I'm Just a Bill

You got a warrant? Yeah, I keep it in my shoe!

2008-08-25T07:02:00.003-05:00

"There's only two rules, and thats all... But don't ever forget them. Number one we enforce the law equally. Number two, any man caught taking a bribe gets his head knocked off by me."

Kos:

The more I read stuff like this (from Stephanopolous on Good Morning America Weekend Sunday), the more comfortable I am with Biden's selection.
I have never seen a vice-presidential candidate, in the announcement, come out with THAT KIND of ferocity. Usually, you see it a little bit later in the campaign – not at the announcement. But Joe Biden showed one of the main reasons that Barack Obama picked him. They WANTED a scrapper out there. They WANT a fighter out there. They know Senator Biden will be able to get UNDER Senator McCain’s skin. They’ve known each other for an AWFUL long time – more than 35 years. As one Obama aide told me yesterday: We know that Joe Biden can go out there with a 2-BY-4 if he has to.
There's really no faster way to my heart than having a Democrat go after Republicans with a (rhetorical) 2-by-4.

Biden's "The Guy" Afterall

2008-08-23T01:42:00.001-05:00

Well, it looked to be more than a rumor when the AP and CNN said it was confirmed, and then when ABC reported: Secret Service Headed To Biden's House, it was all but certain, but now we have this...

Obama's website:

So much for "I'm not the guy."

So be it. Let's get down to business then.

Sen McCain Fathered Illegitimate Bat Child

2008-08-09T22:19:00.007-05:00

Given all the attention they've gotten lately by their actually breaking a true story that's now dominating the news cycle, I'm kind of surprised I hadn't noticed until Digby pointed it out, that the Enquirer, the same magazine that for years has mercilessly pilloried every presidential hopeful including the Clintons, the Kerrys, and the Bushes, has been especially nasty to the Obamas this year, but one White House aspirant and family has been suspiciously missing...

Digby:

There must be some explanation as to why there have been no stories about Vicki Iseman, no drug stories about Cindy, no stories about McCain's legendary temper tantrums. Why?

That's a good question.

[Excerpt is Digby's, but the links are my addition]

Looking Good

2008-08-05T20:09:00.006-05:00

Despite several talking heads in the last few days gloating about how well McCain is doing in this or that poll, here's the Princeton Election Consortium using its meta-analysis of all available state polling to graph "all possible outcomes" if the election were held today (via Ezra):

That basically mirrors what pollster.com has been showing (note that Obama could literally cede every tossup state to McCain and still win):

What He Said.

2008-07-25T18:57:00.001-05:00

Hearing on Limits of Executive Power: Vincent Bugliosi

Indicted For War Crimes, Sudan Cites U.S. As Example Why It Needn't Comply

2008-07-21T09:23:00.004-05:00

Last week, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed charges for the first time against a sitting head of state, charging President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan with three counts of genocide, five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crimes. Fareed Zakaria had Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations on his CNN show, GPS, to discuss the charges, which he called "a joke" and cited the U.S.' 2002 withdrawal from the ICC treaty as an example of why Sudan does not recognize the court's authority and will not cooperate with it:

ZAKARIA: Will your government mount a defense in the International Criminal Court?

MOHAMAD: We have no relation with the International Criminal Court. We don't recognize its authority. We are not going to cooperate with it.

ZAKARIA: But of course, you know that other governments that did not recognize the Criminal Court were still forced to extradite their leaders. I'm thinking of Yugoslavia.

MOHAMAD: No. I don't care about them. As far as we are concerned, we are not members. We have been told these days repeatedly that the ICC is an independent body. And so, OK, if it's an independent body, I am not a U.N. organ. We have full right to be part of it or not. And we choose not to be part of it, like the United States.

[...]

ZAKARIA: Are you worried that men like yourself, who are defending the regime and defending its actions, could be charged with complicity for genocide?"

MOHAMAD: "This is absolutely a joke. What complicity you are talking about? If you want to address genocides, then you have to address situations in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Gaza.…(full transcript)

Complicating the ICC's ability to pursue war crimes charges, as referenced in the interview by Sudan's UN ambassador, is President Bush's "unsigning" of the International Criminal Court treaty in 2002. Though President Bush has publicly denounced the killings in Sudan as genocide, the administration has soft-pedaled sanctions against the Sudanese government to preserve its extensive intelligence collaboration with Sudan, once a safe haven for bin Laden that has become a crossroads for Islamic militants making their way to Iraq and Pakistan.

