Saturday, August 13, 2005

Harness Racing Results for 08-13-05

Record since 04-26-05

Win (137)

Place (46)

Show (8)

Out of the Money (36)

****************************
Balmoral Park

Race # 8

Horse: TIMBERTON (Won)

Post Position: # 3

Germany attacks US on Iran threat

BBC

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has warned the US to back away from the possibility of military action against Iran over its nuclear programme.
His comments come a day after President Bush reiterated that force remained an option but only as a last resort.

Iran has resumed what it says is a civilian nuclear research programme but which the West fears could be used to develop nuclear arms.

Germany, France and the UK have led efforts to end the crisis peacefully.

SNIP

Mr Schroeder directly challenged Mr Bush's comment that "all options are on the table" over the Iran crisis.

"Let's take the military option off the table. We have seen it doesn't work," Mr Schroeder told Social Democrats at the rally in Hanover, to rapturous applause from the crowd.


Mr Schroeder said it remained important that Iran did not gain atomic weapons, and a strong negotiating position was important.

"The Europeans and the Americans are united in this goal," he said. "Up to now we were also united in the way to pursue this."

Harness Racing Picks for 08-13-05

Record since 04-26-05

Win (136)

Place (46)

Show (8)

Out of the Money (36)


****************************
Balmoral Park

Race # 8

Horse: TIMBERTON

Post Position: # 3

Friday, August 12, 2005

Reformer Without Results

By MAUREEN DOWD


President Bush has done so much for women. Not at home, of course.

Women in jeans in America may have their rights eroded by an administration where faith trumps science, but women in burkas? The president can't talk enough about how important their rights are.

And in the administration's diplomacy-free foreign policy, five of its top spokesmen on the Muslim world are women: Condi Rice; Laura Bush; Liz Cheney, No. 2 in the Near East bureau of the State Department and head of the Middle East democracy project; Karen Hughes, the new under secretary of state for public diplomacy; and her deputy, Dina Powell.

W. thinks so highly of Ms. Hughes, his longtime Texas political nanny, spinner, speechwriter and ghostwriter, that he put his Lima Green Bean, as he called her when she prodded him about the environment, in charge of the critical effort to salvage America's horrendous image in the Islamic world - even though what she knows about Islam could fit in a lima green bean. Why get any Muslims involved in reaching out to Muslims? That would be so matchy.

The real role for the newly minted ambassador hasn't been defined yet, but so far it looks as if Ms. Hughes's first priority will be to take her spinning skills, honed for W. in 2000 and 2004, to improve his image, and his policies' image, on a global scale.

Just as she retooled Bush as "a reformer with results" and a "compassionate conservative," Ms. Hughes plans to inundate Muslims with the four E's: "engagement, exchanges, education and empowerment."

On Thursday, when Mr. Bush came out of his Crawford ranch with Ms. Rice - it was odd, if refreshing, to see a secretary of state wearing lilac - he once again justified the war in Iraq by talking about the treatment of women.

The way to defeat our enemies' "hateful ideology," he said, is to offer an ideology "that says to young girls, you can succeed in your society, and you should have a chance to do so." He also said, "Hopefully, the drafters of the constitution understand our strong belief that women ought to be treated equally in the Iraqi society."

Hopefully? Is that the best we can do for a country that we broke, own and are sacrificing young men and women every day to keep?

Americans like it when the president talks up women's rights in Iraq and Afghanistan, so he does it often. It helped him sell the invasions of those two countries. But W. should stop listening to "My Sharona" on his iPod and start listening to their Sharia.

The fundamentalist Taliban is recrudescing in Afghanistan, young girls in Iraq are afraid to leave their homes because there are so many kidnappings and rapes, and women's groups in Iraq are terrified that the new constitution will cut women's rights to a Saudiesque level.

Some Shiite politicians are pushing to supplant the civil courts that have long governed marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance with religious courts that are based on Sharia, or Islamic law. The New York Times reported that one of the crucial articles in various drafts of the constitution is: "The followers of any sect or religion have the right to abide by their religion or sect in their personal affairs, and a law should organize this."

That little provision could jeopardize any chance for women's equality. Clerics running religious courts based on the Koran could legitimize polygamy, honor killings, stonings and public beheadings of women charged with adultery, and divorce by "talaq" - where all a husband has to do is declare, "I divorce thee," three times.

Saddam repressed Islamic politics, so under him, Iraq was one of the most secular countries in the Middle East. It has become far more fundamentalist since the U.S. took over.

