specific accusations of housing discrimination toward blacks but insists the problem is not widespread.

The difficulties his agency faces in New Orleans, he said, are unusual, because the flood waters moved homes off their foundations.

"So our first task is examination; is it safe to move the homes; and second is it safe to rebuild," he said. "We might not want to rebuild the way we did before."

Jackson argued conditions in New Orleans' Lower Eighth and Ninth Wards were "not livable" before the flood.

"It disturbs me tremendously when people want to say racism played a part in this," he said. "As I reminded the Reverend Jesse Jackson and (NAACP President) Bruce Gordon, for 31 years we've had a black mayor in New Orleans; for 25 years we've had a predominately black city council in New Orleans, and the quality of life did not change for black people living in the Lower Eighth and Lower Ninth."

In fact, Jackson asserted, "the quality of life had only gotten worse until the flood came in. ... My contention is it wasn't race, it was inefficiency and non-compassion."

Art Moore is a news editor with WorldNetDaily.com.
World Net Daily ~ Art Moore ** Barney Frank accuses Bush of 'ethnic cleansing'

Wasn't Barney in a waaaay off broadway production once. I remember him singing now. "I'm gonna get that gay prostitute out of my hair"

Ethnic cleansing? Could there be a more inaccurate, inflammatory comment. You might as well say that pro-abortioninsts are promoting ethnic cleansing. Have you noticed who's actually getting the abortions?

I remember something about the local government of LA causing the inaction. Bush had paperwork ready to sign before the hurricane arrived. Maybe we should examine who decided to leave the buses under water while people died because an evacuation was not called for... Barney Frank is a partisan idiot.

Here is a timeline:

FRIDAY 08/26/05:
A. NOAA buoy 240 miles south of New Orleans records 68’ waves before it was destroyed. Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center calls Mayor Nagin of New Orleans & Louisiana Governor Blanco to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of New Orleans. They said they'd take it under consideration.

B. President Bush prepares all of the paperwork required for a state to request federal assistance. President Bush calls Governor Blanco asking her to sign the request papers so the federal government and the military could legally begin mobilization and call up. He was told that they didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be involved yet.

C. Governor Blanco holds staff meeting to discuss the political ramifications of bringing federal forces. It was decided that if they allowed federal assistance it would make it look as if they had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be invited in.

SATURDAY 08/27/05:
D. Before the Hurricane hit, the President again calls Blanco and Nagin requesting they sign the papers requesting federal assistance, that they declare the state an emergency area, and begin mandatory evacuation. After a personal plea from the President, Mayor Nagin agreed to order an evacuation, but it would not be a full mandatory evacuation, and the governor still refused to sign the papers requesting and authorizing federal action.

E. In frustration the President declared the area a national disaster area before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin some advanced preparations.

MONDAY 08/29/05: HURRICANE KATRINA HITS
WEDNESDAY 08/31/05:
F. Governor Blanco finally signs the multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents, delaying the legal deployment of National Guard from adjoining states.

Here are some issues that have never been addressed:

A. The failure of both the State and the City of NO to implement their emergency plans in a timely manner or not at all. Mayor Nagin taking no ACTION at all!!! His failure to use the school buses to evacuate people. The looting by NO Police officers captured on film (who by the way were found not guilty)!!!

B. Comments made by: Senator Landrieu stating she wanted to hit President Bush. Mayor Nagin rebuilding NO as a “Chocolate City” (My “Vanilla Tourist Dollars” won’t be going there). His disrespectful comments towards NYC and WTC rebuilding efforts.

C. Mayor Nagin’s latest blunder refusing K&L Auto Crushers of Tyler, Texas offered to pay the City of New Orleans $100.00 per vehicle, 'as is, where is', an estimated $5 million net to the city. Mayor Nagin refused the offer saying the city would do the job themselves. It seems that now it will cost the City $23 million to complete the job.

D. The free pass that the MSM has given the political leaders of NO & LA for their dereliction of duty!!!

Related:
Nagin Admits People Not Returning to New Orleans -- "Chocolate City" still without nuts

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:01 AM EST

Updated: Sunday, 7 January 2007 9:00 AM EST

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Protesters disrupt press conference on lobbying reform

House Democrats tried to unveil their lobbying reform package today, but their press conference was drowned out by chants from anti-war activists who want Congress to stop funding the Iraq war before taking on other issues.

