One person's plea for sanity and the continuation of the human race in an insane world.
MONTREAL (AFP) - An enormous ice shelf broke away from Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic last year, researchers said, warning it could be another symptom of global warming.The 66-square-kilometer (25.5-square-mile) ice island tore away from Ellesmere, a huge strip of land in the Canadian Arctic close to Greenland.
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Ah, the cover-up is worse than the (alleged) crime.
A local district attorney announced today he won't seek to indict the Nevada governor-elect for drunkenly assaulting a cocktail waitress in a parking garage in the middle of the night, AP reports. But the DA and his staff will investigate the woman's claims that those around the governor attempted to keep Mazzeo from telling her story to police.
Former Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) won his state's governorship just weeks after 32-year-old Chrissy Mazzeo accused him of assaulting her in a parking garage after drinking with her and friends for most of the evening. The local police had earlier declined to pursue the matter, and passed the investigation to the DA.
(TPM Muckraker)
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but will justice ever be served? not holding my breath...
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Norton sails through the revolving door. “Gale Norton is back providing oversight of energy development issues on public lands in the American West, this time as a key legal advisor for a major global oil company. Months after she resigned her cabinet post as President Bush’s Interior Secretary — and then seemed to disappear from public view — the Coloradan apparently has accepted an offer to serve as counsel for Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Shell, one of the world’s largest producers of oil, was also one of the companies that Norton’s Interior Department routinely engaged on matters of drilling in sensitive ecological settings.”
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From the White House's mouth to CNN's ... mouth?. (Media Matters)
Summary: CNN's adoption of the phrase "listening mode" to describe President Bush's reaction to the Iraq Study Group report is just the latest example of CNN journalists' repeating White House phrases without challenge and reporting Bush administration talking points as fact
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CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush worked nearly three hours at his Texas ranch on Thursday to design a new U.S. policy in Iraq , then emerged to say that he and his advisers need more time to craft the plan he'll announce in the new year.Burdened by low approval ratings on his handling of the war, the president is under mounting pressure to come up with a new blueprint for U.S. involvement in Iraq where the execution of Saddam Hussein — perhaps as early as this weekend — could incite further violence.
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NBC's Kelly O'Donnell: "Congress has not passed a specific law" on Bush wiretap programIn reporting on President Bush's "argu[ment]" that "he had legal authority" to order warrantless domestic wiretapping, NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell in a December 20 online article uncritically repeated the Bush administration's false claim that "Congress had not passed a specific law" on the subject.
In fact, as has been widely reported and as Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, Congress has passed such a law: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), which requires the government to obtain a warrant to wiretap U.S. citizens and legal residents inside the United States. The Bush administration's apparent violation of FISA has given rise to bipartisan condemnation.
(Media Matters)
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BANGKOK, Thailand - The discovery of fossilized remains of a mouse-like animal that lived at least 16 million years ago is the first hard evidence that New Zealand had its own indigenous land mammals, a researcher said Thursday.New Zealand paleontologist Trevor Worthy and his team say they discovered two parts of a jaw and a femur (thighbone) — about the size of a fingernail — during digs in New Zealand's Central Otago region from 2002 until 2004. Their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.Worthy said the creature probably looked like a "little rat," weighing around 3.5 ounces and measuring about 4 inches with a pointy snout.Until now, the only fossils discovered in New Zealand were those of flying mammals like bats as well as birds and marine mammals, Worthy said, adding that his team had earlier discovered fossils from 24 bird species and a crocodile at the same hilly site in Central Otago that once was a huge lake."Scientists have long held the view that New Zealand has this weird and wonderful avian biota that lived on the ground because there were no mammals to impede or compete with birds," said Worthy, of the University of Adelaide in Australia."It appears that this little mouse-like animal was part of the fauna on the ancient Gondwana supercontinent and it got stuck on New Zealand when the latter separated more than 80 million years ago," he told The Associated Press.About 100 million years ago, most land masses were part of a southern supercontinent called Gondwana which included Antarctica, South America, Africa, Madagascar, Australia-New Guinea, and New Zealand. New Zealand is believed to have split from Gondwana about 82 million years ago and other continents soon followed.Worthy — who conducted the research with New Zealander Alan Tennyson and Australians Michael Archer among others — also said the discovery cast doubt on theories that New Zealand was submerged from 25 million to 30 million years ago and later re-colonized by plant and animal species from nearby land masses like Australia."The mouse-like animal was living in New Zealand about 16 million to 19 million years ago," he said. "The inference you can then make is that animal has a history where its ancestors lived on New Zealand from the time New Zealand split from Gondwana." Worthy said its ancestors could have lived up to 82 million years ago.But other paleontologists said there is not enough evidence to support Worthy's hypotheses, noting fossil fragments found so far are more like tantalizing clues than solid proof that this was a land-roaming mammal rather than a bat."I think it's interesting but I think they need to find better stuff," said Tom Rich, the curator of vertebrae paleontology at the Museum Victoria in Melbourne. "What they have now is tantalizing but ... it is not definitive. If they had one tooth in that jaw, that would make a lot of difference. A tooth, in particular molar, would be decisive in determining whether you have a terrestrial mammal or a bat."Worthy acknowledged more fossils must be found, but only to learn more about the land mammals' origins. His team will return to the Central Otago site from Jan. 6-16 for additional research."We'll get more bones with any kind of luck and we'll be able to improve our interpretation of its family tree," he said.
