Destor on Ordering a Pizza Conservatively in Texas
Ramona: Hatred in a Lovely Church
Gallup: Obama 46, Romney 46
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Destor on Ordering a Pizza Conservatively in Texas Ramona: Hatred in a Lovely Church Gallup: Obama 46, Romney 46 |
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1. Honestly the most impressed I've ever been with Bush
2. You heard it here first: Obama's toast in Presidential dodgeball
3. "Mr. President I'd take a bullet for you...a shoe?...not so much"
4. "That really hurt! I'm gonna have a lump there, you idiot! Who
throws a shoe? Honestly! You fight like a woman!"
5. Take a whiff of the quickest draw in the Middle East
6. "No I didn't mean to do that - It's a nervous tick I swear:
7. 'Joe the Shoe-Throwing Reporter'
8. "I told you keeping a radar gun here was a bad idea"
9. "Mr. President, we're under attack by Bostonian"
10. "Haha, we got you. You've been IRAQ'D"
Bidding for these shoes starts on Ebay tomorrow
By Ismail Kahn, New York Times, May 23/24, 2012
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency pin down Osama bin Laden's location under cover of a vaccination drive was convicted on Wednesday of treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a senior official in Pakistan said.
A tribal court here in northwestern Pakistan found the doctor, Shakil Afridi, guilty of acting against the state, said Mutahir Zeb Khan, the administrator for the Khyber tribal region [....]
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2012
MOSCOW — Stiff new penalties aimed at opposition protesters were given preliminary approval Tuesday by Russian lawmakers loyal to President Vladimir Putin, the target of mass rallies and demonstrations before his March election victory.
The bill, which opposition parliament members termed draconian and protested by threatening to file out of a legislative session, calls for fines of up to $50,000 and up to 200 hours of community service for organizers of rallies and demonstrations that grow violent or exceed the approved number of participants.
The sanctions were approved on first reading by parliament's lower house, which is controlled by Putin's United Russia party. They mark a return by the Kremlin to a tough stance against critics after concessions during the recent election campaign [...]
Also see:
Russians back Putin, strong leadership
Washington Post, May 22, 2012
A Pew survey of 1,000 Russians found that President Vladimir Putin is well-liked by more than 70 percent of citizens, especially older adults.
Associated Press, May 21, 2012
HAVANA — It was all sunshine, smiles and celebratory speeches as officials marked the arrival of an undersea fiber-optic cable they promised would end Cuba's Internet isolation and boost web capacity 3,000-fold. Even a retired Fidel Castro had hailed the dawn of a new cyber-age on the island.
More than a year after the February 2011 ceremony on Siboney Beach in eastern Cuba, and 10 months after the system was supposed to have gone online, the government never mentions the cable anymore, and Internet here remains the slowest in the hemisphere. People talk quietly about embezzlement torpedoing the project and the arrest of more than a half-dozen senior telecom officials.
Perhaps most maddening, nobody has explained what happened to the much-ballyhooed $70 million project....
By Tamasin Ford in Monrovia, Guardian.co.uk, May 22, 2012
Husbands, not strangers or men with guns, are now the biggest threat to women in post-conflict west Africa, according to a report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) released on Tuesday.
The IRC report, Let Me Not Die Before My Time: Domestic Violence in West Africa, based on data collected over 10 years by the IRC in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast, said domestic violence is the "most urgent, pervasive and significant protection issue for women in west Africa" [.....]
By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press, May 22, 2012
WASHINGTON -- Uncle Sam may not want you after all.
In sharp contrast to the peak years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Army last year took in no recruits with misconduct convictions or drug or alcohol issues, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. And soldiers already serving on active duty now must meet tougher standards to stay on for further tours in uniform.
The Army is also spending hundreds of thousands of dollars less in bonuses to attract recruits or entice soldiers to remain.
It's all part of an effort to slash the size of the active duty Army from about 570,000 at the height of the Iraq war to 490,000 by 2017. The cutbacks began last year, and as of the end of March, the Army was down to less than 558,000 troops.
For a time during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army lowered its recruiting standards [....]
Agreed, but in their defense I don't think there is much honor is taking a shoe for the President
Oh, I'm not complaining. I wish his reflexes hadn't been fast enough to dodge them.
I really like the way he brushes aside the secret service agent who comes running up there. I have to admit, that was pretty cool. He was in control.
Is it just me, or is it really, really sad that Josh Marshall would comment: "I was genuinely impressed by the president's quick ducking response?"
Really, has this president lowered the bar that far? It's not like he hasn't had eight years to practise his ducking and dodging.
CNN featured favorable comments about how unfazed he was by the incident. At least that was counterbalanced by recognition that being shoed and called a dog is about as low as an individual can fall in Arab esteem.
I hope the reporter doesn't get Abu Ghraibed for this (after all, Bush wasn't even hit). But he may get off lightly; I'm sure lots of Iraqis now consider him a hero.
Shoe ducking should be incorporated into the Presidential vetting process. Perhaps instead of a town hall debate, random Americans could be selected to hurl shoes, fruit, pies, underwear, and recalled Chinese food products at the candidates. Obama would have served McCain for sure, but my money would have been on Palin in the VP ducking contest.
Rules: no sharp objects, excrement, babies, or body parts
I have to say, I thought the same thing, especially after the second viewing. All I could think was, "Damn, nice dodge."
After eight years, our standards have gotten awfully low.
Just to back up the last sentence in my comment above:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/world/middleeast/16shoe.html?ref=middleeast
Unbelievably, this craziness happened in Iraq -- surprising since I have a lot of friends who've waited a long time to see W. get the boot on American soil. I thought the Prime Minister was heroic in going for the block. Meanwhile, the Cy Young wannabe was later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo. Fascinating -- the hurler was a member of the media. Do you suppose Bush will give Al-Zeidi a nickname -- "Shoeless Muntadar" perhaps? Sorry, I couldn't resist.
I'm actually pulling for the hurler to have some tame deformity, only because I selfishly prefer the name: "Three-Fingered Zeidi." Still, it's safe to say the odds are pretty healthy that the Yankees end up throwing $20 million at him by the end of the week for middle-relief help.
I agree, Mort-dog. This clip has been the most impressed i've been with Bush as well. Seriously. I only wish the man had explored his shoe-dodging talents more thoroughly before deciding to become the worst president in U.S. history.
And nice Austin Powers reference.
You all can have your derisive laughs, but this event was far from harmless. I've just read that in the commotion, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was struck in the eye with a microphone. Her condition is reported to be "visibly distraught." My sympathies go out to her and her family, and I wish her a speedy recovery.
And to you heartless dagbloggers, remember: It's all fun and derision until the press secretary takes a microphone in the eye.
And then it's hilarious.....
When I see the words "visibly distraught" it conjures up an image of somebody cyring their eyes out, totally unhinged. I seriously doubt this was the case.
She was probably upset by getting hit in the eye and shaken by the security breach. I think we can imagine what would be a normal reaction to that. If the press secretary was a guy, I don't think the New York Times would have described him as "visibly distraught." It would have been "visibly shaken" or "visibly upset". The only one in the room who was likely "visibly distraught" was the guy who threw the shoe.
Judging by the video, he was certainly audibly distraught. Did you catch this snippet from the article?
No, I missed that quote. But it just further makes my point and irritates me.
G. W. Bush, greeted as a liberator.