WASHINGTON (AP) — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equated bilingual education Saturday with “the language of living in a ghetto” and mocked requirements that ballots be printed in multiple languages.
Cross another GOPer off the list. These guys are so thin in the ‘08 Prez race it’s kinda sad really. Earth to Salamander Man (and the rest of the wingers): We’re a melting pot. We don’t have official languages or religions.
The arrogance of some of these people is breathtaking. Maybe it would be good to learn another language. Ya think? Smart people in other places know 2, 3, sometimes even 4 other languages. What’s next? A War on Languages?
Got me thinking of another notable world leader who had a penchant for protecting the language of the homeland:
Only a handful of Germans in the Reich had the slightest conception of the eternal and merciless struggle for the German language, German schools, and a German way of life. Only today, when the same deplorable misery is forced on many millions of Germans from the Reich, who under foreign rule dream of their common fatherland and strive, amid their longing, at least to preserve their holy right to their mother tongue, do wider circles understand what it means to be forced to fight for one’s nationality.
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
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In need of a sheriff indeed:
(CNN) — The recent wave of defaults in the subprime mortgage sector that sent shocks through Wall Street has caught the attention of Congress.
More than 2 million people with subprime loans are facing foreclosure this year and nearly 20 percent of subprime mortgages issued between 2005 and 2006 are projected to fail, according to a December 2006 study by the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonpartisan research and policy organization.
Foreclosures in the subprime mortgage market are expected to cost American households as much as $164 billion in lost equity from 1998 through 2006, the center reported.
Yep. When you have to sell a house you bought for $180k for $150k, that’s a bad thing. The prices are being driven down due to a glut of houses and the continual building that went hand in hand with qualifying people in a negligent manner in order to unload all the “inventory”. Again, I know. I’m at ground zero for all of this. People who bought in good faith and are now trying to just move to a new job in another state are taking huge hits because of the unfair (and soon to be illegal I hope) practices of some of these lenders. I’m glad to see this get the attention it needs. I’m seeing stories all over the place. Some are even saying this mess will throw us into recession, others say it will continue to be painful absent a full-on recession.
There was an intitial upside to all of this. Home ownership did go up, especially among blacks and hispanics. The price we paid was pretty dear and the loan practices border on the criminal.
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Site got hacked today by some little bitch calling himself Kartal. No, an entire district is not gunning for Plunderbund – just some little script kiddie bitch with nothing else to do. Got everything back to normal. No real damage done. Just a bit of pixel grafitti:
To which I replied:
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Strickland is sticking to his guns on the charter school stuff. His only line-item veto on the Transportation Budget Bill was the part allowing charter schools to start their own bus service.
From the Strickland press release:
Strickland also announced that his only line-item veto would be a measure that would allow charter schools to establish their own transportation system and would require a per pupil transfer from the school district to the charter school without any agreement from their resident school district. Under current law, if a charter school desires to transport their own students they must have an agreement with their resident school district.
“While I believe Ohio can benefit from a charter system that is accountable and transparent, and am open to discussing how to improve charter school transportation, there hasn’t been sufficient time to review this measure for me to support it,” Strickland said. “In particular, I have heard concerns today from some of Ohio’s largest school districts that this measure could mean a significant financial blow.”
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Update to this post.
OK, so it turns out you have to look really REALLY close to figure out how to read Joan Mazzolini’s article online. Apparently the stuff that looked like shilling would…because they are Bennett’s words verbatim (or his lawsuit’s words). Joan just made it look online like they were hers due to the inability of anyone at the Plain Dealer to figure out how to use unordered lists. Here is how you do it:
< ul >
< li >A bullet point< /li >
< li >Another bullet point!< /li >
< /ul >
(spaces removed)
Her article would then end up looking like this:
The suit contends that Brunner’s action would violate Bennett’s constitutional rights and that her accusations against the board are vague. The suit also argues that:
- The Ohio law dealing with removal of board members fails to define misfeasance and nonfeasance.
- Brunner cannot take action to remove Bennett based on con duct that occurred before she took office in January 2007.
- Brunner, a Democrat, is attempting to remove Bennett, head of the Ohio GOP, because he supported her opponent in the 2006 election and plans to support Republican candidates in 2008.
See? Not so hard. I hear the print edition displays this way and is much more clear. So maybe give Joan a ring and have her transfer you to the web dude and explain the unordered list tag. Sheesh.
Sorry Joan. You’re not a dope. But the web crew might be…
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Dennis Kucinich voted against the war the first time- and he continues to vote against any additional funding.
Hell- he seems to be the only one.
We’re talking about $300 billion of OUR tax dollars here.
He gave a nice little speech on the house floor about it- in which he said:
“This war has sacrificed the lives of our troops and innocent civilians. This war has advanced the interests of oil companies and contractors in the manner of a criminal enterprise. It has undermined our national honor and alienated friends around the world. When will Congress stand for truth and peace, and stop funding this war?”
Respect.
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Update: See this post for an update on how the PeeDee print to web translation got FUBAR.
