Joan Walsh at Salon does a pretty tidy job of summing up Tuesday night's debate. The only thing I'd add is that Tim Russert is a lousy choice to pose the questions. He sucks. This is a critical election, and whomever is chosen will have a monumental mess to clean up and all Mr. Potato Head could do was pose either laughably irrelevant questions or play "gotcha."
Joe Biden and Chris Dodd finally looked presidential. Bill Richardson looked vice presidential, defending Hillary Clinton unconvincingly against the others' attacks. Clinton looked brittle and then recovered. Obama flubbed the opening softball questions -- Brian Williams and Tim Russert sometimes seemed to offer to hold Hillary's arms back while he hit her -- but he did better later. Edwards held his own, which was less than he needed to do, but he got off one of the best lines, accusing Clinton of supporting an anti-Iran resolution "that looks like it was written by the neocons." My favorite moment was Biden ranting about Rudy Giuliani as the least qualified person to seek the presidency since George W. Bush, a man who constructs all of his sentences solely with "a noun, a verb and 9/11."
Karen Hughes resigned (in disgrace) today. None other than that stellar Sec. of State, Condi Rice was singing her praises. So, what kind of a job did Hughes do in her job of public diplomacy for the US? From Salon
From a Pew Global Attitudes Project report dated June 2007: "The U.S. image remains abysmal in most Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia, and continues to decline among the publics of many of America's oldest allies. Favorable views of the U.S. are in single digits in Turkey (9 percent) and have declined to 15 percent in Pakistan. Currently, just 30 percent of Germans have a positive view of the U.S. -- down from 42 percent as recently as two years ago -- and favorable ratings inch ever lower in Great Britain and Canada."
The State Department's Web site says one of Hughes' "strategic objectives" as undersecretary for public diplomacy was to "offer throughout the world a positive vision of hope and opportunity that is rooted in America's belief in freedom, justice, opportunity and respect for all."
Again, from Pew, two years into Hughes' tenure: "In much of the world there is broad and deepening dislike of American values and a global backlash against the spread of American ideas and customs. Majorities or pluralities in most countries surveyed say they dislike American ideas about democracy -- and this sentiment has increased in most regions since 2002."
The Bu$h administration is positively ROTTEN with "Brownies."
Page One Kentucky has an excellent rundown of KY politics from the weekend, including this:
Thank goodness for terrible opponents. Jack Conway has an 18-point lead over Stan Lee in the latest polling. anyone surprised? We hope the Breck Girl is able to continue his career of hating everyone while raking in big insurance cash. [H-L]
Money talks. Mitch McConnell gives funds to company (SAE) he knows to be under investigation for bribery. A weapons company. How much money are we talking about here? $25 million. This from the guy who says money equals free speech. [H-L]
Nutjob in Elizabethtown? Who knew! Some guy wrote a letter to the editor about Steve Beshear loving gay money. And literally says (verbatim) that he “wants to kill more babies.” OMG. Go read it. You’ll pee yourself laughing.
S-chip, meet your little sister, Product Safety. The GOP is not interested in giving children access to health care and they are not interested in protecting consumers from dangerous products. Can't wait to see how Mitch spins this!
— The nation’s top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation intended to strengthen the agency, which polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools.
On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff.
Wow. If you don't think this was deliberate, I have a Surge to sell you. From today's Times
State Department investigators offered Blackwater USA security guards immunity during an inquiry into last month’s deadly shooting of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad — a potentially serious investigative misstep that could complicate efforts to prosecute the company’s employees involved in the episode, government officials said Monday.
The State Department investigators from the agency’s investigative arm, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, offered the immunity grants even though they did not have the authority to do so, the officials said. Prosecutors at the Justice Department, who do have such authority, had no advance knowledge of the arrangement, they added.
The State Dept. has effectively Cheneyed up the works for gathering evidence and ruined any chance to bring Black Water to justice. Mission accomplished!
Aides to Barack Obama's who are concerned about his fortunes nationally cast his decision not to kick Donnie McClurkin off the program of a gospel concert the campaign was hosting as a principled decision, part of the Illinois senator's constant rhetoric of bringing people together even if they disagree. Aides in South Carolina cited a more obvious consideration: despite the singer's controversial comments in the past about homosexuality, which he has likened to a "curse" and said is a choice, he would be a big draw.
[. . .]
