Easter Lemming Liberal News

Friday, April 13, 2007

DNC appoints RIAA shill to run Public Affairs for convention

Even with Dean supposedly in charge we can still get stupid decisions that seem designed by the DLC. A PR person who won't take phone calls who works for the most hated company in the US is handling PR for the Democratic Denver Convention.

Matthew Yglesias on Bush's favorite white supremacist historian

TNR, which has in the last month really worked to become a good magazine again, studied up on Bush's favorite historian. Andrew Roberts has recreated the "white man's burden" argument in favor of Bush's imperialism. Wouldn't you know he had been giving speeches in favor of the white regimes of South Africa as the blacks just didn't have what it takes to be civilized.

One of Houston's own Swift Boat Lying Frat Boys

Is still spinning lies. It is a version of this lie.

Kurt Vonnegut - So It Goes

I've read the great majority of his stuff since he wandered into and out of the science fiction ghetto many years ago. For a pessimist he was often funny. He created the phrase "So it goes" echoed every time a character died in Slaughterhouse Five that was picked up by others including Linda Ellerbee.
Gore Vidal once called him America's worst writer. Vonnegut sometimes indicated he agreed with that assessment: "Jesus-if Kilgore Trout could only write!" Rosewater exclaimed. He had a point: Kilgore Trout's unpopularity was deserved. His prose was frightful. Only his ideas were good." Rosewater, was a great character also used in other novels. Ditto for Kilgore Trout, an alter-ego of Vonnegut.

Another interesting poor writer, Phillip Jose Farmer, created a SF novel by Kilgore Trout and a lot of people didn't get the joke. So it goes.

Mother Night was one of his best novels for me with a simple dramatic moral effectively illustrated. You are what you pretend to be so you must be careful who you pretend to be. Slaughterhouse Five and Sirens of Titan may be his best more conventional SF related works overall.

Vonnegut never attained the literary esteem of JD Salinger, another favourite among young people, and his work retains the stigma of being an adolescent or campus taste. Nonetheless, his snappily expressed disaffection with the ways of what passes for civilisation made him a spokesman for an America that had lost its way after Hiroshima and Vietnam. Humane, funny, quotable, and disarmingly modest, it is as hard not to respect Vonnegut the man as it is to unreservedly admire all of his work. The individual of whom JG Ballard once said "his sheer amiability could light up all the cathedrals in America" is no more. So it goes.

Reflecting back on his writings now they may have influenced me as much or more than Robert Heinlein's works. RAH is in many ways the antithesis of Kurt Vonnegut. So it goes.

Word: Kurt Vonnegut.

Alleged D.C. madam tosses out a name

Harlan K. Ullman, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who created the term "shock and awe" liked to pay women to be shocked and awed when he dropped his pants. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who is acting as her own attorney, says she has dozens of more client names to drop.

The Onion in D.C.

The Onion satirical news is going straight to the source, launching a print edition in Washington D.C.. The link is to a WP online email interview. Majority Of Parents Abuse Children, Children Report - latest Onion headline.

Troops React To Forced Extensions With ‘Anger,’ ‘Frustration,’ ‘Collective Groan’

Hey, have we got a war for you. Unwinable, increasing violence, longer tours, and increased rotations.

If you like war in Iraq

You'll Love War on Iran. MoveOn.org PDF.

Rape And Death Threats Not Funny

Kos made another very stupid, not thinking, post on an issue he knows little about although he thought he did. The feminists are up in arms and Natasha explains it well. Kos represents the libertarian wing of the Democratic grass roots and sometimes people with that ideology can open mouth and insert foot at exactly the wrong time.

Latest News from Jim

Sikh American Veteran Assaulted at his home by anti-immigrant police officer. The family of Mr. Nag, who was decorated with a Bronze Star by the Navy, had a non-working van parked in the driveway of their Joliet home. A police officer drove up and asked about the expired registration tags. The officer was told the van could not be moved into the garage because it was not working. Mr. Nag continued that it was on his private property so what was the problem.

The officer became enraged and pepper-sprayed Kuldip Singh Nag. As Mr. Nag screamed in agony, the officer removed his baton and violently struck Mr. Nag numerous times until he fell to the ground. While the assault ensued, the officer was reported by both Mr. and Mrs. Nag as saying, “You f****** Arab! You f***** immigrant, go back to you f****** country before I kill you!”

Mr. Nag's wife and six year-old child both witnessed the violent assault, which resulted in Mr. Nag immediately being admitted to the hospital where he stayed for five days due to complaints of intense pain and head trauma. Mr. Nag also received numerous bruises and a serious head injury which have caused him to go blind for several minutes at a time.

In the only United States media coverage I find the new officer claims Mr. Nag pushed him when he tried to explain the process of getting new tags. To serve and protect, unless he thinks you are Arab. Of course, Sikh's are not Arabs.

How the pyramids were constructed without magic or UFOs or anti-gravity. Demonstration using 3-D computer modeling.

A year circling Venus. You didn't know there was a spacecraft there? A lot of the current space news is taking place based in other places like Europe, Russia, China, Japan.... I will add this report on the incredibly fuel efficient Hyfish plane now in tests in Germany.

I will also add something else before I get back to the last of Jim's links. MoveOn.org just had a virtual Town Hall at parties across the country where the Democratic Presidential candidates spoke. Among those attending the Town Hall's, Hillary Clinton came in 6th in preference. Among all web votes, she came in fifth. Here are how the folks who attended the event ranked their choices:

Sen. John Edwards - 25%
Gov. Bill Richardson - 21%
Sen. Barack Obama - 19%
Rep. Dennis Kucinich - 15%
Sen. Joe Biden - 10%
Sen. Hillary Clinton - 7%
Sen. Chris Dodd - 4%

Here are the web votes.

Sen. Barack Obama 28% www.BarackObama.com
Sen. John Edwards 25% www.JohnEdwards.com
Rep. Dennis Kucinich 17% www.Kucinich.us
Gov. Bill Richardson 12% www.RichardsonForPresident.com
Sen. Hillary Clinton 11% www.HillaryClinton.com
Sen. Joe Biden 6% www.JoeBiden.com
Sen. Chris Dodd 1% www.ChrisDodd.com

These will be the grass roots activists who work for Democratic candidates.

Librarian insists that Patriot Act strips away personal privacy. The FBI has given up trying to get some libraries to turn over records. Jim and I love most librarians. We don't love the IRS, as is our right as Americans.

Another related story from me. I saw Death of a President Wednesday. This is a fictional documentary on the assassination of President George W. Bush in October 2007. One overriding message - stop and think of the consequences. This is a highly intelligent and nuanced story from someone who has looked closely at this administration but is not quite dramatic enough to be a great film - 3 out of 4 stars. Critics aren't that kind. Captures the tone of a TV documentary very well. Presents the conservative side well with the President as a man who is likable and inspires loyalty among followers but hatred among many. What would stop Patriot Act 3 if the President was assassinated?