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GREER, S.C. - Sam Brownback said Thursday that conservative values like opposition to abortion and gay marriage will distinguish him from others vying for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
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ROCKY MOUNT, Va. - A congressman said Thursday that he will not retract a letter warning that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims will be elected" and use the Quran to take the oath of office.Republican Rep. Virgil Goode (news, bio, voting record) triggered angry responses from a civil rights group and some colleagues with a letter this month to constituents concerned about a decision by Rep.-elect Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to use the Quran when he is sworn in."I will not be putting my hand on the Quran," Goode said at a news conference Thursday at the Franklin County Courthouse.Goode, who represents Virginia's 5th Congressional District, said he is receiving more positive comments from constituents than negative."One lady told me she thinks I'm doing the right thing on this," he told Fox News. "I wish more people would take a stand and stand up for the principles on which this country was founded."Goode also told Fox News he wants to limit legal immigration and do away with "diversity visas," which he said let in people "not from European countries" and "some terrorist states."In his letter, Goode wrote that strict immigration polices are necessary "to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America.""The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran," he wrote.Ellison said Thursday that Goode and others had nothing to fear about Muslims."They are our nurses, doctors, husbands, wives, kids, who just want to live and prosper in the American way," Ellison, a Democrat from Minneapolis, said Thursday on CNN when asked what he would say to Goode if they met. "All of us are steadfastly opposed to the same people he's opposed to, which is terrorists, and so there's nothing for him to be afraid of."Asked whether he thought Goode was a bigot, Ellison said, "I don't know the fellow, and I'd rather just say that he has a lot to learn about Islam. ... I don't want to start any name-calling."Virginia's senior senator, Republican John Warner, said in a statement Thursday that he respects the right of congressional members to freely "exercise the religion of their choice, including those of the Islamic faith utilizing the Quran."Rep. Rahm Emanuel (news, bio, voting record), an Illinois Democrat who is Jewish, said Thursday that he hoped Goode would meet with Ellison, saying he would "see what I saw: a good American with good values of a different faith who's trying to do right by the people he represents."The Council on American-Islamic Relations had asked Goode to apologize, saying the remarks sent "a message of intolerance that is unworthy of anyone elected to public office."Ellison was born in Detroit and converted to Islam in college.His decision to use the Quran at his ceremonial swearing-in next month prompted criticism from conservative talk radio host Dennis Prager. The American-Islamic relations council has called for Prager's removal from the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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Virgin birth expected for Komodo dragon in UK zoo
LONDON (Reuters) - Flora, a pregnant Komodo dragon living in a British zoo, is expecting eight babies in what scientists said on Wednesday could be a Christmas virgin birth.
Flora has never mated, or even mixed, with a male dragon, and fertilized all the eggs herself, a process culminating in parthenogenesis, or virgin birth. Other lizards do this, but scientists only recently found that Komodo dragons do too.
