Hot Potato Mash

LOU DOBBS ENDORSES IMPEACHMENT OF GEORGE W. BUSH

Dobbs (at 1:48): You know, I've heard a lot of reasons over the years as to why George W. Bush should be impeached. But for them to leave the Food and Drug Administration in this state, its leadership in this sorry condition, and to have no capacity, apparently, or will to protect the American consumer -- that is alone to me sufficient reason to impeach a president -- who has made this agency possible and has ripped its guts out in its ability to protect the American consumer. It's insane what is going on here.

(h/t Crimes and Corruptions of the New World Order News)

FDA, Impeachment, Impeachment, lou dobbs

Democracy In Action... In Korea

The Bush administration fights to prevent meatpackers from testing for mad cow disease:

The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well.

A quarter-million Koreans protest in Seoul during a 72-hour-long marathon candle vigil against the import of US beef...

How great is this story? Here we once again have the Bush administration whoring for industry to the detriment of the American people. Yet, the mainstream media doesn't cover the story and Americans don't have a clue about it. But 250,000 turnout over three days to protest the sick actions of the American government in KOREA!

Of course the media can't report the ginormous protest because that would mean informing Americans about the disgusting actions of the Bush administration.

(h/t Big Dan)

Bush administration, democracy, Korea, mad cow

THIS MAN HATES YOU AND YOU COULD BE MAKING HIM RICH!

Jarrow L. Rogovin is the multi-millionaire founder and current President/Chairman of the Board of Jarrow Formulas, a formulator and supplier of nutritional supplements. With an extensive product list - including vitamins, herbal formulas, protein powders, pet formulations and antioxidants - you may well be a customer of Jarrow Formulas. If so, you are more than likely enriching a man who hates you and thinks you are a traitor that hates your country.

Jarrow L. Rogovin, you see, hates liberals, Democrats, Barack Obama (oh does he hate Obama!), the anti-war crowd, Europeans, Muslims (maybe more than he hates Obama) and perhaps above all else -- me!

I know this because over the last five weeks or so, I have traded a number of emails with Jarrow. Below I quote directly from those emails and ask readers, Jarrow Formulas customers and anyone googling “Jarrow L. Rogovin” to ask themselves whether this is someone you want to deal with, never mind enrich.

Patriotic American Jarrow L. Rogovin on liberals:

“Dupes are leftwingers.” “what vicious liars liberals are.” “We are winning the war.  At this point, liberals are traitors. They want America to lose. That is how much they hate the country. It is as horrible as it is revolting as it is tragic as it is despicable. They should never be forgotten nor forgiven.” “demonstrate how truly ridiculous liberals are.”

“At the risk of sounding like Ann Coulter, you come across as a typical liberal:  All sound and fury signifying fecklessness.” “You really are a piece of leftwing shit.” “I smelled a real liberal rat. Now it's like the dailykos.org and a pice of leftwing Nazi shit.” “The point is:  There are brainless fools like you who vote.  It's not their class.  It's your collective stupidity.” “You can't respond to what's on hand. You're a liberal.” “I'm sick and tired of liberal rantings”

“You, however, come across as a bleeting, liberal sheep:  Blathering blah-blah banalities without surcease.” “You really are a piece of leftwing shit.” “I'm sick of you people” “I really enjoy sending the columns to leftists. They hate it. I love it.” “libs are clueless about what's good for Israel.” “Further, you and the leftwing ACLU, and the scum trial lawyers are using the fear tactics” “The point of the NY Times editorials is that liberals -- who are really illiberal in the extreme -- are really completely corrupt fascists.”

Successful businessman and philanthropist Jarrow Rogovin on me:

“sputtering, stammering, incompetent ignoramus” “churlish, childish and wilfully ignorant” “Demented” “pathetic” “deranged” “nuts” “juvenile” “confused” “child” “unwell” “wannabe schoolyard bully” “child” “vulgar grade schooler” “horrid child” “obnoxious brat” “weird” “idiot” “nutball” “schmuck” “illiterate” “too fucking stupid clueless” “ignorant slut” “idiotic” “thick, ignorant slut skull” “naïf”

“SO pathetically IGNORANT” “Ignorant schmuck” “amazingly dense” “sick, shallow ‘mind’” “confused” “useless idiot” “You're an ass, sir, an absolute ass” “stupid, useless, shit-for-brains, fucked up little jackass!” “YOU ASSHOLE.  YOU STUPID LITTLE NINNY SCHMUCK” “you fucking crack pot piece of shit-for-brains idiot” “YOU ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!” “YOU STUPID SCHMUCK BASTARD!” “fuck yourself” “IDIOT!”

