September 1, 2013

Margaret Thatcher entered the House of Commons as result of a well-meaning act of "electoral fraud"

… When, after several unsuccessful attempts elsewhere, she presented herself as a potential parliamentary candidate before Conservative Party members in Finchley in 1958, she expected “that the usual prejudice against women will prevail and that I shall probably come the inevitable ‘close second.’?” When she was selected to stand for the seat, the outgoing member of Parliament, Sir John Crowder, was reported as complaining that the Conservative Central Office had “[imposed] a choice on the constituency between ‘a bloody Jew and a bloody woman.’” But it was in Finchley that Thatcher benefited from the smile of fortune that would accompany several formative moments in her career. Appearing alone, since Denis (whom she had married in December 1951) was in Africa on business, the thirty-two-year-old Thatcher cut a striking figure. Speaking with force and confidence, she impressed the local party chairman so much that he misreported the final vote on her candidacy. “She didn’t actually win,” he told his son on the night. “The man did, but I thought, ‘He’s got a silver spoon in his mouth. He’ll get another seat.’ So I ‘lost’ two of the votes and gave them to her.” Unknowingly, Thatcher entered the House of Commons as the result of a well-meaning act of electoral fraud….

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114223/margaret-thatcher-reviewed-john-gray

September 1, 2013

sometimes, when I am feeling low about elections & my vote, I watch this:

&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DTCm9788Tb5g&nomobile=1

and feel, just a little, wee bit better

peace,
and a little smile TODAY
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57600898/obamas-request-for-congressional-approval-on-a-syria-strike-marks-retreat-syrian-state-media-says/
kpete

September 1, 2013

did someone say something about Doves?

September 1, 2013

well, this explains SO much...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/time-spent-on-porn-america_n_3832321.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

September 1, 2013

Why isn't this in our standard history books?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151575755165658&set=a.10150523921480658.372668.270212045657&type=1&theater

September 1, 2013

and we wonder why we are confused about Syria.....?

Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani:

"The people have been the target of a chemical attack by their own government and now they must also wait for an attack by foreigners."

http://www.reuters.com/...

The Iranian news agency that reported this, later changed his quote.

The second version by the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency reported him as saying on Sunday:

"On the one hand the people of Syria are the target of a chemical attack, and now they must wait for an attack by foreigners."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/01/syria-crisis-iran-rafsanjani-idUSL6N0GX0H120130901?feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssEnergyNews&rpc=43


so where is the truth
please......
???

kp

September 1, 2013

Some In Congress Start To Whine About Being Put On The Spot

TOUGH!!!

Your seat in Congress comes with special responsibilities.
Now go justify your $174k paycheck and make a tough call.

more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/31/member-of-congress-berates-obama-for-consulting-congress-on-syria/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/01/1235327/-Some-In-Congress-Start-To-Whine-About-Being-Put-On-The-Spot

September 1, 2013

The Precedent Has Been Challenged-A Great Move That Throws Hammer Into Gears Of Imperial-Presidency

But this is a great move that really throws a hammer into the gears of the Imperial Presidency.

We've lobbed cruise missiles into lots of countries since Reagan started it by bombing Libya back in 1986. No congressional approval. Clinton lobbed cruise missiles into Baghdad three times (to retaliate for the assassination attempt on Bush the Larger in 93, to defend our no-fly zones in 96, and to punish Saddam for not complying with chemical weapons inspections in 98). He also lobbed 'em into Sudan and Afghanistan in 98, and into Bosnia and Kosovo, and sent troops into Somalia and Haiti.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/crash-course-a-guide-to-30-years-of-us-military-strikes-against-other-nations.php?ref=fpb

And that's just Clinton. All the presidents have done it. All without Congressional approval.

Now that precedent has been challenged. Great politics for Obama in the moment, but even better for the future.

via:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/9/1/1368/27638

September 1, 2013

Bush's Poodle Has Been Called Many Things But Now-The Most Damning Judgement Of All-"HE IS THE PAST"

Syria vote: a corner has been turned on the road to peace
It is now clear, as indeed it was in 2003, that most people have no wish to embroil Britain militarily in the Middle East



Thursday's vote by MPs to bar the way to British involvement in a war against Syria is a vindication of the mass anti-war movement in this country over the last decade. Parliamentarians of all parties claimed that they had "learned the lessons of Iraq". Better late than never, of course. But the millions who protested against the Bush-Blair aggression in 2003 understood the lessons at the time. After hundreds of thousands of dead in the intervening years, their message has reached the green benches: there is hardly a problem in the Middle East (or elsewhere) that Anglo-US military intervention cannot make worse.

This is the case in Syria, too, where the crying need is not for more bombing by anybody, but for a concerted drive for a Syrian-based political solution. The starting points have to include the west abandoning its cynical policy of basically prolonging a civil war which it wants neither side to win.

The seeds of Cameron's defeat were sown in February 2003, when about 2 million people marched against the Iraq war, only to have Tony Blair ignore them. That democratic outrage has hung over British politics as a cloud ever since and has, along with MPs expenses and the failures of neoliberalism but more serious than either, condemned politicians to the pillory of public disdain.

************

Blair himself cuts a bizarre figure – the "Middle East peace envoy" who urges war in the region on every conceivable occasion, as he bobs around the Mediterranean on an oligarch's yacht. He has been called many things, but today at last we can deliver the most damning judgment of all. He is the past.




More:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/31/syria-vote-corner-turned

September 1, 2013

Oh Snap…! The Syrian Opposition Vows to Join Ranks with Assad if US Attacks Syria

Oh Snap…! The Syrian Opposition Vows to Join Ranks with Assad if US Attacks Syria



MORE:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=368_1377994715