ThinkFast: October 11, 2006
ThinkFast: October 11, 2006
655,000: The number of Iraqis who have died since March 2003, according to a team of epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins University. The study “found a steady increase in mortality since the invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year.”
Former Bush Environmental Protection Agency head Christine Todd Whitman has set up a consulting firm that represents the oil industry. Among her clients is Hovensa LLC, an “oil-refining operation” partially owned by Venezuela’s national oil company.
“I don’t care if we offend our allies in the Middle East,” said Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), making his case for why President Bush should resume depicting the war in Iraq as part of a larger struggle against “Islamic fascism.”
For the first time, more Americans (36 percent) believe the terrorists are winning the “war on terror” than think the United States and its allies are winning (31 percent). Twenty-two percent (22%) say neither side is winning.
One in four. Number of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have filed disability claims.
70 percent of Americans “are talking politics with family and friends” as the “interest of American voters is at its highest level in more than a decade.”
“The FBI is investigating whether a member of Sen. Arlen Specter’s staff [Vicki Siegel Herson] broke the law by helping her husband, a lobbyist, secure almost $50 million in Pentagon spending for his clients.”
Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC), who once directed $3.8 million for a park “directly in front” of the “flagship of his financial empire,” is “one of at least a half-dozen House members whose public actions in directing special-interest spending known as earmarks have also benefited their private interests or those of business partners.”
And finally: A very public typo. Ottawa County, Michigan “will pay about $40,000 to correct an embarrassing typographical error on its Nov. 7 election ballot.” The county must “reprint 170,000 ballots that were missing the letter ‘L’ in the word “public.” “It’s just one of those words,” the county clerk said. “Even after we told people it was in there, they still read over it.”
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
boy, won’t the Iraqis appreciate us once they’re on their own feet? if that ever happens… somehow I think they’ll always hate us for “liberating” them… many we’ve just liberated from being alive…
October 11th, 2006 at 9:16 amSomething you missed:
http://impeachforpeace.org/ImpeachNow.html
This is a very real impeachment drive using citizen’s memorials as the vehicle to get the issue before the House. A mass-mailing date for October 12 has been selected.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:23 amSomething else you missed:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/
Keith Olbermann talks about the death of Habeus Corpus.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:25 amGood. You just describe US all-time foreign policy.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:26 am[...] 655,000: The number of Iraqis who have died since March 2003, according to a team of epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins University. The study “found a steady increase in mortality since the invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year.” Former Bush Environmental Protection Agency head Christine Todd Whitman has set up a consulting firm that represents the oil industry. Among her clients is Hovensa LLC, an “oil-refining operation” partially owned by Venezuela’s national oil company. “I don’t care if we offend our allies in the Middle East,” said Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), making his case for why President Bush should resume depicting the war in Iraq as part of a larger struggle against “Islamic fascism.” For the first time, more Americans (36 percent) believe the terrorists are winning the “war on terror” than think the United States and its allies are winning (31 percent). Twenty-two percent (22%) say neither side is winning. One in four. Number of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have filed disability claims. 70 percent of Americans “are talking politics with family and friends” as the “interest of American voters is at its highest level in more than a decade.” “The FBI is investigating whether a member of Sen. Arlen Specter’s staff [Vicki Siegel Herson] broke the law by helping her husband, a lobbyist, secure almost $50 million in Pentagon spending for his clients.” Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC), who once directed $3.8 million for a park “directly in front” of the “flagship of his financial empire,” is “one of at least a half-dozen House members whose public actions in directing special-interest spending known as earmarks have also benefited their private interests or those of business partners.” And finally: A very public typo. Ottawa County, Michigan “will pay about $40,000 to correct an embarrassing typographical error on its Nov. 7 election ballot.” The county must “reprint 170,000 ballots that were missing the letter ‘L’ in the word “public.” “It’s just one of those words,” the county clerk said. “Even after we told people it was in there, they still read over it.” What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section. Original post by Think Progress Read More… [...]
October 11th, 2006 at 9:27 amOne other item you missed:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/11/korea.nuclear.test/index.html
North Korea says it will consider any increased pressure from the U.S. to be a declaration of war and will react accordingly.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:33 amAnd this one is just plain bizzare:
http://michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8076
An evangelical pastor faults Bush and Co. for delaying the 2nd Coming of Christ. Hell, and all this time I thought Bush was doing the best he could to bring about Armageddon…sheesh.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:40 amOne in four. Number of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have filed disability claims.