Led by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a slain soldier, the protesters chanted "De-escalate, investigate, troops home now" as Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., began outlining the Democrats' plans to ban lobbyist-funded travel and institute other ethics reforms. The press conference was held in the Cannon House Office Building in an area open to the public.

Emanuel finally gave up trying to be heard over the chants, and retreated to a caucus room where Democrats were meeting.

Sheehan says she has nothing against lobbying reform, but she and her fellow anti-war activists want Democrats to know they will keep pressuring Congress to end the war in Iraq.

"We wanted the Democrats to know they're back in power because of the grass roots," Sheehan says.

The anti-war activists held their own Capitol Hill press conference earlier in the day before deciding to attend the lobbying reform press conference as well.

Before the chanting started, Sheehan got a hug from Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

VIDEO: Fox News ** Sheehan, Iraq War Protesters Break Up Dems' Press Conference

Washington Business Journal ~ Kent Hoover ** Protesters disrupt press conference on lobbying reform

Posted by yaahoo_ at 8:50 AM EST

Updated: Thursday, 4 January 2007 9:50 AM EST

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Pressure to Democratic Leaders

Liberals Seek Bolder Approach to War, Spying

By Jonathan Weisman

Democratic leaders set to take control of Congress tomorrow are facing mounting pressure from liberal activists to chart a more confrontational course on Iraq and the issues of human rights and civil liberties, with some even calling for the impeachment of President Bush.

The carefully calibrated legislative blitz that Democrats have devised for the first 100 hours of power has left some activists worried the passion that swept the party to power in November is already dissipating. A cluster of protesters will greet the new congressional leaders at the Capitol tomorrow. They will not be disgruntled conservatives wary of Democratic control, but liberals demanding a ban on torture, an end to warrantless domestic spying and a restoration of curbed civil liberties.

The protest will be followed by an evening forum calling for the president's impeachment, led by the Center for Constitutional Rights, antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan and a pro-impeachment group called World Can't Wait.

Those priorities will not be in evidence inside the Capitol, where the newly sworn-in Democratic Congress will immediately begin work on new ethics rules, the reinstitution of federal deficit controls and new policies designed to increase civility in House proceedings. In the coming weeks, Democrats plan to pass bills designed to raise the minimum wage, lower prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients and interest rates for student borrowers, bolster homeland security and boost alternative energy research.

Nowhere in the Democrats' consensus-driven agenda is legislation revisiting last year's establishment of military tribunals and suspending legal rights for suspected terrorists. Nor is there a revision of the civil liberties provisions of the USA Patriot Act, a measure curbing warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency or an aggressive confrontation of the president on his Iraq war policies.

To Democratic activists and some lawmakers, the agenda skirts the larger issues that damaged the president's approval ratings and torpedoed Republican control of Congress.

"We've been told for many years, 12 years now, 'Wait until we get in power. Then you'll see things change,' " said Debra Sweet, national director of World Can't Wait, a pro-impeachment group helping to organize the protest. "We'll give them a couple of months or a few weeks to see what they come up with, but if they don't do something very decisive around the war and these other issues, I think there will be trouble."

"If the first 100 hours is going to be characterized by an increase in the minimum wage and improved health and education benefits for Americans, that's fine," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), a liberal firebrand who ran for president in 2004 and has announced for 2008. "But then let's talk about the second hundred hours, because we cannot let this war be lost. We cannot abandon the troops in the field to temporizing."

To most Democratic lawmakers, such activism presents a quandary. House Republican leaders spent years trying to placate their conservative base with agendas built around opposition to same-sex marriage, antiabortion votes and tax cuts, said Sen.-elect Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.). The partisan tone enraged Democrats and ultimately alienated moderates and independents, who swept the GOP from power in November after a dozen years in control.

"The Democrats have to be careful not to fall into these traps that I think paralyzed the Republicans," Cardin said.

But Democratic lawmakers -- especially the freshmen who capitalized on voter discontent -- said their core supporters' anger is real and must be acknowledged.

