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killing tornado and storm
April 4th, 2006
scary news - IOWA CITY - Portions of Iowa City look like a war zone this morning after the city took a direct hit from a likely tornado. Other areas of Eastern Iowa were hit hard: Marion, Van Horne, Anamosa and Nichols also saw the brunt of Mother Nature’s Fury. NICHOLS - One person was killed in Thursday’s storms. It happened when a possible tornado ripped through their mobile home in the town of Nichols.
the last a few days living in our mobile home have been the worst. we got constantly hit by storm and wild wind. we are without cable for a while since we will be moving and i cancelled our cable early. but last night was scary. fortunately we are ok.
OUCH
May 5th, 2005
this is ON MY INTERSTATE. i take this road home every day. guess i should take an alternative route today
Thursday, May 5, 2005
Semi rollover snarls interstate traffic
By Mike McWilliams
Iowa City Press-Citizen
An overturned semi trailer has snarled traffic on eastbound Interstate 80 near the Interstate 380, Highway 218 interchange
Few details on the incident are available at this time.
According to Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Randy Stone, a tractor-trailer overturned and lost its load. Stone said one lane of traffic is blocked off and it could be a while before the road is cleaned up.
Stone said he wasn’t sure what the semi trailer was carrying, but 41,000 lbs of it are on I-80.
current white house hires homosexual?
February 15th, 2005
not just that, he may be a gay prostitute MEEP o.O
forward from a friend:
To summarize: An ultra-conservative Republican political advisor was granted press credentials in the White House press corps, despite working for a “news organization” that existed for only four days before those credentials were granted, and having been “educated” in a three-day, $50 journalism “school”. He remained in the press corps for well over a year, and could constantly be counted on by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan - as well as Dubya himself - to provide a safe haven during press conferences. His “questions” to White House personnel were often inflammatory and misleading, like (I’m making this one up), “Scott, Democrats are evil. Why do they hate America?” Also, since this whole thing was uncovered (by liberal bloggers, not the inept media) in the past few weeks, it has come out that Guckert/Gannon (also known as “JimJeff”), for some inexplicable reason, was granted access to a classified CIA document containing information about an undercover operative, which was later leaked and led to that officer being exposed.
And now, to top it all off, there is convincing evidence that Guckert/Gannon spent much of his recent “career” - at least before, if not during, his White House press corps stint - as a gay prostitute. See here
So in other words…the White House hired a gay hooker with no press credentials to join the most elite press corps in the country, let him stay there for over a year spreading lies and propaganda, and somehow allowed him access to classified documents that could’ve resulted in the death of a CIA agent.
Three rhetorical questions here:
1. Why hasn’t this been on every news broadcast in the country for the last week?
2. If the Bushies are so radically against homosexuals, why are they hiring them to work in the White House?
3. What do you think would’ve happened if this exact same scenario had played out while Clinton was in office? (hint - think how much we heard about the Lewinski incident)
For a nice summary of these questions/thoughts, see this link
This situation should prove once and for all who has better control of the American media, and what kind of “moral values” this White House really has. That is all.
Jim
Aspartame… the BAD news!
January 11th, 2005
hrm love diet drinks, maybe you should read this
Aspartame (used in diet drinks, sweet n lowe etc) was not approved until 1981, in dry foods. For over eight years the FDA refused to approve it because of the seizures and brain tumors this drug produced in lab animals. The FDA continued to refuse to approve it until President Reagan took office (a friend of Searle) and fired the FDA Commissioner who wouldn’t approve it. Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes was appointed as commissioner. Even then there was so much opposition to approval that a Board of Inquiry was set up. The Board said: “Do not approve aspartame”. Dr. Hayes OVERRULED his own Board of Inquiry.
remember to vote
October 26th, 2004
To all you Iowans,
As I’m sure you’re aware, the Presidential race is very close nationwide, and especially so in Iowa and a few other “battleground states”. In this election, it is entirely possible that the electoral votes of Iowa could decide the President of the U.S. for the next four years, and also entirely possible that the electoral votes of Iowa could be decided by only a few hundred votes - Florida in 2000 is proof of that.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to urge you all, and remind you to urge those around you, to vote next week, no matter who you support (or oppose). In an era when it seems like the actions of the government are often beyond our control, or in conflict with our interests, it is important to remember that the politicians who run our country, as well as those who want to run it for the next four years, are accountable to us. As citizens of this country, it is our responsibility to make our voices heard. The more of us that cast our ballots next Tuesday, the more we’ll be shaping our own future. Tell your friends to get out and vote!