I have another unrelated item: Senate candidate Al Franken when asked on CNN about Don Imus asked why CNN hadn't fired bigoted and hateful Glen Beck? Very good question.

I'll close with What's Next - Jelly Belly Sports Beans, fortified for athletics. Yeah, right. You know what happens to athletics's bellies when they quit being athletes?

An interview at the Iraqi Parliament

Jane Stillwater gets an interview with two Iraqi women in Parliament.

“The main thing we want right now is security," said the lawyer. “Right now there are no jobs, our schools are weak and there are military in the roads. Our lives have been stopped. We want to be able to safely walk on our streets without the presence everywhere of tanks and the military -- like any other community would want.”

“At first, when the Americans first arrived,” said the professor, “we had hope. Now there are no hopes.” She couldn’t understand why the Americans invaded. “For money and power?” In the beginning thetwo parliamentarians had been against Saddam. “But now we prefer him to America, who caused this terror. They are the invisible hand behind the terrorists. They pushed the terrorists to do it. However, now we cannot tell the Americans to go away until they help to subdue the Al Qaeda, terrorists and Baathists that the Americans caused as a reaction from the occupation.”

“I want the American people to know the truth,” said the lawyer. “You cannot believe what the media says. Most of them lie. There have been many more than 3,200 soldiers killed here – because they do not count the..." Her English faltered here and she stretched to try to find the right words. "...mercenaries.” Hummm. “In Basra, Americans released criminals from the jails.” "Over a million Iraqis have been killed. And there are three million refugees."

“We want the government to be strong, not weak,” said the professor. “The presence of U.S. soldiers here weakens the government. Maliki is okay – but he hasn’t any real authority." Then a debate ensued between the two parliamentarians regarding whether U.S. troops should stay and help the government or get out now. “All the problems come from them. Maliki doesn’t have any real authority.” Both agreed on this point. “Americans put their noses into everything here. They claim this is a democracy but it is not.”

After typing up and filing her interviews she goes back to give the two women a copy but can't find them. An hour later the cafeteria is blown up. There is more to the interview.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Convicted of being the wrong color

Police and prosecutors want a quick case and pressure five witnesses to point to the wrong guy. Accusers Recant, but Hopes Still Fade in Sing Sing - New York Times What is the reasoning of the justice system?

“It strains credulity to believe that five unshaken trial witnesses would suddenly claim that they had testified falsely under oath,” [the first judge] wrote in a 1995 decision. Had Mr. Bermudez presented fewer than five, he said, it would have been more believable.

In 1997, a state appeals court, citing “the inherent unreliability of recantations,” affirmed the conviction.

WTF? Since the admission of DNA evidence and a look at the history of appeals of those wrongly convicted, recantations are becoming more credible.

Circuit City Slaughter: Seniority Means a Pink Slip

Ask a Republican and they support WalMart and Circuit City and were great admirers of Enron, before they got caught. Barbara Ehrenreich:

Once you fire the high-performers and experienced workers, the next step will be to demand that employees pay you for the privilege of working. Why not? Most workplaces provide air-conditioned environments and bathroom facilities, complete with soap and paper towels. These are things you'd expect to pay for in a hotel, so why should workers get them free? Having busted his $10-20 an hour senior employees down to $7 and change an hour, Schoonover's bound to see that the best route to higher profit margins is negative pay.

Janette sent me this.

Novak Fabricates ‘Confusion’ Over Wilson’s CIA Status

Is it the fact that Novak is a prominent elder GOP spokesperson that has prevented his trial for treason?

Around 5 million White House E-Mails Deleted

Contrary to clear and established policies millions of White House emails are claimed to be permanently deleted. President's legal council at the time and in charge of ensuring the White House followed legal guidelines and established policies was Alberto Gonzales.

Dan Froomkin is so good the Washington Post mostly keeps him away from their print readers. He also predicted that this issue could be The Next Bush Scandal before.

More on this matter and discussion on this diary. Low level flunkies knew to keep emails dealing with lobbyists out of the White House email system. Karl Rove appears to have kept deleting emails after being ordered by prosecuting attorney Fitzgerald not to. 5 million emails missing, some from White House servers. IT Guy: It is impossible to lose emails. "It really doesn't matter if someone pressed the delete button or not. Most email can be recovered, either by restoring from backup or through forensic means." The administration forced one of their lawyers to resign who resurrected emails they were hiding in another case.

TPM Muckraker of course has a lot of the details. It pays to have a blog that can afford to hire journalists to concentrate on Congress and White House scandals, to balance out the bought-and-paid-for GOP journalists.

In a startling new revelation, CREW has also learned through two confidential sources that the Executive Office of the President (EOP) has lost over five million emails generated between March 2003 and October 2005. The White House counsel’s office was advised of these problems in 2005 and CREW has been told that the White House was given a plan of action to recover these emails, but to date nothing has been done to rectify this significant loss of records.

Note, these were from the White House servers, not the RNC.

New White House spokesperson on White House email accounts at the RNC: I didn't lie I just didn't know what I was talking about.

Rob Kall: Congress Must Issue Orders to Confiscate RNC Hard Drives Immediately.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Republicans, conservative & liberal Democrats can help reduce the Number of Abortions in America

John Edwards and his common sense support for women's health care.

Latest Texas Futile Medical Care Case

I think the current system is too strict. These cases unite social conservatives and liberals against profit minded corporations.

Smells like Fish

Restaurants where you eat sushi off of naked women's bodies.

"The concept behind Hadaka Sushi is simple: SUSHI GONE NAUGHTY. Executive Chef Eddie Brik brings a passion for pleasure and experience from some of the world’s top restaurants to a sophisticated clientele. Delectable, sensual, and always enticing, Hadaka is the ultimate seduction."

Drudge + warbloggers = foolery

Still working the refs and attacking journalists.

National Popular Vote

The measure to have a popularly elected White House without constitutional amendment is rolling along. The National Popular Vote bill would enact an interstate compact entitled the "Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote" just made it into law in Maryland and has passed one house in two other states. California could have been the first but the GOP got to Arnold and he vetoed the bill. Another one is coming to his desk.

Ann Althouse - good photographer

I think Althouse is a nasty, bitter woman who is a terrible legal scholar and columnist and is wrong about her politics and is on the wrong side of the controversies she gets involved in. But damn, she takes good pictures of Austin....

Jim Sends

Apr 10 1945

Buchenwald death camp liberated by U.S. forces.

Great leadership in response to a just cause and the sacrifice of an entire country lead to an outcome that was a shining example of the best America had to offer. A great day. (Contrast Bush.)

Great art needs context.

