Friday Beagle Blogging!

Life has been so crazy that i haven't been taking many photos lately, but here's a new one of Harley looking particularly puppy-like!

another scumbag who can't stay out of trouble

Rodney King shot, wounded near California home

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rodney King, whose videotaped beating once made him an international symbol of police brutality, suffered minor injuries after getting hit by a shotgun blast, authorities in California said on Thursday.

An intoxicated King summoned officers to his home in Rialto, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, on Wednesday night to report he had been shot, said Sgt. Don Lewis of the Rialto Police Department.

"He had some minor pepper wounds that looked like they were from bird shot," said Lewis, who described the injuries as "extremely minor."

Lewis said King told police the shooting took place while he was riding his bicycle in neighboring San Bernardino. King rode his bicycle home after the incident and it was not immediately clear who fired the shot, Lewis said.

"(King) and the whole house were very intoxicated and very uncooperative," Lewis said.

King was treated at a local hospital, and the investigation was turned over to San Bernardino police.

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I was initially sympathetic to King - and still absolutely believe that the cops who beat him were way out of line - but he has proven time and again that he just can't stay out of trouble.

good idea

Dems launch video site for GOP foes

NEW YORK - Could a "macaca" moment doom Republicans once more? The Democrats apparently hope so and have created a new Web site to help make it happen.

The Democratic National Committee set up http://www.democrats.org/flippertv to post amateur video of the leading Republican presidential contenders as they campaign around the country. Videos there can be downloaded, viewed and even manipulated by voters, who might want to create their own campaign ads to post online.

The Democrats hope that viewers might spot unvarnished moments that were missed by mainstream news organizations.

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Considering that the "liberal media" never wants to broadcast anything that might show a repug in a negative light, we need alternative means!

hahahahahahaha

Roberts says God forced his resignation

TULSA, Okla. - Richard Roberts told students at Oral Roberts University Wednesday that he did not want to resign as president of the scandal-plagued evangelical school, but he did so because God insisted.

God told him on Thanksgiving that he should resign the next day, Roberts told students in the university's chapel.

"Every ounce of my flesh said 'no'" to the idea, Roberts said, but he prayed over the decision with his wife and his father, Oral Roberts, and decided to step down.

Roberts said he wanted to "strike out" against the people who were persecuting him, and considered countersuing, but "the Lord said, 'don't do that,'" he said.

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So "the lord" is giving legal advice now, i guess!

I find this truly hilarious, though it is sad that someone might be gullible enough to believe this nonsense.

wha?!

Bush forgives Gore

Bush forgives Gore for Bush stealing the 2000 election. What a mensch. From the NYT:

Mr. Bush made no comment when the Nobel was announced, and today, the two stood silently, and a bit awkwardly, during the photo opportunity.

But the president did personally telephone Mr. Gore to extend the invitation, and the White House changed the date of the event so Mr. Gore could attend. Mr. Bush’s press secretary, Dana Perino, told reporters the president is willing to let bygones be bygones.

“This president does not harbor any resentments,” she said. “He never has.”

(Americablog)
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Mighty big of him to not resent the man who actually won the 2000 election!

This is just bizarre...

the never-ending saga of our "liberal media"

Media: Pelosi’s Syria Diplomacy = ‘Foolish’; Bush’s Syria Diplomacy = ‘Victory’
(Think Progress)
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Once again the media tells us that it's ok if you're a repug, but Dems better never try to do anything!
And more on the media defending repugs' lies:
Time’s false balancing act.
(Think Progress)

i'm sure that he could find volunteers

John Ashcroft: I’m Willing To Be Waterboarded
(Think Progress)

common sense

Scientists to Congress: stop funding abstinence-only ed.

In a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) last week, 10 leading scientists in the field of adolescent sexual and reproductive health “strongly” urged Congress to “reconsider federal support for abstinence-only education programs and policies.” From their letter:

By design, abstinence programs restrict information about condoms and contraception - information that may be critical to protecting the health of young people and to preventing unplanned pregnancy, HIV infection, and infection with other sexually transmitted organisms. They ignore the health needs of sexually active youth and youth who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning for counseling, health care services, and risk reduction education. Withholding lifesaving information from young people is contrary to the standards of medical ethics and to many international human rights conventions.

(Think Progress)
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It's kinda amazing that anyone even has to say this - this is such common sense, blindingly obvious information that i can't believe that anyone is even debating it.

But then some people just don't care about the health of the American public.

now you can forget about Poland

Poland to withdraw troops from Iraq by the end of 2008.

In October, Poland elected Donald Tusk as Prime Minister, ousting Bush-ally Jaroslaw Kaczynski. In his first address to parliament today, Tusk promised to withdraw all 900 Polish troops from Iraq by the end of 2008.

(Think Progress)

only 2/3 of the US believes the facts about 9/11

Memo To New York Post: The Bush Administration Was Warned About 9/11

New York Post reporter Andy Soltis writes of the latest Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll that finds a great majority of Americans believe the government failed to heed warnings about 9/11. Soltis writes that this poll shows increasing support for 9/11 “conspiracy theories”:

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the federal government had warnings about 9/11 but decided to ignore them, a national survey found.

And that’s not the only conspiracy theory with a huge number of true believers in the United States. […]

Sixty-two percent of those polled thought it was “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that federal officials turned a blind eye to specific warnings of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

The NY Post’s headline blares: “‘Blame U.S. For 9/11′ Idiots In Majority.” As frequent readers of this site are well aware, ThinkProgress does not condone 9/11 conspiracy theories which allege the attacks were an inside job. But whether the Bush administration failed to heed warnings of a terrorist strike is not a conspiracy theory — it is a fact.

Here are some bits of information the NY Post may want to read up on:

1) Bush received intel briefing on Aug. 6, 2001 entitled “Bin Laden Determined To Strike In US.” The briefing specifically warned to “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks,” particularly targeted at New York.

2) CIA Director George Tenet briefing Condoleezza Rice and other top administration officials on July 10, 2001 about a specific urgent and looming threat from al Qaeda.

3) An FBI agent in Phoenix sent a memo to FBI headquarters on July 10, 2001, which advised of the “possibility of a coordinated effort” by bin Laden to send students to the United States to attend civil aviation schools.

The alarming nature of the Scripps poll is not that 62 percent of Americans believe the government ignored warnings of 9/11; it’s that nearly 40 percent still aren’t aware of that fact.

