Our "Fearless Leader" Tries to Prove He's No Chicken
Bush was so paranoid about his 2.5 hour Campaign Sneak Attack
he was "fully prepared to turn around".
Bush Ready to Pull Plug on 2.5 hour Photo Op if Word Leaked Out

Nov 28, 2003 ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE - Three hours from landing on a high-risk visit to Baghdad,*** President Bush was most anxious about keeping it a secret. "I was fully prepared to turn this baby around, come home," Bush said later aboard Air Force One. The world did not learn that Bush had spent 2 1/2 hours in the Baghdad Airport Military Compound until his jumbo jet was again in the air, flying back to the United States

As the president was sneaking into a mess hall in a heavily guarded airport military compound, newscasters back home were reporting that he was enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with his family at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. That was what reporters had been told by White House officials.

Bush said he thought Americans would be understanding about the deception and the sneaking around because it was important for soldiers at risk to know that the commander in chief was willing to use them as a campaign photo opportunity after he had been ridiculed for his Mission Accomplished faux pas.

***This "HIGH-RISK visit to Baghdad" was really a 2.5 hour sneak into the heavily guarded Airport Military Compound under cover of darkness. If it was 'high risk' then what are the daily flights that bring Soldiers and supplies into Baghdad in broad daylight? Why didn't George just don another flight suit and make a quick trip on a military jet this time? Not one US Military Jet has been shot down in IRAQ since 'Mission Accomplished' and the only airplane that suffered a shoulder fired missile attack was landed safely. There was nothing "HIGH RISK" about this campaign photo op. Chickenhawk George and company would not do anything that could be considered "HIGH RISK" to themselves but they don't mind "HIGH RISK" for young soldiers.

Congress Is Spending 'like a Drunken Sailor'

Congress Is Spending 'like a Drunken Sailor'
Once again Republicans show they cannot curb spending or handle money.

Nov 30, 2003 Fox News Sunday - Congress is throwing away astonishing amounts, "spending money like a drunken sailor," and President Bush shares the blame because he is not using his veto power, Republican Sen. John McCain said Sunday. McCain, an avid critic of spending for lawmakers' pet projects in their districts and states, said the president's reluctance to veto legislation makes it harder for congressional negotiators to kill such spending.

Opposition from McCain, R-Ariz., and others kept the Senate from passing a $390 billion bill last week that would have paid for operations of 10 of 14 government departments and scores of lesser agencies. The legislation comes up again after the senators return from Thanksgiving recess, but it is unclear whether it will be this month or in January. Senate aides said McCain is expected to delay passage as long as possible.

"The numbers are astonishing," McCain said on "Fox News Sunday." "Congress is now spending money like a drunken sailor," said McCain, a former Navy officer, "and I've never known a sailor, drunk or sober, with the imagination that this Congress has."

He said growth of spending had been capped at 4 percent, but it was at least 8 percent higher. He said he will continue urging Bush to veto profligate spending bills. The president has not veto a single bill since he took office.

Asked if the president bears some responsibility for what is going on, McCain said: "Yes, because I think that the president cannot say, as he has many times, that 'I'm going to tell Congress to enforce some spending discipline' and then not veto bills."

An example, he said, is a massive energy bill, which also has been put aside until Congress reconvenes. "The administration originally supported an energy bill that would cost about $8 billion. This one is up to $24 billion, and the administration is still saying it's one of its highest priorities," McCain said. "I don't know how you rationalize that."

"Any economist will tell you cannot have this level of debt of increasing deficits without eventually it affecting interest rates and inflation," he said. "Those are the greatest enemies of middle-income Americans and retired Americans."

We need to elect legislators that will curb spending instead of these spendthrif Republicans.

A RUSH ON DRUGS TRIPLE FEATURE

The comments are finally coming on the New Rehabilitated Rush Limbaugh.
Enjoy this TRIPLE FEATURE from two small town papers and Reason.

Rush Limbaugh richly deserves prosecution

Monday Dec. 1, 2003 7pm. The Journal Standard: What's next? Many captains of industry and managers of most mutual funds seem to be crooks. Now we learn that America's premier right wing talk show host is a junky. Rush Limbaugh is back from five weeks in detox doing business at the same old stand: spewing bile and defaming liberals and Democrats 15 hours a week.

The interesting thing about this episode is that Rush sounds no different now than he did before detox, when he was high as a kite most of the time. Maybe drugs aren't so bad after all. It would be ironic indeed if Rush turns out to be the poster boy for legalizing drugs.

The difference between Rush and the average junky is Limbaugh could easily afford $100,000 a year for drugs. He didn't have to rob liquor and convenience stores to support his habit. So, maybe it is thinkable that admitted addicts buy their drugs at a pharmacy where they could be assured of reasonable prices and predictable quality and purity.

Rush's experience raises many questions: will he be tested periodically like professional athletes? How often? Will he tell us the results? It is a felony to purchase prescription narcotics on the black market as Rush did. Jeb Bush's daughter Noelle was prosecuted in Florida for attempting to buy drugs much milder than Oxycontin with a forged prescription.

Rush poses as a role model for young conservatives. What sort of example has he set? Limbaugh richly deserves prosecution.

RUSH MAKES A GOOD CASE FOR INCARCERATION

DEC 1 2002 The Southern Illinoisian Rush Limbaugh is back on the air after five weeks of drug rehabilitation, although experts say it could be weeks before Ol' Rushbo recovers his full sense of self-importance.

His return sermon bombarded listeners with fusillades of what sounded a lot like humility, evidence that his rehabilitative treatment had broken down his defenses, cracked through his sense of denial and gotten him in touch with his feelings, as well as his audience. It took at least a half hour before his voice could de-mellow enough to take a New Age-sounding shot at "lib-brools":

"... The attempt to manipulate lib-brools into changing who they are and becoming nice guys, and liking us is always going to fail because it's not our job to make them like us," he opined. "It's their job to like themselves. And the problem with lib-brools is, they don't like themselves... They're denying who they really are."

Heavy, man. Fans may be reassured that Limbaugh understands his fan base. De-tox has only given him a new vocabulary for his old act, which always has offered therapeutic value to those who yearn to feel good without being forced to think about things too much.

Conservative talk shows dominate radio chatter these days, partly by preaching an attractively oversimplified view of the world. In that world, nice rich guys like Limbaugh are not supposed to be drug abusers on the sly. Such awful horrors are supposed to be limited to those "other people," the ones who don't listen to conservative talk shows.

Such were the sentiments of the Old Rush, the Limbaugh who told listeners in October, 1995, that violators of drug laws "ought to be sent up."

Statistics that show blacks go to prison far more often than whites for the same drug offenses only show that "too many whites are getting away with drug use," the Old Rush said. His remedy? "... Go out and find the ones (white people) who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too."

A newer Limbaugh surfaced in March, 1998. He advocated legalization and regulation of addictive drugs the way we regulate cigarettes and alcohol. "Make them taxpayers and then sue them," Rush said of the drug lords. "Sue them left and right and then get control of the price and generate tax revenue from it. Raise the price sky high and fund all sorts of other wonderful social programs."

Then the New Rush went into an odd radio silence on the subject of drugs, according his critics and drug groups who've monitored him. His shift of views and subsequence silence appeared to coincide with the beginnings of the Old Rush's now-revealed addiction.

On his return show, he offered that long silence as evidence that he was not a hypocrite on the subject of locking up drug abusers. "I was honest with you throughout the whole time," he told his listeners. "I was not as honest with myself." Fair enough. Pundits reserve the right to avoid taking positions on subjects in which they have a conflict of interest.

But, now that he has come out of the closet as a non-violent drug abuser, I cannot help but imagine how effective Limbaugh's powerful voice might sound on behalf of other non-violent drug abusers who could benefit from treatment instead of incarceration. This issue transcends political parties. He could make a very good conservative argument.

