Happy 4th, you crazy peeps!

[Robatoy]

I am wishing my American friends a joyful, over-fed lazy day in your back-yards, at your pools, making burnt offerings on you BBQ's.

My sister, my 3 nieces and one nephew, with their children are all celebrating a day off, with pay. I sure enjoyed Canada Day, just this last Sunday.

I also reflected on my freedom being eroded, bit by bit. I also reflected on my friends' freedoms, south of the border, being taken away from them by leaps and bounds.

When will you guys have a press again which isn't afraid to tell the truth? One that isn't owned by GE or Time Warner? One that isn't bamboozled into being political shills for the election-campaign contributors?

Libby (Liebowitz) being 'excused' was another example of the pre-Iranian-invasion arrogance, rivaling the 1936 mood in pre-WW2 Europe.

You see, Bush doesn't give a f*ck. He knows that nobody has any balls left to stand up to him and his power-grab. He's laughing at all of you: Dem's and GOP's alike. Don't expect any changes on 2008... there likely won't BE any elections anyway.

Have a nice day...especially when you're singing about the rockets' red glare.

r----> who is shaking his head in disbelief.

[RicodJour]

As am I - at your post.

Your views on politics are your own - many share them. Nonetheless, I don't see the benefit in sucking people into your political post on the pretense of a holiday greeting. That's simply poor manners. And yes, I do expect more from you.

Can we look forward to your post around Christmas time when you stir up things about religion?

R

[Patriarch]

Robatoy wrote in news:design-51996A.14160203072007 @news.giganews.com:

Thank you for the greetings, friend.

I, too, find that I cannot stomach the evening news, and so I ignore it as far as possible.

Somehow, I find it to ever have been so - that there are those who grab power, and refuse, or try to refuse, to give it back.

Will it improve? I don't know. Over time, things have improved, if viewed with sufficient perspective. My kids and grandkids have a chore in front of them. But then, so did my parents and grandparents.

But we will enjoy the Fourth here in California, hoping that we don't start another massive fire with the pyrotechnics!

To the beach this afternoon!

Patriarch

[Lew Hodgett]

Last night was a rerun on the Tonight Show, but still interesting.

Had Miss America of 1944, a no nonsense woman from Kentucky, on the show.

Leno, in the process of interviewing her, asked her opinion of Bush.

Here response was along the lines of, "Spoiled rich brat who ought to be turned over somebody's knee and spanked".

Didn't think much of the bunch running in 2008 either.

Somehow, doesn't surprise me.

This is also a gal who knows how to shoot out a tire to keep some thieves from getting away while waiting for the sheriff to arrive.

Lew

[nailshooter41]

Now, now r, don't hold us hostage for our idiots. I am a fiscal conservative, but hat doesn't mean that I agree with GW or his politics.

And as far as Libby goes, he didn't out the now "glamorous" Ms. Plame who now has an agent, a book deal and a possible movie in the works. BUT, he DID break the laws he was convicted of, so he should do his part in the can. He was duly tried, duly convicted, and so it should be adios to his ass.

However, like many here, we weren't asked. My phone never rang once nor did the phones of the yardbirds I hang with. This commutation was done without my council or approval. NO ONE I KNOW approves of this commutation.

These things happen when our leaders have little or no sense of integrity or value. I submit the our current and last presidents as great examples of that. Look at the people our last old horn dog pres pardoned completely on his last day... inexcusable.

But we elected them, right or wrong. So we bear the full responsibility of what we did.

But good sir, you may indeed not be far behind:

others know more about how your country works than you do, when the standards and laws that govern your country are not known by their natural citizens, it becomes a breeding ground for the disease that rules US politics.

Good luck!

Robert

(Who is so glad he didn't post anything deliberately critical or inflammatory about Canada on her fine day of national pride)

[Markem]

Suspending the constitution would require military support, Rumsfeld's arrogance made sure that Bush only gets "official" military support due his office. Your press is as skewed as ours remember.

Mark (sixoneeight) = 618

[Robatoy]

Goodness...gracious... are you guys now taught to turn over any and all rocks? "It's a TRAP!!!" Rob wishes us a happy holiday...and uses it as a diversion to stick a needle into us!!!! See how fricking paranoid you have become??

See above.

Now you're being silly.

r

[Morris Dovey]

| I am wishing my American friends a joyful, over-fed lazy day in your | back-yards, at your pools, making burnt offerings on you BBQ's.

Thanks for your good wishes.

| My sister, my 3 nieces and one nephew, with their children are all | celebrating a day off, with pay. | I sure enjoyed Canada Day, just this last Sunday. | | I also reflected on my freedom being eroded, bit by bit. | I also reflected on my friends' freedoms, south of the border, being | taken away from them by leaps and bounds.