Ahhh, TV through the years. My sister is thinking of dropping HBO again. "Not enough new movies I want." She hasn't watched The Sopranos or any series and I don't think she has ever gone to HBO on demand to see all that they have. On the other hand, she spends so much with Time-Warner maybe let her save a few bucks. OK, I saw the end of Rome but never saw the first year, I'll miss the end of The Sopranos.

Mr. Frontalot - Enemy of the people items for purchase. Nerdcore Rising mp3s, more MP3s. Join the Fontalot Valued Sucker Program. Secrets from the future.

Nuke Pop

How American popular culture responded to the nuclear age.

I'm surprised KTRH doesn't have Imus on

He has been an old shock jock racist for a long time, he just gets a lot of media and political guests. No More Mr. Nice Blog highlights an Imus routine about the "Black Beatles" which includes:

TYRONE McCARTNEY: Beat the Meatles. We wanted y'all to get it 'cause it's got some of our famous #1 hits, like this one: (singing) "When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary come to me and speak those woids of wisdom, 'What it be.'"

And how 'bout this one? (singing) "I shoulda known better with a bitch like you." "Jo Jo was a man who only had three inches, but he knew it wouldn't last, Jo Jo never had much luck with all the bitches, but I said, 'Hey, Jo, get black. Get black, get black, get black and watch your johnson grow.'" "Lucy in the sky with a lot of jewelry on." "Strawberry-flavored malt liquor." "Here come my son, he play football. Here come my son, and I say, 'He bad.'" "I'm back on the old FDR." "Yesterday, my parole came through just yesterday." "Hey dude, lend me a dollar." "I can play center, I can play forward, I be six foot four."

And, of course, my personal favorite: (singing) "We all live in a yellow Coupe de Ville, a yellow Coupe de Ville, a yellow Coupe de Ville. And my friends is all aboard, many more of them is in the trunk, vinyl tires with wire wheels, in my yellow Coupe de Ville."....

In comments, PlusDistance makes an excellent suggestion:

Could we just ask McCain and all the other politicians who go on his show if they'd like to do a few bars of "Jo Jo was a man who only had three inches"? We could give them the lyrics for it, so they get it right.

I mean, politicians go on Letterman and do top tens, don't they? If Imus is such a great, funny guy, they have nothing to be ashamed about, right?

Speaking of KTRH, the Ed Schultz show, # 1 and rapidly rising in liberal talk radio, didn't fit in with KTRH's march to the right and has been replaced with, I kid you not, Dennis Miller. I thought Dennis curled up and died somewhere under the weight of pretentious ponderous pontificating in the pluperfect tense after his show almost drove CNBC under.

'Michelle Malkin,' soon to be an generic insult replacing 'ignorant female,' doesn't know that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have protested rap music lyrics for years in her defense of Imus.

Just because he ticked me off with lying with graphs and amazingly stupid blog posts I think I will call the Gateway Pundit an "absolute moron." I am only echoing KTRH's Chric Baker's term for people who would vote for a Democratic presidential candidate or "support them in any way." Since I know now that "absolute moron" is acceptable under right wing media civil discourse rules I might start using that term more often. Gateway Pundit compares all military deaths from all causes during the 8 Clinton years to 4 years of combat deaths under Bush, notice the differences in measurement, and shouts Hurrah! He neglects to look that the annual military death rate was 5% under Clinton and should be at 12% this year under Bush, unless Bush-Cheney get their Iran war. Other items where Gateway Pundit demonstrates a lack of knowledge includes not knowing that Broder is an old faux liberal and Imus is an independent conservative who was a very strong Bush supporter until recently. BTW, an old standard military doctrine holds that an aggressive war with the percentage of combat casualties that America in Iraq is experiencing is unsustainable and lost.

Politics lately is reminding me of a reading by Jerry Stiller of John Sayles's "At the Anarchists Convention" on Symphony Space's Selected Shorts I. This was part of Public Radio Selected Shorts story collection. Other versions of that are available both audio and written.

Monday, April 09, 2007

There is always time to smear a Democratic Cancer Victim

Most of the right wing blogs are attacking Mrs. Edwards for not liking her neighbor, who uses his guns to scare people off his not well-maintained property. On the right, when you don't have good stories to tell you continue your little assaults on decency and launch a few new smears. Note the last two sources now, the USA Today blog and National Review blog, means the nothing nasty story may make its way to TV media. They have no shame.

Added: I could post some of the comments to show the lack of decency of those on the right but I don't want to clutter my blog with their nasty uncivil obscene comments.

Tags: Edwards, nasty right-wingers, trash talk, smears

"My Name Used to Be #200343"

While working for the FBI an American is falsely imprisoned in Iraq for over three months. The Iraqis and American intelligence and state department agencies in Iraq appeared not to like FBI investigations.

Tags: FBI, Iraq, corruption

Is the American Empire on the Brink of Collapse?

U.S. military/CIA expert Chalmers Johnson argues that are ever expanding military spending, the health care and Social Security demographic crash, and overreaching ignorant elitists in DC will bring about national bankruptcy and the end of the Empire.

But the broad argument that I'm trying to make in Nemesis is that history tells us there's no more unstable, critical configuration than the combination of domestic democracy and foreign empire. You can be one or the other. You can be a democratic country, as we have claimed in the past to be, based on our Constitution. Or you can be an empire. But you can't be both.

The classic example is the Roman republic, on which our country was, in many respects, modeled. They decided, largely through the influence of militarism, to retain their empire. Having decided to retain it, they then lost their democracy due to military intervention in politics after the assassination of Julius Caesar and the coming to power of military dictators. They were termed Roman emperors, but they were essentially military dictators.

There is an alternative model that I advocate in the book. It's not as clear-cut an example, but it is certainly one that's relevant, and that is Great Britain after World War II. After the spectacular war against Nazism, it was brought home to the British that if they were going to retain the jewel in the crown of their empire, namely India, with its huge, vast population, it could do so. It could keep people under its control through military force. They'd used that often enough in India, as it was.

In light of the Nazi experience, though, it now seemed almost impossible to go in that direction. Britain realized that to retain its empire, it would have to become a tyranny domestically. It chose, in my view, to give up its empire. It didn't do it beautifully, and we see imperialistic atavisms all the time, Tony Blair being the best example. But it chose to give up its empire in order to retain its democracy....

I believe that we're close to a tipping point right now. What happened to the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991 could easily be happening to us for essentially the same reasons. Imperial overreach, inability to reform, rigid economic ideology. And we have, as you know, also very serious economic dependencies on the rest of the world now. We are a wholly indebted country. We're not paying for the things we're doing....

I believe we will stagger along under the façade of constitutional government until we're overtaken by bankruptcy. Bankruptcy will not mean the literal end of the United States, any more than it did for Germany in 1923, or China in 1948, or Argentina just a few years ago, for 2001 and 2002.

But it would mean a catastrophic shake up of the society, which could conceivably usher in revolution, given the interests that would be damaged in this. It would mean virtually the disappearance of all American influence in international affairs.

