Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Kucinich actually saying what the American people are thinking

Democrats Debate In Philly: Kucinich Calls For Reality in Iraq and Impeachment Of President Bush!

After being snubbed for some fifteen minutes in tonight’s Democratic Presidential Debate, Rep. Dennis Kucinch breaks his MSNBC-imposed silence by railing on the Bush administration’s war rhetoric on Iran. Kucinich not only called for Democrats to reject any movement toward war with Iran, he went on to call for the impeachment of President Bush. If the media was looking for a candidate to set themselves apart from the “front runners,” Kucinich did just that.

Kucinich: ” Tim, we’re here in Philadelphia, the birthplace of democracy. I want to know when this Democratic Congress is going to stand up for the Constitution and hold the president accountable with Article 2, Section 4 an impeachment act. I think that our democracy is in peril and unless the Democrats and the Congress stand up for the Constitution, we are going to lose our country.”

Now THAT’S what I’m talkin’ about!


(Crooks and Liars)
----
I like what i've seen of Kucinich. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like he has much of a chance, but wouldn't it be great to actually have a breath of fresh air taking over this country?

yet another repug sexual hypocrit

Headline of the week so far: "Cross-dressing state lawmaker blackmailed following late night tryst"

Yeah, you just don't see a headline like that every day. The only thing missing is that the cross-dressing lawmaker is an anti-gay Republican and the tryst was with a man.

(Americablog)

it's almost as if they have something to hide

all these twisted f'ks want to do is slaughter more and more people

Norman Podhoretz: Anyone Who Doesn’t Want To ‘Bomb Iran’ Is Appeasing ‘Hitler’
(Think Progress)
---
So anyone who doesn't want needless slaughter is appeasing Hilter? In what Bizarro universe does that make any sense?

what does this even mean?

Right-wing blogger: Ari Fleischer is a ‘modern day Moses.’

A post by Nashville-based blogger Webutante, highlighted by Pajamas Media, compares former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer to Moses:

It was at that moment I saw Ari Fleischer in a totally new light: He was a modern day Moses leading his people out of slavery, into freedom. But rather than leading them out of the land of Egypt, he was taking them out of the bondage of the Democratic party.

Fleischer currently serves as a board member of the White House front group Freedom’s Watch. Recently, he callously told a dead soldier’s mom that “there are going to be a lot more mothers” like you, and admitted he did not know the name of a wounded veteran who appeared in his own organization’s ad.


(Think Progress)
---
"The bondage of the Democratic party"?! WTF?

avoiding anyone who isn't a white christian

GOP candidates postpone another minority debate.

Last month, the four Republican presidential frontrunners skipped a PBS debate hosted by Tavis Smiley that would have been the first time they answered questions from “a panel exclusively comprised of journalists of color.” At the time, Smiley said the snubbing was part of a “pattern” of “disrespect” towards “black and brown Americans.” Today, the Huffington Post reports that the GOP candidates are now postponing another black voter forum due to “scheduling conflicts.”

(Think Progress)

hardly a surprise

Cheney repeatedly rejected proposals ‘to help the poor, sick.’
(Think Progress)
---
This administration really is hateful, isn't it....

standard operating procedure - attacking the Dems for his weaknesses

Bush goes after Democrats on health care

WASHINGTON - President Bush ratcheted up his confrontation with Democratic
leaders Wednesday, laying out what he said is a stark ideological divide between
a fiscally prudent, free market-loving GOP president and a Congress that aims to
raise taxes and nationalize health care.

---
It still amazes me that he continues to get away with this blatant bullshit. He denies poor kids health care and then attacks the Dems on the same issue! Incredible what he can get away with considering our "liberal media"....

And then i read that first paragraph and the shit got even deeper! "A fiscally prudent" president?!?!?!?!?! Is he fuckin' shittin' me?!?!?! He's presided over the worst deficit in the nation's history and spends money like it is going out of style!

Damn, i wish we had a media that actually called him on his crap that he constantly spouts - this is literally sickening...

And the "best" part - and the end of a litany of lies, he says "I'm not making it up"!!!!!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

this pretty much guarantees that bush will push even harder for this

Panel urges Bush to drop nuke waste plan

WASHINGTON - A panel of the National Academy of Sciences urged President Bush on Monday to abandon an ambitious plan to resume nuclear waste reprocessing that is the heart of the administration's push to expand the civilian use of nuclear power.

A 17-member panel of the Academy's National Research Council said the proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or GNEP, has not been adequately peer reviewed and is banking on reprocessing technology that hasn't been proven, or isn't expected to be ready in the time the administration envisions.

The report, released Monday, said GNEP research is taking money and focus away from other nuclear research programs and efforts to speed the construction of new nuclear power plants.


---
We know that bush hates science and since scientists are telling him not to do something, he will want to do it more than ever...

partisan asshole

Bush chides Congress on spending bills
---
Man, on thing you can say about this dick, he sure is ballsy!

He is veto-ing every important piece of legislature that the American people are firmly behind and then he has the gall to complain that nothing is getting done!

An overly polite response by the Dems:
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, responded: "President Bush's rally this morning reminds us that Congressional Republicans remain ready and willing to rubber-stamp the Bush agenda: no to children's health care; no to a new direction in Iraq; and no to investing in America's future."

He should be saying that the repugs are blocking every step towards any time of progress and it is up to the repugs to work with the will of the American people.

It truly is amazing just how obstructionist this administration and the repug toadies are.

more incompentance in Iraq

Major Iraqi dam in danger of collapse

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Iraq's largest dam is in danger of collapse and could putting hundreds of thousands at risk in the cities of Mosul and Baghdad.

US experts have warned that the Mosul dam in northern Iraq could buckle under the water pressure, according to The Washington Post, which based its report on assessments by the US Army Corps of Engineers and other US officials.

"The Mosul dam is judged to have an unacceptable annual failure probability," said the Army Corps of Engineers draft report, according to the Post.

It is "the most dangerous dam in the world," read the report, scheduled to be released Tuesday.

As many as 500,000 civilians in Mosul and Baghdad were at risk from any deluge, dam manager Abdulkhalik Thanoon Ayoub told the Post.

A 27 million dollar US reconstruction project to help strengthen the dam has been marred by incompetence and mismanagement, according to a report by a US oversight agency, the Post reported.


