- Truth is more of a stranger than fiction.
- ~ Mark Twain
Monday, August 31, 2009
Liars and Fools
Liars and Fools
Faux's Brick claims Obama's proposals amount to "what Hitler did with the SS" and "what Saddam Hussein" did
Nope, that is what the shrub did with Blackwater.
The repugicans sent out a mailer suggesting that apublic option health plan could be used to deny medical treatment to repugicans
So They're lying in print ... nothing new here.
James Inhofe (reject - Oklahoma) tells a town hall that "We're almost reaching a revolution in this country"
Nope, we were at that point back on election day last November and if the true winner of the election was not named the winner then there would have been a true revolution in this country.
Faux's Michael Scheuer Complains that Obama is "giving aid and comfort to the enemy"
What aid to what enemy?
Wally Herger (reptile - California) says a stranger that described himself as "a right-wing terrorist" must be "a great American"
And you wonder why they laugh at us around the world?!
Some whack-job wing nut running for Governor of Idaho 'jokes' about assassinating the President
Last time I checked that was Treason, bucko!
Lush Dimbulb screams that we need to save our penises from President Obama
Not worried about mine there Lush ol'boy, maybe you should pull yours out of that central American peasant boy if you are so worried about it.
Repugican Chairwimp Michael Steele claims that the Veterans Administration is encouraging vets to commit suicide
Spoken like a true stark raving mad lunatic ... oh, wait that is what he is - my bad ... please continue with what ever you were doing.
Faux News claims Obama is using a “death book” to encourage veterans to “pull the plug” and die
Oh, like we so don't care what Faux News claims.
Faux's Brick screeching that "You are about to lose your freedom of speech"
Wrong, he is though as more 'advertisers' pull out from his "show".
Lush Dimbulb lying that the Obama administration will "wage war against American citizens"
Nope, that was the shrub and the cabal who did that ... and failed.
Lush is still accusing Obama of "fascism"
And he still has no clue as to what the word means.
Dimbulb lies and says that the Obama administration is "doing the bidding of terrorists"
Again, what bidding, what terrorists?
Disney's Savage delusionally rants that the ACLU "will kill us all if they're not stopped"
And how many countries are you banned from now, there Michael?
Faux's Handjob says "National socialism is very much what we see today in this administration"
And yet another wing nut who has no grasp on the meaning of a word.
Peter King (retard - New York) questioning the patriotism of Attorney General Eric Holder
Why? For having the temerity to investigate the crimes of the shrub and the cabal?
Faux's Brick claims Obama's proposals amount to "what Hitler did with the SS" and "what Saddam Hussein" did
Nope, that is what the shrub did with Blackwater.
The repugicans sent out a mailer suggesting that apublic option health plan could be used to deny medical treatment to repugicans
So They're lying in print ... nothing new here.
James Inhofe (reject - Oklahoma) tells a town hall that "We're almost reaching a revolution in this country"
Nope, we were at that point back on election day last November and if the true winner of the election was not named the winner then there would have been a true revolution in this country.
Faux's Michael Scheuer Complains that Obama is "giving aid and comfort to the enemy"
What aid to what enemy?
Wally Herger (reptile - California) says a stranger that described himself as "a right-wing terrorist" must be "a great American"
And you wonder why they laugh at us around the world?!
Some whack-job wing nut running for Governor of Idaho 'jokes' about assassinating the President
Last time I checked that was Treason, bucko!
Lush Dimbulb screams that we need to save our penises from President Obama
Not worried about mine there Lush ol'boy, maybe you should pull yours out of that central American peasant boy if you are so worried about it.
Repugican Chairwimp Michael Steele claims that the Veterans Administration is encouraging vets to commit suicide
Spoken like a true stark raving mad lunatic ... oh, wait that is what he is - my bad ... please continue with what ever you were doing.
Faux News claims Obama is using a “death book” to encourage veterans to “pull the plug” and die
Oh, like we so don't care what Faux News claims.
