At a Howard Dean for President fundraiser.

Via Buzzflash

Tom Fegley, one of the owner's of Tom & Sally's Homemade chocolates, presented Dean with a box of chocolates.

"I like a president who's smarter than I am -- that's not the case with our current president," said Fegley. As he gave Dean the chocolates, however, Fegley warned him that there was a price.

"In your first televised debate with President Bush, would you please tell him how to pronounce 'nuclear?'"

Dean also made some nice comments in his first campaign speach as a former Governor.

"Not because I'm not willing to use military force against Iraq," he said, adding that he thinks it was a mistake because Bush hasn't made the case for military action against Iraq to the American people.

"The biggest threats from outside are: one, al-Qaida; two, North Korea, and three, Iraq."

......

"The thing that worries me most deeply about this president is that we are back to the borrow and spend, borrow and spend," said Dean, talking about Bush's proposed tax cuts. "George Bush 41 had it right -- this is voodoo economics."

.....

"There has not been a Republican president who has balanced the budget in 34 years," Dean said.

"If you want a fiscally responsible person in the White House, you're going to have to elect a Democrat," he added.

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Notes About Washington 1/10

Deficit predictions get larger.

President Bush's 10-year, $674 billion economic growth package -- coupled with a war with Iraq -- would push the federal budget deficit well into record territory next year, and possibly as high as $350 billion, private-sector budget forecasters said yesterday.

Measured against the size of the economy, a $350 billion deficit would still be smaller than the deficits of the late 1980s and early 1990s. But in sheer dollar terms, it would easily eclipse the $290 billion record set in 1992, the last year of George H.W. Bush's administration. It also would be a steep fall from the record $236 billion surplus of 2000.

Looks like Dubya is trying to beat daddy's record! Some people believe that the White House is understating the actualy size of the relief for the wealthy given by the capitalgains tax elimination.

[David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's DRI] believes the White House has understated its dividend tax proposal by as much as 50 percent, because administration forecasters have not sufficiently accounted for the cost of one obscure provision that effectively grants a capital gains tax cut when investors sell stock in companies that elect not to pay dividends.

 

Not all Republicans are happy with Bush's proposal.

Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME),  Olympia Snowe (R-ME), John McCain (R-AZ), and George Voinovich (R-OH) may not support the plan. They have openly criticized the plan.

Sen. Chafee said he'll vote against the package, joining at least four other GOP senators who hinted Bush's plan needs changes to win their votes.

"My fears have been borne out," said Chafee, who voted against Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001 because he feared it would bust the federal budget. "I can't see giving away any more of our revenues, which we're doing in tax cuts."

Sen. Collins said "I would like to see further tax cuts targeted toward middle- to lower-income taxpayers who would be likely to put the money back into the economy."

[Update 1/11] Another Republican critical of the plan.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said yesterday, "we may not be able to sell it."

Grassley, whose committee handles tax legislation, raised the prospect that Bush's proposal to repeal the dividend tax could be dropped altogether. "We should sell the whole thing or not at all," he said, suggesting that other forms of tax cuts might be more achievable. "It would be easier to do something on capital gains than on double taxation of dividends," he said.

We may not be completely scewed just yet. Hopefully.

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Finding lost Beatles tapes: Priceless!

Police in Holland seem to have recovered the lost "Get Back" session master recordings. Five people in Holland and England were arrested. The recovery and the arrests were a product of a joint investigation by the City of London Police and the Dutch Police.

The "Get Back" sessions were recorded after the "White Album," and were supposed to be a return to a "back-to-the-basics" style of recording. The project was abandoned, and later some of the songs ended up on the "Let it Be" album. The tapes disappeared and have not been seen since 1969.

The Beatles, not the Beetles, circa 1969.

This is a great find for all serious Beatles fans. There are complete songs on the tapes that have never been released, other than some bootlegs that have surfaced in Europe.

More at Sky News and E! Online.

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J. C. Adams has shot and killed a robber for the second time in three years.

"Go to work and make your own money. Quit trying to take mine."

Needless to say, J. C. does not like others taking his money. In May of 2000 he was injured by the man he shot and killed during an attempted robbery. This time he faired better. He was uninjured. His two would be robbers were not as lucky. One was killed, the other wounded. Do you think J. C. is a lean, mean fighting machine?

The Korean War veteran grabbed his 12-gauge shotgun with one hand. Using his other to guide his walker, he walked to the front of the store and fired a single shot.

Yes, supporting himself with his walker, he took out two would be robbers. He may be 74-years-old, but I am not going to mess with him.