---

Monday, October 29, 2007

hypocrits sticking together

Vitter sticks with fellow DC Madam customer.

The Senate last week voted on the nomination of Henrietta Holsman Fore to head USAID. She replaces Randall Tobias, who resigned after his name was linked to the D.C. Madam’s escort service. The sole GOP vote against Tobias’s replacement? Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), whose number also appeared on the DC Madam’s phone records.


(Think Progress)

standard bush procedures

well i would hope so!

FEMA spokesman loses spy job offer

WASHINGTON - The man who staged a fake Federal Emergency Management Agency news conference has lost a chance to be National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell's top public information officer.


---
But i'm actually surprised that he wasn't given a promotion under this administration!

Per Think Progress i see that the above was to be a promotion after he resigned due to the fake news conference, but now it is "on hold". You cannot make a joke at the expense of this administration without first checking that it is true!

Friday, October 26, 2007

another good christian

Familiar joke

Stop me if you've heard this one before! Here is the setup:

Police say the 58-year-old Tester was wearing a denim miniskirt and offered to have sex with arresting officers. Investigators say they found a half-empty bottle of vodka and an empty vial that had held prescription painkillers in Tester's car.

And here's the punchline.

Tester served as pastor of a Bristol area church and had worked for a local Christian radio station.

Yeah, I know, it's getting so predictable it's not even funny anymore.


(Pharyngula)
---
BTW - this is a male pastor, of course!

more and more surreal

FEMA Stages Press Conference: Staff Pose As Journalists And Ask ‘Softball’ Questions
(Think Progress)
---
If this administrations' stunts were written in a fictional story, everyone would say that they were too unrealistic!
It is all like a bad joke....

our "liberal media"

Thursday, October 25, 2007

how many times has this happened on camera?

Cheney falls asleep during Cabinet meeting on wildfires.
During a cabinet meeting yesterday, Vice President Cheney fell asleep on camera while President Bush was discussing wildfires in California. A Cheney spokeswoman “laughed it off,” telling CNN that the vice president was “practicing meditation.” CNN’s chyron reported that Cheney was seen “meditating” — rather than sleeping — during the cabinet meeting.
(Think Progress)
---
And considering the number of times it has happened on camera, how many times has it happened that we haven't known about?
Is this loon still able to function as a VP? (Though, thinking about it, maybe it would be better if he slept through the rest of his term - maybe he would do less harm that way!)

Crooks and Liars agrees and has many screen shots

wow - this is truly pathetic

Perino: ‘There Are Public Health Benefits To Climate Change’ For People Who Die From ‘Cold’
(Think Progress)
---
Man, this is the best that she could do? Is she even trying or is she simply showing her (and the administration's) utter contempt for the media and the American public?

when has this administration been worried about war spending?

White House On $2 Trillion Iraq War: ‘Not Worried About the Number’
(Think Progress)
---
The only time bush and company worry about spending is when the money would go to help people in need. Spending to kill people is fine, though!

imaginative, wackjob repugs

Beck Blames California Wildfires On The ‘Damn Environmentalists’
(Think Progress)
---
Once again, I gotta give the nutjobs credit for having real imagination! I don't know how they come up with these things!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

bush continuing to promote bigotry

Bush To Veto Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Tomorrow, the House is expected to vote on the Employment Non- Discrimination Act (ENDA). The bill, introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), would make it illegal to fire, refuse to hire, or fail to promote employees simply based on sexual orientation.

To obtain White House support for ENDA, lawmakers compromised by exempting “small businesses, religious organizations and the uniformed members of the armed forces” from the bill. Yesterday, an article on the right-wing site WorldNetDaily revealed that White House staffers had helped craft these exemptions:

“Americans For Truth has learned that a White House official has boasted to pro-family leaders attending a private administration briefing that White House staffers were involved in the negotiations to craft expanded religious exemption language for the new ENDA bill,” according to Peter LaBarbera’s Americans For Truth organization.

After the meeting, officials refused to say whether or not the President would veto the bill. But today the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy making clear that despite the exemption compromise, “senior advisors” will still recommend that President Bush veto the bill:

H.R. 3685 would extend existing employment-discrimination provisions of Federal law, including those in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to establish “a comprehensive Federal prohibition of employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.” The bill raises concerns on constitutional and policy grounds, and if H.R. 3685 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.

While the vast majority — nearly 90 percent — of Fortune 500 companies prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, there are surprisingly no federal prohibitions against such discriminatory behavior. ENDA would ensure that for the first time ever, gay and lesbian employees are afforded this critical federal protection.

Urge your senators to support ENDA here.


(Think Progress)
---
So bush is adding exemptions to allow bigotry into the bill, but will still veto it?!
I truly don't understand the repugs. Obviously, bush has friends that are gay, but is still fighting against their best interests. What is the point? Does he really care what that small minority of bigots think of him? Everyone else hates him, why should he care about alienating the last few people in the country?

apparently this administration is afraid of the truth getting out

White House ‘Eviscerates’ CDC Director’s Senate Testimony On Global Warming

---
CDC officials are now revealing that the White House heavily edited Gerberding’s testimony, which originally was longer and had more “information on health risks“:

“It was eviscerated,” said a CDC official, familiar with both versions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the review process.

The official said that while it is customary for testimony to be changed in a White House review, these changes were particularly “heavy-handed,” with the document cut from its original 14 pages to four. It was six pages as presented to the Senate committee.


(Think Progress)

The Senate actually fighting bush?!

Senate reverses Bush’s budget cuts.
In a 75-19 vote, the Senate today “reversed President Bush’s cuts to education, health research and grants to local communities as they gird for Bush’s first-ever veto of a regular appropriations bill.”

(Think Progress)

fear-mongering for the insanely paranoid

Fox News: Al Qaeda is causing the CA wildires.
(Think Progress)
---
They are aware that there are wildfires every single year in California, aren't they?

making us less safe at home

what is with all the bigots in politics these days?

Senate confirms controversial court nominee Southwick.

The Senate today voted 59-38 to confirm Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His nomination was opposed by major civil rights organizations, who criticized his “racially insensitive” writings. More on Southwick’s controversial past HERE.


(Think Progress)

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

more on pussy Dems

House Flunks Boehner’s Attempt to Censure Stark; Stark Apologizes Anyway
(Crooks and Liars)
---
This is just silly - why they hell would Stark apologize? F'king pussies....

