SOME BCP AWARDS FOR 2006

Well as 2006 comes to an end I thought it might be a good time to hand out some year end awards.

BEST EXAMPLE OF A POLITICAN SHOOTING HIMSELF IN THE FOOT:

NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR BILL RICHARDSON

BEST EXAMPLE OF A POLITICIAN SHOOTING SOMEONE ELSE IN THE FACE:

DICK CHENEY

BEST LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

TO THE WASHINGTON POST

WORST REPORTING BY A NEWSPAPER:

NEWSDAY

SMELLIEST DEAL MADE BY AN INSTITUTION THAT RECEIVES PUBLIC FUNDS:

SMITHSONIAN

These are just a few of the items that aroused my attention in 2006. There were MANY more but, tonight it is time to celebrate the New Year arriving and to paraphrase Dorothy Parker see what fresh hell the new year brings. Happy New Year Everyone!

SADDAM HANGED AND GOES TO HELL...

and takes the prestige of the United States with him.

“This is the man who tried to kill my dad.” -George W, Bush Sept. 26,2002

Gee, and it only took the deaths of 3,000 U.S. troops to kill him.

"Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial — the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime." -George W. Bush 12/29/06

OOPS! Wrong victim.

"We are reminded today of how far the Iraqi people have come since the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule — and that the progress they have made would not have been possible without the continued service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. " George W. Bush 12/29/06

"Dec. Deadliest Month in Iraq for U.S." -Washington Post

"Many difficult choices and further sacrifices lie ahead."-George W. Bush 12/29/06

Except for his children.

Truth and Justice?

As Saddam Hussein counts down to his last hours or weeks depending on which news story you believe I came across two blogs that I found very interesting to read this day.
There is this one by Paul Craig Roberts on truth or the lack there of today:

"Recently, Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, said that freedom of speech is inconsistent with "the war on terror."

If it takes a police state to fight terror, the country is lost even if Muslim terrorists are defeated. Americans have far more to fear from a homeland police state than from terrorists."

"The challenges that America faces are not terrorism and oil supply. The challenges that we face are the police state that Bush has created and the disrespect for truth that is endemic in government, the universities, and the media. The US has entered a dark age of dogmas and
unaccountable power."

Then there is this commentary by Josh Marshal at Talking Points Memo on the justice of Saddam Husseins trial and how Bush's and America's legacy will be judged down the road by the pre ordained nature of the judgment that would have been one of the hallmarks of someone like Hussein himself:

"Try to dress this up as an Iraqi trial and it doesn't come close to cutting it -- the Iraqis only take possession of him for the final act, sort of like the Church always left execution itself to the 'secular arm'. Try pretending it's a war crimes trial but it's just more of the pretend mumbojumbo that makes this out to be World War IX or whatever number it is they're up to now. "

"This whole endeavor, from the very start, has been about taking tawdry, cheap acts and dressing them up in a papier-mache grandeur -- phony victory celebrations, ersatz democratization, reconstruction headed up by toadies, con artists and grifters. And this is no different. Hanging Saddam is easy. It's a job, for once, that these folks can actually see through to completion. So this execution, ironically and pathetically, becomes a stand-in for the failures, incompetence and general betrayal of country on every other front that President Bush has brought us"

Indeed, Truth and Justice have new meanings in Bushworld and it won't be long before freedom is no longer mentioned in the United States if things keep going they way they have in the past few years.

Bad economic news is goods news on illegal immigration.

Being an optimist (most of the time) I believe in the saying "When one door closes another opens". That seem to be the case in this story reported by Washington Post reporter Nick Miroff showing how the downturn in the Washington DC area housing market is affecting the illegal immigrant population in regards to jobs. While the down turn in housing construction may seem like bad news the silver lining is the illegal immigrants are finding it harder and harder to get work and some are even returning back to the countries they came from. Here is the money quote:

"On Jan. 20, he is taking his family back to El Salvador, with plans to open an auto repair shop with the money he has saved. "There's no work here anymore," he said, having spent the past month unemployed. "And when there's no work, it's time for Latinos to go back to the countries where they came from."

