snizz
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I'm sure I'd be more upset if I weren't quite so heavily sedated
Posts: 322
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Post by snizz on Jul 30, 2004 23:59:44 GMT -5
Let Poor Eat Prozac - GOP Aide Helen Kennedy
BOSTON - A campaign worker for President Bush said yesterday that workers unhappy with low-quality jobs should find new ones - or pop a Prozac to make themselves feel better. "Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy - or go on Prozac?" said Susan Sheybani, an assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt.
The comment apparently was directed to a colleague who transferred a phone call from a reporter asking about job quality. When told the Prozac comment had been overheard, Sheybani said: "Oh. I was just kidding."
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snizz
Full Member
I'm sure I'd be more upset if I weren't quite so heavily sedated
Posts: 322
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Post by snizz on Jul 31, 2004 0:02:26 GMT -5
Ridge Tells Colleagues He May Retire By TED BRIDIS
WASHINGTON (AP) - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is considering stepping down after the November election, telling colleagues he is worn out from the massive reorganization of government and needs to earn money in the private sector to put his teenage children through college, officials said.
Ridge will not make a final decision until he talks to President Bush later this year and is focused on thwarting the terror attacks that officials fear al-Qaida will attempt before November, Assistant Homeland Secretary Susan Neely said.
"Secretary Ridge is focused entirely on the job the president has asked him to do,'' Neely said Wednesday.
Several senior Homeland Security officials told The Associated Press that Ridge has indicated in recent weeks he probably will resign after the election, even if Bush wins. They spoke only on condition of anonymity, citing the delicate nature of describing private conversations with their boss.
Ridge, 58, has explained to colleagues that he needs to earn money to comfortably put his two children, Tommy Jr. and Lesley, through college, officials said. Both are now teenagers. Ridge earns $175,700 a year as a Cabinet secretary.
The former Pennsylvania governor, who agreed to serve as the department's inaugural secretary, also has expressed to colleagues frustration over the continuing challenges of reorganizing the 22 disparate agencies that formed the Homeland Security Department, officials said.
One senior official said Ridge has cautioned that his plans, while leaning toward resignation, could be changed by coming events, such as another terror attack or a discussion with the president.
On a plane flight from Boston this month after viewing security preparations for the Democratic National Convention, Ridge addressed his future carefully. "The job is going great - personally,'' he said. "When the president is re-elected, he'll have conversations to determine what he wants and what his Cabinet members want.''
When asked if he was worn out, Ridge said: "I am not authorized to be stressed.''
Congress and the independent commission that investigated the 2001 terror attacks have criticized elements of the fight against terror - from intelligence cooperation and the color-coded warning system to the delayed deployment of a more advanced airline screening system for passengers.
Ridge has personally faced criticism over frequent but vague public warnings about possible terrorist activity, and he was widely ridiculed last year for urging homeowners to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal themselves inside during a chemical or biological attack.
Republicans are quick to note that the administration also has not suffered another terror attack on U.S. soil in the three years since Sept. 11, 2001, while undertaking the largest reorganization of government in a half century.
Ridge has spent decades in public service and has relatively little savings from his lengthy career in government. When Ridge left Pennsylvania as governor, where he served from 1995 to 2001, he was earning $138,316 each year.
Ridge owns an $873,000 home in Bethesda, Md., with his wife, Michele, which they bought last year with a $784,800 mortgage, according to property and banking records. Ridge's most recent financial disclosure reports, filed in early 2003, showed that he owned between $122,000 and $787,000 in stocks and funds, including modest ownership in The Walt Disney Co., General Electric, Nike, Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
By contrast, government officials at Ridge's level can easily earn millions of dollars each year in the private sector.
The Homeland Security Department, formed in March 2003, is composed of organizations from agencies that included the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Customs Service, Coast Guard, Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration. It has a budget of $36.2 billion and more than 180,000 employees.
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Roland
Full Member
Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues
Posts: 235
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Post by Roland on Aug 1, 2004 23:11:12 GMT -5
I suppose now we know why we can't get affordable drugs. It sounds like the pharmaceutical companies are supplying them gratis to the Bushies.
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 1, 2004 23:46:09 GMT -5
I'm paying this guy almost $176,000 a year and he needs to earn more money so he can put his kids through college? My heart bleeds! What about the rest of us in the real world who have to do it on a third or less of what he's making? He's got to be kidding! If he can't make ends meet on that salary, maybe he should live within his means and pass on the $873,000 house or liquidate some of his hundreds of thousands worth of stocks. Snizz, c'mon, this is Washington speak for "I can't stand to work for these people anymore." If he was still governor of Pennsylvania do you really think he'd not run for reelection because of this? I think not. His true reason for leaving, anybody's guess.
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Post by Mr._Shooter on Aug 2, 2004 21:51:08 GMT -5
Let Poor Eat Prozac - GOP AideHelen Kennedy BOSTON - A campaign worker for President Bush said yesterday that workers unhappy with low-quality jobs should find new ones - or pop a Prozac to make themselves feel better. "Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy - or go on Prozac?" said Susan Sheybani, an assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt. The comment apparently was directed to a colleague who transferred a phone call from a reporter asking about job quality. When told the Prozac comment had been overheard, Sheybani said: "Oh. I was just kidding." I like this logic. Since we're unhappy with our president, we'll just go and elect a new one. ;D Sounds an awful lot like "let them eat cake."
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 2, 2004 23:09:12 GMT -5
Sounds an awful lot like "let them eat cake." And we all remember what happened to her, don't we?