BIG mistake Obama

BREAKING: Obama says won't pull anti-gay bigot from big campaign event
(Americablog)
---
I don't know how he can justify this - he is alienating everyone with this idiocy. By far the biggest mistake he has made yet...

a repug lying? what a surprise

Horowitz Inflates Number Of Schools Participating In His Divisive ‘Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week’
(Think Progress)
---
A lying repug who is also a bigot! Still not a surprise!

seems suspicious

Romney refers to Osama as Obama.
During a speech today, former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) said, “Actually, just look at what Osam — Barack Obama — said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq.” Kevin Madden, a Romney spokesman, claimed Romney “misspoke” both times. “He was referring to the audiotape of Osama bin Laden and misspoke.”

(Think Progress)
---
Now, i can understand a slip of the tongue, but to start to say Osama and to stop and then say Obama not once, but twice? It sounds like he went out of his way to make this 'mistake".

it is such a sin that this city has been ignored

Heavy rain floods parts of New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS - The deluge of rain that flooded streets eased dramatically Tuesday, a day after downpours disrupted businesses, closed schools and swamped areas still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.


---
If NO had received the help that in needed, then these rains wouldn't be affecting it so badly.
It is just sickening that this administration has ignored this great city.

he really wants WWIII

Bush touts European missile defense

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday that plans for a U.S.-led missile defense system in Europe are urgently needed to counter an emerging threat of attack by Iran.

"If (Iran) chooses to do so, and the international community does not take steps to prevent it, it is possible Iran could have this capability," Bush said. "And we need to take it seriously — now."


---
The idiots that voted for this madman may actually be responsible for the end of the world - or at least another actual world war...
Just crazy...

Monday, October 22, 2007

proving that this administration cares far more about politics than our safety

Plame’s CIA job was to stop Iran from obtaining nukes. »
In her first interview since Bush administration officials outed her as a covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson reveals to CBS 60 Minutes that she was involved in preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. In the interview to be aired this Sunday, CBS reports that she was “involved in one highly classified mission to deliver fake nuclear weapons blueprints to Tehran.”


(Think Progress)
---
This is incredible - this administration would out an undercover agent who was trying to stop Iran from getting nukes!?
But, of course, all they care about is war-mongering - they probably didn't want to stop Iran from trying to obtain nukes - they need that as a pretense for their new war.

not holding my breath

Gonzales may face criminal charges.

At a speech on Friday, ousted U.S. attorney John McKay revealed that the “U.S. Inspector General may recommend criminal prosecution of departed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the conclusion of an investigation, possibly as early as next month.” The Spokesman Review reports:

McKay said he was summoned to Washington, D.C., in June and questioned for eight hours about possible reasons for his firing by investigators with the Office of Inspector General, who will forward their final report to Congress.

“My best guess is it will be released sometime next month,” and likely will include recommendations for criminal prosecutions of Gonzales and maybe others, McKay said.

Gonzales “lied about” reasons for the firings when questioned under oath in July by the Senate Judiciary Committee and now has hired a lawyer and is refusing to answer questions from the Inspector General, McKay said.


(Think Progress)
---
But my gawd, what if there was finally - finally - some small amount of accountability for this administration's many illegal activities?
Unfortunately, that seems like a pipe dream these days...

how low can he go?

25 percent:

Bush’s record-low approval rating, according to an American Research Group survey.

(Think Progress)
---
I'm still amazed that there are that many people who still support this maniac.

unclear on the concept

NRO: Bush, Cheney deserve Nobel Peace Prize.

Commenting on Vice President Cheney’s latest threat toward Iran, National Review Online’s Tom Gross declares that Cheney and President Bush are “deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize” for their belligerent posturing:

They are super-mean about them now, but maybe, just maybe, one day peaceniks in America and Europe will recognize George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as the men who prevented World War Three. Surely then they would be deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize?

The NRO’s Kathryn Jean Lopez also encourages Lynne Cheney to run for President.


(Think Progress)
---
I guess they don't understand that the name of the prize is a Nobel PEACE Prize....These don't normally go to insane war-mongers...

do they actually think that anyone wants this any more?

GOP rivals argue who's most conservative
---
I mean, i know that bush isn't a real conservative, but does anyone think that America is looking for a conservative these days?
This seems like arguing who is the biggest asshole and who is going to do the most damage to our country...

the man the repugs continue to ignore

Bin Laden asks Iraq insurgents to unite

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden called for insurgents in Iraq to unite and avoid divisions, saying in an audiotape aired Monday that Muslims were "waiting for you to gather under one banner."


---

bush wants a bottomless money pit

Bush asks for $46 billion more for wars
---
Will Congress continue to give him any and everything that he wants? There needs to be a limit eventually!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

bad move by Obama

investigating more corruption in this administration

FBI investigates State Dept. IG.

State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, who reportedly threatened whistleblowers’ “jobs and careers” to protect the State Department and White House from political embarrassment, is being investigated by the FBI. National Journal (sub req’d) reports.

(Think Progress)

bizarre

Blackwater confiscated Iraqi planes.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has revealed that “Blackwater USA tried to take at least two Iraqi military aircraft out of Iraq two years ago and refused to give the planes back when Iraqi officials sought to reclaim them.” Waxman today wrote to Blackwater CEO Erik Prince and requested that he “provide all documents related to the attempted shipment and to explain where the aircraft are now.”


(Think Progress)

kudos to the Frosts

Frosts refuse to back down.
Despite the right-wing assault against them, the Frost family continues to press for children’s health insurance. The AP reports that Bonnie Frost will appear in a new radio spot “in support of Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s health care expansion proposal.”


(Think Progress)
---
I can't imagine what it must be like to be attacked for having a sick child and for wanting other sick children to get the help that yours did. It must really hurt your faith in humanity.

But, they know that good people are behind them and do want to help them and others. But it definitely takes strength to continue on despite the hurtful rhetoric.

another corrupt pal of bush's

Questions remain about housing secretary

WASHINGTON - During an investigation of his conduct last year, President Bush's housing secretary defiantly defended his dealings with federal contractors doing business with the department.

Alphonso Jackson survived that investigation, but now faces a new one stemming from the same forceful style that got him in trouble the first time.

The FBI and the department's internal watchdog are examining Jackson's ties to a friend who was paid at least $392,000 in federal money after Jackson passed along the man's name for a job as post-Katrina construction manager at the Housing Authority of New Orleans.