This is good news. Let's hope the pro illegal immigration pols in Washington like John McCain and Ted Kennedy along with my congressman Tim (give them amnesty) Bishop don't screw up this self deportation movement by the illegal immigrants by doing something stupid like continuing to push for amnesty for the illegal who violated U.S. Immigration law. As the door to self deportation is being opened by the illegals returning back to their native countries it is time for the U.S. to shut the open border doors that allowed them into the U.S. in the first place.

The 12 deaths of Christmas

I was driving back from Fairfax Virginia last night after having a Christmas dinner at a friends house. Listening to WTOP Washington's all news station the news came that 12 U.S. soldiers had died over the weekend in Iraq. News items such as this hardly prominent in newscasts anymore the numbers are just another news items. But, for me it I always get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as hear such news. I think of the soldiers who died and the families they leave behind.
I think the following quote from an Iraqi citizen sums up the feelings of many of us.

"I hope next year will bring good things and unite all Iraqis because there is no difference between Christians and Muslims," said Abu Fadi, a worshipper who does not use his Christian name because he fears for his safety. "May God bring relief from this."

Meanwhile, today the Washington Post reports the amount of U.S. soldiers deaths has exceeded the amount of deaths from the 911 attacks. Which makes me wonder how much is enough?

Someone got Christmas presents but, not the taxpayers

All taxpayers are waking up this Christmas morning with their wallets a little lighter because of the presents some received from the practices of the Federal Government as reported in the Washington Post.

"The Defense Department paid two procurement operations at the Department of the Interior to arrange for Pentagon purchases totaling $1.7 billion that resulted in excessive fees and tens of millions of dollars in waste, documents show."

Inquiring taxpayers want to know how does this happen?

"In one instance, Interior officials bought armor to reinforce Army vehicles from a software maker. In another, Interior bought furniture for Defense from a company that apparently had not previously been in the furniture business."

Merry Christmas fellow sucker taxpayers!

Forget Christmas enjoy the Halcyon Days

These are the days that try men's souls! Or at least their wallets. Instead of getting wrapped up in the hoopla of Christmas where my neighborhood here on Long Island begins to look more and more like Las Vegas as the neighbors try to out do each other with lights and lawn ornaments. I have over the years began being turned off by all the craziness surrounding the Christmas holiday season. My girlfriend and I have even stopped buying gifts for each other. We have all that we need and also have each other. We both grew up in middle class families. She in a project in Astoria Queens and I in suburban Long Island we both know the value of things and what makes a persons life happy and to us it is not the accumulation of goods.
So instead of celebrating Christmas I have decide to celebrate the Halcyon Days which are the seven days before and after the Winter Solstice a time when the Halcyon bird suposedly builds it's floating nest in the Aegean Sea. It does this because it is supposed to be a time of calm. The Halcyon bird's ability to "calm" the winds is based in Greek mythology. Calm is what we all need this time of year. I usually avoid driving as much as possible and especially this time of year. It seems almost everyone is out rushing around going shopping buying last minute gifts etc... So I will sit back and enjoy these Halcyon Days and let the other Christians go crazy.

GIMME SHELTER

"Four U.S. Marines were charged with multiple counts of murder yesterday for their alleged roles in the deaths of two dozen civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha last year. The accusations set up what could be the highest-profile atrocity prosecution to arise from the Iraq war."-Washington Post

"Sixty-four U.S. service members have been charged in connection with the deaths of Iraqi civilians since the war began in March 2003. Eighteen have been sentenced to prison time, including a 90-year term for an Army soldier who admitted his role in raping an Iraqi teenager in Mahmudiyah and killing her and her family."