"My friends," he might say, "It's time for us to stop wasting our tax dollars on prison for first-time, non-violent drug offenders. "I'm talking about people who haven't robbed anybody or held up any liquor stores or hurt anybody but themselves trying to feed their drug addictions. "These people could benefit from drug treatment, my friends. Believe me, I know. Many of you know it, too, my friends.

"And you don't have to be a lib-brool to believe it. In the past few years, states like Texas, Kansas, Arizona, California and Hawaii have passed laws that mandate treatment instead of incarceration for first time drug offenders. Those aren't all lib-brool states, my friends. They're states with good hard working taxpayers who want to keep what they earn, not throw it away on more prisons when rehab can do the job for a lot less, money, pain and heartache.

"This is serious, my friends. We need to stop the madness. Write your senators and congressmen and governors, especially if you happen to live in Florida, the state where my own difficulties are still under consideration by some fine, upstanding officers of the law.

"Florida Gov. Jeb Bush opposed efforts to send first-time abusers to rehab instead of jail. Please let Gov. Bush know how happy you are that drug treatment worked so well for his daughter, Noelle, last year.

Rant: Drug Rush Limbaugh to listeners: I belong in jail!

December 2003 REASON: Rush Limbaugh may not be arrested, let alone spend time behind bars, for illegally buying narcotic painkillers. "We’re not sure whether he will be charged," a law enforcement source told CNN in early October. "We’re going after the big fish, both the suppliers and the sellers."

Following up on a story The National Enquirer broke on October 2, CNN reported that the conservative radio commentator’s name had come up during "an investigation of a black market drug ring in South Florida," where Limbaugh has a home. A former housekeeper told the Enquirer she had sold him tens of thousands of hydrocodone and oxycodone pills during a four-year period.

If Limbaugh escapes serious legal consequences, there will be speculation about whether a pill popper who wasn’t a wealthy celebrity would have received such lenient treatment. Still, the distinction between dealer and user drawn by CNN’s source is both widely accepted and deeply embedded in our drug laws.

That doesn’t mean it makes sense. If drug use is the evil the government wants to prevent, why punish the people who engage in it less severely than the people who merely assist them? That’s like giving a murderer a lighter sentence than his accomplice.

Another argument for sending Limbaugh to jail was suggested by the talk radio king himself. In an October 3 column, Newsday’s Ellis Henican cited remarks Limbaugh made in 1995 concerning the drug war’s disproportionate racial impact. "What this says to me," Limbaugh told his listeners, "is that too many whites are getting away with drug use....The answer to this disparity is not to start letting people out of jail because we’re not putting others in jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them, and send them up the river too."

Before we start building a boat for Limbaugh, perhaps we should consider the arguments for letting him keep his freedom. The strongest is that it’s nobody’s business but his if he chooses to pop Lorcet and OxyContin, as long as he’s not hurting anyone else. When the painkiller story broke, the New York Daily News reported that Limbaugh’s lawyers "refused to comment on the accusations and said any ‘medical information’ about him was private and not newsworthy."

On his show the next day, Limbaugh already was moving away from that position, promising to tell his listeners "everything there is." A week later, he announced he was entering treatment for addiction to painkillers he began taking after back surgery. "I take full responsibility for my problem," he declared, while blaming his situation on "highly addictive medication" (thereby reinforcing the opiophobia that has led to scandalous undertreatment of pain in this country).

The quick switch from privacy claim to public confession is reminiscent of Bill Bennett’s humiliating retreat on the issue of his gambling. Before renouncing the habit, the former drug czar noted that losing large sums of money on slots and video poker hadn’t "put my family at risk." Nor does it seem that the time Bennett spent in casinos interfered with his personal or professional life. It certainly did not keep him away from TV cameras and op-ed pages.

Likewise, drug use did not stop Limbaugh from signing an eight-year contract reportedly worth $285 million in 2001, or from maintaining a demanding schedule that included three hours on the radio five days a week, or from retaining his status as the nation’s leading talk radio host, reaching nearly 20 million listeners on about 600 stations. If his housekeeper hadn’t ratted on him, we might never have known about all those pills.

I’d say that’s how it should have been, except that Limbaugh seems to prefer a different approach. "If people are violating the law by doing drugs," he told his radio audience in 1995, "they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up." Maybe the government should respect his wishes.

REASON Dec 2003

The President did not have to sneak in and out of a war zone 4 years ago.
Four years ago this week the President of the United States flew into a war zone in broad daylight and had Thanksgiving Dinner with the troops. This year our President had to sneak into the Baghdad Airport under cover of darkness and remain in a heavily guarded military compound without allowing any coverage until he was 10,000 feet above Baghdad on his way home. The big difference is that Clinton was warmly received by a large contingent of troops in Kosovo, but more importantly was also warmly received by the natives prior to the event, who thanked him for their liberation.

Speaking in a chilly school gymnasium, Clinton drew round after round of cheers as he recounted the leading role the United States played in the 78-day air war against Yugoslav government troops.

"You cheered for us when we came in because when you were being oppressed we stood by you,'' Clinton said. The crowd was more subdued as Clinton continued: "We won the war, but listen: only you can win the peace. The time for fighting is passed.''

An 8th-grader, Ramadan Ilazi, introduced Clinton, "You promised that you will bring us to our homes safe. You kept your promise," the boy said.

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary November 23, 1999
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE U.S. TROOPS FOLLOWING THE THANKSGIVING WEEK MEAL
Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Well, the people at my table said that the speech I gave to the other troops was piped in here, which means it either was or it wasn't, and if it was, you heard it, and if it wasn't, you get relieved of hearing it. (Laughter.) Let me say to all of you how very grateful I am for your service here and for the power of your example here. As I said to the other troops, NATO won the military victory, but now the people of Kosovo have to win the peace, and you have to help them win it -- not only by doing your jobs, but by setting a good example.

This was a war caused by a man's determination to drive a whole people out of a country because of their ethnic and religious background. It's the opposite of everything we believe in, everything we live by, and everything the United States military stands for.

And you just look around this room today. We just celebrated Thanksgiving, with, I bet you, conservatively, 25 different ethnic groups represented among the American military forces here in this room -- maybe 50, maybe it's more.

We are interested and proud in and proud of our background, and we should be, but we know that our common humanity and our shared values are more important. That's the message that the children need to get here in Kosovo. And the more you work with people and the more you let children see you working together, having a good time, being proud of what you're doing, doing your job, living the American creed, you will also be fulfilling your mission by doing that.

Kids are not brought up hating each other because they're different, they have to be taught to do that. They've taught generations of people on this land, good people in both communities to do that, and now they've got to stop and you've got to help them. And I can't think of a better Thanksgiving present that you could give to them.

Let me also say that I was very honored -- I've got four members of the Congress here who voted for this, but I was very honored to sign the legislation which raised the pay and improved the retirement of members of the military. (Applause.)

But let me also say that we are well aware that in this good economy, with the training you've gotten in the military, that you're not serving for the money, but we think you ought to be properly compensated and have a good retirement, and it ought to be an incentive for you to stay if you're so inclined. But we honor your service, we need you, and on Thanksgiving, those of us who came here will be home and you will be a long way from home.

But you will be in our hearts, and I hope you know that what you're doing is a great, great gift to your country. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

WHAT IS GEORGE SO DESPERATE TO HIDE?

Why is he willing to stonewall, resist, thwart, and delay a Commission of his choosing?
Why is he dead set on keeping the TRUTH from the American Public and particularly the Victims of 9/11?

Initially an opponent of an independent commission, Bush signed legislation creating the panel on Nov. 27, 2002. He said the commission - five Republicans, five Democrats - "should carefully examine all the evidence and follow all the facts, wherever they lead."

If that is the truth MR. PRESIDENT please explain:
1) your insistence that the task be completed in a limited time
2) your failure to provide documents in a timely manner to allow the task to be completed
3) your failure to authorize funding for months in the early going.
4) your appointment of Max Cleland to the World Bank removing your main critic from the 9/11 commission.

Is it that you are a liar George?
What is it that you are so desperately trying to hide?

DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION OF 9/11 COMMISSION TASK IS THREATENED BY BUSH CAUSED DELAYS

Nov 26, 2003 WASHINGTON (AP) - Victims' relatives who pressed for an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks say the panel risks being undercut by the government's failure to cooperate with it.

The Family Steering Committee, a group of victim advocates, marked the one-year anniversary of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States by urging an extension of its May 27 deadline for submitting findings and recommendations.

"Unfortunately, the production of a timely report no longer seems to be possible, in large part because of the delays caused by the (Bush) administration and the agencies that report to it," the group said Wednesday in a statement. Twelve people who lost spouses, children, siblings and parents in the Sept. 11 attacks formed the steering committee to monitor the work of the federal commission.

The leaders of the 10-member commission, Republican Thomas H. Kean and Democrat Lee Hamilton, said last week that they still intend to complete work by May 27. But they warned that further resistance from government agencies could threaten their ability to meet the deadline.

The panel has issued three subpoenas in the last six weeks - to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Pentagon, and New York City - saying those entities had not fully responded to document requests. The city said it will contest its subpoena, which seeks transcripts and recordings detailing the emergency response to the attack on the World Trade Center.

Also, the commission reached a deal with the White House over access to highly classified intelligence briefings that President Bush received in the weeks and months before the attacks. The panel agreed to several restrictions, including a limit on how many commissioners may examine the documents.

Meanwhile, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is making another effort to extend the deadline to apply to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund past Dec. 22. The senator joined Brian Jordan, a grief counselor for the victims' families, in New York on Wednesday to announce a final appeal for Congress to move the deadline back one year.

Current law prohibits further applications for the fund from being accepted past the December deadline. Schumer said Congress could still help the families of the victims. "The pain for victims' families is particularly sharp around the holidays, and the idea that Congress refuses to take this up as the deadline looms adds insult to injury," said Schumer. "But there is still a small amount of time left. Congress can still do the right thing if it wants to."

Rush Limbaughtomy Reader Writes a Letter to the Editor
and receives Dittohead Hate Mail in Reply

Published Monday, November 17, 2003 Rush Limbaugh, Independence

Nita J. Wyrick ["Rush Limbaugh, What's Right," letter, Nov. 6] proved Ralph Borgsmiller's point ["Rush Limbaugh, ESPN," letter, Oct. 29] magnificently with her narrow-minded response to his excellent letter that pointed out how Rush Limbaugh's loyal listeners don't think for themselves. Just the fact that they proudly refer to themselves as "dittoheads" should be a good indicator of their mind-set.

Also, for Ms. Wyrick to refer to liberalism as a "mental defect" truly shows how misled people of her ilk are.

If you call implementing a living wage, affordable health care, ending corporate welfare, fully funded public education, and racial and gender equality "mentally defective," then I guess there are a lot more mentally defective people in this country than was previously thought. You can include the founding fathers in that group, too, seeing as how the Declaration of Independence states that "all men are created equal."

As a matter of fact, the Polk County supervisor of elections Web site says that there are thousands more voters registered as Democrats than as Republicans -- so does that mean that mental defectives are the majority in Polk County?

What else can we expect from a dittohead, though -- they've already demonstrated they cannot think for themselves and only repeat what their great leader Rush tells them to. Perhaps they should spend more time studying the facts and what "liberals" truly stand for rather than being told what to think by someone who's nothing more than an entertainer who is earning a pretty penny spouting half-truths and ugliness.

KATE BERNARD - Davenport

An Anonymous writer sent this to Kate in reply - hand written on a legal pad. Kate mailed the letter to me.

Here is the first half of the letter recreated as close to the original in caps., spelling, and punctuation as possible:

I'm GETTING TIRED oF ANSWERING
ALL YOU STUPID LIBERALS LETTERS.

TO YOU LADY, I GIVE A RESPONSE OF; HOW DUMB CAN YOU GET? REAL DUMB. DUMB TO BE A BRAINDEAD DEMOCRAT, WHOOPS NOT DEMOCRAT, SOCIALIST DEMOCRAT COMMY IDIOT

IF I WANTED TO LIVE UNDER SOCIALISM, I COULD MOVE TO ANY OTHER COUNTRY, AND I WILL FIGHT TO STOP YOU SOCIALISTS FROM RUINING THE USA

YOUR RIGHT, LIBERALISM IS NOT A MENTAL DEFECT IT IS A TOTAL BRAINDEAD DEFECT.

NOW, I'M 20 YEARS OLDER THAN RUSH AND MY POLITICAL FEELINGS AND BELEIFS ARE MINE, NOT RUSH'S.
HE JUST PORTRAYS MINE AND 35 MIL OTHER SMART AMERICANS.

WHEN A PERSON REGISTERS TO VOTE, THEY PICK A PARTY. MANY HAVE BEEN WHATEVER FOR YEARS.
DOE'S NOT MEAN THEY VOTE THAT WAY. REP. CONTROL POLK CO. I'VE VOTED DEMOCRAT BEFORE ALSO.
DEMOCRATS ARE NOT THE SAME TODAY. THE PARTY STANDS FOR SOCIALISM TODAY. SOCIALISM IS ANOTHER WORD FOR COMMUNISM.

LIBERALS ARE SOCIALISTS........

I think I get the drift. Democrats = Liberals, Liberals = Socialists, Socialists = Communists therefore all Democrats are Communists.

I guess Rush can be gratified that his message is getting through to someone.

Damage: Global Warming Catastrophe - New Evidence

We support Damage in this week's new blog showcase. Read the entry above and while you are there check the archives.

More required reading: The False Hero The Mahablog

Senate Republican staff illegally accessing Democratic files

(11-25) 16:48 PST (AP) -- WASHINGTON(AP) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said Tuesday he had put one of his staffers on administrative leave for improperly obtaining data from the secure computer networks of two Democratic senators.

Hatch, R-Utah, said preliminary interviews suggested that a former Republican member of the committee staff may have also been involved in penetrating the Democratic computers. "I was shocked to learn that this may have occurred," Hatch said in a statement. "I am mortified that this improper, unethical and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files may have occurred on my watch."

Hatch launched an investigation after Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., protested what they said was the theft of memos from their servers. The memos, concerning political strategy on blocking confirmation of several of President Bush's judicial nominations, were obtained and reported on by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times.

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle informed Hatch on Monday that the committee's four computer servers had been disconnected and that daily backup tapes had been given to the U.S. Capitol Police for safekeeping. He said an outside expert would conduct a forensic assessment to determine if there had been unauthorized access to files.

Hatch said that, at his direction, two federal prosecutors assigned to the committee had conducted interviews with about 50 people. He said the interviews revealed that at least one current staff member had improperly accessed at least some of the documents that appeared in the media reports and which have been posted on the Internet. The person has denied leaking the information to the press, he said. The staff member, who was not identified, was put on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of Pickle's investigation, Hatch said.

Click on the GIF for Shot in the back Pictures



WHAT WILL YOU MISS MOST OF THE THINGS RUSH DID TO MAKE YOU HAPPY?

Now that the "new and improved version" of the remade and rehabilitated Mumbo Jumbo has supplanted the good old Rush that we all had known and "loved"; what will you miss most?

Rush used to go out of his way to make us 'happy', but now that he has 'taken the cure' he is determined to remain 'drug free' by pleasing himself instead of 'others'. Rush indicates that his descent into the sordid and self-absorbed world of Hillbilly Heroin addiction was fueled by a 'self-loathing' borne of a over-reaching need to make us happy.

