Super Bowl Shuffle
Da Bears

Had to do it!

I’m as smooth as a chocolate swirl lol This really is a funny video.

“Put a chip on your shoulder, and don’t let anyone knock it off until we win the super bowl!”
Go here to read about that famous day…..January 26, 1986

Go Bears!

WASHINGTON D.C. - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is coming under fire from some republicans for a loophole in the minimum wage hike passed by the house this week as part of the democrats’ “First One-Hundred Hours” agenda.

Nancy Pelosi and her allies are under political seige over the minimum wage bill she so fervently pushed through. It raises the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour, even, for the first time, to the Northern Marianas Islands, a U.S. territory.

However, it doesn’t raise the minimum wage to American Samoa. That territory gets to keep its minimum wage well below $7.25.

A huge opponent to a miniumum wage hike there is Starkist Tuna, which owns a packing plant on American Samoa, a big employer. Starkist’s parent company, Del-Monte Foods, is headquartered in Pelosi’s San Francisco district.

Representative Eric Cantor (R) of Virginia said, “Now we find out that she is exempting her hometown companies from minimum wage. This is exactly the hypocrisy and double-talk that we have come to expect from the other side.” (huh? Double-talk you’ve come to expect? You sure you’re not talking about YOUR side? And speaking of SIDES, what happen to those friggin olive branches? What happen to bi-partisanship. What’s with this SIDES talk, huh?)

Hold the hypocrisy-talk, say top democrats. Their aides tell CNN American Samoa’s always been held to a different wage standard, including when republicans were in power. It’s so difficult for the island’s tuna canneries to compete with plants in Pacific-rim countries, that pay their workers next-to-nothing.

A Pelosi aide denies she’s been lobbied by Del-Monte. Company officials say the same. Records show Del-Monte’s employees contributed very little to democrats over the past two years. (how could they make campaign contributions on ANY political party when they make such a pittance?)
A Pelosi aide even says she had nothing to do with this part of the legislation. But today, the political storm forced her to backtrack.

“I don’t think it is ok. I have asked the education, labor committee as they go forward with the legislation to make sure that all territories have to comply with the US law on minimum wage,” said Pelosi.

Now, Pelosi may have an internal fight on her hands. The democratic congressional delegate from American Samoa said he’s going to talk with the party leadership about this doubling-back. He said his island needs this special consideration because of its reliance on the tuna business, and has gotten it since the 1950’s. (considering the price I pay for a can of albacore tuna, I’m guessing they DON’T need special consideration!)

Source

Is he friggin kidding me? This nightmare just keeps getting worse and worse and worse.

H/T Bur$atil for the link!!!

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Saturday his upcoming budget proposal would emphasize restraint on domestic spending while making defense and war costs for Iraq and Afghanistan the top priority.

“Cutting the deficit during a time of war requires us to restrain spending in other areas,” Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Previewing the fiscal year 2008 budget he will unveil on Monday, Bush also said it would show that his goal of erasing the deficit by 2012 could be accomplished while making his tax cuts permanent.

“Congress needs to make this tax relief permanent, so we can keep America’s economy growing. Pro-growth economic policies also play a vital role in our plan to balance the federal budget,” he said.

“Our growing economy has produced record levels of tax revenue. This increase in tax revenue has helped us cut the deficit in half three years ahead of schedule,” he added. “On Monday, we will take the next step when I submit to Congress a budget that will eliminate the deficit by 2012.”

Bush will propose a 1 percent increase in spending outside defense for fiscal 2008, according to The Washington Post. That would amount to a decrease in programs after accounting for inflation, which is running at about 2.5 percent.

Read more at Reuters.com

Last week, the co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s argued the U.S. government is looking for a new villain to justify a Pentagon budget increase. This week, it found one — under the worst of circumstances.

You may know some despicable characters, but are they mean enough to apply for this job posting?

