Friday, April 27, 2007

As in

U.S. surge fails to stem Baghdad violence, general says
By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON - Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, said Thursday that the surge of U.S. and Iraqi troops into Baghdad hadn't reduced overall violence in the country and that the situation was "exceedingly complex."


"Exceedingly complex" as in "what am I supposed to do, Bush wants us to stay".

421 comments:

1 – 200 of 421   Newer›   Newest»
TOTAL KAOS said...

Army Officer Accuses Generals of 'Intellectual and Moral Failures'
By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 27, 2007; A04

An active-duty Army officer is publishing a blistering attack on U.S. generals, saying they have botched the war in Iraq and misled Congress about the situation there.

"America's generals have repeated the mistakes of Vietnam in Iraq," charges Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, an Iraq veteran who is deputy commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. "The intellectual and moral failures . . . constitute a crisis in American generals."

Yingling's comments are especially striking because his unit's performance in securing the northwestern Iraqi city of Tall Afar was cited by President Bush in a March 2006 speech and provided the model for the new security plan underway in Baghdad.

He also holds a high profile for a lieutenant colonel: He attended the Army's elite School for Advanced Military Studies and has written for one of the Army's top professional journals, Military Review.

The article, "General Failure," is to be published today in Armed Forces Journal and is posted at http://www.armedforcesjournal.com. Its appearance signals the public emergence of a split inside the military between younger, mid-career officers and the top brass. ......

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602230_pf.html

TOTAL KAOS said...

PAUL KRUGMAN: Gilded Once More
One of the distinctive features of the modern American right has been nostalgia for the late 19th century, with its minimal taxation, absence of regulation and reliance on faith-based charity rather than government social programs. Conservatives from Milton Friedman to Grover Norquist have portrayed the Gilded Age as a golden age, dismissing talk of the era’s injustice and cruelty as a left-wing myth.

Well, in at least one respect, everything old is new again. Income inequality — which began rising at the same time that modern conservatism began gaining political power — is now fully back to Gilded Age levels.

Consider a head-to-head comparison. We know what John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in Gilded Age America, made in 1894, because in 1895 he had to pay income taxes. (The next year, the Supreme Court declared the income tax unconstitutional.) His return declared an income of $1.25 million, almost 7,000 times the average per capita income in the United States at the time.

But that makes him a mere piker by modern standards. Last year, according to Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine, James Simons, a hedge fund manager, took home $1.7 billion, more than 38,000 times the average income. Two other hedge fund managers also made more than $1 billion, and the top 25 combined made $14 billion.

How much is $14 billion? It’s more than it would cost to provide health care for a year to eight million children — the number of children in America who, unlike children in any other advanced country, don’t have health insurance.

The hedge fund billionaires are simply extreme examples of a much bigger phenomenon: every available measure of income concentration shows that we’ve gone back to levels of inequality not seen since the 1920s.

The New Gilded Age doesn’t feel quite as harsh and unjust as the old Gilded Age — not yet, anyway. But that’s because the effects of inequality are still moderated by progressive income taxes, which fall more heavily on the rich than on the middle class; by estate taxation, which limits the inheritance of great wealth; and by social insurance programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which provide a safety net for the less fortunate.

You might have thought that in the face of growing inequality, there would have been a move to reinforce these moderating institutions — to raise taxes on the rich and use the money to strengthen the safety net. That’s why comparing the incomes of hedge fund managers with the cost of children’s health care isn’t an idle exercise: there’s a real trade-off involved. But for the past three decades, such trade-offs have been consistently settled in favor of the haves and have-mores.

Taxation has become much less progressive: according to estimates by the economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, average tax rates on the richest 0.01 percent of Americans have been cut in half since 1970, while taxes on the middle class have risen. In particular, the unearned income of the wealthy — dividends and capital gains — is now taxed at a lower rate than the earned income of most middle-class families.

Those hedge fund titans, by the way, have an especially sweet deal: loopholes in the law let them use their own businesses as, in effect, unlimited 401(k)s, sheltering their earnings and accumulating tax-free capital gains.

Meanwhile, the tax-cut bill Congress passed in 2001 set in motion a complete phaseout of the estate tax. If the Bush administration hadn’t been too clever by half, hiding the true cost of its tax cuts by making the whole package expire at the end of 2010, we’d be well on our way toward becoming a dynastic society.

And as for the social insurance programs —— well, in 2005 the Bush administration tried to privatize Social Security. If it had succeeded, Medicare would have been next.

Of course, the administration’s attempt to undo Social Security was a notable failure. The public, it seems, isn’t eager to return to the days before the New Deal. And the G.O.P.’s defeat in the midterm election has put on hold other plans to restore the good old days.

But it’s much too soon to declare the march toward a New Gilded Age over. If history is any guide, one of these days we’ll see the emergence of a New Progressive Era, maybe even a New New Deal. But it may be a long wait.

TOTAL KAOS said...

McCain Advertising on KOS

McCain's campaign had this ad pop up on Kos last night -- of all times -- during the Dem debate. The banner on the liberal site urges readers to express their support for the Iraq troop surge.

Given the high traffic Kos got during the debate, a few readers naturally noticed.

"WHAT THE F***?" asked "humboldt joni." "[F]or a blog that focuses on democratic politics and is predominantly anti-war, I find this beyond the f***ing pale. Really. What a f***d up thing to see when I come here to discuss a democratic debate. (Editor's Note: This paragraph was edited for strong language.)

"disgusting."

Added "justice putnam:"

"I'm reminded of a quote from Jess Unruh, then California Speaker of the Assembly. He was asked how he could take money from lobbyists, special interests and Corporations that he was at odds with and still be an honest politician.

"'You have to be able to drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money and then vote against their bills.'"

"I hope that is what we're doing here with the McCain ad."

Asked why they were advertising on such an unlikely venue, McCain campaign e-director Christian Ferry said, "We purchase banner advertising on different online ad networks and those networks serve ads throughout the Internet. The ad that appeared on the site was not purchased directly from Daily Kos."

The McCain camp also noted that they purchase site-specific ads on such conservative sites as TownHall.com and WeeklyStandard.com

Apparently the Kos banner was purchased via an ad network that buys ads on sites all over the internet that have certain keywords such as "campaign" or "politics." This shotgun approach, one of a few different ways to purchase web ads, is cheaper than buying site-specific ads on pricey sites.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/

TOTAL KAOS said...

After Moyers Iraq Documentary, DC Reporters in Damage-Control Mode

By David Sirota, WorkingForChange.com. Posted April 27, 2007.



In the lead up to and wake of Bill Moyers' much-anticipated mega-dunk on the Washington press corps this week, we are seeing the ugliest side of Beltway culture -- sophistry and damage control.

In the lead up to and wake of Bill Moyers' much-anticipated mega-dunk on the Washington press corps this week, we are seeing the ugliest side of Beltway culture -- the meltdown, damage-control freak out. Only what's new is that instead of politicians melting down, it's reporters themselves. And never underestimate the desperation that comes when Establishment Washington unifies to try to defend itself.

Over here we have professional power-worshiper Chris "It Doesn't Matter Where Political Money Comes From" Cillizza attempting to defend Tim Russert, and in the process insulting the recently deceased journalistic hero David Halberstam.

Yes, Cillizza -- clearly begging for an invite on a Meet the Press panel -- is out there saying that "modern journalists are doing their very best to emulate that sort of reporting" that came from Halberstam, and that "Tim Russert is one of the best examples of that kind of accountability journalism." I guess turning over NBC's airwaves to a Vice President spewing lies, ignoring the solid reporting of Knight Ridder that debunked those lies, and having panel discussions laughing hysterically with fellow pundit friends over predictions for when the war would start is, under Cillizza's warped Beltway definition, "accountability journalism" from Russert (who, I'm sure, Cillizza would also have us believe is just a "blue collar guy from Buffalo," despite Russert's multi-million-dollar salary and quaint Nantucket summers).

Over at CBS, White House reporter Mark Knoller's acrobatic attempts at defense make Rodney Dangerfield's "Triple Lindy" from "Back to School" look like a simple somersault. Knoller actually claims that the now-famous pre-war press conference where reporters fell all over themselves to compliment the president for his leadership was actually a scene of journalistic bravery. Atrios does the takedown of Knoller, showing the full transcript of that press conference, but if you don't want to read that, please just remember what New York Times White House reporter Elisabeth Bumiller said to defend the media's behavior at the event:

"We were very deferential because it's live, it's very intense, it's frightening to stand up there. Think about it, you're standing up on prime-time live TV asking the president of the United States a question when the country's about to go to war. There was a very serious, somber tone that evening, and no one wanted to get into an argument with the president at this very serious time."

Moyers piece is important not just because it has exposed the entire sham that was pre-war Beltway journalism, but also because he has finally exacted a price -- in this case, humiliation -- from the reporters whose power-worshiping, must-stay-on-the-cocktail-party-circuit tendencies led them to aggressively push this country into war. And we can hope that fear of future humiliation will help prevent another gross abdication of responsibility next time around.....

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/51110

Cat Chew said...

:) Interesting seeing you here now, TK. I just popped in to drop a link to Free Democracy.

Was stunned by this (excerpt from Bob Herbert):
I had coffee the other day with Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, and she mentioned that since the murders of Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, well over a million Americans have been killed by firearms in the United States. That’s more than the combined U.S. combat deaths in all the wars in all of American history.
The rest is here.

Later!

TOTAL KAOS said...

Hi Cat Chew

8-)

TOTAL KAOS said...

Woman ‘Tricked Into Sex’ By Penis Cream Treatment

A Syrian-born airline pilot allegedly tricked a schoolteacher from Haverfordwest into having sex with him by pretending he had to administer ointment on the end of his penis, a jury heard yesterday (Tuesday).

Fadi Sbano, 38, even pretended to know a gynaecologist who advised him on how often to have intercourse with her and whether to thrust "slowly or quickly". And, on the "doctor's advice", he kept a clock on the bedside table to time the sessions. The teacher put up with the treatment for nine months before telling her doctor. Huw Rees, prosecuting, told Swansea crown court: "The allegations here are of rape by deception."

Mr Rees said the pair met while Sbano was based at Gatwick and the teacher was working nearby. In November, 2000, she discovered a rash of white spots and feared that typhoid, which she contracted on holiday some years before, had returned.

Sbano claimed he was in talks with a gynaecologist who was anxious for a certain cream to be applied, the prosecutor said. "He (Sbano) suggested he would apply the cream to his penis and apply it inside her.

Mr Rees said the woman found the sessions "Clinical, not at all erotic". She consented only because she believed it was a proper treatment. "When the insertions took place, and depending on the instructions of his friend, he would thrust slowly or quickly for anything from one to ten minutes,"

Her doctor told her to find out the identity of Sbano's gynaecologist friend but he "became evasive and never gave his name" beyond the word "Ibby".

"It began to dawn on her that he had devised this treatment in order to have sex with her on his terms." Mr Rees said "Ibby" was traced but said he knew nothing about the treatment.

Sbano was arrested at Heathrow while attending a pilots' training facility. He claimed the woman had invented the entire story about the "treatment". Sbano, from Harrow, London, denies nine charges of rape and 11 or obtaining money by deception.

The trial continues.

http://thisispembrokeshire.net/display.var.1351648.0.woman_tricked_into_sex_by_cream_treatment.php

TOTAL KAOS said...

ABC to Air LIVE Atheist Debate with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort

MEDIA ADVISORY, April 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- After ABC ran a story in January about hundreds of atheists videotaping themselves blaspheming the Holy Spirit, best-selling author Ray Comfort contacted the network and offered to prove God's existence, absolutely, scientifically, without mentioning the Bible or faith. He and Kirk Cameron (co-hosts of an award-winning Christian TV program) challenged the two originators of the "Blasphemy Challenge" to a debate on the existence of God. According to Comfort, he and Cameron (an ex-atheist) are qualified to debate on the subject. Comfort had not only written a book titled "God Doesn't Believe in Atheists", but had spoken at Yale on the subject of atheism, and been flown by American Atheists, Inc., to their 2001 annual convention to be a platform speaker.

ABC loved the idea, and will host a debate in New York City on May 5, 2007. Moderated by Martin Bashir, the debate will be streamed LIVE on their website and will also be filmed for "Nightline."

Cameron ("Growing Pains" sitcom and Left Behind movies) will speak on what he believes is a major catalyst for atheism: Darwinian evolution. The popular actor stated, "Evolution is unscientific. In reality, it is a blind faith that's preached with religious zeal as the gospel truth. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was once a naïve believer in the theory. The issue of intelligent design is extremely relevant at the moment. Atheism has become very popular in universities--where it's taught that we evolved from animals and that there are no moral absolutes. So we shouldn't be surprised when there are school shootings. Cameron will also reveal what it was that convinced him that God did exist.

"Most people equate atheism with intellectualism," Comfort added, "but it's actually an intellectual embarrassment. I am amazed at how many people think that God's existence is a matter of faith. It's not, and I will prove it at the debate - once and for all. This is not a joke. I will present undeniable scientific proof that God exists...."

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/385522925.html

toniD said...

Kevin...here's more on the Lt Col. at Americablog.

Active duty Lt. Colonel blasts Bush & generals over Iraq
by John Aravosis (DC) · 4/27/2007 11:12:00 AM ET
Discuss this post here: Comments (104) · digg it · reddit · FARK · · Link


Read between the lines. The generals are responsible for letting Bush screw up the entire war effort. I've been writing this for years. Now we have active duty members saying the same. Bottom line: The author argues that Bush screwed up, and the generals didn't have the balls to call him on it. They sent their troops into battle unprepared and destined for failure.

From Armed Forces Journal (below are my titles, and then quotes from the article indented).

THE GENERALS REFUSED TO STAND UP TO BUSH
If the policymaker desires ends for which the means he provides are insufficient, the general is responsible for advising the statesman of this incongruence. The statesman must then scale back the ends of policy or mobilize popular passions to provide greater means. If the general remains silent while the statesman commits a nation to war with insufficient means, he shares culpability for the results....
THE GENERALS LIED TO THE THE PUBLIC
America's generals have repeated the mistakes of Vietnam in Iraq.... America's generals did not provide Congress and the public with an accurate assessment of the conflict in Iraq....

