I've told my wife and a friend of mine.
"I am atheist, I do not believe in god and I do not believe in the devil"

It was really difficult. I was raised a roman catholic, for 18 years of my life I was "trained" to be a catholic and did not have a say otherwise. All along though, I have had questions and doubts. So for the last 20+ years, I have been living the facade of a Catholic, while internally viewing myself as Agnostic and all the while wondering what was the right and wrong thing to do.

I learned about many different religious beliefs, many that conflicted with each other, even learning that many Religions based their story against pagan traditions. I learned that Easter was originally Ister and various other celebrations. Eggs were colored long before Christ was born. That's my loose translation of what I learned but I think you get the point.

I'm about to step into the realm of announcing it to my family. Originally I wanted to wait until the New Year but then I am putting off the inevitable. Plus, I am going to a solstice celebration on Sunday... Winter Solstice will be my symbolic celebration going forward and I'd like them to know that before it actually happens.

Yeah, I know I may get some grief but my mind is made up, it has been for some time now.

Thanks for listening.
Dapper

and she has a birthday coming up in October.

I love to listen to her stories of a long time ago. Part Great Depression, part growing up in poverty or doing without. Her Christmas tree (and mine too) has Christmas decorations that were made during that time. A Santa or Snowman made out of Walnut shells, a Reindeer made out of closeline pins... and they probably are full of lead but old painted, cut out, wooden decorations... Christmas would never be the same without these little treasures.

But all in all, I have seen over the years how my Grandmother saves rubber bands, or the plastic containers that contained items like cream cheese or butter, I saw an article that mentioned something about day old bread... My grandmother saved her pennies and a few years ago...err maybe quite a few years ago.. she let me go through some... which had some wheat pennies in them.

Are we heading towards a depression? It's anyone's guess but based on my gut instincts, it doesn't matter whether we give 700 billion to the banks or not, there is going to be tough roads ahead. Someone will have to pay and that someone is going to be the middle class. Even if we vote no for this bill, it will trickle down to the poor and middle class.

The rich are getting richer and it seems everyone else is getting poorer. We need a distribution of wealth in this country. I work hard, my wife works hard but with two incomes, why is it still so hard to make ends meet.

My wife and I are cutting back. I mean, we are cutting back to almost the bare neccesities. Whatever is cheapest at the store... Maybe those Raimen? noodles? Maybe Chef Boyardee? sticking to one serving of chicken cutlets and definately making those leftovers lunches and dinners for days to come.

I started a backyard garden this year. Cucumbers, Cherry Tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, Lettuce (when it was cooler), scallions, onions, cilantro..etc. It was nice having fresh salads for lunch or grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches during the summer and as the summer closes, I am trying to make tomato sauce with the left over tomatoes.

Today, instead of driving to the post office, I put air in my bicycle tires and rode the mile or two to the post office. I wasted no gas.

I think I'm prepared for the inevitable... it's tough to do without though.

Dap

Sorry, out of all the things I have agreed with Obama on, this is the one sticking point.

As taxpayers, we cannot afford two wars and a bail out. As Taxpayers, if we get into a credit crunch, we are expected to be fiscally responsible for getting ourselves out of it. There are no golden powerchutes for you and me.

Stock Markets go up and down. If you currently have your money in the stock market, you might be feeling a crunch. I have always invested knowing that when the market is high, you sell. When the market is low, you buy... or hold. There are risks associated with investing and this is one of them.

There are many people and voters from both the Democratic Party and Republican Party who do not want to bail out the banks. We are not arguing about poltics right now but we agree that this bill cannot pass. It especially cannot pass the way it is currently written. it cannot pass by adding tax cuts which will come from???? where?? You will end up getting taxed somewhere else for this tax cut.

FDIC Insurance... where do you think it comes from? Banks pay a certain amount of money towards it. If the FDIC is short, they will charge banks additional fee's which the bank will gladfully charge you additional fee's for. If all else fails, the FDIC can get the money from the treasury... which in turn, comes out of your pockets.

I'm not saying that I am right and that you are wrong... but how many times have situations like this worked to YOUR advantage? It is not to your advantage, it is to the banks advantage, it is to big businesses advantage and no matter what they say, there will always be a golden parachute waiting for the next executive.

