[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/paul.flv[/flv]
Ron Paul 19 Years Ago
2008 Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul appearing on The Morton Downey Jr. Show in 1988, responding to a question by an ignorant audience member with a slapping witticism.
Beck to Blacks: You’ve been shafted
In his June 20, 2007 introductory remarks on Headline Prime, blowhard Glenn Beck stated that urban African-Americans have been given the “shaft” because they’ve voted for Democrats who “have led them into nothing but misery time and time again.”
Glenn Beck followed up his statements with the following facts, statistics, and guest speakers on African-American city life:
Oh, wait, he just moved on.
Like many conservative pundits, Glenn Beck exhibits an irrational, supercilious condemnation for liberal ideals without evidence while all the time claiming to be an independent.
Democratic African-American city-dwellers live in nothing but misery?
Glenn Beck thinks so.
African-American individuals and urban communities can speak for themselves, Mr. Beck.
And they do.
According to the Bay Area Center for Voting Research in their paper on liberal and conservative cities, “Cities with predominantly large African American populations ended up as the most liberal cities in America”.
In addition, “strong correlations seem to indicate that African American votes continue to support primarily liberal candidates.”
African-Americans, like all Americans, vote for candidates who they believe will best support their diverse interests in city, state, and national offices. Glenn Beck’s claim that African-Americans don’t know is twisted through his ideologically conservative lens.
Speak for yourself Mr. Beck, speak for yourself.
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Bush: Gimmi more nukes
Dems: Develop a strategy first
In a June 20, 2007 Reuters article, writer Richard Cowan reports that the U.S. House of Representatives has “moved to block President George W. Bush from developing a new generation of atomic warheads.”
Hat tip to Congress.
Cowan writes that “A fiscal 2008 bill funding Department of Energy weapons programs that is moving through the House provided none of Bush’s nearly $89 million request for continuing to develop the new warheads over the next few decades at a multibillion-dollar cost.”
A vote on the bill has been delayed until after Independence Day.
How can the White House and State Department continue to pressure other nations to give up their nuclear weapon programs while pushing for more nuclear weapons here at home?
The Bush administration argues that we could replace older nuclear weapons with newer, safer to maintain warheads. Others say that modifying our current arsenal is more prudent.
Cowan reports Democratic Rep. Peter Visclosky as stating, “I don’t think it is asking too much for a comprehensive nuclear strategy before we build a new nuclear weapon”
Republicans are also distrusting of the promises and decisions made by the White House.
Republican Rep. David Hobson states in the article that “The concept of RRW (Reliable Replacement Warhead) has merit if it allows us to have a smaller stockpile of more reliable weapons … all we have right now is a vague promise.”
A vague promise and no strategy. Where have we heard that before?
The White House whined, stating it “strongly opposes the committee’s decision to eliminate funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead.”
Yes, the creation of new nuclear weapons has a new euphemistic acroynm, RRW.
According to the Nuclear Weapon Archive, “The total number of warheads of all levels of readiness stands at 9,962 warheads.”
With almost 10,000 nuclear warheads at readiness, an effort to suspend nuclear programs of other countries, a military stretched to a breaking point, an untrustworthy Executive Branch, and a President with poll numbers lower than dirt, the last thing we need right now is a focus on the creation of more nuclear warheads.
“If we fight a war and win it with H-bombs, what history will remember is not
the ideals we were fighting for but the methods we used to accomplish them.” -Hans A. Bethe
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‘Time to Say Goodbye’ Redux
Winning Britain’s Got Talent, Paul Potts has brought opera back into the spotlight with his performances of ‘Time to Say Goodbye’/Con te partirò and Nessun Dorma. Below are selections by Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, Paul Potts, Pavarotti and others. There are many more versions out there. Skip through the TV show bits of the videos, just listen to the songs. Mesmerizing.
