Thursday, December 14, 2006
Things you didn't see reported about Princess Di's death
The US NSA was monitoring her conversations. This has now been officially dismissed as a wild rumor.
The driver of the car, Henri Paul, was getting paid by both the French Intelligence service and the UK secret service. Although he had a recent medical test showing no signs of alcoholism, he was over three times the legal limit and had other drugs in his system at the time of the accident.
Her car was possibly hit, very disputed, by one of the photographer's cars chasing them before it crashed. That car was repainted several days later. That photographer had worked for UK intel services. His body was found several years later in a burned out car.
The tunnel where she crashed had many security cameras. It is claimed they were either not working or pointed in the wrong directions at the time.
My current thinking - there is no evidence this was a planned murder but there was a cover-up because intelligence services don't like to reveal who works for them or what they do. The British royal family would not have liked the popular former princess marrying a Muslim Arab but there is no evidence extreme measures would be taken to prevent this.
Democrats need to understand the game
People don't know the issues - they know the feel of the candidates
Should Bush get another $100 B for Iraq early next year?
Yes or no people, your Congressperson might like to know your opinion.
Bush may start finding out what division of power means and who controls the purse strings.
All In or All Out?
This may not be the best post. I have a lot the say and I am going to wrap a metaphor and bad song around it.
The Bush administration seems to have been privately pushing an 80% solution in Iraq. Throw US support to the religious Shiites and just forget the Sunnis.
The other popular consideration is the "double down" plan of building up the military and concentrating them in the short run to beat back the insurgency. This is badly named as there are barely enough available troops to increase them 15% for a few months with a big effort.
It looks like both plans will be pursued. A better name for both of these two plans comes from a different game than Blackjack. It is "All In" from Texas Hold'em.
The increase troop strength to maximum for a few months in hope that they break before we will is only a bad idea unlikely to work. When we increased troop strength in Baghdad resistance got stronger, not weaker. When we killed more we created angrier relatives and friends more willing to die.
The 80% solution is an insane idea that can only have come from neo-conservatives. Turns out, they had suggested it as part of their grand
There is a crazy symmetry to that dream - Fundamentalists in the United States and the Arab World Unite! But the fundies in the U.S. have just lost big, even if large numbers of them haven't accepted that. And the two groups hate each other. This is also why this 80% solution is such a desperate gamble in Iraq as well. The leaders of the Shiites are the religious fundamentalists that hate us. Why would the US favoring them in a game we are losing change that?
One other reason this is such an insane idea is that Saudi Arabia is dead set against it. This explains the Saudi royalty summoning Cheney, their US ambassador's resignation, and statements they will arm and support the Sunnis in Iraq against attack. When the Saudis determine that this is the plan Bush is proposing expect no special favors on oil prices and the Sunni resistance to get much better weapons.
Considering this option means that you have no other alternatives left than to go with the last remaining idea that someone had suggested to salvage this. All the other ideas hadn't worked, let's throw this insane idea out and see if this changes things. When the Sunnis see we are prepared to do this maybe they will back down and it might give the Iranian Shiites pause.
Facing reality - Iraq looks like a civil war stage one right now. Do we want our troops patrolling a failed state in stage two with many strong neighbors all arming different factions that may explode into an even larger conflict? We also shouldn't forget the Turkish threats against the Kurds if they gain too much control either. Add Israel and Syria and Iran with active intelligence and smuggling operations and vital interests at stake.
Why the new strategy? The Gambler.
In many ways, the neocons and the Bush administration seem like incompetent foolish gamblers playing at Middle Eastern policy. In Texas Hold-Em when things go bad there is the temptation of going "all in" and hoping the other players back down and so steal the pot. Both the 80% solution and the badly misnamed "double down" military strategy are different versions of "all in." You are putting all your resources into what looks like a long shot because you will lose what you have put in the pot already otherwise and the other players may back down allowing you to steal it.
Unfortunately for Bush, that strategy depends on your opponents not knowing how bad your hand is. Everyone in the world except a few die hard Republicans knows Bush hardly has a pot to piss in now.
The Iraq Study Group plan, as bad as it is, is at least a continuation of past US policies, pursued by Baker among others, of favoring Saudi interests and control of oil. This is the favorite conservative Washington consensus that has been wrong before but at least it is not a radical plan and it doesn't embarrass anyone too badly. The new policies being considered seem more desperate risky hallucinations.
Elements of the strategy even appear to be in conflict. The military plan is to use the more troops to go after the more radical of the Shiite leaders. Yet the long term 80% plan calls for the surviving Shiite leaders to ignore that and accept that we support them and are better than Iran.
You've got to know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.
Right now it is fold'em and walk away time. If we don't acknowledge that relatively soon - we will later have to see a run strategy of evacuating thousands of people under fire.
UPDATE: I found others thinking of the same song recently.
And the night got deathly quiet
And his faced lost all expression
He said, "If you're gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right
You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done
Every gambler knows
That the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away
And knowin' what to keep
'Cause every hand's a winner
And every hand's a loser
And the best that you can hope for
Is to die in your sleep"
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Rolling Stone: Paul Krugman on the Great Wealth Transfer
There should be one clear thread in domestic politics - there is the party for the few wealthy or the party for the majority workers. Supporting the workers does not mean turning off the economic engine that generates the jobs. Most jobs come from new business while most wealth is from old cash-cow businesses.
The reason most Americans think the economy is fair to poor is simple: For most Americans, it really is fair to poor. Wages have failed to keep up with rising prices. Even in 2005, a year in which the economy grew quite fast, the income of most non-elderly families lagged behind inflation. The number of Americans in poverty has risen even in the face of an official economic recovery, as has the number of Americans without health insurance. Most Americans are little, if any, better off than they were last year and definitely worse off than they were in 2000.
But how is this possible? The economic pie is getting bigger -- how can it be true that most Americans are getting smaller slices? The answer, of course, is that a few people are getting much, much bigger slices. Although wages have stagnated since Bush took office, corporate profits have doubled. The gap between the nation's CEOs and average workers is now ten times greater than it was a generation ago. And while Bush's tax cuts shaved only a few hundred dollars off the tax bills of most Americans, they saved the richest one percent more than $44,000 on average. In fact, once all of Bush's tax cuts take effect, it is estimated that those with incomes of more than $200,000 a year -- the richest five percent of the population -- will pocket almost half of the money. Those who make less than $75,000 a year -- eighty percent of America -- will receive barely a quarter of the cuts. In the Bush era, economic inequality is on the rise.
Ciro wins - two elections left
House Democrats Extend '06 Gains to 30 SeatsKuff and others on how he won.
House Democrats increased their 2006 election gains to 30 seats Tuesday, with former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez 's (D) surprisingly convincing victory over Rep. Henry Bonilla (R) in a runoff election in Texas's massive 23rd District.
"It is never easy to defeat a sitting Republican incumbent with a financial edge in a special election, but tonight, Ciro Rodriguez's victory proves that voters want more than Henry Bonilla's rubber stamp support for failed Republican policies," said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie .
Rodriguez's win comes just five weeks after Bonilla received 49 percent of the vote in a special primary on Nov. 7. Rodriguez won just 20 percent that day, while a handful of other Democrats split up the remaining votes.
