Hugh @ 106

Mae,

I think we do not believe in justice for some and not for others. Israel has the second best military in the Middle East besides ours. It has 200-300 nuclear weapons. It can be irritated but it can’t be threatened.

It has engaged in a brutal 40 year occupation.
You can’t just ignore these things because

they are inconvenient or uncomfortable.

Our policies with regard to Israel have often abetted the worse in Israel thinking to the detriment of both countries.

What is currently happening has been happening for 60 years. You might ask why persisting in the same attitudes and ideas that produced the situation today are at all likely to result in a durable peace. It is precisely because our and Israeli policies have not worked that we should look to other ideas.

If you can see the folly of staying the course in Iraq, why can you not see the same folly of doing so in Israel and the West Bank?

Because dozens of my family members were killed by the nazis. Because those who survived had nowhere to go. Because my father-in-law returned to Poland in 1945 and others were living in his house. Because no country would allow him in. I believe that my family in Israel has the right to exist. Hamas does not think that they have the right to exist. So where can they go? Can you tell me where my family is supposed to go? Israel has only wanted to live in peace. Hamas does not want peace.

America????

Bush today on Iraq: “But slowly but surely, the truth will be known. Either we’ll succeed, or we won’t succeed.”

Republics, again, why do you support anything about this guy?

AAAAAH Yes! Now I see it!!!!

Renzi faced cash squeeze

By Alexander Bolton
May 02, 2007

Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) took out a $500,000 second mortgage on his Flagstaff home in January after paying more than $300,000 in tax arrears discovered by a Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigation.

The mortgage loan, revealed by Renzi in a document filed with Coconino County, Ariz., is worth the highest possible listed value of his house, and suggests the embattled lawmaker may have faced a substantial cash squeeze at the end of the last Congress.

It may also cast light on $200,000 that came to Renzi two years ago from a business partner. The money exchange has raised eyebrows and suggestions of impropriety.

Around the time Renzi accepted the payment, the FEC launched an investigation of his campaign finances, forcing the lawmaker and his wife to pay an extra $324,000 in federal and state taxes.

The FEC launched its investigation in May 2005 and informed two businesses linked to Renzi of the probe later that month. That same month, James Sandlin, a former business partner, gave Renzi $200,000, a payment now being investigated by the FBI, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Renzi’s lawyer has said Sandlin gave Renzi the money to settle a business debt. But ethics experts interviewed by The Hill last week said the lawmaker should have disclosed it on forms filed with the Clerk of the House. The fact that Renzi did not report the payment could be cited as evidence that he intended to conceal it, said one expert.

The half-million dollar loan on the Renzi residence at 2063 Raintree Road came on top of a $100,000-$250,000 mortgage he took out on the same property in 2005.

In his most recent finacial disclosure report, Renzi reported assets worth between $250,000 and $550,000. His spouse reported owning an insurance company, Patriot Insurance, worth between $1 million and $5 million. Most of Renzi’s wealth is tied up in real estate: He reported owning assets in three funds worth between $3,000 and $45,000.

…

Link

You Americans never cease to amaze me. You even expect criminals to pay taxes!

“The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate”

seems unambiguous to me. If a vacancy “may happen” during recess, the president can fill it. But doesn’t this mean that if the vacancy happens during a sitting of senate, he may not? It doesn’t seem to be suggesting that if a vacancy occurs during the sitting of the senate, the president can wait till the recess to fill it. Has there been some clarification of this?

Badwater@24

Vice President Dick Cheney has been calling the shots in Iraq and has even overridden decisions by President Bush and former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Shocking!

Next, we’ll find out water is wet.

Point is Hoon saying it. UKG extracting itself from Bush lower regions

Do any of you see any of my comments as being hurtful or anti-Semitic?

not hurtful, nor anti-Semitic, but perhaps something new to some readers… and not every transmission shifts gears smoothly at first

When I worked on DoD contracts, one point that we NEVER allowed contractors to do in any planning documents was to use “will,” “may,” “could,” or “should.” Everything had to be “shall” statements. Anything less, and we’d given ‘em a loophole large enough to drive a semi through.

One of the things overseas contractors, who apply commonsense instead of rules, never could come to terms with. Sometimes, as in the statute quoted by lhp “may” is the correct word.