Tags: Empire, Iraq, economics

Wired is yawning over Iran's industrial scale enrichment

* 1,000 P1 centrifuges (assuming 2 kg SWU per machine) operating continuously require 23-29 months to enrich enough uranium for a bomb; 3,000 P1 centrifuges would take 8-10 months. Either way, we’ve still got time, probably two years assuming the centrifuges can operate continuously.

* Iran still does not operate its centrifuges continuously. Based on Iran’s past consumption of UF6, Iran feeds gas into its centrifuges only about 20 percent of the time, suggesting the machines are either breaking down or that Iran cannot use its own UF6 as feedstock.

Tags: Iran, nuclear enrichment, war

Gay Animals: Alternate Lifestyles in the Wild

A look at some of the gay and bisexual lifestyles of animals of the world.

Tags: science, gay, homosexual animals

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Exit Iraq within 6 months? Republicans say "Yes!"

Republican caucus goers in Iowa by 52% to 39% support leaving Iraq within six months. If you't get GOP voters to support staying six months what are Bush-Cheney-McCain thinking?

Many other good articles from The Nation.

Looking Back

Two years ago I noted The Unitarian Jihad after being ticked off at the lies, the unhistory, creepy D. Jaymes Kennedy was preaching about Thomas Jefferson. What did Jesus say about false preachers leading people astray? "‘But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter." Of course, I wouldn't necessarily go with this translation, or any.

Still today Christian Right lawyers are leading an organized attack on the Constitution as the GOP still leads a 30-year attack on Civil Rights.

Four Years Ago on this blog: MSNBC's new hire Mike Savage slanders a women with support from the network getting banned from my TV watch list. Things can change, MSNBC now provides a variety of relatively sane voices and includes the most left network news show Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Or as we like to say, most reality based. I was also involved in getting an Inner Loop Science Fiction and Fantasy Media Exchange Group started (from my other blog.)

Three years ago - I acquire a kitten - Nothing but trouble. Today she still refuses to be a lap cat. April 2004 was when I noted the Fallujeh campaign uniting Sunni and Shiites against the American occupying Army - updated link. That was a clear and obvious turning point in the war but the conservatives hailed the battle destroying the large city to save it after a siege of months as a great victory later in the year. The Marines don't really consider either battle a victory.

One year ago I was looking for moderate and liberal churches here in Texas suburbia. The White House after denying eight times that Bush authorized leaks, fessed up. There were, of course, no penalties for lying, unless this was part of the background for November's election results.

What am I thinking about blogging about today - Houston Red. This has not been the only time FEAR was promoted by the media and politicians in Houston. I think I have hard to get information about the other time and will make that a post or two.

Later this year will be my blog five year anniversary. My typos and misspellings and grammar faults haven't stopped me yet.

Russian general says U.S. continues preparations for military action against Iran

The release of the 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran has robbed the U.S. of a pretext to attack Iran, but the U.S. has not given up plans to attack Iran militarily, said Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov, president of the Academy for Geopolitical Problems, a Russian think tank.

"Preparations to strike Iran's strategic facilities continue. Three major groups of U.S. forces are still in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Altogether, they have up to 450 cruise missiles on alert," the general told Interfax-AVN.

"Military operations against Tehran will begin with the launch of at least two unexpected strikes using Tomahawk cruise missiles and air power in order to disable Iran's air defense capabilities," he said.

"According to our data, up to 150 aircraft are to be involved in each strike on Iran. Land-based air defense systems will be disabled in the first place, then mobile short-range systems, which Tehran has (including some 30 new systems)," he said.

No place all red on Dean's Map

Good article on Howard Dean and the 50-state strategy from the Denver Post. Despite some union grumblings, Dean was right to favor Denver for the nominating convention. Left radicals are unhappy with Dean and the Democrats and the convention.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

How Iran won the hostage "crisis"

The UK gave Iran a chance to look good and get great PR on the Arab Street.

Bush Pokes Congress in the Eye at Recess

Froomkin has the media roundup. At least one of the appointments violates the law. Not that that has ever stopped Bush. Sen. Dodd is properly outraged by this:

"It is outrageous that the President has sought to stealthily appoint Sam Fox to the position of ambassador to Belgium when the President formally requested that the Fox nomination be withdrawn from the Senate because it was facing certain defeat in the Foreign Relations Committee last week. I seriously question the legality of the President's use of the recess appointment authority in this instance. I intend to seek an opinion on the legality of this appointment from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and invite other Senators to join with me in that request. This is underhanded and an abuse of Executive authority -- sadly this behavior has become the hallmark of this administration."

"Recess appointments are intended to give the president flexibility if Congress is out for a lengthy period of time, such as the four-week adjournment in summer. But Dodd said the law was not intended to circumvent lawmakers' approval.

"'This is really now taking the recess appointment vehicle and abusing this beyond anyone's imagination,' said Dodd, a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. 'This is a travesty.'....

"'How to reconcile this clear conflict between the pay restriction, which says that Fox cannot be paid, with the voluntary services provision, which says that the State Department cannot accept voluntary services from Fox?' queried one senior Democratic aide who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about the matter.

"'That is the $64,000 question,' he added."

Traveling afar to cut surgery costs

Used to be conservatives pointed to rich Canadians coming to the US for better medical care. Now liberals can point to 300,000 Americans this year traveling overseas to get affordable medical operations. That doesn't count the boom for pharmacists in Canada and Mexico from Americans for better pricing on drugs.

As medical costs soar in the U.S., the number of uninsured has swelled, exceeding 46 million, or nearly 16% of Americans, last year, according to Census Bureau statistics. As a result, more and more folks are choosing what's known as medical tourism and heading overseas for surgeries and dental treatments they couldn't otherwise afford.

In 2006 alone, an estimated 150,000 Americans traveled abroad for medical care, a number expected to double by next year, according to Josef Woodman, the author of "Patients Beyond Borders: Everybody's Guide to Affordable, World-Class Medical Tourism." Nearly half of those -- around 70,000 -- had medically necessary surgeries such as hip replacements or spinal work, heart surgeries including bypass or valve replacements, and even cancer treatments.

Pet Food Recall, has the FDA been protecting Corporations?

3,168 pets have been reported as deceased to the PetConnection database. I'm with Spocko's Brain, why haven't the Democrats been pressing for more action on this?

IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE

Free ebook edition from Project Gutenberg Australia. This is the 1935 novel of a right wing fascist takeover of America by an elected president.

A Deadly U.S.-Iran Firefight - TIME

TIME Magazine has a normal function for the CIA/military intel/shadow government, leak and spin the story they want. I have been expecting something like this TIME exclusive. Did last September US and Iranian troops get into a firefight? I don't know. Did I expect these type of stories to appear in TIME shortly before Bush orders air attacks on Iran? Yes.