"Those people protesting on Thursday care deeply about their country," said Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire, an incoming House freshman who ran as an ardent opponent of Bush and the war. "I think we do need to pay attention. People are begging us to remember the Constitution, what made this country great."

One lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of alienating such voters, said wherever he goes, he hears from activists calling for Bush's impeachment. Cutting off funding for the Iraq war comes in a close second.

"For most progressive activists, there is generally speaking, an open mind but also a real fear that the 110th [Congress] will not be as aggressive as many of us want it to be," said Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal People for the American Way. "On the other hand, there is a lot of pragmatism as we go into the 2008 election season. There's this high-wire act for everybody, not only for the House and Senate leadership but for the progressive community, too."

The high-wire act will be on display almost as soon as the new Congress is sworn in. The first motion from the House floor will be a parliamentary inquiry from Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.) on the disputed election to replace retired Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.). In November's balloting, Republican Vern Buchanan beat Democrat Christine Jennings by 369 votes.

But more than 18,000 ballots that day did not record a vote in the closely contested race, an "undervote" rate of nearly 15 percent, mainly from the Democrat's stronghold of Sarasota County. An academic study, commissioned by the company that made the electronic voting machines, found "that there is essentially a 100 percent chance that Jennings would have won" had Sarasota voters cast their votes with different machines and ballots.

Holt's inquiry will make clear that Buchanan's swearing-in tomorrow should not prejudice or compromise a House investigation or ongoing legal challenges to his election. But that falls well short of activist demands that the seat be left vacant, or even that the House simply seat Jennings.

Holt said he is willing to take the heat for that decision.

"There are some Democrats who say we should seize that seat any way we can," he acknowledged. "But if in a heavy-handed way, we just say we've got the votes and we're going to throw out Vern Buchanan, we would undermine the principle we say we are fighting for."

Washington Post ~ Jonathan Weisman ** Activists on the Left Applying Pressure to Democratic Leaders

Posted by yaahoo_ at 11:53 AM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 3 January 2007 12:20 PM EST

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This was received via email. I don't know if it was really in the Post or not. It is wonderful to read though!

THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A MOMENT.

Denver Post:

This text is from a county emergency manager out in the central part of Colorado after todays snowstorm.

WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here, in the Northern Plains, we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI:

George Bush did not come.

FEMA did nothing.

No one howled for the government.

No one blamed the government.

No one even uttered an expletive on TV

Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.

Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.

Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.

CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm. Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.

No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.

No one looted.

Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.

Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.

No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera.

No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.

Nope, we just melted the snow for water.

Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.

The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.

Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snowbound families.
Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.

We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.

We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".

We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.

Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."

It does seem that way, at least to me.

And that my friends is the very essential difference between folks who acknowledge the concept of personal responsibilty, and libtards. I hope this gets passed on. Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does NOT owe you a living.

Related: National Guard helicopters are dropping bales of hay for cattle and MREs to rural residents. They are also going door-to-door and evacuating residents to shelters, particularly the elderly and people with medical problems.
Hay Drop -- it's a far cry from evacuating all these farmers/ranchers to a city in another state while someone else is expected to come in and care for the ranch.

There are major differences between the two disasters. I just loved the parallel between the responses of the people. There was so much crime and looting (and I don't mean people just getting food and necessities either) in NO. So far, it sounds like the folks in CO are at least helping each other instead of robbing and raping each other.

Reminds me of the farmer up in the Smoky Mountains. Several years ago there was a very cold and snowy winter that stranded a lot of people in their homes and destroyed crops and cattle. The Red Cross came in to deliver food. They knocked on this farmer's door and announced; "we're from the Red Cross." "I have had a tough year." replied the farmer. "I won't be able to give much this time."

Posted by yaahoo_ at 10:46 AM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 3 January 2007 10:59 AM EST

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Anti-cheese campaign is seen as 'nannying gone mad'

New advertising rules which will brand cheese as "junk food" were yesterday criticised as "dietary nannying gone mad" by a leading farming industry figure.

"To suggest there is anything inherently harmful about cheese is absurd," said the National Farming Union's national director of communications, Anthony Gibson.

He said the rules would be "thoroughly unhelpful to farmers" at a time when the dairy industry had been going through a very difficult 12 months.

"Any wounds inflicted by our own authorities we can very well do without," said Devon-based Mr Gibson.