The apparent key to Rodriguez's come-from-behind victory was a heavy focus by national Democrats on identifying and turning out Latino voters -- especially in Bexar County. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent $100,000 on ads on Hispanic radio in the district and paid for thousands of get-out-the-vote calls. All told, the DCCC spent more than $900,000 on this race -- more than two-thirds of which went into television advertising that sought to undermine Bonilla's seeming strengths on military issues. The DCCC also gained considerable traction with spots that attacked the incumbent for supporting multiple congressional pay raises.
In contrast to the heavy spending by the DCCC, the National Republican Congressional Committee chose not to spend a dime on this race -- under the belief that Bonilla's massive financial edge (he outspent Rodriguez at a better than four-to-one clip) would be more than enough to hold the seat. It's hard not to wonder if the chaos caused within the Republican Party following its losses on Nov. 7 led to a lack of focus on the Texas runoff.
Rodriguez's victory is doubly sweet for national Democrats, since they not only pick up another seat but also scored another direct hit on the legacy of former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas). DeLay engineered the congressional re-redistricting in 2003 that led to a six-seat Republican gain in Texas in 2004. But those gains came at a price. Portions of the 2003 map, including the removal of 100,000 Hispanic voters from the 23rd District, were ruled in violation of the Voting Rights Act by the U.S. Supreme Court last June. The resulting changes in the district's boundaries reinstituted a strong Hispanic presence in the 23rd and led to Bonilla's loss.
Delay himself resigned amid allegations of ethical improprieties related to the 2003 remapping effort and watched from the sidelines as former Rep. Nick Lampson last month claimed the strongly Republican 22nd District that DeLay had held since 1984.
The conclusion of the 23rd District race leaves just one House contest in limbo: the one in Florida's 13th District. While auto dealer Vern Buchanan (R) has been certified as the winner, banker Christine Jennings (D) has sued the state to force an investigations into thousands of "undervotes " in the Nov. 7 election. Jennings has also asked the House Administration Committee to look into the matter when Congress reconvenes in January.
The other election still awaiting results that I am following is in Alvin-Brazoria where the Republicans are scared of losing a special election to the state house. There have been a few reports of officials at polling places misinforming voters they were at the Republican only voting precinct. Democrat Dr. Anthony DiNovo should be favored to win this special election because three ill-informed cookie-cutter Republicans will be splitting the vote and there is no runoff. Meanwhile, in neighboring Fort Bend County the Republican Party continues its breakdown with the war between various factions after DeLay's defeat still churning. Other stories and comments at Fort Bend Now are worth getting the popcorn made for.
Light blogging through the holidays. Why don't you subscribe to the RSS feed in the upper left corner?
UPDATE - Ciro race - I love graphics. What a disaster for the GOP their fence policy is. What the win doesn't show is Dems moving to the right.
Tags: politics, DeLay, Texas, national, Fort Bend, Brazoria, Anthony Di Novo
Our thoughts and prayers and feverous Drudge Report Vampire Wishes are with Sen. Johnson
Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota suffered a possible minor stroke Wednesday and was taken to a Washington hospital. Drudge Report seems whipped up into a red vampire frenzy as a serious problem could end the majority Democratic Senate. While all strokes are serious, this from all accounts is very minor.
Johnson became disoriented during a call with reporters at midday, stuttering in response to a question. He appeared to recover, asking if there were any additional questions before ending the call.Update - no word but Sen. Johnson of South Dakota is undergoing an operation.
Drudge Report is noting "the fragility' of the Democratic majority in the Senate while he has never mentioned that November's Democratic counter-Revolution in the House has produced a larger working majority than Republicans had ever achieved in over 50 years.
Also unsaid on Drudge is that Senate history is clear - a Senator has never been removed from office for health reasons, they have to die or decide to resign. Senators have held office for years without ever going to the Senate Chambers because of poor health. The Senate is a rich man's club. Once elected, a senator continues to serve until the expiry of his or her term, death, or resignation. He or she can only be removed by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. Senators have never voted to remove a man who wasn't serving for reasons of health.
Meanwhile, this may be a bad comparison but is this evidence that LaRouche has suffered a stroke or other brain damage? All Democrats worked together to elect Ciro Rodriguez and Dr. Dean especially did not try to sabotage the campaign but poured resources into it. To say otherwise is just crazy talk or poor cognitive functioning.
"White and Nerdy" Dennis Kucinich Announces Presidental Bid
Ohio Representative Dennis Kuchinich is running for President again in 2008.
He may be "white and nerdy" and farther to the left than the majority of Democrats in Congress, but I can't help to like Dennis Kucinich.In your heart you know he's right, just not electable.
Like Jim Webb, he has stood up against the war in Iraq from day one, has always been a true advocate for greater environmental protection, and has fought hard for working class families across our great land for six terms in Congress.
Plus he is a vegan, a lifestyle decision that some say hurts his bid for higher office, but just goes to show that the man values his health, cares for our environment, and has the utmost respect for all God's creatures.
Another White and Nerdy Party.
Texas Retirement Fund in Bottom 10% for 2006
When Republicans like Perry appoint their corrupt bankrupt business cronies to run peoples' retirement accounts...
I also like the fact that his solution is what got them the low returns this year - risky bets that didn't play out. That and poor selection of traditional investments.
I think I'll send this to my sister - its her retirement money although she voted for Strayhorn who sweet-talked much of the Texas educational community to supporting her and not Bell.
Nigerian Scammer Joins US Marines
Hello,
With due respect, pardon me for this letter. This is a genuine matter of utmost importance and immense mutual benefit which must be kept highly confidential. It is with genuine interest and trust that I have contacted you.
I am Captain Scott Morgan of the US Marine Force on Monitoring and Peace keeping mission in Baghdad-Iraq.
On the 30th day of November 2006, we were alerted on the sudden presence of some Terrorists camping in a suburb not too far from Karbala here in Iraq . After immediate intervention, we captured three (3) of the Terrorists, twenty-six (26) were killed leaving seven (7) injured.
In the process of torture they confessed being rebels for late Ayman al-Zawahiri and took us to a cave in Karbala which served as their camp. Here we recovered several guns, bombs and other Ammunitions including some boxes among which two contains suspected nuclear weapons, one filled with hard drugs (cocaine) and the other four to my amazement contain some US Dollars amounting to $10.2M. After I and two of my junior intelligent officers counted them, I however instructed them to keep this in high secrecy.
I am in keen need of a "Reliable and "Trustworthy"? person who would receive, secure and protect these boxes containing the US Dollars for me until my assignment elapses here in Iraq . I assure and promise you will not regret this deal. However feel free to negotiate what you wish to have as your percentage in this business. Assure me of you keeping this in utmost secrecy to protect my job with the US Monitoring and Peace-Keeping mission. I will be waiting to hear from you as soon as possible to proceed.
All correspondence should come through my personal / private email: cs.morgan@hotmail.com for security reasons.
If you are interested to work with me in good faith and honesty, get back to me. Endeavor to let me know your decision rather than keep me waiting.
