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Post by slinker on May 27, 2007 11:39:35 GMT -5
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Post by slinker on May 27, 2007 11:39:35 GMT -5
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Post by slinker on Oct 12, 2006 19:59:45 GMT -5
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Post by slinker on Oct 5, 2006 7:15:44 GMT -5
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Post by slinker on Feb 12, 2006 13:42:35 GMT -5
Mysterious Rash Puzzles Hospital StaffFORT WORTH, Texas -- Doctors at Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth said they were mystified by a strange rash that spread among about two dozen hospital employees. Staff dermatologists and specialists brought in from outside Harris Methodist have not determined the nature of the rash. "There is some concern about what we are treating," Dr. Joe Prosser said. "The reason I say that is that some of the rashes that we have had examined simply do not conform to what we would consider textbook rashes. We've asked the dermatologists to come over and take another look." The first cases broke out a few weeks ago when an infected patient was admitted from a different medical facility. The affected patient and hospital staff members initially were treated for scabies, a contagious condition caused by parasitic mites. Public health officials said the population or other patients at Harris Methodist are not at risk of contracting the unknown rash. www.nbc5i.com/health/5438574/detail.html
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Post by slinker on May 21, 2007 23:36:35 GMT -5
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Post by slinker on May 21, 2007 23:42:33 GMT -5
Is Bush REALLY evil or is he so stupid he can't tell that the people he hired (Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfewitz, Feith, Ledeen, et al ad nauseum) are evil. Bush just seems like the dumb kid who does what his friends do and says what they say and gets really frustrated when he can't explain the reasons like they were explained to him: with flash cards and all the big words spelled out /foe-net-ik-lee/ along with the "Books on Tape" set of Reasons Why...
See what being connected does for you?
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Post by slinker on Aug 15, 2006 9:14:49 GMT -5
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Post by slinker on Jun 19, 2006 8:57:55 GMT -5
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Post by slinker on May 25, 2006 2:24:26 GMT -5
The whole immigration debate is just a misdirection ploy to make us think about something else OTHER than all these Republicans being indicted, investigated, robbing the country blind, and/or asked to deliver testimony in purgory cases.
"Hey, look over there! We're being invaded by Mexicans! Forget the war! Forget the indictments and corruption!"
Meanwhile, the Iraq war (entered into falsely)is going badly. We are now threatening to invade Iran. We're being told that bird flu will kill millions of us. Our middle class, white collar jobs are being outsourced to India. And gasoline is $3 friggin' bucks per gallon. Immigration is about the lowest issue on my political agenda. Hardworking hispanics don't factor into the "What's wrong with my country?" equation. Rich, fat, white corporate c*cksuckers are what factor into that equation, excuse my French!
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Post by slinker on May 25, 2006 2:26:55 GMT -5
It's "I-L-L-E-G-A-L," darling...if you want your "non-issue" to be considered, please learn to spell...
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Post by slinker on Apr 22, 2006 2:39:20 GMT -5
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Post by slinker on Apr 22, 2006 2:50:12 GMT -5
109TH CONGRESS H. R. 550 1ST SESSION
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a voter-verified permanent paper record or hard copy under title III of such Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 2, 2005 Mr. HOLT (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DICKS, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FARR, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. KIND, Mr. LANTOS, Ms. LEE, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. NADLER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. ALLEN, Ms. BALD- WIN, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. WU, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. COLE of Oklahoma, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. SABO, Mr. COOPER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. FILNER, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. OBEY, Mr. CASE, Mr. CLAY, and Ms. MCKINNEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration
A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a voter-verified permanent paper record or hard copy under title III of such Act, and for other purposes.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
2 This Act may be cited as the ``Voter Confidence and 3 Increased Accessibility Act of 2005''. 4 SEC. 2. PROMOTING ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECU-