The concert was to be the highlight of this outreach and while the crowd left excited, it was clear the campaign still regarded the controversy as complicated. Aides gave reporters a three-page memo detailing McClurkin's and Obama's views on gay rights that noted in capital letters "MCCLURKIN DOES NOT WANT TO CHANGE GAYS AND LESBIANS WHO ARE HAPPY WITH THEIR LIVES AND HAS CRITICIZED CHURCH LEADERS WHO DEMONIZE HOMOSEXUALS," with quotes detailing those statements from the singer.
The next paragraph then stated "OBAMA DOES NOT AGREE WITH MCCLURKIN'S VIEWS ON GAYS."
Why should African-Americans or religious folks get a pass on their homophobia because of a few obscure passages in the Old Testament regarding homosexual men? I'm sick of it.
Congress allowed Abu Gonzales to lie repeatedly to them without any consequences, yet they are somehow shocked--SHOCKED! that his nominated replacement would raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth and then bullshit them to death. And they wonder why they get no respect.
The doubts, the concerns, the reasons for pause about attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey are coming fast and furious from senators left and right these days.
It's been a steep descent from the heady days when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) preceded Mukasey's confirmation hearings by saying, "I like him."
The tone seemed to first shift from one of friendly disagreement to frank disappointment with the question by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): is waterboarding unconstitutional? When Mukasey couldn't give a straight answer, Whitehouse pronounced himself "very disappointed."
Mukasey's dodge was transparent. Waterboarding was unconstitutional if it rose to the level of torture. And as an explanation for that "massive hedge," as Whitehouse called it, he professed not to know "what's involved in the technique."
Five days later, the Democrats on the committee signed a joint letter to Mukasey, making sure that he knew what's involved, and demanded an answer to the question as to whether waterboarding is torture.
The Times editorial board continues to shine. Just think of the difference a critical press corp could have made in the run up to the Iraq invasion had they not been cowed into submission by right wing fearmongers.
America’s allies and increasingly the American public are playing a ghoulish guessing game: Will President Bush manage to leave office without starting a war with Iran? Mr. Bush is eagerly feeding those anxieties. This month he raised the threat of “World War III” if Iran even figures out how to make a nuclear weapon.
With a different White House, we might dismiss this as posturing — or bank on sanity to carry the day, or the warnings of exhausted generals or a defense secretary more rational than his predecessor. Not this crowd.
Four years after his pointless invasion of Iraq, President Bush still confuses bullying with grand strategy. He refuses to do the hard work of diplomacy — or even acknowledge the disastrous costs of his actions. The Republican presidential candidates have apparently decided that the real commander in chief test is to see who can out-trash talk the White House on Iran.
Good Lord! Remember when the WH gave a gay male prostitute, Jeff Gannon, a press pass to ask Bu$h glorifying questions at WH press conferences? How about paying "journalist" Armstrong Williams to plant stories in the media and appear on talk shows touting Bu$h's awesome education policies? The good times are not long forgotten! They're BAAAAACK! This time at Fema. Thanks for this link, Maria. Here you go:
On Tuesday, FEMA held what was called a "news briefing" on the California fires, but the questions asked did not come from reporters. They were asked instead by FEMA staffers.
[. . . ]
Why fake it? Apparently, the FEMA briefing was called with little lead-time and reporters didn't get there fast enough. Instead of acknowledging that reporters were not there they apparently pretended and even used the typical practice of calling a "last question."
The briefer, FEMA's Deputy Administrator Harvey Johnson, did not indicate that the questions were coming from staff who were in essence playing reporters. Six questions were asked and the phrasing and subject matter were not typical for a news briefing give and take.
Senior administration officials are looking into the matter and suggest the "intentions were good," but acknowledge that was not an appropriate "tactic."
Bullshit! The intentions were NOT good. It was an attempt to make our great and glorious leader look COMPETENT for a change. It should fool no one. This is the same administration who gave us Katrina and the Disaster In The Desert of Iraq. Now they try to snow the public with a fake press conference? We are not amused.
President Bush waited until he had vetoed a relatively inexpensive children’s health insurance bill before asking for tens of billions of dollars more for his misadventure in Iraq. The cynicism of that maneuver is only slightly less shameful than the president’s distorted priorities. Despite a pretense of fiscal prudence, Mr. Bush keeps throwing money at his war, regardless of the cost in blood, treasure or children’s health care.
Mr. Bush is threatening to veto most of the 12 domestic spending bills now before Congress because Democrats want to provide $22 billion more than the $933 billion he has requested. His argument? Something about the president’s responsibility to rein in lawmakers’ “temptation to overspend.”
This from a leader who turns federal surpluses into deficits, believes that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars can be financed on a separate set of books with borrowed money, and keeps having to go back to Congress for “emergency funding” because he cannot or will not tell the truth about what it is costing to fight these wars.