I know it could be painful to you and I but either way, we are screwed. Until we "Just Say NO!" or Government is going to step all over us. I respectfully disagree with Obama on this one and unfortunately, I think McCain only has to gain from this current bill being passed tomorrow. But that remains to be seen.

Sorry guys, I can't support it.

Dap

I kind of thought it ironic when a Mexican employee (from Mexico) called into our Helpdesk a few months ago. Apparently he had been transfered to the US and had a US network account setup to log into the Network. His account was locked. Since his account was locked, we have to confirm information to unlock or reset a password. When asked for his last 4 digits of his Social Security number, he told the person answering the phone that our company had not gotten him one yet. Apprently they were paving his way to citizenship.

Today, we had a new employee on the phone, we asked him to confirm his last 4 digits of his SS# and, surprise, surprise, this person who was hired was from India and working in the states, he didn't have his SS# yet.

Why am I writing this? We are "Consultants" or "temps" or "permatemps". We were promised we would be hired (Temp to Perm) into the company but then we were told there was a hiring freeze. (only seems to be effecting our department)

THE IRONY OF IT ALL? We are Americans, we have been waiting anywhere from 9 months to 2-1/2 years to be hired on.

About a year ago, they fired one of the employees who works with our Department and they told one of us "temps" that they needed to do the work now. Slowly but surely, as the employees have left, we have taken on the extra responsibilities, at times, doing the same work as the "employees"... yet, they still will not hire us in.

I know many people say "Do something about it" and I agree with that statement. Some of us have begun to looks for jobs and go on interviews on the sly... in fact, our consulting company found one of our fellow "temps" Resumes online and the consulting company had a shit fit. Yet, another temp told the Consulting company to find her a new job and they told her there really wasn't anything out there for her and asked her why she would want to leave...duh! It took me a while but I finally went on an interview last week and although I was nervous, I just have to get out of my current situation.

This is how the Computer IT field is going. Most every company that has contacted me about jobs have been of the Consulting/Temp variety. One guy even called me to ask me if I would work for a company for 2 week!??! NO!!!!!! I just want a job in which I actually work for the company that I am actually working for. I do not want to be a temp, I do not want to be a consultant, I do not want the promise that you will hire me, but then not hire anyone, then ship our jobs overseas to India!

Thanks...
Dap

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/... /

Snippet...

Clinton closes gap with Bush as nation's 'Most Admired Man'
Clinton and Bush are statistically tied as the nation's most admired man.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Looks like all of Bill Clinton's time on the campaign trail this year for his wife Hillary may be paying off in the polls for more than one member of the family.

Sitting presidents usually top Gallup's list of the country's most admired man, and this year is no exception: President Bush leads, as the choice of 10 percent of those polled. But in this survey, he's in a statistical tie with former President Bill Clinton, at 8 percent. In the last survey, there was an 8-point margin of separation, with Bush leading 13 to 5 percent, and a 17-point difference in a 2004 poll. (Full poll results )

-------------------------------------

Here's some background. My wife and I relocated to Indiana from NY last year. Through School, my son (age 5) met a girl and they seemed to hit it off. When my son gets to school and the girl often says "Joey, come over here and sit next to me" which my wife thought was the greatest thing. Since I pick up my son after school, I always bump into the girls father. He seems like a nice guy, very friendly.

We plan a plan a play date at our house. The husband comes over with the daughter, we noticed some rough housing but nothing to be alarmed about. So, about a week later we go to their house for dinner. The wife seems nice, the older daughter tells us if we ever need a babysitter. At one point in the evening Joseph is kind of whining, I go check out what is going on and the girl has kids safety scissors that she is kind of pushing towards my son, I say "I think you should put those away"...

We have them come over to our house but the wife does not come by, only the husband and girl. We are watching tv and snacking on some junk food. My wife hears a commotion upstairs and the girl is spinning my son's chair around. My wife just asks her to stop. My wife. My wife said she had to tell her twice. My wife comes down to make some popcorn for them and a few minutes later I hear my son say "I'm going to tell my mommy" and he's heading down the stairs. He just gets to the bottom of the stairs when I hear a crashing sound. I get up and a computer chair that was in one of the rooms upstairs is now at the bottom of the stairs. My son is screaming/crying and I'm wondering what happened.