(Think Progress)

this explains a lot

Bush bristles at diplomacy.

The New York Times reports that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has an "unusually tight bond” with President Bush, which she has used to “gain control over the national security process.” But Bush hasn’t always been receptive to her suggestions of increased international diplomacy:

In recent months, Ms. Rice has gone so often to Mr. Bush to push him on diplomacy with Iran and North Korea that he has started to needle her that she expects him to talk to people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the radical Islamist who is president of Iran, or Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader whom Mr. Bush has said he loathes.

“You want me to sit down with Ahmadinejad?” a White House official recalled that Mr. Bush had archly asked Ms. Rice. “Kim Jong-il? Is he next?”

(Think Progress)
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Yes, gawd forbid that our president use diplomacy to smooth over problems rather than just start another war!

The sooner this asshole is out of office, the better this country will be...

it's about time!

Lott says he'll resign by end of year

More from Think Progress here, here and here.

WHAT?!

Military demanding bonus pay back from wounded vets.

“The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.” Jordan Fox of Pittsburgh was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq, cutting his service short by three months. “A few days ago, he received a letter from the military demanding nearly $3,000 of his signing bonus back.”
---
Last month, Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA) proposed legislation that would guarantee that wounded vets receive their full signing bonuses.
---

(Think Progress)
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That's this administration's version of "supporting the troops"!

because the repugs only think of themselves

Health Plans Of GOP Cancer Survivors Won’t Cover Cancer Survivors Like Themselves
(Think Progress)

Time has more integrity than Newsweek, apparently

Time rejected Rove as a columnist.

Radar reports that, prior to securing a spot as a Newsweek columnist, Karl Rove approached Time magazine for a job. Time, however, rejected Rove as “essentially like an unindicted coconspirator in a whole host of felonies”:

Time’s editors apparently felt the cost/benefit analysis wouldn’t be in their favor if they embraced the man who has done more than anyone to keep the spirit of Joe McCarthy alive and well in American politics. … “They think Karl is essentially like an unindicted coconspirator in a whole string of felonies.”

(Think Progress)

o-reilly a hypocrite? Who could imagine?!

O’Reilly Runs Ad For ‘Vile’ Movie That He Claims Hurts ‘Our Troops’ And Helps ‘The Terrorists’
(Think Progress)

Wow! McClellan turns on bush

McClellan’s tell-all implicates Bush in Plame scandal.

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan will publish a memoir in April titled “What Happened.” In an excerpt posted by his publisher, McClellan implicates “the President himself” in the Valerie Plame scandal:

“The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

“There was one problem. It was not true.

“I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President’s chief of staff, and the president himself.”

McClellan, who orchestrated the White House’s stonewalling of the investigation into the leak, later said he was lied to by those directly involved.

(Think Progress)

scientific break-through to please the religious right

Stem cell breakthrough uses no embryos

NEW YORK - Scientists have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy.
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There is a catch with the new technique. At this point, it requires disrupting the DNA of the skin cells, which creates the potential for developing cancer. So it would be unacceptable for the most touted use of embryonic cells: creating transplant tissue that in theory could be used to treat diseases like diabetes, Parkinson's, and spinal cord injury.

But the DNA disruption is just a byproduct of the technique, and experts said they believe it can be avoided.

---
It is amazing the hoops that scientists have to jump through to please the looney-tune brigade who don't want scientists to use embryos that are literally being disposed of otherwise.

So, instead of using pre-existing materials that they know will work, they have to try to create something that they know is flawed.

I'm sure that science will eventually overcome this hurdle, but it is just silly that they have to.

hardly surprising

Army desertion rates highest since 1980.

“Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.” Approximately 4,698 soldiers deserted this year.

(Think Progress)

two more years wasting human lives

Murtha Two Years Ago Today: Bush’s Iraq Course Is ‘Flawed Policy Wrapped In Illusion’
(Think Progress)

does bush do anything legally?

Bush nominates judges who donated to his campaign.

On Thursday, President Bush nominated two judges for high-level positions who gave him campaign contributions while under consideration for positions, a practice ethics experts and many federal judges deem “inappropriate.” The Center for Investigative Reporting notes:

Bush nominated Judge Gene Pratter, of Pennsylvania, to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a level just below the U.S. Supreme Court. Pratter, who was featured in the CIR report, “Money Trails to the Federal Bench,” gave $2,000 to Bush in 2003, after interviewing with the White House for her judgeship.

Bush also picked Judge Mark Filip, of Illinois, to be deputy attorney general, the No. 2 spot in the Justice Department. Filip gave Bush $2,000 in 2003, after the president nominated him for his judgeship, as earlier reported by CIR.

(Think Progress)

Newsweek news

Kos, Rove columns debut in Newsweek.

In his debut column in Newsweek today, former White House adviser Karl Rove instructs the GOP presidential candidates on how to beat Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), whom he describes as “hard and brittle.” He encourages them to distances themselves from the “low approval rates of the Republican president” (although he conveniently fails to mention President Bush by name):

Every presidential election is about change and the future, not the past. So show them who you are in a way that gives the American people hope, optimism and insight. That’s the best antidote to the low approval rates of the Republican president. […]

Kos, on the other hand, encourages the Democratic candidates to continue reminding voters that “that the Republican platform and Bush’s record are one and the same”:

When Bush chose a head for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, did he select a competent administrator experienced in disaster management? No, he appointed Mike Brown, an attorney previously fired as the “judges and stewards commissioner” of the International Arabian Horse Association for gross mismanagement. He was an incompetent horse lawyer, yet Bush deemed him capable of running the nation’s top disaster relief agency. Reagan, who once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’,” might have approved the choice, but the abandoned residents of the Gulf Coast would undoubtedly beg to differ.

(Think Progress)
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I do find it pretty hilarious that Rove refused to even name his pal bush any more!

what kind of drugs are these loonies on?

Friedman: Keep Cheney on for another term.