He may have lost his buddy in belligerence, Rummy. He may have tapped out the military in Iraq. He may not be able to persuade Congress so easily anymore — except for Hillary — to issue warlike resolutions. He can’t cow Condi into supporting his bullying as he once did, and Bob Gates is doing his best to instill some common sense.
Besides, Cheney is running out of time to wreak global havoc; he’s working for a president who is spending his waning days on the job trying to prevent children from getting health insurance.
But the vice president may have hit on a devious tactic used by his old boss Richard Nixon.
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger liked to use madness as a method. In 1969, Nixon told Kissinger to caution the Soviet ambassador that Nixon was “out of control” on Indochina, and could do something drastic.
Please tell me why impeachment is "off the table."
Thanks to Dear Leader Maria for reminding me of this article from today's Times Who the hell does Bu$h think he is? Doesn't he realize the entire world thinks he's a dangerous fool? Oy.
— President Bush is planning to issue a stern warning Wednesday that the United States will not accept a political transition in Cuba in which power changes from one Castro brother to another, rather than to the Cuban people.
What's he gonna do? Invade Cuba? If so, with WHAT ARMY? Our Cuba policy is currently based on the desires of a small gang of Cuban-American zealots in Florida. It's a loser.
This is a repeat as a reminder to "Ditch Mitch" this Friday.
Anyone else rolling their eyes at this laughable irony?
McConnell– the man who consistently receives a 0% rating from the League of Conservation Voters– is receiving an award from one of the most prominent parks and preservation organizations in the world.
Anti-McConnell groups have organized a demonstration to take place on Friday 10/26 from 5:00 - 8:30 P.M. at 3rd & Chestnut in Louisville.
Way to go Olmstead for drawing negative attention. We’re betting an entire bushel of apples that your membership could have come up with a much more deserving recipient of the award.
It never ends. The State Department's own review shows that over a billion dollars are unaccounted for and that State has allowed Blackwater, DynCorp and other operations in Iraq to run amuck. There has been virtually no oversight until now and the review panel said it could take years to comple an audit. The report also notes that:
But in presenting its recommendations to Ms. Rice in a 45-minute briefing on Monday, the four-member panel found serious fault with virtually every aspect of the department’s security practices, especially in and around Baghdad, where Blackwater has responsibility.
The panel’s recommendations include creating a special coordination center to monitor and control the movement of armed convoys through areas under the command of the American military, which has long complained that contractors operate independently in the field.
OK. My stinking head is exploding. Serious events are happening the world over and this farking idiot bring us this nonsense :
From the October 21 edition of the NBC-syndicated The Chris Matthews Show:
MATTHEWS: I think it's time for me to get in trouble again. Kathleen, I'm thinking about a woman who lives in the suburbs; she may not work outside the home. They're talking around election time -- the husband and the wife -- you know, she says, "I sort of like this Hillary, the first woman president. She's pro-choice." And the husband says, "You know, dear, you know, this is going to kill our tax bracket. You know that tuition thing we pay every couple of years for the kids, every year, we can't do that if we get a higher tax bracket. We have to pay more money." So, could the tax issue -- Hillary's threat to raise taxes -- throw a lot of women and men from the suburbs back into the Republican column? Am I being too tricky here?
Can this fool debase himself any further? This is part of the reason voters are SO uninformed and make such bad decisions at the polls. This kind of clowning is taken seriously by our Media Conglomeration.
Good, Lord! It seems our sorry State feels the same way towards Governor Ernie the Putz as the entire country does about GW. It is not a compliment! I love this from Page One:
Former Deputy Secretary of the Transportation Cabinet Dick Murgatroyd has been hit with ten counts of violating the state ethics code in relation to the merit hiring probe by the Executive Branch Ethics Commission.
Ernie Fletcher has paraded around Kentucky declaring that his hiring practices weren’t illegal or political. Looks like that claim is effectively shot to hell with this latest news.
Oh snap, Ernest Lee. Another crony is potentially up a creek.
Hahahahahaha! Good touch with the "Ernest Lee" schtick!
PS---Debate on tonight on WHAS channel 04 at 7:00 pm.
I am not a vengeful person. I simply believe that you reap what you sow in a just world. The GOP preaches to the masses about "personal responsibility" ad nauseum, and I agree with that as a blanket principal. I just want simple Karma to come to all bad actors who have worked tirelessly to destroy our justice system in this country for a raw political grab.
The U.S. Inspector General may recommend criminal prosecution of departed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the conclusion of an investigation, possibly as early as next month, the fired former U.S. attorney for Western Washington told a Spokane audience Friday.