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South Knox Bubba with a few comments on the video of the cop shooting the dog.

"OK, I broke down and watched the video. All I can say is, Goddamn that sick chickenshit motherfucker. It's a good thing for him they had those people on the ground in cuffs or he'd have that shotgun up his diseased cro-mag ass."

Bubba has a way with words, doesn't he?

I still have not viewed the tape. I just don't need to see a good dog get slaughtered by some piece of garbage who somehow managed to pick up a badge. His police department has cleared him, which means the police department is probably full of "sick chickenshit motherfucker[s]." I got a feeling the Smoaks lawyer is really going to clear him.

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From my "Stupid White Men" calender I got for Christmas:

"In the early '90's, Dick Cheney's Halliburton oil company sent pulse generators to Iraq. Pulse generators are used for oil drilling, but can also be used for detonating nuclear weapons. Now we're after Iraq because we say they have nuclear weapons, ones which could detonate because of things we sent them."

Actually because of things Cheney sent them. Of course the White House has never actually shown any evidence that Iraq has any nuclear weapons, or and WMD. Maybe if Cheney showed us some of the cancelled checks from Saddam for these detonating devices, I might believe.

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Video released of Cookeville Police shooting family dog.

Yes, the video is here. I can't watch.

Also on the page:

NOTE: Video contains graphic and potentially disturbing images. Viewer discretion is advised.

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CNN has even more detail about the video tape of the Smoaks family pet being shot.

The Smoaks told CNN that as they knelt, handcuffed, they pleaded with officers to close the doors of their car so their two dogs would not escape, but the officers did not heed them.

Pamela Smoak is seen on the tape looking up at an officer, telling him slowly, "That dog is not mean. He won't hurt you."

Her husband says, "I got a dog in the car. I don't want him to jump out."

The tape then shows the Smoak's medium-size brown dog romping on the shoulder of the Interstate, its tail wagging. As the family yells, the dog, named Patton, first heads away from the road, then quickly circles back toward the family.

An officer in a blue uniform aims his shotgun at the dog and fires at its head, killing it immediately.

The Cookeville Police Department has released a statement on their website. They are really sorry for blowing the head off that poor dog.

Cookeville Police non-emergency number: 931-526-2125

Cookeville Police fax number: 931-520-5263

Complements and Suggestions: Link

I guess this is a little bit of improvement for the Cookeville Police Department. Last March they were busy shooting themselves.

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Update on Cookeville police shooting family pet.

For those who have missed it: A man [James Smoak] leaves his wallet on his car at a gas station. When he pulls out on the road, it falls off and his money scatters. Somebody notifies the police, who come to think that maybe mischief afoot. They stop the car, handcuff the man and his family, and shoot his dog. A hour later they release the family, apologize, and give them the body of their dog to take with them.

It turns out that there is a video of the incident. The Smoak family complied with the officers, and were handcuffed down on the ground. They kept asking for somebody to shut the car door, which no one did. A minute after the stop, the family's bulldog bounded out of the car, tail a wagging. Cookeville officer Eric Hall waited until the dog was very close to him, and then shot him with a shotgun. It is not known if Hall asked to keep the body of the dog to be mounted for his de, he has been assigned to a desk job pending independent review..

James Smoak and his family have filed multiple complaints against all agencies involved. He has been advised to no longer comment on the matter.

Additional info:

Raleigh News Observer.

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Notes about Washington 1/8

Bush's tax cuts for the rich may be an end around to kill social programs.

Even before Tuesday's proposals, the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] recently estimated that the federal books had fallen so deeply into deficit that Washington would need to divert more than $2.2 trillion in money raised for Social Security to operate the rest of government through 2012.

Tuesday's proposal could result in hundreds of billions of additional dollars being diverted from Social Security taxes -- just two years after Bush and Al Gore both pledged in the 2000 presidential campaign to reserve that money in a "lockbox" for paying down the national debt.

While Bush has vowed to protect some priorities -- such as aid to low-income schools and medical research -- his aides are trying to freeze overall domestic spending. And Democrats say that means even the programs Bush claims to favor will be shortchanged.

Instead of trying to vote social programs out of existence, Bush and company figure to run the country into huge deficits, blame the "war" and 9/11 for the problems, and then say they "have" to kill all the social programs. That is "compassionate conservatism" for you.

More comments on the tax cuts being proosed.