After going into Iraq with too few troops and no coherent plan for postwar stabilization, America's general officer corps did not accurately portray the intensity of the insurgency to the American public. The Iraq Study Group concluded that "there is significant underreporting of the violence in Iraq." The ISG noted that "on one day in July 2006 there were 93 attacks or significant acts of violence reported. Yet a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light 1,100 acts of violence. Good policy is difficult to make when information is systematically collected in a way that minimizes its discrepancy with policy goals."
BUSH AND THE GENERALS DIDN'T SEND ENOUGH TROOPS TO IRAQ, AND THEY KNEW IT
The most fundamental military miscalculation in Iraq has been the failure to commit sufficient forces to provide security to Iraq's population. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) estimated in its 1998 war plan that 380,000 troops would be necessary for an invasion of Iraq. Using operations in Bosnia and Kosovo as a model for predicting troop requirements, one Army study estimated a need for 470,000 troops. Alone among America's generals, Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki publicly stated that "several hundred thousand soldiers" would be necessary to stabilize post-Saddam Iraq. Prior to the war, President Bush promised to give field commanders everything necessary for victory. Privately, many senior general officers both active and retired expressed serious misgivings about the insufficiency of forces for Iraq. These leaders would later express their concerns in tell-all books such as "Fiasco" and "Cobra II." However, when the U.S. went to war in Iraq with less than half the strength required to win, these leaders did not make their objections public.

Given the lack of troop strength, not even the most brilliant general could have devised the ways necessary to stabilize post-Saddam Iraq. However, inept planning for postwar Iraq took the crisis caused by a lack of troops and quickly transformed it into a debacle.
TYING UP SO MUCH OF OUR MILITARY IN IRAQ PUTS AMERICA AT RISK
Moreover, America's generals have not explained clearly the larger strategic risks of committing so large a portion of the nation's deployable land power to a single theater of operations.
CONGRESS IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE US (I.E., NOT BUSH)
We still have time to select as our generals those who possess the intelligence to visualize future conflicts and the moral courage to advise civilian policymakers on the preparations needed for our security. The power and the responsibility to identify such generals lie with the U.S. Congress.

LINK

toniD said...

Waxman asks Tenet to testify. House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) has invited former CIA Director George Tenet to testify on May 10. “The purpose of the hearing is to learn your views about one of the claims used to justify the war in Iraq — the assertion that Iraq sought to import uranium from Niger — and related issues.”

http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=307

TOTAL KAOS said...

toniD said...

Kevin...here's more on the Lt Col. at Americablog.

********

After seeing Moyers Documentary the other nite .... you can see the Washington Post at work on that story.... putting it on PAGE 4.

******

Hi ToniD

Nice to see ya

8-)

toniD said...

Nice to see you too Kevin.

Tenet to testify. Hmmm. He was actually teering up on 60 minutes. Very disappointed that he was thrown to the wolves by the White House and Cheney inparticular.

toniD said...

Someone said, I believe it was Atrios, that if you have a WaPo subscription, cancel it!

Best place to hurt them. In the pocketbook!

TOTAL KAOS said...

Tenet should have said something when Bush was hanging that Medal of Freedom around his neck.

blah blah blah said...

hey toniD, won't that be former Lt. Col. Paul Yingling by the end of the day?

i didn't think they allowed that level of dissent within the military.

TOTAL KAOS said...

Yeow! Knoller Feels Readers' Wrath

CBS NEWS

I’ve got to admit I was stunned by the nature, depth and fury of the responses to my blog post yesterday (below) about the Bill Moyers Journal report on the news media and the War in Iraq.

Read those comments and you’ll see there’s alot of anger, no, make that rage directed at some of us – maybe all of us – in the news business.

In fairness, some of you had legitimate points of view to express. Fair enough. Others just wanted to tell me I was a jerk or worse. One of you even called me something that got Don Imus fired.

Sorry you feel that way.

Look, all I was saying was that reporters were not willing dupes of - or accomplices to - the President’s decision to go to war in Iraq.

Most of us try to report honestly and fairly on Administration decisions, intentions and statements. If there were doubts and reservations about those matters, it got reported too.

Clearly, many of you disagree. So at the risk of poking an angry lion – let me try this.

YOU be the reporter!

It’s March 6, 2003. Pres Bush is moving closer to ordering an attack on Iraq.

You’re in the East Room for his primetime news conference – and he calls on you.

What do you ask?

What finely-crafted question do you pose that both serves the public interest and will get a meaningul response?

I assure you my colleagues and I will read what you write.

toniD said...

Total Kaos Inc said...
Tenet should have said something when Bush was hanging that Medal of Freedom around his neck.

April 27, 2007 2:18 PM

True. But lets not stop him from talking now. He didn't realize at that time he was hit by the Cheney truck!!

TOTAL KAOS said...

toniD said...

True. But lets not stop him from talking now. He didn't realize at that time he was hit by the Cheney truck!!
*******************

Well he can get his chance UNDER OATH....

Oversight Committee Invites Former CIA Director to Testify
April 27th, 2007 by Jesse Lee

A letter (pdf):

April 27, 2007

The Honorable George Tenet
c/o Robert B. Barnett, Esq.
Williams & Connolly LLP
725 Twelfth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005

Dear Mr. Tenet:

I am writing to invite you to testify at a hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on May 10, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2157, Rayburn House Office Building. The purpose of the hearing is to learn your views about one of the claims used to justify the war in Iraq — the assertion that Iraq sought to import uranium from Niger — and related issues.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee in the House of Representatives and has broad oversight jurisdiction as set forth in House Rule X. Information for witnesses appearing before the Committee is contained in the enclosed Witness Information Sheet.

If you have any questions, you may contact me or David Rapallo or Theodore Chuang of the Committee staff at (202) 225-5420.

I look forward to your testimony.

Sincerely,

Henry A. Waxman

Chairman

toniD said...

Blah 3...probably will be asked to resign. But if so, won't that look suspicious?

Probably have to be paying attention to things like that to know the difference. Like we are. Majority of people will not have heard about Lt. Col. or what he said.

bibimimi said...

Al Queda operative captured, or at least moved around.

who's ass gets coverage today? gonzo? geo. tenet? why don't they just raise that thar threat level? me likey da orange crushed.

toniD said...

Good ole Waxman!! He's like the curious cat. Thank goodness for him.

toniD said...

Al Qaeda operative supposedly already at Gitmo.

toniD said...

A U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the Iraqi had been captured late last year in an operation that involved many people in more than one country.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano declined to say when and where al-Iraqi was captured. He called al-Iraqi "a veteran jihadist" and said his capture is "a significant victory in the fight against terror — getting him off the street is good news."

The Pentagon described al-Iraqi as an associate of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and as someone who may have been targeting Westerners outside of Iraq. At one time he served in the Iraqi military, the Pentagon said.

The Pentagon took custody of al-Iraqi at Guantanamo Bay, the detention center for terror suspects, Whitman said. He is the 15th so-called high-value detainee to be taken to Guantanamo Bay after being held by the CIA in secret prisons abroad. The other 14 were sent to Guantanamo Bay last September and have since undergone military hearings there to affirm their status as enemy combatants eligible for military trials.

LINK

toniD said...

This al Qaeda operative was captured last year and they report it today. Why? It's a smoke screen again. Take the heat off the president and try again to say that Al Qaeda was already in Iraq!

I don't believe it. He might be a bad guy but they are using this at this point!

TOTAL KAOS said...

THis is a new one they caught.....

Afghanistan says Al-Qaeda arrest a major success

KABUL - The arrest of Al-Qaeda commander Abd al Hadi al-Iraqi, who worked with Afghanistan's Taliban, is a major success and will be a blow to terror networks, the Afghan defence ministry said Friday.

"Al-Iraqi was very important for the terrorists' networks. His arrest is a major success," ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP.

"It will help to get to the high-ranking terrorist network figures and it will have deeply negative effect on the network," he said.

A Pentagon spokesman said the militant, on a US "most wanted" list, had been taken into US custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in the past week.

TOTAL KAOS said...

Missile strike in Pakistan kills 4

SAIDGI, Pakistan - A missile strike killed four people on Friday in a Pakistani border region considered a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida militants, witnesses and officials said.

One official suggested the missiles were launched from Afghan territory just two miles away; the U.S. military and NATO in Afghanistan denied involvement.

The projectiles hit Saidgi, a village in the North Waziristan region, already targeted in operations against militants last year.

A senior military official in the capital, Islamabad, said the dead and wounded were making bombs and had accidentally caused an explosion. But two local intelligence officials said it was a missile attack, and a government official said the projectiles were apparently fired from Afghanistan.

TOTAL KAOS said...

Harry Reid - Emergency Petition: STOP THE VETO

blah blah blah said...

we have learned thru experience that this administration will lie, bluff, cheat and basically do anything to persuade the public to support them. with things unraveling the way they are, i find it real hard to believe that the saudis busted up a major terror ring that was all set to go, or that we captured another al qaeda or anything else. its all lies and deceit.

same with the generals saying the surge is working. is bushes handpicked person going to say anything else?

Unknown said...

I absolutely adore Henry Waxman. What would we do without him? He's such a hardass. I LOVE HIM!!!!!!!!!!

bibimimi said...

Al Qaeda operative supposedly already at Gitmo.

April 27, 2007 2:35 PM

toni;

they're borrowing from NBC/universal/GE/Pentagon:

"It's new to YOU"

TOTAL KAOS said...

'Mutual destruction' danger in US anti-missile plan: Putin

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned that US plans to deploy an anti-missile system in eastern Europe sharply increase the danger of mutual destruction.

...

"The threat of causing mutual damage and even destruction increases many times," Putin said after a meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus in Moscow, Interfax and ITAR-TASS news agencies reported.

He scorned Washington's claim that the role of the US interceptor missiles would be to shoot down missiles from countries such as Iran or North Korea, rather than from Russia. "Neither terrorists, whom they are preparing to defend against, nor Iran, nor North Korea have such a system," Putin said. "To talk of terrorists is simply hilarious. They use other methods."

Moscow's opposition to the US deployment is steadily hardening, fuelling East-West tensions already heightened over differences on independence for Kosovo, Putin's record on democracy, and Russian energy export policies.

toniD said...

Our gas, here, today is at $3.09.9 a gallon. And Exxon is making windfall profits!!

Let them build refineries with the profit.

toniD said...

Friday, April 27, 2007

Opposition Party


The line pushed by Timmeh and others is that the failure of journalism in the runup to the Iraq war is somehow the fault of Democrats. Now certainly plenty of Democrats - and the Democrats generally - can be blamed for many things in that period, but Timmeh's shitty show isn't one of them.

And plenty of Democrats did vote against the AUMF and were against the war, so I'll engage Timmeh on this and go over his guest list (Democratic members of Congress only) from the day the Senate passed the AUMF until Shock and Awe Day.
10/13/02 - No Dem member of Congress.
10/20 Schumer - voted for it (subject was gun control/DC Sniper).
10/27 No Dem member of Congress.
11/03 No Dem member of Congress.
11/10 Tom Daschle - voted for it
11/17 Landrieu - voted for it
11/24 Graham - voted against it
12/01 John Kerry - voted for it
12/08 John Lewis - voted against, but subject was John Lott.
12/15 Carl Levin - voted against.
12/22 no dem member of Congress. "Laura Bush, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Rudy Giuliani discuss the emotional, spiritual and philosophical lessons and challenges of the past year."
12/29 Biden - voted for it.
01/05 - Reid - voted for it.
01/12 - No Dem member of Congress
01/19 - Lieberman, voted for it.
01/26 - Dodd, voted for it.
02/03 - Bill Nelson, voted for it (show's subject was space shuttle disaster)
02/09 - No Dem member of Congress.
02/23 - Dennis Kucinich, voted against it. Debated Richard Perle. Richard Gephardt, voted for with extra gusto.
03/02 - No Democratic member of Congress.
03/09 - No Democratic member of Congress.
03/16 - No Democratic member of Congress.


There were war skeptics who weren't members of Congress - Al Sharpton, Mike Farrell, Madeleine Albright, Wes Clark.


So, in that 5 month period you had 9 appearances by pro-AUMF Dem senators, 2 appearances by senators who voted against. Two appearances by anti-AUMF House members, though only one discussed the topic, and one appearance by a pro-AUMF House member.

23 senators voted against the AUMF (Dems+Jeffords), and the majority of House Democrats.


-Atrios 12:59

toniD said...

Rudy!


He was for civil unions before he was against them.


-Atrios 12:56

GBC said...

It's Friday ya Bastards!

{{{Bounce yer Boobies everybody!!!}}}

toniD said...

For GBC....

It's Friday ya Bastids!!!

toniD said...

Oh there you are GBC!!! :)

toniD said...

Friday April 27, 2007 09:28 EST
The Dan Gerstein sham
(updated below)

On Tuesday of this week, Hillary Clinton wrote for a post for FireDogLake regarding a bill she has sponsored in Congress, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which is designed to "toughen the penalties for violating the Equal Pay Act." Clinton then participated in the comment section of the post, responding to questions and comments from FDL's bloggers and readers.

The following day, The Washington Post's Mary Ann Akers, wrote a piece claiming that Clinton's posting at FDL "is raising a few eyebrows in Democratic political circles." This is so, she asserts, because "in Democratic political circles [Jane] Hamsher is better known as the author of a racially offensive attack against Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)." Akers then "reports" this:

A day after Clinton's post appeared on firedoglake.com, Democratic activists in various corners privately questioned the wisdom of the Clinton campaign in choosing to write for a blog associated with Hamsher.
Who are the "Democratic activists in various corners" complaining? She cites a grand total of two people -- one who is a "Hillary backer" who cowardly agreed to express these views only anonymously. Why grant anonymity to someone like this to do nothing more than express some sort of run-of-the-mill political criticism? Why deprive readers of knowing who that person is, to assess their importance, influence and credibility? Granting anonymity to people to spout little more than garden-variety political gossip is the sign of a reporter desperate to manufacture controversy in order to have something to write.

The only other source for Akers' sweeping claims is Joe Lieberman's personal consultant, Dan Gerstein, who receives attention only when he attacks liberal blogs, and therefore does it endlessly. Gerstein's candidate -- against whom FDL campaigned tirelessly, which just might explain his anti-FDL remarks -- is so unrepresentative of "Democrats" that his candidate was booted out of the party by his own state despite being a three-term incumbant Senator.

snip to update

UPDATE: After TPM's Greg Sargent, in the above-linked posts, wrote about The Politico's breach of journalistic principles (by offering up Gerstein's anti-blog commentary without disclosing that he is still a paid advisor to Lieberman), Columbia Journalism Review's Paul McLeary wrote a comprehensive piece explaining why the most basic and well-known precepts of journalistic ethics compel disclosure of Gerstein's ongoing ties to Lieberman, and why such ties are critical in assessing the "credibility" of Gerstein's obvious quite personal obsession with liberal blogs.

