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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (69902)	8/4/2009 9:07:16 AM
From: FJB	1 Recommendation Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 224727

Think it is safe to forget about the hikers in Iran. They are from Berkeley and among their people now... ------------------------------------------------------------- Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal -- three University of California-Berkeley graduates arrested Friday after crossing from Iraq into Iran during a hike -- are seasoned travelers with an appetite for interaction with other cultures, friends and associates said. Bauer, 27, and his girlfriend Shourd, 30, left the San Francisco Bay area last fall for a yearlong visit to the Middle East, where Bauer planned to spend time "absorbing on the ground whatever he could in the Arab world and offered to contribute stories to us," said Sandy Close, executive director of California-based New America Media. "I think this is a very experienced traveler, a backpack kind of traveler, not somebody who would go to the Ritz Carlton," Close said of Bauer. "[He's] somebody who would go to the hostel, who would operate on a shoestring, as many freelancers do." cnn.com

To: Neeka who wrote (69902)	8/6/2009 12:12:10 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224727

Flying Miss Nancy Posted 8/5/2009 Washington: The Democrat-controlled House wants to buy nearly $200 million worth of private jets so lawmakers and a few high-level bureaucrats can travel in style. We truly have an imperial Congress.Just last week Washington announced it would cut $100 million from the federal administrative budgets and acted like that was some big achievement. Now this week we learn that about the same time those cuts were made public, the House OK'd the purchase of the private jets. The taxpayer money the House plans to spend is to be used to buy three Gulfstream G550s at roughly $65 million each. These are long-range business jets with large, palatial interiors and three temperature zones. Company literature says the "impeccably equipped cabin" of a G550 offers "best-in-class comforts" and can be configured "with up to four living areas." "At Gulfstream," the company says, "we have anticipated your every need." Sounds like just the sort of plane the House speaker, Senate majority leader and their extended entourages could enjoy on a nonstop junket to Asia - or merely for a quick turnaround to visit constituents in San Francisco or Las Vegas. The notion that some lawmakers feel it beneath their dignity to travel with the masses on commercial jets is nothing new. But news of the House plan does bring to mind three salient facts, all of which the Democratic leadership hopes the public does not think of in relation to the jet purchase. Congress isn't short of hypocrisy. Most of the Democrats and their environmentalist allies are reflexively opposed to private jet travel because of its excessive carbon footprint. Or, at least, they are opposed to private jet travel for others. Neither does it recognize irony. CEOs of the Big Three automakers were excoriated for traveling in their private jets last year to testify in Washington. And some have an outsized sense of privilege. In 2007, just a month into the new Democratic majority, Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked that taxpayers provide a jet that could make a nonstop flight to her Bay Area district. She reportedly wanted a luxury, stateroom-outfitted version of Boeing's 757-200 like those the vice president, first lady and Cabinet officials fly on. And there was a lot of foot-stamping when the Bush White House said no. At least one of the three jets approved by the House will be sent to the Air Force's 201st Airlift Squadron, which, among other duties, shuttles members of Congress. It seems Pelosi One might yet get off the ground.

To: Neeka who wrote (69902)	8/6/2009 12:15:44 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	3 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 224727

Did You Know? 1. That the words race car spelled backward says race car. 2. That eat is the only word that if you take the 1st letter and move it to the last, it spells it's past tense; ate. And 3. Have you noticed that if you rearrange the letters in "illegal immigrants," and add just a few more letters, it spells out: "Fuck off and go home you free-loading, benefit grabbing, kid producing, violent, non-English speaking assholes and take those hairy faced, sandal wearing, bomb making, goat fucking, smelly rag head bastards with you." How weird is that?