Thanks in anticipation of a favorable response.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Iraq Marine Vet speaks out
I'm sick and tired of this patriotic, nationalistic and fascist crap. I stood through a memorial service today for a young Marine that was killed in Iraq back in April. During this memorial a number of people spoke about the guy and about his sacrifice for the country. How do you justify 'sacrificing' your life for a war which is not only illegal, but is being prosecuted to the extent where the only thing keeping us there is one man's power, and his ego. A recent Marine Corps intelligence report that was leaked said that the war in the al-Anbar province is unwinnable. It said that there was nothing we could do to win the hearts and minds, or the military operations in that area. So I wonder, why are we still there?- Philip Martin has been a Marine for 2 years. He is in the infantry (a "grunt"), and spent 7 months in the al-Anbar province of Iraq. He went on more than 180 combat patrols in and outside of the city of Fallujah, where he was hit with 2 IEDs (luckily never injured) and was involved in a number of firefights. He is currently stationed in Twentynine Palms, CA, and due to return to Iraq for a second deployment in April 2007. He is 21-years-old. - Recommended by Shockwave at Daily Kos. Read Bob Johnson there for the neocon "new" Domino Theory.
UPDATE - By coincidence, I received a reply from another Marine - this one refighting old wars. Bruce N. Kessler in a written column believes the Shiite Iraqi Interior Ministry denials over the AP's 3 reports of 6 Sunni men at prayer burned to death by Shiite militia. Right before my decision to depart from conservative blogs for three weeks, I emailed him asking him why? He had nothing meaningful to say in the reply except for amusingly claiming the AP was providing faux news and not Fox and asked where my standards were. He never stated a source or standard for his belief.
A quick Google, which I hadn't before, finds he was a recruit in the Nixon White House campaign to counter the hippies and the majority of the American people opposing Nixon's war plans. He claims he, and not John O'Neill, was the founder of the anti-Kerry group Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace in 1971, the precursor to today's Swift Boat Liars. In May 1970 he wrote a letter to TIME magazine supporting Nixon's illegal expansion of the war into Cambodia while others were calling for Nixon's impeachment.
For a lot of conservatives, Iraq was going to be the chance to defeat the hippies from the Vietnam War and do a war right. Oops. There is a strong smell of napalm and deja vu in the air.
Gary Webb's Death: American Tragedy
An example with what is wrong with American journalism is the story of Gary Webb. After one of the first newspapers to go online in a big way started publishing Gary Webb's investigative stories of the connection between the crack cocaine epidemic and the CIA and contras, pressure from Washington-connected media cost him his job. This is also an example of the media connections of the CIA and the "shadow government."
Gary Webb's investigation of the CIA-crack cocaine connection was vindicated by an internal CIA investigation which the media did not publicize. While this report accepts Gary Webb's death as a suicide, two "self-inflicted" gun shot wounds to the head is rather telling.
Tags: Dark Alliance, shadow government, Gary Webb, San Jose Mercury News, CIA, contras, crack cocaine, SCLM
Happy Feet, Insane Republicans
I finally saw Happy Feet. We were going to see Blood Diamond or some other movie but realized I wouldn't have time because of the Christmas party. A good happy, fun, singing and dancing movie with great animation. Kids love it. Huge, huge box office. Great movie.
According to conservative Republicans this is liberal propaganda ruining America. When I write something like that I may get responses that I am taking a few nut blogs and taring the right side with the views of a few extremists. Here are some of the obscure nut jobs that nobody pays attention to ranting in this case.
Neil Cavuto, one of the Fox News anchors, said "big time objectional" and made the observation that "it was just like an animated Inconvenient Truth. I half expected Al Gore to pop up!" (There is nothing about global warming in the movie.)
Cavuto's guest, Christian family entertainment critic Holly McClure, said:
I went watching this movie thinking, "OK, great. A lighthearted, fun film. Love these animated pictures, and it's interesting how realistic it looks." And you get in there and you're enjoying all the fun and frivolity, and, yes, it's kind of a takeoff of the penguin documentary, and then along comes the subtle messages. And one by one they come in, and I felt like I was watching Dirty Dancing, penguin-style. You know, the preaching against the tap dancing and being liberal and stay conformed. And then it started to get into the other messages. Yes, we had that plastic ring around one of the penguin's neck. From there it got worse.I happen to know many people who love Dirty Dancing, which she may be melding with Footloose, and I don't believe I know anyone who objects to that movie. Note she is introduced just as an entertainment critic but her only gigs have been Christian conservative broadcasting shows and now Fox News. These Christian broadcasting networks have millions of viewers and listeners.
Glen Beck, conservative radio host with a show on CNN Headline News, also labeled it "propaganda" and an "animated version of An Inconvenient Truth" - demonstrating that he watches Cavuto on Fox News and not CNN.
His guest, Dr. Robert Thompson of the Center for the Study of Popular Television, told Beck he was blowing this way out of proportion and "I don't think this story is going to get you a Peabody." (Much like the Razzies are the anti-Oscars can some group make up anti-Peabody awards?)
Michael Medved, former conservative mainstream movie critic, now conservative talk radio host and columnist:
Crappy Feet - "This may be the darkest, most disturbing feature length animated film ever offered by a major studio... The propagandistic theme suggests that the biggest menace for the lovable penguins is the human race... There’s also a bizarre anti-religious bias operating unmistakably and gratuitously in the film... As in so many other recent films, there’s a subtext that appears to plead for endorsement of gay identity."So when the assertion that Happy Feet was pro-environment and anti-business didn't hurt the box office they started on it promoting the gay agenda. "There's a whole flock of penguins who are basically, well, gay." "When Mumbles tells his father 'Accept me for who I am, I can't change' that's going to go right over the heads of kids. But we know what he is."
This is crazy. First - They are saying that a movie that promotes following your own dreams and promotes tolerance is like so wrong. Second - who thinks conservatives have this finely honed animated penguin gaydar? It'll probably "go over the kids' heads" because the hero is hetero and is in love with a girl penguin and marries her and has a kid. All the other penguins are obsessed with finding their opposite-sex mate and having kids. Why don't conservatives go back to outing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Tinky Winky for their serious discussions and waste of cable news space?
BTW - what you should know about penguins if you are a conservative. Half the species are facing extinction, the majority of Emperor penguins get new mates every year, Emperor Penguins are in a dangerous decline, many penguins are gay parents, the Antarctic is rapidly shrinking and melting, plastic six-pack rings are bad for animals including penguins, penguins can't really sing American and Spanish pop songs or dance. No wonder conservatives hate penguins.
Some links for this rant. None to conservative blogs because I am treating myself by avoiding them until next year but many on the left observed this insanity. Links may contain adult language.
Media Matters.
The Greenbelt
The Carpetbagger Report
Lean Left
Pissed on Politics
Hillbilly Report
Hell Fell
You Are Dumb
A Penny's Worth
Bush is "disappointed in the pace of success"
Bush: "I thought we would succeed quicker than we did, and I am disappointed by the pace of success."
Hirohito: "Despite the best that has been done by everyone . . . the war situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage."
Easter Lemming: "I am disappointed in the pace I am adding to my harem."
Tags: Bushisms
Friday, December 08, 2006
Everything you heard on Right-wing talk radio and read in Wingnut Blogs was wrong
That was the basic message of the Iraq Study Group in the first half of their report. The administration and the military had been spinning and lying. The war is a disaster. The So-Called-Liberal-Media reports have been right and Fox News wrong. This was why it was a very emotional Republican Senator taking to the floor to admit he was wrong in his past support for the war. It take strong clear language from people they trust to break through years of BS from administration officials and all the conservative news and opinions they listen to.
