Un-American? Bullshit!!

I know what I won't be doing. I won't be watching the WNBA, and I sure as hell won't be rooting for Lisa Leslie.

Hammon just living the American dream

BEIJING – Becky Hammon’s new team spells her name “Rebekka.” A player and the coach of her old country’s team have called her “un-American” and “a traitor.”

The back and forth over whether a Rapid City, S.D. native should be playing not for the United States but Mother Russia has been a heated subplot of women’s basketball. And that was even before Russian tanks started rolling into the city of Gori, John McCain declared “Today, we are all Georgians” and the U.S. and Russia plowed through the Olympic tournament to set up a semifinal matchup Thursday.

“This is sports. It’s never been a political statement on my end,” Hammon told the media Tuesday, according to the New York Times. “I don’t agree with everything that our government does, and I don’t agree with everything the Russian government does.”

In the United States, at least, not everyone agrees with what Becky “Rebekka” Hammon is doing, a knee-jerk reaction from what should be the bye-gone era of the politics of fear, division and isolationism.

The reality is Hammon is doing what any American should do – and our government and major corporations do each day – boldly striking out into the world in search of opportunity and advancement.

For all the handwringing over this pony-tailed daughter of the Dakotas’ supposed anti-Americanism, this story and its polarizing debate stems from a simple and undeniable beginning.

Team USA didn’t want Becky Hammon.

Despite having enough talent to finish runner-up for WNBA MVP honors in 2007, Hammon was not included on USA Basketball’s original list of candidates for the team. As a result, her chance of wearing the red, white and blue were all but over.

She could either root her fellow Americans on from home or she could pursue her lifelong dream and find another country to play for in what has increasingly become a free agent-fueled Olympics.

“When I was a little girl there was no WNBA, so the Olympics was the highest thing and, in my opinion, it’s still the highest thing in basketball,” Hammon told the Seattle Times. “The dream of playing in the Olympics is something I’ve carried around with me for 30 years.”

Hammon had no natural country to turn to. She wasn’t Grand Rapids’ Chris Kaman using his grandparents’ heritage to play for Germany. She would have to pick a country and become a naturalized citizen.

She chose Russia, in no small part because of its well-funded women’s basketball league, where star players make far more than the WNBA pays. A team called CSKA Moscow was willing to give her a four-year, $2 million contract. Playing for the Russian national team was a benefit to the team because it will boost her popularity and box-office appeal.

So Hammon saw business and she saw an Olympic dream and she, most likely, never saw what was coming.

Anne Donovan, the U.S. coach, hammered her for it.

“If you play in this country, live in this country and you grow up in the heartland – and you put on a Russian uniform – you are not a patriotic person.”

Donovan has since calmed down on her rhetoric, even dubbing it “a good business decision.” She’s been gracious to Hammon in Beijing. The damage was done, though. U.S. star Lisa Leslie piled on by declaring, “That’s un-American.” Hammon received plenty of negative feedback.

And just as much positive.

Using hired guns to bolster a nation’s Olympic team is an unseemly development to the Games. It is, however, hardly a Russian or a Hammon development. Everyone is doing it, including the United States.

No matter how much some want to retreat to the old days of good vs. evil at the Olympics, this is a new world order. If anything, the athlete – the individual – has been empowered. It’s the nations that, by going begging, have opened the door of opportunity.

Hammon was able to dictate her own Olympic experience. She was able to pursue her own happiness. It may just be something as simple as playing basketball, but it still matters.

The slight, 5-foot-6 31-year-old certainly didn’t anticipate the souring of relations between Moscow and Washington. No one could’ve predicted Russia’s response to Georgian military action in South Ossetia, an action decried by U.S. politicians. It hardly matters.

Hammon insists playing for Russia is not a statement about international affairs, just the pursuit of an individual dream.

“I don’t expect everybody to understand or jump on my bandwagon,” she told the Times. “I know how I feel about my country. I’m very proud of what America represents to the world. But this is a basketball game. This is not life or death. The real heroes are over in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m playing a game.”

A game between the two countries she holds citizenship in, between one team that didn’t want her and one team that did.

