WOODWARD SAYS IMPROVEMENT IN IRAQ NOT BECAUSE OF THE SURGE, BUT CLOSE TO AS BILL MAHER DESCRIBED IT - DUE TO "EXPLODING GIFT BASKETS"

AND...

USA NATIONAL DEBT CEILING RAISED TO $10.615 TRILLION

WON'T BE NUMBER 1 MUCH LONGER IF THIS ISN'T ADDRESSED

Sarah Palin criticized Barack Obama for not using the word VICTORY about the Iraq war at the VP "debate". In the discussion below, "victory" in Iraq is deemed irrelevant when we have a national economic "slow down" such as the one where hundreds of billions of dollars are going to corporate businesses to bail out Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class.

The panel discussion of October 3rd of Real Time is below in the four Youtube videos. The panel consists of Bill Maher, Alec Baldwin, Christiane Amanpour and Garry Shandling. Garry Shandley is funny, but makes one of the best points by anyone on the panel. Bill Maher adds to his point. The panel discussions don't always get my interest as much as this one did.

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Part One
Bill Maher, Alec Baldwin, Christiane Amanpour and Garry Shandling
Joe Biden Watching Sarah Palin: "Like Johnny Carson With Charo" Bill Maher
9:58

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Part Two
The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations | Maher/Baldwin/Amanpour/Shandling
10:01

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Part Three
The 800 Billion Dollar Week
10:01
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Part Four
In Case You Forgot About Iraq - We'll Always Have O.J.
3:30

All of the above videos were uploaded by TULLYCAST2

Video: Author Bob Woodward talks with Bill Maher: Bush is disengaged with Iraq war, improvement in Iraq not because of the surge, but instead due to "highly classified techniques and operations" ~ "exploding gift baskets", Iraq strategy is "They're Assholes" said GW Bush ~ October 3rd, 2008
on Real Time with Bill Maher

The War Within by Bob Woodward

To view the other parts of the show go to a previous post of mine:
Bill Maher and John McCain

September 29, 2008, 12:20 PM

Bush Administration Adds $4 Trillion To National Debt

By Mark Knoller

Source: www.cbsnews.com

Mark Knoller is a White House Correspondent for CBS News.

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(AP)

With no fanfare and little notice, the national debt has grown by more than $4 trillion during George W. Bush’s presidency.

It’s the biggest increase under any president in U.S history.

On the day President Bush took office, the national debt stood at $5.727 trillion. The latest number from the Treasury Department shows the national debt now stands at more than $9.849 trillion. That’s a 71.9 percent increase on Mr. Bush’s watch.

The bailout plan now pending in Congress could add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt – though President Bush said this morning he expects that over time, “much if not all” of the bailout money “will be paid back.”

But the government is taking no chances. Buried deep in the hundred pages of bailout legislation is a provision that would raise the statutory ceiling on the national debt to $11.315 trillion. It’ll be the 7th time the debt limit has been raised during this administration. In fact it was just two months ago, on July 30, that President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, which contained a provision raising the debt ceiling to $10.615 trillion.

Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto declined an invitation to comment on the enormous jump in the national debt during Mr. Bush’s presidency. He referred me to OMB – the Office of Management and Budget, which tried to make the case that as a percentage of the economy, the national debt is not that big.

In its budget documents in February, OMB estimated that next year’s national debt would hit $10.4 trillion – which it said would amount to 69.3 percent of the gross domestic product – the standard measure of the size of the economy.

That’s high – but far from an all-time high. After World War II, the national debt soared to over $270 billion – a quaint figure by today’s standards. Numerically, it’s less than the amount of federal deficit we now run up in a single year. But back in 1946, the Debt amounted to 121.7 percent of the size of the total economy.

By the time Richard Nixon began his second term in 1973, the national debt had grown to $466 billion – though as percentage of GDP, it had fallen to 35.7 percent.

Today, OMB press secretary Corinne Hirsch, renewed the oft-made government argument that reporters should focus on just that part of the national debt that is held by the public – now about $5.6 trillion and not include that portion billed as “intra-governmental holdings” – money the government owes itself – especially the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

Of course, the government doesn’t have that money either. It’s been spent.

President Bush made that point himself on April 5, 2005, when he paid a visit to the offices of the Bureau of the Public Debt in Parkersburg, W.Va.