How much of the right-wing noise machine will admit the truth of the Iraq report? How much of the report will not be reported on? How many will simply call the group "surrender monkeys" as the New York Post did on their front page? I don't know.
Just since the election there there has been big right stories that are pretty much lies they tell and probably tell themselves that shows no sign of slowing down and may even have become more hysterical.
- The lies about the Associated Press making up stories when the Shiite Iraq Interior Ministry has a huge incentive to lie and the AP has repeatedly gone beyond the call of duty to verify the Sunni Mosque massacre.
- The lies and hysteria over the Muslim religious leaders kicked off a plane in this country and driven to a police station in handcuffs over passenger hysteria.
- The reaction, including advocating bombing the UN, to UN ambassador John Bolton being finally removed from his post at an institution he hated and could never get Senate approval for.
I think for the rest of this year I will try to quit reading the wacky right's ignorant, sad, pathetic, fearful, hysterical, paranoid, bigoted posts and give a present to myself of avoiding the stupidity. The only problem is that as Media Matters points out the mainstream media and Washington Establishment is scarcely any better.
The Clueless George Presidential Library from Amazon.com
A Christmas gift idea for your liberal friends. The amazing illustrated adventures of Clueless George collected in one library set at a great price. One amazing thing about these books is that they are from a political cartoonist in the Salt Lake City Tribune whose previous books are mainly about Utah and the Mormons.
Florida election could be 1984 replay
On a vote along party lines Democrat awarded seat in the U.S. House in 1984.
What happens when a soldier finds God?
Sergeant Logan Laituri informed his superiors he could go back to Iraq but just don't give him a weapon. Interesting story of what lead up to that and what happened. "One commander, who is also a Baptist preacher, assured Laituri that since he was a Christian, Jesus had died for all his sins, and therefore he was already forgiven for whatever he would do on the battlefield." I am not fond of a lot of Baptist ministers.
The 25 Stupidest Political Quotes of 2006
We have some stupid politicians and pundits and Daniel Kurtzman collects what they say.
From 25) "I think I'd just commit suicide." --Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in October, on the prospects of the Democrats taking back the Senate in the November election toKurtzman also collects the talk show political jokes.
1) "How's my favorite young stud doing? ... Strip down and get relaxed ... Good, so you're getting horny? ... Cute butt bouncing in the air ... Get a ruler and measure it for me. ... (Page: "My mom is yelling") ... Cool, I hope she didn't see anything." --from the transcript of a sexually explicit IM chat Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), chairman of the Congressional Missing & Exploited Children's Caucus, had with a 16-year-old male, the revelation of which prompted him to resign.
"The Democrats, it's less than two weeks since they took power and already they're fighting among themselves. ... Say what you want about the Republican Congress, those guys were always on the same page." --Bill Maher
"Today was the first and only day of confirmation hearings for his replacement Robert Gates. ... The committee immediately confirmed the guy. They really only had one question: Are you now or have you ever been Donald Rumsfeld? He said, 'No.' ... He showed them his driver's license and utility bill, and boom, they confirmed him." --Stephen Colbert
Senate Republican Turns Against War
From Atrios:
Atrios also had: "According to new AP/Ipsos poll, 60% of the country favors a complete withdrawal in 6 months. That number jumps to 71% for a 2 year timetable."
Update: Welcome Buzzfeed readers. Click here for more news and for a RSS feed link.
CNN -- In an emotional speech on the Senate floor Thursday night, Sen Gordon Smith, a moderate Republican from Oregon who has been a supporter of the war in Iraq, said the U.S. military's "tactics have failed" and he "cannot support that anymore."Both my Dad and borther-in-law were talking today that Bush should be impeached. There are both moderate swing voters from the South.
Smith said he is at, "the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up the same bombs, day after day.
"That is absurd," he said. "It may even be criminal."
Smith said he has tried to quietly support President Bush during the course of the war -- and doesn't believe the president intentionally lied to get the U.S. into the war -- but now recognizes, "we have paid a price in blood and treasure that is beyond calculation" for a war waged due to bad intelligence.
Atrios also had: "According to new AP/Ipsos poll, 60% of the country favors a complete withdrawal in 6 months. That number jumps to 71% for a 2 year timetable."
Update: Welcome Buzzfeed readers. Click here for more news and for a RSS feed link.
It's Official - KTRH has joined the Right Wing Media Machine
After picking up Joe Pagliarulo, known as Joe Pags, Houston's KTRH 740 AM completes its transition to all right crap daytime as an early Christmas unpresent to Houston starting December 18. That will be when you can hear Rush Limbaugh from 11 - 2 everyday on Houston's former information source.
They have kept their lone liberal voice, a delayed Ed Schultz, 8 - 10 weeknights, when he is not preempted by a game. Ed is moving his slot to go head-to-head with Rush on the live shows. I wonder if Rush likes him tape-delayed on the same station and how long KTRH will keep Ed?
KTRH used to be one of the best news radio stations in the country. I am going to need to find another bad weather station. A lot of the changes and decline in quality at KTRH may be cost cutting moves. Clear Channel, which owns KTRH, is notorious for cost cutting stations into the ground. (added - Of course, Clear Channel is also notorious for being right-wing.)
One suggestion for your replacement is Houston's Pacifica KPFT 90.1 FM which has greatly expanded its news programs in the last several years. Democracy Now which they carry is also becoming better and better. Where else in Houston can you hear about the privatization of Iraqi oil recommended by Jim Baker's Iraq Study Group?
For centrist news there is Public Radio KUHF 88.1 FM with the NPR slate of programs. Of course, studies have shown they have more Republican and conservative guests so it is not an even balance.
If you want to spend the money there is satellite radio, which is the only way to receive Air America in your car in Houston.
Keep up with Progressive talk radio here and at Liberal Talk blog.
Tags: Houston, radio, KPFT, KTRH, KUHF
Dean - Congress should call for a new election in Florida
Hell, they should call for a few new elections in Florida going back to the 2000 Presidential but for now he is talking about the 18,000 missing votes in the Sarasota house race. Democratic Congressional leaders are seriously considering not seating the Republican ahead by 369 votes by Florida's count.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
White House Briefing -- Iraq Study Group Brings Reality to Washington
UPDATE - corrected link to wrong briefing.
Froomkin has the best round-up including this quote:
"The report's description of the violence in Iraq, which amounts to an attack on the administration's understanding of the facts on the ground, will likely set the new baseline for how the Iraq conflict is portrayed ....
"The report is replete with damning details about the administration's competence in Iraq. It notes, for instance, that only six people in the 1,000-person U.S. embassy in Baghdad can speak Arabic fluently, and recounts how the military counted 93 acts of violence in one day in July when the group's own examination of the numbers found 1,100 acts of violence. 'Good policy is difficult to make when information is systematically collected in a way that minimizes discrepancy with policy goals,' the report says."
