Good Morning!
Yes, it's Saturday, it's morning, and it is sunny and beautiful outside, so must be time for me to give everyone a taste of the morning news. Ok, first up is this interesting story. As you read it, think upon the Republican controlled house and senate, Bush in the Whitehouse, and ask yourself, "we're we sold a FALSE bill of Goods by Republicans that will do anything, say anything, live any lie to get elected. Talk about someone selling out who they really are for a BUCK!
G.O.P. Consultant Weds His Male Partner
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: April 9, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/09/politics/09finkelstein.html?
ASHINGTON, April 8 - Arthur J. Finkelstein, a prominent Republican consultant who has directed a series of hard-edged political campaigns to elect conservatives in the United States and Israel over the last 25 years, said Friday that he had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts.
Mr. Finkelstein, 59, who has made a practice of defeating Democrats by trying to demonize them as liberal, said in a brief interview that he had married his partner of 40 years to ensure that the couple had the same benefits available to married heterosexual couples.
"I believe that visitation rights, health care benefits and other human relationship contracts that are taken for granted by all married people should be available to partners," he said.
He declined further comment on the wedding, which was in December.
Is Tom DeLay the Anti-Christ? Serious, he sure seems to have a VERY WORRISOME agenda, and by the way...just who is the power in America right now, Delay or Bush? Should they both be impeached?
After DeLay Remarks, Bush Says He Supports 'Independent Judiciary'
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: April 9, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/09/politics/09judges.html?
ASHINGTON, April 8 - President Bush appeared to distance himself on Friday from recent comments by the House Republican leader, Representative Tom DeLay, that Congress should crack down on unaccountable judges.
Asked in a conversation with reporters about statements by Mr. DeLay that judges were out of control and should be held accountable, the president said: "I believe in an independent judiciary. I believe in proper checks and balances. And we'll continue to put judges on the bench who strictly and faithfully interpret the Constitution."
Trent Duffy, a spokesman for the White House, said Friday night that the president was only "saying what his view of the judiciary is," in the same terms he has always used.
Dan Allen, a spokesman for Mr. DeLay, said the lawmaker's views were consistent with the president's statement. "Congressman DeLay as well as House Republicans have made it clear that Congress has a role to play here to ensure there are checks and balances and the judiciary doesn't run amok," Mr. Allen said.
Miss America meets Reality TV? Ok, for starters, if you are going to UPDATE the pagent to get it back on TV, how about starting with the title of the Pagent? How many would support them changing it to Ms America Pagent? (trademarking and copy righting that name here and now, as well as the concept of a pagent open to all American Women, since Ms intones pagent entrants could be married and/or single. Dump the talent contest, and have Ms Iowa eating worms instead!
A Challenge for Miss America in Reality TV Era
By IVER PETERSON
Published: April 9, 2005
http://www.times.com/2005/04/09/nyregion/09pageant.html?hp&ex=1113105600&en=6074b664a3b01a0e&ei=5094&partner=homepage
TLANTIC CITY - Miss America has lost her TV show, and now has to decide how much of her famous modesty she's willing to shed to get it back on the air.
Organizers of the pageant are considering a number of plans to resuscitate the 85-year-old contest and bring it back to television this September. The mildest plans include tweaking the broadcast program slightly by eliminating the talent portion, which the ABC network had complained about before dropping the show in the aftermath of last year's disappointing ratings.
A bolder plan is being shopped by national pageant officials among network executives: turning the event into a multinight elimination, complete with appeals for audience sympathy and votes, something like "American Idol" on Fox. It would include behind-the-scenes segments and, perhaps, some of the plotting that has made shows like "The Apprentice" on NBC so popular.
Even the pageant's executives say that Miss America has to face the realities of reality television, although state and local organizers say they would rather see their program stay off the air than have contestants get down in the mud and the bugs like the competitors on "Fear Factor."
This next story if it turns out to be true is SCARY! News man turned unsurgent, and fdor that matter, with all of Lou Dobb's rhetoric against outsourcing, why was the job slot filled by someone not living in America? Sure, I would need to be trained, but if CBS came to me, I would have taken this job...I need the money! Are you reafdin this CBS? Lou Dobb's, here's your chance to add CBS to the outsourcing list!
