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Joe Black, the owner of the coffee shop "Geeks On Caffeine," has been asked by a television producer if he can film an episode of the addiction recovery program "Interventions" there. Nothing special...except for a divine guest on the show! NOTE: The author of this comic requests that you visit his web site and refrain from copying it within the thread. Thank you!

One problem with politicians is that when problems they create come to a head, they typically feel this irresistible urge to DO something, rather than to UN-do something, or to simply back off to avoid exacerbating the situation. Too often, that which they end up doing has very little connection to the cause of the crisis, but plays well in the press and superficially makes everyone feel better. Bills that are rushed through Congress under duress are never studied enough, providing too tempting an opportunity to quietly slip in unrelated provisions that erode freedoms in ways that would never pass...

Trying to fix problems that affect vast numbers of people has an intuitive appeal that politicians and policymakers find irresistible, but several warehouses of research studies show that intuition is often a poor guide to fixing systemic problems. While it seems like common sense to pump money into an economy that is pulling the bedcovers over its head, the problem with most social interventions is that they target not robots and machines but human beings -- who regularly respond to interventions in contrarian, paradoxical and unpredictable ways. "How well does government do in helping the market to improve what it...

With United States warships and air force planes at the ready, and over 1 million of Myanmar's citizens left bedraggled, homeless and susceptible to water-borne diseases by Cyclone Nagris, the natural disaster presents an opportunity in crisis for the US. A unilateral - and potentially United Nations-approved - US military intervention in the name of humanitarianism could easily turn the tide against the impoverished country's unpopular military leaders, and simultaneously rehabilitate the legacy of lame-duck US President George W Bush's controversial pre-emptive military policies. Myanmar's ruling junta has responded woefully to the cyclone disaster, costing more human lives than would...

Can Barack Obama, who campaigns as an icon of peace, actually be more bellicose than Bush? Yes, he can. President Obama would be a warmonger. He would be a wide-eyed, zealous interventionist who would not think twice about using America’s “military muscle” (his words) to overthrow “rogue states” and to suppress America’s enemies, real and imagined. He would go farther even than President Bush in transforming the globe into America’s backyard and staffing it with spies and soldiers. He would relish the “American mission” to police the world and topple tyrannical regimes. Iraq is the Obamabots’ favorite faultline in the...

PHOENIX (AP) — A woman who died in police custody during an airport layover was intoxicated on a potent mix of alcohol and antidepressants and accidentally strangled herself on her shackles, an autopsy released Friday concludes.

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday a negotiated settlement with Iran over its nuclear program should be sought, and he warned that military intervention would be "unwise and disastrous." Annan, who steps down as U.N. chief Dec. 31, issued the warning as the Security Council debated a resolution that would impose sanctions on Tehran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. The United States is considering sending a second aircraft carrier to Persian Gulf as a show of force against Iran. He addressed concerns about a possible military operation in Iran at a farewell news conference in response...

The North Korean regime is starving its own people and sending them to concentration camps, and no one gives a damn. Folks, I've just watched a recurrent documentary in the Discovery Times Channel (DTC) entitled Children of the Secret State. The DTC broadcasts this documentary regularly but this is the first time I was able to watch the whole thing. I found it disturbing. What's happening in North Korea is another Holocaust, where hundreds of thousands of peoples, often entire families, are left to die of hunger, mostly for imaginary political crimes. Those who resist are carted into concentration camps...

The Pope took a couple of days off to visit the mountains of Alaska for some sight-seeing. He was cruising along the campground in the Pope mobile when there was a frantic commotion just at the edge of the woods. A helpless Democrat, wearing sandals, shorts, a "Save the Whales" hat, and a "Bush Lied - People Died" T-shirt, was screaming while struggling frantically, thrashing around trying to free himself from the grasp of a 10 foot grizzly. As the Pope watched, horrified, a group of Republican loggers came racing up. One quickly fired a .44 magnum into the bear's...

BBAGHDAD--"How was Afghanistan?" asks an aide to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. "Dusty," I reply, pointing at my shoes, which show every evidence of having been in Kandahar hours earlier. "And remarkably stable," I add: The press corps following Donald Rumsfeld drove from Kabul airport to the U.S. Embassy compound with no significant security, a sharp contrast to the helicopter ride that prudence dictated we take into Baghdad's Green Zone. "We'd sure like to have that kind of situation," my interlocutor says. So why does he think the U.S. mission here has been so much harder? Maybe, he says, because the...