Jackson, 62, has spent much of his career working for housing agencies in several cities. He has a personal friendship with Bush that dates to the late 1980s, when they lived in the same Dallas neighborhood.

Two weeks ago, within hours of news reports disclosing the criminal probe, the White House issued a statement saying the president supports Jackson.
---
Jackson triggered the inquiry last year by the Housing and Urban Development Department's inspector general when he told a minority group of commercial real estate executives in Dallas that he had revoked a contract because the applicant who thanked him said he did not like Bush.

"He said, 'I have a problem with your president,'" Jackson told the crowd. "I thought to myself: 'Brother, you have a disconnect — the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn't be getting the contract unless I was sitting here.' ... He didn't get the contract."
---
Yet the report found what it called "some problematic instances" involving HUD contracts and grants, including Jackson's opposition to money for a contractor whose executives donated exclusively to Democratic candidates.

Given the periodic corruption scandals over the housing department's 42-year history, Jackson's contacts with individual contractors have troubled department lawyers, last year's investigation showed.


---
Man, is any friend of bush's honest? I guess they couldn't be and still be friends...

Friday, October 19, 2007

attorney general nominee

The overnight transformation of Michael Mukasey

On Wednesday, during the first day of his confirmation hearings, Michael Mukasey seemed like a breath of fresh air, actually intimating that he would follow the law. But something happened to him overnight. Yesterday, Mukasey was sounding like just another Bush-bot who thinks the laws don't apply to Bush. We've had one Attorney General who thought that -- and it didn't go well:

Attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey signaled Thursday he shares the administration’s expansive view of President Bush’s authority to withhold information from Congress, skirt federal statutes and authorize harsh interrogation techniques.

The retired federal judge’s statements, during the second day of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, put him at odds with the Democrats who will decide whether Mukasey succeeds Alberto R. Gonzales as the head of the Justice Department.

What Mukasey said put him at odds with the U.S. Constitution, not just Democrats. Also, it's worse because Mukasey was a federal judge who should know better.

As usual, Russ Feingold provided some clarity:

Russ Feingold, D-Wis., told Mukasey that “it sounds like, overnight, you’ve gone from being agnostic, as you and I have gone back and forth since our first meeting on this question, to holding what is a rather disturbing view.”

So, what did happen between the time Mukasey left Capitol Hill on Wednesday and when he returned on Thursday. Team Bush probably used their own interrogation techniques to get Mukasey back on their message.


(Americablog)
---
Wouldn't it be nice if someone was appointed to a position who was qualified and who was willing to actually do their job and not be a yes-man to bush?

i know that they can't be serious

Get ready for the War on Christmas.

Thanksgiving is still a month away, but WorldNetDaily is already selling “Christmas-defense kits,” with tools to help you “fight back” against the “the American Civil Liberties Union grinches.” Included in these kits are magnets, “Operation: Just Say ‘Merry Christmas’” bracelets, and various bumper stickers.

(Think Progress)
---
No one could really think this was a serious issue in this country, could they? I mean, c'mon - this just gets sillier the more they drag it out.

they really don't want us there

Iraq to Cheney: ‘Big fat no’ on bases in Iraq.

The Iraqi government has “put the U.S. on notice” that they do not want permanent U.S. bases in Iraq, CNN reports today. The message was “delivered directly to Vice President Dick Cheney at the White House” by Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak Al-Rubaie, who told CNN that Iraqis say, “No, big fat no, N-O for the bases in Iraq”:

The people of Iraq, the parliament, the council of representatives and the government of Iraq, they all say no, big fat no, N-O for the bases in Iraq. No military bases for Iraq because we believe that is in direct encroachment to our soveriegnty, and we don’t need it.


(Think Progress)

somehow i don't feel too sorry for them

Religious conservatives face hard choices

WASHINGTON - Religious and cultural conservatives, a political force skeptical of the leading Republican presidential candidates, are caught in a tug of war between pragmatism and ideology.


---
If all of the repug wackjobs are still not conservative enough for them, then maybe they should start re-thinking their radical positions!

Of course, we've had one of their madmen in charge of the country for the last 7 years, and we can see how much good that has done for the world. I think it's fair that someone not quite as insane gets a chance next time!

corruption, incompentence and treason in Iraq

U.S. officer in Iraq gets two-year jail sentence

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A senior U.S. army officer in Iraq was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday after a court martial found him guilty of illegally possessing thousands of secret military documents.


---

Thursday, October 18, 2007

good for Dodd

Dodd temporarily stops "telecom immunity/domestic spying" bill

Senator Dodd (D-CT) just threw a wrench in Democratic plans to pass George Bush's "it's okay if AT&T and Verizon spied on you" bill (I'd written about some of the Dems caving to Bush on this earlier today). Dodd just put a hold on the bill, which means they'll need 60 votes (out of 100 senators) in order to proceed to the bill, and even then, it will take them 30 hours to do so. And if Dodd wants to really be a mensch, he can object to the final vote on the bill, the motion to go conference, and then on the conference report as well - coming to a grand total of, at least I'm told, 120 hours of debate that will be needed to finish this bill. A real pain in the butt.

It doesn't mean the bill is dead. But it does mean that it's a lot harder to proceed, and it means that Senators, including Democratic Senators, will now have to go on the record as to whether they think it's okay to cave to George Bush and give AT&T and Verizon immunity for helping the feds illegally spy on their own customers. There's going to be a whole lot of pain if they have to keep voting on this, and there should be. The Democrats need to be taught a lesson that there's a price to pay for their own wimpiness.


(Americablog)

wow

Maine school to offer contraceptives

PORTLAND, Maine - After an outbreak of pregnancies among middle school girls, education officials in this city have decided to allow a school health center to make birth control pills available to girls as young as 11.

King Middle School will become the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available, including birth control pills and patches. Condoms have been available at King's health center since 2000.
---
Portland's three middle schools reported 17 pregnancies during the last four years, not counting miscarriages or terminated pregnancies that weren't reported to the school nurse.


---
I'm about as far from a prude as conceivable, but even i am surprised at 11 year olds having intercourse.
But, I do remember kids in the 70's around this age being sexually active, even if they didn't "go all the way", so i don't know why i'm surprised...
I'm just glad that someone is doing something to help reduce the number of pregnancies.

paranoia putting others at risk

Parents use religion to avoid vaccines

BOSTON - Sabrina Rahim doesn't practice any particular faith, but she had no problem signing a letter declaring that because of her deeply held religious beliefs, her 4-year-old son should be exempt from the vaccinations required to enter preschool.

