CE 7

[ModernDeathTrend]

All I am saying is that shit goes both ways. Why not provide proof of what Cheney did then maybe I will listen to liberal banter. Lets just say that I am waiting.

[Galactus]

NymphoFantasia said:

Please do enlighten me DED on these accusations against Cheney...

Well, I have pictures of Cheney making fun of retarded children, also when he goes on food runs he doesn't give your change back.

[Proud]

alright, i guess i had my fun here. plus my brain is starting to rot. later and... bless... america.

[stratman19]

ProudofSuburbia said:

alright, i guess i had my fun here. plus my brain is starting to rot. later and... bless... america.

Take care of yourself Proud. I was beginning to get concerned that those terse one sentence answers/comments were taxing you...take some time off. You've earned it.

[shin]

I had no idea that fighting for a 5 year old girl who had her intestines ripped out of her body through her anus because of a faulty pool drain, produced by a company that was proven negligible, so forcefully that she will have to be on a feeding tube for 12 hours a day the rest of her life can be considered "ambulance chasing".

Don't you have a child around the same age, Dee? I'd imagine you'd want someone like Edwards on your side should anything happen to your family of a similar nature. Especially if you find out that your child was the 14th such case and the company in question didn't bother to fix the problem until you threated a lawsuit.

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

shin said:

I had no idea that fighting for a 5 year old girl who had her intestines ripped out of her body through her anus because of a faulty pool drain, produced by a company that was proven negligible, so forcefully that she will have to be on a feeding tube for 12 hours a day the rest of her life can be considered "ambulance chasing".

Don't you have a child around the same age, Dee? I'd imagine you'd want someone like Edwards on your side should anything happen to your family of a similar nature. Especially if you find out that your child was the 14th such case and the company in question didn't bother to fix the problem until you threated a lawsuit.

Christ shin, don't be disrupting their simplistic black and white world view. You wouldn't be doing them any favours. They seem very happy with their certainties.

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

strat - good ideas on healthcare as far as I can tell. I'm just not sure they'll suffice. But a nationalised healthcare system such as we have here would cost an extra coupla cents tax in the dollar on, say, the first $22,000 dollars earned, so I'm aware it's not an easy option either.

Out of interest, how much tax does an average American pay in terms of percentage of income?

In the UK you pay 25p in the pound unless you earn over £40,000 (approx $60,000) per annum, in which case you start paying 40% for every pound earned over the 40k ceiling.
Obviously you pay less tax on roughly the first £7k you earn though, to protect those on low incomes.

On top of this you pay 9% on National Insurance on a certain amount of your wages.

So I guess on average we're talking about 30% of your pay packet going to the government in all, but it's significantly less than that if you earn less than about £25k. On top of that we pay a local tax ("council tax") for local services such as waste disposal and policing - about £100 a month per household. Oh, and road tax if you have a car, which is another £130 per year. How does this compare with the USA?

[riley]

DED said:

Well, I have pictures of Cheney making fun of retarded children, also when he goes on food runs he doesn't give your change back.

This was great. Cracked me up man.

[Dr. Drum]

A "Milli Vanilli president"? I relay, you decide.

Bush's mystery bulge

The rumor is flying around the globe. Was the president wired during the first debate?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Dave Lindorff
Salon.com

Oct. 8, 2004 | Was President Bush literally channeling Karl Rove in his first debate with John Kerry? That's the latest rumor flooding the Internet, unleashed last week in the wake of an image caught by a television camera during the Miami debate. The image shows a large solid object between Bush's shoulder blades as he leans over the lectern and faces moderator Jim Lehrer.

The president is not known to wear a back brace, and it's safe to say he wasn't packing. So was the bulge under his well-tailored jacket a hidden receiver, picking up transmissions from someone offstage feeding the president answers through a hidden earpiece? Did the device explain why the normally ramrod-straight president seemed hunched over during much of the debate?