Faux's Brick screeching that "You are about to lose your freedom of speech"
Wrong, he is though as more 'advertisers' pull out from his "show".
Lush Dimbulb lying that the Obama administration will "wage war against American citizens"
Nope, that was the shrub and the cabal who did that ... and failed.
Lush is still accusing Obama of "fascism"
And he still has no clue as to what the word means.
Dimbulb lies and says that the Obama administration is "doing the bidding of terrorists"
Again, what bidding, what terrorists?
Disney's Savage delusionally rants that the ACLU "will kill us all if they're not stopped"
And how many countries are you banned from now, there Michael?
Faux's Handjob says "National socialism is very much what we see today in this administration"
And yet another wing nut who has no grasp on the meaning of a word.
Peter King (retard - New York) questioning the patriotism of Attorney General Eric Holder
Why? For having the temerity to investigate the crimes of the shrub and the cabal?
Americans want a Public Option
A new survey shows that almost 80% of Americans want a public option included in any health care reform.
Seventy-nine percent, to be exact.
Off the top of my balding head, I can't think of any other issues where 79% of Americans support something, and that something, whatever it is, somehow remains controversial.
Only in the delusional fantasy world of the wing nuts.
Seventy-nine percent, to be exact.
Off the top of my balding head, I can't think of any other issues where 79% of Americans support something, and that something, whatever it is, somehow remains controversial.
Only in the delusional fantasy world of the wing nuts.
Pastor Prays Barack Obama Dies of Brain Cancer
The wing nuts keep getting crazier ...
Pastor Steven Anderson of Arizona’s Faithful Word Baptist Church is the spiritual adviser to the man who carried an assault rifle outside a recent Phoenix health care rally with the President. Anderson hates Barack Obama, and wants him to die of brain cancer.
Pastor Steven Anderson of Arizona’s Faithful Word Baptist Church is the spiritual adviser to the man who carried an assault rifle outside a recent Phoenix health care rally with the President. Anderson hates Barack Obama, and wants him to die of brain cancer.
Teacher Charged With Taking Cash For Better Grades
Megan Laboy, a teacher at Colts Neck High School in New Jersey, has been charged with taking cash from students in exchange for better grades.
Teacher Charged With Taking Cash For Better Grades
Teacher Charged With Taking Cash For Better Grades
Dugard Was Key Employee at Kidnapper's Business
Details continue to trickle out in the Jaycee Lee Dugard case, and we are beginning to see some of the details of the "relationship" between Dugard and her kidnappers, Phillip Craig Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy Garrido, 55.
Not only was she his captive and the mother to two of his children, she was apparently a key player in Garrido's specialty printing business.
Not only was she his captive and the mother to two of his children, she was apparently a key player in Garrido's specialty printing business.
White pedigree poodle gives birth to eight black puppies
A dog owner is celebrating after her white pedigree poodle gave birth to eight black puppies.
Teacher burns cross in student's arm, board pays (and pays)
An Ohio school board has approved a settlement with the family of a student who said his teacher burned the image of a cross on his arm.
Nutrition for Men
Women may dominate the dieting world, but obesity is an issue for men, too.
Read on for weight loss tips tailored for men.
A Game Plan for Weight Loss
Read on for weight loss tips tailored for men.
A Game Plan for Weight Loss
Coldest, Driest, Calmest Place on Earth Found
The search for the best observatory site in the world has lead to the discovery of what is thought to be the coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth - a place where no human is thought to have ever set foot.
To search for the perfect site to take pictures of the heavens, a U.S.-Australian research team combined data from satellites, ground stations and climate models in a study to assess the many factors that affect astronomy - cloud cover, temperature, sky-brightness,water vapor, wind speeds and atmospheric turbulence.
The researchers pinpointed a site, known simply as Ridge A, that is 13,297 feet (4,053 meters) high up on the Antarctic Plateau on the continent at the bottom of the world.
The study revealed that Ridge A has an average winter temperature of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 degrees Celsius) and an extremely low amount of water in the air.