One look at you tells me all I need to know about you. I am so tired of liberals that think they are so brilliant. You are such a stupid jackass. You are so stupid you probably believe that the Bush administration orchestrated the attacks on 9/11. Every time you go on the internet, every time you make a bank transaction, or pay a bill, every time you try to email a congressman or senator they are getting so much information off of you. Of course it is all a conspiracy by the Bush administration. I have screwed around by...

The Committee of 100 survey that I have mentioned here in the past asked the question of the American general public and American opinion leaders - Should the US take a more active role in Cross Strait relations? Interestingly enough, the American general public and the American Opinion Leaders were about equal, with 44% saying the US should be more active. Just over half (52%) of the opinion leaders said, "no!", and just under half (47%) of the general public said, "no!" The majority opinion is for the US to mind its own business. One in ten persons in the...

A dear woman at our church, first in line to pray for everyone else, is suddenly ill. Please pray for Louanne Bartholomew, a fine Southern bell and prayer warrior. Her blood pressure spiked high for no apparent reason after church on Sunday. They have done a MRI, EKG and all sorts of alphabet soup tests, but have not found the cause yet. She's a dear and a praying woman, and we could not bear to lose her so soon. Please drop her in your prayers!

The Askariya Mosque Bombing- An Inside Job ? I have read some informal estimates –full of caveats – suggesting the bombing of the Askariya Mosque – said to be one of the holiest places in the Shi’ite Muslim world – may have been an “inside job” ; and that it may well have been carried out by pro-Iranian followers of a radical Iraqi Shi’ite: Muqtada al-Sadr. - The mosque, which is located in a predominantly Sunni area of Samarra,seems unlikely to have been accessible to anyone but known Shi’ites. - The explosive charges were probably laid in a walkway, about...

Page 221: "From 1965 to 1969, China's aid to Vietnam took three main forms: the dispatch of Chinese engineering troops for the construction and maintenance of defense works, airfields, roads, and railways in North Vietnam, the use of Chinese antiaircraft artillery troops for he defense of important strategic areas and targets in the northern part of North Vietnam; and the supply of large amounts of military equipment and other military and civilian materials." "On 17 April 1965, the North Vietnamese General Staff cabled the Chinese General Staff, requesting that Chinese engineering troops be sent, etc. Page 223: "Beginning in early...

To All the Kids Who Survived the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.Riding...

For too many years, the California Legislature has been treating the public treasury with about as much consideration as a shopaholic treats a Visa card with no credit limit. Like all addicts, state lawmakers protest that they can stop spending any time they want. Really. But it's clear they can't. Otherwise, their bad habits wouldn't have continued when state revenue was shrinking. And why should they? There were virtually no consequences to their irresponsible actions other than getting re-elected. Proposition 76, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Live Within Our Means" act, is the addiction intervention the state desperately needs before it bottoms...

On 11 occasions over the past nine months, the U.S. and allies cooperating in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) have successfully prevented the spread of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons or related items. At least two of those incidents involved Iran, two involved North Korea and another involved an unidentified third country, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed. Tuesday marked the second anniversary of the PSI, a project launched by President Bush during a 2003 visit to Krakow, Poland. With a focus on stopping and searching ships, planes, trains or trucks, the PSI aims to prevent terrorists and rogue states...

A new opinion poll by Zogby International indicates Americans are hardly pleased with the Bush administration on the subject of illegal immigration. The poll, cited on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" program yesterday, noted a huge majority – 81 percent – believes local and state police should help federal authorities enforce laws against illegal immigration. Only 14 percent disagreed. Voters were also asked, "Do you support or oppose the Bush administration's proposal to give millions of illegal aliens guest worker status and the opportunity to become citizens?" Only 35 percent gave their support, and 56 percent said no. "A majority opposed...

And the crabs are crazy, they scuttle back and forth, The sand is burning And the fish take flight and scatter from the sight, their courses turning As the seagulls rest on the cold cannon nest the sea is churning. The marines have landed on the shores of Santo Domingo.-- Phil Ochs (1965) The sages of the Torah say that one does not really understand an experience until after 40 years. That would make today opportune time for reviewing the April 28, 1965 airlift of 400 U.S. Marines into the riot-torn capital of the Dominican Republic. If the "before" era...

It may have already happened to you. A friend or family member invites you over for a drink and suddenly you find yourself surrounded by the uptightest of your loved ones, trapped in an emotional ambush, pinned down with accusations that you, yes you, dear drunkard, are a monstrously diseased person. A person with a problem so horrifically out of control they are forced, yes forced, to confront you and make you change. Now, there are those who secretly welcome interventions, either out of a selfish craving for attention or a repressed desire to stop drinking. If you are reading...