But of course, now that enlistment standards have once again been lowered in order to “meet the quota” that “1 in 4″ figure is bound to rise sharply in the next few years. I mean, have you ever seen so many fat-assed and out of shape privates on the news lately? And how about the raising of the enlistment age and all those 42 year old privates hurting their backs on the obsticle course during bootcamp? I mean, thats not to mention the increase in leg and knee injuries from gramps trying to hump a 50 lb. rucksack as part of his 100 lb. full combat load in Anbar Province or up the side of an Afgan mountain range.
Good planning, Rummy. All those conservative taxpayers who worship you now are going to love you even more when the bills for Private Gramp’s and his fat-assed, out of shape grandson’s long term care start rolling in.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:41 amWHAT’S UP WITH THIS? I POSTED A LINK TO KEITH OBERMANNS VIDEO ON THE DEATH OF HABEUS CORPUS AND THINKPROGRESS DELETED THE POST?!?
October 11th, 2006 at 9:43 amit’s always wise to bring typos up for pubic scrutiny…
October 11th, 2006 at 9:46 amHey ThinkProgress, this is how you do it:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1009-01.htm
You stand up for what you know is right even if it costs you you job. Cowards. You pathetic cowards.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:50 am655,000 is a big number to a country of 24MM. The US has a population of 295,734,134. To get the same kind of results here, the ‘terrorists’ would have had to have killed over 8MM Americans. Thats the entire population of NYC. (Or if you’re a Redstater, and think that might be a good thing, its like killing off Houston (2MM), Pheonix (1.5MM), San Antonio (1.3MM), Dallas (1.2MM), Jacksonville (.8MM), Memphis (.7MM) and Oklahoma City (.5MM), to put it in terms Republicans can understand)
Now, it can be argued that these ‘excess deaths’ reported in the study werent all caused directly by US/coalition forces. However, I would argue that since we came in and overthrew the civil authority in Iraq, it was our duty to provide for the safety and security of the Iraqi people when we effectively became their government. That we allowed 3 times the number of people Saddam killed (over 20 years, mind you) to be killed off in less than 5 years is not a comforting thought vis-a-vis our occupation of the moral high ground.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:50 amFormer Bush Environmental Protection Agency head Christine Todd Whitman has set up a consulting firm that represents the oil industry. Among her clients is Hovensa LLC, an “oil-refining operation†partially owned by Venezuela’s national oil company.
Suprised, anyone? Anyone?
October 11th, 2006 at 9:51 am“I don’t care if we offend our allies in the Middle East,†said Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), making his case for why President Bush should resume depicting the war in Iraq as part of a larger struggle against “Islamic fascism.â€
If our leaders were not such a bunch of hypocrits they would be able to logically make an argument against RELIGIOUS FASCISM… which is the true problem… Islam is not unique in this respect among religions. If they were not so self righteous and more humble they could point back to the days in the west when christianity was merged with the government and how bad that was for the people. Point to the lack of freedoms. The mass murders of anyone that was an “unbeliever” and all the rest of the injustices that eventually led to the U.S. Consitution and the seperation of church and state. When someone says you are on a dark path… I know because we have been there ourselves and have now found a better way… THEN you have a chance to win the hearts and minds of people…. trying to make Islam look like it is the only religion with this problem simply makes them resist getting better. BUT I guess we cannot expect such a thing from peopel that openly say that in the USA seperation of church and state is just a “lie”. http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Harris_Separation_of_church_and_state_0824.html
October 11th, 2006 at 9:52 am#8 – have you tried to repost BNF? What’s up with TP and the habeus corpus issue?
October 11th, 2006 at 9:52 amThe Iraqis are not dead. They are taking a “Freedom nap”. Why does Thinkprogress hate the Lord’s disciple on earth in the name of george W. Bush?
-GSD
October 11th, 2006 at 9:55 amThere you go BNF, it finally showed up at #3
October 11th, 2006 at 10:01 am655,000: The number of Iraqis who have died since March 2003, according to a team of epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins University. The study “found a steady increase in mortality since the invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year.â€
Words fail…
October 11th, 2006 at 10:02 amNorth Korea says it will consider any increased pressure from the U.S. to be a declaration of war and will react accordingly.
Comment by Briseadh na Faire
NK says that about once every 6 months. They are blow hards.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:03 am655K- You dont get to kill that number of people in one country with out starting centuries of hatred.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:03 am“I don’t care if we offend our allies in the Middle East,†said Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), making his case for why President Bush should resume depicting the war in Iraq as part of a larger struggle against “Islamic fascism.â€
October 11th, 2006 at 10:05 amRick, you & your Christofascists offend me. I know you don’t care,
& I don’t care that you don’t care, but religion has caused most all wars
throughout history. Your party & president are now escalating another war in the name of God.