It would only be right that after so much happiness granted us by the magnanimous Mumbo Jumbo, we should be willing to give it up for the benefit of our benefactor. In keeping with that sentiment this is a little list of 'happy things' that Rush did for me that I am willing to do without:

1.) Staying out of Jail as a self-confessed drug addicted felon.
Now that Rush is determined to please himself he should be free to 'go to jail' as he has suggested all drug offenders should.
2.) Blaming almost everything on the Clinton's
This is a tough one because the happiness Rush delivered while blaming everything on the Clinton's will leave him with so little to talk about
3.) Blaming everything else on Liberals
Rush made so many of us happy by explaining that everything is the fault of Clinton's or Liberals. Giving this up will be a shock to the national psyche but it is time to let Rush focus on his own happiness instead of ours.
4.) That $285 million dollar broadcasting contract.
It will be sad to see it go but you gotta do what you gotta do Rush - go ahead and give it up.
5.) The $24 million dollar Palm Beach mansion
The big mansion is a source of joy for 'dittoheads' from coast to coast but you come first Rush and the burden of so much wealth and such a large estate is too dear a price to pay for the happiness of others.
6.) Those ridiculous book contracts.
Rush writing will sorely be missed but his happiness is threatened by those lucrative book deals.
7) Golf and cigars
Seeing Rush swing those clubs in synch with that huge cigar reminded us of Monica's posterior and put a smile on many faces with every image. Rush you have our blessing to lay down the clubs and the stogies.

Let's all send Rush the message that we are willing to sacrifice the happiness he has brought to us. Let Rush know what you are willing to do without to aid him in his recovery. He may become a self-centered self-righteous bigot instead of the loving and caring beacon of joy we have come to know and love. Let Rush know that you support him. Tell Rush about the happiness you are willing to do without in the comment section.


SUPPORT RUSH IN HIS TIME OF NEED: JOIN THE "DRUGS FOR RUSH" CAMPAIGN
From the Left:
SouthKnoxBubba __ another Mission Accomplished and the must read GOP Bizarro World Politics
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo ___ the CGI President and Culture Clashing with the Facts
Ruminate This ___ AARP; Just Another Insurance Agency and Another Vain and Vindictive Run

Rush Limbaugh hypocritical about drug use, rehab centers
by Joe Shaw U-Wire The News Record (U. Cincinnati)

Rush Limbaugh is back. Watch out. The conservative media tyrant and Republican blowhard took a leave of absence from his radio show five weeks ago to go into rehab and rid himself forever of the evil clutches of his addiction to prescription painkillers.

Mind you, he did not admit to his abuse until after rumors swam through the media. He kept his dirty little secret while going on the air, day in and day out, to rail against those who broke the law and used drugs, claiming they "deserved to be there."

Shortly after returning to work, Rush claimed that his five-week, intensive rehab session at a facility in Arizona was "a wonderful process ... as important as the first grade and maybe the second grade." Since when did drug rehab become a wonderful process? If the movie "Trainspotting" taught us anything it is that rehab is about as far from wonderful as you can get.

On his show, Rush constantly blames drug users and sellers for the problems that face America today. On his show in 1995, he said that the answer to this problem was "to go out and find the ones who are getting away with (drug use), convict them and send them up the river, too."

Limbaugh admitted to using drugs illegally, yet there he stands, thanking his fans for their kind thoughts and prayers. Why isn't he standing before a judge, admitting that he, like the millions he denounced, deserves to be sent up the river? Doesn't this seem a little bit hypocritical? Limbaugh doesn't seem to think so. In a response to such claims, he says, "My behavior doesn't change right and wrong. And just because I may have been doing something that appeared to be contradictory to what I was suggesting others do doesn't mean that what I was suggesting others do is wrong ... There's no hypocrisy in this."

Now he expects us to sit idly by while he parades himself as a national hero for overcoming his drug addiction. He expects us to feel sorry for him, to have compassion for him the way he has never had compassion for the millions of others who continue to struggle with their addictions. But this is not unexpected. Limbaugh has been an idiot for quite a long time and he'll continue to be an idiot for years to come.

Around the League - On Top of their games this weekend
The Mahablog_ The cost of Fish & Chips with the Fundies
Natalie Davis All Facts and Opinions _ on Gay Marriage MJ
Ayn Clouter - Old Europe Cowers Again
Wilson's Blogmanac _ GPS for Spies Lincoln Kennedy parallels
Turquoise Waffle Irons in the Backyard - Candidate's Tech Survey and the Church Signs
Musings of a Philosophical Scrivner_ State's Rights and a More Expensive Future
Indigo Ocean _ Maui Tomorrow
Estimated Prophet _The Greatest Story Never Told some contrasts
The Huck Upchuck _ Kingfishery and Kingcakery down in Louisianna
Required Reading from the Mahablog The Fog
Speed kill_ Who is leading the Attacks? The Daily Howler? _ Hilarity Ensues
Bill Gates better watch out for The Poison Kitchen
Ink from the Squid on Medicare
Rick's American Cafe_ Bush fights negative fire with more negatives and CVS morality
Left is Right _ Abandoning the Drug Free America Myth and An Apology
Cup O' Joe _ What Happened Yesterday and Been Busy
Hammerdown _ Not the Sharpest Tool and Greatest Hypocrisy
Pharyngula _ Glow in the Dark Fish and Krugman in Syracuse
T-Rex's Guide to Life_ Nader is a Sanctimonious Prick and Judicial Stats
The People's Republic of Seabrook_ Canadian Outdoor Hockey and Holiday in Dallas

He loved the Rush

He loved the Rush

Nov. 20, 2003: Rush was a major-league pill-popper, and has been broadcasting for years under the influence of controlled substances. I have no problem with Rush doing the illegal drugs of his choice. It's his body – he owns it, not the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Perversely, Rush has always been a drug warrior. In a Playboy interview, in December 1993, he said: "By legalizing drugs, all you're going to do is define deviancy further downward." The same month, on his radio show, he said: "I'm appalled at people who simply want to look at all this abhorrent behavior and say 'People are going to do drugs anyway – let's legalize it.' It's a dumb idea, a rotten idea. And those who are for it are purely, 100 percent selfish." Rush has never been a clear thinker, or intellectually honest.

The discovery of Rush's liking for opiates makes him a hypocrite, as well as an insufferable blowhard. For the last three years, he's been nothing but an unconscionable flack for the Republican Party, reflexively supporting anything they do or say. My guess, therefore, is that Rush won't be arrested for buying and doing illegal narcotics, as if he were a black, or some white trailer park trash. He's entirely too well wired with the Republicans.

Rush could say something like this:

Sure, drugs are a bad habit, like alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. While the opiates I like give me a nice ... rush ... I realize that they have damaged my hearing and resulted in chronic constipation. I would, objectively, perhaps, be better off without them. I'm an adult, and I can afford the pleasure financially. I only regret having been a craven hypocrite all these years, and I want to apologize for that. But nothing else. So I'm going to do the hard, but intellectually honest, thing and recant my previous ill-advised views on drugs. And on a lot of other things. I can see that the government isn't my friend ... etc, etc.

More likely, Rush is going to turn over on his back and wet himself, begging forgiveness for breaking the law, blaming it on the addictive nature of drugs. He'll say he's a poster boy for why enforcement should be tougher yet, to save people like him from themselves. He could become as rabid as an ex-smoker around cigarettes. The revelation of which way he'll go is almost enough to get me to listen to his sorry show again.

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This site supports A MARINE GIRL in her 'battle' with the lying scumbag "Gunny" and so should you

New Blog Showcase contestant Anarchy Zero is the latest addition to the League. Another Cat Blogger is always welcome and keeping with the Open for Change full acceptance policy of the League an Anarchist will fit right in:
Britain Welcomes "President" Bush as Perle Tells Truth and the World Reacts in Shock as 1,000's Dance At the FTAA and 27 are Killed By Truck Bombs in Instanbul
Is it the End of The World or will the "Irrelevant" United Nations Rescue America from Bush the Madman who sent London into Literal Martial Law

IRAQ = DEATH is Anarchy Xero's entry in the New Blog Showcase and The League of Liberals has a new member in the race. Cast your votes and update your blogrolls accordingly.
Welcome Anarchy Xero.