Moderate Republicans a lost species, Democrats recognizing the class war
By one measure, the 110th Congress will have the fewest moderates since the 19th century. This finding is based on an analysis of voting records by Keith T. Poole, a political science professor at the University of California at San Diego, and Howard Rosenthal, a New York University politics professor.The polarization is more the result of economic issues than social issues according to their colleague Dr. Nolan McCarty. There is a free PDF download of the paper McCarty, Poole, and Rosenthal wrote about the history of polarization in American politics and how to measure it, which became the first two chapters of the book. The important chapter three explores income polarization of voters as the politicians became more polarized. Their findings concerning the links between mounting inequality, immigration, and the rise of political polarization are vital to any understanding of American politics.
For the purpose of the study, a moderate is defined as someone whose votes consistently fall near the middle of the political spectrum on both fiscal and social issues.
The decline in moderates has had a greater impact on Republicans than Democrats. According to Poole's calculations, almost half of House Republicans were moderates 30 years ago, compared to well under 10 percent today. The professors argue that the decline of moderates in Congress has increased polarization.
In other chapters not online they also other insights:
In a chapter worth the book’s price, the authors show that astronomical gains for the very wealthiest have opened up opportunities for the “passionate rich” to invest in the ideological extremes. The “swift-boating” of Kerry was not an aberration; it is the new status quo. Democratic victories and policies, if and when they happen, will certainly activate a right-wing backlash.The next big issue for Democrats should be the growing inequality gap. The scientists have demonstrated pretty conclusively that political polarization is indeed related to economic inequality. They show how ideological polarization and income inequality fell together from 1913 until 1957 and that both inequality and polarization have been rising again since 1977. As liberals say, the Republicans have been waging class war and the poor and Democrats have been losing. With the recent reversal in Congress and the growing populism among Democrats the Democratic leadership may be getting the message. The campaign for the presidential nomination and Congressional actions next year will see how much this knowledge has sunk into the party leadership.
....As they demonstrate, income inequality has grown least among regularly participating voters. It has done the most damage at the bottom end of the income scale, where both immigrants and citizens are less likely to vote. A voter backlash, by definition, has to come from voters. Not surprisingly, Republicans have pushed voter-identification legislation to discourage lower-income voting and promoted a policy to make immigrants wait 17 years for the right to vote.
....Would America be better off with a “centrist” coalition via divided government, as under Clinton? In a sobering conclusion, the authors show that divided government is actually worse. Legislative stalemate paradoxically increases the power of the presidency and hurts the poor, who are left to fend for themselves as government freezes up. For example, McCarty and colleagues demonstrate that states with Democratic governors and Republican legislatures, other things equal, have the least generous welfare programs.
Tags: partisanship, class war, polarization, inequality, Rosenthal, Poole, McCarty, Congress, political scientists, vote analysis
My 79 year old mother cried when she went to get her prescription
Another story about runaway health care costs.
Global Warming effect on Ocean warming dire
NASA satellite study shows great reduction in plankton, which removes carbon dioxide and is the ultimate source of food for much sea life.
Tags: science, global warming, climate change, oceans, NASA
A Soldier's Story
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
WP columnist acknowledges his blog critics and readers were right
I am not making this up - David Ignatius:
In a column last week, I praised Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel for his prescient early warnings about the risks of U.S. involvement in Iraq. Some readers complained that for all his prescience, Hagel still voted to support the war, and that I was ignoring the many Democrats who were similarly wary of Iraq -- and who voted against war funding. These readers are right. Hagel took political risks expressing his concerns back in 2003, but so did Democrats who voted against the Iraq mission despite a vitriolic barrage from the administration.
Debkafile.net - knows a lot of spies
Interesting article on Debkafile.net which is political military gossip from Israel. They often get the story wrong, not admited here, but they repeat all the gossip coming in from a lot of sources. If you take everything they print with a grain of salt and look for possible agendas they can tell you what experts are thinking on terrorism, military and foreign affairs. Overall their sources are very conservative, which is to be expected.
Hysteria in the WSJ
The Imam story won't go away. Where to start with the lies by the hysterical Debra Burlingame.
1. Allahu Akbar is the traditional call for prayer - God is Great.
2. They went to their assigned seats except their leader got an upgrade to first class and they asked another passenger to trade seats with the blind Imam.
3. Most reports say two heavy Imams in robes asked for seatbelt extensions which were willingly provided by the flight crew.
4. She plays the race card - calling comparisons to Rosa Parks being pulled off a bus and the Black Muslims supporting fellow Muslims "racial politics at its worst."
5. She plays her own sympathy card as the sister of a pilot killed on 9/11.
6. She actually proves the case that flying while acting Muslim was the crime and wants Muslims to stop it. Her scorn is directed at the Muslim call to prayer in a rank distasteful display of prejudice and ignorance. The writer, Debra Burlingame, is a former Democrat who has since 9/11 become a spokesperson for the PATRIOT act and other conservative causes.
Spaniards Vow To Reconquer New World, Launch Fleet
Juan Carlos issued an Imperial decree to build an "unstoppable" naval fleet of some 130 ships constructed from the "finest timbers felled from the grandest forests of Christendom," the likes of which, according to Spanish lore, "has not been espied on the high seas since the glory days of the 16th century."
Analysts say that Spain, with a standing army of 86,000 and one of the smallest military budgets in Western Europe, will face significant challenges in its rise to empire.
"It remains to be seen how the highly organized information- and service-based economy of the Bahamas will adapt to brutal conquest and forced labor," said University of Chicago political science professor Thomas Osbourne. "But the Spanish do have centuries of experience, so they should not be underestimated
The Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics
This was a Matthew Yglesias classic for some reason I never linked to.
One Story, Two Very Different Slants
From News Hounds a story that demonstrates how FOX News is the FEAR! network and MSNBC is the anti-Fox.
Think Equal.
Think Equal Ad - Gay Marriage or Civil Union?
New Jersey has to choose between offering gays civil unions or marriage. An online blog campaign has been started to run the above ad. The site - a blog for New Jersey Democrats. So the New Jersey Democrats are promoting gay marriage - what perversions are Republicans promoting?
The Political-Religious War in Texas and America
Michelle Goldberg visited San Antonio to declare: "no room for healing the rift between the Christian nationalist extremists and advocates of a secular society."
Goldberg was in San Antonio as a guest of the SoL Center and the Texas Freedom Network on the last leg of her national tour for Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, an in-depth history and analysis of the movement to establish a Christian theocratic government in the U.S. (see: the demonization of homosexuality by megachurch pastors, battles against teaching evolutionary theory in schools, the development of “the abstinence industry,” and the right’s war on the nation’s courts).
Despite recent Democratic congressional victories and falls from grace by conservative leaders such as Tom DeLay and Ralph Reed, Goldberg says the movement has hunkered down strong with a number of diffuse local organizations and, at the state level, “patriot-pastor networks” that use megachurch and church-related organizations as centers for right-wing political organizing.
“This movement is not a religious movement but rather a nationalist political movement that cloaks itself in religion,” Goldberg said.
“It is not synonymous with evangelical Christianity and it does not make up a majority of Americans or evangelicals. It is just that it makes up the most highly organized political group in America until now. For various structural reasons, it has come to dominate the government far in excess of its numbers.”
New game not playing well at Lakewood Church
Religious game based on Olsten book gets non-endorsement from Lakewood Church.