The most major impediment to ending the genocide in Darfur has been China's longstanding diplomatic protection and economic support in return for its access to the 500,000 barrels of oil that Sudan produces daily. China, also not a signatory to the ICC treaty, was revealed in a report about a week ago by the BBC to be in violation of the UN arms embargo there through its export of weapons and training of fighter pilots.

Supporters of Barack Obama who would like to see the United States reembrace the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty, thereby reaffirming its commitment to human rights, have created a group on the candidate's website, my.barackobama.com.

WaPo's The Fix: Get To Know Sheldon Adelson

2008-07-18T04:33:00.005-05:00

Chris Cilizza:

Adelson, the third richest man in America according to Forbes magazine, has in recent years turned his attention and, more importantly, his wallet to American politics. Adelson has donated more than $229,000 to various state and national Republican committees and candidates over the last three elections but his real influence is felt in the contributions he has -- and continues to make -- to 527s and 501(c)(4)s that engaged in public education/political efforts

Adelson is one of the prime movers and major backers of Freedom's Watch, the independent, conservative-aligned group expected to play a major role in House and Senate races this year. He has reportedly donated $30 million to fund the groups activities, but because Freedom's Watch is a 501(c)(4), it is not required to make public its donors.

Although Adelson has lurked in the shadows for years, two new profiles -- one by the Wall Street Journal (subscriber-only, boooo!), the other by the New Yorker -- bring him into sharp relief. ...(more)

Adelson sees his role in the coming fall election as "the cavalry coming over the hill, bugles blaring." Look for him to play a significant role financing groups that will try to smear Obama and other Democrats in the months to come.

He is also the financier behind the Defense of Democracies attack ads in the FISA fight and is also very active in Israeli politics, as Cilizza goes on to explain, he "started a free daily newspaper known as Israel Hayom that is widely seen as a vehicle to re-install conservative Benjamin Netanyahu as the country's prime minister."

More links:

TPMmuckraker: NJ: Big Money for Pro-War Group Comes from Casino Mogul
TPMmuckraker: NJ: Casino Mogul Funded Anti-Dem Surveillance Ads
WaPo: Casino Executive Contributes $1 Million to Gingrich Group
RightWeb Profile: Sheldon Adelson
SourceWatch Profile: Sheldon Adelson
Mother Jones: Sheldon Adelson: The Right's White Knight?

Where the Hell is Bush?

2008-07-03T00:20:00.003-05:00

My video response to Matt's video (the post below).

Joie de Vivre

2008-06-27T19:32:00.019-05:00

I know I haven't been posting too much lately. Been taking a bit of a break from the rat-race since Obama locked up the nomination.

Had to interrupt the hiatus for this though. This is absolutely my favorite video ever. No other even comes close.

Where the Hell is Matt? 2008

HQ version here at wherethehellismatt.com.

I love everything about Matt and his videos, especially this latest one. It's just beautiful on every level. It's virtual heroin and I'm totally hooked on it.

And the song is fantastic. Composed for the video, the song is Praan by Garry Schyman, and the beautiful voice is Palbasha Siddique, whose story and how Matt's girlfriend Melissa stumbled upon her is worth checking out. The lyrics are a Bengali translation of the poem "Stream of Life" by Rabindranath Tagore:

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Perfect.

Sen Hillary Clinton Brings it on Home

2008-06-07T22:57:00.003-05:00

Well done. As much as I will admit I was predispositioned to not be easily sated by whatever she said just because it was days (weeks, imho) late in coming, Sen Clinton "nail'd it."

Jed: Tom DeLay is a Klansman

2008-06-07T00:08:00.006-05:00

Jed Report:

And he hates America. Unless he proves me wrong, that is.

How else do you respond this?

Oh, and if you though Jed was bad, check Hunter:

Unless he proves me wrong, Tom Delay lures children into his van with candy, gasses them to death with bug spray, and uses their powdered bones as an aphrodisiac when making love to all the animals at the San Antonio Sea World.

omg. I'm not even going to try to photoshop that.