Not accepting personal and professional rejection from Team USA, Becky Hammon forged her own path to the medal round and found a way to make her goals come true.

It was a most American of acts.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with what Becky Hammon did. She wanted to be in the Olympics. The United States basically said fuck you to her. So, she found a country that had a team and she joined them.

Lisa Leslie can go to hell. Un-American? What's the matter Lisa? Are you pissed that you didn't come up with the idea yourself? Talk about a bitch!!

She had a right to play in the Olympics and the United States didn't want her. She found a team and a country that actually respected her and wanted her.

Traitor? Hardly!! Athletes do it all the time. If Lisa Leslie and Anne Donovan didn't have their heads so far up their asses maybe they'd realize that instead of acting like their shit doesn't stink.

Wow, A Whole Seventy Cents!!

Did you blink? If you did, you missed it. The federal minimum wage went up a whole whopping $.70 today. Yeah, big fucking deal!!

Federal minimum wage rises to $6.55 today

WASHINGTON - About 2 million Americans get a raise Thursday as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers.

The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year's boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour.

Workers like Walter Jasper, who earns minimum wage at a car wash in Nashville, Tenn., are happy to take the raise, but will still struggle with the higher gas and food prices hammering Americans.

"It will help out a little," said Jasper, who with his fiancee support a family of seven, and who earns the minimum plus commissions when customers order premium car-wash services.

The bus fare he pays each day to get to work already went up to $4.80 this spring from $4. "I'd like to be on a job where I can at least get a car," he said.

Last week, the Labor Department reported the fastest inflation since 1991 — 5 percent for June compared with a year earlier. Energy costs soared nearly 25 percent. The price of food rose more than 5 percent.

So the minimum wage hike is "a drop in the bucket compared to the increases in costs, declining labor market, and declining household wealth that consumers have experienced in the past year," Lehman Brothers economist Zach Pandl said.

The new minimum is less than the inflation-adjusted 1997 level of $7.02, and far below the inflation-adjusted level of $10.06 from 40 years ago, according to a Labor Department inflation calculator.

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws making the minimum wage higher than the new federal requirement, a group covering 60 percent of U.S. workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank.

"You get desperate, because you can't really pay for everything," said Gladys Lopez, 51, a garment worker from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, who makes military uniforms and has earned the federal minimum for 18 years.

She says she would need to make at least $50 more a week to pay all her bills and take care of her 84-year-old mother, whom she supports.

When the minimum rises again next year, catching up with more states, more than 5 million workers will get a raise, said Lisa Lynch, dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

Some small businesses are already making plans to raise prices to offset the higher wages they have to pay their workers.

David Heath, owner of Tiki Tan in College Station, Texas, said the increase will force him to raise prices for his monthly tanning services by about 12 percent. Tiki Tan had been paying its employees $6 per hour.

"There just isn't any room for profit, and so this is why prices will have to go up," he said, citing the wage increase and higher fuel costs. "I have to recoup those costs."

The increase in the minimum wage could push food prices even higher by rising the pay for agricultural workers, said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. economist at consulting firm Global Insight.

But he said he did not expect the change to have a major impact on the economy because recent increases in productivity, which enables companies to produce more with fewer workers, are keeping labor costs in check.

That makes it unlikely the minimum wage increase will trigger a "wage-price spiral," in which workers facing higher costs demand more pay, which in turn causes companies to raise prices higher, sending inflation coursing through the economy.

And most businesses, even restaurants and other service sector companies, already pay above the minimum wage anyway. Dan Whitaker, general manager at Anis Bistro in Atlanta, a casual French restaurant, said employees earn at least $8 an hour.

"You can't get a dishwasher for minimum wage," he said.

Seventy cents isn't going to mean a damn thing. It's not going to change the situations that people find themselves in. It's not going to end poverty, homelessness, and hunger. It's not going to prevent someone from losing their home due to foreclosure. It's not going to help pay bills. It's not going to help people buy medical insurance. It's going to DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

I would love to see the government (senators, representatives, the President, and other government employees) live on $6.55 an hour. They couldn't survive!!

