Wed/Thur open thread

Just a few more minutes til summer officially starts (8:26 AM ET)

I’m moving some off topic posts from another thread into this one, FYI.

Update: Having a busy day today – blogging will resume later this evening.

39 Responses to "Wed/Thur open thread"

Sister Toldjah says:

June 21, 2006 at 8:26 am

Moving the following posts from another thread because the thread got off topic thanks to poster “Alex.”

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Interesting..there was theft and fraud involved in 911 yet I don’t see any comments about that.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13355796/

(AP) Once-secret documents obtained by The Associated Press show a disaster supply management company went unpunished for Sept. 11 thefts after the government discovered FBI agents and other government officials had stolen artifacts from New York’s ground zero.

That prompted a broader review that ultimately found 16 government employees, including a top FBI executive and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, had such artifacts from New York or the Pentagon.

Dan L’Allier said he witnessed 45 tons of the New York loot being unloaded in Minnesota at his company’s headquarters. He and disaster specialist Chris Christopherson complained to a company executive, but were ordered to keep quiet. They persisted, going instead to the FBI.

The two whistleblowers eventually lost their jobs, received death threats and were blackballed in the disaster relief industry. But they remained convinced their sacrifice was worth seeing justice done.

They were wrong.

As a result, most Americans were kept in the dark about a major fraud involving their donated goods even as new requests for charity emerged with disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

Even Rummy was in on yet no one complains about thisâ€¦or is it only a problem when poor and black people do it?

Comment by Alex @ 6/20/2006 – 6:09 pm

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“Even Rummy was in on yet no one complains about thisâ€¦or is it only a problem when poor and black people do it? ”

No, it’s only acceptable when poor and black (or any other group liberals claim are â€˜repressed’) people do it.

Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 6/20/2006 – 6:13 pm

——————————————————————————–

Alex, do what?

Comment by Baklava @ 6/20/2006 – 6:38 pm

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No, it’s only acceptable when poor and black (or any other group liberals claim are â€˜repressed’) people do it.

when the majority (read: not a person of color or poor) does it its just not reported or prosecuted in most cases (guess you can’t indict the sec of defense on recieving stolen goods..or fbi agents of looting oops i mean FINDING artifactsâ€¦eh)

Comment by Alex @ 6/20/2006 – 10:45 pm

——————————————————————————–

I guess commenting on the actual issue is just too much to ask for you to do, isn’t it Alex? Instead of addressing what was written in my original post, you try and sidetrack into an unrelated discussion – likely out of your hatred of Rummy and the admin. If you don’t like this topic, take your OFF topic comments to an open thread.

Thank you.

Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 6/20/2006 – 10:52 pm

—

What exactly did Rumsfield take??? The article never says. I have to wonder what he took. Knowing and trusting the AP, I would lay money that Rummy took a piece of steel or concrete. Something to focus on when times/the news get tough on him. – Lorica

Comment by Lorica @ 6/20/2006 – 11:32 pm

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what you’re complaining about is ridiculousâ€¦

if you give ANYONE a check for 50,000 dollars or more of course they are going to spend some of it on non essential things..like a vacation or whatever..thats just human. And of course there will be con artist and crooks who will take advantage of the system thats just human as well. I would wager that there are a good number of katrina victims that are spending the money in a wise fashion but if that was reported then you’d have nothing to complain about. And the slant of the article and the opinions here is that of course black people would act in such a way and that this kind of thing could ONLY happen where poor and black people are involved.
at a
My bringing up 911 and the thefts and overpayouts and fraud there was to illustrate how if it doesn’t have a good number of black faces attached to it even tho its the SAME THINGâ€¦no ones got anything to say about it at allâ€¦I checked you archives and didn’t see one article or opinion on those excesses at all.

Comment by Alex @ 6/20/2006 – 11:51 pm

——————————————————————————–

What exactly did Rumsfield take??? The article never says. I have to wonder what he took. Knowing and trusting the AP, I would lay money that Rummy took a piece of steel or concrete. Something to focus on when times/the news get tough on him.

The lead investigators for the FBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agency told AP that the plan to prosecute KEI for those thefts stopped as soon as it became clear in late summer 2002 that an FBI agent in Minnesota had stolen a crystal globe from ground zero.

