One person's plea for sanity and the continuation of the human race in an insane world.
posted by rich at 3:04 PM
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South Dakota abortion ban repeal now on ballot
A funny thing is happening on the right wing's campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade using the South Dakota abortion ban. Led by the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, the people of South Dakota are intervening. They have collected enough signatures to get a measure on the ballot to repeal the ban.
posted by rich at 2:27 PM
posted by rich at 12:26 PM
49 killed in string of attacks in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Car bombs and other attacks killed at least 49 people Tuesday across Iraq as the government struggled with deteriorating security. The deadliest bombing occurred at a popular market during the evening in Husseiniyah, about 20 miles north of Baghdad, killing at least 25 people and wounding 65, said Lt. Colonel Falah al-Mohamedawi, an Interior Ministry spokesman.
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Report: More than 2 million kids have HIV
UNITED NATIONS - More than 2 million children under the age of 15 are living with HIV, almost all in sub-Saharan Africa where there is no access to treatment and death almost certain, seven leading child advocacy organizations said.
posted by rich at 2:47 PM
Frist: Protecting the flag isn't pandering
WASHINGTON - Amending the Constitution to prohibit flag burning may be considered political posturing in the nation's capital, says Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, but it's not pandering to the GOP's conservative base to pursue such protection.
posted by rich at 2:41 PM
Official: Iraq civilian deaths unjustified
WASHINGTON - Investigators believe that their criminal investigation into the deaths of about two dozen Iraqi civilians points toward a conclusion that Marines committed unprovoked murders, a senior defense official said Friday.The Marine Corps initially reported 15 deaths and said they were caused by a roadside bomb and an ensuing firefight with insurgents. A separate investigation is seeking to determine if Marines lied to cover up the killings.
The official, who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the yet-to-be-completed investigation, said the evidence developed by investigators strongly indicates the killings last November in the insurgent-plagued city of Haditha in the western province of Anbar were unjustified.
The official did not disclose specific evidence. The incident, if confirmed, could be the most serious case of criminal misconduct by U.S. troops during three years of combat in Iraq.
posted by rich at 11:57 AM
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Probation for Short Sex Offender Draws Fire
LINCOLN, Neb. (May 26) - A judge's decision to sentence a 5-foot-1 man to probation instead of prison for sexually assaulting a child has angered crime victim advocates who say the punishment sends the wrong message.
posted by rich at 8:44 AM
Bush and Blair Admit Mistakes in Iraq
President Regrets 'Bring It On' Taunt to InsurgentsWASHINGTON (May 26) - Staunch allies in a long, unpopular war, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged making painful mistakes in Iraq. Bush said Thursday night he wished he'd never taunted insurgents with tough talk like "bring it on" or that he'd vowed to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive."
"That sent the wrong signal to people," Bush said. "I learned some lessons about expressing myself maybe in a little more sophisticated manner, you know." The biggest mistake, Bush said, was the abuse of inmates by U.S. guards at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
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Iranians pledge to become suicide bombers
TEHRAN, Iran - Under a banner showing coffins draped with American, British and Israeli flags, more than 100 Iranian men and women pledged Thursday to become suicide bombers — if necessary — to defend their country and Islam.
posted by rich at 2:00 PM
Lay, Skilling convicted in Enron collapse
HOUSTON - Former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted Thursday of conspiracy and securities and wire fraud in one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history.The verdict put the blame for the 2001 demise of the high-profile energy trader, once the nation's seventh-largest company, squarely on its top two executives. It came in the sixth day of deliberations following a federal criminal trial that lasted nearly four months.
Lay was also convicted of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate, non-jury trial before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake related to Lay's personal finances.
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posted by rich at 10:15 AM
The Word of the Day is ''Suiciders''
Q The U.S. has the most powerful military in the world, and they have been unable to bring down the violence in any substantial way in several of the provinces. So how can you expect the Iraqis to do that?
PRESIDENT BUSH: If one were to measure progress on the number of suiciders, if that's your definition of success, I think it gives -- I think it will -- I think it obscures the steady, incremental march toward democracy we're seeing. In other words, it's very difficult -- you can have the most powerful army of the world -- ask the Israelis what it's like to try to stop suiciders -- it is a difficult task to stop suicide bombers. That's the -- but that's one of the main -- that's the main weapon of the enemy, the capacity to destroy innocent life with a suicider.
And so I view progress as, is there a political process going forward that's convincing disaffected Sunnis, for example, to participate? Is there a unity government that says it's best for all of us to work together to achieve a common objective which is democracy? Are we able to meet the needs of the 12 million people that defied the car bombers? To me, that's success. Trying to stop suiciders -- which we're doing a pretty good job of on occasion -- is difficult to do. And what the Iraqis are going to have to eventually do is convince those who are conducting suiciders who are not inspired by al Qaeda, for example, to realize there's a peaceful tomorrow. And those who are being inspired by al Qaeda, we're just going to have to stay on the hunt and bring al Qaeda to justice. And our Army can do that, and is doing that right now.
posted by rich at 10:09 AM
Media Reports Gonzales’ Misleading Legal Analysis on NSA Program, Ignores All Opposing Views
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales won’t confirm that the federal government collected the phone records of millions of Americans, as reported on May 11 in USA Today. But yesterday, Gonzales claimed that doing so was perfectly legal. From the
Washington Post:Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday that the government can obtain domestic telephone records without court approval under a 1979 Supreme Court ruling that authorized the collection of business records…Gonzales told reporters that, under the Smith v. Maryland ruling, “those kinds of records do not enjoy Fourth Amendment protection. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in those kinds of records.”
