] Dianne Clements, president of the Houston-based Justice
] for All victims' advocacy group, criticized the decision
] and said she hopes that when there is a Supreme Court
] vacancy a strong death penalty supporter is nominated.
]
]
]
]
] "The Supreme Court has opened the door for more innocent
] people to suffer by 16- and 17-year-olds," she said. "I
] can't wait for the Supreme Court to have judges more
] concerned with American values, American statutes and
] American law than what the Europeans think."

Yep! Americans stand for watching little kids fry on Old Sparky! Yep! Uh huh!

High Court Ends Death Penalty for Youths

] He wanted to go to war and he did. He had not the mind to
] perceive the costs of war, or to listen to those who knew
] those costs. He did not understand that you do not go to
] war when it is one of the options but when it is the only
] option; you go not because you want to but because you
] have to.

I filed this here though there were other choices. This sums up some things that I saw last fall better than I did at the time. Now we will see what the results are.

East Hampton Star - In the News

] The special prosecutor in the case, Chicago U.S. Attorney
] Patrick Fitzgerald, is investigating whether a crime was
] committed when someone leaked the identity of CIA officer
] Valerie Plame. Her name was published in a 2003 column by
] Robert Novak, who cited two senior Bush administration
] officials as his sources.

So why the hell isn't the Prince of Darkness one of the people under the order?

Appeals Court Upholds Ruling in CIA Leak

] He takes that a step further by arguing that such an
] incumbent-protection system, in which neither party risks
] losing what they already have, is the reason compromise
] has been replaced by deadlock in state politics. The
] state legislature seems forever polarized as extremists
] of left and right win safe party seats in Sacramento --
] and in Washington, too. His solution: panels of retired
] judges (and computers) to create new and presumably
] competitive elections.

I generally like Reeves column, especially when he points out things that have real solutions that people are working to deal with (and are getting stiffed).

CITIZEN SCHWARZENEGGER UPSETTING HIS PARTY

] The administration's Medicare chief revealed Tuesday
] night that the prescription drug program will actually
] cost not $400 billion, not $434 billion, not $551 billion
] but $732 billion over the next 10 years. That's an
] increase of 83 percent over what the administration told
] Congress when it was selling the bill -- enough money in
] real dollars to cover the entire costs of the wars in
] Afghanistan and Iraq to date or to eliminate the budget
] deficit that the administration projects for 2009.

hmmm... and what does this say to the Social Security numbers coming out of the White House?

Salon.com Politics - The Medicare Drug Benefit Boondoggle

] President Bush, in an interview with Brian Lamb of C-SPAN
] that was released Friday, talked of life in the White
] House:
]
]
] Lamb: "The longer you're in this White House, with all
] those that have gone before you, do you see ghosts of
] past presidents?"
]
]
] Bush: "Well, I quit drinking in '86. ... It's just really
] hard to project back into somebody else's shoes. So, no,
] I guess I don't see ghosts."

That's it, that's the whole piece, and wow can I not figure out where the hell Bush was going on this one.

Bush Doesn't See Ghosts in White House

A Fox News anchor flips out when a guest dares to question the nature of Bush's elaborate 2nd inauguration.

Frank Rich wrote: "Judy Bachrach, a writer for Vanity Fair, dared say on Fox News that the inaugural's military ball and prayer service would not keep troops 'safe and warm' in their 'flimsy' Humvees in Iraq. She was promptly given the hook."

Not what the poor talking head was expecting at all...

Fair and Balanced Inauguration

] A pair of Social Security employees told the Democratic
] Policy Committee they objected to internal agency
] documents that direct employees to talk about the
] system's problems and a need for reform.
]
] "That is a political message, and it's not my job as an
] agency employee to project a political message," said
] Debbie Fredericksen, who works in the Minneapolis field
] office and is a union representative.

Odd, but this is the sort of thing that was being heard from CIA not long ago...

Democrats Bash Bush Social Security Plan

] Many major medical groups support the use of emergency
] contraception, and the American College of Obstetricians
] and Gynecologists recommends that it be offered to all
] sexual assault victims who are at risk of pregnancy. But
] many conservative groups contend that use of emergency
] contraception can be a form of abortion in cases where
] fertilization has already occurred.

In other words, it's not good enough that you got raped, we're going to make you wait and find out if he got you pregnant too. Like it wasn't bad enough before?

Right to Lifers? Meet D Block. D Block? Virgin assholes.

Justice Rape Document Blasted for Omission

] "There will be some upfront transition financing that
] will be needed to move toward a better system that will
] allow younger workers to invest a small portion of their
] own money into personal savings accounts," White House
] spokesman Scott McClellan said.
]
]
] Asked if transition costs, estimated at between $1
] trillion to $2 trillion, would be financed by government
] borrowing, he added: "That's what you're looking at doing
] as part of the transition to a better Social Security
] system."

Part of this is just me, but another part is me screaming "NO!" The current state of affairs is, the government has been living well beyond anything close to its means since the "Reagan Revolution" with the exception of Clinton's second term. Part of the problem here is the same as the problems people have with 401k's where what you have in has little or no bearing what comes out, especially if there is a market collapse.

In the late 70's/early 80's, the normal place for the Dow to hover was in the 700-1000 range. On Black Monday 1987, the Dow dropped 22.6% from around 22-2300 to 1700-1800 with a 508 point decline (yes, that took some looking for those rough numbers, but it's accurate enough). Black Monday 1929 the Dow dropped 24%, from about 300 to about 225 and bottomed out just over 40 in 1932. The Dow didn't get back to pre crash levels until 1954!

What that all means is, the market (the same place that they're planning to stick those dollars) is a volatile place. Between 1980 and 1998 or so, it was a great place for money, moving up roughly 1500%. This is why Warren Buffet is one of the richest people on the planet. But, it is also a place where incredible amouts of money can be lost.

Now stacking on top of all the other problems that already exist, these guys want to borrow another 1-2 TRILLION on top of that? Once upon a time, the Republican party billed itself as the party of fiscal responsibility. I'm sorry, but this doesn't look even remotely responsible either to the people putting their money into the system or as a general move by a government already wallowing in a sea of red ink.

Is this something that might have potential? Sure, if you were running a government that were financially sound, the government could go ahead and do something along these lines and at the same time ensure a minimum return (which is what Social Security was created for in the first place!). But that is not what we have. What we have is 7.5 TRILLION dollars in debt that is moving up at a clip of about another 12 BILLION a week. Interest on that debt accounts for about 1 of every 6 dollars in the budget.

This isn't an investment opportunity, it's a recipe for a return to 1929.

W.House: Borrowing to Help Fund Social Security Plan