It must be so difficult to wake up in the morning and your major concern is which $1,000+ suit you're going to put on today. Fuck the people who have to decide between eating, keeping their home, getting their medicine, etc. After all, if we actually pay people a living, survivable wage, the world will end.

Too Little, Too Late!!

This is a perfect example of the typical U.S. Governmental response to things.

CDC unveils new September 11 site health effort

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health officials unveiled plans on Thursday to help people who lived or worked near New York's World Trade Center who may have been harmed by exposure to dust and debris from the collapse in the 2001 attacks.

Nearly seven years after the September 11 attacks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it will award up to $30 million in grants over three years to provide health screening, diagnostic services and treatment for residents near Ground Zero, as well as students, office workers and others who were not emergency responders.

Some lawmakers called the CDC's move long overdue.

"As we approach the seventh anniversary of 9/11, I am relieved that the Bush administration has given up their stall tactics and finally begun to release this funding," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat whose district includes Ground Zero.

Congress provided money for the initiative last December.

The grants are aimed at helping people other than police, firefighters and other emergency responders to the attacks who were addressed in previous programs, the CDC said.

Dr. Christine Branche, acting director of the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, did not specify what medical conditions the CDC had in mind and did not offer a specific number of people who might get help.

Grant money also can be used to help cover gaps when a person's health insurance does not cover costs associated with care or treatment, the CDC said.

Doctors have identified a number of conditions that people nearby Ground Zero might face, including lung and respiratory diseases, asthma and others.

"There is no excuse for not addressing the very real needs of residents, students, and office workers experiencing adverse health impacts following the 9/11 attacks. Studies have clearly documented the illnesses experienced by community members in the aftermath of 9/11," said Sen. Hillary Clinton, a New York Democrat.

"We have, to date, invested at least $925 million in the programs to support the responders and now the non-responders to the 9/11 situation," CDC director Julie Gerberding told a telephone briefing with reporters. She did not take questions.

Branche said the CDC expects to award the grants around the end of September. "We encourage health and medical care facilities to apply," Branche said.

Did they seriously sit around and think up a "plan" to show that they actually give a shit about the American people? Who are they trying to bullshit with this crap?

These people should have been helped from day one, not almost seven years later. A diagnosis is going to do nothing for them now, except maybe to tell them how much longer they have to live?

This should come as no surprise to anyone though. After all, it was the administration thug Christie Todd Whitman who declared the air near Ground Zero SAFE!!

This is too little, and too late!!

The Koolaid Drinkers Are At It Again!!

Okay, the Obama lunatics have gotten utterly ridiculous!! Have you heard about this story?

Japan phone company pulls 'monkey' ad that hints at Obama

(CNN) — A Japanese cell phone company has pulled one of its television ads that used a monkey that appears to portray Sen. Barack Obama.

The commercial opens with a crowd rallying behind a well-dressed monkey speaking from a podium. The supporters are cheering and waving signs that say “Change.” In the ad, the monkey was encouraging users to change providers.

The company behind the ad, eMobile Ltd., insists it had no idea of any racial undertones and says the ad was just a nod at Obama’s worldwide popularity.

Eric Gan, president of eMobile, points out that their company’s mascot is a monkey – an animal revered in Japan — and has been used in previous ads.

“When we saw the idea for the first time, it was ‘Hey, you're copying the idea from the presidential election in the U.S.’ Yes, but, you know, that's how you make a presentation. How you make an impact. We thought it quite was interesting,” he said.

Bloggers immediately voiced their disapproval of the ad and accused the company of being racist.

Gan says the company was unaware of how the ad might be interpreted, but “now, of course, we know.”

This is just completely asinine. Now the company is pulling the ad. Why should they? I didn't know that Barack Obama owned the word CHANGE. When did he copyright it? I must have missed something.

The Koolaid-drinking Obama lunatics actually think that this is racist. I'll tell you what is racist. The racists here are the Obama lunatics who would equate a monkey with a black person. The Japanese and this company in particular didn't equate a monkey with Barack Obama or any black person for that matter.