This is a classic case of misdirection. The issue isn’t simply whether or not collecting domestic phone records is constitutional. The issue is whether it’s legal. If the USA Today story is accurate, the NSA program appears to be illegal, not because it violates the fourth amendment, but because it violates two statutes.
posted by rich at 9:39 AM
posted by rich at 9:33 AM
Voice of America pulls out of Iraq because it's getting too dangerous
Why does the liberal government-run media refuse to tell the public the truth about how great things are going in Iraq?
The Voice of America's bureau in Baghdad has been closed for the past six months, ever since the government-funded agency withdrew its only reporter in Iraq after she was fired upon in an ambush and her security guard was later killed.
All Western news organizations have struggled with the dangerous conditions in Iraq, which have led to such high- profile incidents as the kidnapping of Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll and the wounding of ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff. But for a federally funded information service to pull out of Baghdad for such a prolonged period raises questions about the Bush administration's insistence that conditions there are gradually improving.
Hey, maybe VOA can hire Joe Lieberman to be their Baghdad correspondent. I hear he's going to be looking for a job, come August.
posted by rich at 2:33 PM
Bush ‘Doubts’ He’ll See Gore Movie; Wants To ‘Set Aside’ Global Warming Science
President Bush was asked this morning whether he will watch Al Gore’s new movie on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. “Doubt it,” the president answered. He went on to argue that we need to “set aside whether or not greenhouse gases have been caused by mankind or because of natural effects.”
Two important points need to be made:
1. Bush casts his answer in terms of a debate that exists on whether greenhouse gases are caused by human activity. In fact, as ThinkProgress has repeatedly documented, there is no scientific debate on this issue. Not a single peer-reviewed study conducted between 1993 and 2003 challenged the consensus that the earth’s temperature is rising due to human activity.
2. Bush cannot solve the problem of global warming if he does not understand its root cause. By “setting aside” the issue of why the globe is warming, Bush wants to also sidestep the need for his administration to begin efforts to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, as he once pledged to do.
posted by rich at 10:28 AM
Fitz: Libby knew he was revealing classified info. when he outed Plame
Fitzgerald maintains that Libby knew he was outing an undercover CIA agent:
The classified status of the identity of former CIA officer Valerie Plame will be a key element in any trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, according to special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald has said that at trial he plans to show that Libby knew Plame's employment at the CIA was classified and that he lied to the grand jury when he said he had learned from NBC News's Tim Russert that Plame, the wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, worked for the agency.
Bush and Gonzales have been expressing outrage over the leaking of classified information. They're even threatening to prosecute reporters who write articles on national security matters. So, why haven't they cleaned their own house?
Okay, we know the answer. But, still, if what Patrick Fitzgerald alleges is true, using Gonzales' own words, he should be prosecuting Libby (and Rove for that matter) under espionage laws. Gonzales laid out their standard for prosecuting reporters yesterday on This Week:
"We have an obligation to ensure that our national security is protected."
That obligation ends when the matter is political or the offenders work in the White House. Because it's clear now that key White House staffers violated national security when they told reporters about Valerie Plame. And, if Gonzales wants to prosecute reporters who print classified info., let Novak be his first case.
posted by rich at 9:35 AM
Thieves Steal Personal Data of 26.5M Vets
WASHINGTON - Thieves took sensitive personal information on 26.5 million U.S. veterans, including Social Security numbers and birth dates, after a Veterans Affairs employee improperly brought the material home, the government said Monday.
posted by rich at 9:30 AM
Which is the real Iraq?
Blair's view: 'We have a government of national unity that crosses all boundaries. Iraqi people are able to write the next chapter of their history themselves' - Tony Blair on a visit to Iraq yesterday.Another view: Two car bombs explode in Baghdad, killing nine. At least 23 more die in attacks elsewhere, bringing the death toll in May to 848 as sectarian violence spreads.
A frustrating aspect of writing about Iraq since the invasion is that the worse the situation becomes, the easier it is for Tony Blair or George Bush to pretend it is improving. That is because as Baghdad and Iraq, aside from the three Kurdish provinces, become the stalking ground for death squads and assassins, it is impossible to report the collapse of security without being killed doing so.
There was a ghastly absurdity about Mr Blair's optimism as he stood beside the new Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone yesterday. As usual, Mr Blair arrived by helicopter. Anybody entering the zone on foot has to negotiate eight checkpoints defended by heavily armed troops and guards surrounded by sandbags, razor wire, sniffer dogs and X-ray machines.
Mr Blair said the establishment of a national unity government meant there was no longer any justification for the insurgency. He announced that now at last the "Iraqi people [are] able to take charge of their own destiny and write the next chapter of Iraqi history themselves".
But Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador, played a crucial role in getting rid of the last duly elected prime minister, Ibrahim al- Jaafari. His officials do not conceal that the envoy has been what The New York Times described as "a tireless midwife in the birthing of the new government" . That is hardly the sign of a sovereign and independent Iraqi administration.
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posted by rich at 11:10 AM
Bomber Kills Self, 12 Others in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber killed at least 12 other people and injured 17 when he blew himself up Sunday in a downtown Baghdad restaurant frequented by police. The attack came as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pledged to soon fill vacancies in his two key security ministries.
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Bush claims progress in Iraq...again
Hey, Bush says we're making progress in Iraq!!! (He has a plan for victory, after all.) It really helps if you do what he does and just ignore the on-going violence. If you do that, things look really good:
Bush briefly spoke to reporters from the White House with his wife, Laura, at his side, to highlight the political development without mentioning the violence that still rages in Iraq.