Rep Dana Rohrabacher's Obsession

2008-06-06T10:50:00.006-05:00

TPMmuckraker's Kate Klonick:

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine was on Capitol Hill this morning to testify to the House Subcommittee on International Relations, Human Rights and Oversight, about his report on the FBI's role in detainee interrogations, released two weeks ago.

While some saw the hearing as a long-awaited chance for a serious examination of the torture techniques at Guantanamo Bay, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), the ranking Republican on the subcommittee, took an almost frat-boy glee in the torture details. In a statement of just 13 minutes, Rohrabacher managed to use the phrase "panties on [someone's] head" eight times. ...(more)

That does make me wonder just what all kind of stuff did Dana and his friends do when he used to run around with his Taliban/mujahideen buddies?

So Much for Hillary Clinton's Word

2008-05-31T09:48:00.002-05:00

Today's the day for the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting that will attempt to disenfranchize all of the voters who believed what the DNC (and the candidates including Hillary said) and stayed home because they were told the election wouldn't count.

Hillary Clinton, 10-11-07:

"I signed the DNC pledge not to campaign, not to spend money in any of the states that did not comply with the rules established by the DNC.... It's clear this election they're having is not going to count for anything."

Josh Marshall makes the same point I did above ...

If the DNC were now to turn around and decide to make these contests count after all, these non-participating voters would be disenfranchised no less than the people who did turn out would be if the DNC sticks to the rules and doesn't seat any of the delegates. The simple fact is that large numbers of people, acting on accurate knowledge and in good faith, decided that there wasn't a real primary being held in their state on the day in question and on that basis decided not to participate.

Now, the question is how can we really know how many people didn't show up because they were told it wasn't a real election? There is of course no way to arrive at a direct answer, at least no practical one. But this post by Eric Kleefeld, which on a statistical analysis by Gregory P. Nini and Glenn Hurowitz, makes a very strong statistical case that as many as one million voters in Florida and probably more than a half million voters in Michigan did not vote who otherwise would have if they had not believed that the results would not be counted. Take a look.

Fox News Jokes About Killing Obama

2008-05-25T15:52:00.004-05:00

First it was Huckabee, then Hillary, and now it's just a big joke.

This is someone named Liz Trotta from earlier today who first referred to Obama as "Osama" and then laughed that they should both be killed. Here's a longer clip for more context. H/T Scarce.

Update: Liz Trotta apologizes:

That's exactly what needed to be said. Good for her. The Clinton campaign would do well to watch this. Words like "I am so sorry" and "I sincerely regret it and apologize to anybody I've offended." go a long way to diffuse this kind of thing.

Hillary's Asinine-ation Comment and Her Non-Apology Still Burns

2008-05-25T05:53:00.011-05:00

I've resisted weighing in on Hillary Clinton's outrageous comment on Friday for several reasons. I was really angry about it and didn't want to say anything brash. Now, after two nights of sleeping on it, I have to say I'm even more pissed about it.

Here's her outrageous comment that started it all:

Here's what the NYT Editorial Board (the same one that endoesed her) calls her "tedious non-apology" apology for it:

And here's Keith Olbermann's must-see response.

Although I do think K.O. went a little overboard, I must say I do agree with almost every word, except for the pretense that it is "unforgivable." If she would have just apologized for it to all those that she so offended instead of offering excuses it would have made the world of difference to me, and I'm sure many others. She owed Obama and his family an apology just as much or more than the Kennedy family, and she needed to actually use the words "I'm sorry" or at least an "I apologize" without any excuses, not an "I regret if ..." That was just simply pathetic, and made me even more offended than before.

I'm not even going to get into the ramifications of her invoking "assassination" into this race except to say that since she had repeated the "assassination" comment more than a month earlier, her excuse that she said it this time because the "Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy" is yet another lie from her. She was saying it long before. That and I'll say that THE most important context that Hillary and her supporters obviously fail to grasp is the fact that Barack Obama is the most popular black leader this country has ever had who has not (I'm tempted to add a 'yet.' ugh.) been assassinated, and on that matter Keith Olbermann totally speaks for me. Please watch it if you already haven't.

I still have plenty to say about it though. I think it was hands down the most damaging campaign gaffe ever in our country's history, not just to her campaign but to the entire Democratic Party. It's her macaca moment only worse. Just her using 1968, the year of the riots in Chicago as an example for staying in, is telling.