Apparently this girl did not want my son to tell on her so she got the chair from the other room and pushed it down the stairs. How messed up is that? My son has a bump over his ear, a scrap above his ear, a small scrape going down his face (like a side burn) I immediately tend to my son, my wife gets ice.. we really had no idea what happened until the girl realized that my son got hurt and she said "I Didn't mean it, I'm sorry"... and of course the father picks her up "it's okay, it's okay". My wife gave me a look like "I HATE HER" and I am so ticked off that I brought the chair back up the stairs, fixed the wheel that fell off and was shaking like I wanted to kill someone.

I think both me and my wife were shaken, wasn't sure what to do or say but we were questioning why the father didn't punish the girl at all. He just said, "as soon as we get home, she's going right to bed" (which at the end of evening would have been approx 9:15pm) so I mean, where is the punishment? I wasn't even sure why he didn't pick her up right then and there and end the evening but he stayed until we just ended the evening saying it was late and we had to get up early in the morning.

I've got 12 nephews and nieces and in all their growing years I have never seen anything so callous done. The chair was pretty heavy and my son was pretty lucky that the situation was no as bad as it could have been.

My wife and I decided based on everything we have seen, we do not want our son to associate with her anymore. I'm not sure I want to associate with the parents either. I mean, there are things you kind of cough up to being young but as we put 2 and 2 together, we are finding that this girl, when she does something wrong, she gives those sad eyes to her Dad and boom, everything is forgiven. He mentioned to me one time how his wife was the "Enforcer" and he doesn't understand why his wife is like that. So I'm thinking that the wife is probably trying to set a good example and this guy just thinks everything his daughter does is acceptable. Coincidentally, she gets a good deal of "time outs" at school.

My wife and I have always brought up my son to be well behaved and to behave properly when at someone else's house. If he does something wrong, he gets punished, if he did something like this, he would receive an immediate punishment, lose his "computer" or "game" privledges for a month and most likely get swatted on his behind, sent to bed... etc.

Do you think my wife and I over reacted? Are we doing the proper thing to not allow any more play dates? The husband seems nice but I can't see ourselves continuing a friendship as we really don't want our son to associate with the daughter anymore, it's kind of a moot point.

While I'm at it....
Last year the girl who lives two houses away was 5 years old at the time, my son was 4. We didn't know her, we didn't know her parents as we just moved in. The girl basically walked into our house and started playing with my son/my sons toys. I asked her if her parents knew she was here and she said yes. I figured if that was the case, maybe they were coming over to introduce themselves??? so I waited about 10 minutes and then walked to their house. I asked them if they knew her daughter was at our house and they said "yes". I allowed them to play for 15 minutes until mywife came over and I told her what had happened. I sent the girl home with a note to the parents with our names and our phone number.

About a week later, we here a banging on our laundry room door, then a banging at our sliding glass door, I see her run to the front of the house and bang on the front door, she saw my son and invited herself in again. Me and my wife just looked at each other like "Huh?". So after about 15 minutes we told the girl she had to go home as Joseph was having dinner.

About a week or so after that, a similar thing happened, when she came to the door my wife stopped her and told her that Joseph was going to the store with her. The girl said "Well, why don't you just go to the store and your son stay home with his daddy". My wife nearly threw her out on her ear. The girl comes back about 5 minutes later saying "my mom isn't ready to go out yet so she said I could stay" and my wife told her to go home.

We ended up introducing ourselves to the parents but it's not like they have ever called or stopped by to see if it was a good time for her daughter to stop by. No offense but if I had a 5 year old daughter I would not be having her going to peoples houses alone. I do not allow my son to go to someones house without setting something up.

Coincidentally, the parents also drink beer as they walk around the neighborhood, on Holloween they had beer in a wagon (with their infant in it) while walking the kids around the neighborhood. I know in NY, we had an "open container" law so it was something you just didn't do. I mean, I enjoy having a bbq, having a beer while sitting in the backyard...

Is it just me over reacting?