5 RITY THROUGH VOTER-VERIFIED PERMA-
6 NENT RECORD OR HARD COPY.
7 (a) VOTER VERIFICATION AUDIT CAPACITY.-- AND
8 (1) IN GENERAL.--Section 301(a)(2) of the 9 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 10 15481(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows: 11 ``(2) VOTER-VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPAC-
12 ITY.--
13 ``(A) IN GENERAL.--
14 ``(i) The voting system shall produce 15 or require the use of an individual voter- 16 verified paper record of the voter's vote 17 that shall be made available for inspection 18 and verification by the voter before the vot- 19 er's vote is cast. For purposes of this 20 clause, examples of such a record include a 21 paper ballot prepared by the voter for the 22 purpose of being read by an optical scan- 23 ner, a paper ballot prepared by the voter 24 to be mailed to an election official (whether 25 from a domestic or overseas location), a 26 paper ballot created through the use of a HR 550 IH 3 1 ballot marking device, or a paper print-out 2 of the voter's vote produced by a touch 3 screen or other electronic voting machine, 4 so long as in each case the record permits 5 the voter to verify the record in accordance 6 with this subparagraph. 7 ``(ii) The voting system shall provide 8 the voter with an opportunity to correct 9 any error made by the system in the voter- 10 verified paper record before the permanent 11 voter-verified paper record is preserved in 12 accordance with subparagraph (B)(i). 13 ``(iii) The voting system shall not pre- 14 serve the voter-verifiable paper records in 15 any manner that makes it possible to asso- 16 ciate a voter with the record of the voter's 17 vote. 18 ``(iv) In the case of a voting system 19 which is purchased to meet the disability 20 access requirements of paragraph (3) and 21 which will be used exclusively by individ- 22 uals with disabilities, the system does not 23 need to meet the requirements of clauses 24 (i) through (iii), but shall meet the require- 25 ments described in paragraph (3)(B)(ii).
HR 550 IH 4 1 ``(B) MANUAL AUDIT CAPACITY.--
2 ``(i) The permanent voter-verified 3 paper record produced in accordance with 4 subparagraph (A) shall be preserved-- 5 ``(I) in the case of votes cast at 6 the polling place on the date of the 7 election, within the polling place in 8 the manner or method in which all 9 other paper ballots are preserved 10 within such polling place; 11 ``(II) in the case of votes cast at 12 the polling place prior to the date of 13 the election or cast by mail, in a man- 14 ner which is consistent with the man- 15 ner employed by the jurisdiction for 16 preserving such ballots in general; or 17 ``(III) in the absence of either 18 such manner or method, in a manner 19 which is consistent with the manner 20 employed by the jurisdiction for pre- 21 serving paper ballots in general. 22 ``(ii) Each paper record produced pur- 23 suant to subparagraph (A) shall be suit- 24 able for a manual audit equivalent to that 25 of a paper ballot voting system.
HR 550 IH 5 1 ``(iii) In the event of any inconsist- 2 encies or irregularities between any elec- 3 tronic records and the individual perma- 4 nent paper records, the individual perma- 5 nent paper records shall be the true and 6 correct record of the votes cast. 7 ``(iv) The individual permanent paper 8 records produced pursuant to subpara- 9 graph (A) shall be the true and correct 10 record of the votes cast and shall be used 11 as the official records for purposes of any 12 recount or audit conducted with respect to 13 any election for Federal office in which the 14 voting system is used. 15 ``(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR VOTES CAST BY
16 ABSENT MILITARY AND OVERSEAS VOTERS.--In
17 the case of votes cast by absent uniformed serv- 18 ices voters and overseas voters under the Uni- 19 formed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting 20 Act, the ballots cast by such voters shall serve 21 as the permanent paper record under subpara- 22 graph (A) in accordance with protocols estab- 23 lished by the Commission in consultation with 24 the Secretary of Defense which preserve the
HR 550 IH 6 1 privacy of the voter and are consistent with the 2 requirements of such Act.''. 3 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.--Section
4 301(a)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(1)) is 5 amended-- 6 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 7 ``counted'' and inserting ``counted, in accord- 8 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)''; 9 (B) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking 10 ``counted'' and inserting ``counted, in accord- 11 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)''; and 12 (C) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking 13 ``counted'' and inserting ``counted, in accord- 14 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)''. 15 (b) ACCESSIBILITY VOTER VERIFICATION AND OF
16 RESULTS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES.-- 17 (1) IN GENERAL.--Section 301(a)(3)(B) of 18 such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(3)(B)) is amended to 19 read as follows: 20 ``(B)(i) satisfy the requirement of subpara- 21 graph (A) through the use of at least one direct 22 recording electronic voting system or other vot- 23 ing system equipped for individuals with disabil- 24 ities at each polling place; and
HR 550 IH 7 1 ``(ii) meet the requirements of paragraph 2 (2)(A) by using a system that-- 3 ``(I) if strictly electronic, physically 4 separates the function of vote generation 5 from the functions of vote verification and 6 casting, 7 ``(II) allows the voter to verify and 8 cast the permanent record on paper or on 9 another individualized, permanent medium 10 privately and independently, and 11 ``(III) ensures that the entire process 12 of voter verification and vote casting is ac- 13 cessible to the voter.''. 14 (2) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT OF STUDY, TEST-
15 ING, AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACCESSIBLE VOTER
16 VERIFICATION MECHANISMS.--
17 (A) STUDY AND REPORTING.--Subtitle C 18 of title II of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15381 et seq.) 19 is amended-- 20 (i) by redesignating section 247 as 21 section 248; and 22 (ii) by inserting after section 246 the 23 following new section:
HR 550 IH 8 1 ``SEC. 247. STUDY AND REPORT ON ACCESSIBLE VOTER
2 VERIFICATION MECHANISMS.
3 ``The Commission shall study, test, and develop best 4 practices to enhance the accessibility of voter-verification 5 mechanisms for individuals with disabilities and for voters 6 whose primary language is not English, including best 7 practices for the mechanisms themselves and the processes 8 through which the mechanisms are used.''. 9 (B) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.--The table of 10 contents of such Act is amended-- 11 (i) by redesignating the item relating 12 to section 247 as relating to section 248; 13 and 14 (ii) by inserting after the item relating 15 to section 246 the following new item: ``Sec. 247. Study and report on accessible voter verification mechanisms.''.
16 (c) ADDITIONAL VOTING SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.-- 17 (1) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.--Section
18 301(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)) is amend- 19 ed by adding at the end the following new para- 20 graphs: 21 ``(7) INSTRUCTION OF ELECTION OFFICIALS.--
22 Each State shall ensure that all election officials are 23 instructed on the right of any individual who re- 24 quires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, 25 other disability, or inability to read or write to be
HR 550 IH 9 1 given assistance by a person chosen by that indi- 2 vidual under section 208 of the Voting Rights Act 3 of 1965. 4 ``(8) PROHIBITION OF USE OF UNDISCLOSED
5 SOFTWARE IN VOTING SYSTEMS.--No voting system 6 shall at any time contain or use any undisclosed 7 software. Any voting system containing or using 8 software shall disclose the source code, object code, 9 and executable representation of that software to the 10 Commission, and the Commission shall make that 11 source code, object code, and executable representa- 12 tion available for inspection upon request to any per- 13 son. 14 ``(9) PROHIBITION OF USE OF WIRELESS COM-
15 MUNICATIONS DEVICES IN VOTING SYSTEMS.--No
16 voting system shall contain, use, or be accessible by 17 any wireless, power-line, or concealed communication 18 device at all. 19 ``(10) CERTIFICATION OF SOFTWARE AND
20 HARDWARE.--All software and hardware used in any 21 electronic voting system shall be certified by labora- 22 tories accredited by the Commission as meeting the 23 requirements of paragraphs (8) and (9). 24 ``(11) SECURITY STANDARDS FOR VOTING SYS-
25 TEMS USED IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.--
HR 550 IH 10 1 ``(A) IN GENERAL.--No voting system may 2 be used in an election for Federal office unless 3 the manufacturer of such system and the elec- 4 tion officials using such system meet the appli- 5 cable requirements described in subparagraph 6 (B). 7 (B) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.--The
8 requirements described in this subparagraph 9 are as follows: 10 ``(i) The manufacturer and the elec- 11 tion officials shall document the chain of 12 custody for the handling of software used 13 in connection with voting systems. 14 ``(ii) The manufacturer of the soft- 15 ware used in the operation of the system 16 shall provide the Commission with updated 17 information regarding the identification of 18 each individual who participated in the 19 writing of the software, including specific 20 information regarding whether the indi- 21 vidual has ever been convicted of a crime 22 involving election fraud. 23 ``(iii) In the same manner and to the 24 same extent described in paragraph (8), 25 the manufacturer shall provide the codes