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FBI investigates N.Y. Senate leader
ALBANY, N.Y. - The majority leader of the New York state Senate announced that the FBI is investigating him and his private consulting business.Joseph Bruno, who will be the state's top Republican in January, said Tuesday he was told by the FBI in late spring that he was being investigated. The 77-year-old lawmaker said he doesn't know exactly what investigators are looking for, but he has cooperated.
posted by rich at 5:48 PM
Pope Benedict XVI urged Christians on Wednesday to defend the spirit of Christmas against secular trends during his last general audience before the holiday.
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Lou Dobbs Tonight caption: "Do-Nothing Dems?"
A December 19 report on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight featured the graphic "Do-Nothing Dems?" But, as the report noted, Democrats will not actually assume control of Congress for a little over two weeks.
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Congressman: ‘I Fear…We Will Have Many More Muslims In The United States’
Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) issued a letter to constituents earlier this month in which he declares, “I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States” if we do not adopt “strict immigration policies.” The letter was inadvertently sent to a local progressive activist, who shared it with the C-Ville Weekly newspaper.
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28 percent. Percent of Americans who support President Bush’s management of the war in Iraq, a record low, down from 34 percent in October. A record 70 percent “said they disapproved of his handling of the nearly 4-year-old war.”
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9th ward “remains all but vacant.” Sixteen months after flood waters surged through New Orleans’ 9th Ward following the landfall of Hurricane Katrina and the bursting of levees, the devastated section of the city “remains all but vacant,” The Times-Picayune reports today. Only 3 percent of the ward’s homeowners have applied for electrical permits — “enough to power only 152 houses.“
posted by rich at 7:32 PM
Right-Wing Think Tank Advocating Two-Year U.S. Troop Escalation In Iraq ÂHas The PresidentÂs EarÂ
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FLASHBACK: Bush Insisted The ‘Sober Judgment of Our Military Leaders’ Would Determine Troop LevelsThe White House is “aggressively promoting” a plan to send “15,000 to 30,000 more troops” to Iraq “over the unanimous disagreement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” the Washington Post reports today. “The Pentagon has cautioned that a modest surge could lead to more attacks by al-Qaeda, provide more targets for Sunni insurgents and fuel the jihadist appeal for more foreign fighters to flock to Iraq to attack U.S. troops.”
Bush has repeatedly insisted that troop levels were determined by military commanders. A year ago, Bush said he would not raise troop levels because the “commanders tell me they have the number of troops they need to do their job.” “As we determine the right force level,” Bush said, “our troops can know that I will continue to be guided by the advice that matters: the sober judgment of our military leaders.”
(Think Progress)
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“Saddam Hussein had more legal counsel than I ever had.” – Navy veteran Donald Vance, who “went to Iraq as a security contractor, became a whistle-blower about possible illegal weapons trading at the firm for which he was working, and ended up being erroneously detained for 97 days at the military’s maximum-security detention facility in Baghdad.”
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Southern Methodist University Staff Fiercely Protest Bush Presidential Library
The New York Daily News reported last month that President Bush and “his truest believers” are launching “their final campaign — an eye-popping, half-billion-dollar drive for the Bush presidential library.”Bush is attempting to raise $500 million to build a library and think tank at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, the alma mater of First Lady Laura Bush. “The more [money] you have, the more influence [on history] you can exert,” one adviser said. Much of the money will be used to build a “legacy-polishing” institute:
The legacy-polishing centerpiece is an institute, which several Bush insiders called the Institute for Democracy. Patterned after Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, Bush’s institute will hire conservative scholars and “give them money to write papers and books favorable to the President’s policies,” one Bush insider said.
Now, SMU faculty, administrators, and staff are speaking out. In a December 16 letter to R. Gerald Turner, president of the Board of Trustees, members of SMU’s Perkins School of Theology have urged the board to “reconsider and to rescind SMU’s pursuit of the presidential library.”
We count ourselves among those who would regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends.
The letter concludes, “[T]hese violations are antithetical to the teaching, scholarship, and ethical thinking that best represents Southern Methodist University.”
(Think Progress)
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Wow - these people sound like they believe in a god who is not a genocidal maniac like bush and is actually the liberal that Jesus was supposed to be!
posted by rich at 6:32 PM
January 20, 2001 - December 18, 2006.Donald Rumsfeld’s term as Secretary of Defense is officially over.
(Think Progress)
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Think that there's any chance that we'll actually accomplish something now?
