Hi there, !
Today Fri 05/22/2009 Thu 05/21/2009 Wed 05/20/2009 Tue 05/19/2009 Mon 05/18/2009 Sun 05/17/2009 Sat 05/16/2009 Archives
Rantburg
531687 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 70 articles and 314 comments as of 9:58.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion       
Prabhakaran dead as a rock!!!!!
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
3 00:00 Frank G [] 
3 00:00 Frank G [] 
17 00:00 Frank G [1] 
7 00:00 Frank G [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
6 00:00 Zhang Fei []
7 00:00 Chief []
0 []
3 00:00 tu3031 []
8 00:00 trailing wife []
20 00:00 KBK []
3 00:00 Pappy [1]
10 00:00 Angusock Henbane5559 []
8 00:00 European Conservative []
1 00:00 bman []
0 []
3 00:00 tu3031 []
2 00:00 lord garth []
6 00:00 Skunky Glins 5*** []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
5 00:00 Redneck Jim [1]
0 []
0 []
Page 2: WoT Background
0 []
1 00:00 Seafarious []
2 00:00 Besoeker []
5 00:00 Pappy []
5 00:00 JosephMendiola []
1 00:00 Frozen Al []
6 00:00 Richard of Oregon []
0 []
13 00:00 Alaska Paul []
3 00:00 UNHCR []
1 00:00 Paul2 []
0 []
13 00:00 Alaska Paul []
3 00:00 DMFD []
0 []
8 00:00 Pappy []
0 []
3 00:00 trailing wife []
0 []
0 []
5 00:00 Obamaton []
6 00:00 Jonathan []
0 []
4 00:00 Redneck Jim []
Page 3: Non-WoT
4 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
2 00:00 Besoeker []
14 00:00 Cornsilk Blondie []
7 00:00 Skidmark []
5 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
1 00:00 746 []
3 00:00 Richard of Oregon []
11 00:00 Besoeker []
2 00:00 ed []
14 00:00 Dark Lord Cheney []
0 []
10 00:00 Thing From Snowy Mountain []
4 00:00 DMFD []
Page 4: Opinion
9 00:00 Frank G []
2 00:00 OldSpook []
4 00:00 Besoeker []
1 00:00 whatadeal []
1 00:00 746 []
2 00:00 Jack is Back! []
14 00:00 Frank G [1]
12 00:00 CrazyFool []
1 00:00 newc []
Home Front: Politix
Scotch Cures Cancer?
Or at least helps cause a remission?
Ted Kennedy gets more time.


Sen. Edward Kennedy’s brain cancer is in remission and he is expected back in the Senate after the Memorial Day recess to spearhead healthcare reform, according to Democratic colleagues.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that he spoke with Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, in the past few days and was told the 77-year-old lawmaker is “doing fine.”

He is expected to lead a markup of highly anticipated health reform legislation in his first month back - one of the biggest bills of the year and a signature domestic initiative for President Obama.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), one of Kennedy’s closest friends in the Senate, also said that Kennedy would return to wield the gavel on healthcare reform during the first week in June.

Kennedy has been working behind the scenes on the healthcare legislation and even dropped his seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee to focus his attention on that policy area. He is expected to lead the debate in the upper chamber along with Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
(Now y'all remember to speak of others as you would have spoken of you under similar circumstances.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/19/2009 20:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmmmmm
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid became the latest Democrat to stray into rhetorical trouble Tuesday, botching statements on three subjects in one news conference - including the fragile health of the chamber's most senior members.

The Nevada Democrat reported that one of them, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was absent because he was receiving a new round of treatment for his brain cancer. Asked if the cancer was in remission, Reid replied, "As far as I know, it is, yes."

Kennedy's office refused to confirm Reid's comments or make any statement in response, the public silence a classic Washington disavowal.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/19/2009 20:24 Comments || Top||

#2  (Now y'all remember to speak of others as you would have spoken of you under similar circumstances.)