Jim (a friend of mine)
‘Frightened to death’ of Bush
October 20th, 2004
By Marlow W. Cook - a former Republican US Senator from Kentucky
source
I shall cast my vote for John Kerry come Nov 2.
I have been, and will continue to be, a Republican. But when we as a party send the wrong person to the White House, then it is our responsibility to send him home if our nation suffers as a result of his actions. I fall in the category of good conservative thinkers, like George F. Will, for instance, who wrote: “This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think and having thought, to have second thoughts.”
I say, well done George Will, or, even better, from the mouth of the numero uno of conservatives, William F. Buckley Jr.: “If I knew then what I know now about what kind of situation we would be in, I would have opposed the war.”
First, let’s talk about George Bush’s moral standards.
In 2000, to defeat Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — a man who was shot down in Vietnam and imprisoned for over five years — they used Carl Rove’s “East Texas special.” They started the rumor that he was gay, saying he had spent too much time in the Hanoi Hilton. They said he was crazy. They said his wife was on drugs. Then, to top it off, they spread pictures of his adopted daughter, who was born in Bangladesh and thus dark skinned, to the sons and daughters of the Confederacy in rural South Carolina.
To show he was not just picking on Republicans, he went after Sen. Max Cleland from Georgia, a Democrat seeking re-election. Bush henchmen said he wasn’t patriotic because Cleland did not agree 100 percent on how to handle homeland security. They published his picture along with Cuba’s Castro, questioning Cleland’s patriotism and commitment to America’s security. Never mind that his Republican challenger was a Vietnam deferment case and Cleland, who had served in Vietnam, came home in a wheel chair having lost three limbs fighting for his country. Anyone who wants to win an election and control of the legislative body that badly has no moral character at all.
We know his father got him in the Texas Air National Guard so he would not have to go to Vietnam. The religious right can have him with those moral standards. We also have Vice President Dick Cheney, who deferred his way out of Vietnam because, as he says, he “had more important things to do.”
I have just turned 78. During my lifetime, we have sent 31,377,741 Americans to war, not including whatever will be the final figures for the Iraq fiasco. Of those, 502,722 died and 928,980 came home without legs, arms or what have you.
Those wars were to defend freedom throughout the free world from communism, dictators and tyrants. Now Americans are the aggressors — we start the wars, we blow up all the infrastructure in those countries, and then turn around and spend tax dollars denying our nation an excellent education system, medical and drug programs, and the list goes on. …
I hope you all have noticed the Bush administration’s style in the campaign so far. All negative, trashing Sen. John Kerry, Sen. John Edwards and Democrats in general. Not once have they said what they have done right, what they have done wrong or what they have not done at all.
Lyndon Johnson said America could have guns and butter at the same time. This administration says you can have guns, butter and no taxes at the same time. God help us if we are not smart enough to know that is wrong, and we live by it to our peril. We in this nation have a serious problem. Its almost worse than terrorism: We are broke. Our government is borrowing a billion dollars a day. They are now borrowing from the government pension program, for apparently they have gotten as much out of the Social Security Trust as it can take. Our House and Senate announce weekly grants for every kind of favorite local programs to save legislative seats, and it’s all borrowed money.
If you listened to the President confirming the value of our war with Iraq, you heard him say, “If no weapons of mass destruction were found, at least we know we have stopped his future distribution of same to terrorists.” If that is his justification, then, if he is re-elected our next war will be against Iran and at the same time North Korea, for indeed they have weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, which they have readily admitted. Those wars will require a draft of men and women. …
I am not enamored with John Kerry, but I am frightened to death of George Bush. I fear a secret government. I abhor a government that refuses to supply the Congress with requested information. I am against a government that refuses to tell the country with whom the leaders of our country sat down and determined our energy policy, and to prove how much they want to keep that secret, they took it all the way to the Supreme Court.
Those of you who are fiscal conservatives and abhor our staggering debt, tell your conservative friends, “Vote for Kerry,” because without Bush to control the Congress, the first thing lawmakers will demand Kerry do is balance the budget.