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Boehner, King Distort Pelosi Quote, Falsely Claim She Has Broken 9/11 Commission Pledge
Top House conservatives are attacking incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) over comments she made today about her new plan for intelligence reform, which involves creating a “hybrid” panel with members of the intelligence and appropriations committees.The 9/11 Commission report called on Congress to overhaul the congressional intelligence system, but offered two options for achieving this goal (Pelosi chose the second):
For intelligence oversight, we propose two options: either a joint committee on the old model of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy or a single committee in each house combining authorizing and appropriating committees.
At a press conference today, Pelosi was asked why she had decided against “creating a joint House‑Senate intelligence body.” Pelosi explained that the 9/11 Commission had provided multiple options for intel reform, and “if they are giving you different alternatives, then implicit in that is that you can’t do them all.”
The right wing has now jumped on this quote, claiming it is evidence that Pelosi has abandoned her pledge to enact all of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations.
Peter King (R-NY), the outgoing House Homeland Security Committee chairman, issued a statement claiming Pelosi had “admitted she won’t be able to enact all the 9/11 Commission recommendations,” and called it a “direct contradiction of statements Ms. Pelosi has made in the past.” Outgoing House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) referenced Pelosi’s quote and said he “appreciate[s] the candor she has demonstrated” with respect to her “promise of enacting all of the remaining unresolved recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.”
These claims are misleading and wrong. Pelosi’s intelligence proposal is in line with the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations. Already, 9/11 Commissioner Timothy Roemer has said Pelosi’s plan would “achieve the commission’s two major goals,” calling it “a major step forward.” House conservatives, meanwhile, refused to take such a step and earned a “D” for their efforts on intelligence reform from the commission.
(Think Progress)
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They're demanding that she do something that is literally impossible while they did nothing whatsoever.
Not a surprise, though...
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Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) update: Admiral John Eisold, Attending Physician of the United States Capitol said, “Senator Tim Johnson has continued to have an uncomplicated post-operative course. Specifically, he has been appropriately responsive to both word and touch. No further surgical intervention has been required.”
posted by rich at 5:37 PM
New Jersey approves civil unions. “Lawmakers in the U.S. state of New Jersey legalized same-sex civil unions on Thursday to give gay and lesbian couples the same rights as marriage but would not allow such partnerships to be called ‘marriage.’” BlueJersey and Garden State Equality have commentary.
posted by rich at 5:35 PM
Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen, has been detained for four years without formal charges, much of it in solitary confinement. He is now a broken human being:The original accusations against him — “about the dirty bomb, Al Qaeda connections and supposed plans to set off natural gas explosions in apartment buildings — appear nowhere in the indictment against him.”Saying that there was ’sufficient cause” to conduct a competency hearing, the government, in papers filed yesterday, urged the judge to do so.
The government itself cited the affidavit of a psychiatrist for the defense, Dr. Angela Hegarty, who said that Mr. Padilla did not understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him and that he suffered “impairment in reasoning” as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder “complicated by the effects of prolonged isolation.”
Mr. Padilla’s lawyers said he opposed this request that his competency be evaluated. Dr. Hegarty, one of two mental health professionals who examined him, said Mr. Padilla was “fearful of being thought of as crazy.” She described him as “hypervigilant,” his eyes darting about, his face twitching into grimaces, his “startle response” on constant high alert.
posted by rich at 5:33 PM
“I must tell you, I’m sleeping a lot better than people would assume.” — President Bush, in a new interview with People magazine.
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Poll: Arab attitudes toward U.S. more negative
Survey underscores need for shift in U.S. Mideast policy, expert finds
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With Mary Cheney Pregnant, Bush Won’t Say Whether He Still Opposes Gay Adoption
As a presidential candidate in 1999, Bush stated his unequivocal opposition to gay adoption. From the AP, 3/23/99:Bush said he opposes allowing gay couples to adopt. “I believe children ought to be adopted in families with a woman and a man who are married,” he said Monday.
The governor also declined to take a position on whether children already adopted by gays or lesbians should be removed from those homes. “I have no idea whether the children ought to be removed or not removed,” he said. “The question is whether I’m for gay adoption. And the answer is, I’m not.”
Then Mary Cheney, Vice President Cheney’s daughter, got pregnant. The child will be raised by Mary Cheney and her partner Heather Poe. ABC News asked the White House “over and over, if the President, as he declared in 1999, still opposed same sex couples adopting children.” The White House would not answer.