Hillary Clinton was still a Goldwater Republican in 1968. Her own campaign website says she was "a Goldwater Girl." She interned for the war-hawk Republican congressman Melvin Laird that year and attended the Republican National Convention in Miami. She also claims to have been present in Chicago during the Democratic convention that year, saw the riots and 'smelled the teargas.' She wasn't inside the convention (back then even party officials couldn't necessarily get inside the convention, thus why they created the superdelegates, not to overturn the will of the voters, but to get party officials and Dem insiders into the convention), but somehow watching the riots helped turn her from a Republican into a Democrat.

So, no doubt she remembers full well the affect all that had on party unity. Of course, that year the Dems lost.

If she takes this all the way to the convention I seriously doubt there will be any unity, and that will be all her fault, not mine and everyone else who doesn't support her's. It will be the fault of Hillary Clinton and her doomsday-cult of supporters that seem hellbent on following her all the way to ~~Jonestown~~ Denver instead of doing what every other remotely sensible Democrat like I had to do when my candidate, John Edwards, had the decency to bow out as soon as it became apparent he couldn't win.

I can't wait to see what, if anything, the Sunday morning talkingheads have to say about it.

Update: Jake Tapper has more: The Fallacy of Clinton's 1968 Analogy

Is Barack Obama a Muslim?

2008-05-24T02:33:00.006-05:00

Matt points to this site that provides answers to whether or not Barack Obama is a Muslim.

On that thought, here's another site that answers questions regarding a collection of quotes from two books written by Senator Barack Obama that have been circulating the internets.

HUGE Obama Campaign Turnout in Portland OR - 50 to 75,000

2008-05-18T23:27:00.003-05:00

75,000 ATTEND OBAMA RALLY IN PORTLAND

Here's the dispatch from NBC/NJ's Athena Jones... Some 75,000 people flocked to Portland’s waterfront Sunday to watch Barack Obama speak, making it the biggest rally the campaign has held to date. Thousands stood on the lawn, dozens watched from boats and from the bridge stretching across the Willamette River. A few kayakers held their paddles and tried to keep their kayaks straight as they watched the candidate, who stood on a makeshift platform. ...(more)

YES, WE CAN!

Oliver North, Fox News' Appeasing & Emboldening Revisionistorian

2008-05-18T02:21:00.007-05:00

After lauding Oliver North for his new book that apparently has more pictures than it does pages (No doubt North’s picture-book tells a much different story than the truth-laid-bare photos and accounts from an award-winning unembedded photojournalist like Dahr Jamail, but I digress), Sean Hannity asks North for his opinion on whether the President was right to compare the want to hold diplomatic talks with Iran to the appeasement of Nazis in the 1930’s.

Oliver North: "As you know, I’m the history guy at Fox News Channel, right? I’ve done this WWII series – 52 of our episodes about WWII. Had it not been for Chamberlain going to sit down with Adolf Hitler and try to cut a deal in Munich, WWII might never have happened, but it emboldened the dictator. That’s what the President said yesterday in Jerusalem. And a little reminder today, a shot across the bow here at the NRA, when John McCain got up and said, ‘You cannot have these kinds of unconditional, no preconditions discussions, with despots and dictators’ - dead on the mark."

For someone who should have spent the better part of the last two decades making license plates for 35¢ a day, it's astounding he would dare touch this topic. This is the guy who oversaw the arms for hostages deal with Iran in 1985 (among other crimes), right in the middle of the Iran-Iraq war in which the US was actively and openly arming and supporting Saddam Hussein. Ollie North didn’t just talk with Iran at a time they were our enemy in a proxy-war, he actually helped to arm them, bypassing Congress by violating the Boland Amendment to help fund an illegal war in Nicaragua.

Lacking even a shred of credibility, Fox News’ “history guy” is to the truth in the historical record what Dick Cheney is to gun safety. He shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the subject, and anyone who believes a word of what he says about it is a fool.