Dapper

I have to admit it, yesterday when I got home from work, I tuned into Fox. From time to time I do this just to keep myself on my toes, see how other people are thinking.

One show was showing the results of "idiot liberal awards". Every show was harping on Rosie O'Donnell. Let me first say that I dislike Rosie O'. I've never liked her brand of humor or her exagerrated NY accent. (I'm from New Yawk, ya know what i mean?) In the 80's, almost every guy who was not a nerd or dead head was a "Guido" but Rosie never got out of the 80's. HOWEVER... Rosie did say Building 7. Hannity went off on her stating that the families of people who died in BUILDING 7.... wait a second, did anyone die in building 7? Building 7 is the building that came down at like 4 or 5pm. and there is no conspiracy as far as I know as, didn't the owner of the building report that it was taken down because it was unsafe? Why is there such an uproar? Even O'LieLee was harping on Rosie!

On Hannity & Combes they were bashing Gore, atleast Hannity was. Towards the end Hannity couldn't get enough of saying how he was an "Exaggerator"

I thought it was amazing how all these "Fair and Balanced" shows were just bashing the Liberals/Democrats... how is that "Fair and Balanced". And I forgot what O'Reily says at the end of his show but when he said it, I had to laugh. I probably laughed so hard that I forgot what he actually said.

I know the last time I watched Fox, it didn't harp on Liberals/Democrats as much as they did last night. I wonder if this is going to be their trend. I mean, it really wasn't NEWS they were reporting but spinning all the old stories of the past few weeks. There was maybe a 2 minute mention of AG Gonzalez but that was about it.

Getting back to MSNBC. I was kind of taken aback that Scarborough and Matthews had also jumped on the Rosie band wagon, bashing her for basically saying that Tower 7 was brought down by explosives. I mean, maybe I'm wrong but from what I understand, it was demo'ed because the structure had become unsafe?! Right? Wrong?

Dapper

I believe in small businesses and support the little guy when I can.

About 20 years ago I started my first job. I made $5.50 an hour! If memory serves me correctly within a year I was making $7.50 an hour. It was your basic crap job but I worked hard. To know after those 20 years went by, prices rising, there are people still out there making less than $7.50 and hour is hard to believe.

I like to read the opinion pages. I like to get a feel for what people are thinking. Everyone has their own opinions and beliefs - some of them are in line with mine and others are way off the mark. This afternoon I was reading the South Bend Tribune and came across this one:

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs....

I will quote the opinion and my response will not be quotes.

"As owners and operators of a restaurant in Mishawaka, we want to express our concern about the proposed raising of the minimum wage in Indiana. Although it sounds nice, this will only hurt the people employed by us who it is supposed to help."

Please, please, bring out the crystal ball.


"All of our full-time employees who are not students already make at least $7 per hour, most of them more than that."

Thank you. Grandma says it really helps defray the cost of the new Medicare/prescription plan.

"The only ones the proposed wage increase would benefit would be our 15-, 16- and 17-year-old employees."

Isn't that like age descrimination? Is that why Grandma can't work the after school, weekend hours? Because you would have to pay her over $7 an hour but you can descriminate against her Grandson by paying him $5.50?

"Supply and demand and competition already force us and similar businesses to pay our daytime help, those not limited to working around school hours, more than those working nights and weekends. "

Darn School, if it wasn't for those darn schools, you could get away with hiring teenagers and pay them less. BAN THE SCHOOLS!

"However, if we are forced to pay the 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds a substantially higher wage we will have to make up for the expense in other ways. Most likely restaurants and stores will have to raise prices. Those daytime, adult workers already making the proposed minimum wage will now have to spend more of their income for the same things. A second option employers have is to take away other benefits, including health care coverage. Employers may have to get by with fewer employees by cutting hours or eliminating some positions altogether."

I could have a good deal of fun ripping this one, however.... I decided to let Google do my handy work. All public info.
The writer owns a Franchise in which the website states the owner needs 300k to 500k in liquid assets. Starting up one of these franchises has an estimated cost of 175k. Using the Google Earth I see a nice house in a nice area. Someone is living high on the hog while Grandma and Grandson try to scrounge up some money to offset the price of medicine or college costs! But since "Business Owner" does not want to adjust their way of life to pay someone $1 or $2 more per hour (over the course of the next few years) "Business Owner" will make Grandma do twice the work, take away her health care, FIRE her and then to fill your fat pockets, you will raise your prices.