WILLIAM BENNETT TO REPLACE RUSH LIMBAUGH AT "STATESMAN OF THE YEAR" DINNER
I Kid you not -- this is a true story

Nov. 20, 2003 1:42 p.m. EST The Claremont Institute announced Wednesday that Rush Limbaugh will not be in attendance at the Institute's annual Churchill Dinner on Friday, Nov. 21, 2003. Mr. Limbaugh was to receive the Claremont Institute's Statesmanship Award at that time. The Institute announced that Dr. William J. Bennett, recently appointed Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute, will deliver the keynote address at the event instead.

From his New York studio, Rush said: "Because I must limit my travel for the remainder of this year, I am unable to attend the Claremont Institute's Churchill Dinner on November 21. I deeply regret the inconvenience and disappointment caused the Claremont Institute by my having to postpone my appearance at such a late date. However, I am hopeful that we can re-schedule my attendance at another event in 2004. I greatly admire and respect the Claremont Institute and am very honored to have been chosen for this prestigious award." (Because he must limit his travel? Why? Have the cops told him not to leave the State?)

Dr. Bennett was the nation's first drug czar in the George H.W. Bush administration (so you know Bill and Rush have much in common since Rush is the Hillbilly Heroin King). Dr. Bennett has authored books on moral Virtues (like gambling and losing 100's of 1,000's of $$$).

Did Winston Churchill ghost rise from the grave to bring the Claremont Institute to it's knees? Did someone point out that a "drug addled, money laundering, felon might not be the best choice for a "Statesman of the Year" award?

Well the institute probably had second thoughts - but who was the moron who decided a hypocritical gambler was the second choice? Is the Claremont Institute really a lunatic asylum? Stay tuned.

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Our Showcase vote is Anarchy Xero: Winding the Iraq Deathwatch

Paris Hilton Pulls Out of David Letterman Interview

Nov 20, 2003 NEW YORK (AP) - Socialite Paris Hilton, star of an upcoming Fox reality series and an inadvertent Internet icon, is pulling out of Paris Hilton's announced interview on David Letterman's "Late Show." Paris Hilton's spokesman said no slight on Letterman was intended. He added that Paris Hilton wants to keep a lower profile because of the extraordinary amount of attention Paris Hilton's received from Paris Hilton's now-ubiquitous Internet porn video.

Paris Hilton said this week that Paris Hilton was "embarrassed and humiliated" that Paris Hilton's homemade sex video Paris Hilton shot three years ago with Paris Hilton's then-boyfriend Rick Salomon has been making the rounds online.

That should take care of all those Paris Hilton search visits.
Natural Resource Giveaway GOP's Inhofe approves of torture Clap for the Pigboy's Money Laundry and Tennessee GOP Rep in a perp-walk.
Is Dawn Wierd? a Woman of Color or a Lawyer? have Pedro Martinez feelings? Well Hooray join the Conspiracy
Difficult Days during the Illegal Invasion and the Rape of the Earth where Protests and Whistleblowers are Patriots not Traitors
A Periodic Check of the League show better planning than the Military and certainly for "wirehead" BJ. Shades of the Solviets A Matrix Score No News Here hardly.
Just a Bump in the Beltway Too Sweet Yer Cadillac Pissed Off 1 and 2 Sick F#@K$ like Gunny and more at the Mudshark

A DOLL WE CAN BUY AND "LOVE"
LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE
HANG THEM OVER THE TELEPHONE WIRE

Limited edition 17-inch high cloth and vinyl figure of George Bush with his Pants on Fire.

Just $11.95 plus $3.50 S&H each. Order by November 28 for delivery before Christmas. That is less than half the price of the "BOGUS" Bush Captain Codpiece Doll

Criminal violence skyrockets in Baghdad - Monthy Death Toll Tops Saddam

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19-- The number of violent deaths in Baghdad increased exponentially -- from 40 to 55 times -- after the fall of Saddam Hussein's repressive regime, data show.

Prior to the war there was an average of 16 violent deaths a month. In August 2003 however there were 872 violent deaths, with 498 of them from firearms. In September that number dropped to 667 violent deaths, but again more than half -- 372 -- were attributed to firearms, according to Army Capt. Brian Song, a military lawyer with the Army Corps of Engineers.

Every household in Iraq is allowed to keep one weapon, usually an AK-47, for personal protection under Coalition Provisional Authority rules.

Admin supporters tout end to Saddam's mass graves but Saddam did not kill at this rate. Even if Saddam killed 300,000 as estimated by some that was 36 a month. Deaths now are 55 a month. Some savings.

Proposed Liberal Radio Network Sold - New Investors Aim for Startup Early 2004

Nov 19, 2003 CHICAGO (AP) 10:51 PM - A group headed by a former adviser to the Democratic National Committee has taken over the effort to create a liberal radio network to compete with conservative talk radio. Mark Walsh, who's also a former America Online executive, said his investors' group bought the proposed network from the venture capitalists who started AnShell Media L.L.C. in February. The purchase price was not announced.

At the time, Sheldon and Anita Drobny said they had lined up $10 million and hoped to be on the air by this fall. But the Drobnys never hired any talent, purchased any stations or signed any distribution contracts.

Walsh, who once served as the DNC's chief technology adviser, said Tuesday that he expects to be broadcasting by early next year. Liberal comedian and author Al Franken said he was encouraged by the sale to Walsh's group and that he was talking with Walsh about developing a show.

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Rush Limbaugh Probed for Money Laundering

Nov. 19, 2003 12:30 PM WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Authorities are investigating whether Rush Limbaugh illegally funneled money to buy prescription painkillers, a law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity said Wednesday.

In his third day back on the air after rehab in Arizona, Limbaugh responded with a blanket denial of the allegations first reported Tuesday by ABC News. "I was not laundering money. I was withdrawing money for crying out loud," Limbaugh said in his three-hour broadcast.

Law enforcement sources in Palm Beach County, where Limbaugh owns a $24 million oceanfront mansion, previously confirmed that a criminal investigation into a prescription drug ring involved the conservative radio commentator. His former maid, Wilma Cline, reported supplying him with OxyContin and other painkillers.

Authorities learned two years ago during an investigation of U.S. Trust bank in New York that Limbaugh withdrew cash 30 to 40 times from his account at amounts just under the $10,000 bank reporting requirement, ABC News reported Tuesday. A bank employee was reported to have delivered some cash to Limbaugh.

Limbaugh told listeners the report was misleading and said that he had the bank bring cash to him at his New York office "maybe four times, if that many." Otherwise, he said he obtained cash from a bank in Florida, where he was living.
"When I went to get cash, I took a check to the bank. I went to the bank officer. I said, 'Here's my check,' and they gave me the cash. There were witnesses to this," he said.

It can be a federal crime to structure financial transactions below the $10,000 limit to avoid the reporting requirement.

Limbaugh reported two years ago that he had lost most of his hearing because of an autoimmune inner-ear disease, but some medical experts have said abusing opiate-based painkillers like OxyContin can lead to profound hearing loss. Limbaugh had surgery to implant an electronic device to restore his hearing.

In the past, Limbaugh has decried drug use and abuse on his show, mocking then-President Clinton for saying he had not inhaled when he tried marijuana and often making the case that drug crimes deserve punishment.

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Bush is 'greatest threat to life on planet'

18 November 2003 Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, launched a stinging attack on President George Bush last night, denouncing him as the "greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen".

His provocatively timed comments, on the eve of Mr Bush's arrival in London tonight, threaten to create severe embarrassment for the Prime Minister. They also come with talks under way on whether to re-admit Mr Livingstone to the Labour Party before his five-year exile ends. Although he made his many differences with the Government on a range of issues clear, he reserved his strongest comments for the American President in an interview with The Ecologist magazine.

The President's three-night trip, which will culminate on Friday with a visit to the Prime Minister's Sedgefield constituency, has sparked a flood of protests from those opposed to his foreign policy. But Mr Livingstone's outburst makes him one of the most high-profile and explicit of his critics.

Mr Livingstone recalled a visit at Easter to California, where he was denounced for an attack he had made on what he called "the most corrupt and racist American administration in over 80 years". He said: "Some US journalist came up to me and said: 'How can you say this about President Bush?' Well, I think what I said then was quite mild. I actually think that Bush is the greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen. The policies he is initiating will doom us to extinction."