"It is not going to do anything to encourage the sales of cheese."

The new regulations, being introduced this month by the television regulator Ofcom, will ban broadcasters from advertising cheese during children's TV programmes, or shows with a large number of child viewers.

They are part of a government clampdown on junk- food TV adverts and aimed at reducing the exposure of children to food high in fat, salt and sugar.

•

The ban comes in the wake of evidence that television commercials have an indirect influence on what children eat and are contributing to obesity in the young.

The Food Standards Agency used a nutrient profiling model to distinguish junk food from healthy food.

The model officially labelled cheese as more unhealthy than sugary cereals, full-fat crisps and cheeseburgers.

It assessed the fat, sugar and salt content in a 100g or 100ml serving of food or drink. But the British Cheese Board said the typical portion size of cheese was between 30g and 40g - not the 100g used in the FSA model.

The Scotsman - UK ~ Chris Court **
Anti-cheese campaign is seen as 'nannying gone mad'

Dang cheese conspiracies!!!

Posted by yaahoo_ at 4:08 PM EST

Updated: Tuesday, 2 January 2007 4:48 PM EST

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LIBTARD'S "NEW ERA OF BI-PARTISANSHIP" INDEED...

Democrats To Start Without GOP Input

Quick Passage of First Bills Sought

By Lyndsey Layton and Juliet Eilperin

As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.

House Democrats intend to pass a raft of popular measures as part of their well-publicized plan for the first 100 hours. They include tightening ethics rules for lawmakers, raising the minimum wage, allowing more research on stem cells and cutting interest rates on student loans.

But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.

Nancy Pelosi, the Californian who will become House speaker, and Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, who will become majority leader, finalized the strategy over the holiday recess in a flurry of conference calls and meetings with other party leaders. A few Democrats, worried that the party would be criticized for reneging on an important pledge, argued unsuccessfully that they should grant the Republicans greater latitude when the Congress convenes on Thursday.

The episode illustrates the dilemma facing the new party in power. The Democrats must demonstrate that they can break legislative gridlock and govern after 12 years in the minority, while honoring their pledge to make the 110th Congress a civil era in which Democrats and Republicans work together to solve the nation's problems. Yet in attempting to pass laws key to their prospects for winning reelection and expanding their majority, the Democrats may have to resort to some of the same tough tactics Republicans used the past several years.

Democratic leaders say they are torn between giving Republicans a say in legislation and shutting them out to prevent them from derailing Democratic bills.

"There is a going to be a tension there," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the new chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "My sense is there's going to be a testing period to gauge to what extent the Republicans want to join us in a constructive effort or whether they intend to be disruptive. It's going to be a work in progress."

House Republicans have begun to complain that Democrats are backing away from their promise to work cooperatively. They are working on their own strategy for the first 100 hours, and part of it is built on the idea that they might be able to break the Democrats' slender majority by wooing away some conservative Democrats.

Democrats intend to introduce their first bills within hours of taking the oath of office on Thursday. The first legislation will focus on the behavior of lawmakers, banning travel on corporate jets and gifts from lobbyists and requiring lawmakers to attach their names to special spending directives and to certify that such earmarks would not financially benefit the lawmaker or the lawmaker's spouse. That bill is aimed at bringing legislative transparency that Democrats said was lacking under Republican rule.

Democratic leaders said they are not going to allow Republican input into the ethics package and other early legislation, because several of the bills have already been debated and dissected, including the proposal to raise the minimum wage, which passed the House Appropriations Committee in the 109th Congress, said Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi.

"We've talked about these things for more than a year," he said. "The members and the public know what we're voting on. So in the first 100 hours, we're going to pass these bills."

But because the details of the Democratic proposals have not been released, some language could be new. Daly said Democrats are still committed to sharing power with the minority down the line. "The test is not the first 100 hours," he said. "The test is the first six months or the first year. We will do what we promised to do."

For clues about how the Democrats will operate, the spotlight is on the House, where the new 16-seat majority will hold absolute power over the way the chamber operates. Most of the early legislative action is expected to stem from the House.

"It's in the nature of the House of Representatives for the majority party to be dominant and control the agenda and limit as much as possible the influence of the minority," said Ross K. Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University. "It's almost counter to the essence of the place for the majority and minority to share responsibility for legislation."