The wonderful thing about this country is its gift of citizenship, then it’s freedom to register as one sees fit. For me, as a Republican, I feel that when my party gives me a dangerous leader who flouts the truth, takes the country into an undeclared war and then adds a war on terrorism to it without debate by the Congress, we have a duty to rid ourselves of those who are taking our country on a perilous ride in the wrong direction.
If we are indeed the party of Lincoln (I paraphrase his words), a president who deems to have the right to declare war at will without the consent of the Congress is a president who far exceeds his power under our Constitution.
I will take John Kerry for four years to put our country on the right path.
The writer, a Republican formerly of Louisville, was Jefferson County judge from 1962-1968 and U.S. senator from Kentucky from 1968-1975.
after last night’s debate
October 9th, 2004
someone compiled a list of polls after last nite’s debate - kerry dominated. i hope this will last. i can’t wait for the third debate. of course lots to add to bushism calendar.. my favorite as of last nite is “internets.” and watching how bush describes his environmental accomplishment makes me want to wail. what can i say? i pretty much gave up arguing with bush supporters. there is absolutely nothing in their arguments i think are worth debating. everything to me is so obvious. so let’s just see how the election will turn out. again i truly believe the turn out should be just like the global election result. but this is america right?
talking about hometown pride
August 27th, 2004
DAMN Liu Xiang! You make all Chinese esp. Shanghainese overly proud!
The 21-year-old Chinese stormed to the men’s 110m hurdles gold medal before a capacity crowd of 70,000 at the Olympic Stadium in the 28th Olympic Games here on Friday. He clocked a stunning 12.91 seconds to equal the world record set by Britain’s Collin Jackson in 1993.
source
those who are anti Kerry
June 7th, 2004
i’ve been getting a few comments about how people don’t like Kerry here. none however provided any solid arguments. i used economy as my basis for arguing Bush is incompetent. tho i know most who commented probably can’t vote but it’s funny how so many people are treating this like a beauty contest. you are not exactly voting for american idol or someone you will have lunch with tomorrow you know. brian’s entry do you like him puts it so well: “So, pick your aloof, phoney, elitist, poseur jerk. You’re going to get one either way, so maybe you should, I quess, vote on the issues, or as an evaluation of the current administration. No matter how likeable ‘Dubya’ is, he’s brought us raging deficits, turned Iraq into a terrorist breeding ground faster that Saddam Hussein could, ruined our international credibility in all areas except destructive capacity. I don’t care whether the president is ‘like me’ or not, because somebody “like me” is not ever going to run for president.”
a simple “i don’t like john kerry” is not enough to justify why you shouldn’t vote for him. how many americans are voting with intelligent critical thinking instead of emotions?
bush or kerry
June 3rd, 2004
altho i can not vote, i can’t help to take interest in the hottest american political issue - 2004 presidential election of course. i always love political debates. after i’ve had 3 weeks of intensive american politics study, i now have a better understanding of american politics than ever. the biggest surprise i learned is how the federal budget looks. bush led the federal deficit of fiscal year of all time high. it’s reaching $500 billion. realize that’s only for one year, the total national debt is actually over $7.1 trillion now. isn’t that lovely?!
take a look at this graph! the net loss under bush administration is $410 billions while clinton had a net gain of $523 billions.
that alone is reason enough to get bush out of the office.
the budget will be a big problem once all the baby boomers hit retirement age. the fact is most of federal budget is spent paying social security and medicare. right now we have 15 working person to support 1 retired, by 2020, this number will decrease to 2. if the system doesn’t change, either the working class will have to pay more tax or the old people will have to get less money. since old people are more likely to vote, you can expect they will not vote to decrease their social security checks. it’s really important for the system to change right now.
i visited both bush and kerry’s websites. one thing i noticed (unless i overlooked) is that bush doesn’t allow any open discussion on his site. you can not leave comments on his blog entries nor does he have a public forum like on kerry’s site. that’s not very democratic, isn’t it? for a person like me who truly enjoys reading educated debates, WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT on bush’s site.
i’m happy to read many Republicans are leaning toward Kerry. as the history shows, most people still vote according to their party alignment. it’s those who are independent or moderate liberty or conservative are likely to vote fully based on issues and integrity.
i’m not sure how Kerry will turn out. but i’m convinced bush is an incompetent president.
