Let's talk about replacing GWBush in 2004.

The Bush administration's optimistic statements earlier this year that Iraq's oil wealth, not American taxpayers, would cover most of the cost of rebuilding Iraq were at odds with a bleaker assessment of a government task force secretly established last fall to study Iraq's oil industry, according to public records and government officials.

Oct 3, 1932 was the date Iraq officially became a sovereign state, by League of Nations Mandate. In 1929, The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formed, amalgamting the regions of Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Begonia, Herzegovina, and Macedonia. Its also Al Sharpton's birthday, the date of the Mogadishu "Blackhawk Down" debacle, the opening day of the Watergate Trial in 1974, the date of Italy's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, the date of O.J.'s 1995 acquittal, and, according to legend, the date, in 2333 BC, of the establishment of the Kingdom of Korea.


Hmmmm .... mere coincidences? I think not :wink: :wink:

Phelps To Erect Matthew Shepard Monument
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: October 3, 2003 5:57 p.m. ET


(Casper, Wyoming) Anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps has announced intentions to erect a monument to Matthew Shepard the gay college student brutally murdered five years ago near Laramie.

But, the monument will be no memorial. Phelps says the monument would be 5 to 6 feet tall and made of marble or granite. It would bear a bronze plaque bearing the image of Shepard and have an inscription reading "MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22."

The monument would be erected in downtown Casper, Shepard's home town.

Phelps has sent details of the monument to the city of Casper city council and there may be nothing the city can do to prevent it.

Phelps said he intends to put up the monument in City Park, already the location of a controversial statue of the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments statue was donated to the city by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles in 1965.

After a court battle over a similar monument in the city of Ogden, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that any city that displays a Ten Commandments monument on public property must also allow monuments espousing the views of other religions or political groups on that same property.

Phelps told Casper council in his letter that if it attempts to prevent him from erecting the homophobic monument he's prepared to go to court.

"That is exactly what I said would happen," said Councilwoman Barb Watters. She said she warned the city when it accepted the Ten Commandments statue that the city risked other monuments advocating anti-Semitism and hatred of other minorities.

''I think the hate language will find a very cold reception in this community,'' councilor Paul Bertoglio said. ''I think this community's backbone is going to come up and say 'We are not going to accept it.'''

The city council is looking at several options, one is fighting Phelps in court, another is moving the Ten Commandments out of the park, and yet another proposal would be to sell the land the park is on.

Phelps says he doesn't care what the city decides. If he is unable to put the statue in City Park he said he will find another location in the city.

During Shepard's funeral members of Phelps' Westoboro Baptist Church demonstrated in front of the chapel.

©365Gay.com® 2003

More "compassionate Conservatism."Statue

Quote:

Phelps To Erect Matthew Shepard Monument
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: October 3, 2003 5:57 p.m. ET


(Casper, Wyoming) Anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps has announced intentions to erect a monument to Matthew Shepard the gay college student brutally murdered five years ago near Laramie.

But, the monument will be no memorial. Phelps says the monument would be 5 to 6 feet tall and made of marble or granite. It would bear a bronze plaque bearing the image of Shepard and have an inscription reading "MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22."

The monument would be erected in downtown Casper, Shepard's home town.

Phelps has sent details of the monument to the city of Casper city council and there may be nothing the city can do to prevent it.

Phelps said he intends to put up the monument in City Park, already the location of a controversial statue of the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments statue was donated to the city by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles in 1965.

After a court battle over a similar monument in the city of Ogden, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that any city that displays a Ten Commandments monument on public property must also allow monuments espousing the views of other religions or political groups on that same property.

Phelps told Casper council in his letter that if it attempts to prevent him from erecting the homophobic monument he's prepared to go to court.

"That is exactly what I said would happen," said Councilwoman Barb Watters. She said she warned the city when it accepted the Ten Commandments statue that the city risked other monuments advocating anti-Semitism and hatred of other minorities.

''I think the hate language will find a very cold reception in this community,'' councilor Paul Bertoglio said. ''I think this community's backbone is going to come up and say 'We are not going to accept it.'''

The city council is looking at several options, one is fighting Phelps in court, another is moving the Ten Commandments out of the park, and yet another proposal would be to sell the land the park is on.

Phelps says he doesn't care what the city decides. If he is unable to put the statue in City Park he said he will find another location in the city.

During Shepard's funeral members of Phelps' Westoboro Baptist Church demonstrated in front of the chapel.

©365Gay.com® 2003

These "crazies" have become very much the "mainstream" of the Republican party. If you don't believe me, look at the AG (Arsecroft) or the GOP's favourite son Tom DeLay. Does this scare anyone else? It scares the living daylights out of me!

In a sharp reversal, Republicans who just months ago daydreamed about a 2004 election landslide now worry that President Bush is losing control of events at home and abroad and faces a real chance of leading the party to defeat.

At home, anxiety about the economy is escalating and respect for Bush is sinking. His domestic agenda has stalled in Congress.

Abroad, troubles in Iraq and Afghanistan have eroded Bush's traditional Republican advantage on foreign policy. His calls for international help in Iraq have gone unanswered. And in both countries, Americans continue to die in guerrilla attacks.

There is time, of course, for both situations to improve, and with them Bush's prospects. But for now, Bush has work to do avoid his father's fate: defeat after one term.

Complicating matters for Bush is the possibility of a full-blown scandal involving allegations that someone in his White House revealed the identity of a CIA officer out of political spite at the officer's spouse. The ensuing political firestorm, not to mention the Justice Department investigation, could further hurt Bush's standing.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Laura Bush says her husband is a poet even if, uh, Americans don't know it.

At a gala Friday night kicking off this weekend's third National Book Festival, Mrs. Bush celebrated the written word in an age of visual media, thanking American authors for their "tales of mystery, history and heroism."

"A good book is like an unreachable itch; you just can't leave it alone," she said at the Library of Congress, repository of 126 million books, recordings, photographs, maps, manuscripts and more.

She revealed that President Bush had penned a poem for her when she got back from a five-day solo trip to Europe, where she attended a book festival in Moscow and visited France -- getting two kisses on the hand from French President Jacques Chirac.

"President Bush is a great leader and a husband, but I bet you didn't know he is also quite the poet," she said. "Upon returning home last night from my long trip I found a lovely poem waiting there for me."

As her husband watched quietly, she recited it.

"Roses are red/Violets are blue/Oh my, lump in the bed/How I've missed you."

Bush sometimes refers to his wife as a lump in the bed.

Mrs. Bush went on:

"Roses are redder/Bluer am I/Seeing you kissed by that charming French guy."

And then the finale:

"The dogs and the cat, they missed you too/Barney's still mad you dropped him, he ate your shoe/The distance, my dear, has been such a barrier/Next time you want an adventure, just land on a carrier."

Barney the dog had a tumble when Mrs. Bush was handing him to her husband on a tarmac.

James H. Billington, the librarian of Congress, called Mrs. Bush "first reader of our land" for her work on behalf of literacy and reading. The first lady is a former librarian and teacher, and the book festival is modeled after those she started in Texas when her husband was governor.

"Stories beckon us to toss all the cares in the world -- work, even sleep -- to read and discover," she said.

Novelist Tom Clancy, Cherokee storyteller Gayle Ross, nonfiction author and novelist Stephen L. Carter, CBS newsman Bob Schieffer and actress Julie Andrews, who writes children's books, joined Mrs. Bush in launching the festival.

I do not attempt to exuse Arnold's sexual adventures or even compare their moralty to those of Bill Clinton. I was commenting only on the attempts of some Clinton protagonists here to wiggle through that thicket.

Was also my parents wedding anniversary. 44 years.