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts1.flv[/flv]
Paul Potts singing Nessun Dorma on Britain’s Got Talent
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts2.flv[/flv]
Paul Potts’ semi-final performance of Con te partirò
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts3.flv[/flv]
Paul Potts’ Final performance of Nessun Dorma
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts4.flv[/flv]
Paul Potts winning Britain’s Got Talent. Fast forward to the middle to hear Nessun Dorma, skip the rest
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts5pav.flv[/flv]
Pavarotti - Nessun Dorma
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts6fabio.flv[/flv]
Fabio Armiliato - Cond: V. Gergiev - Nessun Dorma
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/pottsmario.flv[/flv]
Mario Del Monaco - Nessun Dorma
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts8.flv[/flv]
Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman - Con te partirò
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/pottsgoodbye.flv[/flv]
Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman 2 - Con te partirò
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/pottsplacido.flv[/flv]
Placido Domingo & Sarah Brightman -Con te partirò
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts9.flv[/flv]
Rinaldo Viana e Liriel - Con te partirò
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts10.flv[/flv]
Minako Honda & Akira Fuse - Con te partirò
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts11limor.flv[/flv]
Limor Shapira with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra - Time to say goodbye
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/potts12alis.flv[/flv]
Alis Bovarian & Marin Yonchev - Con te partirò
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/pottsdrew.flv[/flv]
Drew Tretick - Con te partirò (sounds a bit like a mosquito singing)
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/pottsnicole.flv[/flv]
Nicole Puga of Panama - Con te partirò
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/pottslast.flv[/flv]
Angie Scandale singing the last minute of Con te partirò. Entire clip is expected to be on her website soon. Wait for the last note.
Haven’t had your fill? Sing along:
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Time to Say Goodbye (Con te partirò)
Quando sono solo
Sogno allorizzonte
E mancan le parole
Si lo so che non c? luce
In una stanza quando manca il sole
Se non ci sei tu con me, con me
Su le finestre
Mostra a tutti il mio cuore
Che hai accesso
Chiudi dentro me
La luce
Che hai incontrato per strada.
Con te partiro
Paesi che non ho mai
Veduto e vissuto con te
Adesso si li vivr?
Con te partiro
Su navi per mari
Che io lo so
No no non esistono pi?
Con te io li rivivro.
Quando sei lontana
Sogno allorizzonte
E mancan le parole
E io si lo so
Che sei con me con me
Tu mia luna tu sei qui con me
Mio sole tu sei qui con me,
Con me, con me, con me.
Con te partiro
Paesi che non ho mai
Veduto e vissuto con te
Adesso s? li vivr?
Con te partir?
Su navi per mari
Che io lo so
No no non esistono pi?
Con te io li rivivr?
Con te partir?
Su navi per mari
Che io lo so
No no non esistono pi?
Con te io li rivivr?
Con te partiro.
Io con te.
—
Update 24, June 2007
Read more about Nessun Dorma here, including the English lyrics and imagery analysis.
Update 31, July 2007
See also: Paul Potts Forum (Hat Tip to the Admin)
See also: Pavarotti’s Seventh Seal
Update: More Potts news here.
NY Governor walking without a cane
Having survived a terrible car crash in April, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine has been recuperating from broken bones, a severely damaged leg, and several surgeries. The following video posted June 18, 2007, shows Corzine stepping on stage without a cane to introduce presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton.
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/corzine1.flv[/flv]
Corzine steps on stage to introduce Hillary
Following his April accident, the governor displayed good conscience through the creation of a powerful public service announcement in which he noted his mistake and encouraged others to use their vehicle safety belts.
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/corzine2.flv[/flv]
Corzine PSA from the U.S. Department of Transportation
Corzine was enthusiastically endorsed by former President Bill Clinton:
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/corzine3.flv[/flv]
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http://static.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/govcorzine.jpg
Vatican releases the Ten Commandments for Driving
(Seriously)
Reported by Philip Pullella for Reuters, the Vatican has released a new set of Ten Commandments, now for driving. Yes, Jesus is now officially your co-pilot.
Changing lanes from the theological to the superhighway, Pullella reports that the Vatican has created “a compendium of do’s and don’ts on the moral aspects of driving and motoring.”
The document urges motorists to focus on their “noble tendencies” while suppressing “unsatisfactory and even barely human” behavior.
Praying behind the wheel is encouraged of course.
Unfortunately, those flashy new hubcaps you put on down payment have to go. According to the document, “Cars particularly lend themselves to being used by their owners to show off, and as a means for outshining other people and arousing a feeling of envy”, according to the “Vanity and personal glorification” section.
