Daily Topics - Thursday August 19th, 2010
By shawnt56
Quote of the Day: If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time. ~Chinese Proverb
Hour One: Did Operation Iraqi Freedom end on Obama's watch? We've secured the oil fields and sold them off to the multinationals...mission accomplished? Matt Duss, National Security Researcher/Blogger at American Progress, talks to Thom www.americanprogress.org; Plus, the blago trial...what does it all mean? Veteran WCPT Chicago Newsman Dick Kaywill be here http://chicagosprogressivetalk.com
Hour Two: If people are going to gamble online, let's legalize it and tax it? Thom has a rumble with Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling www.stoppredatorygambling.org ; Plus, Geeky Science - Baby it's cold outside! Why putting on a sweater is good for your heart...really!
Hour Three: Is right wing talk radio responsible for bank robbing, anti-government extremists? Kari Chisholm of Blue Oregon will be here www.blueoregon.com; Plus, private armies for profit and what will their role be in post war Iraq? Independent Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill will be here www.rebelreports.com
Comments
#2
So whenever Tea Baggers cry about health care reform or helping the US auto industry, we should ask them over and over and over about the costs of the needless war with Iraq. We should bring up that the Bush Administration said it would pay for itself. And we should ask why they aren't troubled by the debt we now have to pay because of that war. And not ever let it go, just like they never let anything go. Don't they still talk about ACORN? If they can make issues out of non-issues, we should be able to make issues out of actual issues.
#3
Israel Places Order For 20 F-35s; U.S. Picks Up The Tab
Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak approved an order for 20 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in a deal valued at around $2.75 billion, according to Haaretz. The Israeli Air Force expects to take delivery of the first aircraft in 2015. The article quotes Barak saying the F-35 costs $96 million a copy. The entire deal will be funded by American military aid.
http://defensetech.org/2010/08/16/israel-places-order-for-20-f-35-jsf-u-...
#4
@Jeanie: The war wasn't needless, as far as the plutocracy was concerned. Tea Baggers are willfully ignorant (stupid) and easlly manipulated.
#5
Whatever Israel wants, Israel gets. Another question for the Tea Baggers. Why is it ok to give millions (actually, I think it's a billion a year) to Israel to arm them but it's not ok to help an American industry get back on its feet? Just wondering.
#6
Jeanie The actual figure for the 20 jets alone is 2.75 Billion, picked up by the US Taxpayers.
#7
I could see us helping Israel if (1) they were poor and (2) it was under a huge and unfair assault by others and they couldn't defend themselves. Really, the only weapons we should be spending money on is if we were attacked by outer space aliens. Then I'd get it. Otherwise, I think arms are such a waste.
#8
FOX RIP LIST
Do not forget to add Denice Denton to the list. She was the UCSC Chancellor that jumped 42 floor to her death in SF after Michelle Malkin and her beasts hounded Denton over whether military recruiters should be on campus or not.
Google "denice denton michelle malkin"
This article here is another reason that excludes malkin....
#9
My post at Facebook’s “Stop Mosque Construction at Ground Zero” Cause Page:
MAGIC!!!! The CORDOBA HOUSE is NOT A MOSQUE and NOT AT GROUND ZERO (for anything other than a Burlington Coat sale) . . . Mission accomplished. Now go home.
#10
Because of the Internet, people can spend vast amounts of money on shopping too. While it's not gambling, it can be addictive and you can go into debt. I wouldn't want someone curtailing my ability to spend whatever I want on clothes because they were doing it in my best interest. I'm not a child. And if I get myself in debt (and I have somewhat at times), then I am responsible for paying it off and I then make a concerted effort to control myself. So I don't really understand the need to stop adults from throwing their money away on gambling (when they can instead throw it away on an awesome wardrobe).
#11
Resveritol in Red Wine Bobby Kennedy Jr interviewed a resveritol expert a few years ago. He said that you would need to drink something like a whole wine cellar each day in order to get the amount they recommend daily.
#12
re: red wine: I've read lots of studies on red wine. one sez you lose 2% chance of prostate cancer for every glass per month you drink. ie 30 glasses per month= 60% less chance of prostate cancer. I've been taking the resveratrol for several years 'cause I can't even handle 5 glasses of red wine per week. I've seen studies over the years touting the efficacy of red wine for alzheimers, longevity, circulation, prostate, blood pressure and cholesterol, etc.
#13
It is illegal for the US to supply arms to any country that uses those arms against its own people. The only way Isreal can get around this is to declare that there is no such thing as a "Palestinian."