She is among a small but growing number of parents around the country who are claiming religious exemptions to avoid vaccinating their children when the real reason may be skepticism of the shots or concern they can cause other illnesses. Some of these parents say they are being forced to lie because of the way the vaccination laws are written in their states.
---
But public health officials say it takes only a few people to cause an outbreak that can put large numbers of lives at risk.

"When you choose not to get a vaccine, you're not just making a choice for yourself, you're making a choice for the person sitting next to you," said Dr. Lance Rodewald, director of the CDC's Immunization Services Division.


---

WTF?

Swearing at work boosts team spirt, morale: research

LONDON (AFP) - Regular swearing at work can help boost team spirit among staff, allowing them to express better their feelings as well as develop social relationships, according to a study by researchers.


---
That's just bizarre...

House cannot override veto to help sick kids - how pathetic is this?

Child insurance veto override unlikely

WASHINGTON - House supporters tried Thursday to revive a health bill they said would aid more of the nation's most vulnerable children, but they appeared to lack the votes needed to override President Bush's veto.


---

An update from Think Progress:

Rep. King’s new name for SCHIP.

Today on the House floor, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) introduced a new name for the acronym SCHIP — “Socialized Clinton-style Hillarycare for Illegals and their Parents”.

For the record, SCHIP stands for the “State Children’s Health Insurance Program” and does not cover undocumented immigrants. Not surprisingly, King voted today to sustain Bush’s SCHIP veto.

---

I guess the repugs want to be known for taking health care away from sick kids! nice...

Yep, that is what the repugs want:

Breaking: House conservatives sustain Bush’s SCHIP veto.

The House today failed to override President Bush’s SCHIP veto. The final roll call was 273 to 156, falling 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed. This vote picked up eight supporters from the original House vote in September.

UPDATE: The Gavel has video from the debate HERE. After the vote, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) promised, “In the coming days, Democrats will not back down and we will insist on providing health care coverage to these 10 million children.”

UPDATE II: “We won this round on SCHIP,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said after the vote.

UPDATE III: Full roll call vote HERE. Forty-four Republicans joined the Democrats in voting for the override, and two Democrats — Reps. Gene Taylor (MS) and Jim Marshall (GA) — voted “nay.”

(Think Progress)

---

Pretty twisted that the WH says "we won" after denying sick kids health care...

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

another one of bush's "qualified" appointees

Bush Family Planning Appointee Called Contraceptives Part Of The ‘Culture Of Death’
(Think Progress)
---
I swear that he searches far and wide to find the person whose opinions and qualifications are the direct opposite of what the job requires.

scary

Turkey votes to allow Iraq incursion. “Turkey’s Parliament voted today to give the government authority to send troops into northern Iraq, moving this NATO country one step closer to a military confrontation with Iraq over Kurdish rebels who hide there.”
(Think Progress)

oh what a surprise - a repug lying about the Dems

Blackwater Lackey Darrell Issa Falsely Claims Waxman And Pelosi ‘Go After Our Troops’
(Think Progress)
---
So by condemning a civilian organization that is deep in controversy, you are "going after our troops"?!
This lie is getting really old - especially considering all the good the Dems have done for the troops. The repugs really need something new...

ensuring his spot as the worst president in history

Bush: I veto bills to ‘ensure that I am relevant.’

Today in his press conference, President Bush attempted to justify his recent veto of an SCHIP expansion by explaining that he needs to issue vetoes in order to prove to people that he’s still the Decider:

That’s why the president has a veto. Sometimes the legislative branch wants to go on without the president, pass pieces of legislation, and the president can then use the veto to make sure he’s a part of the process. And that’s what I fully intend to do. I’m going to make sure. And that’s why when I tell you I’m going to sprint to the finish, and finish this job strong, that’s one way to ensure that I am relevant. That’s one way to ensure that I’m in the process. And I intend to use the veto.

Bush has issued four vetoes during his presidency, twice blocking stem cell research, withdrawal from Iraq, and now SCHIP.

(Think Progress)

---

It sounds like he is ensuring that he makes the worst, most unpopular decisions of all time!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

another (male) repug who can't keep his hands off of teenage boys

heartless repugs continue to attack children who need medical help

Once More, With Feeling
(Sadly, No!)
---
It is kinda amazing - the repugs have no qualms about appearing completely heartless, mean and just plain wrong. That does take a special kind of person...

wow...

trying to convince bush that he's not a total failure

During his townhall meeting in Arkansas yesterday, “not a single questioner criticized” President Bush. With polls showing Bush’s disapproval at record highs, the White House is staging “let-Bush-be-Bush events” in front of “friendly audiences” with “increasing frequency.”

(Think Progress)
---
I can't imagine how they find entire pro-bush audiences any more, though. That's gotta be the hardest part about working for this jerk - finding anyone that is still willing to be a yes-man.

the military on Iraq

Soldiers: institute a draft or withdraw from Iraq now.

In the Washington Post today, 12 former Army captains declare that “five years on, Iraq is in shambles,” and that “short” of a military draft, “our best option is to leave Iraq immediately“:

As Army captains who served in Baghdad and beyond, we’ve seen the corruption and the sectarian division. We understand what it’s like to be stretched too thin. And we know when it’s time to get out. […]

To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.

America, it has been five years. It’s time to make a choice.

The soldiers’ criticism comes just days after Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the former top commander in Iraq, called the war “a nightmare with no end in sight.”


(Think Progress)

how does this happen "accidentally"?

Pentagon confirms accidental Patriot launch

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US Patriot missile was accidentally launched in Qatar and landed in an unpopulated farm area, causing no injuries, the Pentagon confirmed Tuesday.


---

just hope that bush doesn't take this as "i dare you"

Putin warns US against attacking Iran

TEHRAN, Iran - Russian leader Vladimir Putin met his Iranian counterpart Tuesday and implicitly warned the U.S. not to use a former Soviet republic to stage an attack on Iran. He also said nations should not pursue oil pipeline projects that are not backed by regional powers.


---

Monday, October 15, 2007

catholic gay hypocrite

Vatican official says he was trolling for gay sex because he was doing outreach

How do you say "wide stance" in Italian?