He was shown a white file cabinet with keypad locks on each of its four drawers in which the Social Security Trust Fund is stored. On that day, there was no cash – as he noted in a speech later in the day.

“There is no 'trust fund,' just IOUs that I saw firsthand, that future generations will pay – will pay for either in higher taxes, or reduced benefits, or cuts to other critical government programs,” he told an audience at West Virginia University.

The government didn’t have the money it owed itself back then – and still doesn’t.

A couple of weeks after he took office, President Bush addressed the Republican Congressional Retreat in Williamsburg and declared that his budget “pays down the national debt.”

In recent years, President Bush almost never mentions the national debt.

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According to this website:

USA Government Debt

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 06 Oct 2008 at 12:42:25 AM GMT is:
$10,158,349,260,310.53

The estimated population of the United States is 304,855,041
so each citizen's share of this debt is $33,321.90.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$3.08 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House!

OBAMA - BIDEN 2008



"...That's what I was just going to say. This President's pretty much a victim of success. We haven't had an attack in five years. Hell, the perception of the threat is so low in this society that it's not surprising that the behavior pattern reflects a low threat assessment. The same thing's in Europe, there's a low threat perception.

"THIS PRESIDENT IS PRETTY MUCH A VICTIM OF SUCCESS....THE CORRECTION FOR THAT I SUPPOSE IS AN ATTACK AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS UH THEM EVERYBODY GETS ENERGIZED... " DONALD RUMSFELD
See this youtube video to hear Rumsfeld say the quote above.

IF YOU CAN DREAM AND NOT MAKE DREAMS YOUR MASTER...IF YOU CAN BEAR TO HEAR THE TRUTH YOU'VE SPOKEN, IF YOU CAN WALK WITH CROWDS AND KEEP YOUR VIRTUE..

...YOURS IS THE EARTH AND EVERYTHING THAT'S IN IT...
Rudyard Kipling's total If poem is below

This is my If poem:

If
Two letters that hold the substance in it of what can be

If ballots are given to all who have registered to vote
If shady blocking of voters from voting don't upset justice
If every vote is counted
If every entitled voter votes
If only we demand that truth not be surrendered to
apathy and
what we believe
to be out of our control
If we find ourselves ready to stand and not let our government govern us senseless

If we become the people we thought we were
IF we stop accepting torture for the way the US deals with torture
If we decide that we can only have national security
IF we bring back justice as our compass

IF enough of us show up and take back our country
from the jaws of
a government that would rather we don't want to know
what they have done,
the depths that we've fallen

Take back our country
from the jaws of an administration that has made laws
to assure them of impunity
exempt from our wrath

If we only could be men and women of subtance
and not the idiots who fill heads with entertainment instead of news and history

If we only could find the path we're on is leading us to a bridge too far
from where we would never dream to be.

Above is written by Sandra Hammel
Any copying of this poem must be credited to Sandra Hammel, Human Rights Activist


Here are some of the explanations for the Fall of Rome:

• Decay
  
• Financial Problems
  
• The Dole and Barbarians
  
• Economic, Military, Gradual
  
• Christianity
  
• Vandals and Religious Controversy
  
• Division of the Empire
  
• Lead
  
• Hoarding and Deficit

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Source: www.swarthmore.edu

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Tina Fey, Jason Sudeikis and Queen Latifa as Governor Sarah Palin, Senator Joe Biden and Gwen Ifill in VP Debate skit
"Washington University
St. Louis, Missouri"
Transcript of the SNL October 4, 2008 VP Debate Skit

My next post will include a great discussion with Bill Maher, Garry Shandling, Christiane Amanpour from October 3, 2008 Real Time show on HBO.

OBAMA - BIDEN 2008
Help Out

This is from www.barackobama.com:

We're right in the middle of a very narrow voting window that could make the difference in this election. And we have to act fast.

Ohio voters have until this Monday, October 6th, to register and vote early... all in one step. This is an extraordinary opportunity to get the votes we need to win Ohio.

And since Ohio is a key battleground state -- and played a pivotal role in the last presidential contest -- winning in Ohio could help us secure a national victory.

So what can you do to help Barack win in Ohio? You can help us Get Out The Vote -- and tip the balance in this election -- right from your own living room.

Get a list of potential Ohio supporters and their phone numbers right now. Give them a call and make sure they vote early for Barack.