His refusal to open a federal criminal investigation into voter fraud allegations in Gov. Chris Gregoire’s razor-thin victory over Republican challenger Dino Rossi in 2004 may be the reason he was fired, John McKay told the Federal Bar Association.
Appointed by President Bush in October 2001 to the top law enforcement job in western Washington, McKay said he believes he and seven other U.S. attorneys were fired last December by Gonzales for political reasons, perhaps with former White House chief of staff Karl Rove pulling strings.
Career prosecutors in his office and FBI agents agreed there was no reason to go forward with a federal investigation of the Gregoire-Rossi election, and issues associated with it were more properly addressed by state officials, McKay said.
Some also have suggested his dismissal may have been tied to his relentless push to solve the 2001 murder of Tom Wales, an assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle. “I consider that a disgusting (explanation),’’ McKay said, explaining he didn’t need to justify aggressively pursuing the investigation of a prosecutor “killed in the line of duty.”
McKay said he was summoned to Washington, D.C., in June and questioned for eight hours about possible reasons for his firing by investigators with the Office of Inspector General, who will forward their final report to Congress.
We don't have a democracy without a system of blind justice.
How Do You Like Your Blue Eyed Boy Now, Mr. Leahy?
I really don't understand this Democraticly controlled Congress. They clearly have a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome since they keep falling for the antics of the dumbest, most dangerous president ever. The guy Sen. Leahy really, really likes to be the new Attorney General is nothing more than Abu Gonzales with a brain. He scares me!
In his testimony, Mr. Mukasey’s legal analysis was telling and occasionally idiosyncratic.
He indicated, for instance, that he favored a narrow reading of the Supreme Court’s sweeping 2006 decision, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, striking down the administration’s initial plan for military commissions to try prisoners at Guantánamo.
According to the Defense Department, the court decision means that Al Qaeda prisoners under interrogation must be given the protection of the Geneva Convention’s Common Article 3, which prohibits humiliating and degrading treatment of prisoners. But Mr. Mukasey said he did not think Hamdan went that far.
Gabor Rona, international legal director of Human Rights First, said the comment was troubling and suggestive.
“I simply don’t know where in the decision he could be reading in order to get the impression that Common Article 3 doesn’t apply to interrogation methodologies,” Mr. Rona said. “He seems to be leaving room for the argument made in the torture memos that the executive does have room to violate the Geneva Conventions.”
Page One is looking for answers to a few questions. It’s imperative that we get to the bottom of something. We need your help and we’ll be hammering this matter for weeks to come.
We’re trying to locate a male, possibly now in his 40s, who resides in Louisville or the greater Louisville metro area. He’s from the Oldham/Henry/Trimble County area and his family owned Earl Floyd Ford in Bedford in the 1970s. This gentleman was in his twenties in the 1980s and worked in a downtown Louisville parking garage.
Can anyone help us? If you can, please shoot us an e-mail. Confidentiality is a must and we absolutely don’t want a discussion about the specifics in the comments.
Well, it's about time someone did! Late last night the senate passed a very bad bill giving amnesty to telecoms who broke the law to let the WH illegally spy on US citizens without warrants. Take a look.
Here's the email from the Dodd campaign:
Are you willing to go to the mat to restore the Constitution?
Just last night, we heard there are plans to disregard Senator Dodd's intention to place a hold on a FISA bill that includes amnesty for telecommunications companies.
That would be a pretty extraordinary move, but Chris Dodd has pledged to stop this horrible bill any way he can.
So if the hold is not honored, he is prepared to go to the Senate floor and filibuster.
Rolling back the Bush Administration assault on the rule of law has been a major focus of Chris Dodd's work in the Senate -- and it's also a centerpiece in his campaign for President.
I'm also told that Dodd will send out a video to supporters later in the day in which he discusses the filibuster.
The Military Commissions Act. Warrantless wiretapping. Shredding of Habeas Corpus. Torture. Extraordinary Rendition. Secret Prisons.
No more.
I have decided to place a "hold" on the latest FISA bill that would have included amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the President's assault on the Constitution by illegally providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.
I said that I would do everything I could to stop this bill from passing, and I have.
It's about delivering results -- and as I've said before, the FIRST thing I will do after being sworn into office is restore the Constitution.
You just cannot make this stuff UP! Congressional Republicans tow the WH line and fail to overide Bu$h's veto of SCHIP insurance for sick kids. Sickos! See how they voted here Way to go, Mitch!