That prompted a broader review that ultimately found 16 government employees, including a top FBI executive and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, had such artifacts from New York or the Pentagon.
sounds like more than concrete or bits of building. They LOOTED (i like how they used the words “stolen artifacts..like its Raiders of the Lost Ark or something..) property from a crime scene.

Comment by Alex @ 6/20/2006 – 11:57 pm

——————————————————————————–

Lorica – Rummy “took” a small 12 inch or so piece of twisted aluminum from the remains of the smouldering aircraft embeded in one of the office spaces as a reminder of the people that died that day, both on the flight and in the Pentagon. He quite proudly shows it to this day in his office, and did so on the special that FOX did on him a few months ago. This is just some more of the smear campaigns of the Left that cannot seem to find anything to picyune or small minded to carp on, and try to make a phoney issue of.

S**** the Left. I hardly even pay attention to them anymore, and most mainstream voters fell the same way. When vote time comes I give them 100 to 1 odds at this point, and you can bet they’re not going to change. I honestly cannot imagine anything compelling me to ever vote for a Democrat again. Ever.

– Bang

Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 6/21/2006 – 12:12 am

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the bottomline is when the FBI investigated further they found that Rummy was in possession of something he should not have been. Yet he and others involved were given a pass.. And isn’t it the point that everyone should be held to the same rules and standards.

Comment by Alex @ 6/21/2006 – 12:29 am
Sister Toldjah says:

June 21, 2006 at 8:37 am

Alex: “what you’re complaining about is ridiculousâ€¦”

and

“And isn’t it the point that everyone should be held to the same rules and standards.”

ST: That’s a very hypocritical stance for you to take. First, you claim that complaining about the abuse of FEMA money by Katrina victims is “ridiculous” yet a few posts later post some platitude about ‘everyone should be held to the same standards.’ Gotcha. What this is about – to you – is the same ol’ moral relativism BS we get from so many other liberals, which is “if you’re gonna target a minority group, you have to balance it out with criticism of a non-minority group! It’s only fair, because we shouldn’t single ANYBODY OUT!”

Furthermore, your assertion about Rummy “stealing” from Ground Zero is utter BS, as Bang has explained. The fact that you felt you needed to embellish what Rummy took as if he stole some old lady’s wallet from Ground Zero is a testament to the hard left’s willingness to trump up ANYTHING against an admin official to score political points. You might be able to get away with that on some other sites, but you WON’T get away with it here.
Baklava says:

June 21, 2006 at 8:47 am

Sure. Let’s prosecute everyone that took a piece of the Berlin wall Alex…..

On to more relevant topics….. The left continues to demonstrate how little perspective they have…. No word if our soldiers had panties on their heads but Andrew Sullivan goes on without perspective…..
Lorica says:

June 21, 2006 at 10:15 am

The Bottom line is, Alex, that the AP lies. They needed an excuse and that was it. Your whole premise is Barbra Striesand and you know it. Hang in there to the very end, such backward thinking can only lose you elections. Good Luck, your going to need it this November, or are you guys gonna slash somemore tires. – Lorica
Karl says:

June 21, 2006 at 10:57 am

here is a post for all you folks that hate mornings

Karl
Big Bang Hunter says:

June 21, 2006 at 11:20 am

– I wonder if the reason the Left is so nervous about there being remnents of the actual aircrafit that hit the Pentagon, flown by the same murdering thugs that were part of Bin Ladens Jihadist Killer squad, is that its proof positive they can’t lie their way around when they try to claim this rediculous crap about it being a military missile, deliberately used by the administration to discredit and blame the peace loving Islamic terrorists.

– It’s getting to where you cannot draw a line anymore between the Jihadist murderers, and the Liberals. They both seem to want the same thing, the destruction of America.

– Bang
William Teach says:

June 21, 2006 at 11:43 am

Hey, Sister T: did you see this hatchet piece in the Charlotte Socialist, er, Observer on the ‘Canes? LINK

Pretty sad.
Baklava says:

June 21, 2006 at 12:25 pm

ST,

Check out this post by Betsy Newmark concerning Murtha’s dealings that the legacy drive by media FAILS to mention.
Big Bang Hunter says:

June 21, 2006 at 12:41 pm

Hmmmm…. A Murtha in sheep flock Bak….. curiouser and curiouser… Could the Senile Senator be running a “cover” scam for some behind the scenes trickery after all…. Looks like Pelosi’s “culture of corruption” might be comeing home to roost…

– Bang
alex says:

June 21, 2006 at 12:57 pm

What this is about – to you – is the same ol’ moral relativism BS we get from so many other liberals, which is “if you’re gonna target a minority group, you have to balance it out with criticism of a non-minority group! It’s only fair, because we shouldn’t single ANYBODY OUT!”

so its okay to single out only the minorities when they get caught with their hand in cookie jar..but when someone a apart of the majority gets busted its not really a big deal and therefore be downplayed.