In the Senate, by contrast, the Democrats will have less control over business because of their razor-thin 51-to-49-seat margin and because individual senators wield substantial power. Senate Democrats will allow Republicans to make amendments to all their initiatives, starting with the first measure -- ethics and lobbying reform, said Jim Manley, spokesman for the incoming majority leader, Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).

Those same Democrats, who campaigned on a pledge of more openness in government, will kick off the new Congress with a closed meeting of all senators in the Capitol. Manley said the point of the meeting is to figure out ways both parties can work together.

In the House, Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.), who will chair the Rules Committee, said she intends to bring openness to a committee that used to meet in the middle of the night. In the new Congress, the panel -- which sets the terms of debate on the House floor -- will convene at 10 a.m. before a roomful of reporters.

"It's going to be open," Slaughter said of the process. "Everybody will have an opportunity to participate."

At the same time, she added, the majority would grant Republicans every possible chance to alter legislation once it reaches the floor. "We intend to allow some of their amendments, not all of them," Slaughter said.

For several reasons, House Democrats are assiduously trying to avoid some of the heavy-handed tactics they resented under GOP rule. They say they want to prove to voters they are setting a new tone on Capitol Hill. But they are also convinced that Republicans lost the midterms in part because they were perceived as arrogant and divisive.

"We're going to make an impression one way or the other," said one Democratic leadership aide. "If it's not positive, we'll be out in two years."

House Republicans say their strategy will be to offer alternative bills that would be attractive to the conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats, with an eye toward fracturing the Democratic coalition. They hope to force some tough votes for Democrats from conservative districts who will soon begin campaigning for 2008 reelection and will have to defend their records.

"We'll capitalize on every opportunity we have," said one GOP leadership aide, adding that Republicans were preparing alternatives to the Democrats' plans to raise the minimum wage, reduce the interest on student loans, and reduce the profits of big oil and energy companies.

Several Blue Dog Democrats said they do not think Republicans can pick up much support from their group.

"If they've got ideas that will make our legislation better, we ought to consider that," said Rep. Allen Boyd Jr. (D-Fla.), leader of the Blue Dogs. "But if their idea is to try to split a group off to gain power, that's what they've been doing for the past six years, and it's all wrong."

To keep her sometimes-fractious coalition together, Pelosi has been distributing the spoils of victory across the ideological spectrum, trying to make sure that no group within the Democratic Party feels alienated.

Blue Dogs picked up some plum committee assignments, with Jim Matheson (Utah) landing a spot on Energy and Commerce and A.B. "Ben" Chandler (Ky.) getting an Appropriations seat. At the same time, members of Black and Hispanic caucuses obtained spots on these panels, as Ciro Rodriguez (Tex.) was given a seat on Appropriations and Artur Davis (Ala.) took the place of Democrat William J. Jefferson (La.) on Ways and Means.

Democrats acknowledge that if they appear too extreme in blocking the opposing party, their party is sure to come under fire from the Republicans, who are already charging they are being left out of the legislative process.

"If you're talking about 100 hours, you're talking about no obstruction whatsoever, no amendments offered other than those approved by the majority," said Rutgers's Baker. "I would like to think after 100 hours are over, the Democrats will adhere to their promise to make the system a little more equitable. But experience tells me it's really going to be casting against type."

"The temptations to rule the roost with an iron hand are very, very strong," he added. "It would take a majority party of uncommon sensitivity and a firm sense of its own agenda to open up the process in any significant degree to minority. But hope springs eternal."

Washington Post ~ Lyndsey Layton, Juliet Eilperin ** Democrats To Start Without GOP Input

Haven't these same libtards been whining for six years, that they have been excluded from all sorts of things? That Bush, the supposed "Unifier" hasn't been working with them in a "bipartisan" fashion (meaning, of course, that he do what they want, and never the opposite)?
And so now they're going to act without GOP input? So its not OK for the GOP to supposedly do it, but its fine and dandy for the Dems to do it?
My reply to this would be to tell President Bush to do two things... Veto Early, and Veto Often.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 6:09 AM EST

Updated: Tuesday, 2 January 2007 6:41 AM EST

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