Somewhere there was a miscommunication and there are copies of Your Best Life Now — The Game, "inspired by" Joel Osteen's best-selling book out there. Joel Osteen didn't like some of the examples and the way the game played and found the game was already published. Oops. Amazon has the best discounted price now - $19.95.
With several blogs I sometimes have trouble deciding where a link goes. This could have gone in my games blog but it relates to Houston and religion so I'll put it here. If I think a story might appeal to more people I am also inclined to put it here.
Rebuilding the Texas Democratic Party
Seeing what the GOP did in Florida and a talk with Howard Dean lead lawyer Fred Baron to become the Texas Democrats biggest booster.
This effort is not without controversy within the party as little or no help was given to most campaigns. There was both no help toward statewide candidates, except for one $25,000 donation to Chris Bell, and no help to most state house candidates except for the improvement to some party infrastructure tools. Fred Baron is also not part of the growing populist faction in the Texas Democratic Party.
Fred Baron did contribute to the big effort in increasing Democratic turnout and straight ticket voting in Dallas which led to an unexpected sweep of all contested races. Houston is looking at closely at Dallas results as Dallas has long been considered a GOP stronghold, much more than Houston. There were plenty of encouraging signs in Houston this election which political strategists will be making decisions on.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Will Every American wheat farmer be bankrupt by 2050?
Why global climate change is a loser for the Republicans. By denying the problem and doing nothing to prepare for it or reduce CO2 emisions they will lose their MidWestern base. I'll bet ADM is looking at those maps which show the wheat growing zone in 2050 compared to now.
Tags: global climate change, politics
Monday, December 04, 2006
Duncan tells me it is too late for Bush to declare victory and pull out
We have to get rid of Bush for that to happen. He has had plenty of opportunities to do that and passed them all by and is now stuck.
NASA plans a permanent camp on the moon - Los Angeles Times
We need better spaceships, better telerobotics and better ecological support systems. They should be conducting biological and agricultural systems development in Antartic. I like science programs. Government science and technology programs are feed stock for future development.
Is It Fascism Yet?
RU Sirius at 10 Zen Monkeys ask 10 progressive intellectuals if the United States is Fascist now.
Harris County Democratic Party Holiday Celebration
HCDP HOLIDAY PARTY
Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are just around the corner! Join HCDP and our gracious hosts, Texas Senator Rodney Ellis, Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, City Council Member Ron Green, State Representatives Garnet Coleman and Jessica Farrar and Communication Workers of America Local 6222 in celebrating the seasons at our annual Holiday Party.
DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 2005
TIME: 6:00 pm
LOCATION: CWA Local 6222 Union Hall, 1730 Jefferson in Downtown Houston.
Admission is free and so is the dinner. A cash bar will be available. Please bring non-perishable food items for donation to the SEARCH Homeless Project. We will also be collecting items suitable for sending to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for the holidays. We have received requests from them for decorations, party items, letters, holiday cards to the soldiers, cookies, candies, and toiletries of any kind.
Gerry Birnberg - Chair, Harris County Democratic Party:
Locally, we Democrats have much to be proud of:Tags: Texas, Harris, Houston, Democratic Party
Tom DeLay no longer sits in Congress. NICK LAMPSON does!
ELLEN COHEN won overwhelmingly in a district thought to be 60% Republican.
HUBERT VO convincingly retains the seat he won two years ago by defeating a powerful ally of the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, the chair of one of the most influential committees in the Texas House.
SCOTT HOCHBERG handily dispatched his Republican rival, in a district drawn specifically to elect a Republican to the state legislature.
ANA HERNANDEZ got more than 70% of the vote against a Republican opponent who had the backing of the Republican establishment.
JIM SHARP won Harris County, becoming the first Democrat to do so since 2000 and only the second to do so since 1996, a proving that judicial candidates can win county-wide in Harris County!
More on that great booming Texas economy
My brother Jim sends this from a friend of his. Edited to suppress names and details and for clarity.
I can't afford the insurance that Home Depot offers (even as a manager.) I went to the dentist, they said that I have TMJ (Temporomandibular joint diseases and disorders) and need a splint to wear at night to keep me from grinding my teeth and breaking my fillings which I have already done.This was another Texas example where the fundamental problem is that the lack of meaningful affordable health care is driving people close to or over the edge. A booming economy for the 80% super-majority of Texans would be raising salaries and providing better benefits.
The splint cost $700 and I was turned down for their payment plan. I also have a cyst in my jaw that is causing my jaw joint on the right side to disintegrate, there is no tissue left around the joint. He wanted to send me to an oral surgeon to have it cut out and removed but that cost somewhere in the thousands of dollars range, so I just paid $77 that I didn't have to find out that I have to live with the pain and cannot afford to have anything done about it.
I burst into tears in the dentist office and made a total ass of myself. I am going to take a shower now, and just focus on cleaning my house and setting up my Xmas tree, it's all I can do right now.
She should call the new state referral number, 211, to locate free or low cost dental care in her area. If that number is not yet working in her area, there is a list of numbers available here. For the Gulf Coast Region (Houston) the numbers are 211 or (713) 957-4357 or 1-800-833-5948. She might with a managerial job fall above the free plan.
Tags: Texas, Jim, economy, health care, dental care
Un Ambassador Bolton leaves - Irrational Right-Wing threatens to blow up UN building
Go to any of the radical right sites and feel the hate.
This threat in the comments was on Michelle Malkin's new site. You can see many instances of the irrationality and hate in nearly all the sites on the right today.
Tags: right-wing, hate, UN, Bolton
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Why Won't God Heal Amputees?
If you think you believe in a Christian God that answers prayers this is the most important question you can ask.
Conservative blogger pajamahadeen declares latest jihad on AP
I am getting annoyed that the most worthwhile things to write about are the continued absurdities of the right-wing bloggers and their media cohort.
The AP reported on an atrocity - Shiite militia attacked a Sunni mosque and burned alive six people. The Shiite run Iraqi Interior Ministry denied that it happened. The US military in Baghdad questioned the story and its source. The AP went back and resourced and expanded its witness list for the story and reconfirmed it. The Iraqi Interior Ministry denied it again and said it would adopt new rules against journalists spreading falsehoods. Our right-wingnuts orgasm with joy and get a conservative pundit in right-wing fish-wrap to denounce the AP.
NYT blog on the story.
It comes down to who you believe. The AP has interviewed this police officer in his uniform in a police station numerous times and the Iraqi Ministry and the Green Zone military PR people say he either doesn't exist or lately that he isn't authorized to speak to the press.
The most authoritative credulous blogger.
The Shiite Iraqi ministries do not want bad PR and will kill anyone who supplies it. The AP just wants to get a story. The right-wingnuts just want their bigoted paranoid reality lacking worldview supported and to beat up on the press and any liberals.
The House of Death and the Texas Drug War
The DEA and Justice Department in Washington got a high level informant placed with one of the worst Mexican drug cartels. He captures on tape his own involvement in a drug killing. Despite the evidence they now have against the target for murder and drug traficking and despite guestions about their own informant's involvement, high level officials in Washington decide to do nothing and gather more evidence. After the informant reports on over a dozen more killings an agent in the DEA protests their lack of concern over murders and their almost letting another DEA agent and his family get killed. He is fired and meanwhile an American resident is mistakenly killed in the growing death toll. The person in charge in Washington who let the investigation slowly continue is a friend of President Bush. The American resident mistakenly killed leaves a wife, Janet Padilla, and three children.