Coincidentally, I do not believe this franchise offers Health Care. Judging by the amount of employees, I would say that the business would not run very well if they used fewer employees or positions.


Lawmakers need to look at the effect this will have on small businesses and their workforce.

I will agree. Lawmakers should look at the whole picture. Take how much the business makes, minus cost and salaries and figure out how much business owners are making (non-business items such as a new car..etc not included in cost). If the business is really having a hardship, then great, we will give you a tax break. But if you are living high on the hog while breaking Grandma's back, can we just tax you more?

Hey, Making Money, that's the American way... but now it seems to be leaning a bit too much towards business owners and less towards workers. Have past increases to the minimum wage hurt? Does anyone not think that $5.50 an hour is REDICULOUS?!?!?

Just had to vent.... Let's give those less fortunate some assistance.



Dapper

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/...

Bush had been stumpin', Today in Florida he repeated the same tired line "The Democrats don't know but the folks in have not voted yet"- it's not an exact quote but it's the same tired BS he has been saying speech after speech, state after state.

I find it curious why the people who are voting for him do not see what the rest of the civilized world can see. My wife says everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I agree with her but look at the mans track record. I also have a feeling when he spouts off about his tax breaks to a middle class audience, is he looking beyond the crowd to some rich guy in the back of the Auditorium? When he says "Democrats want to raise your taxes" is he talking to the same rich guy in the back of the audience? He certainly isn't talking to the middle class.

Why is it that the Republican's need to resort to lies, why not stand behind their record... Oh, I know! They're record is shameful. If they actually speak the truth, they will lose big time. I'm hoping a great deal of Republican/Right Wing/Conservatives have really done their homework and realize every word the Republican's say is utter bs.

I tend to laugh at the Republican attack ads, the ads are so full of lies that, the only thing I can do other than getting angry is laughing. But it's no laughing matter that some voters believe their lies. I wish people would take an hour out of their week to atleast know what is going on in the world.

Getting back to not raising taxes and the Tax cuts, we still pay tax on those tax cuts. Bush eliminating some Government programs also cost us more, the raising gas price costs us more. More money coming out of my pockets for the lack of programs that I was paying the same tax for previously. If the Govt is saving money there, why does the budget deficit keep going higher and higher? Where is it that i am suppose to be better off than I was 6 years ago? ...technically I am but I can't credit the govt! Taxes where too high in NY, I had to sell my home which enabled me to pay off my mortgage and buy cheaper elsewhere. I'm happy right now but know I could be better off had we had someone with common sense in Govt.

We need a change and I think everyone here knows it. The only thing I can say on Election eve is that if your sitting on the sidelines or not sure if you are going to vote, you are doing yourself an injustice- We need to make this change and we need everyone sitting on the sidelines to join us in making this change. Every Vote Counts (Atleast we hope)

Vote!

Dapper

From the people who brought you "Stay the Course", GWB went on the stump today with another slogan!

He told the audience that the Democrats don't have a plan (yes we do). He asks the audience to ask the Democratic party what their plan is.

"If they say they want to win the war on terror, but call for America to pull out of what al Qaeda says is the central front in this war, ask them this question: 'What's your plan?"

In all, he asked the question 3 times before the audience finally caught on and the drones repeating the slogan with him "What's your Plan?". It seems the Republican plan is to repeat stupid slogans over and over again until people start believing their lies.

I thought all along, the "Stay the Course" plan was bullshit, The replacement slogan "benchmarks" is utterly bullshit because now, they have a plan for victory! Yea Republican's! What is their plan for victory? Here's what Bush had to say...

"We have a plan for victory. We have a plan to secure this country, and part of our plan is to send Jim Talent back to the United States Senate."

1. They have a plan for victory!
Okay, so Mister Bush, "What's Your Plan"? Everything you have touched in Iraq has turned to shit.

