Obama clamps down on dissent..

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama hammered away at "outrageous myths" about his healthcare reform plans on Saturday, seeking again to take control of a debate that has tarnished support for his top domestic policy goal.

Obama, a Democrat, has tried for weeks to clamp down on criticism and misinformation about his healthcare plans and used his weekly radio and Internet address to confront them.

Uh Jeff, he aint our Daddy. And since we are chatting, doesn't the thought of a President "clamp(ing) down on citicism" bother you just a bit?


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Judge orders GITMO prisoner released

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Yemeni prisoner held since 2002 in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay must be freed because there is no evidence he belonged to al Qaeda or was a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, a U.S. judge said in a decision published on Friday.

(snip)

"There is no reliable evidence in the record that (Adahi) was a member of al Qaeda and/or the Taliban," U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler wrote in her decision.

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Judge Kessler may, or may not be right. But I always thought we had trials to determnine things like this.

Silly ole me, eh?

Ray Stevens does it again

Click here for Ray Stevens doing it again.

Hat tip to Jimmy M.

Greenpace admits a mistake... heck, we knew Greenpeace was a mistake

The outgoing leader of Greenpeace has admitted his organization’s recent claim that the Arctic Ice will disappear by 2030 was “a mistake.” Greenpeace made the claim in a July 15 press release entitled “Urgent Action Needed As Arctic Ice Melts,” which said there will be an ice-free Arctic by 2030 because of global warming.

Under close questioning by BBC reporter Stephen Sackur on the “Hardtalk” program, Gerd Leipold, the retiring leader of Greenpeace, said the claim was wrong.

“I don’t think it will be melting by 2030. … That may have been a mistake,” he said.
Sackur said the claim was inaccurate on two fronts, pointing out that the Arctic ice is a mass of 1.6 million square kilometers with a thickness of 3 km in the middle, and that it had survived much warmer periods in history than the present.

The BBC reporter accused Leipold and Greenpeace of releasing “misleading information” and using “exaggeration and alarmism.”

Leipold’s admission that Greenpeace issued misleading information is a major embarrassment to the organization, which often has been accused of alarmism but has always insisted that it applies full scientific rigor in its global-warming pronouncements.

Although he admitted Greenpeace had released inaccurate but alarming information, Leipold defended the organization’s practice of “emotionalizing issues” in order to bring the public around to its way of thinking and alter public opinion.

Leipold said later in the BBC interview that there is an urgent need for the suppression of economic growth in the United States and around the world. He said annual growth rates of 3 percent to 8 percent cannot continue without serious consequences for the climate.

What a dork.

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And I love this...

We will definitely have to move to a different concept of growth.

The guy has just confessed to stretching the truth and he moves to tell us we must redefine "growth." These people have no shame. They are true believers that should be isolated from the general population until we can get their meds regulated.

Plame Redux How the Left is exposing the CIA

The Justice Department recently questioned military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay about whether photographs of CIA personnel, including covert officers, were unlawfully provided to detainees charged with organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Investigators are looking into allegations that laws protecting classified information were breached when three lawyers showed their clients the photographs, the sources said. The lawyers were apparently attempting to identify CIA officers and contractors involved in the agency's interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects in facilities outside the United States, where the agency employed harsh techniques.

If detainees at the U.S. military prison in Cuba are tried, either in federal court or by a military commission, defense lawyers are expected to attempt to call CIA personnel to testify.

The photos were taken by researchers hired by the John Adams Project, a joint effort of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, to support military counsel at Guantanamo Bay, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry. It was unclear whether the Justice Department is also examining those organizations.

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Where is the public outcry from the Democrats? This, unlike the non-outing of Mrs. Wislon is a crime. The perps should be charged and tried.

The Mrs. Wilson affair met none of the following. The actions of the lawyers meet all of them.

At the threshold, the agent must truly be covert. Her status as undercover must be classified, and she must have been assigned to duty outside the United States currently or in the past five years. This requirement does not mean jetting to Berlin or Taipei for a week's work. It means permanent assignment in a foreign country. Since Plame had been living in Washington for some time when the July 2003 column was published, and was working at a desk job in Langley (a no-no for a person with a need for cover), there is a serious legal question as to whether she qualifies as "covert."

The law also requires that the disclosure be made intentionally, with the knowledge that the government is taking "affirmative measures to conceal [the agent's] relationship" to the United States.

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Time to man up, Repubs. Show us if you clank when you walk or just slither as you slide by. Inquiring minds want to know. Time for a SP.

Naked Passengers

I thought I would scare you.

Just heard that a Southwest flight from Oakland to St Louis has turned around and landed... seems two passengers got in a fight and one of them took their clothes off.....

I've heard of ugly people, but wow....

Besides, it sounds like at least one of the two was wanting to make up...

"Come over here... Let me touch ya..."

It seems like people act differently on airplanes. Could be the two or three or four drinks they have in the airport bar... could be the feeling of doing something that is bigger than them.. who knows. But from the naked person here to the person who took a dump in the snack cart, weirdness reigns...

I'm a friendly type but I used to dread the "This my life" types I would run into on a regular basis. I never wanted to hurt their feelings but I really didn't care that they were on there way to see their Grandmother who was dying... I mean I cared but I didn't want to hear about it for the next two hours.

Airlines and their business practices have always fascinated me. A few years back I was on my way to Los Angeles and was connecting via Delta's Salt Lake City hub. We got in way early and as I was looking for the nearest bar I discovered a gate with a flight to Los Angeles that was getting ready to board. Since my connection wasn't in the "legal" connect time I was on a flight some hour and half later. It was obvious that the flight wasn't anywhere near full so I went over and asked if they would put me on that one.

The guy looked at my discounted ticket and said it would cost me $75.00. I declined, expressing my best wishes to the idiots in charge. When my flight left it was over sold and they were giving away $250 certificates to anyone who would give up their seats and take a later flight.

I used to hate pilots who, at night, had to show everyone they could watch the TACAN needle and read a map. "Uh, that's Oklahoma City off the right hand side..." Give me two drinks and let me sleep...

But some do have a sense of a humor.. Years and years and years ago I was on a Continental flight, yes The Proud Bird With The Golden Tail, when there was a loud bang. In a few minutes the pilot came on and announced we would about 10 minutes late arriving in Denver... It was a 727 Trijet. About 30 minutes later there was another loud bang. A few minutes later the pilot came on and announced that we would be about 15 minutes late.... he finished by saying that if we heard another bang it might take longer than anticipated to get to Denver.

National Health Care - What could go wrong?

Let me get this straight. Obama's health care plan will be written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress which hasn't read it, signed by a president who smokes,funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes,overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that is nearly broke.

What could possibly go wrong? I ask you? What?

Hat tip to Grant M.

Hat tip link to Ellis.