HR 550 IH 11 1 used in any software used in connection 2 with the voting system to the Commission 3 and may not alter such codes once the 4 election officials have certified the system 5 unless such system is recertified by such 6 election officials. 7 ``(iv) The manufacturer shall meet 8 standards established by the Commission 9 to prevent the existence or appearance of 10 any conflict of interest with respect to can- 11 didates for public office and political par- 12 ties, including standards to ensure that the 13 manufacturer and its officers and directors 14 do not hold positions of authority in any 15 political party or in any partisan political 16 campaign. 17 ``(12) PROHIBITING CONNECTION OF SYSTEM
18 OR TRANSMISSION OF SYSTEM INFORMATION OVER
19 THE INTERNET.--No component of any voting de- 20 vice upon which votes are cast shall be connected to 21 the Internet.''. 22 (2) REQUIRING LABORATORIES TO MEET
23 STANDARDS PROHIBITING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
24 AS CONDITION OF ACCREDITATION FOR TESTING OF
25 VOTING SYSTEM HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE.--
HR 550 IH 12 1 (A) IN GENERAL.--Section 231(b) of such 2 Act (42 U.S.C. 15371(b)) is amended by add- 3 ing at the end the following new paragraph: 4 ``(3) PROHIBITING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST;
5 ENSURING AVAILABILITY OF RESULTS.--
6 ``(A) IN GENERAL.--A laboratory may not 7 be accredited by the Commission for purposes 8 of this section unless-- 9 ``(i) the laboratory meets the stand- 10 ards applicable to the manufacturers of 11 voting systems under section 12 301(a)(11)(B)(iv), together with such 13 standards as the Commission may estab- 14 lish to prevent the existence or appearance 15 of any conflict of interest in the testing, 16 certification, decertification, and recertifi- 17 cation carried out by the laboratory under 18 this section, including standards to ensure 19 that the laboratory does not have a finan- 20 cial interest in the manufacture, sale, and 21 distribution of voting system hardware and 22 software, and is sufficiently independent 23 from other persons with such an interest; 24 and
HR 550 IH 13 1 ``(ii) the laboratory, upon completion 2 of any testing, certification, decertification, 3 and recertification carried out under this 4 section, discloses the results to the Com- 5 mission. 6 ``(B) AVAILABILITY OF RESULTS.--Upon
7 receipt of information under subparagraph 8 (A)(ii), the Commission shall make the informa- 9 tion available to election officials and the pub- 10 lic.''. 11 (B) DEADLINE FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF
12 STANDARDS.--The Election Assistance Commis- 13 sion shall establish the standards described in 14 section 231(b)(3) of the Help America Vote Act 15 of 2002 (as added by subparagraph (A)) not 16 later than January 1, 2006. 17 (d) AVAILABILITY ADDITIONAL FUNDING EN- OF TO
18 STATES MEET COSTS REVISED REQUIRE- ABLE TO OF
19 MENTS.--
20 (1) EXTENSION OF REQUIREMENTS PAYMENTS
21 REQUIREMENTS.--Section FOR MEETING REVISED
22 257(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 23 U.S.C. 15407(a)) is amended by adding at the end 24 the following new paragraph:
HR 550 IH 14 1 ``(4) For fiscal year 2006, $150,000,000, except 2 that any funds provided under the authorization 3 made by this paragraph may be used by a State only 4 to meet the requirements of title III which are first 5 imposed on the State pursuant to the amendments 6 made by section 2 of the Voter Confidence and In- 7 creased Accessibility Act of 2005.''. 8 (2) PERMITTING USE OF FUNDS FOR REIM-
9 BURSEMENT FOR COSTS PREVIOUSLY INCURRED.--
10 Section 251(c)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 11 15401(c)(1)) is amended by striking the period at 12 the end and inserting the following: ``, or as a reim- 13 bursement for any costs incurred in meeting the re- 14 quirements of title III which are imposed pursuant 15 to the amendments made by section 2 of the Voter 16 Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 17 2005.''. 18 SEC. 3. ENHANCEMENT OF ENFORCEMENT OF HELP AMER-