"Rape, murder! It's just a shot away It's just a shot away"

GIMME SHELTER

(M. Jagger & K. Richards)

My personal foreign aid program..

I just returned from my vacation in Mexico to catch some pre winter warmth, feel a soft warm breeze and once again smell the sea . I spoke Spanish to the locals and the staff at the hotel though many also spoke English. When I travel I try and speak as much as I can in the native language of the country. Unlike many illegals in this country who despite being here for even ten or twenty years have never picked up any English. A situation made easier for them by federal and state policies that print forms in Spanish which does not encourage illegals to assimilate into the American mainstream.
The resort I stayed at was an all inclusive resort right on the water. I spread my money around generously in tips. The people there worked hard and the service was good. But, I also looked at from a different perspective. I was not there to exploit the situation of those residents of Mexico. It was cheaper for me to spread some of my money there than exploit the locals so much that they find it better to come across the U.S. border illegally and settle in our communities increasing, school and social service taxes. It's my personal foreign aid program and if more tourists did the same perhaps the illegal immigration problem in this country would start to diminish.

Time: Person of the Year.

Well imagine coming back to the United States after being away from keyboards, monitors and the mainstream media for a week to read this:

You were named Time magazine "Person of the Year" on Saturday for the explosive growth and influence of user-generated Internet content such as blogs, video-file sharing site YouTube and social network MySpace. -Reuters 12/17/06

BCP has been named Time magazine's Person of the Year! Well, me and millions of other bloggers anyway. I humbly accept this honor and pledge to continue speaking truth to power, holding the mainstream media to account and keep on with the struggle to make sure both parties in this country stop harming the middle class who have made a country like the United States great. Here is the money quote from Time:

"It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes," -Lev Grossman

However, this is no time to be uncorking the champagne as there are forces out there who want to take away the freedom and power we bloggers now enjoy on the net as Jonathan Rintels points out. So the struggle for freedom and the free flow of ideas continues as it has over the ages and it is a struggle that we all as individuals need to win. So I will take a few moments to bask in the glow of the Time Person of the Year honor, knowing full well that the work to keep freedom alive for the individual requires constant vigilance.

Pack my bags and don't be to slow!

That's the lyrics from the Steve Miller Band song GOING TO MEXICO. Which is where I'll be heading for the next week. Even though there are reports 1 of 7 Mexicans are here in the U.S. and many are here illegally. I'll be entering Mexico through the proper channels and will be spending my money in Mexico and not wiring it back to the U.S. I'll also do my best to speak Spanish as that is the language of the country and I will not demand that all the signs also be in english.

Another dumb Democrat.

From the Washington Post:

"Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) will announce on Wednesday a wide-ranging set of measures meant to better integrate immigrants, legal and illegal, into the state's economy, education system and workforce."

There's nothing like rewarding those that violate our laws to encourage respect for U.S. laws.

"Key points of the New Americans program include increasing the number of dual-language schools, English-as-a-second-language programs and bilingual staff members at state agencies, as well as providing job training for skilled and unskilled immigrants. The program is described as the first of its kind nationwide."

You can just feel those local school taxes rising! Though the good news is maybe other areas in the country can encourage the illegals in there local community to head to Illinois.

When Irish eyes are illegal.

There was a letter in the New York Times on Tuesday by Niall O’Dowd Chairman, Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform. O'Dowd's comments about the hardship of illegal Irish immigrants in this country is pathetic ploy to disregard the laws of our country and use sympathy as an argument for their illegal behavior: Here are the money quotes:

"he might have heard Mary,an undocumented immigrant from County Kerry, describe how after her brother’s death in a car accident in Ireland, she held a wake without a body in the Bronx because she could not return home."

The only person who stopped Mary from returning to Ireland is Mary herself. She could have left to attend her brothers wake but, she was more concerned about staying here illegally than attending her brothers wake.