This means that at the time that Fuller was presiding over the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman, a prosecution brought by Noel Hillman’s Public Integrity Section, he was or should have been the subject of an investigation by the Public Integrity Section. This presents a further appearance of serious impropriety both by Judge Fuller and by the prosecutors handling the case. Our earlier study of Fuller showed that he had three disqualifying conflicts: his undisclosed service on the Executive Committee of the Alabama G.O.P. at the time that it was running campaigns against Siegelman; his suggestion that Siegelman was responsible for “politically motivated” attacks on him in connection with his bookkeeping practices as a district attorney; and his business interests which are tied up almost entirely with U.S. government contracts.
Ditch Mitch is SO much more than the sour face of the local and national GOP machine. He is emblimatic of what's wrong with America.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is still under the microscope from the Kentucky press over his office's involvement -- or non-involvement, according to the senator -- in attempts to discredit the family used by Democrats as a case example for expanding the children's health insurance program.
Facing reelection in a year, in a less-than-hospitable environment, McConnell probably isn't liking stories like these.
Naturally, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is lovin' it, blasting "in case you missed it" emails to reporters yesterday and today.
Ditch Mitch. We have more than enough assholes in Congress shaming us.
Just farkin' shoot me. Here we go again with media consolidation. I thought (wrongly) it was already as bad as it gets.
The head of the Federal Communications Commission has circulated an ambitious plan to relax the decades-old media ownership rules, including repealing a rule that forbids a company to own both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city.
A proposal from Kevin J. Martin could change media ownership rules in two months.
Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the commission, wants to repeal the rule in the next two months — a plan that, if successful, would be a big victory for some executives of media conglomerates.
Among them are Samuel Zell, the Chicago investor who is seeking to complete a buyout of the Tribune Company, and Rupert Murdoch, who has lobbied against the rule for years so that he can continue controlling both The New York Post and a Fox television station in New York.
The proposal appears to have the support of a majority of the five commission members, agency officials said, although it is not clear that Mr. Martin would proceed with a sweeping deregulatory approach on a vote of 3 to 2 — something his predecessor tried without success. In interviews on Wednesday, the agency’s two Democratic members raised questions about Mr. Martin’s approach.
Hoo, boy. You can't get a better indication of the public mood than this.
Bush's job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month's record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent. A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month's record low.
"There is a real question among Americans now about how relevant this government is to them," pollster John Zogby said. "They tell us they want action on health care, education, the war and immigration, but they don't believe they are going to get it."
I'd like to know what the hell is wrong with 11% of the country who approves of this Congress. Yet Ditch Mitch clings to Bu$h and his disasterous policies even as he's getting hounded for his support of staying in Iraq and his sliming sick children. Resign, Mitch. We're through with you.
Dems Insist That They Really Will Insist This Time
Oh, brother! Do these clowning mush mellons REALLY think anybody buys their schtick any more? The Times brings us this comedy gold
Senate Democrats say they will insist on promises of independence from President Bush’s nominee for attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey, when he appears for his confirmation hearings on Wednesday.
The nomination of Mr. Mukasey has been welcomed by senators from both parties partly because they believe he is likely to be more independent of the White House than was the man he would replace, Alberto R. Gonzales.
Wow! That's saying a lot. I'm still waiting for those Justice Department memos Leahy "insists" on before confirming any future Bu$h nominees. And what about Meyers, Rove and others who defied Congressional subpoenas? Leahy is the new Arlan Specter: all hot air and bullshit. His word doesn't mean squat.
Hang around a while, Larry! You drive Senator (((not gay))) Mitch crazy. From HuffPo
Idaho Senator Larry Craig and his wife sat down with "Today host Matt Lauer to break their silence and talk about his guilty plea in a sex sting at an airport bathroom. Craig answered a question about why he didn't tell his wife about the arrest until the press was about to break the story months later. We suspect that his reluctance to tell his wife stemmed less from his "embarrassment" and more from his desire to keep the arrest as quiet as possible. After all, Craig had a Senate career and a marriage to protect. From NBC 10/16
Hahahahahahahahaha! Thanks, Larry. We all needed a laugh.