READ WHAT THE AVERAGE IRAQI THINKS ABOUT BUSH HERE

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BUSH IS STUPID OR INCOHERENT SAY 70% OF BRITONS
The full extent of the low regard Britons have for George Bush revealed in a Saturday poll.

The US President was branded a threat to world peace by a clear majority, 60%, of those questioned by YouGov.

MOST BRITONS CONSIDER BUSH STUPID - 37% or INCOHERENT - 33%

More than one in three, 37%, said Mr Bush was "stupid" while 33% called him "incoherent".

VERY FEW HAVE A POSITIVE IMPRESSION

Only a minority saw positive characteristics in Mr Bush, with just 7% regarding him as a good world leader, 6% as articulate and 10% as intelligent.

MOST AGREE WITH ANTI-WAR PROTESTS

There was sympathy with anti-war campaigners who plan a series of protests to mark the visit with a majority of 53% to 41% supporting the demonstrations.

The antipathy toward Mr Bush is matched by a gloomy view of Iraq.

A majority said Britain and America were wrong to go to war with Iraq
45% to 43% in April voters were in favour of the war by 66% to 29%.

73%, expect the security situation to get worse while only 15% believed that things would get better in Iraq with just 18% saying the country's future would be as a peaceful democracy. An overwhelming 70% thought there was little hope for the people of Iraq and that it would be a permanently unstable country.

There was little faith in the President's ability to handle the continuing problems in Iraq.

24%, had confidence in Mr Bush on Iraq, while 74% did not.

Prime Minister Tony Blair fares only slightly better:
38% express confidence 59% do not.

If anyone had any doubt how far the current administration had fallen in the esteem of the World this poll should erase all doubt. Britain is America's closest friend and supporter in the World. If the British hold Bush in this low esteem you can bet the view in the rest of the World is worse.

Bush needs to go and he needs to go now.

YouGov surveyed a representative sample of 1,934 adults, online, on Thursday and Friday, November 13-14.

Limbaugh Is Back, at least temporarily, with Fans and Foes All Ears

Nov. 17, 2003 More than five weeks after he entered a residential treatment center for what he described as an addiction to prescription pain medication, Rush Limbaugh is to return to the airwaves today.

While his voice will be beamed into an atmosphere swirling with questions — not the least of which center on whether he acquired some of those drugs illegally — one point seems assured: Mr. Limbaugh, by far the biggest star in talk radio, is poised to draw one of the biggest audiences in his 15-year career in syndication.

The "feminazis" and other liberals Mr. Limbaugh says he loves to hate — wonder how he might reconcile his own behavior with his past statements recommending jail time for drug users.

"I would expect that Limbaugh's listenership will be three to four times its normal size when he comes on the air," said Michael Harrison, the editor and publisher of Talkers magazine, a trade journal, which estimates Mr. Limbaugh's weekly audience at more than 14.5 million. "Personally, he might be in the worst trench he's ever been in. But people are curious to hear what Rush's going to say, which puts him, professionally, at the peak of his career."

Mr. Limbaugh, who is heard on WABC-AM in New York and counts his audience as closer to 20 million, has done nothing to dampen that anticipation. A spokesman, Allan Mayer, said on Friday that Mr. Limbaugh was giving no interviews and would not even say whether he was planning to broadcast from his studios in Manhattan or those in West Palm Beach, Fla., near where he has a home.

Before he went silent, Mr. Limbaugh was the subject of news reports in The National Enquirer and other publications that he had bought drugs like OxyContin, a powerful painkiller, without a prescription. Other reports suggested that law enforcement officials were investigating the matter, and Mr. Limbaugh told his listeners that he would not discuss any details "until this investigation is complete."

Asked what Mr. Limbaugh might say today, Mr. Mayer said: "The only people he's going to be speaking to publicly are his own listeners, through his own microphone. They are going to get it from the horse's mouth, as it were, the first comments he has to make about his own situation and his view of the world."

In many ways, how people view Mr. Limbaugh's prospects for recovery — personally, as well as professionally — depends on their political affiliations. Mr. Limbaugh had been a hero of the right, particularly after he helped galvanize those who seized Congress for the Republicans in 1994.

William J. Bennett, a conservative who served as the so-called drug czar during the first Bush administration, said in an interview that Mr. Limbaugh was at the center of "a human drama about a guy who's having huge success, takes a huge step down, and is now trying to get himself in shape."

That Mr. Limbaugh, with his advocacy of stiff punishment for drug offenders, would himself admit to a long-term addiction was evocative of the situation that Mr. Bennett was in earlier this year. One of the nation's pre-eminent moral crusaders, Mr. Bennett acknowledged that he had set a poor example by "too much gambling."

Nonetheless, Mr. Bennett sought in the interview to distinguish his own shortcomings from the conduct of Mr. Limbaugh, a close friend who has dined at his home, once with Justice Clarence Thomas. "Not an addiction," Mr. Bennett said of his own actions, as if ticking off a list of talking points, "not a problem, no therapy, gambling too much, stopped it."

Limbaugh returns to the microphone today: Will his signal fade?

Devotees say Limbaugh walks a fine line, having violated the moral code that makes him famous and trounces "feminazis and "commie-symps." That the witty, bombastic conservative champion was getting buzzed - on the air, to boot - has been hard for many to swallow, especially since the same Limbaugh who condemned the late Jerry Garcia's drug use allegedly hoarded a cache of pills. And Limbaugh's confession came less than two weeks after he quit as a pro-football commentator on ESPN amid cries of racism over a comment on a black athlete.

Still, some 94 percent of Limbaugh's audience promises to return - and some say the legions will only increase, at least for Monday's show. "There's a disconnect between his behavior and all those years of calling for personal responsibility," says Joe Capella, a professor at the Annenberg School of Communication in Philadelphia. "The disconnect undermines his credibility ..., but the question is with whom?"

Many critics say Limbaugh is more sophist than ideologue, more in the camp of troubled actor Robert Downey Jr. than disgraced televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. His fans' forgiveness, some experts say, offers a telling glimpse of a country in a quandary - not just over "hillbilly heroin" like Limbaugh's OxyContin, but over a growing acceptance of populist leaders who do what they do, not what they say.

Cheney Ignored War Chaos Alert -
British Ambassador Provides Evidence of Serious Divisions Between Allies
Tony Blair made a personal appeal to Bush to delay the war.

Sunday Nov. 16, 2003 British warnings that America was failing before the war to prepare properly for a crumbling security situation in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was ousted were ignored by Vice President Dick Cheney and the Pentagon.

In some of the first direct evidence of serious divisions between the key allies in the run-up to the conflict, the former British Ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, said the US had failed to focus on what might happen after Saddam had been overthrown.

His admission raises serious questions that a lack of planning by US forces is at least partly to blame for Iraq's present security problems.

In an interview with The Observer, Meyer, who was ambassador just before the war began, said there were a series of meetings between British and American officials between the signing of the United Nations Resolution 1441 last November and the start of the war in March. The British regularly raised their concerns about how much planning was going on to secure the country after Saddam, but the issue was largely ignored.

'One of the things that did not work out between us was a properly agreed on post-Saddam strategy, a lot of those things have now been shown to be right.' Asked if the Government had warned the US about the need for planning the post-Saddam era, he said: 'Absolutely, absolutely. The problem was that bureaucratically there is a tendency in Washington to be able to focus on only one big issue at a time. 'I think they were consumed in the contingency planning for war.

'We were saying that's fine but we must be clear in our own mind what is happening afterwards. That was absolutely indispensable. 'The message was well taken in the State Depart ment but it could not agree an approach with the Defence Department and the Vice President.'