“The only thing that doesn't get out is the build up of crap in your skull.  Paranoid, leftist idiot. Stupid, pathetic, paranoid schmuck” “infected schmucks like you” “Your insane. Inane but insane” “just go fuck yourself. Put on your AC/DC crap and go fuck yourself. You sick, stupid, pathetic, hopeless little bastard. You're a pathological passive-aggressive twerp. Just go fuck yourself already” “And shove it up your anti-elitist ass” “your stupid, pathetic little shit of a schmuck” “shit you have for brains”

“Right, Fuckhead?” “Passive-aggressive geeky schmuck” “pathetic moron” “Passive-aggressive jerk” “You are way, way, way to pathetically ignorant” “You're an ignoranus, a stupid ass” “may I wish you a heartfelt Drop Dead!” “You're a bore and a fool” “You really are a piece of leftwing shit.  You're a disgusting piece of crap. Period.” “Go fuck yourself. Preferably with a branch from a St. Joseph's Coat rose bush.”

“You're a loser” “You're a total lout” “You're a hateful, disgusting piece of paranoid leftist shit” “you little piece of shit” “a leftwing Nazi paranoiac on your hands who is a crypto self-hating Jew” “You make me puke blood. Go to hell.” “despicable” “a loser and insane” “a pathetic bore” “Another meaningless statement from the anus that speaks” “you're a pig, which is...a pathetic bore. A passive-aggressive, pathological, leftwing paranoiac, self-hating bore. Go bore yourself another one. You're a bore.” “Silly Bore”

“self-loathing” “leftwing” “clowns” “childish shit” “flake” “you act like a clown” “an all-but illiterate fool” “boring” “brainless” “You're a worthless, self-hating schmuck” “You've had nothing to say that takes an I.Q. over 95.” “you can't even really think” “You're just a pathetic, embarrassing, fool -- and a fucked up passive-aggressive twerp.” “Otherwise, you're just full of more of your own shit.  Go take a fleet enema.” “dumbshit” “predictable leftist” “morons” “You're a waste of time. SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM..... ”

“You are an idiot.” “an idiot and a waste” “A leftwing fascist and self-hating Jew” “You're a schmuck, Alan.  Period.” “Jews like you are a Fifth Column. You're dangerous. You're the enemy. You're scum” “a miscreant and a waste” “trash ideas” “blighted fools.” “self-absorbed, inhumane, delusional liar.” “you and your self-deluded ilk” “pathetically stupid” “I wish I could call it naivete.  Unfortunately, it is far worse:  It is a perverse idiocy.” “selfish, sick, self-loathers” “You remind me of the old Hitler-loving peace crowd in the UK.  I have no use, no respect for you. You and your crowd is utterly foul, utterly disgusting.”

“You're scum of the lowest order” “think you're despicable” “We used to call it treason” “You lack even the wilted fig leaf of 'pacifism' for your evil views.  You are so obsessed with Bush Hatred that you are willing to see even millions die.  You are not only a traitor to the U.S. but to the very 'humanity' you feign to be protecting. You are foul, corrupt and evil, a useless idiot if there ever were one. ”

“You wallow in the sty of your self-imposed ignorance” “Hey Schmuck” “putrid, toxic waste” “Fuckheads like you would revel in the problems an arrogant fool like Obama would cause” “a clueless idiot who will never get it” “You're an empty suit.  A nothing.  Your obit would be a question mark after 'Who cares.’” “you're a lying piece of crap” “Go fuck yourself.  Traitor.” “morons” “pathetic puke” “schmucks” “sickos”

And my personal favorite Jarrow Rogovin quote:

“As a parent, [your father] is a miserable failure”
--

And, believe it or not, there are plenty more where those came from!  You can also check out more Jarrow in the comments section to a Joshua Pundit post:

“Limiting Muslim immigration might slow things down but I understand that the percent of under age 18 French that are Muslim is 30%. That is a horror. Europe should have brought in Indians and Chinese for labor because they adapt well to their new countries and are value added. The Arabs are destructive parasites to any culture but their own...

The Europeans really are miserable cowards and have no stomach for a fight. They really don't care enough for their own culture to defend it. In fact, many of the Euroleft are Arabophiles so that compounds the problem even more.”

Also see Jarrow L Rogovin's letter to the L.A. Business Journal criticizing the LA City Council for requiring hotels to (God forbid!) pay their workers a living wage.

UPDATE: This exchange between Jarrow and a customer who wrote him regarding the Israeli Flag on the Jarrow Formulas website is simply not to be missed!