I can't imagine what kind of person would allow his head to be filled with Rush's hateful invective for hours a day and proudly call himself a "dittohead," but there are millions who cheer on this poison day after day:
During the October 15 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh claimed to have "once" participated in the kind of "destructive reporting and behavior" that, according to him, reporters "dish out." Limbaugh said his target was a reporter, whose name he said he would not "mention," who was writing "a cover story on me coming out of one of the big news magazines, and it was going to totally mischaracterize me and what I do and how I do it." Limbaugh continued: "[W]e found out who was writing it and made a couple phone calls to the person writing it. And we said, 'You know what? We're going to find out where your kids go to school. We're going to find out who you knocked up in high school. We're going to find out what drugs you used. We're going to find out where you go to drink and do -- we're gonna find out how you paid for your house. We're going to do -- and we're going to do exact -- and we're going to say that, you know what? You are no different than Al Goldstein. You both masturbate.' "
Limbaugh then claimed: "And the guy started screaming on the phone, just went -- 'You can't do that.' We said, 'Watch us.' And it changed the tone of the story by about 60 percent, I would say, from what it was going to be. But nobody does that to these people. Nobody does it to them. And that would be so much fun."
This is today's mainstream GOP. Top WH officials (Big DIck) love going on his show.
Rep Wu is Shocked! Shocked! that any one would think this is quid pro quo. We need to get the stinking filthy campaign system into public financing and put an end to even the APPEARANCE of hanky panky. It would save taxpayers billions in the mere short run. I link to this via talkingpointsmemo.com
Using congressional privilege, Rep. David Wu helped direct more than $2 million in defense contracts to a company in his district for T-shirts that Marines say they can no longer use in battle because they can melt, causing severe burns.
A report in Sunday's Seattle Times also found the companies' top executives contributed to Wu's campaign account about the time the spending "earmarks" were written into the final Defense Department budget. Wu told The Oregonian on Sunday that he is "horrified" the Marines had to ban the polyester T-shirts in battle because of the danger they pose.
"I didn't know there was a melting problem," said Wu, a Democrat who represents northwestern Oregon. "I thought they would be helpful because some of the people who helped me get the appropriation served in Vietnam where their (cotton) shirts were literally melting off of them."
Wu said he is "also horrified by the implication that there's a connection" between the defense budget appropriation and campaign contributions to him.
"There are many people who seek earmarks for things like sewers or roads or research projects," Wu said. "Some people wind up being contributors. Most -- the vast majority -- do not."
The Bu$h administration's nasty habit of going after critics with guns blazing is not new. Outing a spy? No biggie. Retaliating against whistleblowers? Happens all the time. But growing evidence of a Bu$h Justice Department and a federal court system packed with "loyal Bu$hies" actually prosecuting and jailing political opponents is truly frightening. A former executive from Qwest (telecom) is fighting his conviction for insider trading as as a purely political persecution for failing to go along with Bu$h's demand that Qwest illegally allow the government to spy on its customers 7 months before 9/11 without warrants. is something altogether different. Again, what the hell have we become as a country if this is allowed to go unchecked?
In support of Mr. Nacchio’s accusations, his lawyers quoted from one of several lawsuits filed against telecommunications companies, accusing them of violating their customers’ privacy. That lawsuit, filed last year against several companies, asserts that seven months before the Sept. 11 attacks, at about the time of Mr. Nacchio’s meeting at the N.S.A., another phone company, AT&T, “began development of a center for monitoring long distance calls and Internet transmissions and other digital information for the exclusive use of the N.S.A.”
The lawsuit contends that the center would “give the N.S.A. direct, unlimited, unrestricted and unfettered access” to phone call information and Internet traffic on AT&T’s network.
I love the New York Times. It has some of the most talented journalists in the world reporting some of the most beautifully written (Dexter Filkins!) and informative articles you're ever likely to read. They also have the unfortunate habit of letting some of the most biased, GOP friendly pap imaginable (Judy Miller, anyone?) slip onto their front pages. This "Congressional Memo" item, with the headline, Liberal Base Proves Trying To Democrats is worthy of Fox *News,* at best. It is a gross mis-characterization of the anger Liberals feel toward Congress. I'd venture to say we Liberals are fairly well read folks who know a thing or two about the disappointment and betrayal we endure because of the abject failure of our Democraticly controlled Congress to stand up to this WH for trashing our civil liberties or ending Bu$h's disaster in the desert or to defend the Constitution. against this WH's assault. That's what gets our blood boiling! But what does this intrepid reporter find to be the defining subject of the "BASE'S ANGER?" (((GAY sexual identity!))) Who the hell knew? Well, Barney Frank, the most openly (((GAY))) Democrat in Congress, that's who. This is just pure, unmitigated BS! That particular issue is NOT on the radar of the Liberal base. But it gets worse. This *reporter,* who is explaining how Liberals think/operate, finds it necessary to prove his point by quoting two hardcore, partisan, conservative REPUBLICANS to drive home his message. Ru$h Limpballs could not have typed up a better memo. Read it and complain to the public editor. if you wish.