Furthermore, your assertion about Rummy “stealing” from Ground Zero is utter BS, as Bang has explained

if it was really BS then the fbi wouldn’t have investigated in the first place.
Big Bang Hunter says:

June 21, 2006 at 1:29 pm

– Alex, I know you on the left are surrounded constantly by your gaggle of groupthink conspiracy dogmaniacs, but it just doesn’t play with people that aren’t suffering from Bush derangement syndrome. The FBI was investigation contractors that may have illegally profitted from the materials removed by the tones from the impact sites.

– That has nothing to do with a few officials that may have wanted a small token to mark that day, so unlike yourself, they’d never forget what it ment to the people that lost loved ones in that tradgedy.

– Give it a rest. everybody is just sick and tired of your stupid anti-American crap. Get a clue.

– Bang
Lorica says:

June 21, 2006 at 1:40 pm

Alex??? The FBI didn’t start with Rummy they started with thefts by other people. Figure it out for God’s sake. It was not due to Rummy taking a piece of aluminum that the FBI was investigating. The AP trumps up the charge to make it look like Rummy did something wrong. He didn’t, get off the soap box it is collapsing under the sheer foolishness of you defending your premise. Rummy Didn’t do a thing wrong, so why would he be investigated. – Lorica
benning says:

June 21, 2006 at 1:53 pm

alex, the FBI investigates according to what the crime is alleged to be. If it turns out that there is no crime, they stop. So, stopping is not evidence that there was a crime. Nor is stopping evidence that there was interference in the investigation. Nor is it evidence that political pressure was brought to bear on the investigators.

Could all those things be true. Yes, of course. Have you any evidence to show that the investigation was stopped for anything other than the lack of an actual crime taking place? No.

Thanks for playing, alex, and we hope you enjoy the home version of “Lefty Paranoia”!
Big Bang Hunter says:

June 21, 2006 at 1:58 pm

– The Left is out of power, and totally unhinged. Its the Nepoleon sickness. They’ve become dedicated to the idea of looking under any rock for the tiniest shred of a possible thing to bitch about, in their deranged ideologies. It’s a waste of time to even give them the time of day in this idiocy.

– Bang
alex says:

June 21, 2006 at 2:14 pm

I never said that the investigation STARTED with rumsfeld…i said his involvement was investigated and the ONLY reason they stopped was because it would have been a conflict of interest. It started out investigatng fraud and stolen artifacts (one of which wound up on rummy’s desk). If those artifacts weren’t important or significant in the first place the fbi wouldn’t have bothered to follow up on it.

– Give it a rest. everybody is just sick and tired of your stupid anti-American crap. Get a clue.
and how is exposing federal agents recieving stolen goods anti american?? I guess you think the guys that blew the whistle on the whole thing in the first place are anti american as well..damn when did this country turn into the USSR?

The AP trumps up the charge to make it look like Rummy did something wrong. He didn’t, get off the soap box it is collapsing under the sheer foolishness of you defending your premise. Rummy Didn’t do a thing wrong, so why would he be investigated.

The lead investigators for the FBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agency told AP that the plan to prosecute KEI for those thefts stopped as soon as it became clear in late summer 2002 that an FBI agent in Minnesota had stolen a crystal globe from ground zero.

That prompted a broader review that ultimately found 16 government employees, including a top FBI executive and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, had such artifacts from New York or the Pentagon.

“How could you secure an indictment?” FEMA investigator Kirk Beauchamp asked. “It would be a conflict.”

While the globe’s discovery had been widely reported, its impact on the Sept. 11 thefts had remained mostly unknown.

Prosecutors “and the FBI were very conscious of the fact that if they proceeded in one direction, they would have to proceed in the other, which meant prosecuting FBI agents” said Jane Turner, the lead FBI agent. She too became a whistleblower alleging the bureau tried to fire her for bringing the stolen artifacts to light. Turner retired in 2003.