The point of this cellphone ad is to get people to switch cellphone providers. It is not to mock Barack Obama. It is not "stealing an idea from the U.S. Presidential election". It is not racist.

If you question Barack Obama, you're a racist. If you ask Barack Obama a question, you're a racist. If you say anything about Barack Obama, you're a racist. If you don't support Barack Obama, you're a racist. If you don't kiss Barack Obama's ass, you're a racist.

Enough already!! We're sick and tired of this bullshit!! What's next? A call for a boycott of Japan, and anything Japanese? Sanctions? A war against Japan? When is this bullshit going to end?

Laura Bush Is "Serious" About Something!!

Laura Bush says that she's focusing on Myanmar violence. She's "serious" about it!! Serious? Serious just like she was "serious" about other issues? Let's recap the issues that she's been "serious" about.

How Does Laura Bush Sleep at Night?

With the passing of Lady Bird Johnson, we are reminded that First Ladies used to stand for something. She was not as beautiful as Jackie Kennedy, and in the mid-1960s with the war in Vietnam escalating, beautifying America’s highways may have seemed a trivial goal. It wasn’t. Lady Bird Johnson—a successful businesswoman in her own right—combined a disdain for the spread of commercial clutter with a love for the environment that today seems positively progressive in a first lady. She helped her husband advance the Head Start program and civil rights; she spoke publicly in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.

By contrast, what does Laura Bush stand for? Well, at first it was “literacy” and the merits of being a stay-at-home wife who gets her husband (allegedly) to quit drinking. Then she was going to combat the influence of gangs on school children. (Her husband subsequently eliminated this program.) Then there was some hand-waving about women’s heart disease. Her very glitzy website also cites “Gulf Coast Rebuilding” (no comment) and “Global Diplomacy” as top Laura priorities. All of these are advanced with a smile as lock-jawed as Nurse Ratched’s.

As one of the scant 15 percent of likely voters who has a “very unfavorable” assessment of Mrs. Bush (and who finds her high approval ratings a complete mystery), I would like to suggest that she may be the worst First Lady in recent memory. Here are the reasons: First, she has had no consistent program or agenda that has changed anything for the better. Second, she provides PR cover for her husband so she can pretend they’re doing one thing, like helping school children, while he can do another, like screwing them and their teachers through disasters like “No Child Left Behind.” (Another example of being a beard for Bush, she promotes awareness about women’s heart disease while he proposes slashes in Medicaid, 70 percent of whose recipients are poor women.) Third, she has taken absolutely no stand against her husband’s relentless, Shermanesque march across women’s rights. Last and most damning, she is an utter hypocrite, especially when it comes to global rights for women.

Remember how Laura Bush claimed that one of the main reasons for the war in Afghanistan was to liberate women from their burkas? To “kick off a world-wide effort to focus on the brutality against women and children by the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the regime it supports,” she opined in a November 2001 radio address. “The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women.” Really? Seven months later, her husband withheld more than $200 million in funding for programs to support women and to combat AIDS in Afghanistan.

And where has Laura Bush been since, when it was made clear that women would play virtually no role in the post-Taliban government? Where was she when Human Rights Watch reported in July 2003 that violence against girls and women in Afghanistan, including rape, was increasing? Well, in the spring of 2005 she went to visit Afghani women for six hours where she offered “the very best wishes of the American people.” Upon her return, she told Jay Leno things were “very encouraging” for them.

Meanwhile, this mother of two daughters has remained mute during her husband’s six-and-a-half year assault on women’s rights. In addition to appointing two deeply conservative, anti-choice zealots to the Supreme Court, Bush enacted a domestic gag rule in 2004 which allowed HMOs, hospitals and the like to prohibit doctors from providing abortion referrals or even information about abortion. One of his first acts in office was to reinstate a global gag rule, which forbade any agency that got funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development from using those or any other funds (including their own!) to provide or promote abortions. Within a year, there were shortages of contraceptives, clinics had closed, and 16 developing countries (including Afghanistan, which Laura cares so much about) had seen shipments of supplies cut off.