Here’s what Bush had to say a few days ago to People Magazine:
The Vice President took me aside and gave me the good news. He and his wife, Lynne, are very happy for Mary I think Mary is going to be a loving soul to her child. And I’m happy for her.
There must be something about Mary.
(Think Progress)
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There's really nothing he could say. If he says that he supports it, then his "base" will be outraged. If he says he doesn't, then he discredits his VP.
Not a fun spot to be in, though he has no one to blame but himself.
posted by rich at 5:22 PM
Saudis say if US pulls out of Iraq, they may aid Al Qaeda led insurgency
I am speechless.Saudi Arabia has told the Bush administration that it might provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq’s Shiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq, according to American and Arab diplomats....Saudi Arabia is George Bush's good buddy. They're the same people who screwed us with high oil prices, and who were the majority of the hijackers on September 11, and who financed Al Qaeda's attack on the WTC and the Pentagon, and who secretly snuck the bin Laden family out of the US before we could fully question them. It is beyond astounding how badly George Bush and the Republicans have screwed up the world and betrayed our country.
The Saudis have been wary of supporting Sunnis in Iraq because their insurgency there has been led by extremists of Al Qaeda, who are opposed to the kingdom’s monarchy. But if Iraq’s sectarian war worsened, the Saudis would line up with Sunni tribal leaders.
And to think I was worried there'd be nothing to write about if the Democrats ever took back the Congress. It's time to be very afraid for our country, folks. The Republicans have mortgaged our entire future.
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21%. Percentage of Americans who approve of President Bush’s handling of the Iraq war, an all-time low and an 8-point drop from just a month ago, according to a new CBS poll.
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‘A devil food is turning our kids into homosexuals.’ WorldNetDaily columnist Jim Rutz targets soy food. “Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality,” Rutz writes.
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Kofi Was Right
Outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will deliver an address in Independence, MO, today that offers “a blistering criticism of the Bush administration’s foreign policy.” The speech is previewed by Annan in a Washington Post op-ed. Conservative bloggers have already begun their attacks in response:
There’s plenty more laughs in Annan’s goodbye screed. … We wanted to hold Saddam accountable for twelve years of intransigence in relation to 16 UN Security Council resolutions — and Annan opposed the effort.
Good riddance to you and your wagging finger, Kofi Annan. You will not be missed.
The right wing’s hatred of Annan has been fueled in part by the fact that he was a loud and public dissenter in the lead-up to the Iraq war and has never embraced the U.S. involvement in Iraq. Here’s a sampling of what Annan said before the Bush administration launched the war:
Has that moment [for war] arrived? That is the decision that the members of the Security Council now face. It is a grave decision indeed. If they fail to agree on a common position, and some of them then take action without the council’s authority, the legitimacy of that action will be widely questioned, and it will not gain the political support needed to ensure its long-term success, after its military phase. [WSJ, 3/11/03]
“Anything seen as a flimsy, hasty excuse to go to war will create difficulties in the council,” he said. … “The U.S. does seem to have a lower threshold than the others may have” for what constitutes a breach, he said. “The key is that whatever we do must have broad support from allies and the public.” If there is a decision to go to war against Iraq, he said, “the reasons must be seen as reasonable, credible and not contrived.” [Washington Post, 11/14/02]
In an accountable world, President Bush would be hanging a medal around the neck of Kofi Annan, not George Tenet.
(Think Progress)
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Sen. Brownback’s Solution For Iraq: ‘Park’ Cheney ‘In The Region’One of the key recommendations of the Iraq Study Group was direct, unconditional engagement with Iran and Syria. It was quickly rejected by the Bush administration.
This morning on Fox News Sunday, Sen. Sam Brownback — one of the most conservative members of the Senate — embraced the recommendation, but with an unusual twist. Brownback said that the administration should “park” Vice President Cheney in the region, leading the diplomatic effort.
