Big Ol' Smitty

*ahem...* I think he meant "How come no one is getting their ass handed to them over paying Williams while all of these people are getting the ax over the memos?". Hell, it's pretty clear that, while the documents were faked, what they said was true--Dubyah probably did not complete his Texas Air National Guard service. However, I think these people did deserve to be fired. Correction: From what I have read, it hasn't even been proven that the documents were faked.

*ahem...* I think he meant "How come no one is getting their ass handed to them over paying Williams while all of these people are getting the ax over the memos?". Hell, it's pretty clear that, while the documents were faked, what they said was true--Dubyah probably did not complete his Texas Air National Guard service. However, I think these people did deserve to be fired.

And when is asshat extraordinaire Robert Novak going to get his comeuppance? And why does Bill "Fantastic Boobs" O'Reilly still have a job?

I was just about to post that. So let the speculation begin--which right wing pundits are bought and paid for by Bushco.? I gots to go wit my boy...

Education Department Paid Journalist Associated Press WASHINGTON - The Bush administration paid a prominent black journalist to promote President Bush's education law and give Education Secretary Rod Paige media time, records show. Armstrong Williams, a nationally syndicated radio, print and television personality, was paid $240,000 by the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. The contract required Williams' company, the Graham Williams Group, to produce radio and TV ads that promote the controversial law and feature one-minute "reads" by Paige. The deal also allowed Paige and other department officials to appear as studio guests with Williams. Williams, one of the leading black conservative voices in the country, was also to use his influence with other black journalists to get them to talk about No Child Left Behind. The law, the centerpiece of President Bush's domestic agenda, aims to raise achievement among poor and minority children, with penalties for many schools that don't make progress. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday that the decisions on the practice were made by the Education Department. He did not directly answer when asked whether the White House approved of the practice, saying it was a department matter. The Education Department defended its decision as a "permissible use of taxpayer funds under legal government contracting procedures." The point was to help parents, particularly in poor and minority communities, understand the benefits of the law, the department said. Three Democratic senators - Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Harry Reid of Nevada - wrote Bush Friday to demand he recover the money paid to Armstrong. The lawmakers contended that "the act of bribing journalists to bias their news in favor of government policies undermines the integrity of our democracy." The department's contract with Williams, through the public relations firm Ketchum, dates to 2003 and 2004. It is billed as a "minority outreach campaign" with the goal of "educating the African-American community" about the education law. Information about the contract with Williams was first reported by USA Today. Williams called criticism of his relationship with the department "legitimate." "It's a fine line," he told The Associated Press on Friday. "Even though I'm not a journalist - I'm a commentator - I feel I should be held to the media ethics standard. My judgment was not the best. I wouldn't do it again, and I learned from it." This is not the first time the department has come under fire for its publicity efforts. The Bush administration has promoted No Child Left Behind with a video that comes across as a news story but fails to make clear the reporter involved was paid with taxpayer money. It has also has paid for rankings of newspaper coverage of the law, with points awarded for stories that say Bush and the Republican Party are strong on education. The Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing arm, is investigating those spending decisions. "There is no defense for using taxpayer dollars to pay journalists for 'fake news' and favorable coverage of a federal program," said Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way, a liberal group that has tracked the department's spending. "It's a scandalous waste."

Here's the difference: Islam IS a religion of evil and hate. That's what it preaches. Kill the unblievers, the infidels, the Jews, the Christians, and other non-Muslims. Islam has a grip on a populous region of the world, and that region has really yet to evolve out of the Dark Ages in many respects because of the religion. Compare this to Christianity. Yes, it's had its bloody past, and the Old Testament -- which Christians are all to happy to throw under the bus -- makes reference to wonderful things like smashing your children's head against the rocks to be happy. Despite that, and perhaps because of all that, Christianity has evolved. It still has its fringes, and people like Phelps live on them, but the bulk of the religion has come out of the Dark and Middles Ages and modernized itself pretty well. Meh, I feel dirty now. Goddamnit. Keep in mind that Islam is about 600 years younger than Christianity. 600 years ago Christians were still eating their own turds. When you say that Christianity has "evolved," I think you are giving too much credit to the religion and not enough credit to the societies in which Christianity exists (North America, Europe, etc.) and their cultures, systems of government, etc. And these "Christian" or Western societies, while preferable (in my opinion), are not perfect by any means. For instance, levels of street violence are much higher (whereas "Islamic" countries have higher levels of political violence).