McConnell's communications director sent out emails to reporters, essentially calling the 12 year old and his family- who gave the response to Bu$h's radio address on the SCHIP legislation- LIARS. Disgustingly, CNN's John Roberts repeated McConnell's talking points almost verbatim. CNN, the most trusted name in GOP. Think Progress has the scoop:
ThinkProgress has obtained an email that congressional sources tell us was sent to reporters by Sen. McConnell’s communications director Don Stewart.
On Monday morning, Don Stewart sent an email with the following text to reporters:
Seen the latest blogswarm? Apparently, there’s more to the story on the kid (Graeme Frost) that did the Dems’ radio response on SCHIP. Bloggers have done a little digging and turned up that the Dad owns his own business (and the building it’s in), seems to have some commercial rental income and Graeme and a sister go to a private school that, according to its website, costs about $20k a year ‹for each kid‹ despite the news profiles reporting a family income of only $45k for the Frosts. Could the Dems really have done that bad of a job vetting this family?
In the email, Stewart attacks Democrats for allegedly doing a bad job “vetting this family.” That effort to blame Democrats for the smear campaign seems to have swayed some reporters, as CNN this morning claimed that the real story is that “the Democrats didn’t do as much of a vetting as they could have done.”
Hahahahaha. Look who's made an ass of themself now. Will CNN offer a correction? *crickets*
Unlike the current WH occupant, Al Gore earns his success the old fashioned way: Hard Work! Congratuations, Al Gore!
— The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to Al Gore, the former vice president, and to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for its work to alert the world to the threat of global warming.
It's long past time some one holds those lawless mercenaries accountable. From Democracy Now!
. A lawsuit is being filed today against the private military firm Blackwater USA over last month's shooting in Baghdad, when Blackwater guards shot dead 17 Iraqis and injured many more. Earlier this week the Iraqi government called on the Bush administration to sever its ties with Blackwater in Iraq and for the company to pay $8 million in compensation to each of the Iraqi families.
Hahahahahahahaha This whining, lazy, assclown can't take a 5 day work week after years of getting by *working* just 2 days a week under GOP *leadership.* From Think Progress
Nine Republican congressmen have so far announced that they will not be running for re-election. One of those lawmakers, Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL), complained “that the Democrats’ new five-day workweek” is part of the reason they’re all retiring:
“I do think the schedule and the flying is a huge pain for people, particularly those who are from the Midwest or even further West,” he said, adding that it’s “probably the worst part of the job.”
“I think that has played into these retirement announcements,” said the seven-term congressman from Peoria.
In Dec. 2006, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) also griped about having to work five days each week, stating, “Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families — that’s what this says.”
Don't let the door hit your lazy ass on the way out!
OK. Ru$hbo and fans attack real soldiers as "phony" if they don't endorse his man, W. Then he and his minions attack a traumatized family of 6, with 2 severely ill children for receiving subsidized health care. Now they go after the Vets. What's next? Kittens, and unicorns and rainbows? Sick bastards. From Think Progress
In the past two weeks, as the controversy over Rush Limbaugh’s “phony soldiers” comments unfolded, VoteVets.org has been at the forefront of pushing to hold Limbaugh accountable for disparaging pro-withdrawal soldiers. On MSNBC’s Countdown last Friday, VoteVets.org Vice President Brandon Friedman read aloud some of the hate mail the organization has received from Limbaugh’s listeners:
- “Do us all a favor and shoot yourself. You are a waste of human flesh.”
- “Tell the truth about Rush. You phony piece of [expletive].”
- “You traitorous bunch of [expletive] cowards.”
- “Rush Limbaugh is a great American, and you are a phony.”
This opinion piece in TPM Muckraker is a pretty good sumation of how a lot of us feel about Congress' failure to uphold the Constitution and selling out our civil liberties. It's already a sad day when virtually NO republican will go to bat against the lawlessness of this administration, but it is devastating that the Dems even entertain giving Bu$h more power to break the law.
I'm hardly naive. I realize that most of them are worried about being viewed as soft on terror and getting re-elected. But they are complicit in creating an authoritarian infrastructure that could one day be used against any and all of us. That, of course,is the long view, which is not the way they think. For them, it's the short-term goal of getting re-elected and damn our democratic traditions.
I also know that no sitting president wants to lose a war on his or her watch. So how and when will the Iraq war ever end? Sometimes, when I ask myself this question, I can see American helicopters lifting off from the Green Zone, while U.S. bases are permanently staged with the Kurds.
Memories of demonstrating against Democrats who lied, deceived and lied again during the Vietnam War, still haunt me. I do not trust them, even though I was truly happy --for a few weeks--after the last election.