CBS stringer arrested in Iraq
Friday, April 8, 2005 Posted: 2210 GMT (0610 HKT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A CBS stringer has been arrested as a suspected insurgent, U.S. military officials said Friday.
The video cameraman was wounded during a firefight in northeastern Mosul between U.S. troops and insurgents Tuesday.
U.S. military officials said the man's camera held footage of a number of roadside bomb attacks against American troops, and they believe he was tipped off to those attacks.
A U.S. military statement said troops believe the man "poses an imperative threat to coalition forces" and that he "will be processed as any other security detainee."
CBS said the photographer was hired about three months ago, and it asked news organizations not to identify him.
In a written statement, the network said the man was referred to the network by a "fixer" in Tikrit "who has had a trusted relationship with CBS News for two years."
"It is common practice in Iraq for Western news organizations to hire local cameramen in places considered too dangerous for Westerners to work effectively," the network said.
"The very nature of their work often puts them in the middle of very volatile situations."
One official said at least four videos in the man's camera show roadside bomb attacks on U.S. troops.
All had been shot in a manner that suggested the cameraman had prior knowledge of the attacks and had scouted a shooting location in sight of the target.
Is Bush's CONTROVERSIAL Social Security overhaul plan DEAD IN THE WATER? We can only hope, especially for those of us sitting on the proverbial bubble (49-55 year olds who would take the biggest hit). Don't you love his two faced back peddling in the face of FAILURE?
THE NATION
Personal Accounts Hit a Wall
Most Americans polled support working out Social Security's money troubles but they reject the controversial aspect of President Bush's plan. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-social9apr09,0,6215970.story?coll=la-home-nation
By Warren Vieth, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — It was Day 35 of President Bush's 60-day Social Security sales blitz, and Radio America talk show host G. Gordon Liddy was worrying aloud.
Now that Bush had convinced many people that Social Security was a Ponzi scheme headed for collapse, Liddy wondered, why was he was having such a hard time selling his proposal to let younger workers open personal investment accounts?
"We've only been at this for two months," said Allan Hubbard, the president's chief economic advisor and one of 28 administration officials who hit the airwaves this week to talk up restructuring. "It takes time."
Yet as the clock winds down on Bush's self-imposed timetable for promoting his restructuring plan, some conservatives fear he has laid the groundwork for what they regard as the worst possible outcome — pressure for tax increases and benefit cuts to ensure Social Security's solvency, but a rejection of private accounts as part of the fix.
"There is some worry that just for the sake of having a victory, we'll get a bill that tosses personal accounts over the side," said Stephen Moore, president of the Free Enterprise Fund, a conservative advocacy group. "We'll get a combination of tax increases and benefit reductions that won't solve what in our opinion is the fundamental problem, that people don't have individual ownership."
The president and his aides say they are as committed as ever to personal investment accounts, a central element of the "ownership society" agenda regarded by some GOP strategists as a roadmap for ensuring Republican political domination for decades to come.
They said their sales campaign was proceeding according to plan.
"I think we're making progress," Bush told reporters Friday aboard Air Force One after attending the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome. "I think slowly but surely, the American people are coming to realize there is a serious problem.
Bush said he understood why some lawmakers were anxious. "It is a tough issue for members [of Congress], for people who've got, you know, a relatively short-term horizon, two-year horizon," he said. "Some of them are worried about elections."
Bush did not mention personal accounts during his airborne news conference. One of the concerns cited by conservatives is that in his recent public remarks, Bush appears to be placing more emphasis on the retirement system's solvency than on the merits of personal accounts.
For example, he has called Social Security's long-term shortfall an "accelerating problem" that lawmakers should address this year, and said he was open to a range of restructuring options. He has begun characterizing personal accounts as "an interesting idea" he hopes they will consider.
So, there you have it, Saturday morning news with Dream Dragon. Let me go get some more coffee, and go mange my fantasy racing teams!
Dream Dragon
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