19 ICA VOTE ACT OF 2002.
20 Section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) is amend- 21 ed-- 22 (1) by striking ``The Attorney General'' and in- 23 serting ``(a) IN GENERAL.--The Attorney General''; 24 and
HR 550 IH 15 1 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 2 sections: 3 ``(b) FILING COMPLAINTS AGGRIEVED PER- OF BY
4 SONS.--
5 ``(1) IN GENERAL.--A person who is aggrieved 6 by a violation of section 301, 302, or 303 which is 7 occurring or which is about to occur may file a writ- 8 ten, signed, notarized complaint with the Attorney 9 General describing the violation and requesting the 10 Attorney General to take appropriate action under 11 this section. 12 ``(2) RESPONSE BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.--The
13 Attorney General shall respond to each complaint 14 filed under paragraph (1), in accordance with proce- 15 dures established by the Attorney General that re- 16 quire responses and determinations to be made with- 17 in the same (or shorter) deadlines which apply to a 18 State under the State-based administrative com- 19 plaint procedures described in section 402(a)(2). 20 ``(c) CLARIFICATION AVAILABILITY PRIVATE OF OF
21 RIGHT ACTION.--Nothing in this section may be con- OF
22 strued to prohibit any person from bringing an action 23 under section 1979 of the Revised Statutes of the United 24 States (42 U.S.C. 1983) to enforce the uniform and non-
HR 550 IH 16 1 discriminatory election technology and administration re- 2 quirements under sections 301, 302, and 303. 3 ``(d) NO EFFECT STATE PROCEDURES.--Nothing ON
4 in this section may be construed to affect the availability 5 of the State-based administrative complaint procedures re- 6 quired under section 402 to any person filing a complaint 7 under this subsection.''. 8 SEC. 4. PERMANENT EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF
9 ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION.
10 Section 210 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 11 (42 U.S.C. 15330) is amended by striking ``each of the 12 fiscal years 2003 through 2005'' and inserting ``each fiscal 13 year beginning with fiscal year 2003''. 14 SEC. 5. REQUIREMENT FOR MANDATORY MANUAL AUDITS
15 BY HAND COUNT.
16 (a) MANDATORY AUDITS RANDOM PRECINCTS.-- IN
17 (1) IN GENERAL.--The Election Assistance 18 Commission shall conduct random, unannounced, 19 hand counts of the voter-verified records required to 20 be produced and preserved pursuant to section 21 301(a)(2) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as 22 amended by section 2) for each general election for 23 Federal office (and, at the option of the State or ju- 24 risdiction involved, of elections for State and local 25 office held at the same time as such an election for
HR 550 IH 17 1 Federal office) in at least 2 percent of the precincts 2 (or equivalent locations) in each State. 3 (2) PROCESS FOR CONDUCTING AUDITS.--The
4 Commission shall conduct an audit under this sec- 5 tion of the results of an election in accordance with 6 the following procedures: 7 (A) Not later than 24 hours after a State 8 announces the final vote count in each precinct 9 in the State, the Commission shall determine 10 and then announce the precincts in the State in 11 which it will conduct the audits. 12 (B) With respect to votes cast at the pre- 13 cinct or equivalent location on or before the 14 date of the election (other than provisional bal- 15 lots described in subparagraph (C)), the Com- 16 mission shall count by hand the voter-verified 17 records required to be produced and preserved 18 under section 301(a)(2)(A) of the Help America 19 Vote Act of 2002 (as amended by section 2) 20 and compare those records with the count of 21 such votes as announced by the State. 22 (C) With respect to votes cast other than 23 at the precinct on the date of the election (other 24 than votes cast before the date of the election 25 described in subparagraph (B)) or votes cast by
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Post by slinker on May 21, 2007 23:26:44 GMT -5
Monsanto is just one of the names of the devil... Click for proofmore proofBack to the topic--has anyone heard of anyone getting bird flu yet? Here, I mean...sounds like a scam to sell flu remedy to me.
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Post by slinker on Mar 10, 2006 21:14:11 GMT -5
Surely, I'm just mistaken...
But here, you see the very beginnings of the fascist machinations that will be set in motion prior to election day 2006 as the would-be emperor conspires to assume his throne; when many 'bird flu' victims will be quarantined in those shiny new Haliburton 'special quarantine victims protection' units that were recently built (there is a thread about them in this section).
Bloggers and those who host websites with content which is deemed anti-American and un-patriotic (translated to "opposing Bushco) somehow will have been exposed to the bird flu first. Look, look, the ever competent, awe-inspiring Chertoff, the Huh? has his finger up the arse of the flu birds. Hearken his words! It's the end of days...
So, I'm just not convinced that bird flu is going to be the hungry death monster they make it out to be. But, it serves nicely as a natural disaster calling for martial law and quarantines of adjutants who have been exposed to the birdie virus. Don't get vaccinated. Vaccines have upwards of a 60%+ failure rate, it has been recently reported. You'll do fine with Tami-flu but have some close by just in case...
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Post by slinker on Mar 10, 2006 21:19:11 GMT -5
Ummm...which programs are those? The "Removal of Opposing Viewpoints" pogram Bushco has earmarked for 2006 prior to the election?