It's astounding that such matters even need to be explained. Perhaps Akers -- and any other journalists who want to write anti-blog stories with Gerstein as their source -- ought to read that article to see what type of "source" Gerstein is.

-- Glenn Greenwald

LINK

Anonymous said...

I love me!!!

GBC said...

Oh there you are GBC!!! :)

Yes, here I am! Better late than never.

So, has Wado been drooling over Hillary's "retaliation" comment?

toniD said...

GBC said...
Oh there you are GBC!!! :)

Yes, here I am! Better late than never.

So, has Wado been drooling over Hillary's "retaliation" comment?

April 27, 2007 3:25 PM

He drools about everything Hillary!

toniD said...

GBC, you were just on time!!

GBC said...

So, tonideeee, who was your fave from last night's debate?

TOTAL KAOS said...

Bill Moyers responds to Mark Knoller:

toniD said...

GBC, I didn't see the debate. I was working. I understand that MSNBC will repeat it Saturday and Sunday, so I have to watch tomorrow.

Who was yours?

toniD said...

Good for Moyers. He's on again tonight with Jon Stewart and Josh Marshall.

Check your local PBS stations.

toniD said...

April 27, 2007 -- 01:04 PM EST // link)
I don't normally make a habit of flagging stuff like this. But I really appreciate Bill Moyers' and Co.'s highlighting our work here at TPM. So I wanted to let you know that I'll be appearing this evening in the first regular episode of Moyers' new show Bill Moyers Journal.

Many of you saw and have written in about the show on the press coverage of the lead-up to the Iraq War. But I guess that was technically a 'special' rather than one of the regular segments, of which tonight's is the first.

If you're interested you can find the time and station in your area.

I haven't seen the show myself. So I can't tell you exactly what's included -- here's the online blurb. But I sat down for an interview with Moyers' last week for the show. And they had a crew over here at TPM HQ filming some of what we do. So if you're interested, tune in. Apparently the full show will be online at the Bill Moyers Journal website after it runs on tv.

-- Josh Marshall

LINK

TOTAL KAOS said...

See ya later ToniD ... everyone.

8-)

toniD said...

Heh! Just what I said about this.

From a reader with his ears open ...

So. It's Friday, and the Pentagon leaks word that a top al-Qaeda operative has been captured. Or, actually, that he was captured last year, but that he's just been transferred from the custody of the CIA to DoD. Wait, that's not quite right. He was transferred earlier in the week. But still. It's important news. Right?
Only here's the thing. When you have a story like this, you don't release it on a Friday. There's nothing time-critical about it. There's no reason to squander the positive headlines on the slowest media day of the week.

Maybe you've already heard something. Or maybe we'll get the word in the next few hours. But I can't think of a surer sign that the administration will be releasing some information later today that it would rather we all ignored. Who knows? It could be a post-Gonzales testimony DoJ document dump. It might be word of another probe into Rove. Maybe the RNC will be turning over some e-mails. But you can take it to the bank - something's coming down the pike.



-- Josh Marshall

LINK

toniD said...

Bye Kevin!

I'll check your site later!

blah blah blah said...

what was great about the debate last night is they all did a good job. if you have a candidate that you like, there is no doubt that you heard him/her say exactly what you wanted to hear and you have no doubt that they trumped the other candidates.

i saw three tiers last night:

1) edwards, clinton, obama

2) dodd, richardson, biden

3) gravel, kucinich

i prefer it when npr or the league of voters drives the debate, i think brian williams was a little biased in some of his questions and perhaps a touch unfair in his treatment of the individual candidates.

i stand by what i said last night. i think edwards is the most pragmatic practical candidate for the dems. i've donated to her campaign in the past but i just don't think hillary can do it. obama needs more experience. i think richardson would make an interesting vp candidate. biden is too east coast to succeed. i don't understand why dodd is wasting peoples money running.

i don't disagree with what gravel and kucinich say, gravel would be a good voice to be heard but he's not a leader. kucinich is too much of an idealist to lead in todays world.

toniD said...

BREAKING: Limbaugh’s “Barack the Magic Negro,” on-air song has workers up in arms
By: John Amato @ 12:44 PM - PDT Rush Limbaugh has angered many black employees over this parody song called "Barack the Magic Negro" This isn't the first or the last time that Limbaugh will go after Obama's race:

Download (546) | Play (722)

I've been told that they have held meetings internally to deal with a ground swell of anger at Rush because of this…A caller noticed there was a disclaimer added to the station she listens to and asks Rush why.

Download (316) | Play (414)

LINK

Alice said...

Well...since you'll never hear about him any where that matters....& that doesn't seem to bother anybody...

*

The Peace and Freedom Party has remained strongly opposed to the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and supports an immediate withdrawal of all American and Allied forces.

Stewart Alexander’s campaign to become president is broad based and comprehensive, addressing the needs of working class people in America and the world.

Alexander says, “The Democrats and Republicans, one party with two names, no longer represent America’s working class; the present one party system represents less than 5 percent of the 300 million people living in this country. Unfortunately, many Americans still believe the Democrats and Republicans are representing their best interest in Washington and the world.”

Alexander’s platform will consist of several key areas; creating programs to assist American veterans and their families, free college education for students through university level, national legislation that will meet the growing needs of seniors and the homeless, establishing universal health care, affordable housing, creating a stronger economy for working people with jobs providing good pay, hours and benefits, and developing cleaner technologies to protect the environment.

On matters of immigration, Alexander will work with other left groups and organizations to provide protection for the 12 million immigrants presently living in the United States. Alexander says, “I believe this nation should support real job opportunities for migrant workers instead of guest worker slavery programs.”

Stewart Alexander has previously run for public office, most recently he was a candidate for California Lieutenant Governor in the 2006 Mid-Term Election. In 1989 Alexander was a candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles. He was a political activist and state lobbyist working for the Florida Consumer Action Network (FCAN), and was a political activist with the Long Island Citizens Campaign in New York. Alexander is presently a member of the Peace and Freedom Party State Central Committee, he is the party’s National Membership Coordinator, and he is an officer on the Board of the PFP State Executive Committee.

Alexander says his bid to be the next president of the United States is a grassroots effort and he welcomes the support from individuals and groups across the nation. To contact Stewart Alexander, write: Stewart A. Alexander for President, 40485 Murrieta Hot Springs Road, Suite 149, Murrieta, CA 92563.

For more information search the Web for Stewart A. Alexander; Peace and Freedom Party Begins 2008 Presidential Search; Alexander: PFP Setting Tone for 2008; PFP, Stewart Alexander Represents America’s Left.

www.salt-g.com
stewartalexander4paf (at) ca.rr.com

http://twincities.indymedia.org/newswire/display/29928/index.php

Alice said...

Green Party

Announced Candidates

Elaine Brown: Former Black Panther Party leader, noted author, community and prison justice activist. Brown announced her intent to seek the Green Party nomination the week of February 26th[1]

Kat Swift: Co-Chair of the Green Party of Texas. Swift appeared at the Party's annual meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2004 with materials to announce her campaign. She is one of the youngest to seek the office in 2008, as she will only just be of age to serve on Inauguration Day in 2009.

toniD said...

Senator Feingold Corrects John Roberts’ Misinformation
By: SilentPatriot @ 12:02 PM - PDT On April 15th CNN's John Roberts falsely implied on "Late Edition" that the proposed Feingold-Reid bill would “cut off the funds in the middle of a war” for “troops in the field.” In response, Senator Feingold sent Roberts a letter (.pdf) correcting the record and appeared on "American Morning" yesterday to confront him about his misleading characterization.

Download (787) | Play (960) Download (241) | Play (596)

"But I want to repeat, this involves not taking away one thing from the troops in the field, and that's the reason I wanted to come on this show, to make that absolutely clear."

It's really a shame that Feingold decided against a Presidential run. He's ahead of the curve on every single issue and truly "gets it." When President Bush was caught violating FISA, it was Feingold who took a stand for the Constitution and proposed taking the modest step of censuring the President (and was shunned by nearly everyone in Congress — including Democrats). It also would have been nice to see him at last night's debate. There's no doubt in my mind he would have blown everyone out of the water.

Glenn wrote a fantastic post last November explaining why the Beltway class can't comprehend the Russ Feingolds of the world.

LINK

Alice said...

...

Alexander says, “The Democrats and

Republicans, one party with two

names, no longer represent

America’s working class; the

present one party system represents

less than 5 percent of the 300

million people living in this

country. Unfortunately, many

Americans still believe the

Democrats and Republicans are

representing their best interest in

Washington and the world.”

...

Anonymous said...

Just as I thought I was coming...

she told me I was leaving!

toniD said...

Shell, I don't disagree with that. I really don't.

It is a case of the better of two evils. I am aware of that but we don't have the luxury of a thrid party choice right now.

And as much as you hate it (me too) it is a fact of life that we must deal with the better of two evils.

Things must really change before a third party is accepted. But I do not want to go through years, like I have and all of us have, of another administration the same as we have now.

Catharine said...

O'Reilly falsely accused Media Matters of lying about Soros funding

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704270006

On the April 26 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly attacked Media Matters for America, saying that "the vile Media Matters outfit is denying receiving funding from any of [progressive financier] George Soros' outfits," and claiming, "Well, that is a total lie." As evidence, O'Reilly noted that the Tides Foundation donated over $1 million to Media Matters in 2005, "[a]nd just by coincidence Soros' Open Society Institute [OSI] donated more than a million dollars to Tides in 2005." He added: "Figure it out." But O'Reilly's conclusion that Soros donated $1 million to Media Matters through the Tides Foundation is false. OSI's donations to Tides were earmarked for several specific programs, and Media Matters was not included on this list.

As Media Matters documented, on April 24, O'Reilly unveiled a chart that purported to expose a "complicated political operation" in which "Soros and a few other wealthy radicals who help him are funneling money into the political process" by funding Media Matters, which "feeds its propaganda to some mainstream media people." As previously indicated, Soros has never given money to Media Matters, either directly or through another organization.

According to the Tides website, the "Tides Foundation has had 30 years of visionary philanthropy for progressive social change. Since 2000, it has granted more than $400 million to progressive nonprofit organizations. Our growth is a testament to the joint commitment among our partners and staff to supporting positive social change domestically and globally." According to the foundation's IRS Form 990, Tides received $81,044,306 in public contributions, gifts, and grants in 2005. Media Matters for America was awarded $1,074,454, and the Media Matters Action Network was awarded $5,000 from Tides in 2005. Tides awarded a total of $85,941,477 to several hundred organizations. According to OSI's Form 990, the organization awarded a total of $550,000 to Tides in 2005 and instructed that this sum be directed to two specific programs or entities: Tides' Death Penalty Mobilization Fund, which was awarded $150,000, and the Right to Vote Campaign, which received $400,000. A total of $988,655 from OSI was actually paid through Tides in 2005 to three programs or entities -- the Death Penalty Mobilization Fund, the Right to Vote Campaign, and Connect US Fund and Network.

From the April 26 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: The techniques [PBS journalist Bill] Moyers uses are standard-issue secular-progressive far left. And when they're exposed, as Moyers has been, they launch personal attacks. We expect them.

After our report on Monday, the vile Media Matters outfit is denying receiving funding from any of George Soros' outfits. Well, that is a total lie. As we laid out for you, the smear website received more than a million dollars from the Tides Foundation alone in 2005, and just by coincidence, Soros' Open Society Institute donated more than a million dollars to Tides in 2005. Figure it out.

Now, I could sit here for the entire hour and detail the corruption in the far-left media. It was no accident that elements at NBC News rose quickly to defend Media Matters. NBC News uses their propaganda as fact almost daily. Disgraceful. And that's the "Memo."

Alice said...

I hear ya, Toni...

I'm starting early in that sense then, I guess....because I don't want to go through another term of either of the evils..the less or the more...

toniD said...

Daily Show: Who’s to Blame for VATech Massacre?
By: SilentPatriot @ 9:04 AM - PDT Lax gun control laws? Strict gun control laws? Liberals? Rosie O'Donnell? Television? Hollywood? Video games? Society? YouTube? Jon puts together a round-up of the shameful MSM blame game.

Download (3788) | Play (4792) Download (1404) | Play (2907)

LINK

Anonymous said...

He drools about everything Hillary!

April 27, 2007 3:28 PM

--

Please!

You can't be serious! Why people on this blog STILL reads troll's posts and insists on discussing them as if it is beneficial to anything or of any significance at all? .... Why let this troll dominate this blog w. all this attention?

I have been scrolling by trollmania for three years now ...
Everyone should try it one time. The blog will be so much better for it.

Fwiw, I think Hillary Clinton gave a great performance in the first debate last night. Her answers right on and to the point. By the end of the night when everything was said and done I heard every TV pundit say so as well.

Besides Why anyone even thought she wouldn't do this well after listening to her speak for almost two decades in public life is a mystery to me.

Also The GOP candidates are the least of her problems in the debate department. How will any one of these GOP war hawks explain their continued support for the Iraq War and Bush to the American voters? Food for thought.

So what now? Anyone who doesn't post hateful Hillary Clinton comments but instead analyzes her performance in positive terms like I am doing now is a troll, wingnut, effing this and that, freeper? ....

The hypocrisy on certain sites is absolutely stunning. I think people should support favorite candidate for sure but truth and objectivity should not go out the window in the process.

Anyone checked Daily Kos with its rabid and maniacal Edwards followers who stalk any poster they don't like? Re election 2008 Dkos is nothing but a fan site for Edwards now. Why? I have no idea.

And mainstream media knows it, too, because TV analysts who pay attention to dkos mainly because it is the largest liberal site on net are starting to dismiss it Big Time. Dkos is losing in significance re Dem candidates and the 2008 election.

GBC said...

tonid says...

Who was yours?

Gravel, of course! For the comic relief!

Actually, I thought all did well, except for Richardson. And he's usually poised and articulate. He totally blew last night.

And not to sound like Wado with his incredibly unhealthy Hillary fixation, but, she knocked it out of the park, IMO, on almost everything. Doesn't mean I want her to win, btw. And she still needs to atone for her Iraq War vote. 'If I knew then what I knew now' just doesn't cut it.

I agree, blah3, on Obama... he was a little too 'green' for me. I was surprised the terrorist attack question threw him off so badly.

I miss Gore, and I miss Clark.

Catharine said...