Bloggers are burning up their keyboards with speculation. Check out the president's peculiar behavior during the debate, they say. On several occasions, the president simply stopped speaking for an uncomfortably long time and stared ahead with an odd expression on his face. Was he listening to someone helping him with his response to a question? Even weirder was the president's strange outburst. In a peeved rejoinder to Kerry, he said, "As the politics change, his positions change. And that's not how a commander in chief acts. I, I, uh -- Let me finish -- The intelligence I looked at was the same intelligence my opponent looked at." It must be said that Bush pointed toward Lehrer as he declared "Let me finish." The green warning light was lit, signaling he had 30 seconds to, well, finish.

Hot on the conspiracy trail, I tried to track down the source of the photo. None of the Bush-is-wired bloggers, however, seemed to know where the photo came from. Was it possible the bulge had been Photoshopped onto Bush's back by a lone conspiracy buff? It turns out that all of the video of the debate was recorded and sent out by Fox News, the pool broadcaster for the event. Fox sent feeds from multiple cameras to the other networks, which did their own on-air presentations and editing.

To watch the debate again, I ventured to the Web site of the most sober network I could think of: C-SPAN. And sure enough, at minute 23 on the video of the debate, you can clearly see the bulge between the president's shoulder blades.

Bloggers stoke the conspiracy with the claim that the Bush administration insisted on a condition that no cameras be placed behind the candidates. An official for the Commission on Presidential Debates, which set up the lecterns and microphones on the Miami stage, said the condition was indeed real, the result of negotiations by both campaigns. Yet that didn't stop Fox from setting up cameras behind Bush and Kerry. The official said that "microphones were mounted on lecterns, and the commission put no electronic devices on the president or Senator Kerry." When asked about the bulge on Bush's back, the official said, "I don't know what that was."

So what was it? Jacob McKenna, a spyware expert and the owner of the Spy Store, a high-tech surveillance shop in Spokane, Wash., looked at the Bush image on his computer monitor. "There's certainly something on his back, and it appears to be electronic," he said. McKenna said that, given its shape, the bulge could be the inductor portion of a two-way push-to-talk system. McKenna noted that such a system makes use of a tiny microchip-based earplug radio that is pushed way down into the ear canal, where it is virtually invisible. He also said a weak signal could be scrambled and be undetected by another broadcaster.

Mystery-bulge bloggers argue that the president may have begun using such technology earlier in his term. Because Bush is famously prone to malapropisms and reportedly dyslexic, which could make successful use of a teleprompter problematic, they say the president and his handlers may have turned to a technique often used by television reporters on remote stand-ups. A reporter tapes a story and, while on camera, plays it back into an earpiece, repeating lines just after hearing them, managing to sound spontaneous and error free.
Suggestions that Bush may have using this technique stem from a D-day event in France, when a CNN broadcast appeared to pick up -- and broadcast to surprised viewers -- the sound of another voice seemingly reading Bush his lines, after which Bush repeated them. Danny Schechter, who operates the news site MediaChannel.org, and who has been doing some investigating into the wired-Bush rumors himself, said the Bush campaign has been worried of late about others picking up their radio frequencies -- notably during the Republican Convention on the day of Bush's appearance. "They had a frequency specialist stop me and ask about the frequency of my camera," Schechter said. "The Democrats weren't doing that at their convention."

Repeated calls to the White House and the Bush national campaign office over a period of three days, inquiring about what the president may have been wearing on his back during the debate, and whether he had used an audio device at other events, went unreturned. So far the Kerry campaign is staying clear of this story. When called for a comment, a press officer at the Democratic National Committee claimed on Tuesday that it was "the first time" they'd ever heard of the issue. A spokeswoman at the press office of Kerry headquarters refused to permit me to talk with anyone in the campaign's research office. Several other requests for comment to the Kerry campaign's press office went unanswered.

As for whether we really do have a Milli Vanilli president, the answer at this point has to be, God only knows.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
About the writer

Dave Lindorff is the author of the new book "This Can't Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy." Reach him at [e-mail].

www.isbushwired.com/
www.cannonfire.blogspot.com/

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

I dunno man. I've heard this Bush-wire story before, and it's an open secret in the UK that he has audio prompts for some set speeches to circumvent his dyslexia, and I don't have a problem with that. It's no different from an autocue.