The US sent weapons to Indonesia, which uses its weapons to opress its own population, by sending the shipments to Israel, which turned around and forwarded the shipments to Indonesia.
#14
Gene, so we really aren't very enlightened as a people, are we?
#15
"withdrawal" is something George H W Bush should have thought of 64 years ago.
#16
Re: It is illeagle
Greed has no boundaries or loyalties. It's all about making a buck.
The conservatives are great for balancing the budget on the backs of the working class, but don't you dare touch their military spending!
#17
besides..can you imagine trying to get it up for Barbara Bush, even as a young woman? ..creepy...
#18
Were government resources used to produce the REP v DEM women video?
Is this yet another direct Hatch Act violation?
Were royalties paid on the sound track?
What about Property rights?
#19
Thirty glasses of wine in a month?!?!?!?
Crap. I drank my share of wine until March 17th . . . 3297 CE.
#20
Crazy Horse Laws:
#21
Operation Iraqi Liberation. (OIL)
I spent a few minutes researching online, and there is no evidence the Iraq War was initially called "Operation Iraqi Liberation" (OIL). There were late night jokes at the time suggesting as such, and the the codename was changed initially from "Operation Infinite Justice", which was quickly rejected for having "religious overtones" (only God can dispense "Infinite Justice"), but appears to be urban legend.
Technically, war plans are designated with "Letter Codes" to which words are applied to make them easier to remember. For example, "Operation DS" in 1990 became "Operation Desert Storm". The word "Operation" is common, and the letters afterwards are random.
#22
re: #20: Great link! Im going to use some of these as signature for my e mail, esp. :
A misworded ordinance in Wolf Point, Montana: "No horse shall be allowed in public without its owner wearing a halter."
I've been in public with my horse but without my halter several times. It's just TOO confining.
#23
Psst...Thom...the building blown up in the Turner Diaries was in NYC, not OKC...just wanted to point that out really quick!
#24
Are The Turner Diaries to conservatives what the Left Behind series is to Christians? Good Americans (and even Jesus) who need to destroy those who disagree with their politics or religion?
#25
@MugsyRapSheet. Ari Fleisher used the term Operation Iraqi Liberation in a daily press breifing. Greg Palast used the video in one of his movies.
#26
@THOM: It was ALWAYS the plan that President Obama to be a wishy-washy, just-right-of-the-middle-of-the-road, mediocre pro-corporatist . . . Look to the ratings of Senator Obama’s voting record http://www.progressivepunch.org/ . . . On the national stage, Mister Obama has NEVER been liberal or progressive except in the minds of his “desperate for change” voters/donors.
#27
Gene, I've been looking for the video. So far, nothing.
#28
Operation Iraqi Liberation
Term coined from Ari Flescher announcing military action in Iraq. See the actual announcement in the BBC documentary 'Bush Family Fortunes'.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War:
“At 5:34 a.m. Baghdad time on March 20, 2003 (9:34 p.m., March 19 EST) the military invasion of Iraq began.[128] The 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by US army General Tommy Franks, began under the codename "Operation Iraqi Liberation",[129] later renamed "Operation Iraqi Freedom",”
Also see:
http://www.oilempire.us/iraq.html
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Operation%20Iraqi%20Liberation
http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=48;t=000440;p=0
#29
The Bush Family Fortunes : The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
#30
lottery is an idiot tax
#32
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Palestine-Occupied-Divid-by-Stephen-Lendman-100819-478.html
Palestine is occupied.
#33
Another Republican Great Depression!!!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Have-Republican-economic-p-by-Richard-Clark-100818-769.html
#34
And still the Democrats blew it!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-the-Democrats-Blew-The-by-earl-ofari-hutchin-100818-224.html
#35
Hey Thom, Minor correction... You have been mentioning that the Stonewall Riots took place in San Francisco. They were actually in Greenwich Village in New York City in 1969. Here's the Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots. The day an entire consciousness shifted ; gay people crying and acting out, "No More!" The demise of Prop 8 cannot happen soon enough! Love that we now get FSTV on DirecTV! Watch every day. Thanks.
#37
Is the United States of Mortal Sin a killing nation?
http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2010/08/19/the-secret-killers/
#38
Can we trust our presidents and the lunatics running our asylums in D. C.?
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One of the selling points for Operation Iraqi Liberation was that the war would pay for itself. Cheney, Bush, Rumskull, Wolfowitz and company should be in prison. That's the definition of plunder; illegal throughout the world.