2008 Presidential Election Interactive Map and History of the Electoral College

This is the real 2008 race.

Quote of the Day

Rep. Jesse Jackson, D-Ill., "This is a long road and a long process to the White House, but make no doubt about it, Barack Obama is driving the fastest car."

Iran attack this Friday? Not Likely

Back to Iraq: Don’t believe it. I’m due to be on board the USS Stennis, believed to be one of the ships taking part in this attack, next week — and it won’t even be in the Persian Gulf.

I’m not inclined to believe the US military would be taking reporters on boat rides in the Indian Ocean, for example, just a few days after the start of a new war. Maybe I’m wrong on this, but my hunch is this is one more rumor that got started by Debka and the usual suspects.

For the birds - Thousands spent rescuing area man who climbed tree after his bird

William Hart had climbed a tall tree to get his $2,000 cockatoo back and then had dozens of people involved in rescue attempts. Finally a Galveston Coast Guard helicopter got him at about a cost of $10,000. Since it was a genuine rescue only taxpayers will be charged. Dos Centavos doesn't like that. Live and let live I say. I also wouldn't complain if a neighbor had chickens.

Speaking of birds, I saw a pair of finches the other day. They looked related to purple finches but more scarlet colored on the male head and more brown on the body. There is a west coast finch, Cassin's Finch, they look identical to but what are they doing here? It has been pointed out that the House Finch also has a variety of red shades.

And how do you explain my brother-in-law seeing five parrots fly into our yard? They have flocks down in the Valley but this is the first I've heard of up here. Or maybe not so unusual, in searching I find a house for sale in San Leon that talks about wild parrots flying over every morning. That is pretty close, less than 20 miles from here. Update, those appear to be Monk Parakeets. That is a large variety of parakeet now establishing itself in the United States. It could become an agricultural pest. San Leon has a number of group nesting sites, at bottom of the page. The monk parakeet is now found all over Texas.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Obama's Campaign Takes In $25 Million

Beats Hillary in primary donations, has twice as many donors. Hillary still leads the overall money race. The biggest news is that Democrats swamped Republican presidential candidates in fund raising. I believe that is the first time that ever happened. Right now the Democratic raise has narrowed to four - Clinton, Obama, Edwards and Richardson. I don't think the GOP race has narrowed as more candidates are getting in.

From Politico, the DC Drudge Report: “The energy and enthusiasm is on the Democrats’ side, because they’ve just won and they are hungry to win the White House. Our side just lost and we don’t have a candidate that has ignited our troops,” the Republican insider said.

“At this point, that’s another disadvantage we’ve got – and we already have a number of disadvantages.”

Hot Tub Tom displays little self-awareness

Struggling to get influence, Tom DeLay doesn't realize no one likes him.

Could Harris County swing to the Democrats?

According to the latest 2007 Houston Area Survey it sure could. Unlike a few years ago, more people over 18 consider themselves Democrats now then Republicans - 43 percent to 33 percent. In addition, on a number of issues people supported Democratic positions - urban planning, public transportation, reducing pollution, and educating the children of illegal immigrants. However, two issues seem to favor the Republicans, crime is the number one issue now and 72 percent believed illegal immigration was at least a somewhat serious problem according to the Houston Chronicle.

Another story in the Chronicle found that 74 percent in 2006 support federal health insurance and this year, 54 percent said they would pay higher taxes to provide better access to health care, up from 48 percent in 1999. On Republican social issues "55 percent supported government funding of medical research using stem cells obtained from human embryos, and 70 percent opposed "a law that would allow pharmacists to refuse to sell any drugs, such as emergency contraception, that run counter to their medical beliefs." However just over half of respondents said they believed abortion, homosexuality and sex change operations were morally wrong.

Rice University has a few more details:

72 percent of the respondents in this year’s survey say “too little” is being spent on “improving the conditions of the poor” – the highest proportion in the survey’s 26 years. And 63 percent describe the gap between rich and poor as a “very serious problem” for the country.

By 66 to 25 percent, the respondents were in favor of “requiring power plants to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, even if electricity rates will rise.” And 61 percent support “raising taxes to set aside and protect wetlands, forests and prairies throughout the Houston area.”

Houstonians remain quite pessimistic about the American future. Sixty-one percent today believe the country is headed for more difficult times. That is down from 68 percent last year, but well above the 47 percent in 2004 and the 54 percent in 2005.

In a development that may mirror their concerns about social issues and their willingness to spend money to address them, Harris County residents have shifted from a consistent plurality that identified themselves as Republicans to a marked preference for the Democratic Party. From 1988 through 2005, Republicans led Democrats by an average of 43 percent to 39 percent. But in 2006, the proportion of Democrats in the county jumped to 48 percent, while support for the Republicans fell to 32 percent. That margin stood at 10 percentage points in this year’s survey: Democratic Party affiliation was at 43 percent and Republican Party affiliation at 33 percent.

The Houston Chronicle also has a story, more a series of anecdotes, on the Latinization of Pasadena. Culture changes as the city becomes majority Latino.

Jim's Links

This is the latest edition of my brother's links. As always, I add a lot of commentary and sometimes more links. My brother reminded me I had missed John Bolton on the Daily Show, I was going to work, and Jon was brilliant, particularly the next night follow-up fact check. How does anyone give the least bit of credence to our former official UN cretin? For another battle of wits check here.

Gonzale's Priorities - bong hits, porn, gambling and voting while Democrat.

Rush seemed to get enough oxy but the DEA sentences a doctor for 25 years for not following the confusing OXY guidelines and getting scammed by patients.

How an "office furniture" contract for the White House wasn't. Not clear in that link is that the exact $140,000 contract amount was within two months used for a congressional bribe. Did Cheney know it was going to be used for a bribe? Was this why Lam was fired as her investigation headed in Cheney's direction?

Meritocracy My Ass - McNamee and Miller’s The American Meritocracy Myth.

Better parents = better kids. What a shocker. Should people receive training in being parents?

From the current studies of "creation science": how peanut butter disproves evolution. Yes, people can be that stupid. There was a Coast to Coast Show recently that had on an author who said Darwinism was totally wrong. Now, they have on people who believe in the hollow earth, and angels, and demons, and shadow people and all kinds of strange ideas and it doesn't bother me. This doctor did. As the show went on it was obvious he was a Discovery Institute "intelligent design" apologist and propagandist. He displayed appalling ignorance about evolution in trying to disprove it. His reasoning was sloppy and unscientific. But he kept to the Discovery Institute training, being unfailingly soft spoken and reasonable "sounding" and emphasize this is not a religious teaching, although his family and his wife are very strong Christians. The Discovery Institute was founded and funded by people who needed a non-religious institution to attack secularism as part of a a religious agenda:

In 1999, an internal Discovery Institute document was leaked to the Internet by an internal source. The document outlined the Discovery Institute's longterm plan to, as it states, produce a "broadly theistic understanding of nature" (Discovery institute, The Wedge Document, 1999), and its tactic of using the evolution "controversy" as a "wedge" to do this. The authenticity of the "Wedge Document", as it quickly became known, was later admitted by the Discovery Institute.

