One from Jay Leno

OK, so I pulled this off of Rants&Raves but I like what it says.
enjoy
BB

Those who were born from 1930-1979

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because, WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O. K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer!, no Internet or chat rooms......WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them ~CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good. We have many sick people out there.

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Immigrants Used to Justify a Homeland Security Police State

Oh look, more attacks on our civil liberties and another kickback for Halliburton.
BB

by Prof. Peter Phillips

Global Research, April 23, 2007
Project Censored

Threats of terrorism and twelve million “illegal” immigrants are being used to justify new police-state measures in the United States. Coordinated mass arrests, big brother spy blimps, expanded detention centers, repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act, and suspension of habeas corpus have all been recently implemented and are ready to use against anyone in the US.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) flooded Mexico with cheap subsidized US agricultural products that displaced millions of Mexican farmers. Between 2000 and 2005, Mexico lost 900,000 rural jobs and 700,000 industrial jobs, resulting in deep unemployment throughout the country. Desperate poverty has forced millions of Mexican workers north in order to feed their families.

In the wake of 9/11, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) has conducted workplace and home invasions across the country in an attempt to roundup “illegal” immigrants. ICE justifies these raids under the rubric of keeping our homeland safe and preventing terrorism. However the real goal of these actions is to disrupt the immigrant work force in the US and replace it with a tightly regulated non-union guest-worker program. This policy is endorsed by companies seeking permanent low-wage workers through a lobby group called Essential Worker Immigrations Coalition (EWIC). EWIC’s fifty-two members include the US Chamber of Commerce, Wal Mart, Marriott, Tyson Foods, American Meat Institute, California Landscape Contractors Association, and the Association of Builders and Contractors.

Low-key office launches high-profile inq

Whats the legal word for woops?
BB


The Office of Special Counsel will investigate U.S. attorney firings and other political activities led by Karl Rove.
By Tom Hamburger, Times Staff Writer
April 24, 2007

WASHINGTON — Most of the time, an obscure federal investigative unit known as the Office of Special Counsel confines itself to monitoring the activities of relatively low-level government employees, stepping in with reprimands and other routine administrative actions for such offenses as discriminating against military personnel or engaging in prohibited political activities

Former Hill Staffer to Plead Guilty in Abramoff Probe

Gee, and we don't here about this in the mainstream media. What a shock.
BB


By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, April 24, 2007; Page A04


A former senior staffer on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the public by steering potential clients and inside government information to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for cash, gifts and the promise of a high-paying job on K Street.

GOP's Cyber Election Hit Squad Exposed

Steven Rosenfeld and Bob Fitrakis
April 24, 2007
Bob Fitrakis is a political science professor and attorney in the King Lincoln Bronzeville civil rights lawsuit against Ken Blackwell. Fitrakis, Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman are authors of What Happened in Ohio? A documentary record of theft and fraud in the 2004 election.

Did the most powerful Republicans in America have the computer capacity, software skills and electronic infrastructure in place on election night 2004 to tamper with the Ohio results to ensure George W. Bush's re-election?

The answer appears to be yes. There is more than ample documentation to show that on Election Night 2004 , Ohio's "official" Secretary of State website—which gave the world the presidential election results—was redirected from an Ohio government server to a group of servers that contain scores of Republican web sites, including the secret White House e-mail accounts that have emerged in the scandal surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s firing of eight federal prosecutors.

To you, Mr. Vonnegut

It is with sadness in my heart that I speak on the recent passing on of one of the true American Treasures.
Kurt Vonnegut, who passed last wednesday, was a true wordsmith. His uncanny ability to mask his comments in humorous stories and plots allowed him to fly often under the radar of those he was most critical of socially and sometimes even the people who were reading these critiques. As John Stewart said on his show, "The world is less interesting."

When someone passes, especially of someone of Mr. Vonneguts' recongnition, we seem to feel the need to have to "sum them up." Well, I'm not the one for this job. nor would I try too if I could. I'm sure that there is a Vonnegut expert somewhere that would be better at that job. "Summing up" provides a sense of closure. And I don't know if closing the chapter on Mr. Vonnegut is something that I wan't to play a part in. For his was a voice that was truly unique, original and his own. A voice that wasn't affraid to say the wrong thing, even if for no other reason than just to say the wrong thing. Regardless of consequences. A voice like Mr. Vonneguts is one that should continue to be heard and shared for future generations. Passed on to those who know nothing of his insights and verbage and reviewed by those of us who do. The world needs more people who have earned a voice in society and who are not afraid to use it. More people to speak about whatever it is that is on everybodies minds but knowone has the courage to say it. Because once "it" is said, than more people can say it and then not be so afraid to talk about what was seemingly so impossible to get out in the open beforhand. To say what was on the minds of so many, for better or worse is ultimately a good thing. To air what needs to be aired. Because people should not be afraid, for any reason, to say anything that causes people too think.
The World IS a less interesting place than it was a week ago, I don't know what else to say except that.... Kilgore was Here.

R.I.P. Mr Vonnegut

GOP-issued laptops now a White House headache

Team BUllSHit and yet another ethics violation.
BB

Democrats say a private e-mail system was used in violation of federal rules.
By Tom Hamburger, Times Staff Writer
April 9, 2007

WASHINGTON — When Karl Rove and his top deputies arrived at the White House in 2001, the Republican National Committee provided them with laptop computers and other communication devices to be used alongside their government-issued equipment
The back-channel e-mail and paging system, paid for and maintained by the RNC, was designed to avoid charges that had vexed the Clinton White House — that federal resources were being used inappropriately for political campaign purposes.

Now, that dual computer system is creating new embarrassment and legal headaches for the White House, the Republican Party and Rove's once-vaunted White House operation.

"My Name Used to Be #200343"

By David Phinney, IPS News. Posted April 7, 2007.

An American former Navy soldier and private contractor imprisoned and tortured in Iraq by the U.S. military and falsely accused of "aiding terrorists" warns that our worst fears about Iraq have come true.

A year ago, Donald Vance learned what its like to be falsely accused by the U.S. military of aiding terrorists. He was held without charge for more than three months in a high-security prison in Iraq, and interrogated daily after sleepless nights without legal counsel or even a phone call to his family.

The Third Stage

A collection of short mainstream media and independent film clips on the evolution of 9/11 skepticism. This will be the most important and worthwhile twenty minutes of your week. BB Here is the link if this doesn't load http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5224963246223576086&hl=en