And no swimming jokes, neither, ya heartless bastiges. Although that National Lampoon "If Teddie Had Driven A Volkswagon, He'd Be President" ad is still funny. At least to the living.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/19/2009 23:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Since I haven't let a lady die while trying my best to save my own ass, I feel safe in saying: just die, Ted. Satan's awaiting
Posted by: Frank G || 05/19/2009 23:10 Comments || Top||


Slow Joe Biden Does a Commencement Address: Hilarity Ensues
HT to AOSHQ - sweet sweet nonsense from the mouth of our VP Moron, a taste:
I believe so strongly, as you may recall when I was here in October, not in you particularly but your generation, that I don’t have a single doubt in my mind we’re on the cusp not only of a new century but a new day for this country and the world.

Way to win the crowd over. Don't believe "in you particularly"? I'm sure the feeling was mutual, Mr. Vice President.

There’s not a single issue on this President’s plate that will not yield a change — just merely by ignoring it, it will change.

Change has come to America — even when it hasn't! You know, it's true what they say, the more things don't change, the more they change. Or something.

Folks, we’re either going to fundamentally change the course of history, or fail the generations that come after us, because change will occur. Non-action is action, unlike most generations.

Does he think this makes sense or is he just going to steamroll through the speech and hope no one notices? "Like I said, non-action is action and if that's confusing — oh look, here is a picture of a cat with a piece of bacon taped to it."
Posted by: Frank G || 05/19/2009 19:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, you can laugh, but it's not a bad speech, as these things go. Certainly better than Obama's.

Well, I love today and one of the reasons I do is because of all of you. I believe so strongly, as you may recall when I was here in October, not in you particularly but your generation, that I don't have a single doubt in my mind we're on the cusp not only of a new century but a new day for this country and the world. I know what you do — there's not a single thing you're going to be unable to accomplish.

Your generation is off fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Your generation is volunteering in record numbers. Your generation voted and turned out in a way that you literally dictated the outcome of this last election. Your generation gives such strong hope that we'll not only survive today as some pundits argue we may not, but that we will thrive tomorrow. And I believe you believe as I do — that this is all within our grasp.

I know one other thing for certain as well. No graduating class gets to choose the world they graduate into. Every class has its own unique challenges. Every class enters a history that up to that point has been written for them. And your generation is no different. But what is different about your generation is the chance that each of you has to take history into your own hands and write it larger.

If anyone gets to choose the circumstances in which they graduate, I suspect almost all of us would choose your present circumstance. Your generation's opportunities are greater than any generation in modern history — not because you're about to graduate into a nation of ease and luxury, but because you're about to graduate into a point in history where everything is going to change no matter what you do, but you can affect the change.

When I graduated in the '60s, it was a time of turmoil. I graduated from undergraduate school in '65, law school in '68. It was a time of turmoil, of change, of idealism, of war, of violence, of chaos, Vietnam, civil rights, women's rights, JFK, MLK, RFK, black power, flower power. These were our times. That was our history. But still, by the time I graduated, my generation's main goal was simply to restore the order and the hope of an earlier part of that decade; a part of the decade before John Kennedy was assassinated. Our charge was to try to regain control of a world that seemed to beginning to spin out of control.

The semester that I graduated from law school, Johnson stepped down. Two weeks later, Martin Luther King was assassinated. Three days before I walked across the stage, RFK was assassinated. The Tet Offensive occurred earlier in the year, making clear that there was no light at the end of the tunnel. But nonetheless we graduated with the expectation that we could restore order.

But today, with all the difficulties you face, you graduated into a moment where your opportunities are much greater. And your charge is not to restore anything but to make anew. You too are graduating in a world of anxiety and uncertainty. You're going to walk across this stage without knowing for certain what's on the other side. Good jobs are hard to find, two wars are being waged on the other side of the globe, there's a global recession, a planet in peril, and a world in flux.

