Join Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity -- Bad Idea?

[alocke]

I agree w/Buds-- if you can join the honors frat, you get the same benefits with more resume prestige.

[cmhZa]

How do you triangulate among death, hypocrisy and stupidity? Not at all logically, which is why Hillary Clinton's dissembling on Iraq has become a fatal embarrassment not only for her but for anyone who hopes she can provide progressive leadership for the nation. If she has still not found the courage to reverse course on this disastrous war, why assume that as President she would behave any differently? It is unconscionable that those who can accurately measure the true cost of the Iraq folly in wasted lives and resources -- more than 2,500 Americans, tens of thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of billions of dollars -- dare prefer her to potential 2008 presidential election rivals John Kerry, Al Gore, Russ Feingold and John Edwards, who have all come to speak honestly of this quagmire and our need to extricate ourselves from it.

If your priority is to support an inspiring female candidate to break America's ultimate glass ceiling, why not draft Barbara Boxer? Not electable? Nonsense: The California senator trashed her conservative GOP opponent in a reelection campaign that shunned the failed strategy of Democratic hacks and instead emphasized principle over opportunism. She proved her political integrity again this past week by voting alongside Kerry and Feingold to set a date for getting out of Iraq. Not so Senator Clinton, who seems determined to revive the cold war liberalism that gave us the Vietnam War -- which, according to Robert McNamara, the brilliant Democratic war architect who later conceded he himself didn't believe in that enterprise, took more than 3 million lives.

"I do not think it is a smart strategy, either, for the President to continue with his open-ended commitment, which I think does not put enough pressure on the new Iraqi government," said Clinton last week at the "Take Back America" conference. "Nor do I think it is smart strategy to set a date certain. I do not agree that that is in the best interests." This is pure gibberish designed to sound reasonable. The Bush Administration has pressured the Iraqi government plenty, from trying to place its handpicked intelligence "assets" in power right after seizing Baghdad through the unseemly act of a sitting US President dropping into Iraq uninvited and unannounced -- a mockery of the claim that we have transferred sovereignty to the Iraqi people.

For more than three years, the United States has micro-managed everything from turning the American taxpayer-financed occupation into a grab fest for US corporate war profiteers to the failed training of the country's new security apparatus, now dominated by Shiite fanatics. Unfortunately for the great imperial Pax Americana scheme of building a pliable, secular government in Baghdad, a goal Clinton shares with the President, the Iraqi voters soundly rejected the candidates favored by the Pentagon and CIA. They chose instead the militant Shiites nurtured in the rogue nation of Iran, ever attendant to the twisted civics lessons of the ayatollahs on both sides of the border.

Predictably, the occupation by the US military of a troubled Muslim nation cobbled together by European colonialists and ruled for decades by a tyrant has unleashed religious and nationalist impulses, increased the popular appeal of extremist and terror groups and destabilized the region. More clumsy "pressure" will only lead to more violent blowback, something Clinton should have known when she voted for this unjustified war in 2002. Like Kerry, Clinton later pitifully explained that vote as a result of being "misled" by a President whom she shouldn't have trusted for a second. Kerry, however, seems to have finally rediscovered the concern he felt as a returning combat veteran, and is outraged that young Americans again are being sent to kill and be killed in a war that makes no sense, except for companies such as Halliburton and Bechtel.

Self-proclaimed "moderate" Democrats, who defend staying in Iraq, like to pretend they are the grown-ups in the argument. In reality, they are like children who have closed their ears to avoid hearing an uncomfortable truth: The longer we've stayed, the worse things have gotten, and that will continue to be the case. It is not the Iraqi government that needs to be pressured by Americans, but rather our own. Clinton needs to stop prattling on about getting the Iraqi government to do this or that wonderful thing before we can pull out. The country needs an honest debate about the lies that led to this war and the true costs of its continuance.

[cantina]

Bill and Hillary Clinton in their younger days

[kdXtv]

Katie Rees, Miss Nevada USA was stripped of her title Thursday after photos of her stripping her top popped all over the Internet. Some of the fine photos show Katie kissing other girls, exposing breasts, and simulating oral sex (!!!!!!!!!) with other hot girls (Donald suck this male private part!). She also shows off her tasty thong-wearin’ bootie.

Miss America Lauren Nelson and veteran fugitive-hunter John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted" recently teamed up with police in a New York City suburb to catch suspected online predators —"Dateline NBC"-style. Nelson, the brainy beauty from Oklahoma who promised during the recent national pageant to promote Internet safety, posed as a 14-year-old girl to help Suffolk County, N.Y., computer cops arrest a handful of men who showed up at a house teeming with police and a television crew. NBC's "To Catch A Predator" series with correspondent Chris Hansen has identified more than 200 suspects in similar fashion, but Walsh said there are so many online predators out there that the more people focusing on the problem, the better.