Then there is the woeful tale of another illegal Irish immigrant:

"He might have heard Samantha relay her elderly parents’ heartbreak that their daughter cannot join them again in Dublin this Christmas because she is undocumented."

Again, No one is preventing her from leaving to spend Christmas with her parents. Even in the Christmas season I have no patience for any illegal immigrant or organization who try to use sympathy as an excuse for their illegal behavior and for violating U.S. immigration laws.

Swift action required!

It was good to see the raids by ICE officers starting to enforce United States laws regarding identity theft and immigration that resulted in the round up of several hundred illegal immigrants. Enforcement of our laws shows people that we are a nation of laws and that corruption will not be tolerated. But, it seems a tolerance of corruption is occurring at Swift Foods judging from the comments of it's CEO and President Sam Rovit. Who yesterday instead of praising the enforcement of U.S. law and the weeding out from his company's workforce law breakers. Instead CEO Rovit criticized the actions of our Federal law enforcement officers. Here is an example:

"Swift believes that today's actions by the government . . . raise serious questions as to the government's possible violation of individual workers' civil rights." -CEO Sam Rovit

What about the rights of those U.S. citizens who have had their identity stolen by employees your company hired Mr. Rovit? It seems Mr. Rovit would rather have employees who violate our laws working for him than have our government enforce our laws. If this is the attitude at the highest levels of the Swift Corporation consumers should consider it when buying Swift products in the supermarket and also send Mr. Rovit and Swift Foods a message. Here is the corporate contact information:

Swift & Company

1770 Promontory Circle

Greeley, CO 80634

Tel. 970.506.8000

emailus@Swiftbrands.com

Nueva Orleans

The New York Times had a front page article yesterday about the population boom in the New Orleans area caused by the influx of illegal immigrants in the area followig Katrinia. here are the money quotes:

"Because many immigrant mothers cannot afford to pay for prenatal care or delivery services, New Orleans’s newest citizens are adding an unexpected load to the decimated health infrastructure in a city abandoned by many of its doctors."

“The demographics of the health units used to be 85 percent African-American, who had Medicaid, and 15 percent other,” Dr. Work said. “When the clinics reopened, I started seeing the faces changing. Now 85 to 90 percent are Hispanic undocumented, and only 10 to 15 percent have Medicaid.”

The article discusses the problem but, like the politicians in Washington there is no discussion of what the actual costs to the community and taxpayers are. File this under Hola Suckers!

Oil: a burning issue?

Around 6 am on Friday morning I was on the New Jersey Turnpike returning from Long Island back to Washington. My attention was drawn to a cloud of black smoke and an orange glow in the sky that seemed to come from the Hess oil storage and refinery site. At first I thought one of the oil storage tanks must be on fire. Flames were shooting over the tree tops. But, as I passed the site I saw that the flame was rising from a big chimney. This flame was much larger than what I was use to seeing in normally refinery operations. It looked like someone was trying to burn off a large quantity of some type of oil or gasoline. I thought this curious. Why would an oil facility be doing that? With oil dropping down to $62 a barrel burning off too much fuel/oil would help to create a shortage and would then cause prices to rise. Ah, never mind.

Got Milk? Got Lobbyist?

The Washington Post has another excellent article in a series about how U.S. farm and food policies are costing U.S. taxpayers money. This time it is about how the dairy industry crushed an upstart dairy owner who was able to sell milk twenty cents cheaper until the big dairy producers along with some recently passed legislation tried to put a stop to his business. You just know Washington politicians and lobbyists are involved and U.S. taxpayers and consumers are the losers. Here are the money quotes:

"I had an awakening," the 64-year-old Dutch-born dairyman said. "It's not totally free enterprise in the United States."

"I still think this is a great country," "In Mexico, they would have just shot me."

Newsday: The paper that can't report straight!