This can only be one of two things: 1. Horribly incompetent journalism or 2. Outright shilling for the GOP. In an article about Bob Bennett suing to keep his job on the Cuyahoga County BOE, Joan Mazzolini says:
Brunner, a Democrat, is attempting to remove Bennett, head of the Ohio GOP, because he supported her opponent in the 2006 election and plans to support Republican candidates in 2008.
This from a former Pulitzer Prize finalist? Joan. W T F? This is pure editorializing of the news. Maybe Tom can take his eyes off the LA Times long enough to pay attention to his own back yard. Doubtful. Doesn’t fit his agenda either.
Maybe I just missed the reports where Joan covered previous election issues, such as: “Today Secretary of State Blackwell, a Republican charged with the election of George W. Bush, issued a statewide mandate to Boards of Election to strictly enforce a voter registration paper weight guideline in an attempt to reduce Democratic registrations that were far outpacing their Republican counterparts in a clear attempt to use his office as a GOP campaign tool”.
Yeah, I’m sure I just missed that. Because he supported her opponent? Fucking DUH! He was the GOP CHAIR for Christ’s sake! Are you stupid? What a dope. Don’t shill for the GOP Joan. Just do your damned job. No wait, we’ll do it for you. You can go now.
I wouldn’t waste MY time calling or emailing this faux-reporter, but you can if you want:
jmazzolini@plaind.com, 216-999-4563
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If you still can’t grasp the importance of the US Attorney scandal, I present to you current US Attorney, and former Bush “opposition research” man, Tim Griffin:
One film scene of the debate-night frenzy captures the prevalent attitude in national politics. As he directs the investigation of Gore’s statements in real time, Griffin, standing next to a sign that reads ON MY COMMAND—UNLEASH HELL (ON AL), pauses for a moment to reflect on his role. “We think of ourselves as the creators of the ammunition in a war,” he says. “We make the bullets.”
Mr. Griffin was appointed US Attorney in December 2006, replacing Bud Cummins. Cummins was apparently a lifetime Republican, and was replaced by Griffin, a clear political hack, in the recent “purge”.
Let me reiterate, it is the President’s right to attempt to staff US Attorney positions with “his people”. I fully expect a new administration to replace attorneys with ones who will place an emphasis on the types of prosecutions consistent with White House policy goals. The problem is that the White House policy goals appear to be entirely political: instead of asking attorneys to, for example, put an emphasis on drug trafficking cases, they are asking attorneys to put an emphasis on protecting Republicans and attempting to prosecute Democrats. That’s clearly political in nature. And it’s clearly wrong.
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Today’s dispatch from Neverland:
- Suicide bombers kill 60, injure scores in Baghdad market
- Three car bombs kill 30, wound 74 north of Baghdad in Diyala province
- Iraqi police find 25 bullet-riddled bodies across the capital
I have a place where dreams are born,
And time is never planned.
It’s not on any chart,
You must find it with your heart.
Never Never Land.
It might be miles beyond the moon,
Or right there where you stand.
Just keep an open mind,
And then suddenly you’ll find
Never Never Land.
You’ll have a treasure if you stay there,
More precious far than gold.
For once you have found your way there,
You can never, never grow old.
And that’s my home where dreams are born,
And time is never planned.
Just think of lovely things.
And your heart will fly on wings,
Forever in Never Never Land.
You’ll have a treasure if you stay there,
More precious far than gold.
For once you have found your way there,
You can never, never grow old.
And that’s my home where dreams are born,
And time is never planned.
Just think of lovely things.
And your heart will fly on wings,
Forever in Never Never Land
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It’s been scrubbed now to something far less incendiary, but the AP used the word “insurgent” to describe Ned Lamont.
“The effect of the timeline would be to “snatch defeat from the jaws of progress in Iraq,” agreed Lieberman, who won a new term last fall in a three-way race after losing the Democratic nomination to an anti-war insurgent.”
Nothing quite like equating the anti-war left with those people over in Iraq killing American soldiers, eh? C&L has the details, along with a screengrab of the original pre-scrubbing article.
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Wow. Just wow. Americablog pointed out this little gem:
McCain, appearing on NBC’s “Today” show today from Orlando, said the war “was badly mismanaged. But there are signs of progress everywhere. … I am confident that given the opportunity, we can have success. The consequences of failure are catastrophic because if we come home, bin Laden and Zarqawi, they are going to follow us.”
Zarqawi? The dude has been dead for almost a year! Everybody Run to Neverland!! The ghost of Zarqawi is coming to get us!!!
Bye John. Bring on Rudy.
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John McCain recently claimed that things were so good in Iraq that you could walk around without protection and that generals routinely go out with unarmored humvees. Michael Ware begged to differ saying:
I don’t know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad”
I just got this via email from someone who was apparently in search of Neverland:
Not only that, but apparently John has been spotted walkin the streets of Neverland:
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Bush withdrew the nomination of Sam Fox today- his choice for Ambassador to Belgium.
Fox, as you may remember, gave tons of cash to the Swift Boat Veterans group who help torpedo John Kerry’s campaign for president.
Don’t worry Sam- I heard there are a lot of US Attorney positions opening up.
Here is the full text of the release:
Withdrawal Sent to the Senate
Sam Fox, of Missouri, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium, which was
sent to the Senate on January 9, 2007.
# # #
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