"Does it surprise you that you set this stuff up and these guys still come out?" TODAY's Al Roker asked Walsh during a live studio appearance with Nelson on Thursday. "It doesn't surprise me. I think the public should be surprised and young people should be surprised that anyone can show up," Walsh said. "Anyone from a 43-year-old man who works at a Mercedes dealership selling Mercedes to a 21-year-old guy that is coming to have sex with who they think, and they know through all of these chats back and forth, is a 14-year-old girl."

Miss America undercover

Nelson posed as a young girl in phone calls initiated after online chats in which suspects allegedly engaged in inappropriate conversation, sometimes exposing themselves via Web cams. The suspects rounded up in Suffolk County after showing up for a meeting with Nelson have pleaded not guilty to attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor.

One suspect's lawyer told TODAY that his client cannot form the mental intent necessary to commit the crime because of a psychiatric problem. By definition, Walsh said, online predators have something wrong with them, but that doesn't mean society has to give them a pass. "They've all got an excuse," he said. "I've been hunting these guys down for 20 years. I'm the father of a murdered child. Yeah, there's something wrong with them." Walsh became a victim's advocate after his 6-year-old son, Adam, was murdered in Florida in 1981. Walsh is a co-founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and he championed a new federal law that increases the penalties for people convicted of crimes against children.

'A very brave young lady'

Nelson said she hooked up with "America's Most Wanted" during her first week as Miss America, and the show proposed going after online predators. "They came up with a sting operation idea. I was a little apprehensive, and nervous," she said. "Definitely I was very nervous, but it was a controlled situation .... It was very safe."

For Walsh, the key to the sting's success was having Nelson actually speak to the suspects on the telephone to trick them into believing that the meetings they hoped to arrange were with a 14-year-old girl and not a police trap. When the men showed up, they were dressed down by Walsh, as police officers slapped handcuffs on them. "Lauren was the dealmaker in this," Walsh said, referring to the capture of one suspect police were calling "The Phantom" because he was so careful in the past about whom he would meet and where. "She talked to him on the phone ... She's a very brave young lady. He wanted to hear a voice," Nelson said. "He wanted to know that it was an actual girl he was going to see, a 14-year-old girl."

[law shop]

It is unconscionable that those who can accurately measure the true cost of the Iraq folly in wasted lives and resources -- more than 2,500 Americans, tens of thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of billions of dollars -- dare prefer her to potential 2008 presidential election rivals John Kerry, Al Gore [...]

Al Gore's hopes are even fainter after this,



Al Gore III, 24, Pulled Over Driving 100 MPH With Marijuana and Prescription Drugs in Car, Say Police

By MARCUS BARAM
July 4, 2007

For the second time in four years, former Vice President Al Gore's son has been arrested on charges of possessing marijuana in his car. Al Gore III, 24, was driving a blue Toyota Prius on the San Diego Freeway at about 100 mph at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday morning when a sheriff's deputy stopped him at the Crown Valley Parkway exit, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The deputy smelled marijuana, a quantity of which he found in the vehicle, while also discovering two prescription bottles containing Valium, Vicodin, Xanax, and Adderall.

"He was cooperative and admitted to smoking marijuana very recently," Amormino told ABCNEWS.com. "None of those drugs in his possession did he have a prescription for," said the spokesman, adding that one of the bottles had no writing on it and one had partial writing on it in someone else's name. The former vice president's son, an associate publisher at Good magazine, was taken into custody and booked into the Santa Ana Inmate Reception Center on narcotics possession charges. Bail has been set at $20,000. The sheriff's department was not sure if Gore's father or mother had contacted their son. Al Gore was traveling back from Europe today, and was not available for comment. "He's still being booked," said Amormino. The Prius, an environmentally-friendly hybrid car championed by his father, was impounded.

The young Gore has a history of driving violations. In December 2003, Gore III was arrested on a marijuana possession charge after police in Montgomery County, Md., stopped the Cadillac he was driving for not having its headlights on. Officers found a partial marijuana cigarette and a baggie containing suspected marijuana, according to police. Gore and two male passengers were arrested and Gore later entered a substance-abuse program that included 12 weeks of urine testing, community service and substance-abuse counseling. He was also ticketed for reckless driving by North Carolina police in August 2000 when he was clocked going 94 mph, and military police arrested him for drunken driving near a military base in Virginia in September 2002.

[elf]

The deputy smelled marijuana, a quantity of which he found in the vehicle, while also discovering two prescription bottles containing Valium, Vicodin, Xanax, and Adderall. "He was cooperative and admitted to smoking marijuana very recently," Amormino told ABCNEWS.com. "None of those drugs in his possession did he have a prescription for," said the spokesman, adding that one of the bottles had no writing on it and one had partial writing on it in someone else's name. The former vice president's son, an associate publisher at Good magazine, was taken into custody and booked into the Santa Ana Inmate Reception Center on narcotics possession charges. Bail has been set at $20,000. The sheriff's department was not sure if Gore's father or mother had contacted their son. Al Gore was traveling back from Europe today, and was not available for comment. "He's still being booked," said Amormino. The Prius, an environmentally-friendly hybrid car championed by his father, was impounded.