Meyer revealed that Tony Blair had made a personal appeal to Bush in the new year to delay the war. At their Washington summit in January, Bush had made it clear that America was ready to attack the following month, well before all the diplomatic avenues had been exhausted

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U.S. casualties from Iraq war top 9,000

UPI **Exclusive** Nov 14 2003 20:28:40 ET WASHINGTON-- The number of U.S. casualties from Operation Iraqi Freedom -- troops killed, wounded or evacuated due to injury or illness -- has passed 9,000, according to new Pentagon data. In addition to the 397 service members who have died and the 1,967 wounded, 6,861 troops were medically evacuated for non-combat conditions between March 19 and Oct. 30, the Army Surgeon General's office said.

That brings total casualties among all services to more than 9,200, and represents an increase of nearly 3,000 non-combat medical evacuations reported since the first week of October. The Army offered no immediate explanation for the increase. A leading veterans' advocate expressed concern.

"We are shocked at the dramatic increase in casualties," said Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. Of the non-combat medical evacuations:

-- 2,464 were for injuries, such as those sustained in vehicle accidents. -- 4,397 were due to illness; 504 of those were classified as psychiatric, 378 as neurological, and another 150 as neurosurgery.

"We are especially concerned about the psychological and neurological evacuations from this war," Robinson said. "We request a clarification of the types of illnesses people are suffering from so we do not have a repeat of the first Gulf War. We need to understand the nature and types of illnesses so scientists can determine if significant trends are occurring."

In early October, the Army Surgeon General's office said 3,915 soldiers had been evacuated from Operation Iraqi Freedom for non-combat injuries and illnesses, including 478 with psychological problems and 387 for neurological reasons. The new total of 6,861 reported non-combat evacuations is a rise of 57 percent since then.

The latest data on non-combat evacuations includes 1,628 orthopedic (bone) injuries.
Other leading causes for evacuations include:
-- 831 surgeries for injuries;
-- 289 cardiology cases;
-- 249, gastrointestinal;
-- 242, pulmonary (lung);
-- 634, general surgery;

Stephanakis said the pulmonary problems included soldiers who suffered from pneumonia as part of a cluster investigated by the Army in August. The numbers don't include service members treated in theater or those whose illnesses -- such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder -- were not apparent until after they returned to the United States.

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while we keep track of the Miserable Failure Project, snicker at Senator Bill Frist's Web Shenanagans, and marvel at the Damn Liberal Media thanks to the efforts of oour newest member, Turquoise Waffle Irons in the Back Yard. Remember to update your blogrolls, and favor this Slimy Mollusc with a few links.
Study the Myths of the War on Terrorism and Iraq, travel around the world in 80 days with Nellie Bly, or learn how to shake hands with the president. While you're welcoming Pip and the Blogmanac to the League of Liberals, you'll be thinking universally and acting terrestrially. Just wait--it will all become clear!

The League of Liberals is PROUD dismayed to WELCOME tolerate the inclusion of AYN CLOUTER just to keep an eye on her. AYN is the infamous author of THE BLOGFATHER review and the shrill twisted diatribe "How I Came To Hate Liberals" Ayn's work like CANONIZE BUSH and RENAME THE DEMOCRATS has caused speculation about her possible membership in The Landover Baptist Church There should be no question now that The League of Liberals is unbearably Liberal. We are truly the "party of inclusion" and we may see applications from LITTLE BROWN POOHBALLS and the INSTYPOOHBAH.

NOTE: If any of the membership wishes to call into question the leadership that has allowed inclusion of Ayn Clouter and The Politburo Diktat to the League now is the time to speak your piece. Welcome to "The Big Tent"

Ex-Halliburton employee: I felt sale of missiles was illegal

11/14/2003 7:15:32 AM By: Associated Press (Albuquerque-AP) -- A former Halliburton Company employee says even though he thought it was illegal—he helped complete the sale of mini-warheads to a Canadian explosives expert. Mitchell Hambright took the stand yesterday in the federal court trial of David Hudak. He is accused of stockpiling more than 2,400 shoulder-launchable missile warheads and using U.S. defense techniques to train foreign troops.

Hudak operated an anti-terrorism training business in Roswell. He faces a mandatory 50 years in prison if convicted.Hambright said the merchandise was not of any use to the Halliburton subsidiary and he went along with orders to move it in spite of his concerns.

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League of Liberals member And Then...'s entry in the New Blog Showcase is Late Night With Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist And Then... takes on our own native Tennessee Senator, The Shame of Rocky Top. Rush Limbaughtomy is proud to make BILL FRIST "THE REPUBLICAN ROLE MODEL of the Day" in support of And Then....

Get ready for the next big FRISTING see skb Frist is pissed because SCOTUS got him out of our bedrooms. So Bill is thinking about a Constitutional Amendment to get back in.

This rich Medicaid Fraud already profits by abortions while buying votes opposing them. He's rich because his father founded HCA, the nation's largest hospital company that just agreed to pay $880 million to settle charges of health care fraud the GOP has simply replaced a racist with a corporate crook.

Frist was born rich, and got richer - thanks to massive criminal fraud by the family business. the Bush Justice Department suddenly ended a near-decadelong federal investigation into how HCA for years had defrauded Medicaid, Medicare and Tricare (the federal program that covers the military and their families), giving the greedy health-care behemoth's executives a sweetheart settlement that kept them out of prison."
Frist Gets Rich from Abortions While Trying to Outlaw Them
Bill Frist votes to outlaw 99.5% of abortions, good enough to earn him a 100% voting record from the National Right to Life Committee - and 0% from Planned Parenthood and NARAL. But Frist owns at least $5 million worth of HCA, a for-profit hospital chain that provides abortions, thus fattening Frist's own wallet, and that of his brother, HCA's CEO.
Civil Rights NAACP Rating of 15% Bill Frist voted
against sanctions for predatory lending abuses
against NAACP-supported education amendments
against technology centers for poor and minority communities
against expanding higher education grants
to decrease voting registration through purging voter rolls
against increased global AIDS funding.
National Hispanic Leadership Conference.. 18% (2001) 25% (2000) 0% (1999)
against bilingual education and supported education funding
against federal hate crimes legislation
strong community reinvestment requirements for banks
Labor AFL-CIO Rating: lifetime rating of 3%
against workplace ergonomic standards and a real patient bill of rights
to restrict the free speech of unions versus other groups on firm premises
against giving collective bargaining rights to police and firemen
for Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy for massive cuts in NLRB funding
against minimum wage legislation. (1999-2000)
Environment League of Conservation Voters: 107th - 0% 106th - 0% 105th - 27%
for drilling in ANWR against renewable energy
against increased fuel standards for cars (2002)
for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico & national monuments
to give President unilateral power to block agriculture-related environmental regulation
to subsidize corporate timber cutting in Tongass forests
to allow unlimited mine waste by corporations on public leases
supported cut-rate pricing for oil leases on public land
voted to exempt all coal mining operations from the Clean Water Act. (1999-2000)

Bill Frist's personal stake in the family fortune is unknown exactly (in the tens of millions), but his brother's share according to Forbes is $950 million... And how did HCA/Columbia get rich? Raiding nonprofit hospitals, dumping the poor previously served and turning them into profit mills for the family bottom line.

Oh. the Irony - Bush "welcoming" protests in Britain? He doesn't expect everybody in the world to agree with him except the US Senate on his reactionary Judges Next He'll nominate Judge NO Moore Accept Natalie's "birthday gift" to us "The Speech Bush Did Not Give" and wish Natalie "Happy Birthday" (a few hours late) while you are there.
Cast your vote for the latest plan cause you are either with us or against us Flashback on the stepped up strategy and stage the news one more time. SouthKnoxBubba has the plan.

Rush Limbaugh will be back on the air next week, still under investigation

Limbaugh is still under investigation according to Palm Beach sources

(West Palm Beach, Florida-AP) -- Rush Limbaugh has completed a five-week treatment program for an addiction to painkillers -- but that doesn't mean he's off the hook.

A law enforcement source in Palm Beach County, Florida, says the state attorney's office is continuing to investigate Limbaugh's alleged drug use. Allegations about Limbaugh began when his maid was quoted by the "National Enquirer" as saying she was her boss's connection for purchasing OxyContin and other drugs.