So take down those furry dice all you Godfearing pimpsters!
In addition, “Cars shall not be for”…”an occasion of sin”. Sorry boys, no more backseat tricks from the prom queen.
One wonders what other contemporary avenues of human endeavor the Vatican will encroach its pontificating views upon. Perhaps soon there will be a document on the proper way to watch television, text message on a cell phone, or even use the internet.
Yes the internet, you’re using it right now. But are you using it for the occasional sin?
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/wow.flv[/flv]
World of Warcraft machinima of an Avenue Q tune
The “Drivers’ Ten Commandments” by the Vatican
1. You shall not kill.
2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.
4. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.
5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.
7. Support the families of accident victims.
8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
10. Feel responsible toward others.
Catholic Patron Saint of Travelers
As if driving weren’t stressful enough, Saint Christopher just became Big Brother.
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freedigitalphotos.net
http://www.freeimages.co.uk/
http://www.xeni.net/images/bm2003/skull-car.jpg
[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/bidenideas.flv[/flv]
Mark my words…
Biden: “Mark my words, Iowa is the beginning of the trifecta, and if you don’t beat expectations here in Iowa you’re finished, it’s over.”
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Barack Obama and his Secret Service alter ego
Secret Service code names (real and not so real)
In the June 17, 2007 Washingtonpost.com article ‘Renegade’ Joins Race For White House, writer Anne E. Kornblut reports the Secret Service code name for presidential hopeful Barack Obama is ‘Renegade’.
Kornblut also lists the code names for Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John F. Kerry, Al Gore, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan.
As they are no longer classified, Secret Service code names for political and prominent figures can be easy found on the web, such as on this website, and this one. Below is a short sampling:
Presidents
Eagle - Pres. Bill Clinton
Deacon - Pres. Jimmy Carter
Vice Presidents
First Ladies
Notable Figures
Places and Vehicles
(* Code names associated with current VP win for accuracy)
But what, you may ask, are the code names for the other presidential candidates? Kornblut explains:
Since the other presidential candidates aren’t cool enough to have code names yet, I offer to the Secret Service the following suggestions:
Doyen - Sen. Joe Biden
Inheritance - Sen. Christopher Dodd
Pantsuit - Sen. Hillary Clinton (Evergreen)
Robin Hood - Former Sen. John Edwards
Looney Tune - Former Senator Mike Gravel
Dove - Rep. Dennis Kucinich
Tyro - Sen. Barack Obama (Renegade)
Average Joe - Gov. Bill Richardson
Zealot - Sen. Sam Brownback
Donut - Former Gov. Jim Gilmore
Breakup - Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Thin Man - Former Gov. Mike Huckabee
Conan - Rep. Duncan Hunter
Gaffer - Sen. John McCain
Old School - Rep. Ron Paul, M.D.
Flipper - Former Gov. Mitt Romney
Xenophobe - Rep. Tom Tancredo
Poser - Former Sen. Fred Thompson (yet to announce his candidacy at time of article)
Flintstone - Former Gov. Tommy Thompson
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What code names would you give them?
What might the founding fathers say about our current dilemmas?
They’ve already spoken.
Founding Father Quotes:
On the Iraq War
It should therefore be difficult in a republic to declare war; but not to make peace. Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833
America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.James Madison, Federalist No. 14, November 30, 1787
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government. George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
On Missing WMDs
By John Barry and Mark Hosenbal for Newsweek:
He was the most dangerous man alive, sitting atop a massive stockpile of deadly weapons. The only way to end the gathering threat was to take Saddam out—and fast. Only there wasn’t any WMD. The fateful fictions that led to war.