With a united Republican Legislature amassed behind him, Gov. Jeb Bush pledged Tuesday to make his last two years in office as focused on conservative change as his first six. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush delivers his State of the State address to members of the Florida Legislature on Tuesday in Tallahassee. AP Photo/Phil Coale "This is not a time for timid tweaks to the status quo. This is the time for bold, brave ideas in Florida that will shape our future and define us as dreamers, builders and problem solvers,"... Among Republicans, there appeared to be sentiment that Bush faces...

The sad case of Terri Schiavo has raised passions not seen since five years ago. Then another bitterly divided family argued in Florida courts over someone who couldn't speak on his own behalf: Elian Gonzalez. In both cases, those who were unhappy with the courts' decisions strained to assert the federal government's power to produce a different outcome. The difference is that in Mrs. Schiavo's case, Congress backed off after passing a bill that merely asked a federal court to hear the case from scratch, something that U.S. District Judge James Whittemore declined to do. By contrast, those who wanted...

By the time you read this, chances are that Terri Schiavo will be dead. In a land of plenty, where her parents are more than willing to feed her, where millions of thoughtful and concerned citizens have campaigned for her continued provision of sustenance, she is nonetheless condemned to wither away, literally, by a method that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment when applied to the worst of serial rapist-murderers: starvation. Private money and time has been volunteered to support her; Bob and Mary Schindler, Ms. Schiavo’s parents, have, in a blatant display of statist intrusion, been denied the...

/begin my translation China won't Intervene if U.S. Attacks N. Korea [Lee Un-do reporting from Washington D.C.] An official from Chinese Foreign Ministry disclosed on (Mar.) 23rd((U.S.) local time) that China will not intervene militarily (in N. Korea) even if the diplomatic efforts to resolve N. Korean nuclear problem fails and U.S. mounts military attacks on N. Korea. The official, who are knowledgeable on Sino-American affairs, told this reporter, "The mutual defense treaty between N. Korea and China, signed in 1961, is now subject to different interpretations, due to the passage of time." He went on to emphasize, "China won't...

It's your turn, Mr. President By David N. Bass © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com The battle to protect the life of Terri Schindler-Schiavo is down to the wire. Yesterday, Circuit Court Judge George Greer granted a request by Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to delay the removal of her feeding tube until mid-March. The three-week reprieve was heralded as an answer to prayer, especially given Greer's indifference toward Terri's life in the past. Lawyers for the Schindlers hope the circuit court judge will extend the stay indefinitely while they pursue further legal avenues. Even as the determination came down, pro-life individuals...

The Government of Cojedes state took over as proimised the British owned cattle ranch Hato El Charcote. The Goveror stil claims they are respecing private property, but "it is not absolute" whatever that means. You can read more about it here, here and here. The people at the bottom are not part of the intervention, they are the invaders of the ranch, who are protesting because the Government apparently is not going to give them the intervened land, but it will be handed over to 28 cooperatives of farmers.

The Governor of the State of Cojedes announced yesterday that on Saturday they will begin the “intervention” of the Hato El Charcote farm, owned by British company Vestey, under the decree issued by that Governor in mid-December. The concept of “intervention” does not exist in Venezuelan jurisprudence, so that it is unclear exactly what it means. According to the Governor: “The intervention will be performed with all of the machinery of the State to establish the first beachhead of the “Free land and Men Mission…With the aid of all of the Armed Forces and police forces and the authorities of...

TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar tumbled to eight-month lows against the euro and six-month troughs versus the yen on Monday as worries persisted about the outlook for the U.S. economy. The dollar also fell sharply to eight-year lows against the Swiss franc and two-month lows versus sterling, with traders citing a close upcoming U.S. presidential election as another reason to sell the currency. "People are talking about all kinds of things that are bad for the dollar," said Mitsuo Imaizumi, deputy general manager of forex and international bonds at Daiwa Securities SMBC. "We have the twin deficits, officials hinting a...

Many Shall Call Me Lord Self-deception and believing, then living a lie. There are no quick answers to complex questions, but the questions concerning, God’s Word or “Revealed Will,” are plain for every generation to see.  Whether they are men and women who name Christ as their Lord or not, people want to play all kinds of games with God and His Word in an attempt to excuse themselves from their anti-cultural and suicidal behaviors.  These lifestyle choices center on ethical decisions requiring wisdom for greater understanding of the difference between good and evil.  From a Christian perspective, this point...