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TEHRAN, Iran - Iran on Monday hosted a conference gathering prominent Holocaust deniers that it said would examine whether the World War II genocide of Jews took place, drawing condemnation from Israel and Germany.The conference was initiated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an apparent attempt to burnish his status at home and abroad as a tough opponent of Israel. The hard-liner president has described the Holocaust as a "myth" and called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
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INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan , in his farewell address, criticized the Bush administration, warning that America must not sacrifice its Democratic ideals while waging war against terrorism.In remarks prepared for delivery Monday at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library, Annan also said the Security Council should be expanded."Human rights and the rule of law are vital to global security and prosperity," Annan's text said. When the U.S. "appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused," he said.
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No questions asked. Iraq Study Group member Lawrence Eagleburger “said after the event that when the group met with Bush, ‘I don’t recall, seriously, that he asked any questions.‘”
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Congress goes home with budget work unfinished
Lawmakers fail to approve 9 of 11 appropriations bills
The 109th Congress is packing its bags for good and leaving town today without enacting nine of the 11 appropriations bills that pay for the federal government. It's a development that has infuriated Democrats, who will have to carry the additional burden of enacting the spending bills when they take control in January, and has left Republicans red-faced."They're going to leave a mess as they go out,'' Democratic House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said Thursday. "It's really sad. The Republicans never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
"It's a spectacular disorder of chaos,'' said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., who will chair the House Appropriations Committee in the 110th Congress. "We will have to run a cleanup brigade.''
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WASHINGTON - Americans are overwhelmingly resigned to something less than clear-cut victory in Iraq and growing numbers doubt the country will achieve a stable, democratic government no matter how the U.S. gets out, according to an AP poll.At the same time, dissatisfaction with President Bush's handling of Iraq has climbed to an alltime high of 71 percent. The latest AP-Ipsos poll, taken as a bipartisan commission was releasing its recommendations for a new course in Iraq, found that just 27 percent of Americans approved of Bush's handling of Iraq, down from his previous low of 31 percent in November.
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Democrats Will Try to Block Pay RaiseWASHINGTON -- Members of Congress are in line for a $3,300 pay raise effective Jan. 1 unless they block it, and Democrats said Thursday they intend to try.
Officials said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California and Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the party's leaders, had notified Republicans they will try to add the anti-pay-raise provision to a bill that provides funds for most government agencies through Feb. 15.
Congress must pass the funding bill before it adjourns for the year, and the target for that is Friday.
Democrats won control of Congress in last month's elections after a campaign in which they frequently criticized majority Republicans for taking pay raises while blocking numerous attempts to raise the minimum wage.
"It is unconscionable that members of congress would get yet another pay raise while the minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for the last 10 years. Senator Reid intends to do all he can to ensure that Congress won't get a raise until working families do," said his spokesman, Jim Manley.
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posted by rich at 7:08 PM
Bush ready to trash EPA lead standards
Doing for the environment what he's done to Iraq and New Orleans. Same same, but different. Who needs a successful program that benefited the American public? Those complaining probably didn't give donations to the GOP so tough luck, I guess. Let's see what Congress has to say.The Bush administration is considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the nation's biggest clean-air accomplishments.Worst president ever.
Battery makers, lead smelters, refiners all have lobbied the administration to do away with the Clean Air Act limits.
posted by rich at 6:10 PM
Romney, the compassionate conservative
He's always there to help those in need. If you liked Bush's compassion, you will love Romney.Social workers and human service providers angry at Gov. Mitt Romney's decision to cut $425 million from the state budget last month converged on Beacon Hill on Wednesday to demand he restore the money.If only they donated to the GOP...
Romney said the cuts were needed to balance the budget, but those who work with the mentally ill, homeless and those battling substance abuse say the cuts made life more difficult for the state's most vulnerable.
"This is not a joke," Michael Weekes of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers told a rally of about 1,000 protesters. "People that have abused children, homeless families, people with mental and physical disabilities -- they are not pork, they are people."
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(Americablog)
Bush says Iran and Syria shouldn't bother to show up to talks unless they accept all of his conditions first
So much for Bush reaching out to Iran and Syria. This man has no intention of doing anything to change the course in Iraq. He's putting demands on other countries as if we're somehow in the position of strength here. He thinks we're winning. And he's going to take us all down with him.
From AP:One of the study group's central recommendations was for the administration to reach out to Syria and Iran for help in stabilizing Iraq, a course Bush has rejected in the past and confronted skeptically on Thursday.
"Countries that participate in talks must not fund terrorism, must help the young democracy survive, must help with the economics of the country," Bush said. "If people are not committed, if Syria and Iran is not committed to that concept, then they shouldn't bother to show up."