My @ # ! * i n g God, how it is possible they can charge you with a felony (judging from the bail amount I am assuming they're charging him with a felony) for possessing marijuana, Vicodin and Adderall?! @ # ! * the American hypocrisy!

[Vera]

[...]

O Donnell impersonated Trump by deepening her voice and flipping her hair to one side. After repeatedly saying she did not enjoy him, Rosie discussed Trump s finances – saying he went bankrupt, which Trump denies – and likened him to the snake-oil salesman on Little House On The Prairie. This is not a self-made man, ODonnell said. And while ODonnell and her View co-hosts discussed her alleged drug and alcohol abuse, Rosie was dismissive, saying, She went out and she was partying – doing what Paris and Lindsay do.

The best of the best on her part was when she emceed the Matrix Awards in front of 2,000 feting New York women at the Waldorf-Astoria Grand Ballroom. Rosie dropped the bomb as Barbara Walters lowered her head on the dais and covered her face with her hand. ODonnell concluded about Donald Trump by grabbing her crotch and shouting, EAT ME!

[6flags]

Al Gore's hopes are even fainter after this,

Al Gore III, 24, Pulled Over Driving 100 MPH With Marijuana and Prescription Drugs in Car, Say Police

By MARCUS BARAM
July 4, 2007

For the second time in four years, former Vice President Al Gore's son has been arrested on charges of possessing marijuana in his car. Al Gore III, 24, was driving a blue Toyota Prius on the San Diego Freeway at about 100 mph at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday morning when a sheriff's deputy stopped him at the Crown Valley Parkway exit, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The deputy smelled marijuana, a quantity of which he found in the vehicle, while also discovering two prescription bottles containing Valium, Vicodin, Xanax, and Adderall.

"He was cooperative and admitted to smoking marijuana very recently," Amormino told ABCNEWS.com. "None of those drugs in his possession did he have a prescription for," said the spokesman, adding that one of the bottles had no writing on it and one had partial writing on it in someone else's name. The former vice president's son, an associate publisher at Good magazine, was taken into custody and booked into the Santa Ana Inmate Reception Center on narcotics possession charges. Bail has been set at $20,000. The sheriff's department was not sure if Gore's father or mother had contacted their son. Al Gore was traveling back from Europe today, and was not available for comment. "He's still being booked," said Amormino. The Prius, an environmentally-friendly hybrid car championed by his father, was impounded.

The young Gore has a history of driving violations. In December 2003, Gore III was arrested on a marijuana possession charge after police in Montgomery County, Md., stopped the Cadillac he was driving for not having its headlights on. Officers found a partial marijuana cigarette and a baggie containing suspected marijuana, according to police. Gore and two male passengers were arrested and Gore later entered a substance-abuse program that included 12 weeks of urine testing, community service and substance-abuse counseling. He was also ticketed for reckless driving by North Carolina police in August 2000 when he was clocked going 94 mph, and military police arrested him for drunken driving near a military base in Virginia in September 2002.

It's no secret the Clinton Administration kicked the "Global War On Drugs" up to ten. And as karma would have it, the son of the former President’s right hand man has been busted yet again for possession of pot while operating a hybrid car...

Whose fault is this again, y'all? Repeat it after me — Daddy's and "Daddy's' boss.

Sonny boy gets busted with a "small amount" of pot and now he gets to face the music because of the unwinnable, hugely expensive and unconstitutional "War On Drugs" that good ole' "Daddy" and his boss waged upon the U.S. taxpayers' checkbooks (the "bad guys") for decades with ZERO return on the so-called "investment."

Global warming is a serious reality, and great "kudos" go out to "Daddy" for his heartfelt and dedicated, award winning work in this arena, but then again, "Dear Ole' Dad" isn't quite perfect either, is he? "Draft Gore In '08" supporters shouldn't forget this simple fact so easily either, by the way. After all, the terse results of Mr. Gore's dedication to turning potheads into criminals has found their way to "Dear Ole' Dad's" doorstep. And results such as these are GUARANTEED... ALWAYS.

Again, it's called "karma," and it's very REAL...

[Victoria Principal]

Al Gore himself has long admitted that he smoked pot, both during his stint in Vietnam and for a *brief while* after his return. He claims that it was only a few times. Here again he seems to be lying. Former drug buddies of Gore have come forward to say that he was a heavy smoker, right up until his first run for Congress in 1976. In college, Gore was said to be hanging out in the basement of his dorm, getting high and watching TV most of the time. After his return from Vietnam, friends such as John Warnecke say that got high with Gore as often as 3 or 4 times a week, listening to Grateful Dead albums and talking about what they would do if they were presidents. Al Gore stoned was a mix of expansiveness, melancholy and paranoia, Warnecke said.

[john jacob]

I'd wager that Hillary Clinton was too cautious to ever have lesbian contact. Seriously. Although, does anyone remember a few years back when Hillary was writing her memoir and people were talking about how she'd chronicle on her fooling around in the WH? So she wouldn't look like a complete cuckold to Bill