The very first sentence of the Wedge Document makes plain the underlying religious aim of the Discovery Institute and its anti-evolution campaign: "The proposition that human beings are created in the image of God is one of the bedrock principles on which Western Civilization was built." (Wedge Document) The Discovery Institute, like other fundamentalist Christians, refers to the rejection of this religious idea as "the philosophy of materialism" or "naturalism" or sometimes "darwinism" (all are phrases which have long been the fundie code words for "atheism"), and explicitly states that this materialistic atheism is the direct result of science: "This cardinal idea came under wholesale attack by intellectuals drawing on the discoveries of modern science. Debunking the traditional conceptions of both God and man, thinkers such as Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud portrayed humans not as moral and spiritual beings, but as animals or machines who inhabited a universe ruled by purely impersonal forces and whose behavior and very thoughts were dictated by the unbending forces of biology, chemistry, and environment. This materialistic conception of reality eventually infected virtually every area of our culture, from politics and economics to literature and art." (Wedge Document) Thus, as the Discovery Institutes's basic complaint can be summed up as "science is atheistic". Under the heading "Governing Goals", the Discovery Institute lists, "To replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and human beings are created by God."

More here. The Discovery Institute admits their plans and has a couple of long defenses that boils down to that they don't believe attacking secularism and atheistic scientific philosophies is promoting a religious agenda. Duh. Besides, they argue, they do other conservative things and they believe at this time promoting a carefully articulated doctrine on the separation of church and state fulfills their long range plans. Here is how their long-range plans were progressing - PDF - very successfully. (How is this for expanding my brother's three word comment and one link: "ahhhhh creationist science.")

Tesla - Genius and eccentric and poor businessman. Screwed out of a fortune by Westinghouse which is too long a story to get into now.

Films From the National Reconnaissance Office. Linked from Boing Boing.

Cool Tools for Space.

I'll add a cool practical link - How to find lost objects from the writer of How to Make the Most of a Flying Saucer Experience with his saucercam.

Tags: liberal news, jim, links, intelligent design

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Slate: Game of Chicken has started over Iraq

Here at ELLN - March 23: House approves deadline for war pullout, Sets up game of chicken. Media lag 11 days.

John Kerry: McCain asked to be my VP

McCain shows how a candidate's campaign can fall apart with pieces flying everywhere more spectacularly than Howard Dean's. Unlike with Howard Dean, the media and insiders don't seem to be actively bringing McCain down. They are just not providing cover as the wheels come off the "straight talk express" and the engine explodes. Will the media and the right wing noise machine provide cover and turn this against Kerry?

The Moderate Voice - McCain is Toast.

Powerline: only toast if we believe Kerry. McCain's advisors say Kerry pleaded with them to get McCain on his ticket.

Rudy Giuliani should not be America's next incompetent thin-skinned dictator

A New Yorker reveals the truth about America's mayor. Why is there such a large percentage of the public who like to be told what to do by bullying incompetents? There needs to be more studies on America's love affair with authoritarians, the RWAs.

Libertarian Kevin adds to Rall and points out that:

Guiliani hired a man to work for him both as New York police commissioner and as his business partner who is a shady character at best. This has shades of President Bush’s cronyism as exemplified in the picks of Harriet Miers for Supreme Court Justice, Alberto Gonzalez for Attorney General, and finally Mike “Heck of a Job Brownie” Brown for FEMA director. More cronyism and horrible decision making for subordinates is the last thing this country needs in a Commander in Chief in the Long War and this is yet another reason why Guiliani is not fit to be president.

Recently there has been a discussion of the loud-mouthed cruel conservatives and their history on The Moderate Voice. Did LBJ drive all the haters to one party?

British Soldiers were not in Iraqi Waters

The map the UK government has been showing the world is a map that Saddam Hussein drew up that has never been accepted by the Iranians. International standards have water borders between countries as equidistant from the shore lines. The British soldiers were closer to Iran than Iraq. This is actually shown on the British maps. That supposed Iraq-Iran water boundary is not recognized.

I have been pointing this out to people for days and now I find a British ambassador supports me - the UK Defense Department made the maps, they are not internationally recognized. It is the common case for borders to be drawn from the shore lines. There is a long interesting dispute in the comments about this. This unclear sea border was officially one of the causes of the Iraqi-Iranian war. More maps showing the incident location and distance from land here. A British academic is insisting on low tide marking maps which don't appear to exist for that area.

I have a growing suspicion this will be part of the justification for the American attack on Iran - a new Gulf of Tonkin incident.

The ambassador's efforts to publicize the uncertain border seems to have had an effect in London so my suspicion may be unfounded.

Truthdig - Alternative Media News

Interview - Why Kucinich Voted Against the Pelosi Withdrawal Troop Funding Bill.

Scott Ritter and Robert Scheer - the failure of American Democracy and Mass Media on Iraq and Iran.

Iraqis object to McCain Photo-Op in Baghdad Market.

Human Heart Valve Grown From Stem Cells. I wonder in addition to not getting flu shots should creationists be banned from the newest heart procedures to avoid going against their beliefs?

Scott Ritter: Calling Out Idiot Americans. Most know nothing of Iraq and that ignorance is killing Americans.

The New Conservative Talking Points on Global Warming. Corporation and their think tanks have been fighting a delaying action on global warming for years. Here are their new positions in a propaganda video.

Closing Time for America's Torture Island. These appear to be the last days of Gitmo Prison.

Truthdig goes beneath the news and seems to get what becomes the conventional wisdom months in advance.

Ignoring Political Science - Why Democrats are bad at winning elections

The media and the Democrats ignore the image factor repeatedly. Neffinger also confirms my impression that Fred Thompson might be the best GOP presidential candidate.

In one oft-retold (but rarely fully appreciated) story, back in the 1980s Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes ran a piece skewering Reagan's policies on the elderly - or so she thought. But while her voiceover delivered a scathing critique, the video footage was all drawn from carefully-staged photo-ops of Reagan smiling with seniors and addressing large crowds with a determined look on his face. After it ran, Reagan image polisher Mike Deaver called Stahl, who braced herself to be chewed out for doing such a one-sided hit piece. Instead, Deaver thanked the mystified Stahl...for broadcasting all those images of Reagan looking his best.....

For voters who don't pay close attention to issues, it's not easy to figure out which positions are best (not least because conservative think tanks and media do an excellent job at muddying the waters of debates democrats would otherwise win). So what can a casual voter do? Go with what they know. Every day they make judgments about people they interact with, size 'em up, trust their instincts. So they use the same method to pick a candidate.