However, the consequences of such a significant troop withdrawal have a couple of downsides, too, most of all for the Germans. One mostly overlooked but important side effect is the departure of the US troops themselves. With their visible presence of African-Americans and immigrants from Asia and Latin America, they enriched the German shopping malls and restaurants, representing a multi-ethnic society. If they are gone, German society will lose a bit of color, so to speak. This step will play into the hands of right wing xenophobes whose aim is to purify the German nation. Here, by accident, the goal...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

A Poker with Bill Gates (Account 990N : Sequel) The following are audio links to discussion on Account 990N. They are about 48 minutes long. In it, one of guests bring up an analogy that dealing with Account 990N is like playing a poker with Bill Gates with a billion dollar of betting money. Even if you have a royal flush and Bill Gates has nothing, Bill can raise the betting to a billion and you can't. Thus, you lose. Real Audio Link: A Poker with Bill Gates MP3 Link: A Poker with Bill Gates

990N by John Mackenzie June 17, 2004 Received this message from a member of my investment forum who is currently on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange: " Only have a minute but, write more later but... The entire S&P price action in the futures is being controlled by one counter party. All the guys frickin hate them: their CME clearing number is 990N and they clear through Gelber trading. That one account is solely responsible for the current level of the S&P. They are the ones that are throwing the S&P up overnight. Then they are the ones...

Madam Secretary: A Memoir, by Madeleine Albright with Bill Woodward, New York: Miramax Books, 562 pages The Bubble of American Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of American Power, by George Soros, New York: Public Affairs, 207 pages Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism, and the American Empire, by Wesley K. Clark, New York: Public Affairs, 218 pages Of all the historical precedents that paved the way for President George W. Bush’s war against Iraq, the most directly relevant was Bill Clinton’s 1999 bombing of the rump Yugoslavia. Like Gulf War II, the 78-day NATO air campaign in Kosovo was waged without the...

VOLUME 8    NUMBER 4    SPRING 2004 The Republican Road Not Taken: The Foreign-Policy Vision of Robert A. Taft By Michael T. Hayes Abstract: Republican congressional leader Robert A. Taft articulated a non-interventionist foreign-policy vision sharply at odds with the internationalism of Truman and Eisenhower. Although derided as ostrich-like, Taft was prescient on several points, such as the structural weakness of the United Nations and the propping up of repressive regimes that would result from U.S. interventionism.  Download Acrobat PDF format file of article First elected to the Senate in 1938, Robert A. Taft represented Ohio from 1939 until his death...

Memo to Editorial WritersMonday, March 22 @ 20:15:01 Secretary Paige sent this memo to editorial writers on March 11, 2004 To: Editorial Writers From: U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige Re: No Child Left Behind Implementation No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has been in the news a great deal in recent weeks. Our country has undertaken an important new course in terms of its commitment to educate every child, regardless of skin color, spoken accent or zip code. Educating close to 50 million children in a big, complex nation like the United States is bound to be a dynamic...

NEW YORK, March 15 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan is mulling ending its massive yen-selling interventions in the currency market by the end of March, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported from Tokyo in its early Tuesday edition. "Some central bank officials predict that it will walk away from large-scale interventions by the end of this month and that the upward pressure on the yen ... will abate beginning in April," the Nikkei reported. Many BOJ officials, as well as foreign central bankers, question Japan's strategy of intervening in the currency market to halt the appreciation of the yen, the...

Although the 2004 election is barely underway, Conservarives ought to be thinking about how we can redefine the Republican Party once it is over. Say what you will about Bush, McCain, Giuliani, etc., but the Republican Party is our best hope for keeping the nation alive. Thus, it is essential that Conservatives take active roles in helping to shape the Party, because it needs our help, badly. That said, if Conservatives are to do anything to help the nation, we must come to a consensus on historically dividing issues between Paleoconservatives and Neoconservatives. The purpose of this thread is to...

To Los Angeles businessman Jim Hake, winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi and Afghan people requires personal — not just governmental — intervention. That's why Hake founded Spirit of America, a nonprofit group that seeks donations to support grassroots efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan forged in the name of friendship. Hake said he was inspired to found the organization through televised reports about U.S. Special Forces soldiers in Orgun-e, a remote Afghan village about 20 miles from Pakistan. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jay Smith asked his wife to send baseball gloves and balls for the local children. Within...

Spaniards have raised $150,000 to pay for the Death Row appeal of Pablo Ibar, who was convicted of a 1994 triple murder in Miramar. When George W. Bush traveled oversees for his first major diplomatic mission two years ago, Spaniards held vigils in the streets for three men on Florida's Death Row. This year, Gov. Jeb Bush had a similar experience in Spain. The regional premier of Madrid interrupted an economics discussion to plead the case of one of those men, Pablo Ibar, convicted in a notorious 1994 triple murder in Miramar. As Ibar's case reaches the Florida Supreme Court...