Two months after his inauguration, Bush closed the White House Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach. He then made sure that information about issues like pay equity and childcare were removed from the Department of Labor’s website—25 such publications vanished from the Women’s Bureau website alone. Instead, new bogus information, such as the claim that there was a link between having an abortion and getting breast cancer, appeared on the National Cancer Institute’s website. In 2005, the Bush administration weakened the standards for compliance with Title IX (maybe the Bush girls were too busy partying to play any sports).

As one reviews this record and the cynical gaps between Mrs. Bush’s pro-woman-pronouncements and her husband’s determination to keep as many of us as possible barefoot and pregnant, it is hard to imagine how she lives with him. Or herself.

She's been "serious" about literacy. She's been "serious" about "combating the influence of gangs on school children". She's been "serious" about women’s heart disease. She's been "serious" about combating obesity. She's been "serious" about “Gulf Coast Rebuilding”. She's been "serious" about “Global Diplomacy”. She's been "serious" about "liberating women in Afghanistan".

We all know where the "serious" interest in these issues has gone. DOWN THE FUCKING TOILET!! This will be no different!! I wonder what the flavor of the month will be for October!! I know!! She'll be "serious" about combating "pinched neck nerves". WINK!! WINK!!

"Blowhan" Gets Off!! Big Surprise!! Not!!

Yes, I'm going to bitch about the rich and famous for a minute. Lindsay "Blowhan" Lohan is essentially getting off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Big Surprise!! Not!!

D.A. to Lindsay -- You're Not a Felon

TMZ was at the Beverly Hills Courthouse this morning when the L.A. County District Attorney filed criminal charges against Lindsay Lohan. The charges are seven misdemeanors -- NO FELONIES. And, there may be a plea bargain today at 1:30 PM PDT.

Lohan, who was busted twice since Memorial Day weekend, was charged with two counts of driving under the influence. If convicted of both, she'd face a minimum of four days in jail. If a felony were filed, Lohan could have faced several years in state prison.

As to why no felony charges were filed, the DA says Lohan's cocaine traces "were below the .05 grams required by office policy for felony filing."

Sources tell us there were also problems even proving she was in possession of the drug.

As for the second case, a law enforcement source tells us the manner in which the cocaine was seized was questionable. In addition, the source says the amount of cocaine "didn't meet the threshold for filing."

But there's more to the story: In deciding whether to file felony cocaine charges, the D.A. always looks at the person and the circumstances. In Lohan's case, the fact that she was busted twice in a short period of time actually helped her. It shows someone is struggling with an addiction problem. The fact that each time she was busted, she immediately checked into a rehab facility also helped her case. Also, her age -- 21 -- and the fact that her upbringing was extremely unstable -- also worked in her favor.

One law enforcement source put it this way: "Prosecutors in this county see a lot of kids in crisis. There are lots of kids struggling with addiction. The first sign of trouble usually involves a car. We're not going to throw every one of them in prison. It doesn't make sense."

It must be nice having millions upon millions of dollars at your disposal. It must be nice being able to throw that money around to get out of legal trouble.

Let's break this down. She wasn't charged with any felonies because she is:

1) A kid!! Wrong there!! She's a 21 year old ADULT. And quite frankly, I'm getting pretty fucking tired of hearing these people called kids when they're not.

2) She has an addiction. Plus, her two drunk and drug fueled driving incidents and subsequent rehab stints actually helped her to avoid a felony charge. Huh? I thought that if you broke the law, you're charged with a crime. I didn't know that your CRIMES actually could help you. But hey, let's blame her addiction for her crimes and all is right with the world. I knew she would get off easy by shouting ADDICTION.

3) She had a disfunctional childhood. Again, this brings me back to the point that I was making a few seconds ago. She's an ADULT. Her childhood has got absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she drove drunk and high twice. What, was she trying to make a statement to her parents by doing this? Has she ever heard of picking up the damn telephone if she had something to say? And when in the hell is she going to grow up? She's not a child anymore. Her childhood is not an excuse for what she did. If that's the excuse they're going with, that's rather pathetic. The average Joe wouldn't get away with that shit!!