By the way, how’s that bronzed fetus on your mantle working out? I
bet it’s quite a conversation piece nowadays, what with your campaign
and all going to Hell. (Which is where you’re going. You’ll be greeted by
72 Sturgeons…have fun!)
From Center for American Progress:
Moreover, the bill—and particularly its suspension of habeas corpus—will inevitably face constitutional challenge. Article I, section 9 of the Constitution provides, “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.†And the Supreme Court held in Rasul v. Bush (2004) that U.S. courts have jurisdiction to consider habeas challenges to the legality of the detention of foreign nationals captured abroad in connection with hostilities and incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay. It seems certain that the Court will ultimately be asked to decide whether that precedent has now been overruled.
We’ll all remember the day that the lawyers at TP decided to play 2 hands.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:06 amLike Briseadh and many others, I am also disappointed that ThinkProgress does not believe that the potentially fatal assault on habeus corpus is worth reporting. In case you missed the other link, it’s here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/
So long and thanks for all the fish.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:07 am655K…
So it looks like that for each of the 3000 people that died on 911 in America 218 Iraqis have been killed so far… and they didnt even have anything to do with it.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:08 amI hope you’re not gone forever, Wayne, because we’ll miss you.
Don’t forget your towel. :(
October 11th, 2006 at 10:12 amThanks for the fishbowl Wayne.
70 percent of Americans “are talking politics with family and friends†as the “interest of American voters is at its highest level in more than a decade.â€
Ugh, if I see another stat with 30% of Americans being stupid, lazy or just disconnected I am going to get really mad and start typing in CAPITAL-BOLD.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:22 amdlet,
No, please, not CAPITAL-BOLD!
I humbly apologize for the members of my family who make up a portion of that 30%.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:26 am#11: I thought you were gone. Yesterday.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:27 amYahoo! I am happy that i am Russian :)
October 11th, 2006 at 10:31 amOk Zooey.
But I might go to italic…….I have to vent somehow.
Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC), who once directed $3.8 million for a park “directly in front†of the “flagship of his financial empire,†is “one of at least a half-dozen House members whose public actions in directing special-interest spending known as earmarks have also benefited their private interests or those of business partners.â€
Aren’t there laws that prohibit this type of action? But I guess when the Vice-president can make money from the wars they choose to wage I guess its every scum-sucker for themself.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:34 amJoe Sixpack is right. Yeah, I have seen a lot of FAT PRIVATES.
With the Foley revelations, we’re hearing about FAT PRIVATES, too. In this particular case, it’s different privates–the privates of congressional pages.
If Foley was really serious about rehab, why doesn’t he go to Iraq. If he wants to see PRIVATES, he’ll see lots of privates in Iraq. Heck, I’m sure he’d miss driving his BMW convertible, but driving a Hummer sounds like fun. Driving a Hummer in Washington sounds like fun, but driving a Hummer in Baghdad may not be so much fun.
Then there’s the FAT CATS. Many fat cats are getting rich from lucrative governmental contracts. Fat cats don’t want this war to end. Money talks, when Dubya is a good friend.
John
October 11th, 2006 at 10:35 amBut it is an estimate and not a precise count, and researchers acknowledged a margin of error that ranged from 426,369 to 793,663 deaths.em>
Heh! That’s SOME study!!!!!
October 11th, 2006 at 11:08 am655,000? So what. That is nothing. We have over 1 BILLION Arab/Muslim/Darkies left to go. We need to pick up the pace, or we won’t get the job done until the next millenium. We could probably speed things up if we forced more of them to convert to Christianity, which would reduce the overall numbers that need to be killed.
October 11th, 2006 at 11:09 amDoes Exley think 400,000 deaths instead of 800,000 somehow changes things for the better? I bet he does.
Tell us your number, Exley. 50,000? 100,000? 200,000? Now tell us why any of those numbers is acceptable. Is it because you are a typical Republican moral relativist who believes that things are better because we aren’t quite as bad as Saddam? Maybe when we’ve made things worse than Saddam (I think we already have) you can rationalize our failure by saying “Hey, we’re still better than Hilter and Stalin!”
October 11th, 2006 at 11:15 amBush may consider discussion about the loss of Habeas Corpus the act of an Enemy Combatant and have you shipped to Uzbekistan to be boiled alive. A year ago this would be a joke…today it might might reality.
October 11th, 2006 at 11:16 am# 23 Wayne,
1) I hope you are not leaving permanently. You and Jane are two of the few rational, civil people here….Plus, You can’t go now! Tonight is a big, BIG night!!!! We will have much to discuss over the next several days.