Earlier this year Sutton was appointed chairman of the Attorney General's advisory committee which, says the official website, 'plays a significant role in determining policies and programmes of the department and in carrying out the national goals set by the President and the Attorney General'. Sutton's position as US Attorney for Western Texas is further evidence of his long friendship with the President - falling into his jurisdiction is Midland, the town where Bush grew up, and Crawford, the site of Bush's beloved ranch.Link from Raw Story.
'Sutton could and should have shut down the case, there and then,' says Bill Weaver, a law professor at the University of Texas at El Paso who has made a detailed study of the affair. 'He could have told Ice and the lawyers "go with what you have, and let's try to bring Santillan to justice". That neither he nor anyone else decided to take that action invites an obvious inference: that because the only people likely to get killed were Mexicans, they thought it didn't much matter.'
In the days after Reyes's death, officials in Texas and Washington held a series of meetings. Finally word came back from headquarters - despite the risk that Lalo might become involved with further murders, Ice could continue to use and pay him as an informant. And although Santillan had already been caught on tape directing a merciless killing and might well kill again, no attempt would be made to arrest him.
On 24 February, Sandy Gonzalez, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA office in El Paso, one of the most senior and highly decorated Hispanic law enforcement officers in America, wrote to his Ice counterpart, John Gaudioso.
'I am writing to express to you my frustration and outrage at the mishandling of investigation that has resulted in unnecessary loss of human life,' he began, 'and endangered the lives of special agents of the DEA and their immediate families. There is no excuse for the events that culminated during the evening of 14 January... and I have no choice but to hold you responsible.' Ice, Gonzalez wrote, had gone to 'extreme lengths' to protect an informant who was, in reality, a 'homicidal maniac... this situation is so bizarre that, even as I'm writing to you, it is difficult for me to believe it'.
But Ice and its allies in the DoJ were covering up their actions, helped by the US media - aside from the Dallas Morning News, not one major newspaper or TV network has covered the story.
Gonzalez was told that Sutton was 'extremely upset'. Gonzalez, who had enjoyed glittering appraisals throughout his 30-year career, was told he would be downgraded. On 4 May, DEA managers in Washington sent him a letter. It said that, if he quietly retired before 30 June, he would be given a 'positive' reference for future employers. If he refused, a reference would dwell on his 'lapse'. Gonzalez resigned, and launched a lawsuit - part of which is due to come to court tomorrow.
Kofi Annan: Iraq Worse Than Under Saddam
"When we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war - this is much worse," Annan said in an interview with BBC television and radio to be broadcast on Monday.I had to get this off of Al Jazeera in English.
Annan said he agreed with Iraqis who say that life is worse now than it was under Saddam.
"I think they are right in the sense of the average Iraqi's life," he said.
"If I were an average Iraqi obviously I would make the same comparison - that they had a dictator who was brutal but they had their streets, they could go out, their kids could go to school and come back home without a mother or father worrying, 'Am I going to see my child again?" Annan said.
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was not approved by the UN Security Council and Annan subsequently called "illegal", divisions among UN members have sharpened.
"I really believed that we could have stopped the war and that if we had worked a bit harder, given the inspectors a bit more time, we could have," Annan said.
The Genocidal Fury of Thomas Friedman
"How dare those Iraqis be so primitive and barbaric. A proper forceful occupation will fix them but might be too expensive." I believe the term "racist loon" is what comes immediately to mind in reading his tract as Chris Floyd doesn't quite say but one of the commenters supplies.
The great crusade against Vaginofascism
For far, far too long, America has gazed upon the specter of vaginofascism with indifference. We saw Lindsay Lohan's--and did nothing. We saw Paris Hilton's --and did nothing. Who will next unleash pantiless destruction upon a complacent America?
Radio Host on what to do with Muslims
On Sunday afternoon, Washington, DC radio host Jerry Klein of WMAL was commenting on the Muslim Imams kicked off a flight. Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.
Among the callers:
"Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."
and:
Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth certificates did not go far enough. "What good is identifying them?" he asked. "You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans."
Finally a half hour into his show, Klien revealed the game:
"I can't believe any of you are sick enough to have agreed for one second with anything I said. For me to suggest to tattoo marks on people's bodies, have them wear armbands, put a crescent moon on their driver's license on their passport or birth certificate is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting.
Because basically what you just did was show me how the German people allowed what happened to the Jews to happen ... We need to separate them, we need to tattoo their arms, we need to make them wear the yellow Star of David, we need to put them in concentration camps, we basically just need to kill them all because they are dangerous."
The American Baptist/Talibani Alliance latest crusade
Pass a law that everyone has to be sworn in on a Bible. Despite the fact this violates the Constitution, and that members of Congress don't swear in on anything. Those are strictly photo-ops they make for constituents. I was surprised to read recently of the Christian Amendment to the Consitution that was pushed starting in the 1860s and that never went anywhere. Our new fundamentalists have a rich tradition of never learning about history to draw upon.
I have always thought that our representatives should swear on a copy of the Constitution, just like our children should pledge allegiance to the Constitution and not to the flag.
The Establishmentarian New Majority Leader
A long interesting article on Steny Hoyer and his corporate ties, centrist positions and questionable commitment to Democratic core values.
As Hoyer points out, discord between the leader and the whip is nothing new, and previous leadership teams have overcome it to work together effectively. But Hoyer’s April 2005 vote for the bankruptcy bill suggests a more fundamental problem. The legislation, a long-held priority of the credit-card industry, makes it more difficult for those in debt to get a fresh start by filing for bankruptcy. Pelosi at one point warned that the bill would turn hardworking Americans into “modern-day indentured servants,” and many Democrats saw the vote as a defining issue of economic justice, hoping to use it to draw a sharp contrast with Republicans and bolster their party’s appeal to working- and middle-class voters. That task was made all but impossible when Hoyer—who has received sizable contributions from the banking industry—and 72 other Democrats voted for the bill. At a whips’ meeting soon after, a furious Pelosi accused the bill’s Democratic supporters of selling out to special interests, while Hoyer defended them—and himself.
Hoyer noted to me that he had voted for the bill when it had come up several times in previous years, and said his decision was based on a belief in personal responsibility. “The argument that bankruptcies were becoming simply a way to excuse irresponsible behavior had validity to it,” he told me. “I believe that personal responsibility expectations are very important. No Child Left Behind, the accountability of students and teachers and parents and administrators to provide taxpayers their value ... The core value of personal responsibility is what I felt was manifested in the bankruptcy bill.” But Elizabeth Warren, an expert on bankruptcy at Harvard Law School, points out that 90 percent of families who file for bankruptcy do so after a job loss, a serious medical problem, a divorce, or a death. “What was the personal responsibility that they were missing?” Warren asks. “Was it that when Dad had chest pains and fell to the ground, he went to the emergency room rather than saying, ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to pay for it’? ... Was it that when Mom got laid off from her job, she didn’t just hand over her keys to the landlord and move into a cardboard box on the street with her two children?” ....