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snizz
Full Member
I'm sure I'd be more upset if I weren't quite so heavily sedated
Posts: 322
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Post by snizz on Aug 3, 2004 21:21:12 GMT -5
I suppose now we know why we can't get affordable drugs. It sounds like the pharmaceutical companies are supplying them gratis to the Bushies. I do believe great minds are thinking alike! ;D
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snizz
Full Member
I'm sure I'd be more upset if I weren't quite so heavily sedated
Posts: 322
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Post by snizz on Aug 3, 2004 21:32:16 GMT -5
Snizz, c'mon, this is Washington speak for "I can't stand to work for these people anymore." If he was still governor of Pennsylvania do you really think he'd not run for reelection because of this? I think not. His true reason for leaving, anybody's guess. Nuh-uh. The standard politico speak for that is "I'm leaving to pursue other opportunities" or "to spend more time with my family." I was reading the economic reports that came out the other day and one of the things they mentioned was the median annual American income is $32,000, give or take a few hundred. And this guy comes out and says he's struggling on a little more than 5 times that? It just goes to show how stone stupid and out of touch the people in this administration really are.
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Post by LS on Aug 3, 2004 23:15:17 GMT -5
I like this logic. Since we're unhappy with our president, we'll just go and elect a new one. ;D And if godforbid not ...since at least 1/2 of us will still be unhappy- does that mean they'll pass around the Prozac so we are happy?? "Republicans are quick to note that the administration also has not suffered another terror attack on U.S. soil in the three years since Sept. 11, 2001, while undertaking the largest reorganization of government in a half century."And this is their great achievement?? I'll be quick to point out they keep 'forgetting' about '93 and that until 9/11/01- this country hadn't 'suffered another' terrorist attack on U.S. soil for almost 8 1/2 years. What largest reorganization?? All they did was shuffle a bunch of people around (cutting their employee benefits in the process) from one desk to a different one like a deck of cards that's had no impact on anything (except the employees who's benefits were cut ) and they gave the country a useless, meaningless new color scheme in addition to our red, white and blue.
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 4, 2004 0:02:06 GMT -5
Nuh-uh. The standard politico speak for that is "I'm leaving to pursue other opportunities" or "to spend more time with my family." I was reading the economic reports that came out the other day and one of the things they mentioned was the median annual American income is $32,000, give or take a few hundred. And this guy comes out and says he's struggling on a little more than 5 times that? It just goes to show how stone stupid and out of touch the people in this administration really are. I don't know, just seems way too cozy to me that he's leaving. I think it might be a combination of he sees the writing on the wall and wants to be in a good position for after the election, and/or B, he knows that this time around, bush isn't going to have to pass himself off as a moderate and so can go full bore reactionary in his policies and appointments.
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 4, 2004 0:06:08 GMT -5
What largest reorganization?? All they did was shuffle a bunch of people around (cutting their employee benefits in the process) from one desk to a different one like a deck of cards that's had no impact on anything (except the employees who's benefits were cut ) and they gave the country a useless, meaningless new color scheme in addition to our red, white and blue. Nothing but window dressing so that it looks like they did something. Kinda like this new intelligence czar. Bush's version of this proposal is gonna give this guy less power than Queen Elizabeth. And he'll claim the post as his idea in the first place, and the people will believe him.
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snizz
Full Member
I'm sure I'd be more upset if I weren't quite so heavily sedated
Posts: 322
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Post by snizz on Aug 4, 2004 0:13:51 GMT -5
I don't know, just seems way too cozy to me that he's leaving. I think it might be a combination of he sees the writing on the wall and wants to be in a good position for after the election, and/or B, he knows that this time around, bush isn't going to have to pass himself off as a moderate and so can go full bore reactionary in his policies and appointments. Bush made his good buddy the head of Homeland Security. What has this guy done besides invent an alert code system that means squat and keep playing the boy who cried wolf saying "the boggiemen are coming to get us, but we don't know when or where". What's going to be Rumsfeld's excuse? The paper's been running excerpts from Tommy Franks' book. There's been nothing about Bush yet, but he nails Rumsfeld and his pals to the wall, the floor and anything else he can drive nails through.
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 4, 2004 0:34:58 GMT -5
What's going to be Rumsfeld's excuse? The paper's been running excerpts from Tommy Franks' book. There's been nothing about Bush yet, but he nails Rumsfeld and his pals to the wall, the floor and anything else he can drive nails through. Age. Come up with some ailment and worse comes to worse for them and they feel they need to ditch him. I mean with how firey a speaker he is no one would buy it, but that'd be the excuse. But let me get this straight. Franks comes out that he supports the decision to go to war, and only disagrees with the way it's been handled? Either way, it's fun watching the Bushies argue against a galaxy of stars. These aren't fringe loonies doing dope and saying "peace man." These are the guys who have run the defense of the nation for the past 30 odd years and have probbaly voted for every Republican candidate since Nixon. They're military officers, and in their culture, a Republican has to do something pretty bad to lose their vote. Now he has not one or two, but I think I heard 16 former generals and admirals have come out in favor of Kerry.
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Post by LS on Aug 4, 2004 0:52:25 GMT -5
Nothing but window dressing so that it looks like they did something. Kinda like this new intelligence czar. Bush's version of this proposal is gonna give this guy less power than Queen Elizabeth. And he'll claim the post as his idea in the first place, and the people will believe him. Yeah...but notice he picks the one recommendation nobody's too keen on??
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