The site is also extremely calm, which means that there is very little of the atmospheric turbulence that elsewhere makes stars appear to twinkle.
The finding was detailed on Aug. 31 in the Publications of the Astronomical Society.
Skydiver films his own fall
Skydiver films his own fall
Paul Lewis miraculously survives a 10,000-foot fall after two parachutes fail to open.
Former Miss California sues
From the "Total waste of our time" Department:
Former Miss California sues
Carrie Prejean files a lawsuit against pageant officials after being fired for alleged contract violations.
You broke your contract - you were terminated per that contract for breach - cased closed.
Homeless writer's dream job
Homeless writer's dream job
She was down on her luck until a bold move landed her a special job and changed her life.
Ex-champ catches burglar
Ex-champ catches burglar
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Dawn Fraser gives an intruder all he can handle.
Little-known natural wonders
Little-known natural wonders
Check out a vast underground lake or explore the longest cave system in the world.
How to really get your resumé seen
How to really get your resumé seen
Sending in resumés online can be pointless — unless you know how to reach a real person.
Police to review rocker's death
Police to review rocker's death
The 1969 drowning of Stones guitarist Brian Jones was ruled an accident, but now some aren't so sure.
'Hippie' tune makes history
'Hippie' tune makes history
A Jason Mraz song breaks a record held by a LeAnn Rimes song since the late 1990s.
Risks of taking aspirin every day
Risks of taking aspirin every day
Healthy people who take aspirin to ward off heart attacks may be doing more harm than good, a study finds.
Bipartisan Support for Vicki Kennedy as Ted's Successor
Prior to his death, Ted Kennedy said he hoped the Massachusetts legislature would change the state's law so that the governor could appoint an interim replacement.
On Sunday, two of his closest friends in the Senate, from both sides of the aisle, said that they thought his widow, Vicki, would make an excellent temporary replacement for him should the Massachusetts legislature make that change.
On Sunday, two of his closest friends in the Senate, from both sides of the aisle, said that they thought his widow, Vicki, would make an excellent temporary replacement for him should the Massachusetts legislature make that change.
As Biggest Banks Repay Bailout Money, the U.S. Sees a Profit
Nearly a year after the federal rescue of the nation's biggest banks, taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that many critics thought might never be seen again.
China moves to stifle sexually explicit TV
China has banned sexually explicit television shows, such as those featuring sex toys and contraceptives, as it tries to clean up its airwaves and imbue socialist values.
Well what do you know! All those wing nuts and fundies screaming about 'protecting' us (especially teenagers) from sex are actually Socialists! That must really put a burr under their blankets!
China moves to stifle sexually explicit TV
Well what do you know! All those wing nuts and fundies screaming about 'protecting' us (especially teenagers) from sex are actually Socialists! That must really put a burr under their blankets!
China moves to stifle sexually explicit TV
Incredible story of survival
Incredible story of survival
Three fishermen are found alive after spending a week stranded in the Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane roars toward Mexico
Hurricane roars toward Mexico
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The right way to splurge on yourself
The right way to splurge on yourself
Here are five ways to get the most happiness when you spend money.
Hybrids gobbling up rare metals
Hybrids gobbling up rare metals
Hybrid cars' motors and batteries may be fuel efficient, but they guzzle rare elements.
Daily Almanac
Today is Monday, Aug. 31, the 243rd day of 2009.
There are 122 days left in the year.
Today in History, August 31.
There are 122 days left in the year.
Today in History, August 31.
Our Readers
Some of our readers today have been in:
London, England, United Kingdom
Cochin, Kerala, India
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Pune, Maharashtra, India
as well as Serbia & Montenegro, Scotland, and the United States
London, England, United Kingdom
Cochin, Kerala, India
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Pune, Maharashtra, India
as well as Serbia & Montenegro, Scotland, and the United States
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
Money and the future are mingling in the stars, and perhaps they should be in your mind as well.
When's the last time you gave some thought to planning your longer-term finances?