2) I took your advice and watched Olbermann’s “report” on habeas corpus. And I must say it was truly worthy of a sports-talk radio host. Inaccurate, pedantic, shallow, dishonest, smarmy, factually-deficient (even his little prop there at the end was inaccurate). I would imagine TP is not linking
to the sportscaster’s video because it was cringingly embarassing and dishonest. Can’t say I blame ThinkProgress.
3) LET’S GO METS!
October 11th, 2006 at 11:17 amInaccurate, pedantic, shallow, dishonest, smarmy, factually-deficient
Comment by Exley — October 11, 2006 @ 11:17 am
Sound familiar to anyone here?
October 11th, 2006 at 11:21 am# 23 Wayne, I hope you are not leaving permanently. You and Jane are two of the few rational, civil people here….
Comment by Exley
Let me agree with Exley and add my 2 cents as well, Wayne. You and Jane give this site some some polish and balance out the crass from guys like me.
October 11th, 2006 at 11:26 amPredators Create Future Predators
11th of October 2006
by Jay Randal
Sexual predation of underage teenage males is NOT fully understood, NOR recognized in its early stages, since the predator tries to hide abhorrent behavior and focuses entirely upon his chosen victim for lust.
The sexual predator like wild predatory animal seeks his prey very carefully, and selectively chooses victim, from among group of young teenagers he has access.
Predators tend to groom their victim for a length of time, to win over their trust, and to break down any inhibitions of their prey before they pounce on them.
Stalking their prey incessantly seems to be a thrill to the predator, a perverted game of chase, so intended victim is watched constantly like a juicy wildebeest.
Catching the prey is the culmination of the chase, so the predator relishes the consummation of his desire, but afterward begins the quest for a new attraction.
Unfortunately for the victim, of sexual predator, some of them become predator themselves from experience.
( Jay Randal, political activist and writer in Stone Mountain, Georgia.)
PS: Former Rep. Mark Foley is a sexual predator pederast animal.
October 11th, 2006 at 11:26 am‘Robert Blendon, director of the Harvard Program on Public Opinion and Health and Social Policy said the number of deaths in the families interviewed — 547 in the post-invasion period versus 82 in a similar period before the invasion — was too few to extrapolate up to more than 600,000 deaths across the country.
Donald Berry, chairman of biostatistics at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, was even more troubled by the study, which he said had “a tone of accuracy that’s just inappropriate.‒
“They’re almost certainly way too high,” said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. He criticized the way the estimate was derived and noted that the results were released shortly before the Nov. 7 election.
“This is not analysis, this is politics,” Cordesman said
NEW YORK TIMES / ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 11th, 2006 at 11:31 am#39. Jay…You are from Georgia??? No wonder you hate Lincoln!!!!
October 11th, 2006 at 11:32 amIf Americans don’t see this obscene death toll (and the people in the CRIMINAL BUSHITE JUNTA who are responsible for it)…
…as DEMONIC…
…and the need to bring them ALL to justice…
…there is no hope for this country…
…TRULY!
…Progressive-Liberals had better make use of the relaxing of the ASSAULT weapons ban…
…get armed…
…because the right wing NUTCASES are certainly taking advantage of it…
…there’s going to be a reckoning, and Progressive-Liberals had better prepare themselves…
October 11th, 2006 at 11:39 amPost 41 lol Exley > I never said I hated Lincoln, and besides I was born and raised in California, and have lived in Georgia for past 2 years! Go check out my post 204 on the Hastert thread > I answered your post 118 to me and gave you information about Joshua Speed diary and his sexual relationship with Abe Lincoln > he was Bisexual, but wanted to be Gay!
October 11th, 2006 at 11:40 amThe one fault I have with the Obermann commentary is the claim that we can still rely on the good old 3rd Amendment, the prohibition against quartering soldiers in private homes except in time of war. You might recall Bush has said we are in a state of war, a War on Terror. Therefore, if He wants to quarter soldiers in our houses, He will, 3rd Amendment notwithstanding.
October 11th, 2006 at 11:42 am#17, thanks. I wonder what’s up sometimes. Post #3 in no way violated TP’s rules, yet disappeared for awhile, leading one to believe this site is censored for certain topics not banned by the rules. Disconcerting, to say the least. Makes me wonder sometimes if TP isn’t a NotBlackHouse cover operation to keep tabs on “the enemy.”
October 11th, 2006 at 11:46 am#43…I am just kidding, Jay.