Damn You Bush, Not My Maple Syrup!

Global warming has already reduced production of famous Vermont Maple Syrup and the tree tappers are getting worried. Vermont supplies 32% of the country's Maple Syrup. I know here in Texas we are already trying things like Wild Plum Syrup, which is its own cinnamon plum deliciousness, but how can we live knowing that our Maple Syrup supply is endangered?

Do you think this news was the kicker that made Justice Kennedy atone for his vote putting Bush in office by allowing the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions? Pray to St. Gore that Congress will work on global warming with the utmost speed.

Texas Day laborers discuss poor work conditions

Half of all day laborers have experienced wage theft in the last two months and 44 percent of laborers are denied food or water breaks while on the job, according to a written statement from the Workers Defense Project, an organization that focuses primarily on day laborers in the Austin area.

We often treat our workers like crap in this country.

Rightist Indignation, an old Cheney friend thinks Bush-Cheney a disaster

Under Bush and Cheney, he argues, the GOP has moved away from principles of small government, prudent foreign policy and leaving people alone to live their private lives -- all views Gold associates with his hero, Goldwater. "Invasion of the Party Snatchers" makes plain Gold's contempt for the direction of his party and the guidance of its leaders.

"For all the Rove-built facade of his being a 'strong' chief executive, George W. Bush has been, by comparison to even hapless Jimmy Carter, the weakest, most out of touch president in modern times," Gold writes. "Think Dan Quayle in cowboy boots."

Gold is even more withering in his observations of Cheney. "A vice president in control is bad enough. Worse yet is a vice president out of control."

For Gold, Cheney brings to mind the adage of Swiss writer Madame de Stael, who wrote, "Men do not change, they unmask themselves." Cheney has a deep streak of paranoia and megalomania, Gold suggests -- but he says he did not see it at first.

"He was hiding who he really was," Gold says. "He was waiting for an opportunity."

In many ways, Gold's tale of disillusionment is a familiar one. There are plenty of veterans of Reagan and Bush 41 around town who believe Bush and Cheney trashed the institutions and party they helped build from the wreckage of the Goldwater campaign.

But there aren't many who have been on a first-name basis with those they believe are doing the trashing. There aren't many like Vic Gold.

Countdown - Fox News resorts to push-polling (video)

More Countdown with Keith Obermann.

Drudge Report makes up story attacking CNN reporter.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Bypassing the Electoral College

After Gov. Arnold Schwarchenegger vetoed the California legislation Maryland appears posed to be the first state to convert to a system of popularly electing the President. I pushed to get the Texas Democratic Party to support this during our last precinct caucuses and party meetings. There is no reason America should not be ready for democracy at home instead of using the undemopcratic electoral college.

Here is more on FairVote.

Why so few US bombers?

Technology now enables new American bombers to deliver pinpoint accuracy but all the money is going to more vulnerable fighter-bombers. The reason is a pilot preference for the sexy fighters and the millions already spent bribing Congress to approve the massive F-22 and F-35 programs. A few loitering high-flying bombers now make more sense than squadrons of fast, stealthy, low-flying F/Bs. Economics alone may mean this will change but at a glacial pace. A study of future military needs will likely show a need for more long range bombers and fewer other aircraft. Easterbrook when he gets away from science and talks technology like here is smart:

It's true that the Pentagon does need some new fighters with updated technology. The F-22 is head and shoulders better than any other fighter ever built, while the F-35 would allow three services to replace their radar-visible fighters with a stealthy plane. But after $320 billion is spent building hundreds of F-22s and thousands of F-35s, how would they be used? Only a few would be employed in the interceptor role of shooting down enemy fighters, since no adversary nation is even attempting to manufacture fighters or air-to-air missiles capable of contesting those the United States already has. Plans call for the majority of the new F-22s and F-35s to be employed mainly for dropping smart bombs from low altitude. That is, they will do at fantastic expense what new satellite-guided devices from bombers can do relatively cheaply. This is why the Pentagon has not been crowing much about the success of its bombers above Afghanistan and Iraq: If that were understood, the case for spending $320 billion on smart-bombing fighters would fade.

Two Supreme Court Environmental Victories

Is the tide turning?

Wall Street's takeover of the Democrats ending?

Kerry was getting his advice from Wall Street and not the unions which is one of the reasons why his lower middle-class support did not meet expectations. Another is, of course, his poor tone-death campaign and a non-responsiveness to incredibly vicious attacks occurring off the media radar in rural and Christian media dominated America. Clinton also governed as an Eisenhower Republican.

One result of this main-street Republican tilt of the Democratic party has been a worsening situation for children. USA and the UK are now being held up as negative examples in a UN study. “A baby boy from a family in the top 5 per cent of US income distribution will enjoy a lifespan 25 per cent longer than a baby boy from the bottom 5 per cent.” We are no longer the best country to have your child grow up in.

NPR has a good series on rising income inequality. According to the Pew Poll this is a growing concern of Americans. "... An increasing number of Americans subscribe to the sentiment “today it’s really true that the rich just get richer while the poor get poorer.” Currently, 73% concur with that sentiment, up from 65% five years ago. Growing concerns about income inequality are most apparent among affluent Americans; large percentages of lower-income people have long held this opinion."

The DLC has been Wall Street's representative in the Democratic coalition but even it is moving left to avoid becoming irrelevant. Presently Obama and Edwards and Kucinich are Democratic candidates without ties to the DLC. The Democratic gains in 2006 were often by the economic left of the Democratic party with Congress and the country tilting toward populism. Sen. Webb is a perfect example of the new breed of populist anti-Wall Street Democrats. "As Webb suggests, the hidden story of the election was the appeal of economic populism in a country whose middle class is increasingly feeling the squeeze. Coast to coast, Democrats running for local and national office campaigned on raising the minimum wage, repealing welfare for Big Oil and opposing trade deals lacking protection for workers and the environment, and their message resonated with an electorate anxious about the economy. Half of all voters rated the economy not good or poor, and a full 69 percent said their family's economic situation had either gotten worse or stayed the same since the last election. Democrats won both these groups by wide margins."

Democrats put the big center-left coalition back together in 2006 and the DLC and New Democrats, while shifting to the left, are still more marginalized than at any time since Clinton came to power. The DLC organized a pushback against Dean as the outsider in 2004 in a battle for the soul of the party but his continued rise in influence demonstrates the weakness of the Wall Street wing. John Edwards started in Congress as a DLC but has swung to populism. When the DLC fully embraces Edward's positions it will be at the center of the Democratic Party again. With all the influence Big Business has in the Democratic Party, the business connections of 25 top Democratic consultants, that won't happen soon.