.... leaves only two plausible explanations for his decision: Either he favored the bill on the merits—which suggests a fundamental disharmony with his party’s core values—or he was doing a favor for corporate lobbyists. Or maybe both.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Number One National Security Threat: Today's Republican Party"
From a new publication for me, A. Alexander:
Republicans like Gingrich, Bush, Cheney, and the rank-and-file Party members that support them claim American kids are fighting and dying in Iraq, so that "we" can "bring freedom" to the Middle East. Somehow their outrageous hypocrisy escapes them. They say "we" must "bring" this "freedom" to the Middle East in order to save ourselves from the terrorists who, according to Republicans, "hate us for our freedom and liberty." Yet, while our kids die in Iraq, Republicans insist we must consider doing away with the First Amendment; they say we must allow government the power to search our homes without warrant or warning; they say we must surrender our right to privacy and allow the government to read our mail; they say we must agree to give government the power to monitor our email, and willingly agree to allow the government to listen in on our phone conversations; they say we must grant government the liberty to incarcerate citizens without the right to trial or charge; and they say we must turn a blind eye when our government tortures human beings - including fellow citizens. This is the only way that, Republicans insist, they can "protect" our freedom and liberty from the terrorists.
The ultimate act of self-sacrifice that no one noticed
Anti-war suicides do not work. I am tempted to say as a practical matter if you insist on going that route take a few SOBs with you. But that would be wrong and bad karma.
Democratic leader Chavez heavily favored for third Venezuelan presidency
Venezuela is sharply polarized. Many poor people applaud Chavez's spending of oil income on health and education while some upper- and middle-class voters say he is a fledgling dictator determined to follow the lead of his ally, Cuba's Fidel Castro.
The most recent opinion survey, commissioned by the state oil company with a U.S. pollster, showed Chavez with a 19-point lead over Rosales.
Tags: Venezuela, Hugo Chavez
Continued Right-Wing Media hysteria over flying Imams
Any hope that the right-wing blogosphere would be embarrassed by their hysteria over the six Muslim religious leaders removed from a flight has been blown away. More bloggers have latched on to the story and it spread to Drudge Report. There is now the police report with the statements by the witnesses which confirms it was a case of not being quiet and subservient while flying as Muslim. One of the supposedly informed witnesses claimed that one Imam "pretended" to be blind. He was blind. A passenger has also published her uninformed opinions. Pauline the hysterical passenger:
"I think it was either a foiled attempt to take over the plane or it was a publicity stunt to accuse us of being insensitive," Pauline said. "It had to be to intimidate U.S. Airways to ease up on security."
Friday, December 01, 2006
Cordesman Speaking Out
VOA -
A new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based research and analysis organization, paints a bleak picture of the war in Iraq, and says Americans will have to accept what it calls a high-risk, high-cost strategy in order to reverse the country's slide into civil war. VOA correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Washington.David Corn :
The report's author, Anthony Cordesman, a senior military and national security analyst with the center, is a former director of intelligence assessment for the secretary of defense.
Cordesman, who has made numerous trips to Iraq, says there is no doubt the conflict there has become a civil war, and there is a critical risk the violence will get much worse in the coming months.
Cordesman says while some progress has been made in the training of Iraqi security forces, they and the central government in Baghdad are still too weak to maintain control.
Cordesman to Bush Administration: "Stop Lying"Links from cursor.org. I previously reported on him here when writing about 600,000 additional dead Iraqis.
Once again, Anthony Cordesman--the hawkish military analyst at the Center for Strategic & International Studies--has accused the Bush administration of misleading the public about the harsh realities of Iraq. Every few months, he produces a report that socks it to the White House and the Pentagon. And he has new one out today.
In other Iraq news - Iraq's oil production falling due to civil war? From the press conference in Jordan that was what Bush was really after - some things to salvage the oil deals. And David Corn reports the Baker report is going to adopt all the Democratic Iraq strategy, the one released to media silence last Spring.
Tags: Anthony Cordesman, Iraq
Mitt "I'm all for cutting illegal immigration but leave my gardeners alone" Romney
Classic. The hard-talking Republicans are taking advantage of the illegal immigrants they supposedly hate.
Lying BS from George Will
George Will wasted a column noting the exchange between new Senator Webb and President Bush. He then leaves out parts of the exchange to call Webb, and not Bush, rude. The exchange as reported in the Washington Post. As reported in The Hill. The comment from Bush that provoked the exchange is entirely omitted from Will's column as well as Sen. Webb's repeated use of Mr. President.
George Will, leaving off part of the exchange is inaccurate and unseemly and rude and misleading. Thats OK, to have you suddenly horrified of the example of the new conservative wave of Democrats you were touting two weeks ago might be worth it. My only regret is too bad Webb is so polite. If Webb had taken a swing at the President he would now be leading in the 2008 Democratic Presidential polls.
Why does Rep. Barton hate autistic kids?
One of the major defeats in Texas in November was "Smoking Joe" Barton remaining in Congress. Rep. Barton held up a widely popular bill expanding research into autism trying to bargain releasing it only with his pet project of limiting funding for the National Institute for Health. Dirty, anti-environment and backwoods strange he is a character Texas doesn't need. Fortunately with Barton no longer in charge of the subcommittee his holding the autism bill for ransom is over.
Tags: Joe+Barton, autism
Maliki dinner-date snub rubs salt in Prez wounds
The New York Daily News is increasing its circulation by not being afraid to call out BS.
"You never postpone something like this at the last minute unless somebody's ripped," said a former top Bush aide, "and it's probably Maliki."The NYT was also willing to say
He could hardly be blamed after the blockbuster leak of a classified White House memorandum that amounts to a rousing no-confidence declaration by the Bush government.
Still, tensions seemed to bubble just under the surface. The two leaders barely looked at one another during the news conference. And when Mr. Bush, at one point, asked the prime minister if he wanted to continue taking questions from reporters, the prime minister swiveled his head toward the president and shot Mr. Bush an incredulous look.Froomkin points out another popular "No BS" journalist is Jack Cafferty on CNN:
The administration has little confidence in al-Maliki. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley calling him a strong leader, but said he's having trouble figuring out how to do his job.
His job?
He has no job. He doesn't govern anything. Iraq is in the throes of an escalating civil war and the elected government there is powerless to do anything about it. The power in Iraq is in the hands of the militias.
Froomkin: Failure to call out BS the major problem with the media
What is it about Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert that makes them so refreshing and attractive to a wide variety of viewers (including those so-important younger ones)? I would argue that, more than anything else, it is that they enthusiastically call bullshit.
Calling bullshit, of course, used to be central to journalism as well as to comedy. And we happen to be in a period in our history in which the substance in question is running particularly deep. The relentless spinning is enough to make anyone dizzy, and some of our most important political battles are about competing views of reality more than they are about policy choices. Calling bullshit has never been more vital to our democracy.
It also resonates with readers and viewers a lot more than passionless stenography. I’m convinced that my enthusiasm for calling bullshit is the main reason for the considerable success of my White House Briefing column, which has turned into a significant traffic-driver for The Washington Post’s Web site.
Study: Psychotics more likely to support Bush
Nice to have a study confirming what is obvious. Let us take a sample of some right-wing bloggers and see if medication alone can handle their problems in facing reality or if stronger measures are waranted.
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