ENEMY WANTED. Serious enemy needed to justify Pentagon budget increase. Defense contractors desperate. Interested enemies send letter and photo or video (threatening, ok) to Enemy Search Committee, Priorities Campaign, 1350 Broadway, NY, NY, 10018.

Here’s the deal: We know our politicians have their work cut out for them. They need to find an enemy to justify maintaining the Pentagon budget as if the Cold War never ended. But the pool of credible enemies is evaporating. North Korea is even going diplomatic. The Soviets took themselves out of the running years ago. And countries like Iraq — or tough looking trading partners like China — don’t make the cut.

So, I am distributing a job description as widely as possible to help our politicians find the enemy they seek. Even with the help of defense contractors — who spend $50 million on lobbyists annually — our politicians do not possess the creativity to find the right adversary. It’s clear that the old concept of enemy doesn’t work anymore.

The trouble is the Defense Department needs to find an enemy in a hurry. The Bush Administration has proposed to increase Pentagon spending by $33 billion, the largest defense increase since the Cold War.

This inexplicable proposal is under attack by children’s advocates, who would rather use the $33 billion earmarked for the Pentagon to begin modernizing our crumbling public schools and to buy health insurance for millions of U.S. kids and Head Start for the one-third of eligible children who can’t get in because it’s under-funded.

Read more here

One attacker…….. lots of explosives…..121 dead and 373 wounded. Man oh man…….. GET US OUT!!!I notice al-Maliki is blaming Sunnis. Now if it’s in a mixed neighborhood of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, how can they know so fast that a Sunni did it? Just asking…..

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden truck in a crowded Baghdad market Saturday, killing at least 121 people and wounding 373 others, a Health Ministry official said.

The blast, which destroyed automobiles, erupted in Sedriya, a mixed neighborhood of Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds. Two nearby buildings were destroyed and eight others were damaged in the explosion.

Jihad Jabri, head of the Interior Ministry’s bomb squad, said the Mercedes truck used in the blast contained a ton of explosives.

“It was a strong blow. A car exploded. I fell on the ground,” a young man with a bandaged head told The Associated Press, his face streaked with blood. (Watch victims receive treatment in the aftermath of the blast )

Many were still trapped under the rubble, and news footage showed myriad victims being wheeled on stretchers into hospitals. The immense number of wounded forced hospitals in the area to redirect patients to other hospitals around the city.

The Health Ministry official said he expected the death toll from the blast to increase by a few dozen.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki condemned the attack and blamed it on Saddam loyalists and Sunni extremists.

Read more at CNN.com

Or should that be ‘McCain: Bat-Shit Crazy‘?

McCain: “I’m saying it took us a long time to recover from losing a war, didn’t it?“

In McCain’s mind, the thousands of deaths, mutilations, amputations, permanent mental disorders, …etc., that occurred during the Vietnam war can’t even begin to compare to the real tragedy of that war - losing. With such obvious disregard for human life, this man should never be allowed to become president. He should not even be a U.S. Senator.

Vietnam vets to vote on Iraq troop surge

WASHINGTON - Four of the senators who will vote next week on putting more troops in Iraq bear the scars of another war in another time, in a place called Vietnam. Three will vote against sending more troops. One will vote the other way.

John McCain, a former Navy fighter pilot, was captured by the Vietnamese, tortured and imprisoned for more than five years. Knowing what it’s like to have fought before and lost, he’s with President Bush on sending 21,500 more troops to Iraq.

Chuck Hagel, an infantryman in Vietnam, was seriously wounded by an enemy mine explosion beneath the armored personnel carrier he and his brother were in. He opposes the troop increase.

So does Senate newcomer Jim Webb, an ex-Marine who speaks Vietnamese, who opposed the Iraq war from the outset and campaigned for the Senate wearing the combat boots of a son who recently went off to the war.

“Welcome to hell,” he wrote in March 2003, the month of the U.S. invasion. “Many of us lived it in another era.”