"Whenever the president talks about war, he talks about a spirit of shared sacrifice," William G. Gale, a tax economist at the Brookings Institution, said. "But for rich people, shared sacrifice appears to be accepting tax cuts, and for the poor, it seems to be accepting cuts in social spending. There seems to be a disconnect bordering on the dishonest."

 

Bush renominating judges who had been previously rejected.

"With the renomination of Charles Pickering to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, the White House called into question all of its promises to demonstrate that the party of Abraham Lincoln was truly committed to civil rights," said Senator Richard Durbin, who also sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Comment issued by Senator Chuck Schumer about Pickering and Owen:

"These two nominees were rejected specifically because of their hostility to the civil and constitutional rights of women and African-Americans. That President Bush could do this in the aftermath of the Trent Lott debacle is an insult to all fair-minded Americans."

There will be a fight over these two, and during that time some who are almost as bad will slip through. The Republicans have their game down if nothing else.

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Zell to retire after 2004!

Can I get a "Hell yeah!"

While a great Governor for Georgia, Zell has been little more than George Bush's lapdog since being re-elected to a Senate seat he was initially appointed to. Zell was preassuerd by the Republicans to switch parties during this term, and while he choose not to, he has marched lockstep with them since his re-election. It would be really nice to have an actual Democrat take a run for the seat, although it might be hard for one to win.

"I will neither endorse nor campaign for any candidate seeking this seat, but I will resign within days after the November 2004 election so that my successor can begin to serve immediately and gain additional seniority."

Yeah, a party loyalist to the end.

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Dozens of dogs and cats seized from Duluth woman.

I always wonder about these people who "hoard" animals. Perhaps she was trying to do good, perhaps these were mostly strays? This woman seemed to be taking care of most of the animals. A few showed signs of neglect, but most were in good shape. All the animals will be available for adoption at the Gwinnett County Animal Shelter.

And as always, Lifeline Animal Project has a database of pets for adoption throughout the metro Atlanta area.

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More calls for syndicating the Randi Rhodes Show.

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo is hoppingg on the bandwagon. You can also visit Take Back the Media for their story. I covered the issue with an earlier post.

Let Rush Limbaugh know that we know he is a big old wuss!

More

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Talk Radio out of tune with Reality

Charlotte Observer, Talk Radio is Serious Business

New York Times, Why the Right Rules the Radio Waves.

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Notes about Washington 1/7

Paul Krugman of the New York Times disects the Bush $674 billion economic proposal. 

Over half of the package is divedend tax cuts which favor the very wealthy. Middle class will see very little.

And instead of helping the needy, the Bush plan is almost ludicrously tilted toward the very, very well off. If you have stocks in a 401(k), your dividends are already tax-sheltered; this proposal gives big breaks only to people who have lots of stock outside their retirement accounts. More than half the benefits would go to people making more than $200,000 per year, a quarter to people making more than $1 million per year.

Tbogg has some figures from New York Times on the average change in tax because of dropping the dividend tax. You will only see any change in your taxes if you individually own dividend paying stock. Retirement accounts are already tax excempt. Most stocks do not pay dividends.

 

The Senate passes an unemployment benefit extension bill.

The Republicans tried to look good by getting the bill through, but really short-changed 1 million people.

The bill had overwhelming bipartisan support, but Senate Democrats held it up for two hours, complaining that it left out those workers who had exhausted all 39 weeks of jobless aid they received under both state and federal programs.

.....

The extension would cover only those workers who had exhausted 26 weeks of state aid but who still had not used all of their 13 weeks of federal aid when the program expired Dec. 28. Also covered would be 2.5 million more workers who are expected to exhaust their state benefits by June 1.

Republicans complained that Democrats were playing politics, but the Democrats were actually trying to help all the jobless people, while the GOP only wanted to look like they were.  From the pockets of the jobless to the bank accounts of the wealthy in the form of tax cuts.

The Republicans also snuck in a little extra for themselves.

Tuesday, House Republicans were undoing their own strict ethics rules, repealing regulations that restricted lobbyists from sending free food to congressional offices and barred charities from giving lawmakers free travel and lodging at resorts.

We're going to Disney Land!

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Take Back the Media has a new flash animation on the Bush family and its Nazi connections.

Yes, you read that correctly. It turns out that the Bush family made much of its money while working with the Nazi's, until America decided that the German's had pissed them off enough and kicked their ass. The flash is here. In the flash you will see the address to this site, which has some really cool information.