And while rummy himself wouldn’t have been directly prosecuted i’m sure his name would have come up in any further investigation and that wouldn’t look so good in the press in any way.

The AP didn’t trump up anything their sources were the investigators themselves.
Big Bang Hunter says:

June 21, 2006 at 2:26 pm

– Alex, this is all total BS. Nobody’s listening to the rants of the left anymore. You’re wasting bandwidth.

– Bang
Baklava says:

June 21, 2006 at 2:32 pm

As I said. Let’s prosecute those who got a piece of the Berlin Wall too.

Anything else that matters to you Alex? Or is your perspective that this only matters.
Mwalimu Daudi says:

June 21, 2006 at 2:37 pm

Study: Massive Southern California Earthquake Could Come Any Moment

Yet more evidence of global warming. Impeach Bushitler!
Mwalimu Daudi says:

June 21, 2006 at 2:45 pm

Yet more evidence of global warming. Impeach Bushitler!

Oh – it is also evidence that we are losing in Iraq. Bring the troops home now – no blood for oil! Re-elect Rt. Rev. Algore. Free Tookie Williams! Investigate the murder of Zarqawi! Allah Akhbar and legalize pot!

I think that covers it ….
Baklava says:

June 21, 2006 at 2:52 pm

ST, Here’s something that Matters concerning the largest city in Connecticut.

A story of Two Democrat Mayors. The first resigned 8 DAYS AFTER CONVICTION. The second admitted to using cocaine after being caught but won’t resign.
Baklava says:

June 21, 2006 at 2:59 pm

Also this concerns the wildly conflicting FIRST reports about Haditha from Al Jazeera vs. the Army.

After it was reported like this:

[This is immediately followed by a live telephone interview with “journalist” Walid Khalid in Baghdad conducted by anchorperson Layla al-Shayib in the Doha studios. When queried about the Hadithah incidents, Khalid says: “Yesterday evening, an explosive charge went off under a US Marines vehicle in the Al-Subhani area, destroying it completely. Half an hour later, the US reaction was violent. US aircraft bombarded four houses near the scene of the incident, causing the immediate death of five Iraqis. Afterward, the US troops stormed three adjacent houses where three families were living near the scene of the explosion. Medical sources and eyewitnesses close to these families affirmed that the US troops, along with the Iraqi Army, executed 21 persons; that is, three families, including nine children and boys, seven women, and three elderly people.

“Furthermore, the US troops threw their dead bodies onto the street and in the courtyards of the houses. They also set the three houses on fire, destroying them completely. Then, the US troops opened fire on a vehicle in which five schoolchildren were travelling on their return trip from school. After the vehicle stopped, the US troops opened fire on the schoolchildren, causing the death toll to rise to 31 Iraqi civilians, not to mention 11 others who were wounded, and the arrest of 21 suspects near the scene of the incident. The city is now under stringent curfew. The US troops prevented the evacuation of those wounded or killed from the streets. Besides, an announcement aired through loudspeakers at noon today said that the residents of this area must evacuate it quickly.”] – Al Jazeera, Qatar

It seems the story was changed to be MORE believable. They had to CHANGE their accusations so it seemed LESS outrageous and moonbatty. But these people STILL have little perspective because they’ve gone through more than 5 stories from what I know. 2 alone were from that girl who has been interviewed (who had 2 different stories).

In Sweetness and Light’s post she gives another story (which is # 6 in my mind) from Mafkarat al-Islam:

Following Saturday night Resistance attack that left five Marines dead, US troops arrest and shoot 31 Iraqi civilians, Mafkarat al-Islam reports.

In a dispatch posted at 5:30pm Mecca time Sunday evening, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that ar-Ramadi General Hospital had confirmed that US occupation forces had executed 31 Iraqis, ranging in age from 18 to 40, following an Iraqi Resistance attack on American Marines in al-Hadithah in which a Jeep was destroyed and five Marines were killed on Saturday night.

The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent reported eyewitnesses as saying that after that deadly Resistance attack, US occupation troops had launched a wave of house-to-house raids and arrests, pulling the men out of their homes. The witnesses said that the men were then blindfolded, lined up against the wall of a house and shot to death.

Al Jazeera didn’t even do the due diligence of checking with their allies to see if their stories jived.
Big Bang Hunter says:

June 21, 2006 at 3:21 pm

“The witnesses said that the men were then blindfolded, lined up against the wall of a house and shot to death.”