The back-to-burka trend has been widely reported throughout Shiite-dominated southern Iraq, and young women activists told The Los Angeles Times that their mothers had more freedom in the 60's.

Najla Ubeidi, a lawyer in the Iraqi Women's League, agreed: "During the 1960's, there was a real belief in improving women's conditions. We could wear what we liked, go out when we liked, return home when we liked, and people would judge us by the way we behaved."

If W. liked exercising his mind as much as his body, he could see that his mission to modernize Muslim countries is backfiring on women. The most painless way for Muslim men to prove that they have not abandoned Arab culture and adopted Western ways is to tighten the burka.

To us, the "liberated" but repressive Iraq is a paradox. To the women, it's a prison.

Harness Racing Results for 08-12-05

Record since 04-26-05

Win (136)

Place (46)

Show (8)

Out of the Money (36)

****************************

Freehold Raceway

Race # 12

Horse: JO PA’S SHARK (Won)

Post Position: # 6


****************************

Raceway Park

Race # 7

Horse: KATZ D ZIRE (Won)

Post Position: # 5

****************************

Scioto Downs

Race # 5

Horse: MIDNIGHT JEWEL (Place)

Post Position: # 3

Race # 6

Horse: SANDY’S ATTITUDE (Place)

Post Position: # 9

Bush Appointee Obstructed, Sabotaged 9/11 Report

Fri Aug 12th, 2005 at 13:41:39 PDT

The staff director of the 9/11 Commission suppressed information that two U.S. intelligence agencies had detected the 9/11 hijackers inside the U.S. eighteen months before the attacks, withheld notification from the FBI, and obstructed Bureau investigators searching for al-Qaeda terrorist cells.

In recent days, we've learned that Philip D. Zelikow, Bush's appointee as Staff Director on the 9/11 Commission, withheld information from the Commissioners that detailed secret Pentagon surveillance of the al-Qaeda hijackers.

While Staff Director, Zelikow was also allowed to read sections of the still-unreleased CIA Inspector General's report that reportedly criticizes high Agency officials for failing to pass on information to the FBI after the CIA learned of the entry into the U.S. of several of the 9/11 hijackers on early 2000. According to a report in Government Executive magazine, Zelikow cut a deal with the CIA that withheld that information from the Commission report, as well.

O'Rielly Once Again Show's How Stupid He Is

News Hounds

Cindy Sheehan decided not to appear on The Factor tonight so Bill O'Reilly predictably attacked her again. This time, he painted Sheehan as a victim of "far left elements" who are exploiting her for their own purposes. O'Reilly announced with a sneer that Cindy claimed that she would not appear on his show because he had lied about her last night.

Acting as if that was a ridiculous notion, O'Reilly began another smear of Cindy Sheehan. However, his plans were ruined by Dolores Kesterson, another grieving Mother and brave patriot.

Using his all knowing and tolerant tone, O'Reilly claimed that he supports Cindy Sheehan's right to express dissent. Then he bashed Maureen Dowd for glorifying Sheehan in her column today. The Baltimore Sun also got a knock for praising Sheehan, prompting Bill to dismiss it as an anti Bush paper.

Bill was especially ticked that Cindy Sheehan was "using" the Michael Moore website acting as if that was a shocking and subversive thing to do. Prompting him to ask his viewers, "If you were Mr. Bush, would you meet with Cindy Sheehan."

Then O'Reilly introduced Dolores Kesterton who did not bend or back down throughout the interview. Her son Eric died in Iraq and had been an unwavering supporter of the administration. Kesterson claimed that she had been against going into Iraq because she believed we should have finished the job in Afghanistan. Although O'Reilly tried to intimidate her into saying that Eric had died for a noble cause, Dolores would not give an inch.

Kesterson went on to describe the meeting she had with Bush after her son's death. She requested time alone with him and was granted three minutes in a tiny cubicle. According to Kesterson, Bush marched in and "was in my face" "I'm George Bush, President of the United States and I understand that you have something to say to me in private." Kesterson was not impressed with the meeting claiming that Bush did not seem to care.

At this point O'Reilly decided to use the lecture/soliloquy technique. Using his fatherly tone he told Dolores that he respected her opinion but didn't want to see her used like Cindy Sheehan. "I think Cindy Sheehan is being used by far left elements who object to our way of life. Everyone knows. Hillary Clinton knows"

Kesterson firmly objected to the notion of being used and O'Reilly started to get steamed attacking Michael Moore and the Fenton Group who writes Cindy's press releases. Fenton Communications is a very well established PR firm and O'Reilly's attack on them was nonsense.