And when's the last time you paid more than the minimum on your credit card bill -- or even made a deposit into your savings or retirement account?
Put your practical side to work: a book, a banker or a friend can help.
Sounds like a plan.
Money and the future are mingling in the stars, and perhaps they should be in your mind as well.
When's the last time you gave some thought to planning your longer-term finances?
And when's the last time you paid more than the minimum on your credit card bill -- or even made a deposit into your savings or retirement account?
Put your practical side to work: a book, a banker or a friend can help.
Sounds like a plan.
Heart 'patches' grown in fatty apron
A fatty fold of tissue that sits over the intestines may be the perfect spot to grow cells for heart repair.
Medical Humor
Doctor: "Sir, could you pay for an operation if I thought one was required?"
Patient: "Would you think one was required if I couldn't pay for it?"
(or maybe it is not 'humor' after all)
Patient: "Would you think one was required if I couldn't pay for it?"
(or maybe it is not 'humor' after all)
Health Care Affordability Gap
From J-Walk blog:
Here's an interesting chart. And this is just for active employees.
Notice a trend?
The wing nuts who are opposed to health care reform in the U.S. must have delusions that free market forces will somehow close that gap in the near future.
Then again, maybe the chart is bogus, and the health care affordability gap is just Liberal propaganda.
Question and Answer
Question: Who has the right of way when four cars approach a four-way stop at the same time?
Answer: The pickup truck with the gun rack and the bumper sticker saying, "Guns don't kill people. I do."
Answer: The pickup truck with the gun rack and the bumper sticker saying, "Guns don't kill people. I do."
NC F-15 fighter squadron goes to Afghanistan
More than 300 North Carolina-based airmen are on their way to Afghanistan.
The squadron left Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Sunday afternoon.
NC F-15 fighter squadron goes to Afghanistan
The squadron left Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Sunday afternoon.
NC F-15 fighter squadron goes to Afghanistan
Meet (and be) The Beatles
The Beatles in 1964. (Apple Corps Ltd.)
Allan Rouse and Guy Massey beamed confident smiles recently in Capitol Records' Studio C in Hollywood, where the senior studio engineers for Capitol's U.K. parent company, EMI Records, supervised a preview of the top-secret project they've been working on for the last four years.
Full Story
Full Story
Did oil deal free Libyan terrorist?
Did oil deal free Libyan terrorist?
Britain denies a reported link between a Libyan oil project and the Lockerbie bomber's release.
Corporate Malfeasance
Isn't just an American thing ...
Aides working for bottled water producers are planning to use scare tactics to protect falling sales in Scotland by attacking the quality of tap water supplied to consumers.
Bottled water firms turn to scare tactics
Bottled water firms turn to scare tactics
Digging up the Saudi past
Some would rather not ...
That's because it's in Saudi Arabia, where conservatives are deeply hostile to pagan, Jewish and Christian sites that predate the founding of Islam in the 7th century.
Some would rather not
Some would rather not
Detroit man stole woman's car on 1st date
Police in Michigan say a first date went from bad to worse when a Detroit man skipped out on the restaurant bill, then stole his date's car.
Talk about a bad date. Amazingly, given the result, it wasn't even a blind date.
'Outrageous political act'
Political act ... my ass - Criminal activity is always investigated and punished!
Priciest hotel rooms in the world
Priciest hotel rooms in the world
The most expensive hotel suite on the planet goes for a whopping $65,000 a night.
Most overrated small businesses to start
Most overrated small businesses to start
A lot of people think they have a great idea for a new business, but many are sure to fail.
Thousands flee Southern California fire
Thousands flee Southern California fire
A wildfire north of Los Angeles forces mass evacuations and threatens 12,000 homes.
Six salads that help you live longer
Six salads that help you live longer
Beet salad contains powerful nutrients that protect against heart disease and cancer.