The president did not speak of the spree of bombing, mortar rounds and a drive-by shooting that killed at least 18 Iraqis and wounded dozens - most of them hit by a suicide bomber who targeted a Baghdad restaurant during Sunday's lunch hour.
Classic example of why no one trusts Bush anymore.
(Americablog)
posted by rich at 10:54 AM
GOP is now taxing teenagers - Bush violates his anti-tax promise
Well kids, forget about saving for college because the GOP needs to help those least in need.
Forget about the Dick Cheney's of the world, the GOP is taxing the teenagers of America to pick up some of the slack in the latest round of reckless tax breaks for those at the top of the food chain. I know that the GOP likes to think that only Democrats raise taxes (except in Ohio) but isn't this a tax increase? Where's the veto George? Notice how the WH quietly altered their story about tax savings for everyone who pays taxes? The world needs ditch-diggers too according to the GOP. What a proud moment this must be for everyone who voted to tax Americas youth.
Under the new law, teenagers age 14 to 17 with investment income will now be taxed at the same rate as their parents, not at their own rates. Long-term capital gains and dividends that had been taxed at 5 percent will now be taxed at 15 percent. Interest that had been taxed at 10 percent will now be taxed at as much as 35 percent.
The increases, which are retroactive to the first day of the year, are expected to generate nearly $2.2 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, which issues the official estimates.
And Bush's promise not to raise taxes? Hmmm, it sounds like he lied and violated his promise and we know how much he values honesty.
"If elected president, I will oppose and veto any increase in individual or corporate marginal income tax rates or individual or corporate income tax hikes," he wrote in June 1999 to Grover Norquist, president of the Americans for Tax Reform.
posted by rich at 10:29 AM
Gonzales reiterates intent to prosecute reporters as spies
The Attorney General yesterday repeated the Bush administration's intention to prosecute reporters as spies:
Though he did not name the statutes that might allow such prosecutions, Mr. Gonzales was apparently referring to espionage laws that in some circumstances forbid the possession and publication of information concerning the national defense, government codes and "communications intelligence activities."
Obviously, they intend to stifle the free press in America. It's really quite amazing because the traditional media has been overly kind and deferential to Bush and his cronies. But in Bush world, there is no room for criticism. Exposing unconstitutional behavior by the Bush team can result in criminal charges--and not just your run of the mill charges--they're talking espionage. It's so Soviet.
By the way, Alberto, your boss gave away a national security secret last week. He told the world (including "the terrorists") that our borders aren't secure.
posted by rich at 10:22 AM
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Hastert: ‘If You Earn $40,000 a Year and Have a Family of Two Children, You Don’t Pay Any Taxes’
During a late session last night, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL)made a stunning claim on the House floor:
Well, folks, if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two children, you don’t pay any taxes. So you probably, if you don’t pay any taxes, you are not going to get a very big tax cut.
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Hastert, who earns a hefty $212,010 a year salary, doesn’t seem to understand that families across America are facing higher health care costs, mortgage payments, and gas prices. And yes, they also have to pay their taxes.
posted by rich at 9:20 AM
Feingold, Specter Clash Over Gay Marriage
WASHINGTON - A Senate committee approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage Thursday, after a shouting match that ended when one Democrat strode out and the Republican chairman bid him "good riddance."
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Amid increasing partisan tension over President Bush's judicial nominees and domestic wiretapping, the panel voted along party lines to send the constitutional amendment — which would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages — to the full Senate, where it stands little chance of passing.
posted by rich at 8:37 AM
At Least 18 Iraqis Killed in Attacks
BAGHDAD, Iraq - As Iraqis awaited the final formation of their new national unity government, at least 18 people were killed and a police chief narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in attacks in the country's two largest cities Thursday.
posted by rich at 8:34 AM
Up to 105 Die in Fierce Afghan Violence
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Some of the fiercest violence since the Taliban's 2001 ouster erupted across Afghanistan, with coalition forces engaging in multiple firefights, two suicide car bombs and a massive rebel assault on a small village. Up to 105 people were killed.The estimates of Taliban fighters and suicide bombers killed ranged up to 87, with 14 Afghan police, an American civilian, an Afghan civilian and a Canadian soldier also killed in the multiple attacks late Wednesday and Thursday, officials said.
posted by rich at 8:31 AM
DNA Study Maps Human-Chimp Split
NEW YORK - One of the most detailed comparisons yet of human and chimp DNA shows that the split between the two species was a long, messy affair that may even have featured an unusual evolutionary version of breakup sex.Previous genetic research has shown that chimpanzees and humans are sister species, having split off from a common ancestor about 7 million years ago. The new study goes farther by looking at approximately 800 times more DNA than earlier efforts.
That additional data make it possible to determine not just when, but how the split happened.
"For the first time we're able to see the details written out in the DNA," said Eric Lander, one of the collaborators on the study. "What they tell us at the least is that the human-chimp speciation was very unusual."
Unusual, indeed. The researchers, from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, propose that humans and chimpanzees first split up about 10 million years ago. Then, after evolving in different directions for about 4 million years, they got back together for a brief fling that produced a third, hybrid population with characteristics of both lines.
That genetic collaboration then gave rise to two separate branches — one leading to humans and the other to chimps.
The work has inspired both admiration and skepticism. Many paleontologists have a hard time believing that some of the fossil humans that are known to have lived during that era could have been pairing up with apes.