– That right there exposes the whole diatribe as a Leftist Media driven scam….

– Bang
Baklava says:

June 21, 2006 at 3:34 pm

One person says blindfolded (why take the time to do that?), one says handcuffed everyone including the babies and elderly (do they make that small handcuffs), one person said BOMB, one person said slaughtered all the animals, one said oh who cares, the left EATS up the story and convicts the Marines BEFORE THE TRIAL !!!! Yes. That’s you Murtha and Andrew Sullivan. Negligent. A FAILURE in DUE DILIGENCE. I’d go as far as calling you guys UNAMERICAN because you didn’t offer them the innocent till proven guilty.
G Monster says:

June 21, 2006 at 4:58 pm

Murtha has turned out to be a big scumbag. Wouldn’t matter if he was a republican or a democrat. He has turned on the Marines in Haditha incident, hoping to advance his political career.
Baklava says:

June 21, 2006 at 5:34 pm

and voting for defense appropriations that has benefitted his brother.
sanity says:

June 21, 2006 at 5:54 pm

But remember, Murtha SUPPORTS the troops…
sanity says:

June 21, 2006 at 6:23 pm

This is just UNBELIEVABLE!

I just had to post on it:
AOL Just Doesn’t Want to Let You Go!

AOL that refuses to cancel a customers account.

Frustration and Incredulity ensue…..
Big Bang Hunter says:

June 21, 2006 at 6:44 pm

– Still more bad news for the Libtards….

“Santorum: Military has found 500 chemical munitions shells in Iraq”(Reading on the Floor of the House)

– Bang
Big Bang Hunter says:

June 21, 2006 at 6:46 pm

…con’d –

– He’s reading from a document about it right now with Pete Hoekstra by his side. The shells allegedly contained degraded mustard or sarin gas. He says they believe there are other shells inside the country that haven’t been found yet….Developing

– Bang
Karl says:

June 21, 2006 at 6:50 pm

gee ya think?

How many more reports will we hear before they will concede that yes he did have WMDS.

Sheesh
Sister Toldjah says:

June 21, 2006 at 8:21 pm

Bang and forest, just moved your most recent two comments about Santorum’s comments to this thread.
Alex says:

June 21, 2006 at 8:28 pm

As I said. Let’s prosecute those who got a piece of the Berlin Wall too.

the berlin wall wasn’t a part of a crime scene…
Sister Toldjah says:

June 21, 2006 at 8:36 pm

Alex, I’ve grown tired of your silly obnoxiousness. Say bye bye.
Sister Toldjah says:

June 21, 2006 at 9:04 pm

William: “Hey, Sister T: did you see this hatchet piece in the Charlotte Socialist, er, Observer on the â€˜Canes? LINK

Pretty sad.”

ST: LOL – not surprising! Since they didn’t give us having the NHL here their “official” blessing back in the day, they dislike all things ‘Canes. I honestly rarely ever read the Distorter, and at that it’s usually the Sunday paper so I can get the coupons and sales papers
Baklava says:

June 21, 2006 at 9:11 pm

No. It wasn’t a crime that thugs kept Berlin people poor destitute and closed from the rest of the world I guess. Leftism is never a crime in a leftists mind…. Big government is always justified.
Lorica says:

June 21, 2006 at 9:37 pm

Alex, I can’t read the rest of your response. You keep quoting this AP story like it is a life preserver, and it is just a bunch of BS. How you link Rummy for sharpnel, to a criminal FBI Agent is beyond decent logical thought. I don’t even care to read the rest of your response as it is the same blah blah blah that John Kerry or Hillary Clinton would blab blab blab. God Help You, I pray that the day that your eyes are opened to the truth is a pleasant one, but I fear it won’t be. – Lorica
Lorica says:

June 21, 2006 at 9:43 pm

Hear Hear Bak. The death of tens of thousands couldn’t possibly a crime scene. Yes do we need to learn any more from our friend Alex. No I just don’t think so. “Ugh Rummy Baaaaad, Stalin Gooood, Ugh” – Lorica
Lorica says:

June 21, 2006 at 9:46 pm

Ahhhh Sis showing her softer side of coupons and sale ads. How lucky and blessed is the State of North Carolina. – Lorica
Baklava says:

June 22, 2006 at 6:45 pm

1) We give $260 Billion in CHARITY

Comments are closed.