Negotiation is not appeasement and there are zero parallels between simply opening up a diplomatic dialogue with Iran and the capitulation to Adolf Hitler in the Munich Agreement. It’s a ridiculous assertion, especially considering that the Bush administration itself has negotiated with Libya and North Korea, yet Iran’s previous offers to put everything, including its nuclear program, on the table and peacefully negotiate have been completely ignored even after Iran had been important ally of the coalition against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Oliver North, just like John McCain and other conservatives, don’t even have a clue what they are talking about. Apparently no one in this administration ever thought to ask Bush’s own Sec. of Defense, ~~Neville Chamberlain~~ Robert Gates, for his opinion:

We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage with respect to the Iranians and then sit down and talk with them. If there’s going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can’t go to a discussion and be completely the demander with them not feeling that they need anything from us.

Exactly.

The Arizona Republic: "McCain Not a Maverick"

2008-05-10T07:41:00.008-05:00

McCain's home state paper:

In Tight Senate Votes, McCain Not a Maverick
When it matters the most, he seldom bucks his own party

Over the years, Sen. John McCain has publicly condemned Republican Party leaders and occasionally voted against the GOP on selected issues.

But an Arizona Republic analysis of his Senate votes on the most divided issues in the past decade shows that McCain almost never thwarted his party's objectives.

The presumptive Republican nominee arguably cast the decisive vote 14 times since 1999 to ensure Republicans got their way, and he had five other close cases where his vote may have made a difference, Senate records show. By comparison, McCain effectively handed Democrats a win on roll-call votes four times in the same period. On one of those occasions, Republicans could still have won if Vice President Dick Cheney had cast a tie-breaking vote.

The numbers are based on a review of Senate roll-call votes since 1999 that ended in a tie or were settled by one vote. The closest votes in that period included momentous, partisan-charged legislation, such as President Bush's tax cuts. More often, they were procedural votes on deal-breaking amendments to bills that would otherwise pass.

They partly reflect how rarely Senate votes come down to a single person, even though the chamber has been narrowly divided on party lines most of the past decade. But the votes also suggest that when McCain broke from Republicans, others often joined him, keeping the votes from being so close.

And his chronic absence in the Senate has seldom come in the most divided debates, the records show. ...(more)

Toast

2008-05-07T12:11:00.006-05:00

I guess this is Hillary's reward for buddying up with Rupert Murdoch.

Why Rev Wright is No Big Deal To Obama Campaign

2008-05-02T05:29:00.002-05:00

Lest we forget 1992.

Excerpts from "The War Room" documentary of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. Well worth your time to check out the entire thing if you haven't seen it before.

Compared to what Bill Clinton faced - allegations, with incriminating tapes, of extramarital affairs and leaked DOD documents re: draft dodging - Wright is nothing.

Add to that this from Kos:

43 percent of respondents are concerned about the 71-year-old John McCain's close ties to George Bush.

36 percent have concerns about Clinton's political opportunism, and 27 percent are concerned about Bill Clinton being back in the White House.

34 percent have problems with Obama's "bitter" remarks and 32 percent give a damn about Jeremiah Wright.

As good as Bill Clinton's 92/96 team was/is, and they were/(are?), they are getting their asses handed to them by the Obama camp by every metric. Obama's campaign is the Clinton 92 team 2.0 + the Dean Machine 2.0.

I know I've never seen anything like it.

The Vast Clinton Wing Conspiracy

2008-05-02T05:02:00.006-05:00

I took a haitus from posting here lately for a variety of reasons like a job change, but mostly just because the extended primary season has been sucking the life right out of me. Anywho, this news really pisses me off. Sidney Blumenthal, current Hillary Clinton campaign advisor and former senior advisor to President Bill Clinton, has been utilizing the VRWC for his sources to spread smears of Barack Obama.

Peter Dreier breaks the story at HuffPo:

Sidney Blumenthal Uses Former Right-Wing Foes To Attack Obama

Former journalist Sidney Blumenthal has been widely credited with coining the term "vast right-wing conspiracy" used by Hillary Clinton in 1998 to describe the alliance of conservative media, think tanks, and political operatives that sought to destroy the Clinton White House where he worked as a high-level aide. A decade later, and now acting as a senior campaign advisor to Senator Clinton, Blumenthal is exploiting that same right-wing network to attack and discredit Barack Obama. And he's not hesitating to use the same sort of guilt-by-association tactics that have been the hallmark of the political right dating back to the McCarthy era....(read on)

So now we have proof (and read it. There's proof) that the Clinton machine is behind the smear attacks on Obama, from Wright to Ayers and on and on.