********************
toniD said...

BREAKING: Limbaugh’s “Barack the Magic Negro,” on-air song has workers up in arms
By: John Amato @ 12:44 PM - PDT Rush Limbaugh has angered many black employees over this parody song called "Barack the Magic Negro" This isn't the first or the last time that Limbaugh will go after Obama's race:

Download (546) | Play (722)

I've been told that they have held meetings internally to deal with a ground swell of anger at Rush because of this…A caller noticed there was a disclaimer added to the station she listens to and asks Rush why.

Download (316) | Play (414)

LINK

April 27, 2007 4:10 PM

******************

Do you get the sense that Rush is psychologically about 7 years old? Or mayber even 2?

He seems so determined to test the waters after Imus. He has even said "they will come after me too". He is the classic case of a small child who wants to see what the boundaries are.

blah blah blah said...

agree on gore and clark. but as its been said, you debate with the candidates you got, not the candidates you wish you had...

well sammy, if you're reading this i think you've got a challenge. you're going to need an edwards thread, a hillary thread, a obama thread, and what the hell, an others thread to keep us all happy.

GBC said...

Please!

~-~-~

oh, lighten up bridge. Sheesh.

It was a friggin' joke.

GBC said...

OMT... about the candidates

It's really a shame that Feingold decided against a Presidential run. He's ahead of the curve on every single issue and truly "gets it."

Bingo!

bbl~

Anonymous said...

Elisabeth Kucinich.

http://kucinich.us/node/2885/play


The founding mothers and fathers. Far out.

Hippies live. :)

toniD said...

Lush, I mean Rush, is way out there. To borrow one of WD's favorites...he's a crazy talker.

Problem is the amount of people who liten to him and believe what he says.

I'd love to see him get taken off the air. But I think Obama is wise to ignore him. Makes Lush look bad and he won't be able to push it back in Obama's face.

Catharine said...

I'd love to see him get taken off the air. But I think Obama is wise to ignore him. Makes Lush look bad and he won't be able to push it back in Obama's face.

April 27, 2007 5:04 PM

I agree. I think it's generally wise for all of us to not even respond to him anymore. It would be totally appropriate that he just fall away... with the little guy getting smaller and smaller and his little munchkin voice getting quieter and quieter ... until he's just a memory... if that.

Besides, I think he has lost a great deal of the influence he once had.

Anonymous said...

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

toniD said...

Be back in a bit, phone call.

Anonymous said...

Who blew it?

Obama blew the Palestine Qs in a big way. Making clear that the Palestine people have suffered so much only because of the Palestine goverment. This was unacceptable to me but so far didn't bother the pundits none. Obama - Not a uniter in the MEast for sure.

Remember in the 2004 primary debates when Kerry called for evenhanded ME politiks, i.e. Palestine and Israel, Lieberman jumped from his seat like a mad person and let him have it. Basically gave the same Obama line about the importance of Israel to US etc.

Richardson who seemed nervous and ill at ease the whole time IMO blew it with his gun support "in the West" and his support for good friend fellow latin Alberto Gonzales (who is a good guy he said later - digging himself even deeper). Alberto, a good guy for the country?

Edwards blew it several times. Didn't pay attention to a question asked, pregnant looong pause before he could come up with the answer to the morality qs which should be a piece of cake for him.

Talking about haircuts and problem funds was a problem qs thrown at him - he didn't really blew it here but it wasn't good. He let opportunities go by to make his cause.

Anonymous said...

The one candidate who did himself a lot of good in this first debate: Joe Biden

So he is the one so far who jumped away from the pack ready to challenge the top three.

Nobody should underestimate the short "YES" answer in this kind of setting. Its the kind of stuff everyone remembers.

Waiting for Cicero said...

Disagree.

The kollective is rabid right now. It's primary season, and a lot of folks are convinced that their guy/gal really does walk on water. Most of it is good natured, but there is some rancor between the Obama and Edwards camps, which will dissolve as soon as we have a candidate.

I still disagree on the characterization of Senator Clinton's treatment there. When she pulled out of the Fox News/CBC debate, folks (including kos) lauded it as leadership in action. There is a small core of people who hate her there, but I have seen plenty of diaries that bash her wind up with "troll diary" tags in nothing flat. Most people who are serious understand that, whether or not she is their candidate, it serves no purpose to tear her down unjustly. If you honestly think that Senator Clinton is getting the most shabby treatment there, I suggest you have not been paying attention to the reception given to Dodd and Kucinich, and that you have not been paying attention to the even more heated infighting between the Obama and Edwards types.

Just my thoughts.

(disclaimer: I have no first choice in the Dem primary so far, though I can say that none of the Big Three really inspire me. Still waiting for Gore.)

Also, if the tone in the above post is too, um, strident, I apologize.

Anonymous said...

wfc,
are you talking to me?

Anonymous said...

wfc,
are you talking to me?

Anonymous said...

I didn't mean to doublepost

I feel like Robert de Niro LOL

Waiting for Cicero said...

Yes. I don't share your views about the reception the candidates receive at dkos, but I understand your reasons for having those views.

I will not be working to elect Senator Clinton (unless she becomes the nominee) because I have seen a Bush or Clinton on every ballot since I was born. I would like to see a change, and I don't believe that enough of one will come from electing Senator Clinton. I also have reservations about her (and other candidates) willingness to use military force as a tool of state.

I still believe that any of "our" candidates are miles ahead of the GOP types. Even Biden, and I have a lot of problems with his support of the credit/finance industry.

Fwiw, I

Waiting for Cicero said...

Fwiw, I agree that there is no point in making talking points for the GOP, they'll do it just fine without us. Criticism is good, but unfounded "Hilary/Edwards/Obama sucks" memes are not going to help further progressive ideals.

Something the GOP understands very well, unfortunately.

Waiting for Cicero said...

bbiaw, bridge, many blessings

Anonymous said...

Rachel Maddow LIVE FROM MIDWESTERN WHITE BOY territory!

(spoken in Ren and Stimpy's fireman's "circus midgeeeeetssss" tone)
Midwessteerrrnnn Whiiite Booyyyssss

GBC said...

Victims of terror should not be labeled terrorists

Here is how it happens.

After the United Nations or another nongovernmental agency determines that a person has a "well-founded fear of persecution" in his or her country of origin, the refugee is interviewed by officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The screening includes detailed questions to make sure all of the anti-terrorism provisions of the USA Patriot Act and the Real ID Act are met.

This is understandable - but there is a flaw in the laws.

The definition of who provides "material support" to terrorists is unreasonably broad. There have been several legislative attempts to fix it, but the provisions still stand, largely unchanged, preventing resettlement of Iraqis like these three I met in February and March.

* The liquor store owner is a Christian Iraqi. In July, he found a threatening note slipped under the door of his store in Baghdad. (Selling alcohol violates Islamic law.) The police could not help. With no other means of supporting his wife and seven children, he kept the shop open. The next week, five men entered the store, beat him, emptied the cash register, took his cell phone and demanded $10,000. Four days later, kidnappers snatched his 1-year-old son and demanded a ransom of $30,000. With the help of an adult son in Australia, he raised $10,000 and delivered it as instructed. The next morning he found a package on the porch: one plastic bag with the head of his son and another with his little beheaded body. The liquor store owner buried his son, and the whole family fled Iraq as soon as they got their travel documents.

What the Americans will want to know is whether the kidnappers were just after cash. Those who act "for mere personal monetary gain" have not committed "terrorist activities." Then - and only then - would paying them a ransom not be considered "material support of terrorist activities."

LINK

toniD said...

“I’m just envisioning what it would be like to be a young soldier in the middle of Iraq and realizing that politicians have all of the sudden made military determinations. And in my judgment, that would put a kid in harm’s way, more so than he or she already is.” — President Bush, today, on how withdrawing a soldier from Iraq will place him in greater danger

LINK

Alice said...

bridge said...

I didn't mean to doublepost

I feel like Robert de Niro LOL

April 27, 2007 6:04 PM

:) Funny, bridge...

Alice said...

It's so cold & lonely over here in third plus party-ville...

:)

Anonymous said...

wfc,
I'll make it short and answer your post - because I can't stay much longer on the net.

Unfortunately, I don't agree w. you w. any of your assessments. I am a trained observer, however, and well, what can I say, you just have to take my word for it when I say I am pretty objective analyzer and make conclusions only after collecting plenty of data.

You say "Most people who are serious understand that, whether or not she is their candidate, it serves no purpose to tear her down unjustly."

You would think smart people would know that but it doesn't look that way. But if you are a regular visitor there and on other netroots sites like Mydd, Atrios, even on this little personal blog, you would know that that is not the case. Its perfectly safe for anyone to bash Hillary Clinton BUT be called a wingnut or ^&^&&^ *(*(* if you try to set the record straight about the Clintons. Its a waste of time.

Hillary Clinton is a non-issue on Daily Kos. People do like do put her name in the title of the diaries to get attention but it is always negative. Open up some of the posts and see. For a period of time, at least.

dkos Polls are laughable. Hillary who leads in the national polls has a couple votes, Edwards, well 300?
This kind of stuff ...
I can't believe it that TV stations still check internet polls and take them seriously.

The people who do still respect Hillary Clinton at dkos and initially tried to set the record straight, have largely given up. I would certainly do that. Being called wingnut, freeper, other nasty names, who would want that. But this is v. typical when favorites are selected on community sites, starting with the Webowner. Its no different than on a sports site with thousands of members. In fact, its exactly the same.

Markos Moulitsas made very clear that the netroots (and I assume you know what that means in this context) do not like Hillary Clinton. He said that on Russert when discussing his book w. Jerome Armstrong, he said so to every pundit at Yearly Kos, he said so in many interviews I checked, he picked on Hillary Clinton in many of his diaries or posts while ignoring same issue in other Dems. A couple years ago He wrote a v. negatie but IMO nonsense Clinton article in the NYTimes. Result: The kosborgs know exactly what they have to do.

There is Obama/Edwards rivalry but its getting less and less because the Obama people know how the cookie crumbles. A couple months ago these two candidates were neck on neck but not anymore ... Its done.

I've seen a few Kucinich threads and people defended him; Dodd? Not really. There are some Richardson followers but in the whole context of the dkos community insignificant.

I wish bloggers could be more thoughtful and grown-up since this is the most important election and not just the Olympics which caused havoc on the sports site I used to be a member.

But if the webowner has an agenda which he has, no doubt about that, people will have to make their own decision: borg or not to borg.

well, I guess this was longer than I meant it to be .... always have lots to say ;-) ask Mr. bridge.

I'll check in later, wfc. in case you posted in the meantime.

Catharine said...

O'Reilly falsely claimed he "went on facts and facts alone" in his statements supporting Iraq war

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704270011

On the April 24 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly denied the assertion by Marvin Kalb, lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a senior fellow at the school's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, that prior to, and during, "the first year or even two after the [Iraq] war got started, Fox and many other people associated with Fox ... said all kinds of things in support of the war, which were not being borne out by the facts." O'Reilly replied: "No, I didn't. I went on facts and facts alone." In fact, in the lead-up to, and following, the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, O'Reilly made several false claims and misleading suggestions regarding the threat posed by Iraq. Notably, O'Reilly repeatedly suggested a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, despite numerous reports undermining this claim.

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi

Prior to the invasion, O'Reilly frequently repeated the Bush administration's claim that Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was evidence of a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Both claims -- that Zarqawi had prewar connections to Al Qaeda and that Saddam had a relationship with or harbored Zarqawi -- were discredited following the invasion. However, this did not stop O'Reilly from continuing to cite Zarqawi as proof of an Iraq-Al Qaeda link.

mmrules said...

This just in:


Justice Dept official resigns over investigation connected with Abramoff
by Marisa Taylor and David Whitney
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - A senior Justice Department official has resigned after coming under scrutiny in the Department’s expanding investigation of convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to a Justice Department official with knowledge of the case.

Making the situation more awkward for the embattled Department, the official, Robert E. Coughlin II, was deputy chief of staff for the criminal division, which is overseeing the Department’s probe of Abramoff.

He stepped down effective April 6 as investigators in Coughlin’s own division ratcheted up their investigation of lobbyist Kevin Ring, Coughlin’s long-time friend and a key associate of Abramoff.

When contacted at his home in Washington, Coughlin said he resigned voluntarily because he was relocating to Texas. “I was not asked to resign,” he said in an interview with McClatchy Newspapers. “It’s important to me that it's made clear that I left voluntarily.”

He said he couldn’t comment on the Abramoff investigation, nor on whether he has a job lined up in Texas. He referred all other questions to friend Michael Horowitz.

Horowitz, a criminal defense attorney and former Justice Department official and public corruption prosecutor, did not respond to questions, including about whether he is representing Coughlin. Coughlin also would not say whether he had hired a lawyer.

McClatchy’s source at the Justice Department asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case.

Coughlin appears to be the first Justice Department official to come under scrutiny in the wide-ranging probe that has implicated a veteran congressman, a deputy Cabinet secretary, a White House aide and eight others. Abramoff has pleaded guilty to three counts in the corruption probe and could face up to 11 years in prison.

It was unclear whether Coughlin is a target in the investigation, which would mean he is under intense scrutiny, or whether he is a subject in the investigation, which would mean investigators have not yet determined whether he committed any wrongdoing.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to respond to any questions about the Abramoff investigation because it is still ongoing. Spokesman Bryan Sierra, however, confirmed Coughlin had resigned. He also said Coughlin had recused himself from the Abramoff investigation.

The disclosure, nevertheless, was another blow to a Justice Department already struggling to recover from the controversy over the firing of 8 U.S. Attorneys. Democrats and a number of Republicans have criticized Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for his handling of the ousters, which critics charge were politically motivated.

Catharine said...

April 27-29, 2007 -- WMR endorsed former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel for President last April when he first announced his candidacy. After last night's Democratic presidential debate, the editor is assured that our endorsement was a wise one. Gravel was the only candidate to voice public indignation over the fact that this country has been lied to incessantly and that most of the Democrats on that stage last night have been enablers for the GOP liars. The exceptions are Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich, who is the only sponsor of a bill to impeach Dick Cheney.

The two insidious "Democratic" controlled opposition blogs this editor has time and again pointed to as serving the interests of the neo-cons, as well as the latte overdosing crew at the always un-funny Wonkette, posted some sarcastic comments about Gravel last night and this morning. The moderators of the two blogs, and every WMR reader should know what those blogs are, suggested that Gravel was too old and feeble but their own polls and a vast majority of their posters thought Gravel brought the house down and snatched the anti-war baton from Kucinich.