A Vatican official suspended after being caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man said in an interview published Sunday that he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.

In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico said he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst. He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about "those who damage the image of the Church with homosexual activity."

This entire Craig, Vatican, situation really is starting to sound an awful lot like that incredible Onion piece from a few years back (careful, it's not work-friendly at all, includes sexual language, etc - click here.)


(Americablog)

still another amazing find

105-foot dinosaur unearthed in Patagonia

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - The skeleton of what is believed to be a new dinosaur species — a 105-foot plant-eater that is among the largest dinosaurs ever found — has been uncovered in Argentina, scientists said Monday.

Scientists from Argentina and Brazil said the Patagonian dinosaur appears to represent a previously unknown species of Titanosaur because of the unique structure of its neck. They named it Futalognkosaurus dukei after the Mapuche Indian words for "giant" and "chief," and for Duke Energy Argentina, which helped fund the skeleton's excavation.

"This is one of the biggest in the world and one of the most complete of these giants that exist," said Jorge Calvo, director of paleontology center of National University of Comahue, Argentina, lead author of a study on the dinosaur published in the peer-reviewed Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

Scientists said the giant herbivore walked the Earth some 88 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period.

Since the first bones were found on the banks of Lake Barreales in the Argentine province of Neuquen in 2000, paleontologists have dug up the dinosaur's neck, back region, hips and the first vertebra of its tail.

"I'm pretty certain it's a new species," agreed Peter Mackovicky, associate curator for dinosaurs at Chicago's Field Museum, who was not involved with the discovery.

I've seen some of the remains of Futalognkosaurus and it is truly gigantic."

Calvo said the neck alone must have been 56 feet long, and by studying the vertebrae, they figured the tail probably measured 49 feet. The dinosaur reached over 43 feet tall, and the excavated spinal column alone weighed about 9 tons when excavated.

Patagonia also was home to the other two largest dinosaur skeletons found to date — Argentinosaurus, at around 115 feet long, and Puertasaurus reuili, 115 feet to 131 feet long.

Comparison between the three herbivores, however, is difficult because scientists have only found few vertebrae of Puertasaurus and while the skeleton of Futalognkosaurus (FOO-ta-long-koh-SOHR-us) is fairly complete, scientists have not uncovered any bones from its limbs.

North America's dinosaurs don't even compare, Mackovicky added in a phone interview. "Dinosaurs do get big here, but nothing near the proportions we see in South America."

The site where Futalognkosaurus was found has been a bonanza for paleontologists, yielding more than 1,000 specimens, including 240 fossil plants, 300 teeth and the remains of several other dinosaurs.

"As far as I know, there is no other place in the world where there is such a large and diverse quantity of fossils in such small area. That is truly unique," said Alexander Kellner, a researcher with the Brazilian National Museum and co-author of the dinosaur's scientific description.


---

he will never let this go, will he?

Craig appeals ruling on guilty plea

MINNEAPOLIS - Embattled Sen. Larry Craig asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals Monday to overrule a county judge who refused to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea in connection with an arrest in an airport bathroom sex sting.


---
Hey, but keeping this in the news just keeps reminding people of the repugs' hypocrisy, so i'm all for it!

Friday, October 12, 2007

some good news

Abortion Numbers Fall Worldwide

FRIDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) -- The number of induced abortions fell worldwide from almost 46 million in 1995 to less than 42 million 2003, a new survey finds.

About one in every five pregnancies ends in abortion, the global survey found, and the number of unsafe procedures has not declined.

The report, by researchers at the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization, also found that abortion rates were unaffected by whether or not the procedure was legal or not in a particular country.

"Abortion levels where it is illegal are just as high as where it is legal," said study co-author Gilda Sedgh, a senior researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group focused on reproductive issues, based in New York City.

In fact, Sedgh said, "what is counterintuitive is that [abortion] rates are lowest where it is legal."


---
Great news that people are becoming educated enough that abortions numbers are dropping, but depressing that the number of unsafe procedures has not dropped. Obviously, making the procedure illegal does not help anyone.

failing diplomacy

US-Russia missile defense talks fail

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned President Bush's top two Cabinet officials on Friday to back off U.S. missile defense plans for eastern Europe as high-level talks yielded little more than a pledge to meet again.


---

congrats Al!

Al Gore, UN Panel share Nobel for peace

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Former Vice President Al Gore, newly named co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, said Friday he hopes the honor will "elevate global consciousness" about the challenges of global warming.

Gore, whose documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," won an Academy Award earlier this year, was awarded the prize earlier in the day along with an international network of scientists for spreading awareness of man-made climate change and laying the foundations for counteracting it.

Shortly after the announcement, he pledged to donate his share of the $1.5 million prize money to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan nonprofit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion worldwide about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.


---

Thursday, October 11, 2007

diplomacy at its finest!

Rice says Iran 'lying' about nukes
---
Why is this administration so determined to provoke Iran? I guess they want another distraction from everything else that they have done wrong!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

this administration destroying intelligence work and continuing to make us less safe

Dems trying to get things done despite the obstructionist, lazy repugs

quitting because they are being made to work

GOP congressmen quit because of five-day work week.
Nine Republican congressmen have so far announced that they will not be running for re-election. One of those lawmakers, Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL), complained “that the Democrats’ new five-day workweek” is part of the reason they’re all retiring.
(Think Progress)

no longer accepting his lies at face value

Poll: public rejects Bush’s spin on the economy.
On Friday, President Bush claimed that the U.S. economy is currently “vibrant and strong,” full of “good news for people here in our country.” But a new AP poll finds that “a growing number of people say the economy is the nation’s top problem, with the less educated among the most worried.”
(Think Progress)

how the repugs "support the troops"

Rush’s listeners flood VoteVets with hate mail.

In the past two weeks, as the controversy over Rush Limbaugh’s “phony soldiers” comments unfolded, VoteVets.org has been at the forefront of pushing to hold
Limbaugh accountable for disparaging pro-withdrawal soldiers. On MSNBC’s Countdown last Friday, VoteVets.org Vice President Brandon Friedman read aloud some of the hate mail the organization has received from Limbaugh’s listeners:

- “Do us all a favor and shoot yourself. You are a waste of human flesh.”

- “Tell the truth about Rush. You phony piece of [expletive].”

- “You traitorous bunch of [expletive] cowards.”

