Leave My Child Alone!

Leave My Child Alone!

The New Recruitment

It is not a surprising confluence of events — opinion polls show support for the Iraq War waning and military recruiters working harder to fill their quotas. In November, 2005, the Government Accountability Office released a study which showed, "the military is falling far behind in its effort to recruit and re-enlist soldiers for some of the most vital combat positions in Iraq and Afghanistan."

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No Child Left Behind

The June 2005 issue of HARPER'S MAGAZINE published some excerpts from a high school recruiting manual. Among the instructions: "Contact the seniors in the early spring. The end of their lives as high school students is approaching fast. This is the time reality sets in. For some it is clear that college is not an option. If you can make the appointment for a sales presentation on the first contact, then do so." The manual suggests frequent re-contacting of students throughout their high school years.

Read the manual online. *pdf

Leave My Child Alone!

Advocacy group opposed to the release of information through the No Child Left Behind Act.

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Did you know…
... that the notorious No Child Left Behind Act includes a sneaky section that requires high schools to turn over private information on students to military recruiters?
And that the Pentagon has created an illegal database of 30 million 16-25 year-olds, including names, addresses, email addresses, cell phone numbers, ethnicities, social security numbers, extracurricular activities, and areas of study?
Yikes. What do we do? Any way you look at it, this is a family privacy nightmare, another strong-arming of our local schools, and a creepy warm-up to a possible draft. However, it's also a great reason to get together and take action.
So, whether you're a parent, teacher, school administrator, veteran or just another adamant American concerned about privacy rights, look for an action that you like and JOIN US!

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The Costs of War, A Mother's View

By Teri Wills Allison

Java

Java

Art by Ann

Caffeine perks up your brain.

Brain scans confirm what many coffee drinkers already know - caffeine perks them up.

Caffeine is the world's most widely used stimulant, according to the research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Global daily consumption of caffeine averages 76mg, equal to one-and-a-half cups of coffee. In the United States, average consumption is 238mg per day, equal to that found in four-and-a-half cups of java.


In monetary terms, coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world, trailing only petroleum. Coffee is one of mankind's chief sources of caffeine, a stimulant.

~ BackyardPit, A Legalized Junkie

Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents

Ann Sarrantonio, at a school board meeting in Accord, N.Y., voiced objections to military recruiting at school. (NYT Photo/Tara Engberg)

Rachel Rogers, a single mother of four in upstate New York, did not worry about the presence of National Guard recruiters at her son's high school until she learned that they taught students how to throw hand grenades, using baseballs as stand-ins. For the last month she has been insisting that administrators limit recruiters' access to children.

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The Costs of War, A Mother's View

By Teri Wills Allison

Christmas

The Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a Nativity Scene in Washington, DC this Christmas season. This isn't for any religious reason; they simply have not been able to find three wise men and a virgin in the Nation's capitol. There was no problem, however, finding enough asses to fill the stable.

Read Before Clicking On The Link.

This is from Europe and a pretty good one; but I'm sure everybody I know will be able to find all 3 differences between the 2 pictures!

There are two identical pictures that will appear on the screen. Over 8,000 people were tested to see if they could find the three (3) differences and only nineteen (19) found them. See how observant you are, and if you find all three (3) differences, you are one of the most elite people in the world.

Link

ONE BILLION $1,000,000,000

The next time you hear someone in government rather casually use a number that includes the word "billion", think about it. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend.

One advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into perspective in one of its releases:

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

A billion days ago no creature walked the earth on two feet.

And a billion dollars lasts 8 hours and 20 minutes at the rate our government spends it.

~ Kaye

Friend or Fowl?

Gary Brookins

By MadMustard

Karl Rove’s, Potion Number Nine

Photo, About.Com

Rove Potion Number Nine

I took my troubles down to Tom DeLay
He’s that dude with the insect spray
He's got a pad down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
Sellin' little bottles of, Rove Potion Number Nine

I told him that I sucked at pol-i-tics
I've been this way since 1996
He looked at my palm and he made a magic sign
He said "What you need is, Rove Potion Number Nine"

He bent down and turned around and gave me a wink
He said "I'm gonna make it up right here in the sink"
It smelled like turpentine, it looked like Indian ink
I held my nose, I closed my eyes, I took a drink

I didn't know if it was day or night
I started slimin’ everyone in sight
But when I kissed a cop down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
He broke my little bottle of, Rove Potion Number Nine

Audio "Love Potion Number Nine"

By MadMustard

Where Do We Go From Here?

Where do we go from here? "I think we're in a moment when political pundits and students of politics are not quite sure what the environment will be in 2006, whether we'll have this deep polarizing divide," Bennett says.

Burgess, of the Conflict Research Consortium, says he'll continue working on the political help-wanted ad he constructs in his daydreams. He wants a candidate who will stand up to "political manipulation," and explain to Americans how opportunistic politicians are distorting real debate for selfish purposes.

"Somebody's got to get up and explain to people how they're being manipulated," he says. "I think there's an opportunity for someone to run against it."

Then he considers what he has just said.

"I might be being naive."

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Bush Orders Staff To Attend Ethics Briefings.

White House staffers will be required to attend briefings next week on ethics and the handling of classified information after the indictment last week of a senior administration official in the CIA leak probe, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Quoting a memo from President George W. Bush sent to White House aides on Friday, the paper reported that the White House counsel's office will conduct a series of presentations next week for those aides with security clearances.