Thanks for the info…I’ll take a look.
October 11th, 2006 at 11:46 amFaire > TP does not seem to like some links posted on here > perhaps because some of the sites linked to have viruses?!
October 11th, 2006 at 11:49 am#47 – MSNBC?
I dunno….TP has avoided posting a thread about the Military Commission bill passed by congress….
October 11th, 2006 at 11:53 amSince Bush now has the power to claim any American citizen an Enemy Combatant and ship him off to a secret prison to be tortured forever without ever being charged with a crime or allowed counsel…I’d like some brave WH reporter to ask him what constitutes the act of an Enemy Combatant?
Is donating money to MoveOn.org the act of an Enemy Combatant?
Is posting on Think Progress the the act of an Enemy Combatant?
Is attending an anti-Iraq War march the act of an Enemy Combatant?
If I talk to an Arab who has a friend who has a friend who may be a suspected terrorist does that make me an Enemy Combatant in Bush’s eyes?
Or does he decide who is an Enemy Combatant based on some secret set of guidelines that’s he’s not willing to share?
October 11th, 2006 at 12:00 pmBriseadh #44
I think Olbermann’s comments about the 3rd were “tongue-in-cheek”…
…the importance being that ALL of the other nine had been done away with…
…This fact has NOT hit the American public in general…
…the idiots are NOW fully in control of the asylum…
…for REAL!
October 11th, 2006 at 12:01 pmThats nuts. These guys, the Leo-cons [Straussian] [aka lie-o-cons, neo-cons] have basically adopted the Karl Schmitt third reich view of Jesus;
America needs to wake up and realize they are following a very dangerous path when they adopt the Third Reich Strauss/Schmitt view of Jesus and the Unitary Executive. This Pastor is in effect repeating history. Also Jesus did not make his second coming then either.
Wake up Pastor.
October 11th, 2006 at 12:14 pmThese people are sick with $$$ Greed $$$
October 11th, 2006 at 12:15 pm#47 Jay, Yah! Right, like we may all learn about what this miserable administration has done. Kind of like catching a cold and spreading it…It’s also known as important truth….Get the (cold) spread the truth or shut down…Blessings all….I reading all the other sites that are working on informing the public. I am beginning to wonder about site, who do they realy support.
October 11th, 2006 at 12:35 pmCivil and rational? Polish and balance? You guys must have the wrong Wayne and Jane! :-) Seriously, thanks for your kind words, Exley and Joe, although it does make it sound like an obituary!
I’m still going to hang out and at least lurk, even if I don’t post. I know that I don’t contribute as much as Wayne does, but I’ll still get my two cents in occasionally. I’ll be around–and I can always pass any messages on to Wayne.
October 11th, 2006 at 1:47 pm#54…Good to hear from you, Jane. Pumped up about tonight?
Please give Wayne this message: The fans are true to the Orange and Blue.
October 11th, 2006 at 2:50 pmYou bet, Exley, I can’t wait! I’ll pass your message on to Wayne. I’ll check in again on a couple of threads before I leave today, but I have to make sure that I’m home in time to get my team colors on!
October 11th, 2006 at 3:00 pm#56….Jane…Absolutely! I will be in front of the TV at 8:00 with my jersey on!
On a more serious note, do you see what is going on in Manhattas right now? Doesn’t appear to be terrorism, but as a NYer, I am sure you and Wayne had a slight twinge when you first read “Plane Flies into Building in Manhattan.”
October 11th, 2006 at 3:38 pmExley, from other sources, it seems that this occurred on East 72nd Street. Friends that we work with who were originally from the city, who still have family there, say that there’s a Special Surgery unit of Lenox Hill Hospital in the building, so anyone who’s hurt should get immediate care (unless that’s the floor that got hit.) There’s apartments in there too. That’s all I know so far. Thanks for pointing it out, I hadn’t seen the thread yet.
October 11th, 2006 at 3:54 pmExley, dammit, I just had to turn down tickets for tonight’s game! Someone had two that they couldn’t use, they got them from Pepsi, so they’ve got to be good seats, and I can’t find anyone to go with me!!!
Sorry about being off-topic!
October 11th, 2006 at 4:21 pm#60 JANE! That is soooo frustrating! Where is Wayne???? If I had had more lead time, I would have flown to NY and gone with you!!!! (No political talk though! Just Glavine v. Weaver!)
October 11th, 2006 at 4:38 pmbisexual relationship advice
real time love relationship advice
March 20th, 2008 at 1:09 pmPreteen Preteen Model Galleries Pre-Teen
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
April 13th, 2008 at 10:15 am