Two more deaths by illegal immigration occured here on Long Island recently. Though, you would not know it by the reporting of Newsday the major Long Island daily newspaper. The story reported by Christine Aramario, Wil Cruz and Stacey Altherr all Newsday Staff Writers does not tell you that the person who killed the two people in a DWI accident was here illegally. You need to read between the lines:

"The crash came just two months after Torres-Paredes was stopped by a sheriff's deputy for driving without a license, speeding and following another vehicle too closely. During the Sept. 23 arrest, he also was charged with forgery and criminal impersonation, likely for driving with a fake license, officials said."

Gee, I wonder which group of people often have fake identification in the U.S.?

Then as if that was not enough to raise questions concerning the legal status of the driver by the Newsday reporters and their editors the following info should have:

"In 1996, Torres-Paredes was arrested and later convicted on assault charges. He was subsequently ordered to be deported the following year. There is no record, however, of his re-entry into the United States, prosecutors said."

Translation: He was here illegally!

When it comes to reporting on illegal immigration Newsday colors it's reporting and either ignores the crimes committed by illegal immigrants or hides the facts. The bias and contempt for the facts shown by Newsday's reporting when illegal immigrants are involved in crimes is one of the reasons why people no longer trust mainstream media outlets like Newsday to give them the news.

The Iraq Study Groups sings a new song but, will Bush sing along?

I've been reading about how the bipartisan Iraq Panel Proposes Major Strategy Shift in Iraq. I keep thinking about this song by Pete Seeger which though written in 1963 seems to speak to the situation in Iraq and the mindset of George W. Bush today.

The Sergeant said, "Sir, with all this equipment No man will be able to swim."
"Sergeant, don't be a Nervous Nellie,"The Captain said to him."
All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I'll lead on."
We were -- neck deep in the Big Muddy And the big fool said to push on.

All at once, the moon clouded over,We heard a gurgling cry.
A few seconds later, the captain's helmet
Was all that floated by.
The Sergeant said, "Turn around men!
I'm in charge from now on."
And we just made it out of the Big Muddy With the captain dead and gone.

We stripped and dived and found his body
Stuck in the old quicksand.
I guess he didn't know that the water was deeper
Than the place he'd once before been.
Another stream had joined the Big Muddy'Bout a half mile from where we'd gone.
We were lucky to escape from the Big Muddy When the big fool said to push on.

Well, I'm not going to point any moral;
I'll leave that for yourself
Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking
You'd like to keep your health.
But every time I read the papers That old feeling comes on;
We're -- waist deep in the Big Muddy And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep!
Neck deep!
Soon even a Tall man'll be over his head,
we're Waist deep in the Big Muddy!
And the big fool says to push on!

-lyrics by Pete Seeger

A Cheney bombshell but, a happy one.

From the ever thickening Hypocrisy file of the Bush administration comes this news from Reliable Sources at the Washington Post:

"Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter, is pregnant. She and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, are "ecstatic" about the baby, due in late spring, said a source close to the couple."

I have this image of Christian conservatives all over the country spiting up their coffee at the breakfast table as they read about this impregnation. I wonder if the White House will attempt to spin Mary Cheney pregnancy "as a miracle" in a vane attempt to try to hold on to as much of the Republican Christian base as possible. While gay couples having children is no big deal when it happens to members of an administration that uses gay bashing as a political tool they need to be exposed for their hypocrisy. Though on the other hand it might be God's hand working behind the scenes or Karma. Still, I'm sure it will shock many of the Christian base of Bush supporters. What crazy revelation will come out next? That Karl Rove had two daddy's? Ah...never mind.

Paper works!

I'm a sailor and go sailing all around Long Island Sound and the Northeast United States. I use electronic technology on board from autopilots to help steer the boat to electronic position indicators like LORAN and GPS. But, despite all these wonderful and handy electronic devices I still carry on board paper charts. Why? Because when these wonderful electronic systems fail. And they do fail! My paper charts keep on working. That's why I find it strange and suspicious that a Congressional appointed committee would reject the requirement to have a paper trail on electronic voting systems. The Washington Post has a story. Ronald Rivest, a computer science professor at MIT who heads a subcommittee on transparency and security understands the problem.