"It's a totally cool and extremely clever analysis," said Daniel Lieberman, a professor of biological anthropology at Harvard who wasn't involved in the study. "My problem is imagining what it would be like to have a bipedal hominid and a chimpanzee viewing each other as appropriate mates — not to put it too crudely."
Past studies that compared human and chimp DNA could only average the differences between a limited number of spots in their genetic codes to come up with a single date for the split, rather than a span of years. The genius of the new study is that it breaks the genetic code into pieces and then looks at each section individually.
Surprisingly, some genes differ so much between the two species that they must not have been mixing for the past 10 million years. But others are similar enough that they appear to have been in contact no more than 6.3 million years ago.
That finding, and some details about which particular genes split when, led the study's authors to propose their controversial scenario.
The new data also suggest the final human-chimp split was much more recent than the 7 million-year date that fossils and previous studies indicate — certainly no earlier than 6.3 million years ago, and more likely in the neighborhood of 5.4 million years.
posted by rich at 4:18 PM
Religious right Republicans now attacking straight unmarried couples
And you thought the religious right Republicans were only interested in telling gays how to live? Well, now they're telling straight unmarried couples that they no rights either.
The city council has rejected a measure allowing unmarried couples with multiple children to live together, and the mayor said those who fall into that category could soon face eviction.
Olivia Shelltrack and Fondrey Loving were denied an occupancy permit after moving into a home in this St. Louis suburb because they have three children and are not married.
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Vessels
Congrats, ladies, you are now supposed to live your life to ensure the health of your uterus.New federal guidelines ask all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves -- and to be treated by the health care system -- as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon.
Among other things, this means all women between first menstrual period and menopause should take folic acid supplements, refrain from smoking, maintain a healthy weight and keep chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes under control.
While most of these recommendations are well known to women who are pregnant or seeking to get pregnant, experts say it's important that women follow this advice throughout their reproductive lives, because about half of pregnancies are unplanned and so much damage can be done to a fetus between conception and the time the pregnancy is confirmed.
The recommendations aim to "increase public awareness of the importance of preconception health" and emphasize the "importance of managing risk factors prior to pregnancy," said Samuel Posner, co-author of the guidelines and associate director for science in the division of reproductive health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which issued the report.
posted by rich at 8:52 AM
Columbine Video Game Draws Relatives' Ire
DENVER - An online game based on the Columbine High School massacre is drawing criticism from relatives of those who died in the 1999 attack, including a father who says it trivializes the actions of the two teen killers.
posted by rich at 8:43 AM
Bush Reverses Stand on Spy Program Oversight
Full Senate and House Intelligence Committees to Review SurveillanceWASHINGTON (May 17) - The White House, in an abrupt reversal, has agreed to let the full Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees review President George W. Bush's domestic spying program, lawmakers said on Tuesday.
posted by rich at 8:35 AM
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Militants Kill 18 in Baghdad Parking Lot
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen raided a parking lot and blew up a parked oil tanker in northeastern Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 18 people and injuring at least 37, police said.
posted by rich at 9:07 AM
Bush: U.S. Not Listening to Domestic Calls
WASHINGTON - President Bush insisted Tuesday that the United States does not listen in on domestic telephone conversations among ordinary Americans. But he sidestepped whether the National Security Agency compiles phone records on millions of people.
posted by rich at 9:04 AM
Bush to Say Border Not Fully Under Control
WASHINGTON - President Bush is to order as many as 6,000 National Guard troops to increase enforcement at the Mexican border, part of a $1.9 billion drive to tighten security and win conservative backing in Congress for a broad election-year overhaul of the nation's tattered immigration laws.
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It would be funny if it weren't so sad
A BBC article about the Stasi, the dreaded former East German secret police, includes the following photo and caption that is, I suppose, intended to chill us to our bone with evidence of how bad the Stasi was.
"The secret Statsi police kept secret files on millions of East Germans."
posted by rich at 10:01 AM
More problems with Diebold voting machines
This time it's considered to be the most serious problem yet.
The machines, made by Diebold Elections Systems, are "much, much easier to attack than anything we've previously said," said Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer science professor who first cast doubt on the reliability of the technology in a 2003 report.
"On a scale of one to 10, if the problems we found before were a six, this is a 10. It's a totally different ballgame," he said.
posted by rich at 9:55 AM
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Obama blasts the Bush spin on Iraq
In all the excitement yesterday we almost missed this. Could it be that someone has actually exposed the fact that Bush doesn't have a "plan for victory" beyond just saying the words? Obama nails it. The Bush administration does slogans, public relations and spin. They don't have a serious plan in Iraq beyond that:"This idea," Obama said, "that somehow if you say the words 'plan for victory' and 'stay the course' over and over and over and over again and you put these subliminal messages behind you that say 'victory' and 'victory' and 'victory,' that somehow people are not going to notice the 2,400 flag-draped coffins that have arrived at the Dover Air Force Base."
The Bush team wants to stay the course. What course? Democrats need to change the course.
posted by rich at 9:42 AM
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Plane Carrying Kennedy Hit by Lightning
BOSTON - A plane carrying U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) from western Massachusetts to his home on the coast was struck by lightning Saturday and had to be diverted to New Haven, Conn., his spokeswoman said.
posted by rich at 12:21 PM
Cheney Notes Add Twist to CIA Leak Probe
WASHINGTON - The prosecutor in the CIA leak case said more than six months ago that he was not alleging any criminal acts by Vice President Dick Cheney regarding the leak of agency operative Valerie Plame's identity.