Headlines
Headlines:
- Colombian president comes down with the swine flu
- American commander: US on the road out of Iraq
- Japanese election upends long-ruling party
- Former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert indicted
- Blast kills 16 Pakistan cadets; NATO trucks bombed
- Category 4 hurricane threatens Mexico's west coast
- Analysis: U.S.-Japan alliance not likely to change
- Major fraud allegations in Afghan election surge to nearly 700
- State fairs offer many people summer relief from unemployment
- Experts: Exercise beats angioplasty for some heart patients
Lakeside swim ban to be lifted
Mecklenburg leaders this week are expected to lift a 32-year-old swimming ban at the county’s waterfront parks, possibly leading to the re-opening of public beaches on Lake Wylie and Lake Norman.
Full Story
Full Story
Kennedy laid to rest
Kennedy laid to rest
Sen. Edward Kennedy is buried at Arlington, marking a close to four days of mourning.
Daily Almanac
Today is Sunday, Aug. 30, the 242nd day of 2009.
There are 123 days left in the year.
Today In History August 30
There are 123 days left in the year.
Today In History August 30
Our Readers
Some of our readers today have been in:
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Lyon, Rhone-Alpes, France
Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Malmo, Skane Lan, Sweden
as well as Barbados, Scotland, Wales, and the United States
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Lyon, Rhone-Alpes, France
Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Malmo, Skane Lan, Sweden
as well as Barbados, Scotland, Wales, and the United States
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
There you go again, doing more and more.
Multitasking was made for always-on-the-go types like yourself.
You're someone who believes firmly that virtue is its own reward.
Your virtue, however, will be rewarded, although you may not see the results of it immediately.
That's fine with you, though -- you take so much pleasure in the work that the rewards are almost immaterial.
This is true.
There you go again, doing more and more.
Multitasking was made for always-on-the-go types like yourself.
You're someone who believes firmly that virtue is its own reward.
Your virtue, however, will be rewarded, although you may not see the results of it immediately.
That's fine with you, though -- you take so much pleasure in the work that the rewards are almost immaterial.
This is true.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
It's the repugicans that are Gunning for Grandma
It's the repugicans that are out to get Granny. It was Grassley himself who devised the "Throw Mama From the Train" provision of the repugican's 2001 tax cut.
The estate-tax revision he championed will reduce the estate tax to zero next year.
But when it expires at year's end, the tax will jump back up to its previous level of 55 percent.
Grassley's exploding tax break has an entirely foreseeable, if unintended, consequence: it incentivizes ailing, elderly rich people to end their lives—paging Dr. Kevorkian—before midnight on Dec. 31, 2010. It also gives their children an incentive to sign DNR orders and switch off respirators in time for the deadline.
This would be a great plot for a P. D. James novel if it weren't an actual piece of legislation.
The estate-tax revision he championed will reduce the estate tax to zero next year.
But when it expires at year's end, the tax will jump back up to its previous level of 55 percent.
Grassley's exploding tax break has an entirely foreseeable, if unintended, consequence: it incentivizes ailing, elderly rich people to end their lives—paging Dr. Kevorkian—before midnight on Dec. 31, 2010. It also gives their children an incentive to sign DNR orders and switch off respirators in time for the deadline.
This would be a great plot for a P. D. James novel if it weren't an actual piece of legislation.
Money-Driven Medicine
Why Our Health Care is So Expensive, and So Ineffective
DR. DONALD BERWICK: It is, I guess, politically correct, widely believed, that to say that American health care is the best in the world. It's not. There's a much more complicated story there. For some kinds of care my colleague Brent James calls it rescue care. Yes, we're the best in the world. If you need very complex cardiac surgery or very advanced chemotherapy for your cancer or some audacious intervention with organ transplantation, you're pretty lucky to be in America.