Of course, cheating in a Presidential debate would be a whole different kettle of fish, but it just seems a bit far-fetched to me. Couldn't it have just been part of some body armour or something? If there was a real story there, I'm sure some major news agencies would have been all over it, especially in Europe.

[Dr. Drum]

I’d agree that an autocue is on the same plane as a teleprompter, JLLM, but having someone hold his hand during a television debate, as it were, would be a whole different kettle of fish. I wouldn’t say there’s anything conclusive either but I think it is within the realm of possibility.

Can’t say I necessarily have your faith in the major news agencies.

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

Fuck it, a joke for Friday.

An Englishman, a Frenchman, a gorgeous chick, and a fat ugly woman are travelling on a train in the same compartment. The train goes through a tunnel, and it all goes dark. Suddenly a smack is heard. As the train comes out the tunnel the Frenchman is rubbing his Jaw. Each one looks round and wonders what has happened:

The gorgeous chick thinks: "He's just tried to grope me and touched her next to me instead and she thumped him."

The Fat Woman thinks: "He's just tried to grope her next to me and she's just thumped him."

The Englishman thinks: "I can't wait for another tunnel so I can smack that French twat again."

[chrisfan]

Dr. said:

A "Milli Vanilli president"? I relay, you decide.

Bush's mystery bulge

The rumor is flying around the globe. Was the president wired during the first debate?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Dave Lindorff
Salon.com

Oct. 8, 2004 | Was President Bush literally channeling Karl Rove in his first debate with John Kerry? That's the latest rumor flooding the Internet, unleashed last week in the wake of an image caught by a television camera during the Miami debate. The image shows a large solid object between Bush's shoulder blades as he leans over the lectern and faces moderator Jim Lehrer.

The president is not known to wear a back brace, and it's safe to say he wasn't packing. So was the bulge under his well-tailored jacket a hidden receiver, picking up transmissions from someone offstage feeding the president answers through a hidden earpiece? Did the device explain why the normally ramrod-straight president seemed hunched over during much of the debate?

Bloggers are burning up their keyboards with speculation. Check out the president's peculiar behavior during the debate, they say. On several occasions, the president simply stopped speaking for an uncomfortably long time and stared ahead with an odd expression on his face. Was he listening to someone helping him with his response to a question? Even weirder was the president's strange outburst. In a peeved rejoinder to Kerry, he said, "As the politics change, his positions change. And that's not how a commander in chief acts. I, I, uh -- Let me finish -- The intelligence I looked at was the same intelligence my opponent looked at." It must be said that Bush pointed toward Lehrer as he declared "Let me finish." The green warning light was lit, signaling he had 30 seconds to, well, finish.

Hot on the conspiracy trail, I tried to track down the source of the photo. None of the Bush-is-wired bloggers, however, seemed to know where the photo came from. Was it possible the bulge had been Photoshopped onto Bush's back by a lone conspiracy buff? It turns out that all of the video of the debate was recorded and sent out by Fox News, the pool broadcaster for the event. Fox sent feeds from multiple cameras to the other networks, which did their own on-air presentations and editing.

To watch the debate again, I ventured to the Web site of the most sober network I could think of: C-SPAN. And sure enough, at minute 23 on the video of the debate, you can clearly see the bulge between the president's shoulder blades.

Bloggers stoke the conspiracy with the claim that the Bush administration insisted on a condition that no cameras be placed behind the candidates. An official for the Commission on Presidential Debates, which set up the lecterns and microphones on the Miami stage, said the condition was indeed real, the result of negotiations by both campaigns. Yet that didn't stop Fox from setting up cameras behind Bush and Kerry. The official said that "microphones were mounted on lecterns, and the commission put no electronic devices on the president or Senator Kerry." When asked about the bulge on Bush's back, the official said, "I don't know what that was."

