"I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes." George W Bush explaining why he didn’t serve in Vietnam and became a member of the Texas National Guard. msnbc

Gee, wouldn't you blow your head off if you tried to shoot out your eardrum with a shotgun?  And this guy is our Commander in Chief?

"They are having a panel look into the intelligence failures in Iraq. It is a seven person panel and it will include Senator John McCain, but the findings from this panel will not be issued until after the election. President Bush says the commission can go off and report back in a year, you know, the same way it works in the Texas National Guard." —Bill Maher

GEORGE ISUZU

www.internetweekly.org

ODD NEWS

Three Wise Men May Have Been Neither Wise Nor Men

Reuters  2-10-04

The Three Wise Men who followed the star to Bethlehem bearing gifts for the baby Jesus may not have been all that wise -- or even men.

Handing Out Condoms for Carnival Safe Sex

Reuters  2-10-04

Brazil Monday began handing out a record 10 million contraceptives to stop the spread of AIDS during Carnival when casual sex rises.

Pornographer to Sell Whitehouse Web Site

By TED BRIDIS, AP Technology Writer

WASHINGTON - The Whitehouse.com Web site, one of the best examples that the Internet isn't always what it seems, is getting out of the pornography business. Its owner says he's worried what his preschool-age son might think.

Yellow Snow Leads to Burglary Arrest

Mon Feb 9, 6:31 PM ET

He should have taken care of it before he left home.

Strolling sea lion found flopping along California road 100 km from ocean

Tue Feb 10,12:02 AM ET

LOS BANOS, Calif. (AP) - A sea lion that apparently swam upriver from the ocean into the inland canals of central California was captured Monday after motorists spotted it flopping along the roadway, 100 kilometres from the sea.

Qaeda Sympathizers Turn to Rap to Battle 'Infidels'

Reuters - Mon Feb 9, 6:06 AM ET

Al Qaeda's newest weapon against the West is a violent English-language rap tune urging young Muslims to wage holy war.

Disturbing News

Army Changes Explanation on Halliburton

AP - Tue Feb 10, 2:29 AM ET

After stating that a multi-agency team of government experts evaluated Halliburton Co.'s new Iraq contract, the Army Corps of Engineers now says it alone picked the company despite allegations that it overcharged U.S. taxpayers…

Challenger to Russia's president disappears
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH - 2-10-04
Moscow- Russia's presidential campaign has taken a disconcerting turn as one of
the long-shot challengers to Vladimir Putin has vanished - his fate still ...
       Mystery of missing Russian deepens - San Francisco Chronicle

Easy-To-Read Poster Tells How to Respond to a Biological, Chemical, or "Dirty Bomb" Attack, Says National Defense University

Mon Feb 9, 5:11 PM ET

A colorful, easy-to-read poster that describes steps to take before and after a biological, chemical, or 'dirty bomb' attack has been created by National Defense University (NDU) biologists..

DOD Workers, Unions Criticize Rumsfeld for New Personnel System; President of Federal Workers Union Charges Rumsfeld 'Duped' Congress

Mon Feb 9, 3:33 PM ET

The president of the American Federation of Government Employees, John Gage is calling on members of Congress to question the release of Department of Defense proposals outlining a new personnel system that Gage says contradicts Rumsfeld's own Congressional testimony.

New 'Doomjuice' Worm Emerges, Targets Microsoft

Reuters - Mon Feb 9, 5:43 PM ET

A new worm dubbed "Doomjuice" targeting Microsoft Corp.'s Web site emerged on the Internet on Monday, which security experts said slowed parts of the software maker's home page.

"The White House is enraged by these suggestions that President Bush was AWOL during Vietnam. However, under an obscure prevision of the Patriot Act actual Vietnam combat veterans will be reclassified as show-offs." —Bill Maher

LARGE MOUTH BASS

"Next week the Bush administration is going to start broadcasting an Arabic language satellite TV channel in the Middle East. President Bush said the channel will tell people the truth about what the United States is doing in the Middle East, which is pretty good considering that he didn't even tell us what we were doing in the Middle East." —Jay Leno

Questions for President Bush

• Why doesn’t anyone remember you being in the Alabama National Guard? Can you name any of the Alabama National Guard men you served with?

• Why hasn’t your good friend, Ken Lay, the CEO of Enron, been indicted?

Ask your own question(s) in the anonymous text box below and I'll post them.

"Something is terribly wrong when the only person that's been fired over terrorism is me." —Bill Maher, on the Bush administration's intelligence failures

Dear Lisa,

I have been reading ALL HAT NO CATTLE for some time now.

I want to know if you are interested in a Take it Back motivational CD that is now on café press.  I will sending the DNC a copy that they requested.  I used to DJ in Florida and put this CD to get out and Take it Back....away from special interests and George W King Bush. 