Technorati Tags: Jarrow, Jarrow Formulas, Jarrow L. Rogovin, Rogovin

Universal Health Care For Iraq War Mercenaries - No Joke

Bhc explains the curious arrangement between the Department of Defense and its contractors:

Since contractors are not covered by the VA, they had to buy insurance for their employees. These employees would be in Iraq, and this did not sit well with the insurance companies. Nonetheless, the insurance was bought, but because it was too expensive, the US government paid the premiums for the contractor. But it gets worse.

Or better, depending upon one's perspective. There existed some “fine print” in those insurance policies, explicitly stating that injuries due to “hostile action” would not be covered. Hardly appropriate insurance for any American going to Iraq, let alone those jackasses from Blackwater. And so the US government stepped in to spare the struggling defense contractor from those onerous insurance premiums. Hmmm, maybe that free market ain't so great.

Ahh, but it is! Because that free market can somehow convince the government to pay for the free market insurance for the free market contractor. And that demonstrates just how awesome the free market is; getting the taxpayer to pay for what would normally be considered the costs of doing business. Because it's all about the short term.

So, what we have here is the US government outsourcing to private mercenary contractors, paying their insurance premiums for coverage that doesn't exist. And then the US government will pay for the treatment of those injured and maimed contractors because the insurance they paid for Blackwater security guards in Iraq does not cover injuries due to “hostile actions.” That is what is called, “externalizing costs.” That's efficient.

Read the entire post at SHOCKFRONT.ORG

UPDATE: Much more info on the Defense Base Act Insurance (h/t Marcie Hascall Clark)

UPDATE: Still more valuable info at the Defense Base Act Blog

“Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army” (Jeremy Scahill)

Technorati Tags: Blackwater, Mercenaries, Universal Health Care

RESULTS TO BUSH ABSTINENCE ONLY EDUCATION ARE IN AND THEY ARE NOT PRETTY

This is just classic. The Bush administration ignores all of the legitimate studies proving that abstinence only education is an inferior approach to safe sex education in order to appease the religious right and it turns out that there are real world consequences to such actions.

Now we find out that not only is teenage pregnancy on the rise but sexually transmitted disease (STD) infection rates have skyrocketed according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It found a startling 26% percent of teenage girls were infected with an STD! That's more than 1 in 4 for the mathematically challenged.

If this is not a microcosm for everything that is wrong with the Bush administration I don't know what is. And we will continue to feel the repercussions of this disastrous administration for generations. Of course, impeachment is off the table so that Bush can wreak more havoc on this nation and others like the soon to be bombed Iran.

All of which makes Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and their sympathizers in Congress contemptible.

Technorati Tags: abstinence only, std, teenage pregnancy

Willie Nelson Advocates For Legalization Of Marijuana On Democracy Now

Willie Nelson: “It's just... not anything wrong with marijuana if you use it responsibly.”

Technorati Tags: Marijuana, Willie Nelson

Augie's Quest

My friend Liz passes on this inspirational video on Augie's Quest to find a cure for ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Note that “every time someone sees this video all the way through (it's only four minutes), the charity receives a one dollar donation.”

A Survivor's Question

John & Elizabeth Edwards in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

George W. Bush Really Really Hates Children

It boggles the mind:

He was talking about the Bush administration’s latest effort to thwart the expansion of the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program. Governors in several states are trying to include more youngsters from the lower rungs of the middle class and have vowed to fight the president on this issue.

Acting during a Congressional recess, and making a distinct effort to stay beneath the radar of the news media, the administration enacted insidious new rules that make it much harder for states to bring additional children under the umbrella of the program, known colloquially as CHIP.

The program is popular because it works. It’s cost effective and there is wide bipartisan support for its expansion. But President Bush, locked in an ideological straitjacket, is adamant in his opposition.

In addition to the new rules drastically curtailing the ability of governors to expand local coverage by obtaining waivers from the federal government, the president has threatened a veto of Congressional efforts to fund a more robust version of the overall program.

“It’s stunning,” said New York’s Gov. Eliot Spitzer. “He says he’s going to veto health care for kids because it’s too expensive at the same time that these continuing resolutions for the war, where we don’t even know what the cost is, are going through unabated. This is insanity.

”Everybody agrees this is the right thing to do except the Bush administration.“

More from Bob Herbert in the NY Times

Also see my July 25, 2007 post, ”Bush Chooses Cigarettes Over Children“

YAZ

The video is a one minute commercial for a new type of birth control called Yaz. It is pretty funny, albeit, unintentionally so. Adding to the ridiculous writing and staging is the fact that it aired during The Soup!, which might be the only way to prevent Joel McHale from smacking it into oblivion.