Brandon Connor started out life dramatically. The 2-year-old was born with a tumor on his spine, two days after Sept. 11, 2001. The tumor, a vicious, aggressive cancer known as neuroblastoma, had nerves running through it. To surgically excise it would risk paralysis. To leave it would risk death. Dr. Bradley George points to the tumor on an earlier MRI of Brandon Connor at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. There was no sign of the tumor in an MRI on Monday.JOHN AMIS / Special Doctors told his parents, Kristin and Mike Connor of Peachtree Corners, to wait. Surgery...

Life support for Terri Schiavo was resumed yesterday in a Florida hospital room, but many experts said there is virtually no hope that she will ever recover, despite her parents' desperate hopes. "If it's over a year, she's not ever going to get up," said Fred Plum, a professor emeritus at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. "You just don't see it. It just doesn't happen." Schiavo, 39, has been in a persistent vegetative state since her heart stopped for unknown reasons in 1990. A feeding tube in her stomach was removed Oct. 15 after her husband, Michael, who...

Neocon 101 Some basic questions answered. What do neoconservatives believe? - "Neocons" believe that the United States should not be ashamed to use its unrivaled power – forcefully if necessary – to promote its values around the world. Some even speak of the need to cultivate a US empire. Neoconservatives believe modern threats facing the US can no longer be reliably contained and therefore must be prevented, sometimes through preemptive military action. - Today, both conservatives and neocons favor a robust US military. But most conservatives express greater reservations about military intervention and so-called nation building. Neocons share no...

Kosovo gunmen attack swimming teenagers 13/08/2003 - 15:21:35 Gunmen sprayed bullets on teenagers swimming in a Kosovo river today, killing at least one and injuring five others.“The gunfire was directed against children swimming, and all those hit were youths,” said Derek Chappell, a UN police spokesman in Kosovo. Chappell said. A Serb teenager died and four Serb teenagers and one ethnic Albanian girl were injured, some of them seriously, he added. He did not confirm a report by Belgrade television that said two children had died, one on the scene and one en route to a hospital. UN spokesman Andrea...

Unresolved dilemmas in the age of global intervention 06aug03 THE decline of national sovereignty as an absolute concept has triggered a new global debate over the terms and conditions that justify the right to intervene with military force. The coming decades will witness far more military interventions in the name of humanitarianism, security and saving failed states. The stories of Rwanda, Iraq, Solomon Islands and Kosovo illustrate this diverse trend. This will have a profound effect on Australia. Our multiple roles as a US ally, proficient peacekeeper, supporter of the UN and as the metropolitan power in a highly...

Two million people in Sudan, mostly Christians, have been killed over the last ten years. In Zimbabwe, 12 million people—or 70 percent of the population—live under conditions of famine created by the country’s dictator, Robert Mugabe. Over two million people have fled the country. Liberal newspapers, led by the New York Times, have called for U.S. military intervention in Liberia, an African nation of three million people. In the words of Morton Kondracke of Fox News, another supporter of intervention, "The case for U.S. involvement is that freed American slaves established Liberia." The campaign for intervention has been led by...

One of the problems for U.S. foreign policy is that its practitioners tend to be over-influenced by the last crisis and its outcome. Like generals fighting the last war, U.S. diplomats make mistakes by trying desperately to avoid the mistakes they made last time. Thus, the fiasco in Somalia — where the U.S. intervened from humanitarian motives, allowed "mission creep" to turn this limited exercise into nation-building, and then retreated in disorder when U.S. troops were killed in a major skirmish — led directly to President Clinton's refusal to intervene to halt the genocide in Rwanda a few years later....

Chretien calls for global intervention policyCTV.ca News Staff Prime Minister Jean Chretien hopes to start building a coalition of countries to decide when international action should be taken to prevent genocide and human rights abuses."We have to develop the process to be able to intervene when it's needed and intervene without creating the impression that you are intervening for your own personal interest," Chretien told reporters from London.Along with other international leaders and experts, the prime minister attended round-table talks in London over the weekend. He's scheduled to present a paper on global intervention at a gathering of 14...

No intervention in Liberia Posted: July 9, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Let me preface what I am about to say by explaining that I wholeheartedly supported America's intervention in Iraq. I believe it was important to liberate Iraq from the clutches of a barbaric dictator for several reasons: Iraq was a threat to the United States because of its consistent support of international Islamic terrorists, some of whom are believed to have been involved in the first attack on the World Trade Center, while others may have been linked to the attack on the Oklahoma City federal...