You'll get it faster and you'll probably get it better than in at least most other countries. Rescue care we're great. But most health care isn't that. Most health care is getting people with diabetes through their illness over years or controlling the pain of someone with arthritis or just answering a question for someone who is worried or preventing them from getting into trouble in the first place. And on those scores: Chronic disease care, community-based care, primary care, preventive care. No no, we're no where near the best. And it's reflected in our outcomes.We're something like the ... We're not the best health care system in the world in infant mortality rates. We're like number 23. There is an index that is used in rating health care systems, which is the rate of mortality that could have been prevented by health care. There are at least a dozen countries with lower rates of preventable mortalities than the United States and not one of those countries spends 60 percent of what we do on health care.
Until Medical Bills Do Us Part
We know just how she feels ... My friend M. — you’ll understand in a moment why she’s terrified of my using her name — had to make a searing decision a year ago. She was married to a sweet, gentle man whom she loved, but who had become increasingly absent-minded. Finally, he was diagnosed with early-onset dementia.
The disease is degenerative, and he will become steadily less able to care for himself. At some point, as his medical needs multiply, he will probably need to be institutionalized.
The hospital arranged a conference call with a social worker, who outlined how the dementia and its financial toll on the family would progress, and then added, out of the blue: “Maybe you should divorce.”
Gadhafi won't stay in Englewood, NJ
U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman said late Friday he's been given assurances from a representative of the Libyan government that Moammar Gadhafi won't stay in Englewood, N.J., when he visits the United States next month to address the U.N. General Assembly, a visit that has sparked angry protests.
The Libyan government has been renovating an estate there.
UAE tells UN it seized ship carrying secret cache of North Korea arms intended for Iran
The United Arab Emirates has seized a cargo ship earlier this month bound for Iran with a cache of banned arms from North Korea, the first such seizure since sanctions against North Korea were ramped up, diplomats and officials said Friday.
Man Shoots Himself in Leg in Road Rage Incident
A man who was a real bad shot in Lancaster, NY ended up shooting himself in the leg after a road rage incident late Wednesday.Is Glenn Beck too much a wing nut even for Faux News?
It may in the end have little impact on the bottom line of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, but a fast-gathering boycott by some of America's best-known conglomerates of Glenn Beck, a wing nut liar on his Faux News channel in the US, is beginning to take on embarrassing proportions.
Tape recordings from the Nixon White House betray a preoccupation with the Kennedy mystique
Richard Nixon was so preoccupied with the Kennedy family and the possibility of another defeat handed to him by another Kennedy -- Ted -- that he ordered aides to recruit Secret Service agents to spill secrets on the senator's behavior.The president tried to catch Kennedy cheating on his wife, while at the same time finding the couple to be "crude" in their "super-swingin' jet-set" lifestyle.
In a series of stark Oval Office conversations about Kennedy before the 1972 election, Nixon spoke with aides John Erhlichman, H.R. Haldeman and Ron Ziegler.
Nixon wanted to find a way to keep an eye on Kennedy.
"Do you have anybody in the Secret Service that you can get to?" he asked. "Yeah, yeah," Ehrlichman replied.
"Plant one," Nixon said. "Plant two guys on him. This could be very useful."
Nixon made clear that the Secret Service protection afforded Kennedy before the 1972 election would be rescinded after. Then, said the president, "If he gets shot, it's too damn bad."
Tape recordings from the Nixon White House betray a preoccupation with the Kennedy mystique and how that might be used against the Republican president by the last surviving brother, who died Tuesday at age 77.
Nixon's men had investigators tail Ted Kennedy on a Hawaii vacation and when he was at his Martha's Vineyard haunts.
"He was in Hawaii on his own. He was staying in some guy's villa. He was just as nice as could be the whole time," Ehrlichman reported.
On the night of July 18, 1969, Kennedy had driven off a bridge into the water at Chappaquiddick, Mass., swimming to safety while the woman with him, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and a judge said his actions probably contributed to her death. He got a suspended sentence and probation.
Nixon wanted a sharp and private eye kept on Kennedy's movements after Chappaquiddick, hoping to expose another misstep with a woman other than his wife, Joan.
"The thing to do is watch him," Nixon said.