But they have not just disappointed. They are spineless. They have capitulated and I am one of those odd Americans who cares so deeply about our civil liberties, our civil rights and our moral credibility around the world, that I am viewed as a dissenter, rather than as a profoundly patriotic citizen.
No member of Congress who fails to protect our liberty deserves a job. They aren't up to the task.
Wow. The rightwing attack machine turned on a young boy and his severly brain injured sister and their family for the sin of receiving benefits from their state Chip program. The wingnuttery were out in force yesterday, lead by Rush Limpballs and Ms. Malkin. These creatures are morally bankrupt. Check this out:
. . . So when Democrats enlisted 12-year-old Graeme Frost, who along with a younger sister relied on the program for treatment of severe brain injuries suffered in a car crash, to give the response to Mr. Bush’s weekly radio address on Sept. 29, Republican opponents quickly accused them of exploiting the boy to score political points.
Then, they wasted little time in going after him to score their own.
In recent days, Graeme and his family have been attacked by conservative bloggers and other critics of the Democrats’ plan to expand the insurance program, known as S-chip. They scrutinized the family’s income and assets — even alleged the counters in their kitchen to be granite — and declared that the Frosts did not seem needy enough for government benefits.
But what on the surface appears to be yet another partisan feud, all the nastier because a child is at the center of it, actually cuts to the most substantive debate around S-chip. Democrats say it is crucially needed to help the working poor — Medicaid already helps the impoverished — but many Republicans say it now helps too many people with the means to help themselves.
This article in the Times is shocking in the revalation of how heartless and hateful nursing home and assisted care residents are toward gay and lesbian folks. This is another shocking chapter in the "who ARE we?" saga.
Even now, at 81 and with her memory beginning to fade, Gloria Donadello recalls her painful brush with bigotry at an assisted-living center in Santa Fe, N.M. Sitting with those she considered friends, “people were laughing and making certain kinds of comments, and I told them, ‘Please don’t do that, because I’m gay.’”
Jalna Perry of Boston said her guard was always up in nursing homes.
The result of her outspokenness, Ms. Donadello said, was swift and merciless. “Everyone looked horrified,” she said. No longer included in conversation or welcome at meals, she plunged into depression. Medication did not help. With her emotional health deteriorating, Ms. Donadello moved into an adult community nearby that caters to gay men and lesbians.
“I felt like I was a pariah,” she said, settled in her new home. “For me, it was a choice between life and death.”
Elderly gay people like Ms. Donadello, living in nursing homes or assisted-living centers or receiving home care, increasingly report that they have been disrespected, shunned or mistreated in ways that range from hurtful to deadly, even leading some to commit suicide.
Maybe Senator Larry Craig will consider legislation banning discrimination against gay and lesbians. There is no excuse to allow seperate and unequal treatment of any citizeen.
Our senior Senator is bragging about all the pork he brings to Kentucky again, so be very alert. His latest bloviating to the media about all the money he's dumping into our poor, ignorant state (reported without any fact checking or context by our intrepid press corp) is actually cause for alarm. Like his fellow senator from Alaska, Ted Stevens, (under criminal investigation by the F.B.I ) or former House member "Duke* Cunningham, (chilling in prison for accepting bribes and vast corruption) Mitch brings home the bacon with a caveat: His brand of pork chiefly benefits his corporate and/or Military Industrial Complex campaign donors but not the people he was elected to *serve.* Any side benefits to our state are mitigated by the crushing national debt his largesse is racking up, with interest, for future generations. Would it be so HARD for journalists to actually practice their craft and ask relevant questions about what Mitch is really up to in Congress and how it effects our state and country? My stinking head hurts. The Bridge offers some unusual insight into how all this sausage is made.
First the percussive sounds of sniper fire and the thrill of the kill. Then the gospel of peace.
Across the country, hundreds of ministers and pastors desperate to reach young congregants have drawn concern and criticism through their use of an unusual recruiting tool: the immersive and violent video game Halo.
This game is rated *M* and is for those 17 and older, except when the youth minister says, "never mind."
Hahahahahahaha. This is exactly what I and everyone else who actually read the Medicare part D legislation predicted. When Congress and the WH lets Big Pharma write legislation, there is only one big winner and it isn't Joe Q. Public. Read more here
— Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found.
The problems, described in 91 audit reports reviewed by The New York Times, include the improper termination of coverage for people with H.I.V. and AIDS, huge backlogs of claims and complaints, and a failure to answer telephone calls from consumers, doctors and drugstores.
Hahahahahahahahahaha! 