However, the expected barbs on the two sites were the same kind of sarcastic language used on the right-wing sites. As a result of Gravel breaking loose from the bottom of the eight candidates and pulling ahead of Kucinich, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, and Bill Richardson and practically tying with Hillary Clinton in on-line polls, the Democratic Leadership Council and elite Democratic circles began pounding on Gravel. The world's oldest yuppie, Bill Press, called Gravel the "clown of the evening" on his morning radio show broadcast from the Center for American Progress, a not-for-profit run by John Podesta, Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff. And as far as MS-NBC Keith Olbermann's snotty "joke" last night that Zell Miller was endorsing Mike Gravel. Keith Olbermann should have stuck with sports casting. Olbermann's view of the world is from a neat sanitized TV set in Secaucus, New Jersey. He never responded to this editor's email after he castigated me for my reporting on election fraud in Ohio in the 2004 election. The paper trail and evidence now points to the very well financed fraud to tip Ohio to the Bush column -- exactly what this editor's sources were reporting then and what has been proven since. Olbermann said if any of what I reported was true he would carry me on his back to the Pulitzer award ceremony.

This is what Olbermann wrote in his blog on Dec, 6, 2004: "Once again, if any part of Mr. Madsen’s writing on the election is proved and valid, I’ll not only repeat my offer to pay his way for him to pick up his Pulitzer Prize — I’ll physically carry him there myself. There could very well be facts — even important facts — hiding in there somewhere."

Well, now that the facts on the election fraud, which were never in hiding as Olbermann alleged, have been and are being uncovered from Columbus to Cleveland, as well as other points, I have one thing to say to you Keith, "Giddy-up horsy."

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

Catharine said...

In case you couldn't tell, Wayne Madsen has no problem going waaaaay outside of "left" politics.

toniD said...

Federal investigators probing Hayworth. “The Jack Abramoff investigation continues to burst with renewed vigor. Now, it’s ex-Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) — who was defeated back in November due in large part to his ties to Abramoff — who might be in trouble.” National Journal reports that “two sources say that the Justice Department is making new inquiries into Hayworth’s past links to Abramoff.”

LINK

mmrules said...

toniD said...
Federal investigators probing Hayworth. “The Jack Abramoff investigation continues to burst with renewed vigor. Now, it’s ex-Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) — who was defeated back in November due in large part to his ties to Abramoff — who might be in trouble.” National Journal reports that “two sources say that the Justice Department is making new inquiries into Hayworth’s past links to Abramoff.”

Man I hope they get the goods on that jerk!What an ass!I had to live in Phoenix for 4 years,listening to that clown.The guys a Sleezy ex-TV/sports butthead!Anyways,that's my sober,and calm opinion:)

toniD said...

Bomb found at Texas abortion clinic. “A package left at a clinic that performs abortions contained an explosive device that investigators said Thursday could have been deadly. The incident came just days after a national abortion group alerted providers around the country to an increased risk of violence.”

LINK

toniD said...

USAID Administrator and Director of Foreign Assistance Randall Tobias resigns for "personal reasons." Tobias's sudden departure was announced late this afternoon at State.

Not insubstantial smoke on this one.




-- Josh Marshall

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/apr/83957.htm

bibimimi said...

al!

z-z-z-z-z-z...

toniD said...

Justice Dept. official resigns over Abramoff probe. “A senior Justice Department official has resigned after coming under scrutiny in the Department’s expanding investigation of convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff,” McClatchy reports.

Making the situation more awkward for the embattled Department, the official, Robert E. Coughlin II, was deputy chief of staff for the criminal division, which is overseeing the Department’s probe of Abramoff.

He stepped down effective April 6 as investigators in Coughlin’s own division ratcheted up their investigation of lobbyist Kevin Ring, Coughlin’s long-time friend and a key associate of Abramoff.

LINK

bibimimi said...

Not insubstantial smoke on this one.




-- Josh Marshall

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/apr/83957.htm

April 27, 2007 7:34 PM

he needs to spend more time with his family lawyer

bibimimi said...

yeungling gets it's props!

Anonymous said...

blah blah blah said...
what was great about the debate last night is they all did a good job.
April 27, 2007 4:06 PM

toniD said...
It's really a shame that Feingold decided against a Presidential run. He's ahead of the curve on every single issue and truly "gets it."

April 27, 2007 4:16 PM

I agree wholeheartedly.

My favorite part--After B. Williams asked for a show of hands in support of the bill to impeach Cheney, to which none went up, Rep. Kucinich took out and held up the Constitution and said he swore, as did everyone up the stage, to uphold the Constitution which he intended to do.

Rep Kucinich may be small in stature, but at that point he was the tallest one there. Left me wishing the emotional intelligence of the electorate was fully developed. Guess not in my lifetime.

toniD said...

Updated my blog (Shameless plug)

http://abramoffjournal.blogspot.com/

toniD said...

Bush to receive Iraq bill on ‘Mission Accomplished’ day. CNN has confirmed that the Iraq withdrawal legislation will be sent to President Bush on Tuesday, making it highly likely that Bush will veto the bill on the four year anniversary of his infamous “Mission Accomplished” victory speech:

DANA BASH: They now plan to send this bill to the White House on Tuesday. Not only that, they are considering, Democrats are considering holding a ceremony to send this bill off. The idea there: shining the spotlight one more time on Democrats before that veto, to make the case, just like they did today, that from Democrats’ perspective, the President is ignoring public opinion against his Iraq strategy.

Watch the full report:

LINK

toniD said...

'West Wing' actress considers running for CongressThe Associated Press

(When I first saw this headline, I thought it might be Janeane)

WASHINGTON - She played a political aide on TV. Now, actress Melissa Fitzgerald is weighing a real-life run for Congress.

Fitzgerald, a Pennsylvania native who played the assistant to the character C.J. Cregg on the hit NBC drama "The West Wing," is considering challenging Republican Jim Gerlach, said Marcel Groen, chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party.

"I think she is fairly serious," Groen said.

Fitzgerald, a Democrat, campaigned last year for Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell. Her mother, Carol, is executive director of the Pennsylvania Society. Her father, James, was sworn in recently as a state Supreme Court judge.

A listed phone number for Fitzgerald in Pennsylvania could not be located. The Associated Press also left a message for Fitzgerald with her mother in Philadelphia.

Besides her role as Carole on "The West Wing," Fitzgerald has appeared in movies including "Frequency" in 2000.

She grew up in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, where she attended the private, all-girls' Springside School. She got her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

LINK

Anonymous said...

Beautiful women poop too!

toniD said...

Court nixes Gitmo rights petition
Supremes won't halt move to limit contacts between detainees, lawyers.

LINK

toniD said...

Apr 27, 6:33 PM EDT


Economy Crawls, Raising Recession Fears

By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The worst economic growth in four years is raising concern that troubles in the U.S. housing market will spread and throw the country into a recession before the year is out.

The economy practically crawled at a 1.3 percent pace in the opening quarter of 2007, the Commerce Department reported Friday. That was even weaker than the sluggish 2.5 percent rate in the closing quarter of last year.

The main culprit in the slowdown: the housing slump, which made some businesses act cautiously. The bloated trade deficit also played a role.

Consumers largely carried the economy in the first quarter. But will they stay resilient in light of the troubled housing market, fallout from risky mortgages and rising energy prices?

"The No. 1 question is can the consumer continue to play Atlas while the housing market crumbles around him?" said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research. Others worry about businesses' appetite to spend and invest - also important ingredients for a healthy economy.

LINK

blah blah blah said...

toniD said...
Court nixes Gitmo rights petition
Supremes won't halt move to limit contacts between detainees, lawyers.


well, that would tie very nicely in with this terrorist that just got moved to gitmo. my guess is that they were priming the pump in case it went against them.

toniD said...

John Kerry: Building 7 Was Deliberately Demolished
Massachusetts Senator's conclusion directly contradicts 9/11 official story, multi-billion dollar insurance lawsuit

Paul Joseph Watson & Aaron Dykes
Prison Planet
Monday, April 23, 2007


At a recent speaking engagement in Austin Texas, Senator John Kerry responded to a question about WTC Building 7 by concluding that according to his information, the building was brought down as a result of a controlled demolition, directly contradicting the official line that the structure fell as a result of fire and debris damage.

WTC Building 7 was a 47-story building in the WTC complex that collapsed at 5:20pm on September 11. The building had been structurally reinforced and was not hit by a plane yet collapsed in a uniform implosion within its own footprint in a matter of seconds after sustaining relatively light debris and fire damage following the collapse of the twin towers.

News networks like BBC and CNN were reporting that the building had collapsed before it fell, indicating that the media were being handed a script of events that had yet to even unfold.

Ground zero EMT's, firefighters and police were all told hours in advance to clear a collapse zone for Building 7 as it was going to be "brought down."

Questioned on WTC 7 by members of Austin 9/11 Truth Now at a Book People event in Austin Texas, Kerry responded, "I do know that that wall, I remember, was in danger and I think they made the decision based on the danger that it had in destroying other things, that they did it in a controlled fashion."

LINK

Anonymous said...

This is a query to any Forestry graduates or arborists out there. I can't seem to find a definitive answer that suits me.

The forest's hardwoods leafed normally. It was warmer than usual. The oak leaves were approximately one-and-one-half inches long. Two nights, slightly below freezing, came to pass. Then three nights deep in the twenties followed.

The nascent leaves browned (or, rather, tanned) and hung limp. The dogwoods weathered the cold. I assume that they are designed to handle freezes because they bloom earlier than the oaks and other hardwoods?

It is now nearly two weeks after the final freeze. The hardwoods show no signs of doing anything beyond appearing as whacked as they did during the freezes. A few of the tiny leaves have fallen in wind and rain and sunny conditions.

What happens now? Will they re-bud? Is this going to be one of the years which is marked by a tree ring that is jammed-up close to the previous ring?

Am I facing a summer filled with prolific undergrowth due to increased sun infiltration?

I'm not certain how widespread this late-hard-freeze was, but I know that parts of Missouri, Kansas (no trees there...that's a Sho-Me state joke), Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee suffered a taste of it.

Cathy in Seattle? Anyone? Anyone?

toniD said...

There's a youtube video at the link about Kerry and Building 7

Anonymous said...

Scud Bush!

blah blah blah said...

mr.obvious asks:

so if john kerry thinks 7 was brought down on purpose, is this the thread that causes 9/11 to unravel and the truth to finally come out?

i suppose it would be smart for him not to fly on wellstone airlines for a while.

toniD said...

Blah 3 here's another someone sent me in an email. Also with a video of Building # 7 going down.
There is also a video of Giuliani talking about 9/11 and Bldg 7.

Giuliani Caught In Bizarre Building 7 Lie
Claims WTC 7 collapsed in stages, Kerry Building 7 admission explodes on You Tube popularity charts

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Tuesday, April 24, 2007


Rudy Giuliani has been caught in a bizarre lie about WTC 7, in which he claims the building collapsed in stages over a sustained period of time, when in reality the structure fell in under seven seconds. Giuliani also reveals that he expected the twin towers to collapse but "not in the way they did."

Giuliani was a speaker along with former Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick at an April 19th event held at the Oklahoma City Museum and National Memorial in Ahoma City, Oklahoma. The entire video can be viewed here courtesy of C-Span, but the pertinent clip is embedded below.

Giuliani is asked if he had expected the twin towers to collapse on 9/11. Here is his response.

"Yeah, but not in the way they did."

"It occurred to us all that they might ultimately collapse over....the way buildings usually collapse, which is in stages."

"It looked like at some point the top of the building would come off, and then maybe the middle of the building and then maybe there'd be a shell left....the way number 7 came down 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon - over a period of time - but the idea that it would implode, the implosion that took place, I actually didn't realize that until much later."

Building 7 collapsed in just 6.5 seconds - videos of the structure before its collapse show the building fully intact and suffering sporadic fires across a limited number of floors.

It has since also been proven to a reasonable degree that the smoke seen emanating from the area of Building 7 was mostly coming from Buildings 5 and 6, which had taken the direct brunt of the collapse of the twin towers and were completely ablaze.

WTC 7 imploded at near free fall speed and fell in its own footprint, barely even blocking the adjacent road. Giuliani's emergency command bunker was located in the building but he and his crew evacuated just before the collapse of the twin towers. Building 7 had been structurally reinforced to compensate for numerous floors to be taken out without compromising the integrity of the building.

For Giuliani to claim that Building 7 collapsed in stages is completely bizarre and totally inaccurate. One has to wonder if he is intentionally attempting to mislead with such a wildly false statement.

Is Giuliani attempting to re-write history in an attempt to deflect clearly documented accusations that Building 7 was brought down by a controlled demolition?

LINK

toniD said...

Don't forget to watch Bill Moyers on PBS tonight. I think it will be on soon.

He's got Jon Stewart and Josh Marshall on tonight.

bibimimi said...

toni;

Thanks for the p'gram note. I'd sit here all night if they lets me.

c u 2 morrow!

toniD said...

Crank, wish I could help but I know nothing about trees and was causes them to be leafless.

Anonymous said...

It's casual Friday, guys. I miss Sam. It is so much worktrying to get the news. I don't have time to read blogs all day

toniD said...

Your welcome bibi!!

toniD said...

Anon....Listen to Malloy

http://www.novamradio.com/

toniD said...

Foreign aid coordinator
resigns; in call-girl ring?
Randall Tobias, head of the Bush administration's foreign aid programs, abruptly resigned Friday after his name surfaced in an investigation into a high-priced call-girl ring, said two people in a position to know the circumstances of his departure.

LINK

toniD said...

Oil jumps higher
after Saudi arrests
Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose sharply after vacillating between gains and losses this morning. It was up 81 cents at $65.87 a barrel in early afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude rose 48 cents to $68.13 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

LINK

Catharine said...

Man! That Bill Moyers is GREAT!

I stopped giving to PBS a while ago, because this administration had found a way to get their grubby hands on that too.

Now, I am wondering if I can support Bill only.

I bet I can. He has said he won't take the money that comes from corporate/govt interests.

toniD said...

Justice Department Was Warned: Expect "Some Stink Down The Road"
Associated Press | April 27, 2007 07:59 PM

The U.S. attorney in Arkansas warned the Justice Department five months before he and seven federal prosecutors were fired that "there may be some stink about this down the road" _ in part because of White House involvement.

"The White House recently called our sole Republican congressman (Boozman) and pretty much told him what they are doing with this appointment and how they are going about it," then-Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins wrote in a July 6, 2006, e-mail to Mike Battle, then-head of the Justice Department office that oversees federal prosecutors. Cummins' reference was to Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark.