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FLASHBACK: McCain Predicted ÂProgress In Iraq ÂA Year From Now If ÂWe Stay The CourseÂ
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is trying to convince the American people that he is the person with the soundest advice about how to proceed in Iraq. On November 12, 2006 he told NBCÂs Tim Russert ÂI believe that a lot of Americans trust my judgment on issues such as [Iraq].ÂHereÂs what McCain said almost exactly a year ago:
ÂI think the situation on the ground is going to improve. I do think that progress is being made in a lot of Iraq. Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course. If I thought we werenÂt making progress, IÂd be despondent. [The Hill, 12/8/05]
Now McCain wants you to believe that sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq would improve Âthe situation on the ground. McCainÂs recommendations were explicitly rejected by the bi-partisan Baker-Hamilton commission.
(Think Progress)
posted by rich at 5:40 PM
The White House ‘had no immediate comment’ on a letter urging President Bush to remove right-wing pundit Dennis Prager from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council for comments he made about the Quran and Muslim Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN). “Earlier Wednesday, before the letter was sent, White House press secretary Tony Snow called the matter ‘an issue that the president does not need to adjudicate and, therefore, will not.‘”
posted by rich at 5:38 PM
Rep. Kingston Defends 3-Day Work Week, Claims Members Can ‘Keep In Touch’ With BlackBerrysRep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) is upset that the new leadership of the 110th Congress plans to work five days a week. From today’s Washington Post:
“Keeping us up here eats away at families,” said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays. “Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families — that’s what this says.”
Today on Fox News, he defended his comments. “With BlackBerrys, cell phones, you can stay in touch with what’s going on in Washington.”
Congress has tried it Kingston’s way and it didn’t work. The 109th Congress — which has “been in session for a grand total of 103 days this year” — “failed to enact a host of once top-priority legislation on issues such as overhauling Social Security, immigration and lobbying laws.” Congress even failed its basic responsibility of providing a budget for the government, completing “just two of the 11 fiscal 2006 appropriation bills.”
(Think Progress)
posted by rich at 5:34 PM
“Important Bush Administration officials are ready to leave the government rather than undergo two years of hell from Democratic committee chairmen in Congress. Leading the exodus are officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), fearing investigation by two chairmen, Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and John Dingell (D-MI),” according to the Evans-Novak Political Report.
posted by rich at 5:32 PM
Bush's religious right pals call preggers Mary Cheney "unconscionable"
It's a story that just BEGS a NY Daily News headline.Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America described the pregnancy as "unconscionable."
"It's very disappointing that a celebrity couple like this would deliberately bring into the world a child that will never have a father," said Crouse, a senior fellow at the group's think tank. "They are encouraging people who don't have the advantages they have."
Crouse said there was no doubt that the news would, in conservatives' eyes, be damaging to the Bush administration, which already has been chided by some leaders on the right for what they felt was halfhearted commitment to anti-abortion and anti-gay-rights causes in this year's general election.
Carrie Gordon Earll, a policy analyst for the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family, expressed empathy for the Cheney family but depicted the newly announced pregnancy as unwise.
"Just because you can conceive a child outside a one-woman, one-man marriage doesn't mean it's a good idea," said. "Love can't replace a mother and a father."
posted by rich at 6:01 PM
posted by rich at 5:58 PM
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Distances Itself From Right-Wing Pundit
Yesterday, ThinkProgress noted that right-wing talk radio host Dennis Prager — who demands that Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), a Muslim, swear in using a Christian Bible — was appointed by President Bush to the taxpayer-funded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.The Holocaust Memorial Museum has now issued a statement distancing itself from Prager. The museum emphasizes that Prager “speaks solely for himself,” and that his statements “do not reflect the position of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.”
The statement also points out that the museum does not have the authority to remove Prager from its board, since he is a presidential appointee.