Today, the prosecutor is leaving the door open to the possibility that the vice president's now-indicted former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, was acting at his boss' behest when Libby allegedly leaked information about Plame to reporters.
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Fox News Host On NSA Story: Wall Street Won’t Let A ‘Puny Little Traitor…Take Down Our Market’
The Dow was down 120 points today, prompting Fox News’ David Ruder to suggest it was because USA Today made “the country less safe” by running its story on NSA’s data mining.
But Fox News host Brenda Butler disagreed, saying that Wall Street would “not going to let some puny, little traitor, some leaker who went ahead and compromised our national security, take down this, take down our market, take down our country.”
posted by rich at 8:42 AM
Clenis Envy
Poor George. He's stupid and he's ugly and nobody likes him.
Respondents favored Clinton by greater than 2-to-1 margins when asked who did a better job at handling the economy (63 percent Clinton, 26 percent Bush) and solving the problems of ordinary Americans (62 percent Clinton, 25 percent Bush). (Watch whether Americans are getting nostalgic for the Clinton era -- 1:57)
On foreign affairs, the margin was 56 percent to 32 percent in Clinton's favor; on taxes, it was 51 percent to 35 percent for Clinton; and on handling natural disasters, it was 51 percent to 30 percent, also favoring Clinton.
Moreover, 59 percent said Bush has done more to divide the country, while only 27 percent said Clinton had.
When asked which man was more honest as president, poll respondents were more evenly divided, with the numbers -- 46 percent Clinton to 41 percent Bush -- falling within the poll's margin of error. The same was true for a question on handling national security: 46 percent said Clinton performed better; 42 percent picked Bush.
posted by rich at 8:33 AM
Bush considering sending the National Guard to patrol the Mexican border - why?
Because the National Guard hasn't been overstretched enough, what with fighting the war in Iraq and dealing with Hurricane Katrina's aftermath? As always, this makes no sense. We don't have extra troops to spare for some publicity stunt. Gee, we're gonna send troops to stop those Mexican evildoers from - uh, uh, uh - taking jobs that we'd never do?
George Bush is in way over his head and has no idea how to run a country. All he knows is how to hold publicity stunts. And actually, all he knows is how to send soldiers places. That's his solution to everything.
Just invade it.
And by the way, what troops exactly are we planning to use to attack Iran since Bush is now considering stretching our overstretched military even further along the Mexican border? And should some other unexpected crisis come up - oh, say, China invades Taiwan, or North Korea goes crazy - what troops are we going to use then?
Then again, I'm being silly. Forget about the consequences. If it feels good, just do it. That is, after all, what George Bush is best at. Impulsive bad decisions that turn into absolute out of control disasters.
Hey, here's an idea. Maybe Bush can just eavesdrop on all the phone calls in Mexico. I'm not sure why, but that never stopped us before.
posted by rich at 8:17 AM
Iraqi troops killing each other
This is a bizarre turn of events though it shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering the steady stream of sectarian violence in Iraq. What's the spin going to be on this event?
The trouble started when a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army convoy, which police said was made up of Kurdish soldiers. Four soldiers were killed and three were wounded, police said. U.S. military officials put the casualty figure at one dead and 12 wounded.
The wounded were rushed to the civilian Balad Hospital. Police said that as the Kurdish soldiers drove to the hospital, they fired weapons to clear the way, and one Iraqi Shiite civilian was killed.
Shiite soldiers from another Iraqi unit based in Balad rushed to the scene, and the Kurds decided to take their wounded elsewhere, Iraqi police said. Iraqi troops tried to stop them and shots were fired, killing one Shiite soldier, Iraqi police said.
posted by rich at 8:12 AM
posted by rich at 8:07 AM
63%.
Percentage of Americans who think its acceptable that the “National Security Agency has been collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans,” according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
posted by rich at 9:51 AM
Can't Ever Let Monica Go
Tweety's showing the all-time low Gallup polls for all the presidents. Tweety said:Clinton was 43 at his lowest. That includes Monica.
Yes, that includes Monica, but is very deceptive as it implies that during Monica Madness was when Clinton was the most unpopular. Clinton was very popular during Monica Madness and no Gallup poll got anywhere near 43% approval.
The lowest poll number from Druge Day through the end of impeachement was immediately after that day and was 58%. It hit 59% only one more time, and then stayed 60+ until impeachment was over.
posted by rich at 9:34 AM
May 12, 2006 -- The former prosecutor who negotiated the deal that kept President Bill Clinton from being indicted in the probe of his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky has been charged with stalking an ex-girlfriend, a law enforcement official said.
Robert Ray surrendered to cops last night after Manhattan resident Tracy Loughlin, 40, filed a complaint.
"She tried to end it four months ago, but he kept calling her, sending her e-mails and showing up at places he knew she would be," the official said.
posted by rich at 9:27 AM
posted by rich at 9:25 AM
Kentucky's GOP Gov. Indicted
Ernie Fletcher was a protege of Tom DeLay when they were both in the House. Obviously, he learned well:
A grand jury indicted Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) on misdemeanor charges Thursday, accusing him of illegally rewarding political supporters with state jobs since he took office two years ago.
Fletcher was charged with conspiracy, official misconduct and violating a prohibition against political discrimination.
posted by rich at 9:22 AM
O.J. Pulls White Bronco Prank on 'Juiced'
LOS ANGELES (May 12) - In a scene from his new candid-camera program "Juiced," O.J. Simpson pulls a prank involving the infamous white Bronco, drawing criticism from the family of a man he was accused of killing.As part of the pay-per-view show, Simpson pretends to sell the Bronco at a used car lot and boasts to a prospective buyer that he made the vehicle famous, according to a segment aired Thursday on "Inside Edition."