- “Rush Limbaugh is a great American, and you are a phony.”


(Think Progress)
---
Once again, I honestly cannot understand why a single military person would be a repug - it is completely beyond me. The repugs obviously do not respect them, do not do anything to help them in any way (from armor to leave time to health benefits), and seem to have nothing but contempt for them and everything they stand for and everything they are supposedly fighting for.

work to solve more mysteries of the cosmos!

Astronomers trace humans' dusty origins

WASHINGTON - Astronomers have taken a baby step in trying to answer the cosmic question of where we come from.

Planets and much on them, including humans, come from dust — mostly from dying stars. But where did the dust that helped form those early stars come from?

A NASA telescope may have spotted one of the answers. It's in the wind bursting out of super-massive black holes.

The Spitzer Space Telescope identified large quantities of freshly made space dust in a quasar about 8 billion light years from here.

Astronomers used the telescope to break down the wavelengths of light in the quasar to figure out what was in the space dust.

They found signs of glass, sand, crystal, marble, rubies and sapphires, said Ciska Markwick-Kemper of the University of Manchester in England. She is the lead author of a study that will be published later this month in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Dust is important in the cooling process to make stars, which are predominantly gas. The leftover dust tends to clump together to make planets, comets and asteroids, said astronomer Sarah Gallagher, a study co-author at the University of California Los Angeles.

"In the end, everything comes from space dust," Markwick-Kemper said. "It's putting all the pieces of the puzzle together to figure out where we came from."

Astronomers figure that the planets that formed in the past several billion years — and those away from quasars — came from dust that was belched from dying stars.

That's what happened with Earth.

That still leaves a question about where the dust from the first couple billion years of the universe came from, which helped form early generations of star systems.

"It's formed in the wind," of the black holes, Markwick-Kemper said. Gas molecules collide in the searing heat of the quasar, which is thousands of degrees Fahrenheit, and form clusters.

"These clusters grow bigger and bigger until you can call them dust grains," she said.

Scientists who weren't part of the study hailed the work.

Cornell University astronomer Dan Weedman, the former director of NASA's astrophysics division, said the study was an important step in answering a fundamental mystery of the early universe.


---

immunity for those who helped him break the law

Bush pushes for telecom immunity

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday that he will not sign a new eavesdropping bill if it does not grant retroactive immunity to U.S. telecommunications companies that helped conduct electronic surveillance without court orders.


---
Damn, i hope the wimps don't cave in on this nonsense...this is way past being ridiculous...

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

shameless

Rush Smears 12-Yr Old: ‘They Filled His Head With Lies Just As They Have Some Of These Soldiers’
(Think Progress)
---
Limbaugh will attack anyone who disagrees with his lies. The "best" part is that he is basing his verification of the story on a poster on Free Republic! Wow! That's a reliable source!

It is pretty amazing that he can call others liars for truthfully stating that limbaugh is lying about something - even when the others have facts to back them up. It does take a talent to knowingly lie upon lie like that. I don't know how the repugs do it...

More from Think Progress:
Right Wing Launches Baseless Smear Campaign Against 12 Year Old Recipient Of SCHIP

And more from TP - the lies and smears may have originated from the repug Senate Minority Leader:
Was A McConnell Staffer Behind The Campaign To Smear The 12-Yr Old SCHIP Recipient?

a million dollar bill?

Man jailed for trying to pass $1M bill

PITTSBURGH - Change for a million? That's what a man was seeking Saturday when he handed a $1 million bill to a cashier at a Pittsburgh supermarket. But when the Giant Eagle employee refused and a manager confiscated the bogus bill, the man flew into a rage, police said.

The man slammed an electronic funds-transfer machine into the counter and reached for a scanner gun, police said.

Police arrested the man, who was not carrying identification and has refused to give his name to authorities. He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail.

Since 1969, the $100 bill is the largest note in circulation.

Police believe the $1 million note seized at the supermarket may have originated at a Dallas-based ministry. Last year, the ministry distributed thousands of religious pamphlets with a picture of President Grover Cleveland on a $1 million bill.


---
Obviously, this man is mentally unbalanced, but it is a sadly funny story. I mean, did he really think that a grocery store would have change for a million?!
And isn't it ironic that it came from a religious source?

more horror in the mid-East

Battles, airstrikes in Pakistan kill 250

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan - Fighting between Islamic militants and security forces near the Afghan border has killed as many as 250 people over four days — the deadliest clashes in Pakistan since it threw its support behind the U.S.-led war on terrorism in 2001, the army said Tuesday.


---

2 Iraqi women killed by convoy guards

BAGHDAD - Guards in a security convoy opened fire on a car at an intersection in central Baghdad on Tuesday, killing two Iraqi Christian women, police said. The State Department said no American convoy was involved. Across Iraq, violence claimed the lives of at least 44 people, including 19 who died in coordinated suicide car bombings in the north that targeted a local police chief and a Sunni sheik.


---

Monday, October 08, 2007

ANOTHER repug in sex acandal!

Another Toe-Tapping Republican Caught In Sting - Ends Senate Bid
(Crooks and Liars)
---
What is it with all of these self-loathing gays in the repug party? I guess that i just don't understand hiding your true self like that...

the anniversary of the loss of fair and balanced reporting

11 years of ‘fair and balanced’ news.

TVNewser reports, “Today Fox News Channel celebrates 11 years on the air. The launch on October 7, 1996 was to 17 million cable subscribers and joined two existing channels: CNN, the originator, and MSNBC, which went on the air a few months before FNC on July 15, 1996.” Befitting of its anniversary, Newshounds notes that Fox spent the week shifting “attention away from the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the possible war with Iran to bring their viewers a round-the-clock defense of Rush Limbaugh.”

UPDATE: Fox News pundit Fred Barnes suggests that Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) opposition to going to war in Iraq at a time when “the entire world believed that Saddam Hussein in Iraq had weapons of mass destruction” means Obama is not “very strong on national security.”


(Think Progress)
---
Yep. that's Fox for you - defending a repug who insulted the troops and attacking a Dem who was right about the war in Iraq.

pathetic

Bush Administration Launches National Ad Campaign Promoting Abstinence

4parents.gov is a government website run by the Department of Health and Human Services that is meant to provide parents with “information” to help “teens make healthy choices.”