LINK

toniD said...

Catharine, did you see the program tonight already? It airs here at 9:30 PM CDT which is very soon.

I bet he would take individual donations.

toniD said...

YouTube suspends account of white supremacist video maker promoted by Concerned Women for America spokesman
by John Aravosis (DC) · 4/27/2007 07:02:00 PM ET

YouTube has suspended the account of the white supremacist filmmaker whose work was promoted earlier this week by a spokesman for the Concerned Women for America. The racist film maker's works included such titles as "Black Intelligence," "Keep America White," and an ode to Hitler in honor of his birthday. Unfortunately, the Concerned Women for America continues to promote on its Web site a known "hate group" whose bigoted "'science' echoes Nazi Germany," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, America's foremost civil rights organization tracking hate groups. The Family Research Council and the American Family Association also promote the "echoes [of] Nazi Germany" science of the same hate group.

LINK

Catharine said...

toniD said...

Catharine, did you see the program tonight already? It airs here at 9:30 PM CDT which is very soon.

I bet he would take individual donations.

April 27, 2007 10:15 PM

***********

Yeah. It was great!

I can't wait until the next one.

I am sure he would take individual donations, but when you go to his site on PBS you can only contribute to PBS in general.

I wrote an email to the show asking this question. We'll see.

Crank Bait said...

Thanks for your admission of ignorance, toniD. I gots plenty of my own to go around.

As for the rest of you scumbags, okay, so don't help me out. What do you care?

Sunny J encourages bees and I encourage trees. I'm paying personal property taxes on forest land that I could convert to a slum lord trailer park for the immigrant Mexicans who are staffing construction crews in the booming northwest Arkansas quadrant and plucking your chicken dinners, but what do you care?

You breathe oxygen, don't you?

I care, but my sense of ethics is in a constant battle with my drive for self-preservation. The cost of health care comes immediately to mind.) I could increase my net financial worth with nothing more than a contract with a hardwood harvesting company, a contract with a heavy equipment company, a contract with a septic tank installation company, a contract with a potable waterline installation company and a contract with some Mexican concrete flatwork specialists (which they would probably take in trade for rent).

In the end; far fewer trees, more groundwater pollution, a sweeping woodpecker eviction notice and a significantly fattened bank account for Bait.

Maybe I should mow the trees down so that mental midgets will have a place to pay to park their ersatz Greyhounds within striking distance of Branson?

Oh, one more thing. I would move back to the Caribbean because I don't want to live in a deforested trailer park, regardless of whether the revenue stream is sourced from brown-skinned trailer trash or retired white-skinned trailer trash.

Anonymous said...

If you are ever fortunate enough to receive the opportunity to ball a lady with a crooked nose...go for it!

Hook nosed women are ferocious in the sack!

blah blah blah said...

i vote we pool our resources and buy an island up in the st. lawrence or perhaps a lake in the adirondacks. vermont is always nice.

i would bet theres even room for a dog to run....

Catharine said...

wait... what are we talking about here...?

pooling resources?

buying land?

I'm partial to more moderate temperatures than in the adirondacks.

Just my 2 cents.

Crank Bait said...

Catharine said...I'm partial to more moderate temperatures than in the adirondacks. Just my 2 cents.
April 27, 2007 10:52 PM
-------------------------------
You are smarter than you look. (Allow for a few feet of elevation above sea level...just in case.)

Crank Bait said...

A quasi-quote from a guy (whose name I didn't catch...okay, I forgot his name, so sue me) who was featured among the upcoming characters in Moyers' PBS programs:

"I don't like being known as an atheist. I'm not afraid of the connotation. Rather, it is like being known as someone who does not believe in witches."

(Apologies to CatSea.)

Crank Bait said...

blah blah blah said...i vote we pool our resources and buy an island up in the st. lawrence or perhaps a lake in the adirondacks. vermont is always nice.
April 27, 2007 10:46 PM
----------------------------------
The fights for the solar-powered computer would be brutal.

Anonymous said...

Jonathan Miller's "Brief History of Disbelief" (video link)
Jonathan Miller goes on a journey exploring the origins of his own lack of belief and uncovering the hidden story of atheism.
Shadows of Doubt Part I
BROADCAST ON BBC Two Monday 31 October 2005
Jonathan Miller visits the absent Twin Towers to consider the religious implications of 9/11 and meets Arthur Miller and the philosopher Colin McGinn. He searches for evidence of the first 'unbelievers' in Ancient Greece and examines some of the modern theories around why people have always tended to believe in mythology and magic.
07/06/06 Runtime 60 Minutes

Unknown said...

Eugene Chadbourne - New New New War War War

http://www.sonicyouth.com/prmp3/New_New_New_War_War_War.mp3

Some of the lyrics

http://www.prato.linux.it/~lmasetti/antiwarsongs/canzone.php?lang=en&id=5713

Unknown said...

eya crnkr!

i think your trees are goners.

and that is a tragedy.

Crank Bait said...

Sunshine said...
eya crnkr!
i think your trees are goners.
and that is a tragedy.
April 27, 2007 11:27 PM
----------------------------------
Me too, sorta. I don't think that they are goners. I think that their growing season is screwed.

Oaks are like cockroaches. They can survive damned near anything.

They are not the most widely dispersed and diversified tree species on the planet for nuthin'.

This, too, shall pass. I'm not as concerned about the future health of the trees as I am about the near-term proliferation of the undergrowth.

Normally, by now in the Springtime cycle, almost zero sunlight would be streaming through my windows. Instead it's more like December except the sun is higher.

Anonymous said...

The last thread needs to be renamed "Wherein WarDog Spams"

my lord

for thinking we are a bunch of losers he sure is here a lot

Some Mav News:

John McCain's "Presidential Announcement Tour" in New Hampshire this week appears to have fizzled instead of rejuvenating his flopping, flailing campaign like it was supposed to.

His official announcement in Portsmouth drew about 400 people, described by one report as "often listless,"


hahahaha

that is very bad

-conbo

Anonymous said...

This is diary that was posted at the daily kos a few days ago. It appears to be written by a PR person employed by Wal-Mart:

Lower Prices, Better Living: The True Story of Wal-Mart

the comment section of this diary is hilarious-which is why I am posting it (nothing I said is that funny-just people's reactions to a 'corporate' diary)

-conbo

Crank Bait said...

conbo,

Hey, you have a young child. You, more so than most, should be able to understand an egocentric personality for which no broader perspective exists.

...except your kid has a valid excuse.

Crank Bait said...

(Not that he, being male, doesn't have a broad perspective.)

Anonymous said...

Well

My son is not egocentric

Well a little...i mean he is four

And an only child

But I know for a fact that he would never spam the blog

I am worse than my son I think when it comes to being self centered

Anyway, I do not understand Wado's fascination with us at this blog anymore. Are we the only people he knows who aren't Bush supporters?

Or better yet-are we the only people he knows?

-conbo

Crank Bait said...

Dino Boy: "Mom, how come girls are crazy every 28 days?"

conbo: "You've been keeping track?"

Dino Boy: "I don't have to."

Anonymous said...

Amusing

-conbo

TOTAL KAOS said...

MAUREEN DOWD: More Like an Air Ball
WASHINGTON

Poor Slam-Dunk.

Not since Madame Butterfly has anyone been so cruelly misunderstood and misused. Slam-Dunk says that when he pantingly told the president that fetching information on Saddam’s W.M.D. would be a cinch, he did not mean let’s go to war.

No matter how eager Slam-Dunk was to tell W. what he wanted to hear while polishing W.’s shoes, that intelligence they craved did not exist. “Let me say it again: C.I.A. found absolutely no linkage between Saddam and 9/11,” the ex-Head Spook writes in his new book, self-effacingly titled “At the Center of the Storm.” Besides, Junior and Darth had already decided to go to war to show the Arabs their moxie.

The president and vice president wanted Slam-Dunk to help them dramatize the phony case. Everyone had to pitch in! That Saturday session in December 2002 in the Oval Office was “essentially a marketing meeting,” Slam-Dunk writes, just for “sharpening the arguments.”

Hey, I feel better.

Slam-Dunk always presented himself as the ultimate guy’s guy, a cigar-chomping spymaster who swapped jokes with the president. But now he shows us his tender side, a sniveling C.I.A. chief bullied by “remote” Condi.

He says Condi panicked in October 2002 and made him call a Times reporter, Alison Mitchell, who covered the Congressional debate about invading Iraq. He told Alison to ignore the conclusions of his own agency, which had said the links between Saddam and terrorist groups were tenuous, and that Saddam would only take the extreme step of joining with Islamic fanatics if he thought the U.S. was about to attack him. His nose growing as long as his cigar, he said nothing in the C.I.A. report contradicted the president’s case for war......

--MORE--

Anonymous said...

im always crazy Crank Bait

-conbo

what is this whole 28 day thing?

Anonymous said...

Is he sick?

Or is he lonely?

Or maybe he has no political outlet...

People who watch FOX 24/7 need one. They are anxious to share there knowlegde.

Believe me-I have a friend who does that to me at work. Although lately it has tapered off, THANK GOD!!!

We can be friends again.

My mom does that to me too.

Tonight I got to hear how Hillary Clinton got Imus fired because he was going to criticise her campaign.

I was like well, his comments got him fired.

She was like, Oh definately he talks like a bigot but I find it fascinating that he was hired at this opportune time.

mmmmmm

interesting, Mom..

Subject change.

ANYTHING

-combo

Anonymous said...

fired, not hired

-conbo

Anonymous said...

TO give my Mother credit

(who I do love!!!! She is my Mom, and I love her I am just concerned over her cult like support of anything Bush)

She came up with that one all by herself. She said she is waiting to see the news cover it.

She is a character.

Honestly, she should write for a blog.

-conbo

Crank Bait said...

conbo: "Or maybe he has no political outlet...People who watch FOX 24/7 need one. They are anxious to share there knowlegde..."
---------------------------------
If you heard political analysis, that would be one thing. You don't. You hear Limbaugh-esque repetition focused on self.

What the world does not need is more self-centered deciderers unwilling to examine their own presumed infallibility's.

Crank Bait said...

I know that I'm right.

(Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

Unknown said...

Rakim - Casualties of War
(zipfile/mp3)

http://64.106.173.70/sgxmc/RakimcasualtiesOfwar.zip

Here's the site.

http://www.sgxlabs.com/hh.html

Crank Bait said...

I would have been reminding you that I've been absolutely right for the past three years if I had thought of it first.

Hervé Villechaize: "De plan! De plan!"

Catharine said...

Imus in the Morning's McGuirk: First they came for me ...

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704280001

On the April 26 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Bernard McGuirk, who was fired by CBS Radio for, according to MSNBC, "his role in the ugly incident" involving Don Imus, asserted, "it's like the oft-quoted anti-Nazi German pastor who said, you know, first, they came for the Communists, but I wasn't a Communist, so I didn't say anything. Then they came for the Jews, but I'm not a Jew, I didn't say anything. Then they came for the Catholics, but I'm a Protestant. Then when they came for me, there was nobody to speak." McGuirk was responding to a question from co-host Alan Colmes, who asked, "And now you've got JV and Elvis, also CBS properties, who are suspended because of a bit that they did. I wonder if you're closely following that and if you have strong feelings about what should happen in that situation."

On the April 4 edition of Imus in the Morning, which was simulcast by MSNBC, McGuirk described members of the Rutgers women's basketball team as "[s]ome hard-core hos." Imus responded by saying, "That's some nappy-headed hos there." After a week of controversy over the remarks, MSNBC decided that it would no longer simulcast the program, and CBS Radio announced that it was firing Imus and canceling his radio show. On April 20, McGuirk was fired for his role in the incident. While appearing on Hannity & Colmes, McGuirk apologized to the Rutgers team.

Colmes responded to McGuirk's invocation of "the oft-quoted anti-Nazi German pastor" by saying: "Niemoller, that was the guy," referring to Rev. Martin Niemoller, a German Protestant pastor who is credited with penning a famous statement about the Nazis called "First They Came." McGuirk then asserted: "Niemoller, right, exactly," and added that "it's the same thing. It seems to be a slippery slope."

According to the entry on Niemoller in the Jewish Virtual Library, Niemoller said: "First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."

Later, when Colmes asked, "What do you want to have happen now?" McGuirk said he hoped "[w]e go back to where we can -- everybody can relax, and everybody can have fun, and we can poke fun at each other, and not take it too seriously." McGuirk added, "Everybody's got to lighten up. And that people in the radio community and the broadcast community don't take this sitting down, because it is a slippery slope. It can happen to you, so stand up for, you know, what's right." Colmes replied, "Absolutely," and co-host Sean Hannity asserted, "I hope you get back to work soon."

Earlier in the program, McGuirk asserted that the word "ho," which he used to describe the Rutgers women's basketball team, "doesn't mean, you know, a woman who is, you know, promiscuous. It's just a pejorative slang term for a woman." McGuirk added, "I didn't get the memo that it was elevated to the status, or lowered to the status of the N-word." He also claimed to have referred to "renowned authors Mary and Carol Higgins Clark" as "the Higgins Clark hos, you know, for fun."

As Media Matters for America has noted, McGuirk has referred to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) as having a "Jew-hating name." Additionally, when host Don Imus referred to the "Jewish management" at CBS as "money-grubbing bastards," McGuirk said: "Even if you wear a beanie, how can you not love the [gospel group] Blind Boys [of Alabama]?"

On April 15, Michael Smerconish, whose radio broadcast was simulcast in place of Imus in the Morning from April 23 to 27, posted an entry on the weblog Huffington Post titled "First They Came for Imus" in which he asserted, "The very day Imus was fired at CBS, I was alerted to a posting on Media Matters for America, a sophisticated Web site instrumental in stoking the flames for Imus' departure. The posting, titled 'It's not just Imus,' identified me as one of seven talk-show hosts in America who bear observation." Smerconish later asked, "How long before they start burning my tapes?"

**********

What?

It is simply nothing short of amazing how these bigots have the gall to now try to paint themselves as ... victims?

Catharine said...

"I don't like being known as an atheist. I'm not afraid of the connotation. Rather, it is like being known as someone who does not believe in witches."

(Apologies to CatSea.)

April 27, 2007 11:07 PM

I saw that too. I forgot his name as well. Clever though.

Crank Bait said...

"First they came for the nappy-headed ho's..."

