applznorngz/politics

The
statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's
permanent observer to the UN, defended its record by claiming that
"available research" showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were
involved in child sex abuse.

I would have felt better had the statistic been oh, .0015% - .0005%...  damned themselves with faint praise.

review copied from JIR's page... Thanks,  there's nothing more to add, except, I always wondered why the "media" of the time did not try to get to the bottom of this...   "liberal news media" has always been a myth not a fact...They just cover sex and drugs for show, so the conservatives can say they're liberal...
From the page:

"Those who don't care for President Jimmy Carter often cite him and his
response to the taking of American hostages in Iran as the beginning of
our problems in the middle east. They don't know their history. They
should look instead to the year 1953, twenty-six years before the
Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979, if they want to understand how we
arrived where we were with Iranian/American relations by the time
Carter was in office. When you look at the earlier history, it's hard
to see how Carter was more than a scapegoat for an Islamic revolution
we fomented by overturning a duly elected government in 1953.

---------------------------------

The British were anxious to regain control over the Iranian oil and
went to the U.S. to ask for help in pulling off a coup to replace a
duly elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh because he was seen as
pro-communist. President Truman was not amenable to intervention, but
the players anxious to overthrow the Iranian government and regain
control of her oil found an ally in President Eisenhower when he took
office in 1953. There was no bogeyman bigger than communism in a nation
that would see the infamous McCarthy hearings the following year.

--------------------------------

As for the Carter years and the hostages, there has been a persistent
rumor that Ronald Reagan made a deal with the Iranians to not release
the hostages until after the 1980 election. Reagan knew Carter was
taking a beating with the public and in the media because there were
still American captives in Iran. Interestingly enough, the hostages
were released within the first few minutes of Reagan's inauguration and
Reagan in turn sold arms to Iran. You decide."

I enjoyed the comments so much, I haven't had time to watch the vid...  A truly bipartisan discussion.

And don't forget the value of plain old Hemp!  A Real Green Crop, in every aspect.

From the page: "DNC Press Secretary Hari Sevugan released the following (measured, rational) statement in response:

"One would think that encouragement and inspiration directly from the President of the United States to the next generation of Americans, an experience school children will not forget for the rest of their lives, would be something everyone would embrace. Outrageously, Governor Tim Pawlenty, who, as a leader in his state, should be encouraging the success of our children, would rather pander to the extreme right wing of the Republican Party by dismissing and joking about next week's speech. The only joke here is Tim Pawlenty, who is clearly trying to out-Palin Sarah Palin in his sickening attempt to please the radical right-wing Glenn Beck's of the world."

Yes indeed. It's not even surprising anymore that when a Republican is in power, we all need to shut up and get in line because elections have consequences, but when it's a Democrat in the White House (and a black one from Chicago at that!), the whole thing is a liberal islamofasciocommunistosocialist conspiracy to put our kids in Godless ACORN reeducation camps and destroy America by providing health care, puppies, and unicorns for everyone.

Clearly, the response to Barack Obama's speech to America's schoolkids -- from the fringe riffraff that's taken over the hearts and minds of the Republican Party -- is great news for President McCain. "