(Think Progress)
posted by rich at 5:57 PM
10 U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq today in two IED attacks. Fighting in Baghdad and an intense battle in Ramadi led to 191 Iraqis killed or found dead and 91 injured yesterday.
posted by rich at 5:56 PM
Pentagon staffers already replacing Rumsfeld’s picture from the walls of the Pentagon with pictures of Robert Gates, before Gates has even been confirmed, CNN reports.
posted by rich at 5:54 PM
posted by rich at 5:53 PM
Senators rap FBI over domestic spying
WASHINGTON - Senators frustrated by scant details on the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program on Wednesday rapped FBI Director Robert Mueller for refusing to show how it has curbed terrorist activity in the United States.Mueller said he was unable to talk about the warrantless spying program because it is classified.
"What assurances can you provide that the program is worthwhile?" asked Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa. "Have arrests been made? Have terror cells been broken?"
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Kudos to Specter for questioning this illegal activity.
Now can we get bush to follow the law and the constitution?
posted by rich at 5:47 PM
U.S. soldiers in Iraq welcome new plans
RAMADI, Iraq - American troops in one of the most dangerous corners of Iraq welcomed plans for change Wednesday as the Pentagon prepared for a new chief and a bipartisan commission urged a new war strategy. But many of the soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment were skeptical they'll be going home anytime soon, despite a high-level U.S. panel's recommendation that most combat troops leave Iraq by early 2008.
"There's no way we're leaving in two years, no matter what any recommendation says," Spc. Eisenhower Atuatasi, 26, of Westminster, Calif., said. He thought 2012 was more realistic.Sgt. Christopher Wiacik, 28, of Lavonia, Mich., also was pessimistic."It's just a study group. It's not really going to affect the president. I don't see any major changes happening until presidential elections start," Wiacik said. "I think both sides will promise to get troops out and give timelines then, but not before."The U.S. Army troops, based in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, are still reeling from learning two months ago that their tour was being extended until at least February."We've been here for 12 months now and there's been no progress," said Spc. Richard Johnson, 20, of Bridgeport, Conn., as he manned a machine gun on the rooftop of an outpost ringed by a shallow moat of sewage.Nearby buildings have been leveled by rocket or tank fire, and others are riddled with bullet holes. The neighborhood only has electricity a few hours a day and most streets are barricaded with barbed wire and blast walls."It's like holding a child's hand. How long can you hold onto his hand before he does something on his own?" Johnson said. "How much longer do we have to get shot at or blown up?"The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, said Wednesday that the United States faces a "grave and deteriorating" situation after nearly four years of war in Iraq.The panel recommended the U.S. reduce political, military or economic support if the Iraqi government cannot make substantial progress toward national reconciliation and that American forces shift to a training role.1st Lt. Gerard Dow said he agreed with the commission's assessment that the situation in Iraq was "grave and disappointing.""In Iraq, we try to win the hearts and minds of population," said Dow, 32, of Chicago. "They want Americans out of here. They blame us for all their problems. They look at us as the terrorists and then they turn around and help the terrorists who are trying to kill us."Dow trained Iraqi soldiers in Ramadi and in the north during his first assignment in Iraq, and he doubts U.S. forces will be able to hand over the fighting by early next year as the commission recommends."The Iraqi army is getting there," he said. "But they are still not where they need to be and I doubt they will be by then. Too many times, they are in a selfish state of mind. Too often they are along for the ride while we do the work for them."He said the largely Shiite soldiers sometimes loot homes, fail to follow orders and openly acknowledge that they don't trust the Sunni population."They are only going to do the right thing if someone's watching and they know they will be punished if they don't," he said. "That's not every soldier. I have met some great guys, but it is a lot of them. They don't care, and this is their country."Asked if he was frustrated with the situation in Ramadi, he replied: "That doesn't cover it.""U.S. soldiers are dying trying to help people who don't want their help," he said. "That makes you angry." Dow said elders at a nearby mosque broadcast messages saying Americans are the cause of all the problems in Ramadi, the capital of restive Sunni-dominated Anbar province, 70 miles west of Baghdad. The soldiers here also welcomed news that Robert Gates had been named to replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Gates told a Senate committee Tuesday that "all options are on the table" about how to resolve the Iraq crisis. "Yes, please! All of us want to change what we're doing because we're not doing very much," said Staff Sgt. Rony Theodore, 33, of Brooklyn, N.Y. Wiacik also hoped for change. "We're just sitting around not making any progress. It's annoying. You're not motivated to help anybody," he said, adding his contract was up in 2008 and he did not plan to re-enlist."I don't want to live my life like this," he said.
posted by rich at 5:41 PM