I am trying to think of which other country Bush friends and family has helped to build up militarily? Sounds so similar but I just can't put my finger on it. Build up a country's army through arms sales so you and your friends can make a fortune, then declare war so that you and your friends can make even more money selling military goods to your own country. Hmmmm. Which country could that be? I know, it begins with an "I." End with a "Q." Get it?

No, the Nazi thing is for real. The companies they helped built and operated concentration camps. Click and watch.

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Amy Reiter reveals "Joe Millionaire."

Or The Smoking Gun does.

Evan Marriott, not of the Marriott hotel fame but he may have helped build the hotels, literally, seems to have posed for underwear photos a little over a year ago. Supposedly he was short of cash at the time, hard to believe about somebody raking in $19,000 a year. Again, the photographs are available at The Smoking Gun.

BTW, this is the same Evan Marriott that was busted for toll evasion last September in California. Again hard to believe for a guy bringing home the big bucks.

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AT&T to cut 3500 jobs.

Many of the jobs will come from Atlanta, which has the second largest number of AT&T employees in the country. I would like to think my dropping AT&T cable and long distance service because of their crappy customer service had something to do with it. That could be wishful thinking.

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South Knox Bubba, the political analyst.

I don't think it needs anymore comment.

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A comment from another blog.

"I think Michael Vick's completed more passes than he has sentences."

He may be right, but I don't think most people in Atlanta care if he speaks eloquently or not.

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A family's dog is shot during a felony traffic stop.

A man leaves his wallet on his car at a gas station. When he pulls out on the road, it falls off and his money scatters. Somebody notifies the police, who coem to think that maybe mischief afoot. They stop the car, handcuff the man and his family, and shoot his dog. A hour later they release the family, apologize, and give them the body of their dog to take with them. What kind of idiots are on the Cookeville, Tennessee police department? Unbelievable!

Update: For more info on James Smoak, his family, the Cookeville, and the Tennessee police officer who shot their dog, please go to later posts here.

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An amusing post on threatening emails from Lean Left.

He actually gives you advice on writing better threats.

3) Do your research: Another example:

"I will kill yr[sic] fuking[sic] dog!"

I don't have a dog. This kind of sloppy preparation renders your threats ludicrous as opposed to credible. Go ahead, kill my dog if you can find it. You see? I was able to dismiss your threat, which, based upon the grammar and spelling, I am sure you spent hours constructing, in a matter of seconds. A very poor return on the time you invested.

While I am not popular enough to receive threats, I appreciate Lean Left's effort to help educate the less educated or creative who would certainly email me if they actually read my blog.

I am sure that if you just follow these simple rules, I will receive a much more amusing brand of hate mail. You can rest assured that, if your hate mail follows these rules and manages to be amusing, that I will spend - at least - three seconds on it. Just think, with a little work and some common sense, you could potentially disrupt my life for three entire seconds. Your parents would be proud.

My suggestion to threaten Lean Left would be:

"I will break your right leg in so many places that it will heal shorter than the left leg. Then you will always lean right."

However, I like the guy's blog, and so maybe him and thus I would never send him threatening emails. Freepers feel free to use the above threat. I am sure you will really scare him, or perhaps amuse him- for about 3 whole seconds.

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Get involved!

I like two of the candidates for the Demcratic presidential nomination so far.

Howard Dean is running on a balanced bugdet, enviormental protection, early childhood education, and universal healthcare.

John Edwards talks about defending our homeland, energizing the economy by curtailing spending and eliminating tax giveaways to special interests, an emphasis on education including higher teacher salaries, and restoring purpose to our foreign policy.

Of course I rarely end up picking a winner. Still, you may want to check out their sites.

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Atlanta ranks number 4 among metro areas countrywide in job losses.

Chicago, New York, and Seattle are the only states to lose more jobs than Atlanta. The metro area lost 30,000 jobs this year, which is an improvement from 2001's loss of 48,300 jobs.

Forecast for 2003 and up in the air. With war, there will likely be more job losses. With peace we just may have a rebound.

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Mexico City trying to exterminate Bugs.

Remember the Volkswagen Beetle? Not the new one, the old 4-cylinder, air-cooled bug. Remember Herbie? Yeah that one. Well they have been alive and well, living in Mexico. Mexico has never stopped making the old bug. That may change.

Mexico City wants to rid the city of it 70,000 Beetle taxi cabs claiming they polute, and as two-door sedans they are easily used by robbers to trap passengers and rob them. The cab drivers are resisitent to the change. The Bug simplicity defined, and incredibly easy to maintain and repair. They can squeeze in and out of traffic. They are a tradition. This may be a fight to the death, at least for the old Beetle.

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