In his New York Times column yesterday, Tom Friedman said that if Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is elected president, he should make Dick Cheney his vice president in order to more successfully “coerce” Iran:

I have no idea who is going to win the Democratic presidential nomination, but lately I’ve been wondering whether, if it is Barack Obama, he might want to consider keeping Dick Cheney on as his vice president. […]

And that brings me back to the Obama-Cheney ticket: When it comes to how best to deal with Iran, each has half a policy — but if you actually put them together, they’d add up to an ideal U.S. strategy for Iran. Dare I say, they complete each other. […]

In sum, Mr. Obama’s instinct is right — but he needs to dial down his inner Jimmy Carter a bit when it comes to talking to Iran, and dial up a bit more inner Dick Cheney.

Matt Yglesias calls it the Times’ “worst op-ed day ever.”

(Think Progress)
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I can't imagine anyone - much less a sane Democrat - wanting this psychopath around for a second longer than is legally necessary!
Some of these repugs are truly bat-shit insane!

Go Reid!

BREAKING: Reid shut downs Bush recess appointments during Thanksgiving
(Americablog)
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I was afraid that the Dems were going to back down on this yet again. Thank goodness that Reid is standing up for what is right!

bush's pals

Saudi Arabia to jail and whip woman who was gang raped
(Americablog)
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vile beyond words....
and even more stomach-churning news:

Saudi court increases punishment for rape victim.

A 19-year old gang-rape victim saw her punishment increased by a Saudi court. The seven rapists had originally received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison, but the victim’s lawyer challenged the sentencing as too light. A Saudi appeals court agreed and made the punishment two to nine years for the rapists. But the Saudi court also increased the punishment for the victim, who had originally received 90 lashes for “meeting with an unrelated male.” The court increased her
punishment to six months in prison and 200 lashes. CNN reports:

The judges more than doubled the punishment for the victim because of “her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media,” according to a source quoted by Arab News, an English-language Middle Eastern daily newspaper.

(Think Progress)

repugs blocking war funding

Senate blocks Iraq war money

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Friday blocked a Democratic proposal to pay for the Iraq war but require that troops start coming home.

The 53-45 vote was seven votes short of the 60 needed to advance. It came minutes after the Senate rejected a Republican proposal to pay for the Iraq war without strings attached.

The Republican measure failed 45-53, 15 short of the number of votes needed to go forward.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the only way to get troops the money was to approve the restrictions outlined by Democrats.

"Our troops continue to fight and die valiantly. And our Treasury continues to be depleted rapidly, for a peace that we seem far more interested in achieving than Iraq's own political leaders," said Reid, D-Nev.

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More from Americablog:

Republican Senators kill Iraq funding bill

more bush lies

Bush Blasts Congressional ‘Majority’ For Earmarks Belonging To Leading Republicans
(Think Progress)

WH stealing from Stephen Colbert

White House: Reality Of Iraq War Has A Well-Known Liberal Bias
(Think Progress)

why is separation of church and state such a difficult concept?!

Federal funding for rural religious pregnancy centers.

New data compiled by CREW finds that rural “pregnancy resource centers” that often offer religious content and false information have received nearly $6 million in federal grants since early 2006. Some of these centers tell patients that abortion leads to breast cancer, suicidal thoughts, alcohol and drug abuse, and even a “fear of punishment from God.”

(Think Progress)
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This is f'k'ing outrageous that the government is financing religious propoganda and outright lies! WTF is wrong with these assholes?! And why isn't there any accountability for this shit when it is discovered?!

but of course bush will veto this

Breaking: House passes Iraq redeployment bill.

Tonight, the House of Representatives voted 218-203 to pass a $50 billion funding bill for Iraq that would require withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Iraq to begin within 30 days of the bill’s enactment, with a completion goal of Dec. 15, 2008. The AP reports:

The bill was on shaky ground this week, after some liberal Democrats said they were concerned it was too soft and would not force Bush to end the war. Conservative Democrats said they thought it went too far and would tie the hands of military commanders.

Uncertain the bill would pass, Pelosi on Wednesday delayed a vote by several hours while she met with supporters and asked them to help her round up votes.

The bill’s prospects brightened somewhat early Wednesday after three leading anti-war Democrats announced they would support it. California Reps. Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters said they had agreed to swing behind it because the bill explicitly states the money should be used to bring troops home.

(Think Progress)

please do!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is “considering” pro forma sessions during Thanksgiving break to stop President Bush from using the break to install any of his outstanding executive branch nominees.” Controversial Surgeon General nominee Dr. James Holsinger expects a recess appointment.

(Think Progress)
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Anything to stop more of bush's insane, unqualified appointments.

oh sh*t

Conflicting stories on 25 killed in Iraq.

During a 12-hour fire fight north of Baghdad on Tuesday night, 25 armed Iraqis were killed. But local authorities disagree with the U.S. military over who exactly was killed, al Qaeda militants or anti-al Qaeda fighters:

“U.S. forces backed by aircraft killed 25 suspected insurgents in operations targeting al Qaeda militants near the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Thursday.”

VERSUS

“Iraqi officials said Thursday they were investigating whether American troops had mistakenly killed some two dozen anti-al Qaeda fighters earlier this week north of Baghdad.”

In a statement, the U.S. military said the fight began when “coalition forces observed several armed men in the target area and, perceiving hostile intent, called for supporting aircraft to engage.”

(Think Progress)

ok, this is just silly

Santas warned 'ho ho ho' offensive to women

SYDNEY (AFP) - Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.

Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.

One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could frighten children and was too close to "ho", a US slang term for prostitute.

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This is just giving O'Reilly fodder for his fictional "war against christmas". No one is going to confuse Santa's "ho, ho, ho" with a rapper calling a woman a "ho".

another new dinosaur

Dinosaur found with vacuum-cleaner mouth

WASHINGTON - Perhaps it was one of those eureka moments, when the scientists realized they had discovered a new dinosaur with mouth parts designed to vacuum up food.

The 110 million-year-old plant eater, discovered in the Sahara Desert, was to be unveiled Thursday by the National Geographic Society.

Discoverer Paul Sereno named the elephant-sized animal Nigersaurus taqueti, an acknowledgment of the African country Niger and a French paleontologist, Philippe Taquet.

Sereno, a National Geographic explorer-in-residence and paleontologist at the University of Chicago, said the first evidence of Nigersaurus was found in the 1990s and now researchers have been able to reconstruct its skull and skeleton.

While Nigersaurus' mouth is shaped like the wide intake slot of a vacuum, it has something lacking in most cleaners — hundreds of tiny, sharp teeth to grind up its food.