"It was good for me - it helped me get away," Simpson said, referring to the slow-speed, televised police chase that preceded his 1994 arrest on charges of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
posted by rich at 8:59 AM
Copy this and email it to your friends
CNN's Jack Cafferty, today.
CNN's WOLF BLITZER: ...[some wisdom] from Jack Cafferty in New York.
CNN's JACK CAFFERTY: I don't know about wisdom but you'll get a bit of outrage. We better hope nothing happens to Arlen Specter, the Republican head of the Judiciary Committee, because he might be all that's standing between us and a full blown dictatorship in this country. He's vowed to question these phone company executives about volunteering to provide the government with my telephone records and yours, and tens of millions of other Americans.
Shortly after 9-11, AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth began providing the super secret NSA with information on phone calls of millions of our citizens, all part of the war on terror, President Bush says.
Why don't you go find Osama Bin Laden and seal the country's borders and start inspecting the containers that come into our ports?
The President rushed out this morning in the wake of this front page story in USA Today and he declared the government's doing nothing wrong and all of this is just fine.
Is it? Is it legal?
Then why did the Justice Department suddenly drop its investigation of the warrantless spying on citizens? Because the NSA said Justice Department lawyers didn't have the necessary security clearance to do the investigation.
Read that sentence again.
A secret government agency has told our Justice Department that it's not allowed to investigate it. And the Justice Department just says okay and drops the whole thing.
We're in some serious trouble here boys and girls.
Here's the question."Does it concern you that your phone company may be voluntarily providing your phone records to the government without your knowledge or permission?"
If it doesn't it sure as hell ought to.
posted by rich at 4:06 PM
posted by rich at 11:34 AM
NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans - most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.
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The NSA's domestic program, as described by sources, is far more expansive than what the White House has acknowledged. Last year, Bush said he had authorized the NSA to eavesdrop - without warrants - on international calls and international e-mails of people suspected of having links to terrorists when one party to the communication is in the USA. Warrants have also not been used in the NSA's efforts to create a national call database.In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was focused exclusively on international calls. "In other words," Bush explained, "one end of the communication must be outside the United States."
As a result, domestic call records - those of calls that originate and terminate within U.S. borders - were believed to be private.
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C'mon - did anyone - anyone - believe that domestic calls were private?! No one that I know did! This administration is the most invasive administration that has ever existed in this country. And now they want a database of every call ever made in this country? Man, the communists could only dream of being this corrupt and controlling!
Lots more from Americablog
posted by rich at 8:46 AM
posted by rich at 11:15 AM
TDS: Hayden/Goss-Bush speak
What are the odds that Bush would use almost the exact same words to nominate Porter Goss, as he would to nominate Gen. Hayden? Don't answer that.Bush:He's the right man--at this critical moment--in our nation's history.
posted by rich at 9:24 AM
GOP Reaches Deal on Tax Cuts
$70 Billion Measure Would Extend BreaksHouse and Senate Republican negotiators reached a final agreement yesterday on a five-year, nearly $70 billion tax package that would extend President Bush's deep cuts to tax rates on dividends and capital gains, while sparing about 15 million middle-income Americans from the alternative minimum tax.
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But with the budget deficit still expected to exceed $300 billion this year, despite a strong economy, opponents say the government cannot afford to add $70 billion more over the next five years."The point is the preponderance of these revenues will go to upper-income people, people who make a million dollars or more," Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) said yesterday. "It's a question of priorities."
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Critics maintain that those tax cuts have overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy, while budget cuts target programs for the poor to close a deficit created largely by tax cuts totaling nearly $2 trillion since Bush took office.Middle-income households would receive an average tax cut of $20 from the agreement, according to the joint Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, while 0.02 percent of households with incomes over $1 million would receive average tax cuts of $42,000.
posted by rich at 9:10 AM
Ex-NSA Chief Blasts Taps, Calls for CIA Breakup
Former NSA director Admiral Bobby Ray Inman lashed out at the Bush administration Monday night over its continued use of warrantless domestic wiretaps – and called for the CIA to be broken up in two.It's one of the first times a former high-ranking intelligence official has criticized the program in public, analysts say. "This activity is not authorized," Inman said, as part of a panel discussion on eavesdropping, sponsored by the New York Public Library. The Bush administration "need[s] to get away from the idea that they can continue doing it."
(DefenseTech.org)
First seen at Americablog
posted by rich at 9:01 AM
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Mary Cheney calls John Kerry a "son of a bitch" for using gays for political gain, but not a word about George Bush or dear old dad doing the same
Cheney saves her harshest words for Bush's 2004 opponents, calling Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry a "son of a bitch'' and his running mate, John Edwards, a "total slime'' for discussing her sexual orientation during nationally televised debates during the campaign....
In her interview with Diane Sawyer, Cheney said of Bush: "I think he's a very good man. On these issues, he hasn't caught up.''
Cheney is less generous to Kerry and Edwards, who she accuses of "sleazy'' politics for mentioning she was gay during debates with Bush and her father.
"John Kerry didn't 'out me', nor did he offend or attack me by calling me a lesbian. It wasn't a secret that I was gay, and I certainly couldn't be offended by the truth,'' she writes. ``What was offensive was that he was obviously trying to use me and my sexual orientation for his own political gain.''