Then he peppered her with a string of bizarre questions. "Do you believe that we're a bad country and evil country?" "Do you have Michael Moore's view of the US?" "If you had to choose, would you go with President Bush or Michael Moore?"

Dolores Kesterson without a moment's hesitation gave her answer. "Michael Moore has not killed thousands."

An Open Letter to George W. Bush from Cindy Sheehan

Dear George,

You don’t mind if I call you George do you? When you sent me a letter offering your condolences on the death of my son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, in the illegal and unjust war on Iraq, you called me Cindy, so I naturally assume we are on a first name basis.

George, it has been seven months today since your reckless and wanton foreign policies killed my son, my big boy, my hero, my best-friend: Casey. It has been seven months since your ignorant and arrogant lack of planning for the peace murdered my oldest child. It has been two days since your dishonest campaign stole another election…but you all were way more subtle this time than in 2000, weren’t you? You hardly had to get the Supreme Court of the United States involved at all this week.

You feel so proud of yourself for betraying the country again, don’t you? You think you are very clever because you pulled the wool over the eyes of some of the people again. You think that you have some mandate from God…that you can “spend your political capital” any way that you want. George you don’t care or even realize that 56,000,000 plus citizens of this country voted against you and your agenda. Still, you are going to continue your ruthless work of being a divider and not a uniter. George, in 2000 when you stole that election and the Democrats gave up, I gave up too. I had the most ironic thought of my life then: "Oh well, how much damage can he do in four years?" Well, now I know how much you have damaged my family, this country, and this world. If you think I am going to allow you another four years to do even more damage, then you truly are mistaken. I will fight for a true vote count and if that fails, your impeachment. Also, the impeachment of your Vice President. The only thing is, I'm not politically savvy, and I don't have a Karl Rove to plan my strategy, but I do have a big mouth and a righteous cause, which still mean something in this country, I hope.

All of this lying, fooling, and betraying must be “hard work” George. You really think you know what hard work is?

George, let me tell you what “hard work” really is.

Hard work is seeing your oldest son, your brave and honorable man-child go off to a war that had, and still has, no basis in reality. Hard work is worrying yourself gray and not being able to sleep for 2 weeks because you don’t know if your child is safe.

Hard work is seeing your son’s murder on CNN one Sunday evening while you’re enjoying the last supper you’ll ever truly enjoy again.

Hard work is having three military officers come to your house a few hours later to confirm the aforementioned murder of your son…your first born…your kind and gentle sweet baby.

Hard work is burying your child 46 days before his 25th birthday. Hard work is holding your other three children as they lower the body of their big “baba” into the ground. Hard work is not jumping in the grave with him and having the earth cover you both.

But, Dear George, do you know what the hardest work of all is? Trying to digest the fact that the leader of the country that your family has fought for and died for, for generations, lied to you and betrayed your dear boy’s sense of honor and exploited his courage and exploited his loyalty to his buddies. Hard work is having your country abandon you after they killed your son. Hard work is coming to the realization that your son had his future robbed from him and that you have had your son's future and future grand-children stolen from you. Hard work is knowing that there are so many people in this world that have prospered handsomely from your son's death.

George, I must confess that I and my family worked very HARD to re-defeat you this time, but you refuse to stay defeated. Well, we are watching you very carefully. We are going to do everything in our power to have you impeached for misleading the American people into a disastrous war and for mis-using and abusing your power as Commander-in-Chief. We are going to scream until our last breath to bring the rest of our babies home from this quagmire of a war that you have gotten our country in to: before too many more families learn the true meaning of Hard Work. We know it is going to be an uphill battle, knowing how Republican Congress is, but thanks to you, we know the meaning of Hard Work and we’re not afraid of hard work at all.

The 56,000,000 plus citizens who voted against you and your agenda have given me a mandate to move forward with my agenda. Also, thanks to you and your careless domestic policies, I am unemployed, so this will be my full-time job. Being your political downfall will be the most noble accomplishment of my life and it will bring justice for my son and 1125 (so far) other brave Americans and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis your lies have killed. By the way, George, how many more innocent Iraqis are your policies going to kill before you convince them that you are better than Saddam? How many more of their cities are you going to level before you consider that they are liberated? If you really had any moral values, or if you were an honorable man at all you would resign. My son was a man who had high moral values and true courage. Humanity lost a bright light on April 04, 2004. I will live the rest of my life missing Casey desperately. Thank you for that, George. Have a nice day.

God Bless America!! We surely need it!

Cindy Sheehan