The 30-foot-long Nigersaurus had a feather-light skull held close to the ground to graze like an ancient cow. Sereno described it as a younger cousin of the North American dinosaur Diplodicus.

Its broad muzzle contained more than 50 columns of teeth lined up tightly along the front edge of tis jaw. Behind each tooth more were lined up as replacements when one broke off.

Using CT scans the researchers were able study the inside of the animal's skull where the orientation of canals in the organ that helps keep balance disclosed the habitual low pose of the head, they reported.

Nigersaurus also had a backbone consisting of more air than bone.

"The vertebrae are so paper-thin that it is difficult to imagine them coping with the stresses of everyday use — but we know they did it, and they did it well," Jeffrey Wilson, assistant professor at the University of Michigan and an expedition team member, said in a statement.

The dinosaur's anatomy and lifestyle were to be detailed in the Nov. 21 issue of journal PLoS ONE, the online journal from the Public Library of Science, and in the December of National Geographic magazine.

The first bones of Nigersaurus were picked up in the 1950s by French paleontologists, but the species was not named at that time. Sereno and his team honored this early work by naming the species after Taquet.

The research was partly funded by National Geographic.

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another repug sex scandal

What’s a day without a Republican sex scandal? Next up: Ozwald Balfour!

As far as I know—he campaigned for Orrin Hatch and is on the executive committee of the Utah Republican Party.

Salt Lake Tribune:

A 3rd District judge this week scuttled Republican leader Ozwald Balfour’s efforts to disqualify the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting him for allegedly groping, or attempting to grope, four women. Four sex assault cases filed against Balfour in 2005 were still unresolved last fall when he threw his support - and the free services of his two media consulting companies - to Republican district attorney candidate Lohra Miller.

He is charged with three second-degree felony counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of attempted forcible sexual abuse, a third-degree felony.

(Crooks and Liars)

almost as if they have something to hide - the never-ending saga

Judge orders White House to preserve e-mails.

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy today ordered the White House to “preserve copies of all its e-mails, a move that Bush administration lawyers had argued strongly against.” The order was in response to two lawsuits by CREW and the National Security Archive, which are seeking to determine whether the WhiteHouse has destroyed approximately 5 million e-mails in violation of federal law.

(Think Progress)

thanks bush!

Gas prices to jump another 20 cents per gallon.

Top “U.S. forecaster” Guy Caruso, head of the Energy Information Administration, “expects gas prices to jump another 20 cents a gallon by December.” National gas prices currently average $3.105 a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline, compared to $2.22 a gallon at this time last year.

(Think Progress)

hardly surprising

POLL: Liberals More Open To Opinions That ‘Reflect Values Other Than Their Own’

(my favorite part of the poll:)

– Conservatives think “fictional TV shows and movies are politically biased” and “overwhelmingly (76%) believe that TV shows and movies ‘very often’ contain political messages, but they are the least likely to learn anything about political issues from them. Just 4% say they learn lessons from movies.”

(Think Progress)
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I mean, liberals are known for being open-minded - isn't that practically part of the definition? Same as conservatives known for being close-minded. I find it funny that the conservatives are the most paranoid, as well, but again, hardly a surprise. They're always feeling persecuted...

continuing to be a petulant ass

Bush pushes budget fight with Democrats

NEW ALBANY, Ind. - President Bush, escalating his budget battle with Congress, on Tuesday vetoed a spending measure for health and education programs prized by congressional Democrats.

He also signed a big increase in the Pentagon's non-war budget although the White House complained it contained "some unnecessary spending."
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More than any other spending bill, the $606 billion education and health measure defines the differences between Bush and majority Democrats. The House fell three votes short of winning a veto-proof margin as it sent the measure to Bush.

Rep. David Obey, the Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, pounced immediately on Bush's veto.

"This is a bipartisan bill supported by over 50 Republicans," Obey said. "There has been virtually no criticism of its contents. It is clear the only reason the president vetoed this bill is pure politics."
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Democrats responded by adding $10 billion to Bush's request for the 2008 bill. Democrats say spending increases for domestic programs are small compared with Bush's pending war request totaling almost $200 billion.

The $471 billion defense budget gives the Pentagon a 9 percent, $40 billion budget increase. The measure only funds core department operations, omitting Bush's $196 billion request for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, except for an almost $12 billion infusion for new troop vehicles that are resistant to roadside bombs.

Much of the increase in the defense bill is devoted to procuring new and expensive weapons systems, including $6.3 billion for the next-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, $2.8 billion for the Navy's DD(X) destroyer and $3.1 billion for the new Virginia-class attack submarine.

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The hypocriscy of this jackass is just astounding! To try to say that the Dems are over-spending as he asks for an addtional $200 BILLION is beyond the beyond. Buying his war toys is fine, but spending to help the American public is a sin in his eyes.
Shows where his priorities are, once again....He doesn't give a shit about the people - he only wants to play his war games...

More from Americablog

proving unflattering cliches true once again

Ga. governor prays for rain amid drought

ATLANTA - As Georgia descends deeper into drought, Gov. Sonny Perdue has ordered water restrictions, launched a legal battle and asked President Bush for help. On Tuesday, the governor will call on a higher power.

He will join lawmakers and ministers on the steps of the state Capitol to pray for rain.

While public prayer vigils might raise eyebrows in other parts of the nation, they are mostly shrugged off in the Bible Belt, where turning to the heavens for help is common and sometimes even politically expedient.

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Are they going to do a rain dance afterwards?
No wonder people the world over still think the American south is hicks-ville!

And, of course, eventually it will rain again, which they will believe proves that gawd was listening - no matter how long it takes!

putting into perspective

What the Iraq war could have bought us

From the Boston Globe via E&P:

"If the Bush administration succeeds in its latest request for funding for the war in Iraq, the total cost would rise to $611.5 billion, according to the National Priorities Project, a nonprofit research group," the staff stated in an online introduction. "The amount got us wondering: What would $611 billion buy?"

Among the findings, from college tuition to free gasoline -- each posted with an accompanying photo -- staffers revealed the following:

• "U.S. drivers consume approximately 384.7 million gallons of gasoline a day. Retail prices averaged $3.00 a gallon in early November. Breaking it down, $611 billion could buy gasoline for everybody in the United States, for about 530 days."

• "In fiscal 2008, Medicare benefits will total $454 billion, according to a Heritage Foundation summary. The $611 billion in war costs is 17 times the amount vetoed by the president for a $35 billion health."