Throughout the span of history though, only a handful of us have been alive at times when we can truly shape history. Without question, this is one of those times, for there's not a single solitary decision confronting your generation now that doesn't yield a change from non-action as well as action.

We're either going to fundamentally revive our economy and lead the way to the 21st century, or we're going to fall behind and no longer be the leader of the free world in the 21st century. We're either going to fundamentally revamp our education system, or remain 17th in the world of graduates from college, and in the process lose our competitive edge and find it difficult to have it restored. We're either going to fundamentally change our energy policy or remain beholden to those who pose the biggest threats to our security. We're either going to revive and reverse climate change, or literally drown in our indifference.

Folks, we're either going to fundamentally change the course of history, or fail the generations that come after us, because change will occur. Non-action is action, unlike most generations.

Posted by: KBK || 05/19/2009 23:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, but what did Hilary do?
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/19/2009 23:47 Comments || Top||

#3  low bar, KBK
Posted by: Frank G || 05/19/2009 23:49 Comments || Top||


Bill Clinton to be Special Envoy to Haiti
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Former U.S. President Clinton has been tapped as a United Nations special envoy to Haiti, a senior U.N. official said Monday.
Piss off the wife did he?
An official announcement will be made Tuesday, the official said.
Lucky him...
Hasn't Haiti suffered enough?
Posted by: lord garth || 05/19/2009 15:32 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Do the Haitians get to keep him?
Posted by: john frum || 05/19/2009 16:33 Comments || Top||

#2  How the hell do you move from being President of the United States to "Special Envoy to Haiti"?
Posted by: john frum || 05/19/2009 16:35 Comments || Top||

#3  This reminds me of the movie "Ruthless People", where a moron villain figures that after the big payoff, he and his girlfriend are off to Haiti.

Not Haiti, Tahiti, she reminds him.

Oh, I knew that, he replies.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/19/2009 16:43 Comments || Top||

#4  I for one, am concerned about Hatian women getting AIDS from Bill.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 05/19/2009 17:19 Comments || Top||

#5  U.N. officials said they planned to announce the appointment Tuesday, but Clinton jumped the gun, issuing a statement Monday that he was honored to accept Ban's offer.

Ego just couldn't wait, huh, Bubba?
There's a shocker...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/19/2009 17:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Bill's Brown Sugar?

First Miss Universe from Haiti.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/19/2009 17:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Haiti has a cigar industry? Who knew?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/19/2009 18:12 Comments || Top||

#8  CF I almost blew peanuts out my nose.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/19/2009 18:27 Comments || Top||

#9  Deacon, the visuals please! I might ask that you refrain from using terms like "blowing nuts" and Bill Clinton in the same thread.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/19/2009 18:32 Comments || Top||

#10  What? This isn't Scrappleface or the Onion?
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 05/19/2009 19:15 Comments || Top||

#11  "How the Haiti do you move from being President of the United States to "Special Envoy to Hell"?

-- there fixed it for ya
Posted by: DMFD || 05/19/2009 19:41 Comments || Top||

#12  Could we make a trade? Send Zero to Haiti and put Bill back in the White House? He can even have his pick of interns, no questions asked.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/19/2009 19:52 Comments || Top||

#13  Not Haiti is far enuf away Glen, but I certainly endourse the concept in principle.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/19/2009 19:54 Comments || Top||

#14  And anothr Obama embarrasment is pawned off overseas, out of th media's sight.
Good riddance.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/19/2009 20:17 Comments || Top||

#15  "Heh..I hear y'all loved jerked pork and I just happen to have this ....*zip*...."
"Aiiiieeee!!"
"It's jus' a cold sore, honey!"



what could go wrong?
Posted by: Frank G || 05/19/2009 20:22 Comments || Top||

#16  heh - Frank --
Posted by: 3dc || 05/19/2009 23:01 Comments || Top||

#17  I'm feeling a bit ...cutting edge...lately
Posted by: Frank G || 05/19/2009 23:11 Comments || Top||


Poll shows trouble for Reid
(CNN) -- As the GOP struggles to find a candidate to challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a new poll out Tuesday suggests the Nevada Democrat is extremely vulnerable 18 months before Election Day.