Americans like to think we live in a meritocracy, where the most talented and the hardest working individuals get ahead in life. But consider the following: -Income inequality is approaching levels not seen since the Gilded Age -1979-2000: -income of households in the lowest fifth grew 6.4% -top fifth grew 70% -top 1% grew 184% -1979-income of top 1% was 133 times that of bottom fifth; Today it is 189 times greater -30 yrs. ago the top 100 CEOs made 39 times the pay of the avg. worker; Today they make over 1000 times more -Consider the 2004 presidential election: two blue-blood Skull & Bones boys duking it out; one of whom's father was a president -Recent social science has tended to show that the increasing income disparity has not been accompanied by increased social mobility; on the contrary, social mobility is generally considered to be decreasing (I will cite some studies on this if anyone is interested) -Social mobility from generation to generation is lower in the US than in other rich countries including Germany, Sweden, Finland, and Canada -3/4 of students at the top 146 colleges come from the richest socio-economic fourth; just 3% from the poorest fourth -The federal government is shifting resources away from Pell Grants; student loans are unrelated to family income -In Ivy League schools, "legacies" make up 10-15% of every class -Conservatives are calling for the end of the inheritance tax, which was created by Teddy Roosevelt who warned of the dangers of a hereditary aristocracy Source: The Economist

Did he really moon the crowd?

You can die happy now, Loss.

Do you even understand what statistical sampling is, and how given the law of large numbers we can come very very VERY close to the true population parameters. No, of course not. Because you want every vote counted, even if its insanely cost-prohibitive and simply introduces other errors in the variance. For statistical sampling to work, the sample has to be chosen at RANDOM from the population. In the OH recount, this didn't happen. So you can quit being condescending now. Please.

*test*

Do you even understand what statistical sampling is, and how given the law of large numbers we can come very very VERY close to the true population parameters. No, of course not. Because you want every vote counted, even if its insanely cost-prohibitive and simply introduces other errors in the variance. Have YOU ever heard of statistical sampling? Because you can't guarantee a result, but you can get a confidence interval on the range. Geebus If there was a cheat sheet (posted by a Triad technician) instructing counters on how to make the hand count match the e-vote without actually, ya know, hand counting, then the recount was irrelevant, Mr. Pompous. By the way, Justice, no one here is arguing that Bush didn't win, so calm down.

Huh? Bush sort of pointed out we were in talks unilateral talks with NK already, didn't he? Didn't Kerry only suggest we go to bilateral talks? What the fuck are you talking about "Taking to task"? I think unilateral talks would mean talking to yourself.

Do you even understand what statistical sampling is, and how given the law of large numbers we can come very very VERY close to the true population parameters. No, of course not. Because you want every vote counted, even if its insanely cost-prohibitive and simply introduces other errors in the variance.

Sure it wasn't Porny McSleaze.

The recount was rife with problems.

I actually (sadly) love LOTR too. I haven't seen the EE ROTK yet, though. I don't know if my bony ass can take 4 hours of sitting.

How outlandish.

Hey Cerebus, when did you turn into hobbit nerd extraordinaire? You've really geeked up your online image.

My father died when I was 9 and left my brother and I no inheritance. However, we were entitled to his social security money. I probably would have been far less able to afford college and my mother would have had a much more difficult time making ends meet if it weren't for social security.

Technically, I think I should have gotten to change his name and stuff.

Sorry, I meant to put a source at the bottom but forgot. I didn't post the article because I was reading the print version and tried to summarize it. Hell, it's not like I'm submitting this shit for publication anyway. Also, Stephen Joseph, I didn't intend to misquote or mislead at all. Please show me where I did. I just tried to hit the main parts of the article (economic indicators, social mobility, etc.) & I don't think I misrepresented the article's central argument.

Well apparently a lot of people think so. In Europe, majorities of people in every country except Britian, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia believe that forces beyond their control determine their success. In America, only 32% believe that this is true.

I was never spanked as a child. I don't think my ma had anything against spanking, I just never really did anything bad. I read a lot and played with toy guns and that's about it. Come to think of it, I was never really disciplined very much at all. It was like the shame of doing something wrong was worse than any punishment I could have been given, so I never really did anything wrong. I never even had a curfew in high school, but I still felt like I needed to be home by a decent hour.

I didn't say that there weren't non-conservatives who didn't like the ACLU. At least they're consistent and not afraid to defend even the most unpopular groups or people. I agree, though, that parents should be allowed to listen in on their children. And I support the ACLU's opposition to the Patriot Act and their campaign against secrecy, surveillance, and the stifling of political dissent. Their "wacky" stories seem to get more press, though.