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes,our inclination,or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. John Adams in Defense of the British Soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre, December 4, 1770
On the Patriot Act
But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, July 17, 1775
If men through fear, fraud or mistake, should in terms renounce and give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the great end of society, would absolutely vacate such renunciation; the
right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of Man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily become a slave. John Adams, Rights of the Colonists, 1772
The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of freecommunication among the people thereon … has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right. James Madison, Virginia Resolutions, December 21, 1798
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
On Powers of the Executive Branch
[T]he great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personalmotives to resist encroachment of the others. James Madison, Federalist No. 10, November 23, 1787
It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it. After discriminating, therefore, in theory, the several classes of power, as they may in their nature be legislative, executive, or judiciary, the next and most difficult task is to provide some practical security for each, against the invasion of the others. James Madison, Federalist No. 48, February 1, 1788
Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.George Washington, Circular to the States, May 9, 1753
On Foreign Policy
A Spoonful of Honey will catch more Flies than a Gallon of Vinegar. Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1748
‘Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances, with any portion of the foreign world. George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government. George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
On National Debt
If each US citizen contributed just $30,000 we could be out of debt! Check your Piggy Bank.
He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing. Benjamin Franklin, from his writings, 1758
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, December 19, 1776
On Bush’s Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
During the campaign, Democrats pointed to the budget deficit as a symbol of poor economic stewardship by Republicans. If they want to reduce it, some sort of tax increase would likely be part of the equation. For one thing, Democrats are not expected to extend the Bush tax cuts; they have stressed directing tax relief toward less affluent Americans. They’ve also proposed ideas like making college tuition tax-deductible.
As to Taxes, they are evidently inseparable from Government. It is impossible without them to pay the debts of the nation, to protect it from foreign danger, or to secure individuals from lawless violence and rapine. Alexander Hamilton, Address to the Electors of the State of New York, March, 1801
On Gay Marriage
History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of lawsin favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy…
These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections,by which the whole state is weakened. Benjamin Franklin, Emblematical Representations, Circa 1774
I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery. George Washington, letter to Burwell Bassett, May 23, 1785
On Immigration
This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still. Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
I am principled against this kind of traffic in the human species…and to disperse the families I have an aversion. George Washington, letter to Robert Lewis, August 18, 1799
I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong. George Washington, letter to Francis Vander Kamp, May 28, 1788
The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment. George Washington, Address to the Members of the Volunteer Association of Ireland, December 2, 1783
On the Media
To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression. James Madison, Report on the Virginia Resolutions, 1798
In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
On Imminent Domain
Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions. James Madison, essay in the National Gazette, March 27, 1792
On Republican President George W. Bush
Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. James Madison, Federalist No. 10, November 23, 1787
The executive branch of this government never has, nor will suffer, while I preside, any improper conduct of its officers to escape with impunity. George Washington, letter to Gouverneur Morris, December 22, 1795
Happy Father’s Day, 2007
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See also
Separation of Church & State Helps Religion
Tony Snow & Laura Ingraham
Republican vs. Republican:
White House & Conservatives battle it out over immigration
On her June 14, 2007 radio program, conservative talk-show host Laura Ingraham had a heated exchange with guest White House Press Secretary Tony Snow. Listen to the exchange.
With an embattled Bush administration and having lost Congress late last year, Republicans have certainly been taking a ‘thumpin’. The controversial Immigration Reform Bill has riven the Republican Party on two fronts–as Tony Snow puts it–border security and cultural concerns.
Conservatives outside the administration are expressing their dismay.
In the exchange with Tony Snow, Laura Ingraham concisely explains the issue:
“(Bush) is passionate about an issue that has completely broken the conservative movement in two.”
The longer the Immigration Reform Bill remains up in the air, the greater the rift will grow amongst Republicans.
The news for Democrats is still uncertain. Congress shares low approval ratings along with the Bush administration, though some of that may be carry over from the previous Republican controlled Congress.
While the outcome for Democrats still up in the air, Republicans are split asunder.
Upset with how she and other conservatives have been portrayed by Republicans, Graham said:
“And we believe that, the people who are listening to this show, who Lindsay Graham (R-SC) called the “loud people”, President Bush said a lot of us don’t care about what’s good for the future of the country, we’re trying to fear monger.
Fear mongering Tony, we didn’t like it. It was an insult.”
Snow: “I know and you know what, thats, what he was talking about is the importance of dealing with the problem. He wasn’t pointing fingers.”
Ingraham interrupting: “Fear mongering.”
Perhaps Republicans are beginning to acknowledge that fear mongering is what they do best, and they simply can’t hide it anymore. Whether they acknowledge that or not, the conservative movement is looking weaker and weaker by the minute.
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Categories: Politics, Conservatives, Republicans