According to the new survey conducted by Mason-Dixon for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, only about a third of the state's voters said they would vote to re-elect Reid to a fifth Senate term, while 45 percent said they would definitely vote for another candidate. An additional 17 percent of voters say they would consider voting to oust Reid.

The poll also suggested Reid's approval rating back home stands at a meager 38 percent, while about half of Nevada voters hold a negative view toward the Senate Majority leader.

Reid has long been a divisive figure in his home state, especially since ascending to the position of majority leader in 2006. But even though there are few more valuable Democratic targets in the Senate, the GOP has yet to find a credible candidate willing to challenge Reid, known for his take-no-prisoners style back at home.

Meanwhile Reid is raising campaign cash at an impressive clip, amassing more than $2 million in his war chest during the first quarter of the year.

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid, brushed aside the poll results, saying, "Sen. Reid has never put a lot of weight in polls.

"Polls by the Review-Journal are consistently out of line with other polls," Manley also said. "The primary number he's worried about is Nevada's 10.4% unemployment rate and that's why he's focused on fixing the economy and creating jobs in Nevada."

The survey interviewed 625 Nevada voters and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/19/2009 14:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A lot can happen in 18 months. Lots of money can reverse lots of negatives. I'm not yet convinced that we can get rid of him. Apparently, a lot of Nevada Republican pols feel the same way.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 05/19/2009 14:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Nevada demographics have changed a great deal. There are many California expats eager to repeat the mistakes that made them flee their own state.
Posted by: Iblis || 05/19/2009 17:23 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't live there but the GOP is getting stronger in the state. Reason: A lot of Californians (conservatives) have moved there to escape the crush of taxes. When I retire I am considering a move there as well. If they can stop the illegals from voting (a good chance) then I suspect Harry will be sent back to Nightlight Nevada and good ridence.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 05/19/2009 17:50 Comments || Top||

#4  that's be Searchlight. As in "you'd need a searchlight to find his ethics and spine"
Posted by: Frank G || 05/19/2009 18:40 Comments || Top||

#5  yes I know it's searhlight but in Harry's case it will be Nightlight, as in bedtime.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 05/19/2009 19:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Did the poll include the ACORN voters or not?
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 05/19/2009 23:23 Comments || Top||

#7  they weren't around as there was no election vote going on.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/19/2009 23:24 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
62[untagged]
2al-Qaeda
2Govt of Pakistan
1Iraqi Insurgency
1Islamic State of Iraq
1Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
1Pirates

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2009-05-19
  Prabhakaran dead as a rock!!!!!
Mon 2009-05-18
  Norks to nullify Kaesong agreements
Sun 2009-05-17
  Tamil Tigers say they surrender
Sat 2009-05-16
  Sri Lanka president declares victory in civil war
Fri 2009-05-15
  60 Talibs killed in Swat
Thu 2009-05-14
  Morocco dismantles Salafiya Jihadiya cell
Wed 2009-05-13
   113 deaders, thousands flee Somalia festivities
Tue 2009-05-12
  Pak commandos dropped into Taliban stronghold
Mon 2009-05-11
  200 Taliban killed in Swat operation
Sun 2009-05-10
  Scores dead as drone hits S. Wazoo Mehsud stronghold
Sat 2009-05-09
  1.2 million people leave Buner, Swat other areas
Fri 2009-05-08
  Gilani orders all-out war on Pak Taliban
Thu 2009-05-07
  Sufi Mohammad's son killed in Lower Dir shelling
Wed 2009-05-06
  Mashaal: Hamas wants 10 year cease-fire
Tue 2009-05-05
  Pirates captured after attacking the wrong ship

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
44.211.24.81
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (20)    WoT Background (24)    Non-WoT (13)    Opinion (9)    (0)