• "According to World Bank estimates, $54 billion a year would eliminate starvation and malnutrition globally by 2015, while $30 billion would provide a year of primary education for every child on earth. At the upper range of those estimates, the $611 billion cost of the war could have fed and educated the world's poor for seven years."

(Americablog)

STILL blaming Clinton for everything!

Giuliani blames Clinton for overstretched military.

Rudy Giuliani faulted former President Bill Clinton for having weakened the American military. “Our military is too small to deal with the Islamic terrorism threats, but it really is too small to deter would-be aggressors to even think of challenging us. And that’s due to Bill Clinton,” he said. Steve Benen responds, “Does this make any sense? … Bush has stretched the military to the breaking point,” but acknowledging this would mean holding Bush “to account for his irresponsible policies. What to do? Blame Clinton of course.”

(Think Progress)
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Pretty incredible that anyone can think that this can still work!

umm...there may be a reason why we're not appearing as united with Europe on this...

White House upset that Brown is not war-mongering.

The Bush administration is reportedly “losing patience with Gordon Brown over Iran, with senior American diplomats frustrated by his reluctance to declare bluntly that the Islamic state must never be allowed nuclear weapons.” A State Department official says: “It would be helpful if he took a tougher line in public. … We need Iran, and the rest of the world, to realise that this is not just a bunch of crazy Americans on the one side and flaky Europeans on the other - that we are united on this one.”

(Think Progress)
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I think everyone other than "crazy Americans" think that this is a bad idea - that could explain why we don't appear united...

once again, the Dems are actually "supporting our troops"

Kennedy, Cleland: ’stop messing with vets’ jobs.’

As Americans observe Veterans Day today, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and former senator Max Cleland note that the federal government has failed in its responsibility to help troops return to civilian life when they come home from battle:

It’s a disgrace that tens of thousands of National Guard troops and Reservists return home and find they’ve been laid off, demoted, or denied salary and benefit increases they should have received. It’s wrong for employers to turn their backs on those who risk their lives for our country. […]

Today, however, the federal government is failing in this responsibility. It’s not even adequately informing returning service members about their rights, and it’s not protecting them when their rights are violated. A study by the Government Accountability Office this year found that when the Department of Labor decided to refer federal cases for litigation, it took an average of 247 days. […]

“Support Our Troops” is more than just a slogan. Americans as individuals and as a nation must guarantee that our brave service men and women can resume their lives as much as possible when they return from battle. We hope this hearing will be a turning point for Congress, the President, and the nation in living up to their responsibility.

(Think Progress)

land of the free, indeed

Anti-war Iraq vets banned from Veterans Day parade.

Anti-war Iraq veterans were banned from participating in a Veterans Day parade in Long Beach, CA, because “we do not want groups of a political nature, advocating the troops withdrawal from Iraq,” said one organizer. Brandon Friedman notes that the organizers seem to have no problems with groups advocating staying in Iraq, however.

(Think Progress)
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What exactly are these troops always told that they are fighting for if it is not our freedoms?

why is this moron speaking anywhere these days?

DeLay: ‘No American Is Denied Health Care In America’

Speaking in the UK yesterday, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) predicted that if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, he or she would seek to install universal health care, similar to the system in Britain. This possibility “received thunderous applause.” DeLay claimed that, under the U.S. system, “no American is denied health care”:

By the way, there’s no one denied health care in America. There are 47 million people who don’t have health insurance, but no American is denied health care in America.

The audience, understandably, greeted DeLay’s preposterous claims with “derisive laughter,” according to the AP. A recent report showed that for the sixth straight year, jobholders continued to see a decline in employer-provided health insurance, with 38 states seeing “significant” drops in benefits offered by employers.

(Think Progress)

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Nice to know that at least the brits realize that this guys is talking nonsense, but why is he appearing anywhere these days? He's a disgraced idiot.

more partisan bullshit from bush

Bush urges Congress to OK veterans bill

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush said Saturday that Congress' Democratic leaders should celebrate Veterans Day by finally passing a spending bill covering programs for veterans.
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Bush's dig at Democrats didn't tell the whole story.

Congress has never delivered to Bush a veterans affairs spending bill by Veterans Day, even when Capitol Hill was run by Republicans. And even veterans' groups have been reluctant to criticize this year's Congress for the delay, because they are thankful for large budget increases already engineered by Democrats since they assumed the majority in January. They added $3.4 billion to the veterans' budget in February and $1.8 billion in May.

---

Bush has to out-and-out lie about everything because otherwise he would have to admit that the Dems have already done far more than the repugs have ever done for the veterans.

Wouldn't it be amazing to have a president who wasn't such a partisan asshole and would say, "hey, good job, guys" when things get done?!

still another grim bush milestone

2007 deadliest for US in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Six U.S. troops were killed when insurgents ambushed their foot patrol in the high mountains of eastern Afghanistan, officials said Saturday. The attack, the most lethal against American forces this year, made 2007 the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion.

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i'd bet money they are saying something different

Bush: “If You Lived In Iraq–You’d Be Saying, God, I Love Freedom”
(Crooks and Liars)
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How do the reporters keep from laughing at punch lines like this?

imaginative!

FOXNews’ John Gibson: Bush Saved The Homeless, Won Iraq And Gave You A Job
(Crooks and Liars)

wow! Actually standing up to bush!

Congress defeats Bush veto.

“Congress on Thursday overturned President George W. Bush’s veto last week of a popular water projects bill, marking the first time Congress has mustered enough votes to override Bush.” The House of Representatives did the same on Tuesday ensuring the measure’s passage into law.

UPDATE: Veto overrides occur very rarely.

(Think Progress)
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They need to make this a much less rare occurence!

WTF?

Rep. Trent Franks compares torture to abortion.
(Think Progress)
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How do these people come up with this craziness?

does anyone take this seriously at all?

O’Reilly’s Contrived ‘War On Christmas’ Is Back
(Think Progress)
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This reoccuring joke is just that - O'Reilly is laughing at anyone silly enough to take this seriously.

horror in Afghanistan

59 schoolchildren killed in Afghan blast

KABUL, Afghanistan - Dozens of schoolchildren and five teachers were among those killed in a suicide attack in northern Afghanistan earlier this week — the country's deadliest since the fall of the Taliban — the government said Friday.