2. They have a plan to secure this Country!
Okay Mister Bush, "What's your plan?"

3. Part of his plan is to send Jim Talent back to the United States Senate!
Okay Mister Bush, "What is your plan" there. Does it have anything to do with voter fraud? Sending lawyers to Democratic Precincts to interfere with people voting? "What is Your Plan?" Indeed.

Your plan is to keep going on and on with these lame slogans. Is that your plan?

Dap

Dap

There's so much to write about... and I don't feel like writing anything!

I feel so worked up over this election! I feel stressed! I need to catch my breath. Phew... Perhaps it's best i don't rehash all the news of the past week, let's show the lighter side. Add a Semi-Political or personal note inside my journal if you wish.

CNN.COM had somewhat of a survey/questionaire to see where you stood on the issues. I took it and on the most part I am left leaning except for the issue of immigration. Just for yucks, I had my wife take it. Amazed I was that she answered almost every question except for 2 the same as I answered them. We even questioned the same questions! She is not political in any way but she does enjoy watching Countdown with me. I know the majority of her family is right leaning so, I guess.. I got the blacksheep of the family

At work, we were discussing the local candidates and the guy next to me was talking how he was going to vote Republican. I mentioned the fact that the Republican's signed the Torture bill recently which was basically the death of Habeas Corpus. We touched on some topics, not a "head to head" thing... We have another person voting with the Democratic Party now!

I'll have to admit myself, I was pretty lost politically a few years ago. It's amazing that people vote for the party they "think" they should vote for but meanwhile, they really don't have a clue. I have found, unless your really following Politics on a day to day basis, it's easy to fall prey to the MSM and the Presidential BS.

In the past month or so, I have checked out some of those other political websites that i can't name here. It is amazing how warped some people are. My wife, not being political, states "other people are entitled to their own opinions", which is so very true but it just doesn't stop me from thinking that there are people like that in the United States, who only believe what Rush, Hannity..et al tell them. How can you tout this stuff to your fellow American without researching it yourself, withoug taking a personal interest? It's kind of like those chain letters saying you will get some sort of reward for sending to 10 friends and for every 10 friends they send the chain letter to, you get a bigger and bigger reward. Of course, after the first time around, you and I understand it's only a chain letter. It's like these people send the chain letter over and over again and 4 years later, they are still sending it believing the reward is right around the corner.

I went by Joe Donnelly's office- They didn't have any bumper stickers or lawn signs but I did get two whole buttons!. Since I'm new in the area, it was nice to go to my candidates Election office and see what was going on. I'm wondering if it is worthwhile to volunteer or work for an elected official. Anyone with experience with this, let me know your experiences.

In any case, Countdown is coming on- Hopefully I will have another update on Tuesday- 1 week before Election Day!

Dap

Waiting...waiting for that October Surprise. Something's got to give. Do you suppose the delay is due to Osama not being properly freezer wrapped and his body is suffering a bit of the freezer burn?

In the meanwhile, we find out that Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah was killed in an airstrike:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/2...

While I'm at it, can we start a list of replacement quotes for "Stay the Course".

I didn't mean stay the course, I meant:
1. Continue on in the same direction
2. Keep the straight and narrow.
3. Keep on, keep on, movin' on...(Brady Bunch)
4.
5.
6.
....
Let me hear from you!

Dap

I was hoping to write this a few days ago but put it off as I had more important things to do. As I understand it, the Republicans have a new commercial which utilizes the images of Terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden in the recent RNC ad "These are the Stakes". Isn't this counter productive? In effect, you are attempting to scare people into the vote. Scaring people to vote republican because, heck if you vote for the Democrats- Terrorists will strike us again!?!?

Let's go back to the day you were elected, things seems pretty peaceful - although we knew somewhere in the world there was a crazy man name Osama Bin Laden who, for some reason, did not like America and wanted to harm us. Bin Laden attacked America on 9-11 and - Okay, let's not rehash what has happened since then but let us discuss how many more Bin Laden's are out there now, so many people who hate America now, Are we truly winning the war on Terrorism? How about our relations with other countries in the world, even our EU Counterparts seem like they are no longer standing behind us too much these days.