" Rivest told committee members that software errors in paperless machines could go undetected, leading to a situation in which "an election result is wrong and you have no evidence to show that it's wrong."

Then there is Committee member Brit Williams, a computer scientist who has conducted certification evaluations of Georgia's paperless electronic voting system, opposed the measure who said:

"You are talking about basically a reinstallation of the entire voting system hardware,"

No Mr. Williams we are talking about ensuring that the votes of the American people will be counted correctly. Just as I don't trust the electronics on board my sailboat I don't trust anyone who wants the American people to go into an electronic voting booth without a paper backup.

Are we being had by Hadley?

George (the decider) Bush's National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley was on MEET THE PRESS yesterday spinning the White House line which in this administration usually means lying to the American people. What caught my ear in the interview was this comment by Hadley:

"Tim, people forget that, that we had hoped to have 150,000 to 200,000 Iraqi army forces to help in the security proposition, and those forces melted away at the
close of the war."

While Bush and company hope that the American people forget how badly Bush and the Neocon artists screwed up things in Iraq. Hadley's attempt to revise history with the above comment shows how delusional the people in this administration are. Contrary to Hadley's spin the reality is the Iraqi Army forces did not "melt away" they were disbanded by our guy in Baghdad Paul Bremer. They were being paid by us until Bremer disbanded them. Hadley's comment shows that he and others in this administration are either delusional or lying to us... again!

Rumsfeld rues.

The Washington Post reports today:

Two days before he resigned from the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sent to the White House a classified memo recommending "a major adjustment" in Iraq strategy and acknowledging slow progress there. "Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough," Rumsfeld wrote in the Nov. 6 memo.

Rumsfeld's memo must have been classified as: DUH!

A present for the ACLU.

I've come across a grass roots movement to send a message to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The plan is to spend 39 cents and send a Christmas card to the ACLU because of their opposition to Nativity & Christmas displays on government property at christmas time. While I do agree with the ACLU in preventing such religious displays on government property. I am very opposed to the actions of the ACLU in fighting local governments actions to try and control the illegal immigration problem in local communities.
The ACLU has lost it's way. When they should be standing up for the American citizens and their rights. They seem to be spending all their time defending illegal immigrants who have broken our laws rather than the U.S. citizens whose tax money is being spent to subsidize the illegals. I'll be sending a letter to the ACLU wishing them a Merry Christmas and reminding them that their name is the American Civil Liberties Union not the the Alien Civil Liberties Union. You should too! Here is their address:

ACLU
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York , NY 10004

It is estimated that two tons of Christmas letters would freeze their operations because they wouldn't know if any were regular mail containing contributions. Maybe then they would realize that they should be helping the U.S. citizens like there name says rather than the illegal immigrants who have already shown they have no respect for the laws of the United States.

Another dumb Democrat.

Add Mississippi Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson to the dumb as George W.Bush list in regards to illegal immigration enforcement. The Washington Times reports that:

Rep. Bennie Thompson said in a letter to Cintas Corp. it could be charged with "illegal activities in violation of state and federal law" if any of its 32,000 employees are terminated because they gave incorrect Social Security numbers to be hired.

The real frighting thing is this dumb Mississippi Democrat is in line to become chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. Yet, here he is warning the nation's largest uniform supplier that it faces criminal charges if it tries to recheck workers with mismatched Social Security numbers and fire those who cannot resolve the discrepancy in 60 days. This should be part of Homeland Security enforcement. Requiring employers to verify that the workers they hire are not illegal immigrants and are in this country legally. This action by corporations should be encouraged not discouraged as Congressman Thompson is doing. If this is an example of how the Democrats are going enforce immigration laws they can't be booted out of office fast enough.