The left side of the Democratic Party is not very happy at where the party stands now. "The Democrats, as Thomas Edsall frequently points out these days, represent two very different and largely incompatible population universes. Two out of five Democratic voters fit the stereotype of ‘well-educated, well-off, culturally liberal professionals’, but the rest of the party’s base are people who are ‘socially and economically disadvantaged’ in the new Gilded Age: the Black and Latino working classes, white women in lower-end information-sector jobs, and white men in traditional but rapidly shrinking industrial occupations. The post-New Deal Party led by the Clintons is entirely mobilized to articulate and defend the interests of affluent knowledge workers and the globalized industries in which they work; the rest of the Democrats ride in the back of the bus on the cynical assumption that Blacks, immigrants and Rustbelt whites have nowhere else to go and thus are an automatic blue vote." The New Left fears an alliance of populists from both the left and right which will unite against immigrants and the rest of the world.

If Hillary Clinton is the Democratic Presidential candidate, Wall Street will still have much more say than the shop floor on Democratic policies. One of her advisers heads a union-busting PR firm. Her positions are not those of Republican big business but those of moderate business leaders and new tech industries. For example, she supports getting rid of anti-union restrictions and reversing the anti-union regulations the Bush administration enacted. As even women Democrats say, she is never really bad, and is better than a Republican.

Gitmo "trial" is laughable for Australian

Andrew Sullivan:

If you think this was in any way a legitimate court process, you're smoking something even George Michael would pay a lot of money for. It was a political deal, revealing the circus that the alleged Gitmo court system really is. For good measure, Hicks has a gag-order imposed so that he will not be able to speak of his alleged torture and abuse until after Howard faces re-election. Yes, we live in a banana republic. It certainly isn't a country ruled by law. It is ruled by one man and his accomplice.

Call that humiliation? - Terry Jones

No hoods. No electric shocks. No beatings. These Iranians clearly are a very uncivilised bunch.

The true mark of a civilised country is that it doesn't rush into charging people whom it has arbitrarily arrested in places it's just invaded. The inmates of Guantánamo, for example, have been enjoying all the privacy they want for almost five years, and the first inmate has only just been charged. What a contrast to the disgraceful Iranian rush to parade their captives before the cameras!

The Gospel according to Judas

A Salon interview with the fascinating Elaine Pagels on what it means to be a Christian and the early churches.

America Today - Public Libraries become shelters for the homeless

Although the public may not have caught on, ask any urban library administrator in the nation where the chronically homeless go during the day and he or she will tell you about the struggles of America's public librarians to cope with their unwanted and unappreciated role as the daytime guardians of the down and out. In our public libraries, the outcasts are inside.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Political craven opportunists and other DC critters

James Moore writes about Texas political media consultants Matthew Dowd and Mark McKinnon both being more craven than Karl Rove. Dowd confessing he has now, finally, lost faith in Bush doesn't cut it.

Why do the GOP presidential candidates hate America? Romney and Guilani not sure if they support the Constitution.

McCain strolls in Baghdad market wearing body armor and surrounded by 100 soldiers and five helicopter gunships. Ah, the freedom. Violence was up 30% in Iraq last month, mortar shells hit the Green Zone and six Americans were killed the day he strolled in free Baghdad. Even Henry Kissinger now says Iraq victory not possible.

Another GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee: “If Republicans in this election vote in such a way as to say a candidate’s personal life and personal conduct in office doesn’t matter, then a lot of Christian evangelical leaders owe Bill Clinton a public apology.”

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, met “very recently” with the Senate Republican caucus to discuss their political strategy on Iraq legislation. Shouldn't that have been a bipartisan meeting? Isn't this mixing of the military in politics disallowed?

[Andrea] Mitchell said that “moderate Republican” senators had told her that they didn’t believe the escalation would work but voted for it anyway. “They really are not in favor of the surge. They don’t believe it’s going to work. But they basically said the president has until August, until Labor Day. After that, if it doesn’t work, they’re running.”

I talked with Congressman Gene Green over the weekend. He is very concerned about Iran but says he is hopeful there is some talking going on now. He pointed out that we always were willing to talk to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He says the US should only attack if there is an indication that Iran is a threat to us or our soldiers, not a pre-emptive strike. He believes Bush has the authority to attack Iran if Bush feels it is a threat but Congress controls the purse strings for the military. I take that as he will not move immediately to impeach Bush but will seek to restrict military actions by funding resolutions.

Victoria Toensing Doesn't Know Dick About Valerie Plame. In the world of intelligence it is the truth that sets us free, and the truth that keeps us safe. Toensing wouldn't know the truth if it bit her in the posterior.

Monica "Buzz Saw" Goodling is just part of an invasion of recently trained religious zealots into positions of power in government.

White House aides using GOP email accounts to circumvent email archives and future subpoenas.

James Carville, Hillary supporter and independent CNN political analyst.

As Homer Simpson might say, "If you're going to point out every incompetent and corrupt hack I hire, I'm just going to have to stop hiring incompetent and corrupt hacks - Duh."

Fish and Wildlife Service deputy assistant secretary Julie MacDonald sends internal non-public documents to her son or to her virtual gaming friend's father email account to get second opinions. OK, does she play Warcraft or Second Life? Is she getting advice from an underage dwarf warrior or a virtual sex slave?

MacDonald also frequently shared information, PDF, with lobbyists and the California Farm Bureau Federation that was involved in lawsuits against the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Democratic House Speaker Pelosi attacked on Fox News for visiting Syria while the GOP congressmen also going there are ignored.

How the DLC and New Democrats were used by corporations to weaken the Democratic Party. Booman:

the problem is, aside from the fact that they haven't brought us electoral success in recent elections, this pro-business, pro-interventionist wing of the party has capitulated entirely in the era of George W. Bush. They are nearly as responsible for our present catastrophe at the neo-conservatives that took their project off its rails.

Michelle Malkin calls for all narcs and snitches to anonymously stand-up. JG: I am Michelle's hood.

One-third of US attorney jobs went to trusted Bush insiders.

Billmon: A brief history of Time.

Just seven days after Pat Tillman’s death, a top general warned there were strong indications that the cause was friendly fire and President Bush might embarrass himself if he said the NFL star-turned-soldier died in an ambush, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. It was not until a month afterward that the Pentagon told the public and grieving family members the truth — that Tillman was mistakenly killed in Afghanistan by his comrades. The memo reinforces suspicions that the Pentagon was more concerned with sparing officials from embarrassment than with leveling with Tillman’s family.

'US ready to strike Iran on Good Friday': Drudge Report link. Hah, quit stealing my posts, you're days late. How about this one: “Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah prepare for war”? Israel says the three are expecting a US and Israeli attack this summer and it also expects a war. Nimitz sails for Persian Gulf, tension ratcheting higher.

Gay GOP Ex-Porn Star Cpl. Matt Sanchez Accused of Conning Iraq Donors.

Fox co-host a female stalker

Fox has picked an attractive Canadian to be the next Ann Coulter. She has a long colorful history as a stalker.