But this “information” is not grounded in science. A recent federal report concluded that abstinence-only programs have had “no impacts on rates of sexual abstinence.” Yet the latest public service announcement by 4parents.gov “encourages parents to talk with their kids about waiting to have sex.”

In the ad, various children say that they want their parents to talk to them about sex and tell them to “wait.” Near the end, the narrator says, “Tell your kids you want them to wait ’til they’re married to have sex.”

In July, ThinkProgress noted that 4parents.gov revised its website to include ideological, unscientific claims about abortion, stating that “some women” feel “sad and some use more alcohol or drugs” after having an abortion.

Additionally, when the site launched in 2005, it told parents “to convince their teens to stop having sex by telling their children that they are ‘worth it.’” But no resources were provided for “parents whose teen remains sexually active, implying that these youth are not ‘worth it.’”


(Think Progress)

more confirmation of what we already knew

Report says war on terror is fueling al Qaeda

LONDON (Reuters) - Six years after the September 11 attacks in the United States, the "war on terror" is failing and instead fueling an increase in support for extremist Islamist movements, a British think-tank said on Monday.

A report by the Oxford Research Group (ORG) said a "fundamental re-think is required" if the global terrorist network is to be rendered ineffective.

"If the al Qaeda movement is to be countered, then the roots of its support must be understood and systematically undercut," said Paul Rogers, the report's author and professor of global peace studies at Bradford University in northern England.

"Combined with conventional policing and security measures, al Qaeda can be contained and minimized but this will require a change in policy at every level."

He described the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq as a "disastrous mistake" which had helped establish a "most valued jihadist combat training zone" for al Qaeda supporters.

The report -- Alternatives to the War on Terror -- recommended the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq coupled with intensive diplomatic engagement in the region, including with Iran and Syria.

In Afghanistan, Rogers also called for an immediate scaling down of military activities, an injection of more civil aid and negotiations with militia groups aimed at bringing them into the political process.

If such measures were adopted it would still take "at least 10 years to make up for the mistakes made since 9/11."

"Failure to make the necessary changes could result in the war on terror lasting decades," the report added.

Rogers also warned of a drift toward conflict with Iran.

"Going to war with Iran," he said, "will make matters far worse, playing directly into the hands of extreme elements and adding greatly to the violence across the region. Whatever the problems with Iran, war should be avoided at all costs."


---
This is just confirming common sense...
I certainly don't have all the answers, but I know that hundreds of thousands of people have been saying the same thing for years. Pretty much everything that this administration has done has been a collosal mistake that has made the world much more dangerous.

more on the coalition of the leaving

Britain to cut Iraq force to 2,500

LONDON - Britain will withdraw nearly half its troops in Iraq beginning next spring, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday, leaving a contingent of 2,500 soldiers in the highly unpopular war.


---
Boy, doesn't America wish that we had that small of a number of troops in Iraq?
How is it that out of the entire coalition, the US had, what, a hundred times the number of troops of everyone else in the coalition combined?

Sunday, October 07, 2007

confirming what we've always said

"liberal media" WTF of the day

Chris Wallace asks Nancy Pelosi if she “prays for the troops to win in Iraq”

Nancy Pelosi went on FOX News Sunday today to talk aboout the SCHIP/Bush veto. And here’s example # ___ (fill in the blank) of the ridiculous questions that come from a FNC host…Only on FOX would Chris Wallace actually ask this of a Democratic leader:

Wallace: You said the other day that you pray for President Bush to change his mind about vetoing SCHIPAhhh, do you pray for our soldiers to win in Iraq?

Pelosi: Of, course I do.

Wallace: To win?

Pelosi: Of, course. What a question….


(Crooks and Liars)
---
This was so bizarre that i actually thought he wanted her to admit that she was an atheist.

There's a difference to being grounded in reality and knowing that we are in an unwinnable war due to the administration's mishandling and wanting to lose.

so what else is new

Sunday Beagle Blogging!


Harley looking handsome in the sun!

Saturday, October 06, 2007

how does this lunatic bigot stay on the air?

Glenn Beck to Muslim-American guest: “How do we know the difference between you and those that are trying to kill us?” In Nov. 2006, Beck made a similar comment to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN). “I have been nervous about this interview with you,” Beck said, “because what I feel like saying is, ‘Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.’”
(Think Progress)
---
I am absolutely serious - how can someone make these kinds of offensive, bigoted remarks and remain on the air? Aren't there rules against hate-speech on the airwaves?

and why is it that we won't leave?

‘No to America.’ “More than a thousand Iraqis marched in west Baghdad on Saturday in a rare public demonstration to protest against a wall they say the U.S. military is planning to erect around their neighborhood. Carrying an Iraqi national flag and banners condemning the wall the marchers in the predominantly Shi’ite district of al-Washash chanted ‘No, no to the wall. No, no to America.’”

(Think Progress)

Obama making sense

Obama is spot on
People need to quit hiding behind the pin with false patriotism.
Noting the TV interview, he told the campaign crowd, "I said, you know what, I probably haven't worn a flag pin in a very long time. After a while I noticed people wearing a lapel pin and not acting very patriotic."

"My attitude is that I'm less concerned about what you're wearing on your lapel than what's in your heart. You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who serve. You show your patriotism by being true to our values and ideals. That's what we have to lead with is our values and our ideals."

(Americablog)
---
I know that some morons are trying to make a big deal about this, but how pathetic is it that this is all they can use as ammunition?
I've never been overly patriotic - i love my country, but i have rarely agreed fully with its politics - but i have refused to wear or display anything flag related wince 2001 due to the blind patriotism and the bigoted mind-set behind most of the people who would do so.

Obama is simply talking the truth and making sense. How anyone can try to turn this against him is pretty sickening...

the repugs just can't break away from bush, no matter how bad it makes them look

a good idea that is, unfortunately, desperately needed


Clinton to be America's "ambassador" if Hillary elected
I think no matter who wins the next election, Bill Clinton would be the right person for this job. Just two days ago in a business meeting here in Paris with an Italian businessman, the conversation went the way these conversations always seem to go and I was asked why Bush was "so stupid" and could America vote for Bill Clinton again? "In Italy, he's loved by everyone" I was told (again) but I hear the same basic conversation no matter where I am in Europe, Asia and a month ago in Egypt.

(Americablog)
---
I only hope that this country survives until January '09, when we'll at least have a chance of returning to the country that we once were.