News from Tom
August 12, 2003
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SCHWARZENEGGER FOR DAVIS? IT WON'T BE LONG NOW!
What a bombshell on the "Tonight" show last Wednesday.
Since then the papers and teevee are filled with speculation as to whether
Arnold will pull this one off and become the Governor of California! Most of the
people I know are planning to vote against the recall.
If the election were held today I would vote against it, only because I know little
about Arnold's positions on social matters. He was asked how he felt about
paid medical leave, currently on the books only in California, and he hemmed
and hawed about how much he supports families and children, without really
answering the question. And the lead story in this morning's San Francisco
Chronicle is about how Schwarzenegger didn't vote in 5 of the past 13
elections in California. Keep in mind the Chronicle tends to tilt left in this
liberal part of the country.
Most of my out of state friends believe Schwarzenegger will win the recall going
away. Probably because there has been so much coverage of him on everything
from the news channels to the entertainment news programs like "ET". But its really
too soon to count Arnold in.
Lots can happen between now and the election in October.
If the Democratic party leaders feel Grey Davis
has no chance of beating the recall,they may
convince him to resign.
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That would keep the Governorship in the
Democratic column, as Lieutenant Governor
Cruz Bustamante would take over.
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And Davis' resignation, if it happens, would
cancel the recall.
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[ I smell a rat...ED]
When Arnold announced he was running, some people said he could not run
for President because he wasn't born in America.
Schwarzenegger's good friend, Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, is
considering a bill that would allow foreigners who have been American citizens
for at least 25 years to run for the White House. Hatch's people say the fact he is
considering the bill now that Schwarzenegger is running for office is "coincidental."
There sure have been a lot of coincidences the past two years. Oh, and by the by,
George W. will be in California soon but his people say he won't go near the
recall. The thinking is if the President gets involved it will allow Governor
Davis to shift the attention from himself to a President who seems to be losing
popularity.
Methinks that the record is beginning to catch up with the President. The tax
cuts of two years ago turned out to be a phantom fix for the economy that
didn't work. [ like any one believed the fraud. ED]And so far the current
cuts haven't done much.
Didn't Ronald Reagan try this in the eighties? And didn't Bush the Elder
have to raise taxes after telling us to "read my lips: NO NEW TAXES!"
Since Mr. Bush took over more than two and a half million jobs have disappeared.
When the White House sent some cabinet members to the Heartland on
behalf of the Bush plan to create jobs by lowering taxes, they were shouted
down by citizens who had lost jobs.
And then there is Iraq. American boys and
girls are still getting shot at and killed in a
war Mr. Bush declared was over months ago.
U.S. military operations began almost six months ago, and still there are no
weapons of mass destruction. No sign of a nuclear weapons program. No
missiles. No Saddam Hussein. No Al Queda connection.
It took years for the lies we were told about
Vietnam for surface.
The lies we were told about the need for war in Iraq
are coming out almost daily.
For all the promises made by Mr. Bush as he ran for office,
none have been kept.There is no limit on campaign financing.
There are no Medicare prescription benefits.
And the Administration that promised surpluses in
spite of tax cuts has run up deficits aproaching 500
billion dollars. 500 billion!
And then there is Dick Cheney. We rarely see him.
We know not what he does.
He won't tell us what he and the oil bosses talked about two years ago.
And then there is our Attorney General, John Ashcroft. Dumped by the voters
in his home state, and given new political life by the President.
Lest we forget, on January 28th of 2002, John Ashcroft announced that he
had spent $8,000 of public money for drapes to cover up the exposd breast
on the Spirit of Justice, an 18 foot tall STATUE of a woman that stands in the
Department of Justice's Hall of Justice. Ashcroft felt strange giving out
televised announcments with an aluminum breast behind him.
John, John, John. Where are your priorities? While men fly airplanes into
buildings, while they stick explosives in their shoes, and then book a seat
right next to us. While they hide knives in their luggage, steal kids from school
busses, take little girls out of their beds at night, drive trucks into our state
capitol buildins. While the President calls dangerous men all over the world
evil doers and devils, while we live with the threats of biological warfare and
nuclear destruction, you are out buying yardage to save Americans from the
appalling, alarming aluminum alloy of evil, that terrible ten foot tittie! You
might not be able to find Bin Laden or Hussein, but you sure as hell found the
hooter in the Hall of Justice!
Ashcroft and Bush and Cheney and the rest of this Administration do all this
and more with perfectly straight faces.
How about the game of musical chairs they played over the State of the Union
gaffe about Saddam Hussein on the verge of getting uranium from Africa!
How about the President saying he thought Arnold would be a great Governor!
Never mind he probably never met the man.
And the news conference the night before he went off on a month vacation--bobbing
and weaving through questions about Iraq and possible distortion of the necessity
for war.
And showing Saddam's dead sons on television.
After compaining when Iraq showed our dead soldiers on Iraqi television.
America stooped right down to their level when those shots were aired.
I'll admit it: I don't trust George W. Bush anymore.
A lot of people are beginning to wonder if the Emperor is not wearing any clothes.
And some few of us still wonder if he'd be the Emperor if it weren't for his pals on the
Supreme Court.
While I'm at it, I have had it with these so called Saviors of America on talk radio.
You know who these guys are.
Every day they're on the air blasting liberals and the left for all that's wrong with America.
One even went so far as to say he thanks God every day for President Bush.
They spew their venom for Democrats, for gays, for women, for minorities, for the
unemployed.
Claiming only the right understands the needs of the people.
And that government should stay out of peoples lives.