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very misleading headline

Ex-NYC top commish not guilty to charges

WHITE PLAINS, N. Y. - Former New York City police commissioner Bernard
Kerik pleaded not guilty Friday to federal corruption charges.

Kerik, the police commissioner under then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and a failed
nominee for homeland security secretary, was indicted Thursday on 16 counts
including conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and lying to the IRS. Authorities
say that over a six-year period, from 1999 through 2004, Kerik failed to report
more than $500,000 in income.
---
Kerik's case could prove to be an ongoing embarrassment for Giuliani, a
Republican presidential candidate.
---
The indictment, unsealed Friday, alleges Kerik made false statements to the
White House and other federal officials during his failed bid to head the
Homeland Security department. Those statements involved failure to disclose
payments from a contractor alleged to have mob ties, according to the
indictment.

Giuliani appointed Kerik police commissioner in 2000 and endorsed
his 2004 nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security. Days after
President Bush introduced Kerik as his nominee, however, Kerik announced he was
withdrawing his name because of tax issues involving his former nanny.

---
There's a mighty big difference between pleading not guilty and being found not guilty! I saw that headline and thought that the case had been dismissed or something.

Gotta love our "liberal media"!

And in a great understatement:

Analysis: Kerik could tarnish Giuliani

Of course, this shouldn't bother most repugs, who are used to corruption.

this is what they consider an important war issue?!

Far-right group targets porn on military bases
(Crooks and Liars)
---
Our military are risking their lives and these cretins (the American Family Association) want to take away their rights! Let them look at naked bodies if they want to - it might be the last thing they see!

Good to know they have their priorities straight!

hahahahahaha

White House Tells Musharraf: Never ‘Restrict Constitutional Freedoms’ To Fight Terrorism
(Think Progress)
---
Did Perino actually say this with a straight face?! Wow!

i think this is 8 offers too many

Conyers makes ninth and final offer to White House.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) today instructed White House counsel Fred Fielding that he has one last chance to comply with the committee’s investigation into the U.S. attorney scandal. “I have written to you on eight previous occasions attempting to reach agreement on this matter,” Conyers writes. “As we submit the Committee’s contempt report to the full House, I am writing one more time to seek to resolve this issue on a cooperative basis.” Conyers also officially filed the contempt resolutions against former White House counsel Harriet Miers and current Chief of Staff Josh Bolten with the House Clerk.

(Think Progress)

not very good at PR

State Dept misfires in Iraq pitch to diplomats.

Patricia Butenis, deputy chief of the U.S. mission in Iraq, today tried to convince her diplomatic colleagues that working in Iraq isn’t so bad — despite all the attacks:

“There are all kinds of opportunities here,” said Patricia Butenis, the deputy chief of the US mission.

“There are people who think we live under a constant barrage of mortar attacks, but it isn’t that way all the time.” […]

“I think some of it is based on not knowing what it is to be here. It’s true, two days after I got here we had 36 EFP (explosively-formed penetrators) strikes,” she said.

“That was serious, it’s scary. But you adapt, you get used to it.”

Another senior official, Charles Reis, also insisted that “service here is not as rough as I thought it was. The AC is functioning!”

(Think Progress)

only 50%?!

Bush beats Nixon’s disapproval ratings.

Sixty-four percent of Americans disapprove of the job President Bush is doing, and for “the first time in the history of the Gallup Poll, 50% say they ’strongly disapprove’ of the president. Richard Nixon had reached the previous high, 48%, just before an impeachment inquiry was launched in 1974.”

(Think Progress)
---
How can only 50% strongly disapprove?! I don't understand how anyone can believe anything other than the fact that this man is the worst thing to ever happen to this country.
I guess some people just aren't paying attention at all...

Dems continuing to roll over and do anything bush wants (for no logical reason)

Judiciary panel approves Mukasey

WASHINGTON - The Judiciary Committee advanced Attorney General designate Michael Mukasey's nomination to the Senate floor Tuesday, virtually ensuring confirmation for a former judge ensnarled in bitter controversy over terrorism-era prisoner interrogations.

The 11-8 vote came only after two key Democrats accepted his assurance to enforce any law Congress might enact against waterboarding.

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another bush milestone in Iraq

2007 is deadliest year for US in Iraq

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military on Tuesday announced the deaths of five more soldiers and one sailor, making 2007 the deadliest year for U.S. troops despite a recent downturn, according to an Associated Press count.

At least 853 American military personnel have died in Iraq so far this year — the highest annual toll since the war began in March 2003, according to AP figures.

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wow!

Fred Thompson to keep convicted cocaine dealer as top campaign aide
(Americablog)

what a barbaric law

Doctors fight no-abortion policy

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Two weeks after Olga Reyes danced at her wedding, her bloated and disfigured body was laid to rest in an open coffin — the victim, her husband and some experts say, of Nicaragua's new no-exceptions ban on abortion.

Reyes, a 22-year-old law student, suffered an ectopic pregnancy. The fetus develops outside the uterus, cannot survive and causes bleeding that endangers the mother. But doctors seemed afraid to treat her because of the anti-abortion law, said husband Agustin Perez. By the time they took action, it was too late.

Nicaragua last year became one of 35 countries that ban all abortions, even to save the life of the mother, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. The ban has been strictly followed, leaving the country torn between a strong tradition of women's rights and a growing religious conservatism. Abortion rights groups have stormed Congress in recent weeks demanding change, but President Daniel Ortega, a former leftist revolutionary and a Roman Catholic, has refused to oppose the church-supported ban.

Evangelical groups and the church say abortion is never needed now because medical advances solve the complications that might otherwise put a pregnant mother's life at risk.

But at least three women have died because of the ban, and another 12 reported cases will be examined, said gynecologist and university researcher Eliette Valladares, who is working with the Pan American Health Organization to analyze deaths of pregnant women recorded by Nicaragua's Health Ministry.

Before the ban took effect on Nov. 18, 2006, fewer than a dozen legal abortions were recorded per year in Nicaragua. They were performed only when three doctors agreed a woman's life was in danger. However, the Roman Catholic Church estimates that doctors and other medical staff carried out about 36,000 "secret" abortions a year, because under the old law they had little fear of government reprisals.