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Post by slinker on Feb 6, 2006 20:50:40 GMT -5
Oh, dim little bulb...what makes you think I'm a Democrat? Bush sucks so badly that he is a universal object of failure in the eyes of those across the political spectrum. Try not to be so naive in your responses.
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Post by slinker on Feb 2, 2006 13:06:27 GMT -5
"Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research – human cloning in all its forms … creating or implanting embryos for experiments … creating human-animal hybrids … and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos." - George Bush, SOTU 2006 WTF???
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Post by slinker on Feb 2, 2006 12:58:00 GMT -5
The State of the Union by Gore Vidal Today, the 31st of January, in the hallowed year, election year, of ’06, could be a memorable day if we all do our part, which is simply to concentrate, among other things, and do perhaps what a couple of groups have decided would be useful for the President, I guess his State of the Union. We might give him some idea of our state, which is one of great dissatisfaction with him and his regime. And there's talk of perhaps demonstrating in front of the Capitol or here or there around the country to show that the union is occupied by people who happen to be patriots. And patriots do not like this government. This is an unpatriotic government. This is a government that deals openly in illegalities, whether it is attacking a country which has done us no harm, two countries -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- because we now believe, not in declaring war through Congress as the Constitution requires, but through the President. ‘Well, I think there are some terrorists over there, and I think we got to bomb them, huh? We'll bomb them.’ Now, we’ve had idiots as presidents before. He's not unique. But he's certainly the most active idiot that we have ever had. And now here we are planning new wars, ongoing wars in the Middle East. And so as he comes with his State of the Union, which he is going to justify eavesdropping without judicial warrants on anybody in the United States that he wants to listen in on. This is what we call dictatorship. Dictatorship. Dictatorship. And it is time that we objected. Don't say wait ‘til the next election and do it through that. We can't trust the elections, thanks to Diebold and S&S and all the electronic devices which are being flogged across the country to make sure that elections can be so rigged that the villains will stay in power. I think demonstrations across the country could be very useful on this famous Tuesday. Just say no. We've had enough of you. Go home to Crawford. We'll help you raise the money for a library, and you won't even ever have to read a book. We're not cruel. We just want to get rid of you and let you be an ex-president with his own library, which you can fill up with friends of yours who can neither read nor write, but they'll be well served and well paid, we hope, by corporate America, which will love you forever. So I think it is really up to us to give some resonance to the State of the Union, which will be largely babble. He's not going really try to do anything about Social Security, we read in the papers. He has no major moves, other than going on and on about the legality of his illegal warrantless eavesdroppings and other breakings of the law. I had a piece on the internet some of you may have seen a few days ago, and there's a story about Tiberius, who’s one of my favorite Roman emperors. He's had a very bad press, because the wrong people perhaps have written history. But when he became emperor, the Senate of Rome sent him congratulations with the comment, “Any law that you want us to pass, we shall do so automatically.” And he sent a message back. He said, “This is outrageous! Suppose I go mad. Suppose I don't know what I'm doing. Suppose I'm dead and somebody is pretending to be me. Never do that! Never accept something like preemptive war,” which luckily the Senate did not propose preemptive wars against places they didn't like. But Mr. Bush has done that. So this is a sort of Tiberius time without, basically, a good emperor, and he was a good emperor in the sense that he sent back this legislation, which was to confirm anything he wanted to have done automatically. And they sent it back to him again. And then he said, “How eager you are to be slaves,” and washed his hands of the Senate and went to live in Capri, a much wiser choice, just as we can send this kid back to Crawford, Texas, where he'll be very, very happy cutting bushes of the leafy variety. You know, it’s at a time when people say, ‘Well, it makes no difference what we do, you know, if we march and we make speeches, and this and that.’ It makes a lot of difference if millions of Americans just say, “We are fed up! We don't like you. We don't like what you're doing to the country and what you have done to the country. We don't like to live in a lawless land, where the rule of law has just been bypassed and hacks are appointed to the federal bench, who will carry on and carry on and carry on all of the illegalities which are so desperately needed by our military-industrial corporate masters.” I think a day dedicated to that and to just showing up here and there around the country will be a good thing to do. And so, let the powers that be know that back of them, there's something called "We the people of the United States,” and all sovereignty rests in us, not in the board rooms of the Republicans. www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/31/1532246
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Post by slinker on May 21, 2007 23:16:17 GMT -5
Over a year later and things keep getting worse. Bush only has the support of 3 of every 10 Americans. That's pathetic in anyone's mathosphere...
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