Sometimes I wonder if all these small or third world countries are arming themselves with Nukes to keep us at bay. I could, perhaps, understand going into Afghanistan to get Bin Laden but Iraq? It was all a lie. Imagine if they had Nukes, would you have been so quick to invade Iraq if they had Nukes? I know you were pretty bent on going after Iran (who may or may not have nukes) and North Korea who has performed some Nuclear testing. We only hear about sanctions against these Countries- heck, obviously they are a nuclear threat, let's invade! A big Super Power like us should not be afraid! Perhaps a country that is looking to develop Nuclear weapons is only doing it for their own safety, Safety from being invaded by another country such as the USA.

It's not even *your* war! You don't like the President of Iraq, just send our boys over! Certainly some of them will get killed but that is the price we need to pay. 3000+ US Soldiers for 1 Saddam Hussain, seems like such a deal to me! How many will it cost for Osama Bin Laden? I firmly believe that, as Commander in Chief, if you want to wage a war- that you lead the troops into battle. You can get on top of your horse, Sword in hand, and lead the all mighty charge! I know, it 'ain't gunna happen'. You and the rest of deciders can sit back, relax and let our Boy's do the dirty work.

The war on Terrorism. While it sounds good that we are doing something to combat terrorism in the world, there is no winnable war on terrorism. You can kill terrorist after terrorist but new terrorists will be transformed, they will be born and maybe, eventually, those terrorists will manage to strike America again... but with all our Soldiers in other countries, who will protect us here?

James Baker believes we need a new plan in Iraq, it was leaked, it was stated you didn't want it to become political (cough, cough, BS) but you still decided that the best course of action is to "Stay the Course"... that's such a lame, lame political statement, just as bad as "Cut and Run". stay the course is not a REAL plan. In my humble opinion, you do not want to pull out of Iraq and look like a failure! You are a War President and you need to appear tough! You would rather "stay the course" and allow some other future president to look like a failure. You want to do this so you could point to the Democrats and say "I told you what the stakes where". So... for now it's status quo, - Losing a few good Soldiers is just the spoils of war for you.. huh?


Getting back to that RNC Commercial "These are the Stakes"- No wonder I'm voting a straight Democratic ticket! You have failed miserably! The Republicans in the house have not kept with the Checks and Balances as they should have- In fact, Republican's have let you get away with murder... or atleast torture! While there will always be arguements between the Republican's and Democrats, I believe this administration has gone way out of bounds in making Democrats look like 3rd class citizens. We have been told we "Cut and Run", we are "Appeasers", "weak".... I believe between me and the rest of the Democatic voters, we will show you we are not as weak as you make us out to be. "These are the Stakes"?!?!?! Who is/are the terrorist(s)? and shame on you for using Terrorism as a political statement for the Republican party!

I will say this. It doesn't matter if we have a Democratic President, House or Congress or a Republican President, House or Congress. If someone wants to attack us, nothing will stop them from trying to attack us. While we have given the Republican Party quite a few years, Mr. President, you have had 6 years to get things done. Again, I am voting Democratic across the board, it's time for a change, it's time we get a new set of eye balls on the problem, we need to put people in place who can finish the job.

Sincerely,
Dapper from DU.


For the rest of you, I'm not going to spell check or proof read. There was a bit of cynisism in there so if I said something you might deem inappropriate, read it again as you might have missed my point, or maybe I mis-wrote something. Don't shoot the messenger. This message is not a solicitation to buy, sell or trade........

Dap

Tuesday the Government Notified NFL Officials of a possible Dirty Bomb attack at 7 NFL stadiums but later we find out the threat is not credible. Why go to all the trouble?

As it turns out it was just a 20 year old man/kid from Milwaukee trying to out duel his friend in who could write the scarier terrorist threat. Strangely enough, the Department of Homeland Security send this information to NFL Officials, apparently, before they even investigated the threat.

If you are the Department of Homeland Security, wouldn't you want to keep this "Internet Threat" under wraps and investigate the situation prior to notifying the NFL and the public? This way, you don't end up looking like incompetent fools when it turns out to be two kids posting on a message board.

This was posted on a website called http://www.thefriendsociety.com / which has been taken down but I used the Google Cache feature to view some of the pages and to download the pages to my computer. I used the simple search terms "new attack on america be afraid" which only brought up links to this website and a similar website with a similar name. The earliest reference on the website I have found using these key words was Sept 18th.