During that talk, Nixon's aides spoke in mortified language about how Joan Kennedy wanted to wear "hot pants" to a White House function until her husband talked her out of it. The talk also drifted into his Joan's eye-popping outfit at a White House luncheon.
One exchange:
Haldeman: "Did you see his wife came here at the White House again � crazy outfit...."
Nixon: "What did she wear?"
Haldeman: "Some leather gaucho, with a bare midriff or something."
Ziegler: "Well, no, they put on a body stocking which is flesh tone."
Haldeman: "Oh, is that it?"
Ziegler: "And then they wrap the leather gaucho type thing around it. So you look at it from a distance, and you think my God, there she is."
Haldeman: "She was going to wear hot pants but Teddy told her she couldn't."
Ziegler: "They're weird people, they really are. I mean, even the _"
Nixon: "It's crude. What the hell's the matter with them? What's she trying to prove?"
Haldeman: "Whatever it is, she ain't gaining many votes, because they've got � the super-swinger, jet-set types are going to be for them and not for you no matter what happens."
Ziegler: "The super-swingin' jet-set types don't even relate to that type thing. It's a very, very small group."
Haldeman: "Middle American folk, that's desecration of the White House to most Americans ..."
Ziegler: "She has to have some sort of hang-up herself personally. She knows what Teddy was doing out there with that girl, running her into the water, you know, and what he's been doing."
Haldeman: "But that family's used to that."
Nixon: "They do it all the time."
But in the aftermath of the Chappaquiddick scandal, Kennedy was careful not to step out of line, the tapes suggest.
"Does he do anything?" Nixon asked in a September 1971 meeting. "No, no, he's very clean," Ehrlichman replied.
"President Nixon never forgot his humiliating defeat in the 1960 presidential election to John F. Kennedy," said Luke A. Nichter, a leading authority on the Nixon White House recordings and assistant history professor at Texas A&M University. "Nixon did not intend to simply win in 1972; he wanted to destroy his opponent."
"If that opponent was a Kennedy, Nixon cautiously welcomed that opportunity but left nothing to chance," Nichter said. "That is what these long-obscured recordings show us."
Nichter features and analyzes the recordings at his Web site, nixontapes.org. The material has been released by the government over the years.
By April 1971, when the first of these exchanges was captured by the White House taping system, Kennedy was a damaged political figure.
Despite the Chappaquiddick episode, Nixon was plainly worried about Kennedy's political potency yet confident the Democrat could not restrain a philandering impulse. "I predict something more is going to happen," he said. "The reason I would cover him is from a personal standpoint -- you're likely to find something."
Nixon pressed for more wiretaps and a combing of tax records, not only on Kennedy but other leading Democrats. "I could only hope that we are, frankly, doing a little persecuting," he said.
At one point, he expressed hesitation about whether his actions were proper.
The moment quickly passed.
"I don't know," Nixon mused to Haldeman, his chief of staff. "Maybe it's the wrong thing to do. But I have a feeling that if you're going to start, better start now."
Because Kennedy was not a presidential candidate in 1972, he did not qualify for full-time Secret Service protection. But Nixon offered it to Ted Kennedy, given the assassinations of his brothers, President John Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy, and right after Alabama Gov. George Wallace was shot in May 1972.
The offer was conveyed by Treasury Secretary John Connally, who was in charge of the Secret Service, in a phone call with Kennedy. The former Texas governor was riding in the car with JKF and was wounded when the president was assassinated in Dallas.
"Very frankly," Connally said, "I don't know that they could save you but there's a damn good chance they could if some nut came up. And you ought not to be reluctant about it. I know you're not a candidate but you're exposed."
Ted Kennedy expressed thanks and asked for protection at his home, to start.
But Nixon's motives for the offer were not pure. He worried that if a third Kennedy were shot, and while not having Secret Service protection, he'd be blamed.
Plus, he wanted dirt. And the best way to get it was to have a Secret Service agent rat on the senator. There is no evidence an agent turned into such an informer.