It sounds like it might be worth reminding you that freedom comes from within. It can neither be given nor taken by someone else. May you always have the courage to say "No" and /mean/ it - and may you have a life filled with joyful affirmation.

| When will you guys have a press again which isn't afraid to tell the | truth? One that isn't owned by GE or Time Warner? One that isn't | bamboozled into being political shills for the election-campaign | contributors?

Who knows - true courage has never been in oversupply. "pork barrel", "pandering", "influence peddling", and "favor seeking" aren't new concepts. You talk as if these problems were new - they're not.

| Libby (Liebowitz) being 'excused' was another example of the | pre-Iranian-invasion arrogance, rivaling the 1936 mood in pre-WW2 | Europe.

Is this news in Canukistan? You're a bit behind the curve on this one. Commutation for Scooter isn't the real scandal, it'll be the last minute pardon for Shooter.

| You see, Bush doesn't give a f*ck. | He knows that nobody has any balls left to stand up to him and his | power-grab. He's laughing at all of you: Dem's and GOP's alike. | Don't expect any changes on 2008... there likely won't BE any | elections anyway.

Now you're talking nonsense, and you're selling your friends short - very short indeed.

| Have a nice day...especially when you're singing about the rockets' | red glare.

Heh! If I were to sing, then you'd best be glad that I'm not where you can hear me :-D

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Phisherman]

This is a mockery of the US judicial system. Can't believe a president would do this. Reminds me of the OJ Simpson trial.

No fireworks here. The city forgot to get a state-certified pyrotechnics engineer so the traditional 10pm display had to be cancelled. But, I'm looking forward to the backyard BBQ and beer. Happy 4th to all.

[Swingman]

Nothing new under the sun ... Bush has a way to go (but he still has time). In the Presidential Pardon game you can be verily judged by the sleaze bags you "excuse".

Here's Clinton's in just his last few days:

perspective:

George Washington16 John Adams21 Thomas Jefferson119 James Madison196 James Monroe419 John Quincy Adams183 Andrew Jackson386 Martin Van Buren168 William H. Harrison0 John Tyler209 James K. Polk268 Zachary Taylor38 Millard Fillmore170 Franklin Pierce142 James Buchanan150 Abraham Lincoln343 Andrew Johnson654 Ulysses S. Grant1332 Rutherford B. Hayes893 James Garfield0 Chester Arthur337 Grover Cleveland *1107 Benjamin Harrison613 William McKinley *918 Theodore Roosevelt *981 William H. Taft758 Woodrow Wilson2480 Warren G. Harding800 Calvin Coolidge1545 Herbert Hoover1385 Franklin D. Roosevelt3687 Harry S. Truman2044 Dwight D. Eisenhower1157 John F. Kennedy575 Lyndon B. Johnson1187 Richard Nixon926 Gerald Ford409 Jimmy Carter566 Ronald Reagan406 George Bush77 Bill Clinton456

[drowetx]

...

when you know enough to shut up, find a willing audience.

[Robatoy]

Clever..verrrry clever....

[Edwin Pawlowski]

It was done to give the Democrats an opportunity to make a self righteous statement of how good they are. Do you think Clinton would have let his guy hang under the same circumstances? Or any politician, for that matter. Anyone that was surprised by the pardon is too naive to be allowed to vote in the next election.

[T. Rex]

That's not a rational expectation.

[Mike O.]

I contend that this is new. How may presidents in your list commuted the sentence of someone who was supposed to go to jail within a matter of days after being denied bail while awaiting an appeal? My guess is none of them. How many presidents in your list pardoned (or commuted the sentence of) someone who's case was still active and under appeal? My guess is none of them. Libby's crime is fairly minor compared to those committed by some who have been pardoned by previous presidents. The problem is that the way it was handled (and the timing) makes some of us believe that this is simply another instance of the President protecting his administration and his Vice President. I think it has very little to do with Libby. Everyone expected Libby would be pardoned. I guess we just thought GW would be a little more subtle about it.

Sadly, Dubya's pardon list may actually be the highlight of his administration!

Mike O.

[Leon]

Actually, Clinton did not have the B alls to do it until just before he left office. He let loads of people go.

[Leon]

Hard to say but it took balls to do so. The political fall out was probably not a factor as it was in the others. I assure you that the other pardons would have taken place immediately had there been no chance of political repercutions.

[RicodJour]

Is that when they electrocute someone twice? ;)

R

[Swingman]

LOL ... how true, how true. But obviously good for a whole shitload of self righteous indignation!

[Robatoy]

Naaa. Libby made it known that if he was going to do time, he'd blow the whistle on who really outed Plame. He threw himself on a rubber sword for his boss, but he refused to do time for it. That $ 250K fine will be 'handled' via a book deal from one of the GOP 'contributing' news corps.

Balls had nothing to do with it, IMHO.