The briefings with provide a refresher on general ethics rules, including the treatment of classified material, the paper wrote.

O-boy, some more bullshit coming out of Washington. You’re going to try and tell me Dick Cheney, Lewis Libby, Carl Rove and other White House staffers need a refresher on general ethics rules, including the treatment of classified materials. You’re going to try and tell me you’re going to give a bunch of gangsters a refresher on ethics rules. Bullshit, what they need is to be fired and put in jail and you Bush, you need to resign!

Bush's Popularity Reaches New Low

Bush's Popularity Reaches New Low
58 Percent in Poll Question His Integrity

For the first time in his presidency a majority of Americans question the integrity of President Bush, and growing doubts about his leadership have left him with record negative ratings on the economy, Iraq and even the war on terrorism, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows.

On almost every key measure of presidential character and performance, the survey found that Bush has never been less popular with the American people. Currently 39 percent approve of the job he is doing as president, while 60 percent disapprove of his performance in office -- the highest level of disapproval ever recorded for Bush in Post-ABC polls

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I bet you republicans and Christians who voted for the gangster republicans are kicking yourselves in the ass right about now, it gets better, wait till the end of the gangster republican Bush’s term in office and he pardons his gangster republican buddies. Then you can give yourselves a relay good kick in the ass.
We should be giving people like Ronnie Earle, Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Bunnatine Greenhouse and Colin Powell and others, The Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the two highest civilian awards given in the United States.
And putting the gangster republican liars in jail and throwing the key away!
BackyardPit

Your E-mails Advice For The President

CNN Readers Offer Ideas For What Bush Should Do.

Bring home the troops. Shake up the White House staff. Focus on issues at home. Listen to voices on the right; listen to voices on the left.

When asked how they would advise the president, CNN.com readers posed these and many other ideas to lift the administration's lagging approval ratings.

A year after President Bush was elected to a second term, he and his administration face an array of troubles, including rising energy prices, the indictment of a former top White House official and waning public support for the war in Iraq.

How can Bush turn his presidency around? CNN.com readers offered suggestions on a variety of themes:

1. Take responsibility.
Many advised the president to admit mistakes and move on. Drew Hunt of Normal, Illinois, cited Harry Truman's famous advice, "The buck stops here," and wrote, "If this administration would take responsibility for its wrongdoings, rather than placing the blame elsewhere or, worse still, forging ahead regardless of the wisdom of the decision, it would go a long way toward restoring the integrity of our government."

Read more recommendations on this theme.

3. Bring home the troops.
An anonymous U.S. soldier serving in Pyongtek, South Korea, said the president should show "humility to the U.S. soldiers in both Iraq and Korea and let them come home ... and be with their families."

Martha Prater of Rusk, Texas, agreed but expressed concern that it may be too late now to pull troops out: "We have gotten ourselves so deep already that pulling out now would only put our country at greater risk of terrorist attacks or worse."

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4. Focus on issues at home.
Some of those who wrote in suggested the president turn his attention toward problems at home, putting priority on gas prices, disaster relief and support for the poor.

"Remember that you are the president of the United States, not the world," advised Mary from Temecula, California.

Andy Park of Key Largo, Florida, posed this idea for combating high energy prices: "Push legislation to regulate oil companies as public utilities -- just like electric, natural gas and telephone companies. This would require that companies obtain regulatory approval before raising gas prices." Hurricanes Katrina and Rita knocked out oil platforms and pipelines as they cut back-to-back paths through the U.S. Gulf Coast, causing a spike in energy prices.

Andrew M. Herold of Beltsville, Maryland, said the president could give jobs and wages a boost by closing the country's borders to illegal immigrants.

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5. Lean to the right (or to the left).
Many of those who wrote in advised the president to follow the lead of a particular group. Respondents did not, however, agree on which group that would be.

Cheri Windsor of Colorado recommended the president get "off the evangelical tract." But Pedro Delgado of Miami, Florida, gave opposite advice: "Give full true backing (no lip service) to the people that voted twice to put a man in office to gain back our country. No euthanasia, no abortion, no persecution of Christians, no judicial tyranny, no homosexual privileges, no attacks on the institution of marriage, no attacks on the family."

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Fuck The Poor

The Senate gave a rousing "Fuck the Poor" to the elderly and disabled by voting to cut Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next 5 years by a measly $10B. If they would quit the war in Iraq, imagine how much could be spent helping our least brethren in this oh so (not) Christian country. In typical party politics that have nothing to do with the actual human beings that live in this country, the committee's 11 Republicans supported the legislation. The committee's nine Democrats opposed it.

Now here's justice: The new Patriot Act terrorism law would allow smaller juries to decide on executions and give prosecutors the ability to try again if a jury deadlocks on sentencing. Why don't they just shoot suspected terrorists and save the money? (Snark)

Bush let his more articulate brother take the fall for the FEMA failures in Florida. Senior citizen communities are being ignored. Shameful. (Speaking of Florida, when is Pissed off Patricia going to be able to get back online?)

The most disgraceful and nauseating news this week were the reported 3Q earnings of big oil. With so much havoc after the hurricanes, people losing their jobs and homes while reconstruction jobs going to illegal aliens, Exxon Mobile reaped 75% growth and ConocoPhillips profits soared 89% in the 3Q. This is very good news for the stockholders and big "Fuck You" to those who have to pay for it (if they can afford it).

But the Republicans are still soft on treason unless it's a Democrat being accused.

By BlondeSense Liz