(Sorry. Porno puns aren't as widely appreciated as I sometimes think.)

shelaghc said...

Pssssst! AAR bosses!

Are any of you noticing that the blog for a show you CANCELLED still has an active following?

Helllooooooooooo?

Catharine said...

Are any of you noticing that the blog for a show you CANCELLED still has an active following?

Helllooooooooooo?

April 28, 2007 12:30 AM

*********

[tap tap tap]

...

nope. they're not there.

toniD said...

Senior Bush official linked to escort service resigns. Earlier, ThinkProgress reported that the Bush administration’s senior foreign aid coordinator had stepped down. The Blotter has the reason:

Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias submitted his resignation Friday, one day after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of a Washington, D.C. escort service whose owner has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a prostitution operation. Tobias, 65, Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), had previously served as the Ambassador for the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.

A State Department press release late Friday afternoon said only he was leaving for “personal reasons.” On Thursday, Tobias told ABC News he had several times called the “Pamela Martin and Associates” escort service “to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage.” Tobias, who is married, said there had been “no sex,” and that recently he had been using another service “with Central Americans” to provide massages.

UPDATE: Tobias was a strong proponent of the Bush administration’s abstinence-only policies. Before touring African countries for an AIDS program 2004, he said, “The message to young people in the schools is not either ‘Be abstinent or here are condoms, take your pick.’ It is a message of ‘Be abstinent.’ Delaying sexual activity is a means of eliminating the risk of infection.”

He should have practiced what he preached

Unknown said...

Hip-Hop politics

http://www.daveyd.com/

Since we're on the subject...

Catharine said...

April 27-29, 2007 -- When defeated French centrist candidate Francois Bayrou said he considered French right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy to be a French version of Italian dictatorial media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, he hit the nail on the head. As we reported yesterday, the Regional Daily Press Syndicate (SPQR) turned down a request to host a debate between Bayrou and Socialist candidate Segolene Royal but then Canal Plus television network, in coordination with France Inter Radio and i-Tele agreed to host the broadcast the May 2 debate between Bayrou and Royal.

However, the French government CSA broadcasting watchdog, according to the Socialist Party, intervened with Canal Plus citing equal time provisions and had the debate scrapped. The Royal campaign pointed to intense "political pressure" on Canal Plus to cancel the debate. Although the televised debate has been canceled, other venues are being weighed. However, the interference by Sarkozy's neo-con friends and media tycoons with the Royal-Bayrou debate may have been enough to sway Bayrou. The Paris daily Le Parisien reported that Bayrou will not vote for Sarkozy.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

Crank Bait said...

"He flew a Texas Air National Guard jet fighter for six years."

I'm still giggling over this hoof-in-mouth gaffe.

Crank Bait said...

toniD said...
April 28, 2007 12:43 AM
---------------------------------
Just say "ho".

Catharine said...

MSNBC Democratic debate coverage rife with sexist stereotypes

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704280003

Sexist references abounded during MSNBC's April 26 coverage of the first Democratic presidential candidates debate in the context of discussions about the only female candidate, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY). MSNBC host Chris Matthews focused obsessively on the appearances of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) wife, Michelle, to the point that NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell reminded him that they are Yale and Harvard-educated lawyers, respectively. MSNBC host Tucker Carlson asked a Clinton campaign spokesman whether Clinton had an "unfair advantage because of her sex."

Catharine said...

Just say "ho".

April 28, 2007 12:51 AM

Brilliant.

Crank Bait said...

'Just say "ho"' was a good joke, dammit!

Admit it. You're collapsing my comments, aren't you?

(It's only gonna force me to make shorter jokes.)

Crank Bait said...

Catharine,

I apologize. I was a tad hasty. I only wanted to say that [comment collapsed].

Anonymous said...

ba da boop!

Anonymous said...

"You're going to die."

mmrules said...

mmrules said...
War Dog said...
war puppy you are Such a Moron!!Go Enlist!!

April 27, 2007 9:39 AM


=========================================================================================================

I did that in 1969...

Served 4 years in the Air Force..

That is were I learned Nuclear Weapons..

The same ones that latter brought down the Soviet Union..

I think everyone should serve their country..

At least two years...

Draft everyone and let Cheney sort them out..!!!!!

You would learn a new respect for the United States..!!!


What were you,a Cook??
Obviously you Never Saw Combat.Because if you had you wouldn't be such a Blowhard!I bet you have some Fake Medals laying around too..So,wanabe GI joey take your bullshit to the Faux News Blog!!

mmrules said...

I Ho that:)

air-ono said...

Helllooooooooooo? to you, shelaghc

April 28, 2007 12:30 AM

*********

[tap tap tap] ~ to you, Catharine

WE ARE THE BLOG!!
(fuck "we")

sam's only function is to feed me threads & provide a non-broken down blog for me

he has failed me
(and he has failed you)

yes, (you)

//The page cannot be displayed//

so i'm going to the pub to ignore the o.g.

who is there with *dianne*

THE BLOG IS ALL YOURS

Unknown said...

for crnkr and for his trees...

Secrets From the Lives of Trees by Jeff Goelitz

The trunk of a tree has a spiral clockwise energy pattern which helps bring light from the crown of the tree to the earth which in turn, helps amplify the earth's energy.

Not all types of trees give out energy in the same way. An apple tree gives back energy into its fruit and the human eating it receives a certain energy band from it.

A redwood tree would transmit light more directly to the planet.

Trees have balancing qualities which heal one's aura if they sit in a field of trees. If, however, a person sat there with negative thoughts, he would not absorb many of the healing energies...that is why the soft heart is so important in being able to be sensitive to all forms of energy.

The soft heart is a peaceful energy that blends harmoniously with a tree. A tree picks up any vibration that a human consciously puts out to it or even someone casually walking by. When a tree responds to you, you receive its colors and frequencies. The grandmother and grandfather trees are highly intelligent life forms..."
...............................................................

It's the oldest trees that do the most efficienct work of drawing water from deep within the earth...breathing out the moisture that creates rain...the smallest of sapings cannot yet do this.

the Native Americans call trees Standing People...the beautify of native spirituality is that they see the connectedness of everything around them...and know that everything has a voice that wants to be heard. And they know to pay respect to everything because of the benefits they bring to mankind.

Remember, Buddha's enlightenment came after spending a great deal of time meditating under the Bodhi tree.

mmrules said...

PART 4—A STRANGE REVERSAL: Sometimes, the gods take mercy and write the jokes for us. So it was, we’d say, when they sent Michael Chertoff to that baby shower—the one involving NBC’s David Gregory, a better than average TV broadcaster (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 4/26/07). Cinematically, does anyone seem more out of place at a baby shower than Chertoff, the hatchet-faced GOP hit-man? Our analysts breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness the baby hadn’t yet been born, they all said. He might have been scared half to death!

But then, the gods must have been joking when they sent Jack Welch’s gang of lost boys to live alongside the swells of Nantucket. It’s one of the funniest press stories we’ve ever seen (which of course explains why it’s never discussed). You have to chuckle a bit at the image, as the analysts perch in their offshore redoubt, bonding with their politically conservative, near-billionaire mentor/owner. And the tightness of the ethnic bond only heightens the humor. How exclusive was the club at Jack Welch’s network in the last years of his reign at GE? By the time of the 2000 Bush-Gore debates—the debates which changed this country’s history—this was the panel his cable channel assembled to comment on all the action:
Brian Williams, moderator (New Jersey)
Chris Matthews (Philadelphia)
Mike Barnicle (Worcester)
Peggy Noonan (New York)
Doris Kearns Goodwin (New York)
All five, East Coast Irish Catholics! And of course, as soon as NBC went off the air, they’d call in Tim Russert (Nantucket) to help them out, making a perfect six-out-of-six! Tom Brokaw, the network’s “diversity hire,” would come along to chaperone briefly and keep matters facially honest.

No, there’s nothing automatically wrong with this arrangement, unless the network’s narrow casting begins to affect its punditry. After all, we grew up East Coast Irish Catholic too. All our aunts are East Coast Irish Catholic; so were our mother and grandmother. But truly, there was something surpassingly strange about this narrow assembly of types—and one TV writer, USA Today’s Peter Johnson, once wrote, rather cryptically, that Russert was said to “share a Catholic bond” with Welch and with NBC president Bob Wright, who also summered on Nantucket. What other “bonds” might have been forming between Welch and his gang—the Lost Boys of the Sconset? We’re not sure, but for the record, this network’s punditry was astoundingly bad in the election which ended up changing world history. A few months ago, we thought of Welch when we stumbled across a new part of this tale.

Go back to that first Bush-Gore debate—the one which Gore had seemed to win until the nation’s pundits got going. Let’s remember what Welch’s pundits said—before their strange reversal.

The debate occurred on Tuesday, October 3, 2000. But uh-oh! As we’ve long described, Welch’s gang behaved badly this evening. Matthews and Williams had savaged Gore throughout the twenty-month White House campaign; Barnicle had been little better, and Noonan—well, you know about that. But uh-oh! Gore beat Bush so blue this night that all the MSNBC pundits declared it! Even Noonan declared how badly Bush did—said how thoroughly he had been waxed. (“Well, Brian, I think Gore dominated from the get-go, to tell you the truth,” Noonan said. “He seemed to be a person of greater sophistication, greater stature, greater subtlety. He was in his zone.”) But then, all the pundits reacted this way. Matthews, on whom we’ll focus today, said that Gore had been “overpowering.” (His nugget: “Al Gore was effective in dominating the format, he dominated the time, and I have to say he dominated the debate.”) Barnicle saw it the same way too. (“One of them was much more dominant than the other—the vice president of the United States.”)

That was what the pundits said on the night of the actual debate.

The next night (Wednesday, October 4), Matthews hotly maintained this view, even as the nation’s pundits insisted that Bush had somehow “exceeded expectations” and therefore had “really won the debate” even though Gore “may have done better on points.” (To see this script recited all over the nation, see THE DAILY HOWLER, 6/27/06). On Day 2—on Wednesday, October 4—Matthews not only stuck to his stand, but he did an extremely unusual thing—he savaged his fellow pundits, the ones who were claiming that Bush “really won.” It just isn’t done, but Matthews did it—he said his colleagues were being dishonest. Here was his nugget from Hardball on Day 2 of this story:
MATTHEWS (10/4/00): I couldn’t believe the number of people who chickened out last night. It was clear to me—and I’m no fan of either of these guys entirely, and I can certainly say that about the one who I thought won last night, that’s Al Gore—I thought he cleaned the other guy’s clock, and I said so last night. All four national polls agreed with that…I don’t understand why people are afraid to say so.
A fifth and final national poll would soon make it five out of five. At any rate, Gore “cleaned Bush’s clock,” Matthews said. For reasons he couldn’t understand, other pundits “were afraid to say so.” Welch’s boy was way off-script. And it was now Day 2 of this tale.

(Remarkably, Tucker Carlson and Margaret Carlson expressed the same view on that day’s Inside Politics. “I was there, so I didn’t hear [the commentary] last night,” Margaret Carlson said, “and I was amazed to find out that our colleagues all said that it was a draw.” Tucker Carlson agreed. “There is this sense in which Bush is benefitting from something, and I’m not sure what it is,” he said. “I think a lot of people...believe that, you know, maybe Bush didn’t do as good a job as he might have. And yet, the coverage does not reflect that at all. It’s interesting.” Pundits weren’t saying what they actually thought, Tucker Carlson had said, quite remarkably.)

But readers, Tucker summers in Maine, so let’s get back to Matthews. Three years later, he would buy a $4.4 million home on Nantucket, bringing him closer to Welch, Wright and Russert. But this week, he may as well have been renting at Revere Beach, he was so far off-message. He had trashed Gore mercilessly since March 1999—spewing insults, inventing facts, and generally disgracing his noble profession. But this week, he had clearly strayed. Gore dominated Bush, he announced Tuesday night. And uh-oh! Gore had cleaned Bush’s clock, he once again told us on Wednesday.

But then we reached Day 3—October 5, 2000—and Matthews pulled a sudden reversal. And good lord, what a 180! For starters, the first half-hour of that afternoon’s Hardball was given over to a live interview with Rush Limbaugh, who hadn’t cared for Gore’s performance. And then, at 7, the debate panel gathered, preparing to cover that evening’s Cheney-Lieberman session. And then it happened! As they discussed Tuesday’s Bush-Gore event, the pundits offered a startling new account of what had actually happened.

Let’s consider Matthews and Barnicle. On October 3, both declared that Gore batted Bush all around. On October 4, Matthews said Gore had cleaned Bush’s clock—and he said his fellow pundits were simply refusing to say so. But now, it was Thursday, October 5—and Matthews had a whole new concept. Here it is: Yes, Gore seemed better in real time. But so what—it had been an illusion! As it turned out, Bush comes off better in the TV clips! And that’s what we’re looking at now!

It was a remarkable flip. Barnicle got to introduce it:
BARNICLE (10/5/07): One of the most fascinating things that has been said here this evening was actually said by Rush Limbaugh when he noted, accurately, that, you know, all of this offense that everyone takes that—supposedly, you know, attacks on people's character—I mean, Al Gore, the other evening when he said that—I mean, my God, it was so lame. And in retrospect, when you look at the TV clips that are shown in our technology today, when you see Bush and Gore matched up in the TV clips, Bush actually comes off better, I think, than Gore does when matched up in TV clips.
Huh! On October 3, Barnicle said that Gore had crushed. But now, in retrospect, thanks to technology, he was able to see that Bush actually comes off better than Gore when matched up in TV clips! And not only that—he could now see that Gore had been “so lame,” a point he’d somehow missed Tuesday night. And wouldn’t you know it? Brian and Peggy seemed to see the same thing! They’d experienced the same strange reversal:
WILLIAMS (continuing directly): It's a television age. You know? And that's a perfect point, really, in this TV age.

NOONAN: Yes, it is. Things get cut down to 12 seconds. And in fairness, people who are producers, who cut these things, they try to get the moment where a guy became vivid and said something. In Bush's case, when you cut his sometimes ragged thoughts into six seconds, you are getting the best of him and he really goes forward in those cuts, whereas Mr. Gore is a somewhat slower, perhaps in a way more—
Crosstalk stopped her from further embarrassment. But then Matthews spoke—and wouldn’t you know it? After two nights of swearing that Gore had crushed, he had a new outlook too:
MATTHEWS (continuing directly): Maybe the governor of Texas didn't know it was a live broadcast the other night. He was just putting together snippets for use later. I mean, I think you're so brilliant on that, Mike, because the fact is that we have seen a better-looking Bush since the debate than we saw in that the 90 minutes on air.