This year the Health Ministry has recorded 84 deaths of pregnant women between January and October, compared with 89 for all of last year and 88 the year before. It listed hemorrhaging as the most common cause, with 27 cases reported. The ministry refused to comment further on the ban.

Abortion rights groups have disrupted Congress several times, demanding that lawmakers lift the ban. On Oct. 25, unable to get past increased security, they held up signs at Congress' front door that read: "Women assassins" and "They want to keep us quiet and dead." A minority of lawmakers are still trying to lift the ban, but don't have enough votes.

---
Now a clump of cells has more rights than a living, breathing woman whose life is in danger.

This is grotesquely barbaric...

there are lots of reasons to hate the Eagles, but...

Why Newsbusters hates the new Eagles album.

In a 1731-word diatribe, Newsbusters’ Warner Todd Huston lays into the new album from The Eagles, which is “just one long, sustained attack on the integrity of the United States.” As Swampland’s Ana Marie Cox notes, Huston’s objection isn’t just that The Eagles wrote about global warming; “it’s also what they didn’t write about.” From Huston’s post:

Not a word about Islamofascists trying to blow us all up, though. Nothing about bin Laddenists cutting off people’s heads, women being stoned, young girls being murdered with “honor killings,” or homosexuals being summarily executed from our pals the Eagles! I guess they have forgotten about 9/11 and our enemies in radical Islam like so many of their ilk.

Huston’s Newsbusters bio says that he is known for his “thoughtful commentary.”

UPDATE: Clear Channel also recently dropped Bruce Springsteen’s new anti-Iraq war album “Magic.”

(Think Progress)
---
Artists are allowed to write about whatever they damn well please - anything from a insipid love song to politics. But "critics" are not allowed to dictate what anyone should write about.

And if the Eagles are singing about global warming, why the f'k would they include something about terrorists in that song?

unfortunately, the "liberal media" does this regularly

Gore Rips Media: ‘Don’t Give Equal Time To Someone Who Believes The Earth Is Flat’
(Think Progress)

BUSH urging restraint?!

Bush to urge Turkey to show restraint in Iraq

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, facing Turkish threats of a military offensive in Iraq to root out Kurdish rebels, will assure Turkey's prime minister on Monday he is committed to helping to combat the militants.

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hannity "outs" himself as a parody

Hannity channels The Onion? Claims "liberal" Halloween "teach[es] kids to knock on other people's doors and ask for a handout"
(Media Matters)
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He has assured that it is absolutely impossible to take him seriously ever again (if anyone ever did).
He's not even trying any more....i think he wants Stephen Colbert's job!

(First seen at Crooks and Liars)

more on the Conservative News Network

‘One man’s torture is another man’s CIA-sponsored swim lesson’

It’s been a discouraging week when it comes to the right and torture. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page argued that waterboarding doesn’t necessarily constitute “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment of U.S. detainees. The National Review’s Rich Lowry argued, in Matt Yglesias’ words, that “torture a defining value of the American conservative movement.”

But a discussion on CNN the other day, featuring Republican “strategist” Rachel Marsden, takes the cake.

BLITZER: What do you think about this issue of water boarding, torture and the attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey?

CAFFERTY: I think — I feel sorry for Michael Mukasey. I think he’s trying to tread a minefield laid down for him by that sycophantic little yes weasel Alberto Gonzales. He wrote the memo in secret saying the Geneva Conventions didn’t apply to American military when it came to enemy combatants. Who wrote secret memos saying the president of the United States didn’t have to follow the FISA court laws when it came to spying on Americans.

That kind of subterfuge of the American rule of law is an entirely separate issue from whether or not water boarding is torture or whether or not surveillance under these conditions or those conditions is a good idea. Now Mr. Mukasey can’t say waterboarding is torture because if he does, liability sudden accrues to a whole lot of folks and who knows what the consequences are. Meanwhile, Gonzales is wandering around happy as a clam. He ought to be in jail for what he did. […]

MARSDEN: Well, I think we have to define torture. One man’s torture is another man’s CIA-sponsored swim lesson.

She didn’t appear to be kidding.

And who is Rachel Marsden, and why is CNN putting her on the air to share these absurdities? I’m glad you asked.

Consider this report from the New York Post in May:

Security officers hastily escorted “Red Eye” contributor Rachel Marsden out of Fox News Channel’s Midtown headquarters yesterday for bizarre and erratic behavior. “She’s out of her [bleeping] mind. She was doing crazy stuff,” a spy told us. The brown-haired hottie is notorious in Canada, where authorities say she falsely accused a university swim coach of sexual harassment and harassed a Vancouver radio personality. A Fox News rep had no comment.

As Josh Marshall noted, “Now, consider that one for a second. Just how bizarre and erratic does a Fox pundit have to be? Right? CNN sure knows how to pick’em.”

I’d only add that Marsden’s “swim lesson” remark wasn’t the only gem of the interview. A few minutes prior, in the same CNN appearance, she explained:

“I think George Bush is doing fine. Looking back in the rear-view mirror, I think history will prove him right. Like I said, everything looks better in the rear-view mirror. People hated Reagan when he was in office. People hated Joe McCarthy and they said he was wrong about what he was doing. Turned out based on Verona Project that he was right. So I think history will prove George Bush right as well.”

Hmm. A far-right strategist that was allegedly too erratic for Fox News is welcome on CNN to defend McCarthyism and waterboarding, as if they were mainstream ideas.

The mind reels.

(The Carpetbagger Report)
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It is pretty incredible when CNN welcomes looney-toons that even Fox admits are too crazy for them!

now he's vetoing just to be petulant

Bush vetoes water projects bill

WASHINGTON - An increasingly confrontational President Bush on Friday vetoed a bill authorizing hundreds of popular water projects even though lawmakers can count enough votes to override him.

Bush brushed aside significant objections from Capitol Hill, even from Republicans, in thwarting legislation that provides money for projects like repairing hurricane damage, restoring wetlands and preventing flooding in communities across the nation.

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Either that or he is simply determined to be the most unpopular president of all time - oh wait, he already did that....the most hated? no, he's done that, too....

I guess he wants to be known as the most heartless president who did the most to go against the wishes of the people and against the best interest of the people.