Oh sure! But you never hear them complain about the federal highway interstate system.
Or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Or the Food and Drug Administration.
Or the federal postal service. This conservative crowd never lets on that
conservatives historically have been against a lot of things.
They fought social security.
They were against federal programs that helped bring the country out of the depression.
They were against the Supreme Cout ruling against separate schools for blacks and whites.
Against the minimum wage law.
Against integration.
Against Medicare.
The Peace Corps. Roe v. Wade.
But they are for using God's name in the pledge.
For draping a statue.
For banning same sex marriage.
At one time they were for banning inter-racial marriage.
Remember Trent Lott?
The righties are dead set against government getting in your way.
But if you come out for freedom FROM religion.
Or same sex marriage.
Or going to war under questionable circumstance. look out. There's thunder on the right.
Here's another laugher. Last week everyone wondered if Senator Diane
Feinstein, a Califoria Democratic senator, might enter the fray in the recall.
News accounts reported that the Senator declined to enter the race with an
announcement from her vacation home in Aspen, Colorado.
She was there as work was being completed on her new 5.9 million dollar home
in Washington.
Our leaders live well, don't they?
Why live like a king when you can live likean American public servant!
Public servant?
I know many of you think all I have said here means I am full of crap.
And that's okay. I just think this country is going in the wrong direction, and it
frightens me some.
There's not much new at this end.
Trevor Dog is a gift and a joy. My grandkids are fine.
And my sixty seventh summer is rolling past quickly here in the San Francisco Bay area.
I have lost track of my old radio producer. He lives in Michigan now and I have
tried to get his phone number but it is not listed. If he sees this, e-mail your
phone number to me. Sorry folks--its the only way I can think of and I need
to talk with this man.
Back soon, same time, same station! Goodnight everybody, and thanks for
the memories!
In Memoriam: Katharine Hepburn. Bob Hope. Gregory Hines.
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# the first
ks roundup
[source] An excellent compilation of the evidence of links between the Iraqi Ba’ath and Al Qaeda dating
back to 1994. One can also look at this NY Times story from 1998 about an indictment of bin Laden
which specifically mentions his connections to the Ba’ath.
Posted by orbital at 10:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
24 September 2003
But who else is there?
[source, source] The Pentagon uses three primary organizations to vet Islamic clerics for duty in the
armed forces.
Graduate School of Islamic Social Sciences in Leesburg, Va.
This organization trains clerics in additon to vetting them. It was responsible for training the cleric recently
arrested for espionage. It was raided by the Justice Department last year on suspicion of ties to Osama
bin Laden.
Ba'ath / Al Qaeda lin
American Muslim Foundation (AMF)
 Raided by the Justice Department on suspicion of terrorist ties The AMF was co-founded by Abdurahman Alamoudi, an acknowledged supporter of the Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. The Islamic Society of North America
One of its board members, Siraj Wahhaj, was named in 1995 by U.S. Attorney Mary
Jo White as one of more than 100 “unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators” in the attempt to blow up New York monuments. Mr. Wahhaj also served as a character witness for Sheik Omar Abel Rahman, who was convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Is it possible for the Pentagon to use Islamic organizations not suspected of being part of the Caliphascist network? Apparently not
: For months, the Universal Muslim Association of America, which
is aligned with Shi’ite Islam, has tried to become an endorser of Muslim clerics in the
military and federal prisons. But the group says it has been ignored, despite its warnings that the Wahhabi form of Islam is being propagated to troops and prisoners.
Posted by orbital at 11:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
It's not zero gee yet!
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It's not zero gee yet!
[source] While attempting to move a satellite from vertical to horizontal in order to
work on it, it fell over and went boom. Turns out that some team using similar
equipment removed the retaining bolts from the work platform and didn’t mention it
to anyone on the team that work platform. The work group then didn’t double check
for the bolts because they’d been there the last time they’d used it. There’s a good
chance that the satellite is totaled from shock damage. The only good thing is that
no one was underneath when it fell over. My question is, why does it take nearly a
decade to build the satellite? They’ve been working on it for a couple of years and
it wasn’t scheduled to fly until 2008. [Also discussed at Transterrestial Musings]
UPDATE: Leave it to Mr. Simberg to foil my invective. He points out that this was all
being done by Lockheed Martin, not NASA, therefore NASA in this instance is not
responsible. I wonder who’s going to pay to fix it - hopefully not NASA.
Posted by orbital at 03:22 PM TrackBack
Comments: It’s not zero gee yet!
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While there’s much to complain about with NASA, this wasn’t their fault—they had
nothing to do with it. It was a NOAA satellite, being manufactured by Lockmart. It
looks to be a contractor screw up.
Posted by Rand Simberg at September 17, 2003 03:27 PM
#2
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Ya Gotta Loveum
UK singing a new tune
[source, source]
The senior detective investigating the murder of Toni-Ann Byfield, the seven-year-old girl shot in the back,
yesterday told Britain’s black music artists to warn their fans to stay away from guns.
At a summit with senior music industry figures, including Mercury Music Prize winner Dizzee Rascal and
members of So Solid Crew, Detective Chief Superintendent John Coles, head of Operation Trident which
investigates black-on-black gun crime, said it would help stop the shootings if rap musicians, DJs and
producers spoke out against Britain’s escalating gun culture.
What’s all this nonsense about ‘escalating gun culture’? How can that be? Isn’t that something Americans
are forced to endure but we Brits are mercifully free of?
— David Carr
Posted by orbital at 08:44 AM |
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