BARNICLE: Yes. Well, you know, when we just saw that clip just a few short minutes ago about Gore posing this famed offense that he took, it was a pose. It was clearly a set piece and he was going to say it. If George W. Bush had said to Al Gore at that moment, “I've always admired the way you and your wife have had this wonderful relationship,” Al Gore would then have gone into, “You've attacked my character.” It's an act! It's a pose!

MATTHEWS: You know what's interesting? Coming up next, looking ahead just a bit to the next battle, the two people we're talking about, is—Doris Kearns knows this, and anyone else who's watched, that there are a number of Al Gores. There is the Al Gore you meet and talk history with, the one you talk about your kids with, there is the stiff you meet, the cigar-store Indian who's occasionally available to you. You know, I bet he presents a new Al Gore next week: unlike the lecturing man at the podium, he'll come in as the friendly guy at the table. Don't you expect that?
Omigod! All the standard insults were back about stiff, fake/phony, two-faced Al Gore. It turned out that Gore had really been “lecturing” when he seemed to have “cleaned Bush’s clock.”

From that night forward at MSNBC, Al Gore lost that first debate. The ardent Matthews had turned on a dime. The pundits had thought that Gore won the debate. But after watching the 6-second clips, they could see it—Bush came off much better!

We were startled when we watched this laughable tape, just a couple of months ago. And we’ll admit it—a question instantly came to mind as we watched Matthews’ reversal. Would anyone bet the summer home that Jack Welch didn’t make a few phone calls that day? That he didn’t tell his lost, millionaire boys it was time to get back on their message?

air-ono said...

(lol) the gangster put a small screwdriver in each of my lace up boots

mmrules said...

Sorry,there was no link to link to.

mmrules said...

Oh My


Escorts!


Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias submitted his resignation Friday, one day after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of a Washington, D.C. escort service whose owner has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a prostitution operation.

Tobias, 65, director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), had previously served as the ambassador for the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.

A State Department press release late Friday afternoon said only he was leaving for "personal reasons."

On Thursday, Tobias told ABC News he had several times called the "Pamela Martin and Associates" escort service "to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage." Tobias, who is married, said there had been "no sex," and that recently he had been using another service "with Central Americans" to provide massages.


-Atrios 22:31

Catharine said...

Crank Bait said...

Catharine,

I apologize. I was a tad hasty. I only wanted to say that [comment collapsed].

April 28, 2007 1:00 AM

***

Um.

I was serious. It was brilliant.

Chill.

mmrules said...

Bar association gives ex-U.S. attorney Lam 'prestigious' award

By: SCOTT MARSHALL - Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO -- Carol Lam, one of eight former U.S. attorneys across the country whose dismissals have ignited a political firestorm and calls for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, has been named outstanding attorney of the year by the San Diego County Bar Association, the organization announced Wednesday afternoon.

Andy Albert, the association's immediate past president, said the decision to give Lam what the association calls its "most prestigious" award was not a political one.

"We just felt she was a great example of courage and dignity under fire," Albert said. "She really took the high road in her entire tenure. ... It was merely a recognition of the high-class way she represented herself and, as an extension, the legal community."


Lam, a senior vice president and legal counsel for Qualcomm, Inc., since February, said Wednesday that the award is "a great honor."

"I'd like to be accepting the award on behalf of the United States attorney's office," Lam said. "The attorneys in that office surely deserve it more than I do."

In a news release announcing the award for Lam and 10 other awards, the bar association said Lam "has demonstrated the highest level of ethics and professionalism and fought government corruption and corporate misdeeds."

A longtime assistant U.S. attorney, Lam was appointed to and served as a Superior Court judge for less than two years before being named U.S. attorney in San Diego in 2002. Lam resigned as the top federal prosecutor Feb. 15.

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, whose district covers much of North County and Temecula, was a vocal critic of Lam, contending she was not prosecuting alien smuggling and other border cases enough.

Issa's spokesman, Frederick Hill, said Wednesday afternoon that the congressman's criticism of Lam was focused on a "policy difference," and that Issa believes Lam deserves the recognition the bar association is giving her.

"Congressman Issa thinks the bar association has made a good choice," Hill said Wednesday. "Carol Lam has made important contributions to San Diego."

U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. Critics of the firings of Lam and the other U.S. attorneys have argued that the actions were politically motivated. The White House has said the dismissals were for failing to follow policy objectives.

A former top official at the Justice Department testified to Congress in March that Lam was asked to resign because of a problem with her immigration prosecutions and not because her office pursued a political corruption case that resulted in a guilty plea and federal prison sentence for now-disgraced former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a Republican.

Contact staff writer Scott Marshall at (760) 631-6623 or smarshall@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.

mmrules said...

Interesting:

DOJ Document Dump Muckraker Thread.



Doc Set 5, Pages 38 and 39.

There are these great write ups about the USAs that left. Of note is the one about Charlton in AZ on page 38. Charlton is noteworthy because of the Renzi case and his known refusal to deal with "obescenity" cases. Here is the blurb about him in the leadership assessment column:

Repeated instances of insubordination
Actions taken contrary to instructions
Actions taken that were clearly unauthorized

One of the examples given to support these claims was that he "worked outside of proper channels, without regard to the damage caused to others.

HMMMM...didn't follow "instructions" and was "insubordinate" for taking "clearly unauthorized" actions without consideration for "damage caused to others."

I wonder if his little investigation of a certain AZ congressman had anything to do with this. If anything, there should be emails or "instructions" warning him of his actions. I would LOVE to see those.


Posted by: Mote Dai
Date: April 27, 2007 07:27 PM

Anonymous said...

Felix Laband - Whistling in Tongues

Bob26003 said...

Man, Gravel and Kucinich were the only candidates who looked good IMHO.

Settling for any of the other talking heads will just be a compromise. :(

Unknown said...

Alan Parsons Project - Sirius/Eye In the Sky

http://mwtech.squarespace.com/downloads/music/The%20Alan%20Parsons%20Project%20-%20Eye%20In%20The%20Sky%20-%2001%20-%20Sirius%20-%20Eye%20In%20The%20Sky.mp3

Goodnight, boys n girls...

Anonymous said...

night dada

I had to surrendor the computer for dinosaur usage


i know this horrible, but I now hate dinosaurs.

im glad they are extinct

-conbo

overgrown lizards

mmrules said...

Can Conservative Bloggers tell The Truth?PartI.


http://mediamatters.org/columns/200704180002

mmrules said...

Can Conservative Bloggers Tell The Truth? PartII.

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200704230009

TOTAL KAOS said...

THIS IS HELL

This Saturday's live three hour broadcast begins at 9 AM (central), on WNUR 89.3 FM Evanston/Chicago. We will also be broadcast live online via WNUR's web site (http://www.wnur.org) under the heading, "Listen Online."

This Saturday's guests include:

* live from Beirut, Dahr Jamail (http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/) returns to This is Hell to tell us what's happening in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.
* Frank O'Donnell is president of Clean Air Watch, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization aimed at educating the public about clean air and the need for an effective Clean Air Act. Frank's most recent writing includes, "Ethanol Hangovers."
* live from Moscow, Mark Ames is editor of the eXile, a Moscow English alternative weekly. He is the author of "Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond." (Soft Skull) His recent writing includes "Virginia Tech: Is the Scene of the Crime the Cause of the Crime?"
* Gloria Feldt is the author of "The War on Choice" and "Behind Every Choice Is a Story." Gloria's article, "How Media Mistakes Fueled the High Court Abortion Ruling" was originally published at the Women's Media Center web site (http://www.womensmediacenter.com/). She is currently at work on a book with the actress Kathleen Turner, entitled "Take the Lead, Lady!"
* Christine Ahn is a policy analyst with the Korea Policy Institute (http://www.kpolicy.org/) and Oakland Institute (http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/) and a member of the Korean Americans for Fair Trade coalition. Her most recent writing includes, "Korean Cab Driver Self Immolates to Protest Free Trade Agreement."

And our irregular correspondents tomorrow will be:

* John Wilson. John is founder of collegefreedom.org, and writes his blog at http://collegefreedom.blogspot.com. He is also author of the forthcoming, "Patriotic Correctness: Academic Freedom and Its Enemies" (Paradigm Publishers). John's next book, "Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest," will be released in the Fall via Paradigm as well.
* Jeff Dorchen delivered another Moment of Truth

Anonymous said...

Well, time to piss you all off for the day and that will make it another Happy Doggie Day for me.

You gotta love that! I know I do!

Pissing people off why the disturbing of shit is my favorite thing to do. Look at me as that little stone in your shoe that you can't get out.

Here's a sample...

Our Beloved President, George W. Bush....

Loony leftists...

crazy talk....

you're all losers for hanging around this blog...

have I ever told you about my list?

blah blah blah said...

See what happens to crazy talkers:

Student arrested for essay's imaginary violence

action - reaction. virgina tech - the thought police.

does it stop at imagined violence? if they could would it carry over to imagined treason?


mornin dog, thanks for stopping by and pissin on things. it's what a doggie does (noticed i avoided making a bad pun around the use of the word "do")

Unknown said...

mornin!

another day in pairadice!

toniD said...

Morning all.

Refinery on fire. Means gas will go up even more.

They said it was a lightening strike. Don't they have lightening rods anymore?

Supposedly we have a shortage of refineries. The oil companies have a windfall of profits, why don't they build some new refineries?

I heard someone on TV talking about this and she said that the oil companies would pass the cost of building refineries on to the consumer.

There is a "Don't buy gas day" scheduled for May 15. One day of everyone not buying gas would cost these companies billions of dollars. One way to protest.

We need alternate fuel, and I don't mean biofuel. That is just as bad for the atmosphere.

toniD said...

Lightning starts fire at Okla. refinery 42 minutes ago

Flames and smoke poured into the sky Saturday over an oil refinery where lightning set off a fire and an explosion that was felt miles away, authorities said.

No injuries were reported and there were no immediate evacuation orders in the south-central Oklahoma town, said Mike Hancock, a spokesman for Wynnewood Refinery Co.

Flames and smoke boiled hundreds of feet into the air from two 80,000-gallon tanks in the Wynnewood Refinery complex, officials said.

Firefighters doused the area surrounding the tanks Saturday, Hancock said.

"Tank fires are pretty pesky fires. They're easy to keep contained, but they're hard to fight," Hancock said. "It's hard to estimate how long it will be. It can take a day or so to burn the product."

The fire started Friday when lightning hit a tank containing naphtha, an unrefined form of gasoline, fire Chief Ken Moore said. City and company fire crews sprayed foam on the blaze and transferred naphtha out of the tank, but hours later the explosion — felt by residents of communities several miles away — spread the flames to a second tank, authorities said.

Moore said the explosion may have followed the collapse of the first tank. "This allowed some of the (naphtha) to flow out and flow around the second tank," he said late Friday.

One tank contained about 50,000 barrels of highly flammable naphtha and the second tank contained about 30,000 barrels of diesel fuel, Hancock said.

Nearby highways were closed as a precaution, Moore said. He said the nearest homes were a quarter-mile from the refinery.

The refinery processes about 50,000 barrels of oil a day and employs about 185 people.

It is the second fire at the refinery — which produces gasoline, diesel fuel, military jet fuel, solvents and asphalt — in less than two years. A blaze in May 2006 led to the evacuation of 150 nearby residents. An acid leak a week later related to fire damage caused more evacuations.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued 22 violations over that incident.

Wynnewood is about 65 miles south of Oklahoma City.

LINK

Unknown said...

Mornin T!

good catch #!

say hey to Giant Lizard Boy !

Anonymous said...

Economy Crawls, Raising Recession Fears

Chevron 1Q Profit Surges 18 Percent

Anonymous said...

Lower oil prices fail to hold back Exxon as quarter’s profits top $9bn

Anonymous said...

Bumper oil prices lift BP profits

Oil giant BP has reported a 26% rise in annual profit to $16.2bn (£8.7bn) after benefiting from high oil prices.

Anonymous said...

http://imageevent.com/firesat/strangedaysstrangeskies

STRANGE DAYS STRANGE SKIES

YOU ARE NOW BREATHING ETHYLENE DIBROMIDE, NANO-PARTICULATES OF ALUMINUM AND BARIUM AND CATIONIC POLYMER FIBERS WITH UNIDENTIFIED BIOACTIVE MATERIAL:

"We the people have not been warned, advised or consulted but are certainly vulnerable to the outcomes." chemtrailshallofshame.com

"Biologic components have been reported in airborne samples that include: modified molds, desiccated red blood cells and exotic strains of bacteria"

Welcome to the brave new world of toxic barium skies, weather control, mind control and population control through the use of chemtrails modulated with electromagnetic frequencies generated by HAARP. Our health is under attack as evidenced by the skyrocketing rates of chemtrail induced lung cancer, asthma and pulmonary/respiratory problems. Our natural environment and planetary weather systems are under attack resulting in freak lightening strikes, bizarre weather, 20% less sunlight reaching the Earth' surface, the alarming, nearly complete collapse in certain areas of the west coast marine ecosystem and the creation of some of the largest tornadoes and hurricanes on record. Our skies are increasingly hazed over with fake barium/ aluminum particulate, ethylene dibromide chemtrail clouds. Whether in the atmosphere or in the Ocean this added particulate matter is a hazard to the health of every living thing on this planet. My health and the health of my family has already been drastically affected. There is a main-stream media blackout on this subject so the only way to get the word out is by word of mouth.

ResurrectingLiberty.com/Weather Wars
http://www.resurrectingliberty.com/Weather%20Wars.html

NBC news: Chemtrails over California
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIAWWL4HQDg&NR=1
----

MUST SEE: chemtrails of death
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvioxJUL6C0&mode=related&search=

Jenise said...

morning, tonid, sunshine. have a great day, conbo.

i'm trying to keep a low profile for the moment. the last week of my trip spent with THE ugly american and i'm too irritated to be constructive. i'm working on an article on american exceptionalism for an expat newsletter , but i'm too emotional about the subject ... so i keep starting over.

just wanted to stop by and say thank you, as always, tonid for keeping me informed. i am following the links. :)

Unknown said...

"but i'm too emotional about the subject"

BS! let er rip j!

that's why god invented editing.

toniD said...

Hi Jenise...

Ugly American. I know what you mean. You have to travel overseas to understand how Americans act and why people in other countries feel the way they do.

And I thought the French were bad!!

The arrogance of some Americans make me want to hide the fact that I am American.

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