4) Her age. Yes, let's talk about her age for a minute. Again, she's an ADULT. With adulthood comes responsibilities. She chose to drive drunk. She chose to drive with cocaine in her system. She CHOSE!! Her age has absolutely nothing to do with this either. There are actual KIDS that do the same shit she did, and they've faced far worse punishment then she ever will.

5) The manner in which the cocaine was seized was questionable, and there would be problems proving that she was in possession of it? Um, how about the fact that it was in her fucking pants pocket? Doesn't that count for something? That says POSSESSION to me. And, let's not forget that she had cocaine in her system. If she had cocaine in her system, she can be charged with being under the influence of DRUGS. It's that simple.

Now let's talk about what they're not saying. She wasn't charged with felonies because:

1) She's Lindsay Lohan. Clearly, she has enough money at her disposal so that she will never have to face a minute behind bars.

2) She's white. I guarantee you that if this had been someone of another race, she would be facing felony charges. Yes, oh hell yes!! I'm going to pull out the race card people. It happens all the time, and will continue to happen until the end of time. It's a known fact that a person that isn't white is more likely to face harsher penalties for their crimes than a white person is.

3) She's rich. If this had been a poor person, they would be locked up for a long time. But since she's rich and famous, she's not going to see a day behind bars.

What message does this send to people? Well, it says to me that if you're rich, pretty, famous, and have an addiction, you can do whatever the hell you want and get away with it. All you have to do is cry UNSTABLE CHILDHOOD, and I'M AN ADDICT!! It says to me that if you have enough money to buy your way out of a situation, you should do that. Am I saying that she flashed the cash at the D.A.? No!! But with her money, she could hold up this situation until the D.A. decides that it's not worth pursuing.

I can't wait to see what happens the next time she drives drunk and high. Trust me, there will be a next time!! If she kills someone the next time she's driving drunk and high, is she going to get off because of her unstable childhood, age, and addiction? No doubt!!

Let this be a warning to anyone that lives, works, or travels in or around the area in which Lindsay "Blowhan" Lohan lives, works, or travels!! Don't step foot outside!! You may be her next victim!!

No Special Treatment For The Military And Their Spouses? Yeah Right!!

Yes, I'm going to bitch about this story again. It's my right!!

The military and their spouses don't get special treatment? Yeah right, and pigs fly!!

BOSTON (AP) - A woman whose soldier husband is missing in Iraq has gotten her green card after authorities threatened to deport her for entering the U.S. illegally.

Yaderlin Hiraldo Jimenez walked out of a Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Buffalo, N.Y., on Friday with her permanent residency papers, her lawyer said.

``She was moved to tears,'' attorney Matthew Kolken, who accompanied his client, told The Boston Globe for Sunday's editions.

``Her immigration problems have been solved in their entirety and now her focus is completely dedicated to her hope and desire that she's going to see her husband again,'' Kolken said.

Army Spec. Alex Jimenez, of Lawrence, Mass., has been missing since his unit was attacked in Iraq on May 12.

His wife illegally entered the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in June 2001, paying $500 to a smuggler and walking three days from Mexico to California. The couple were married in 2004.

Jimenez's request for a green card and legal residence status for his wife alerted authorities to her situation.

She has been living in Pennsylvania and had been facing deportation but an immigration judge put a temporary stop to the proceedings after Jimenez was reported missing.

Last month, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his agency would end the deportation case. He said in a letter to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., that ``the sacrifices made by our soldiers and their families deserve our greatest respect.''

Kolken said his client hopes to apply for citizenship and to attend college.

``She commented about how much she loved this country,'' Kolken said.

This woman walked into the immigration offices less than a few weeks after being told she wouldn't be deported, and walked out with her green card. If only all immigrants could do that!! But they can't!! Why is that? Because they're not worthy of a green card. After all, "the military and their families deserve our greatest respect." That includes being allowed to break the law, and that's exactly what this woman did!! Now she's being rewarded with a green card. How much do you want to bet that she'll have her citizenship in less than a month?

All illegal immigrants, should walk into the immigration offices and demand a green card. Oh wait, as soon as they walk into the office they'll be arrested and deported. How stupid of me to think otherwise!!