I need all the help promoting it I can get as I financed the entire thing myself and my husband is a disabled combat Vietnam Veteran 100 percent disabled.  It is done in good taste and documented.  The things I bring out should make the hardest right winger hang his or her head in shame.  The Cost of War.  The price of War.  Almost everything all of the candidates have stumped and the AWOL issue. 

My hubby is from Florida and I am an advocate for vets.  You may hear a sample at

http://www.cafeshops.com/focusgroupnow/9200633

Sincerely,

Amanda L. Kato

Thanks for writing Amanda.  And thank you for your work. Good luck on the sales of your music CD.

Viewer Commentary

Well, Presidential Primary voting is over here in Oklahoma. I was energized by the enthusiasm but upon turning my attention to the general election, found myself somewhat depressed. Come November, Oklahoma is about as likely to go Democratic as my dog Nappy is to win the Kentucky Derby. I guess there’s always hope that Nappy will be possessed by the spirit of Seabiscuit.


My melancholy was lifted and hopes ignited by an incident that occurred election evening. My girls, Nappy and Piper (Dachshunds), and I had gone for a ritual wander. They get a kick out of tracking all the smells from the cats and other dogs in the neighborhood that like to visit our front yard. Just as I was placing Nappy in the grass,--she’s somewhat disabled, so I carry her around a lot--one of the bigger dogs in our no-leash-law neighborhood was coming up the street. He was obviously headed toward our yard to relieve himself.


Nappy saw him first and immediately charged toward him. I figured Piper would just bark her head off but stay clear of the much bigger dog. So I went to slow Nappy down. I know Nappy well enough to know that this brave (perhaps stupid) little dog--disabled to point where she walks on her front knees and only about 1/3 the size of her target--would not stop until she was right in the bigger dog’s face. As I went to block Nappy’s path, I realized that Piper, all 10 lbs of her, was going after our intruder, making a gosh awful racket and doing her best Tasmanian Devil impersonation.


By the time my brain registered that Piper may need rescuing, she already had the bigger dog on the run. The sight of this 10 lb dog chasing a 50 lb dog out of the driveway and down the street was one of the silliest things I’ve ever seen. I finally caught Piper about 50 yards down the road. What made the incident even funnier was that the owners of the bigger dog just happened to drive by in time to see their hound being chased home.


Thanks to my girls, I’m no longer depressed by thoughts of next November. Every time I sign a “give me my Country back--Bush go home” petition or submit a “Truth to Power” Letter to Editor to my local paper, I’ll recall, and be inspired by, the true grit of Nappy and Piper. I’m not sure about Oklahoma, but I know we can win this thing without having to be the biggest dog in the fight. We’ve just got to keep coming. Speaking of letters to the editor, below is my most recently published one. Hope you enjoy it.


Andy B.



A nightmare for the average American has begun. As if staring down the barrel of global outsourcing and Wal-Martization of our economy isn’t bad enough, if we continue our current economic course, we’ll wake up 10 years from now to find Medicare on life support, Social Security anything but secure, and we as average citizens paying ever increasing percentages of our incomes for health care, with no relief in sight.


The really smart people say our government should be spending this decade building up surpluses in Social Security and Medicare in preparation for the wave of Baby Boomers headed toward retirement. Instead, we’ve given tax breaks to America-deserting corporations and the mega wealthy.


Robert McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice recently said, “Congressional Republicans and President Bush have made it very clear who they really care about, and it’s not the average taxpayer.” Which leads me to believe that class warfare started without most of us even noticing. And it’s not the poor or middle class trying to soak the rich. The real war is being waged by the ultra privileged who, with the help of politicians like George Bush, are expanding their wealth and power at the expense of the rest of us.


Instead of helping to secure the average citizen’s retirement, the Republicans are determined to pay back their rich constituents and, in turn, finance their own reelections. Since political complacency and gullibility are now standard American issue, I doubt anyone is paying attention. And that’s exactly what your typical wormy politician is counting on. By the time the average citizen realizes the whole apple is rotten and tosses the thing out, it will likely be too late.

Thanks Andy. Hope can win over the fear we have been spoon fed by this administration. Democrats need to be as brave as your dogs.

"Embarrassing moment today for Vice President Dick Cheney — as he went through the White House metal detector this morning, security made him empty his pockets and out fell Justice Antonin Scalia!" – Jay Leno
 

Cheney, a Little Tarnished
Washington Post - 2-10-04
... Soon after the court agreed to hear the appeal, Cheney gained undesirable attention
for going on a hunting trip with Justice Antonin Scalia, who has declined ...
 

Please join the call on Congress to censure President Bush at:

http://www.moveon.org/censure/ 

 

A beautiful Mexican sunset.

Peace.