However the first posting I found with the specific threat was on Oct 12th:
Originally Posted by javness
On Sunday, October 22nd, 2006, there will be seven "dirty" explosive devices detonated in seven different U.S. cities; Miami, New York City, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland and Cleveland. The death toll will approach 100,000 from the initial blasts and countless other fatalities will later occur as result from radioactive fallout.

The bombs themselves will be delivered via trucks. These trucks will pull up to stadiums hosting NFL games in each respective city. All stadiums to be targeted are open air arena as, excluding Atlanta's Georgia Dome, the only enclosed stadium to be hit. Due to the open air, the radiological fallout will destroy those not killed in the initial explosion. The explosions will be near simultaneous, with the cities specifically chosen in different time zones to allow for multiple attacks at the same time.

The 22nd of October will mark the final day of Ramadan as it would fall in Mecca. Al-Qaida will automatically be blamed for the attacks. Later, through Al-Jazeera, Osama bin Laden will issue a video message claiming responsibility for what he dubs "America's Hiroshima".

In the aftermath civil wars will erupt across the world, both in the Middle East and within the United States. Global economies will screech to a halt. General chaos will rule.

Someone had asked "javness" if he was serious and the response from "Javness" was:
you already know too much


Of course researching this site in depth is quite difficult when the site is down, they did it pretty quickly too. The cached pages are hard to read. One of the strange items I did find when I did a Whois search on Network Solutions website was the database was last updated for the website on Oct 12th- The Day the message about the threat was posted to that website, not the day that the department of homeland security notified the NFL. Not suggesting anyone pull out their tinfoil hats or anything, could be a coincidence but it just strange that information on the record was changed the very day the message was posted... hmm?

So, what's next for 20 year old "Javeness"? Gitmo or a behind the scenes job within the Bush administration? This definately has shades of the Miami Terrorists as well.

Dap

The Bush administration has had many chances to deal with issues both inside and outside the US but has continuously shown they have dropped the ball on more than one occasion.

Iraq is an utter mess. Speaking with someone who just returned a few weeks ago, he was doing rounds where they walk the streets to make their presence known / be friendly with the locals, told me of how (obviously) dangerous being on the streets were. His soon to be wife remembers a call from him about a month before he finished up his stint and he was not a happy camper. Some mission, to practically be a moving target.

There doesn't seem to be much news out of Iraq now a days other than hearing how many US Service men have been killed. I haven't heard any news and I believe the situation is getting more dire by the day.

Personally, I do not believe victory can be accomplished in Iraq and staying the course is obviously not a plan. Bush cannot turn around and change directions... well, not in the middle of these mid term elections... and I do not believe either the Republican's or Democrats have any plans other than "stay the course" but hopefully with the Democrats taking over the house and/or senate, there can be greater debate on the issue and to resolve what the US needs to do to ..err Mission Accomplished.

Bush's "stay the course" policy will, of course, be in effect until Bush is out of office. I believe Bush wants to drop this on the next presidents lap. If a Democrat wins, "Mission Accomplished" can be blamed on the Democrat who is in office who has to make the tough decisions. Bush doesn't want, nor do I imagine, has the ability to make those tough choices.

I also wonder if Bush wanted to make himself out as a Tough guy, someone who will "stay the course", dedicated to the war on Terror by pushing the Terrorist/Torture bill. I believe it is political but it only serves to fire up his own base, a base that a good portion of, has abandoned him.

I believe by voting Democrat for these mid term elections (Well obviously, this was posted on DU) The american people are getting a fresh set of ideas, a new set of eyes and new ownership on issues that have gone south under this current administration. Unfortunately, the Democratic party will need to repair many fences and I'm not taking about that fence between us and Mexico The Democrats will need to mend fences with the rest of the world and hopefully we can put safe guards in effect so no president will ever have the power that Bush has taken. I do not believe that everthing can be fixed overnight and it will take a few years before the US can get back to normal.

In as much as I want to see the Democrats take over the Senate and House, I also know that unless we can make a change, any failures will be food for the Republican fodder in '08 and beyond.

Dap