And someone had the nerve to argue with me that the military and their spouses don't think they're above the law and aren't treated that way. What the hell do you call this then? If it smells like bullshit and looks like bullshit, it's bullshit!! By the way, you know who you are so don't bother to comment and ask me why I have no heart!! This woman knowingly and willingly broke the law, and people are just willing to look the other way because her husband is in the military and is missing. She should be treated like everyone else, and she's not!!

Blair Is A Bush Lap Dog!! He Learned A Few New "Tricks" From His Master!!

Tony Blair is proving more and more why he truly is a Bush lap dog. He learned a few new tricks from his Master.

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday his government wants new anti-terror laws as he accused the courts and parliament of wrongly stressing the rights of suspects over national security.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Blair argued that the disappearance last week of three terror suspects under a form of house arrest resulted from British society's mixed-up priorities rather than from government mistakes.

"The fault is not with our services or, in this instance, with the Home Office (interior ministry). We have chosen as a society to put the civil liberties of the suspect, even if a foreign national, first," he wrote.

"I happen to believe this is misguided and wrong," said Blair.

Blair recalled that Britain adopted anti-terror laws after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States that allowed the police to detain foreign terror suspects even if they lacked evidence to prosecute them.

Such detentions freed up police resources to watch British nationals who might pose a threat, he said.

But, he added, the courts struck down the laws and forced the government instead to use "control orders," a form of house arrest that restricts the movements and communications of suspects, whether foreign or British nationals.

Although they were "better than nothing," he said, they were "much weaker than we wanted, perpetually diluted by (parliamentary) opposition amendments, constantly attacked on civil liberty grounds."

Now Lamine and Ibrahim Adam, aged 26 and 20, and Cerie Bullivant, 24, went on the run after failing to report to police Tuesday, as required by the control orders.

The Adams pair are the brothers of Anthony Garcia, 25, who was imprisoned last month for his role in a fertiliser bomb plot aimed at attacking targets in London and across Britain.

Blair also complained that the courts have blocked the government from deporting foreign nationals engaged in or inciting extremism because of fears the country they return to might torture or abuse them.

And he regretted that a vote in parliament defeated government efforts to support police requests to detain a suspect without charge for up to 90 days.

Blair, who leaves office on June 27 when he hands over to finance minister Gordon Brown, also said the government will publish new proposals on anti-terror laws in "the next few weeks."

The Sunday Times said British police could be given powers to stop and question anyone for the first time throughout Britain under the new laws the Home Office is preparing.

The newspaper said anyone who refused to cooperate could be charged with obstructing the police and fined up to 5,000 pounds (nearly 10,000 dollars).

"We are considering a range of measures for the bill and 'stop and question' is one of them," a Home Office spokeswoman said.

The police currently have the power to stop and search individuals on "reasonable grounds for suspicion" that they have committed an offence but have no rights to ask for their identity and movements.

The Blair government stepped up its approach to terrorism after September 11, 2001 and again after four British-born Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 commuters and injured hundreds of others in London on July 7, 2005.

Not to put words in the poodle's mouth, but if it's good enough for the United States it's good enough for England. You see, the poodle thinks that just because the American government can detain anyone they damn well please for as long as they damn well please without any probable cause, he should be able to do it too.

Seriously, to hell with people's rights. Why should they have the right to expect police or their government to actually have probable cause to suspect that they did something or are about to do something before actually being questioned or arrested? After all, we live in a "post 9/11 world" where people shouldn't expect to have any rights because they actually DON'T HAVE ANY RIGHTS!!

The poodle actually learned some lessons from his Master. He learned:

* If the American government can do it, so can the British government!!

* When in doubt, always throw the phrase National Security into your argument!!

* It's not the government's fault, it's society's fault!!

* Invoke 9/11 into your argument. It'll get you a long way!!

What the poodle really needs to admit is that this isn't about targeting the average WHITE Briton. This is about targeting Muslims, and Middle Eastern people.

Nobody is fooled by Blair's intentions here. Nobody is fooled by the phony excuses. Anyone with a brain knows what's really going on here, and it has nothing to do with protecting the country. Tony Blair can stop the charade!! It's old and tiresome!!