Limbaugh shocked followers of his conservative talk show last month by announcing he was taking time off to deal with his addiction. But now, he's coming back -- taking over the microphone again starting on Monday.

216 Days have passed in the search is it Time to Evolve? The Sesquipedalian is no Incipient Ass
He is For God and Country and "pretty much a shot in the dark most days..."

We Alway's Knew They'd Come Around and make Bush fear for his re-selection with More Lost Heart's and Minds Losing Faith with the Occupation.
So enters Stageleft like the Freeway Blogger

FACE OFF CONTEST ON SAVAGE CRUEL BIGOTS

Ten British people have put their names forward to become the first in the world to undergo a face transplant. Details on plans for the pioneering operation will be announced by surgeons within days. Teams on both sides of the Atlantic are now confident they have the skills to attempt the operation.


The Royal College of Surgeons preparing to raise new concerns this week could delay the British team for months - allowing Americans to make the first attempt. There are concerns including the huge psychological and emotional difficulties patients associated with having another person's face.

The American attempt is being led by John Barker, director of plastic surgery research at Louisville University, in Kentucky. If they agree, surgeons would carefully remove the face of a donor within 24 hours of death and graft it on to the patient or in the alternative do the proceedure on those who simply agree to trade faces. Face transplants have featured in a number of films including the 1997 Hollywood thriller Face/Off, when an FBI agent "borrows" the face of a criminal.

A CHANGE OF FACE? THIS IS A DEVELOPMENT TOO GOOD TO PASS UP
Choose your favorite contestant and supply Savage Cruel Bigots with an alternative face via e-mail:
to aurabass AT hotmail DOT com. - all files 200 x 200 pixels jpg format only
Savage Cruel Bigots will perform the operation and feature the changed faces here.
The Contest will run through November 21, 2001 all entries must be in by midnight PST.
Winning combination receives a copy of BIG LIES by Joe Conason.
The referring site wins a copy of WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION (be sure to say who referred you)

Rush Limbaughtomy = the Dittohead Recovery Zone is proud to share this new found 12 step program with our readers who are dependant on help in becoming un-Limbaughtomized. Please copy these 12 steps and follow them diligently. Make sure that you continue to attend daily meetings here on Rush Limbaughtomy. "Remember it works if you work it and keep coming back".

"I am a Limbaughtomized addict clean and free of Rush Radio for 22 days. I thank my Higher Power for the Dittohead Recovery Zone" Oliver North

Free Yourself from Right Wing Talk Radio: 12 Steps to Recovery

Step 1: Admit that you were under the sway of right-wing, anti-democracy radicals.
This is the first step for every conservative or "ditto-head" listener on the way to recovery. It is important to understand that the people you were listening to are not "compassionate conservatives," "Republicans," or "pillars of morality." They're right-wing conservative radicals, more interested in strong corporations than strong democracy, and you must be honest with yourself about that fact.

Step 2: Realize that we can't have freedom & liberty without first building a civil society.
And civil society has certain costs, such as education, infrastructure, health care, defense, transportation, communications, a viable social safety net, and the protection of the commons, which we all agree to pay for with something called taxes that we levy on ourselves and not on our children. Only on this basis can we have individual liberty.

Step 3: Love democracy's basis in debate and respectful disagreement.
The processes of debate, dissent, and compromise are democracy's underlying strength. This may be the most difficult step for those of you who had completely surrendered to the dark side of conservatism and have labeled dissenters as unpatriotic. Admit that democracy actually requires dissent. You might want to read the words of our Founders to better understand what democracy is and what it isn't. Start with Jefferson.

Step 4: Understand that a living wage is vital to maintain a viable middle-class.
A strong middle class is vital to democracy. To say that somebody who earns millions a year by sitting by the pool collecting dividend checks "works that much harder" than a middle-class wage earner is simple nonsense. Although morality tells us that people deserve a livable wage and fair taxes, reality tells us even more starkly that without everybody having access to a good job, and in a nation where dividend-earners pay only 15% in income tax, democracy is at risk.

Step 5: Support labor unions and stop chanting "cheap labor" as the tired old right-wing mantra.
"Cheap labor" is the core mantra of the conservatives, and ultimately harms democracy. If capital can organize in the form of a corporation, and corporations can organize as conglomerates, Chambers of Commerce, and trade and lobbying associations, then labor must have an equal and guaranteed-by-law right to organize. Strong unions are the only thing standing between you and serfdom at the hands of corporate masters, and without the unions of the past there would be no American middle class today. If you have difficulty with this step, spend a week with a family living below the poverty level because their manufacturing jobs were sent overseas for "cheap labor" and all that was left was a cashier's position at Wal-Mart. You'll be chanting "livable wage now!" in no time at all.

Step 6: Stop listening to TV and radio pundits who have "amnesia" about the separation of church and state.
Their intent is to convince everyone that church-state separation was never intended by our Founding Fathers and that the United States was started as a Christian nation. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robinson not only lie about our founding fathers, but also don't grasp the lessons of millennia of bloody battles between popes, mullahs, and kings. Look at the back of a dollar bill and see "novus ordo seclorum" - "a new secular order" - and realize that the US Government is a secular democracy, not a religious theocracy.

Step 7: Stop pretending that you don't understand that government is "We, The People," and not some sort of "them."
"Drowning government in a bathtub," as conservatives have recommended, may have been a good idea in the former Soviet Union, but the United States is a constitutional representative democratic republic where our government is, literally, us. It was designed to work for us, be owned by us, exists solely by virtue of our ongoing approval, and must answer to us. The shared commons of our nation - including our air, water, transportation routes, airwaves and cable networks, communication systems, military, police, prisons, fire services, health care infrastructure, and courts must, for democracy to work well, be held either by locally-controlled non-profit corporations or by a government responsive to its citizens, with corporations barred from the political process.

Step 8: Repent from your SUV and let's start taking care of the planet we all share.
The natural world - including our water and air - is our most vital and essential commons, and therefore must be protected from those who would despoil it for short-term profit. When they poison the world, they degrade our quality of life and threaten our children's future. Begin now - by participating in our representative government - to take immediate steps to protect the commons we share with all other life on planet Earth.

Step 9: Stop listening to conservative talk radio.
Understand that talk show hosts of the conservative ilk daily demonstrate that bullying, humiliation, and the "big lie" are at the core of conservative talk radio. Turn them off, and instead tune into one of the many liberal talk shows that are daily sprouting across America, and where democracy is still alive and well.

Step 10: Help transform America back into an energy-independent nation.
Building a civilization on liquefied fossils and then thinking it will last forever makes no sense. World oil reserves are enough to sustain us only into our children's lifetimes, and then will run out. Encourage your elected representatives to help create viable energy sources that are not dependent on fossil fuels, and, in the meantime, take immediate steps to reduce use of and preserve our precious stores before they're exhausted.

Step 11: Refrain from rewriting political history.
Its now time to admit that George W. Bush and his administration have been lying to us about the war on terror, the invasion of Iraq, taking away our freedoms with The Patriot Act, and misleading the America people on issues from the environment to taxes to jobs. Know now that George W. Bush was selected not elected, and the election was stolen from Al Gore. You may now research beyond propaganda from right-wing think tanks and Faux News to understand things as they really exist in the world. Stay in touch with the many progressive news sites (like this one) and publications and encourage our mainstream media to stop being cowed by right-wing bullies and corporate paymasters.

Step 12: Be a visionary.
Once you have completed the previous steps to freeing yourself from conservative talk radio, it's time for you to share this awakening with others who will benefit from your new enlightenment. Go out amongst the "ditto-head" sheep and spread the good word of your freedom from the chains of ignorance that once bound you. Congratulations, and welcome to reality! And keep tuning your radio to The Thom Hartmann Program.

Visit the Thom Hartman website Renaissance Thinking about the Issues of Our Day It is chock full of good stuff to help the Recovering Dittohead.