On a serious note, the commercial is seemingly trying to raise the public's awareness to Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, PMDD, which it says can interfere with a woman's life. Perhaps, but if that is the case, the commercial does a real disservice to its cause by then backing up its assertion by proclaiming that “it's on the Yaz website.” Right, then it must be fact.

It's almost enough to cause one to distrust pharmaceutical companies! And what good is Tivo if you forget to skip over the commercials?

BUSH CHOOSES CIGARETTES OVER CHILDREN

Marian Wright Edelman appeared on Democracy Now today to discuss legislation supported by Democrats and Republicans in both houses, along with 91% of the American people, to extend health coverage to nine million uninsured children. Amy Goodman points out that the expansion of the so-called “S-CHIP program” to cover more children even enjoys “tepid” support from pharma and insurance groups.

Yet, while Americans overwhelmingly want to protect the most vulnerable among us, at least one person fervently disagrees:

President Bush: “I believe government cannot provide affordable health care. I believe it would cause --- it would cause the quality of care to diminish. I believe there would be lines and rationing over time. If Congress continues to insist upon expanding health care through the S-CHIP program --- which, by the way, would entail a huge tax increase for the American people --- I'll veto the bill.”

That's what they call compassionate conservatism. Also, the “huge tax increase for the American people” is an outright lie. The $35 billion needed to fund the program would come from a $0.61 tax on cigarettes. And only about 47 million Americans smoke. Further, the tax itself is beneficial to society as the increased price of cigarettes will cause more smokers to quit which will result in reduced health care costs and lower taxes in the future.

And let's not forget that this is the second time Bush has sided with Big Tobacco over the health and well-being of American children. It was only two years ago when the US Department of Justice suddenly and unilaterally slashed a legal settlement with Big Tobacco by $120 billion. That money was supposed to be used to educate children about the dangers of smoking.

It is with this backdrop that the great Marion Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund justifiably says George W. Bush “doesn't know what he is talking about,” is “uninformed,” “not believable,” “out of touch,” and spouts “hollow words.” Edelman also wonders what will become of our democracy if Bush gets his way. “Can we stand up for children? If we can't stand up for children and for children's health, we don't stand for anything in this nation.”

A slightly different video was posted at BradBlog yesterday.

Colbert - The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend

Colbert at his best in this bit with Michael Moore. See all the videos in question at my MICHAEL MOORE vs. CNN VIDEO EXTRAVAGANZA.

Bush Derangement Syndrome

Great News!!!! After seven years of suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome - being “somewhat unhinged” because I “passionately dislike[d] the president” - I just got a clean bill of health from Peggy Noonan. It turns out that there really was no such disease. While I'm extremely happy to be deemed normal again, I'm wondering if I have a medical malpractice case against Noonan and her murderously slow kin who only now have come to realize the disaster that is George Bush. Here's the beginning of Noonan's must read column (Nixon comparisons come later) column in the WSJ:

It's been a slow week in a hot era. I found myself Thursday watching President Bush's news conference and thinking about what it is about him, real or perceived, that makes people who used to smile at the mention of his name now grit their teeth. I mean what it is apart from the huge and obvious issues on which they might disagree with him.

I'm not referring to what used to be called Bush Derangement Syndrome. That phrase suggested that to passionately dislike the president was to be somewhat unhinged. No one thinks that anymore. I received an email before the news conference from as rock-ribbed a Republican as you can find, a Georgia woman (middle-aged, entrepreneurial) who'd previously supported him. She said she'd had it. “I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth.” I was startled by her vehemence only because she is, as I said, rock-ribbed. Her email reminded me of another, one a friend received some months ago: “I took the W off my car today,” it said on the subject line. It sounded like a country western song, like a great lament.

As I watched the news conference, it occurred to me that one of the things that might leave people feeling somewhat disoriented is the president's seemingly effortless high spirits. He's in a good mood. There was the usual teasing, the partly aggressive, partly joshing humor, the certitude. He doesn't seem to be suffering, which is jarring. Presidents in great enterprises that are going badly suffer: Lincoln, LBJ with his head in his hands. Why doesn't Mr. Bush? Every major domestic initiative of his second term has been ill thought through and ended in failure. His Iraq leadership has failed. His standing is lower than any previous president's since polling began. He's in a good mood. Discuss.

In any case, I would like to thank all those that thought of me and prayed for me during this difficult time. I'd like to think they helped me get through this difficult illness. I know as a matter of fact that I could not have pulled through this without the large community of similarly misdiagnosed liberals, progressives and even independents. Thank you all.

Read Noonan's not contrite enough piece (or really at all)

(hat tip Instaputz)

Technorati Tags: bush, peggy noonan

Michael Moore on Countdown with Keith Olbermann