So what was it? Jacob McKenna, a spyware expert and the owner of the Spy Store, a high-tech surveillance shop in Spokane, Wash., looked at the Bush image on his computer monitor. "There's certainly something on his back, and it appears to be electronic," he said. McKenna said that, given its shape, the bulge could be the inductor portion of a two-way push-to-talk system. McKenna noted that such a system makes use of a tiny microchip-based earplug radio that is pushed way down into the ear canal, where it is virtually invisible. He also said a weak signal could be scrambled and be undetected by another broadcaster.

Mystery-bulge bloggers argue that the president may have begun using such technology earlier in his term. Because Bush is famously prone to malapropisms and reportedly dyslexic, which could make successful use of a teleprompter problematic, they say the president and his handlers may have turned to a technique often used by television reporters on remote stand-ups. A reporter tapes a story and, while on camera, plays it back into an earpiece, repeating lines just after hearing them, managing to sound spontaneous and error free.
Suggestions that Bush may have using this technique stem from a D-day event in France, when a CNN broadcast appeared to pick up -- and broadcast to surprised viewers -- the sound of another voice seemingly reading Bush his lines, after which Bush repeated them. Danny Schechter, who operates the news site MediaChannel.org, and who has been doing some investigating into the wired-Bush rumors himself, said the Bush campaign has been worried of late about others picking up their radio frequencies -- notably during the Republican Convention on the day of Bush's appearance. "They had a frequency specialist stop me and ask about the frequency of my camera," Schechter said. "The Democrats weren't doing that at their convention."

Repeated calls to the White House and the Bush national campaign office over a period of three days, inquiring about what the president may have been wearing on his back during the debate, and whether he had used an audio device at other events, went unreturned. So far the Kerry campaign is staying clear of this story. When called for a comment, a press officer at the Democratic National Committee claimed on Tuesday that it was "the first time" they'd ever heard of the issue. A spokeswoman at the press office of Kerry headquarters refused to permit me to talk with anyone in the campaign's research office. Several other requests for comment to the Kerry campaign's press office went unanswered.

As for whether we really do have a Milli Vanilli president, the answer at this point has to be, God only knows.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
About the writer

Dave Lindorff is the author of the new book "This Can't Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy." Reach him at [e-mail].

www.isbushwired.com/
www.cannonfire.blogspot.com/

Matt Drudge had pictures of Kerry allegedly taking notes out of his pocket before the first debate, and prepared notes were banned. At least both sides are peddling the same conspiracy theories now.

To be honest, I've never understood why all the effort is made to make sure that candidates have no notes or anything else to refer to. It's not like as president, when faced with major decisions, either man would not be allowed to refer to notes and more importantly advisors. How does a memorization contest really tell you anything? One of the most logical college profs I ever had was a statistics teacher who'd put all of the forumulas we'd covered on the cover sheet of each exam. His philosophy was that in real world applications, we'd be able to refer to notes, and that the TRUE test was knowing which formula to know ... not memorizing the formulas.

[chrisfan]

JesusLooksLikeMe said:

I dunno man. I've heard this Bush-wire story before, and it's an open secret in the UK that he has audio prompts for some set speeches to circumvent his dyslexia, and I don't have a problem with that. It's no different from an autocue.

Of course, cheating in a Presidential debate would be a whole different kettle of fish, but it just seems a bit far-fetched to me. Couldn't it have just been part of some body armour or something? If there was a real story there, I'm sure some major news agencies would have been all over it, especially in Europe.

What dislexia? There have been false reports for years that George W Bush is dislexic, based on a passage in Barbara Bush's memiors where she talks about dealing with her son's dislexia. But Neil Bush is the son with dislexia ... not George.

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

The dyslexia thing wasn't intended too seriously. I mean his garbled way with words.

Kerry took a pen out of his pocket, rather than notes. And there's a big difference between having notes and repeating what you're being told to say, verbatim, over an ear piece. Not only because it would show lack of Presidential ability, but mainly because it would be an act of deception in this case.

Though I must stress that I think the whole thing is a ridiculous conspiracy theory in any case. Why would European press agencies not bother touching it otherwose?