I mean, he's been an ass ever since he took office, but now he's just being a dick just for the sake of being a dick.

old news that we've known for years, but it's worth repeating

Secret source of phony Iraq intel outed

WASHINGTON - The Iraqi defector code-named "Curveball," whose false tales of biological weapons labs bolstered the U.S. case for war, wasn't the prominent chemical engineer he claimed to be and invented stories to help his case for asylum in Germany, a new report says.

"Curveball" is Rafid Ahmed Alwan, who did study chemical engineering but made poor grades and never managed a biological weapons facility, according to CBS' "60 Minutes," which will broadcast on Sunday a report describing how Alwan became a secret intelligence source.

Although known publicly only by his code name, Curveball has been repeatedly discredited by investigations of the United States' faulty prewar intelligence and became an embarrassment to U.S. spy agencies. A presidential intelligence commission found that Curveball, who mostly told his stories to German intelligence officials who passed them on to the U.S., was a fabricator and an alcoholic.

"60 Minutes" reports that Alwan arrived at a German refugee center in 1999 and began spinning his tales of a facility making mobile biological weapons in an effort to gain asylum. The ploy apparently achieved his goal, and Alwan is assumed to be living in Germany today under an assumed name.

Although German intelligence officials warned the CIA that Curveball's claims of mobile bioweapons labs were unreliable, and U.N. inspectors determined before the war began in 2003 that parts of his story were false, the Bush administration continued to promote the existence of such mobile labs for months after the invasion, until it was widely accepted that they could not be found.

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Funny that this is being aired now - i heard about this years ago. I'm sure that a lot of people haven't heard about this story, but i wonder why it's appearing now...

if bush wants him so bad, he's got to be unqualified

Bush pleads for Mukasey's confirmation

COLUMBIA, S.C. - President Bush, worried about losing his fight to get Michael Mukasey installed as attorney general, pleaded again Friday for confirmation despite the former judge's refusal to be pinned down on the legality of waterboarding.

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More from Think Progress:

Will Bush recess appoint Mukasey?

Today, the LA Times reports that there “is speculation that Bush might install Mukasey during the congressional holiday break. That recess appointment would enable Mukasey to serve unconfirmed until a new Congress convenes, and Bush leaves office, in January 2009. But congressional sources said they doubted that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would stand for such a maneuver.”

maybe he'll threaten to hold his breath next

Mukasey nomination in trouble. Bush starts whining that it's not fair

The nomination of Michael Mukasey is running into very serious trouble. And, George Bush is cranky. He says it's not fair. And, guess what? Bush says we're at war. Therefore, no one can question anything Bush does and he should get what he wants:

“Judge Mukasey is not being treated fairly,” the president said, after taking the extraordinary step of inviting a group of reporters into the Oval Office to vent his feelings. Sitting behind his desk and leaning back in his chair, Mr. Bush said he was concerned that some people may have “lost sight of the fact that we’re at war.”

Pretty soon Bush will start weaving in Al Qaeda and September the 11th.

Bush just wants a another Attorney General who will let him break the law. Democratic Senators are standing up against torture. And it's key that the Senators on the Judiciary Committee are lining up against Mukasey. Note to Dianne Feinstein: Don't screw this one up.

Let's all remember what happen during the confirmation hearing for Mukasey in mid-October. On the first day of testimony, Mukasey wowed the Senators. On day two, Mukasey was a different person -- he became a loyal Bushie overnight. It was an overnight transformation. Waterboarding was probably involved.

(Americablog)

more lying about Clinton

The Hill Irresponsibly Reports False Claim That Clinton ‘Skipped’ Senate Environmental Hearing
(Think Progress)
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There is nothing the repugs won't lie about! No matter how easily debunked, no matter how blatant, they can rely on the media to not call them on it, so they continue to get away with it.

Edwards speaking the truth

Edwards: Dems need to show 'backbone'

DES MOINES, Iowa - Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards calls on his party to "have a little guts" and be a voice for working people in a television ad set to begin airing in Iowa on Thursday.

In the 60-second spot titled "Heroes," Edwards said it is time for the Democratic Party to represent America's working men and women.

"It is time for our party, the Democratic Party, to show a little backbone, to have a little guts, to stand up for working men and women," the former North Carolina senator says. "If we are not their voice, they will never have a voice."

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fighting Phelps

$11M verdict in funeral protesters case

BALTIMORE - Members of a fundamentalist Kansas church ordered to pay nearly $11 million in damages to a grieving father smiled as they walked out of the courtroom, vowing that the verdict would not deter them from protesting at military funerals.

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As much as i believe in free speech, there are limits and these scumbags really shouldn't be allowed to interrupt private funerals. They truly are sick, hateful pigs...

more on the disaster that is Iraq

Rice answers anger over Iraq assignments

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is trying to quell a revolt among U.S. diplomats angry over moves to force foreign service officers to work in Iraq under threat of dismissal.
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"Incoming is coming in every day, rockets are hitting the Green Zone," said Jack Croddy, a senior foreign service office, referring to the highly fortified area of Baghdad where the embassy is located.

"It's one thing if someone believes in what's going on over there and volunteers, but it's another thing to send someone over there on a forced assignment," Croddy said. "I'm sorry, but basically that's a potential death sentence and you know it. ... Who will raise our children if we are dead or seriously wounded?"

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So our diplomats know that even the Green Zone is a disaster area - and even Rice has admitted this - and yet we are supposed to believe that we are accomplishing something in Iraq?

Is the real reason that bush wants to attack Iran that he is going to keep starting wars until he can get one right?

more of bush's legacy

Why Turks no longer love the U.S.

Istanbul, Turkey - The US has hailed Turkey as moderate Islamic democracy, the kind it would like to see develop elsewhere. It's a key NATO ally, with US aircraft stationed here.

Yet, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in Ankara Friday to defuse tensions over Kurdish rebels operating in Iraq, she faces a nation that is now the most anti-American in the world, according to one survey. In the meetings with Ms. Rice, and next Monday in Washington with President Bush, Turkey's prime minister is expected to press the US to take steps against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in Iraq.

That might help soften attitudes here toward the US. But given the depth of anti-American feeling that has developed in just the past few years, few expect Turkish public opinion to turn quickly.

In a recent global survey by the Pew Research Center, only 9 percent of Turks held a favorable view of the United States (down from 52 percent in 2000), a figure that placed Turkey at the rock bottom of the 46 countries surveyed.

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Gee, what was different in the year 2000? I can't imagine what has caused the change!