Webb, 60, a Democrat from Virginia, was wounded while commanding a Marine rifle company during some of Vietnam’s bloodiest fighting, in the An Hoa Basin west of Danang. He had shrapnel lodged in his left knee, left arm, back of the head and right kidney. Webb said the experience changed him.

“I was probably older when I was 24 than I am right now,” he said years after the war.

John Kerry, a Vietnam veteran as well as a Vietnam war protester, also opposes sending more troops into Iraq.

Senators next week are to consider a nonbinding measure expressing disagreement with Bush’s plan to augment the forces in Iraq.

All four of the decorated, one-time warriors, the most outspoken of the Senate’s Vietnam-era military veterans, have brought their experiences and passion about Vietnam to a debate that is already packed with emotion.
…

McCain, 70, a Republican senator from Arizona making his second presidential run, has taken his and the country’s painful lessons from Vietnam into the Iraq debate.

“I’m saying it took us a long time to recover from losing a war, didn’t it?” McCain demanded of a fellow Vietnam veteran, Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, at a hearing on Petraeus’ nomination to be top U.S. commander in Iraq.

“Yes, sir,” Petraeus replied.

Source: Yahoo! News

I really like both these guys. Although I’ll be cheering for the Bears, anyway this game goes is a win in my book. Peyton Manning is a class act and my favorite QB. Lovie Smith is a class act, and the lowest paid coach in the NFL. Dungy…..big class act. I’m glad they’re in it, and can’t wait to see it! Cookin homemade Italian beef sandwiches for tomorrow and shrimp with mango salsa. I gots the SuperBowl fevah….Miami style!

He spoke about the special feeling coaching against his good friend, Lovie Smith, and how honored he is to be a part of the first Super Bowl with two African-American head coaches. He spoke of family and religion and of doing things his way, in a low-key, caring manner. The only thing in-your-face to come out of Dungy all week long was a warm, kind smile.

But after Feb. 2’s early-morning press conference, the talking stopped. There is only one thing on his mind now, and that’s leading the Colts to a Super Bowl victory. Don’t be misguided by his soft’spoken demeanor. This is a man who has a passion for winning and has waited a long time to stand on the doorstep of something as significant as this.

“There can only be one winner,” Dungy said. “I’m looking forward for it to be us. I’ll be extremely disappointed if it’s not us, but I’ll also be happy for Lovie Smith if it’s him, probably happier than I could be for any other coach.”

Facing Smith provides a special sort of challenge. They know each other all too well. They coached together. They pray together. Their families spend time together. This isn’t some manufactured angle for the sake of the game. This is all very real.

When told earlier this week that Smith compared his matchup against Dungy to two brothers playing one-on-one basketball, Dungy just about exploded with pride.

Read more here

I still say pick up those olive branches (you know, the ones that have been ignored so far) and start whoopin ass with them.

WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia (Reuters) - President George W. Bush is scheduled to hold a news conference on Saturday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after he addresses a meeting of House Democrats, congressional aides said on Friday.

Bush will speak to House of Representatives Democrats holding an annual weekend retreat at about 10 a.m. (1500 GMT). Afterward, at about 11:40 a.m. (1640 GMT), Bush, along with Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders, will answer reporters’ questions.

Bush, a Republican, will be appearing at the Williamsburg retreat one month after Democrats took control of the House and Senate. With less than two years remaining in Bush’s presidency, his policies, including his handling of the Iraq war, are being challenged by Democrats.

The unusual news conference comes as Republicans and Democrats have been stressing the need for more bipartisanship following years of tense relations between the two political parties.

Source

Norah O’Donnell should just go work for FAUX News where she would be much more comfortable. She tries to discredit Dennis Kucinich on his war stance but she fails.

You can read Kucinich’s 12 Point Plan for Iraq here

H/T Joe for this post!

Chris Matthews is put in his place as he tries to press Hillary’s advisor about Bill’s actions during the upcoming election time. At the end of this clip Chris should have been humiliated by his line of questioning but of course he was not.

One word for Chris Matthews…….TOOL

H/T Joe for this post!