Sitting in the studio audience when Edwards mentioned her sexual orientation, Cheney said she looked at the vice-presidential candidate and mouthed the words"Go F*** Yourself'' a phrase her father had earlier employed against Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy.
posted by rich at 8:52 AM
posted by rich at 8:45 AM
posted by rich at 8:43 AM
Experts: U.S. Hasty in Brushoff of Iran
TEHRAN, Iran - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's abrupt dismissal of a letter from Iran's president might only strengthen hardline attitudes and mistrust of America, some Iranians warned Tuesday.As President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a high-profile visit to a key Muslim country, Indonesia, a former top Iranian official said Rice's response will give new justification to those who oppose ties with the U.S.
posted by rich at 12:06 PM
Democrats Oppose GOP Health Coverage Bill
WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats vowed Tuesday to fight provisions in Republican-backed legislation that they charged would reduce health insurance coverage for millions who already have it.
posted by rich at 12:02 PM
The party in Washington continues as Republicans plan to raise the debt ceiling -- AGAIN! This will be the fifth year in a row that the Republican leadership plans to borrow more than leagally allowed.
posted by rich at 11:54 AM
EXCLUSIVE: CIA Nominee Hayden Linked to
While director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden contracted the services of a top executive at the company at the center of the Cunningham bribery scandal, according to two former employees of the company.
Hayden, President Bush's pick to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA, contracted with MZM Inc. for the services of Lt. Gen. James C. King, then a senior vice president of the company, the sources say. MZM was owned and operated by Mitchell Wade, who has admitted to bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with $1.4 million in money and gifts. Wade has also reportedly told investigators he helped arrange for prostitutes to entertain the disgraced lawmaker, and he continues to cooperate with a federal inquiry into the matter.
posted by rich at 11:28 AM
Foggo's departure is pretty standard stuff, apparently
CNN does a fantastic job of regurgitating the GOP talking points on this newest scandal. I hadn't realized that Foggo, who was plucked from obscurity at the CIA to take the #3 job, was just following standard procedure and leaving. Gosh. Here I thought it had something to do with his old friend and convicted criminal Wilkes. Josh Marshall raised the question yesterday about the story lines out there and this CNN article seems to be more of the same. Why does it look like the media is helping the GOP with this scandal, providing them with plenty of cover when it's obvious it just doesn't add up?
Goss announced his resignation Friday after what intelligence sources described as a power struggle with National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.
Intelligence officials said Foggo's departure would be "pretty standard" because the executive director "tends to follow the CIA director's career trajectory."
posted by rich at 10:13 AM
posted by rich at 10:10 AM
U.S. Newborn Survival Rate Ranks Low
CHICAGO (May 9) - America may be the world's superpower, but its survival rate for newborn babies ranks near the bottom among modern nations, better only than Latvia.Among 33 industrialized nations, the United States is tied with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia with a death rate of nearly 5 per 1,000 babies, according to a new report. Latvia's rate is 6 per 1,000.
"We are the wealthiest country in the world, but there are still pockets of our population who are not getting the health care they need," said Mary Beth Powers, a reproductive health adviser for the U.S.-based Save the Children, which compiled the rankings based on health data from countries and agencies worldwide.
The U.S. ranking is driven partly by racial and income health care disparities. Among U.S. blacks, there are 9 deaths per 1,000 live births, closer to rates in developing nations than to those in the industrialized world.
posted by rich at 9:08 AM
posted by rich at 9:01 AM
Bush approval rating hits new low
WASHINGTON — President Bush's approval rating has slumped to 31% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the lowest of his presidency and a warning sign for Republicans in the November elections.
posted by rich at 3:20 PM
Feingold to Democrats: Stand Up to Bush
WASHINGTON - Sen. Russ Feingold, a potential anti-war candidate in the 2008 presidential field, urged fellow Democrats on Monday to show more backbone in challenging President Bush on Iraq.
posted by rich at 3:16 PM
Study: Lesbians' Brains React Differently
WASHINGTON - Lesbians' brains react differently to sex hormones than those of heterosexual women, new research indicates. That's in line with an earlier study that had indicated gay men's brain responses were different from straight men — though the difference for men was more pronounced than has now been found in women.
posted by rich at 3:13 PM
posted by rich at 3:10 PM
FBI Investigates No. 3 CIA Official
WASHINGTON - The FBI is investigating whether the No. 3 official at the CIA improperly intervened in the award of contracts to a businessman who has been implicated in a congressional bribery scandal, a law enforcement official said Monday.CIA Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo already was under investigation by the agency's inspector general in connection with his relationship to San Diego businessman Brent Wilkes.
posted by rich at 3:06 PM
posted by rich at 3:04 PM
CIA turmoil grows.
“Dusty Foggo, the executive director of the CIA linked to a bribery investigation, is expected to resign soon, according to CIA officials and his associates,” ABC News reports. More on Foggo’s role in the Cunningham scandal HERE.
posted by rich at 10:28 AM
Cheney: Be democratic unless you have oil
Yes, it's hard to envision Dick Cheney as the mouthpiece for democracy. But the true lesson from his freedom tour is that in Bush/Cheney world, oil trumps democracy:
Vice President Dick Cheney made democratic reform his calling card throughout his just-completed overseas trip - everywhere except Kazakhstan, a land judged poor in human rights but rich in oil and gas.