"You understand what the problem is," Nixon told Haldeman and Ehrlichman on Sept. 7, 1972. "If the (SOB) gets shot they'll say we didn't furnish it (protection). So you just buy his insurance.
"After the election, he doesn't get a ... thing. If he gets shot, it's too damn bad. Do it under the basis, though, that we pick the Secret Service men.
"Understand what I'm talking about?"
An Internet Czar?
Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, [pictured] a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.
The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.
"I think the redraft, while improved, remains troubling due to its vagueness," said Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, which counts representatives of Verizon, Verisign, Nortel, and Carnegie Mellon University on its board. "It is unclear what authority Sen. Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill."
Representatives of other large Internet and telecommunications companies expressed concerns about the bill in a teleconference with Rockefeller's aides this week, but were not immediately available for interviews on Thursday.
A spokesman for Rockefeller also declined to comment on the record Thursday, saying that many people were unavailable because of the summer recess. A Senate source familiar with the bill compared the president's power to take control of portions of the Internet to what President Bush did when grounding all aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001. The source said that one primary concern was the electrical grid, and what would happen if it were attacked from a broadband connection.
When Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Commerce committee, and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced the original bill in April, they claimed it was vital to protect national cybersecurity. "We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs--from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records," Rockefeller said.
The Rockefeller proposal plays out against a broader concern in Washington, D.C., about the government's role in cybersecurity. In May, President Obama acknowledged that the government is "not as prepared" as it should be to respond to disruptions and announced that a new cybersecurity coordinator position would be created inside the White House staff. Three months later, that post remains empty, one top cybersecurity aide has quit, and some wags have begun to wonder why a government that receives failing marks on cybersecurity should be trusted to instruct the private sector what to do.
Rockefeller's revised legislation seeks to reshuffle the way the federal government addresses the topic. It requires a "cybersecurity workforce plan" from every federal agency, a "dashboard" pilot project, measurements of hiring effectiveness, and the implementation of a "comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy" in six months--even though its mandatory legal review will take a year to complete.
The privacy implications of sweeping changes implemented before the legal review is finished worry Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "As soon as you're saying that the federal government is going to be exercising this kind of power over private networks, it's going to be a really big issue," he says.
Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to "direct the national response to the cyber threat" if necessary for "the national defense and security." The White House is supposed to engage in "periodic mapping" of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies "shall share" requested information with the federal government. ("Cyber" is defined as anything having to do with the Internet, telecommunications, computers, or computer networks.)
"The language has changed but it doesn't contain any real additional limits," EFF's Tien says. "It simply switches the more direct and obvious language they had originally to the more ambiguous (version)...The designation of what is a critical infrastructure system or network as far as I can tell has no specific process. There's no provision for any administrative process or review. That's where the problems seem to start. And then you have the amorphous powers that go along with it."
Translation: If your company is deemed "critical," a new set of regulations kick in involving who you can hire, what information you must disclose, and when the government would exercise control over your computers or network.
The Internet Security Alliance's Clinton adds that his group is "supportive of increased federal involvement to enhance cyber security, but we believe that the wrong approach, as embodied in this bill as introduced, will be counterproductive both from an national economic and national secuity perspective."
Jena Longo, deputy communications director for the Senate Commerce committee issued this statement:
The president of the United States has always had the constitutional authority, and duty, to protect the American people and direct the national response to any emergency that threatens the security and safety of the United States. The Rockefeller-Snowe Cybersecurity bill makes it clear that the president's authority includes securing our national cyber infrastructure from attack. The section of the bill that addresses this issue, applies specifically to the national response to a severe attack or natural disaster. This particular legislative language is based on longstanding statutory authorities for wartime use of communications networks. To be very clear, the Rockefeller-Snowe bill will not empower a "government shutdown or takeover of the Internet" and any suggestion otherwise is misleading and false. The purpose of this language is to clarify how the president directs the public-private response to a crisis, secure our economy and safeguard our financial networks, protect the American people, their privacy and civil liberties, and coordinate the government's response.
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