"Obviously Kazakhstan is important given their considerable resources," the vice president told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force Two on the way home. "It's one of the few places where we're going to see an increase in oil production from a non-OPEC state over the next few years."
posted by rich at 10:05 AM
Women Urged to Get 'Morning After' Pill
WASHINGTON - Get an advance prescription for emergency contraception so it will be on hand if you need it, the nation's largest gynecologist group advised women Monday.The new campaign aims to increase access to the morning-after pill following the Bush administration's refusal to allow the emergency birth control to be sold over the counter nationwide.
posted by rich at 9:50 AM
Economic Health May Be in Eye of Beholder
WASHINGTON - America's economy is strong. Or it's in trouble. It just depends on who's talking. Trying to retool his message and right his listing presidency, President Bush is speaking out more frequently and forcefully on the economy.
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Across town, Democrats are peddling a different message: Soaring gasoline and health care costs are burdening ordinary people; mortgage costs and credit card rates are on the rise; jobs are threatened by outsourcing.As for those tax cuts treasured by Bush, Democrats argue they have benefited mainly the wealthy.
"There's no sharing in the prosperity that the president likes to herald," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said.
posted by rich at 9:46 AM
posted by rich at 9:36 AM
posted by rich at 9:34 AM
NPR’s Liasson Falsely Claims “It’s Democrats, Not Just Republicans Taking Money From Abramoff”
Today on Fox News Sunday, NPR’s Mara Liasson asserted that members of both parties accepted money from Jack Abramoff, who has plead guilty to fraud, public corruption and tax evasion:I think every time you hear another one of these kind of bipartisan scandal stories, where it’s Democrats, not just Republicans taking money from Abramoff, it underlines a feeling that people tell pollsters over and over again, that everybody does it.
It’s not true. Jack Abramoff has never contributed a dime to a Democrat.Some of Jack Abramoff’s tribal clients donated money to Democrats. But an analysis commissioned by the American Prospect found that, after hiring Abramoff, most clients “dramatically ratcheted up donations to Republicans.” Meanwhile, “donations to Democrats from the same clients either dropped, remained largely static or, in two cases, rose by a far smaller percentage than the ones to Republicans did.”
In this instance, the perception that “everybody does it” is being driven by the media, not the facts.
posted by rich at 11:43 AM
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Goss's possible connection to Hookergate
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Hayden, the proposed replacement, doesn't know the 4th amendment
posted by rich at 10:21 AM
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Crooks and LIars has a clip of a ring wing radio show saying that bush is the worst president ever! Now, haven't the rest of us been saying that for 5 years?
posted by rich at 10:15 AM
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BAGHDAD — More Iraqi civilians were killed in Baghdad during the first three months of this year than at any time since the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime — at least 3,800, many of them found hogtied and shot execution-style.
Others were strangled, electrocuted, stabbed, garroted or hanged. Some died in bombings. Many bore signs of torture such as bruises, drill holes, burn marks, gouged eyes or severed limbs.
Every day, about 40 bodies arrive at the central Baghdad morgue, an official said. The numbers demonstrate a shift in the nature of the violence, which increasingly has targeted both sides of the country's SunniShiite sectarian divide.
posted by rich at 10:07 AM
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Newly released DeLay/Abramoff emails undermine DeLay's spin
(Americablog)
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It just goes to show the arrogance of these repugs - they used emails to contact others regarding the illegal activities they were involved in. I guess they thought that there would never be an investigation since they have gotten away with so much for so long.
posted by rich at 10:01 AM
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Democratic agenda for their first week in power begins to emerge
We'll have plenty of time to ruminate over the specifics of the Democratic plan. But, it's actually good to see the Democratic leaders talking confidently about the agenda they'll implement when they achieve control of the House:House Democrats have formulated a plan of action for their first week in control. Their leaders said a Democratic House would quickly vote to raise the minimum wage for the first time since 1997. It would roll back a provision in the Republicans' Medicare prescription drug benefit that prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services from negotiating prices for drugs offered under the program.
It would vote to fully implement the recommendations of the bipartisan panel convened to shore up homeland security after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Democratic leaders said.
And it would reinstate lapsed rules that say any tax cuts or spending increases have to be offset by spending cuts or tax increases to prevent the federal deficit from growing.
Seriously, when was the last time anyone saw a headline with the words "Confident Democrats." They're playing to win.
posted by rich at 9:52 AM
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Bush's "best moment" as Prez: catching a fish in his lake
Most Americans couldn't name a best moment for Bush either. But he's been President for over five years and his best moment was catching a fish? That says a lot. He really is the WORST PRESIDENT EVER:"You know, I've experienced many great moments and it's hard to name the best," Bush told weekly Bild am Sonntag when asked about his high point since becoming president in January 2001.
"I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake," he told the newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.
And people wonder why the country is such a mess. He's beyond pathetic. Now, the traditional media will love this and talk about what a "regular guy" Bush is. The scary thing is that Bush probably means it. For him, catching a fish has been the high point of his presidency. For the rest of us, there aren't any best moments.
posted by rich at 9:42 AM
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Cardinal urges legal action against Da Vinci Code
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In the latest Vatican broadside against "The Da Vinci Code," a leading cardinal says Christians should respond to the book and film with legal action because both offend Christ and the Church he founded.
posted by rich at 9:27 AM
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Car Bombs Rock Baghdad, Karbala; 16 Dead
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two car bombs rocked northern Baghdad within a span of half an hour on Sunday while another struck a Shiite holy city to the south in attacks that killed at least 16 and wounded dozens, officials said.
The attacks came a day after a British Lynx military helicopter was apparently shot down in the southern city of Basra, triggering unrest as jubilant Iraqis pelted British troops with stones and firebombs.
posted by rich at 9:15 AM
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