Still, I'm not worried. I firmly believe there is no possible way Hillary Clinton can win the Democratic nomination without fracturing the party, and if she does manage to steal it I hope for a schism. Let Rush's dreams come true for all I care if that happens. Perhaps we'll get a viable third party out of the deal in the long run and honestly I'm starting to think a one term McCain Presidency saddled by solid Dem majorities in both houses looks good compared to her.

It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.

Clueless John 'More Wars' McCain

2008-03-22T14:14:00.004-05:00

Here's a mashup I made for the new website 'StraightTalkMcCain.com' on McCain's recent statements alleging that Iran has been offering support to al Qaeda in Iraq.

Center for American Progress:

The Maverick Makes It Up
This week during a trip to the Middle East, McCain severely undermined his frequent claims to be "the one best to address a national security crisis" by repeatedly stating that Iran was supporting al Qaeda in Iraq. McCain claimed that Iranian operatives were "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back." He insisted that it was "common knowledge...that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and coming back into Iraq from Iran." McCain's confusion over Iran and al Qaeda puts him in lockstep with the rest of the Bush administration. As the Washington Post notes, "The last five years have produced ample evidence that American leaders were woefully ill-informed about the country they came to rescue." [...]

THE FACTS: Though Iran is 90 percent Shiite and al Qaeda is a Sunni group, it is not inconceivable that some aspects of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are supporting some aspects of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), or that AQI members have ever crossed the border into Iran. However, there is simply no evidence to support McCain's claim that Iran is "training" AQI in Iran. Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno stated last July, "We don't see any evidence, significant evidence, that shows that [Iranian-controlled] groups that are funding and providing arms to Shi’a extremists are directly related to al Qaeda." In a CNN interview on Wednesday, Gen. David Petraeus backed away from CNN's Kyra Phillips's statement that "it stands firm that Iran is funneling weapons and supporting al Qaeda." Petraeus said, "We're concerned very much about the lethal accelerants...that do come from Iran," but also emphasized that "the flow of foreign fighters and of suicide bombers that help al Qaeda typically is through Syria." "The point is that John McCain’s misstatement is typical of conservatives, who have, through intentionally deceptive language, constantly tried to elide the differences between groups with different goals and ideologies in order to create the illusion of a united Islamofascist enemy.

"WHERE'S THE STRAIGHT TALK?: After press coverage of McCain's gaffe, his campaign issued a statement claiming the senator "misspoke and immediately corrected himself." In an interview, McCain himself insisted that he "corrected it immediately," and that he "just simply misspoke." However, as video proves, it was not until Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) whispered a correction in his ear that McCain corrected his mistake. Moreover, McCain conflated Iran and al Qaeda at least three times, not including another time last month -- hardly a case of "misspeaking." By Thursday the McCain campaign had reversed course, insisting McCain did not misspeak at all. McCain advisor Max Boot asked Thursday, "[W]hat gaffe?" and insisted, "There is copious evidence of Iran supplying and otherwise assisting Al Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni terrorist groups (including Al Qaeda central)." Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s senior foreign policy adviser, told the New York Sun, "There is ample documentation that Iran has provided many different forms of support to Sunni extremists, including Al Qaeda as well as Shi’ia extremists in Iraq. It would require a willing suspension of disbelief to deny Iran supports Al Qaeda in Iraq." ...(more)

The Media Attacks Obama

2008-03-21T15:16:00.008-05:00

Fox spews it, and the rest of the media picks it up and runs with it.

MoveOn (via email):

Media watchdog group Media Matters has chronicled how FOX spent months trying to smear Obama by associating him with Reverend Wright's words. Greenwald's new video shows how the attacks successfully migrated to the mass media—Tim Russert repeated Sean Hannity's smears virtually word-for-word!

Meanwhile, the big networks all but ignored Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement John McCain was "honored" and "proud" to receive. Hagee says Katrina was God's punishment for homosexuality, Jews are to blame for anti-Semitism, and Catholicism is the "Whore of Babylon" and "a cult."

It gets worse. At the same time they relentlessly reported on Obama's pastor, most network journalists also ignored Rick Parsley, a televangelist who McCain called his "spiritual guide" when accepting his endorsement last month. Parsley has said:
I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed...
Ignoring McCain's spiritual advisers while going after Obama's is what we expect from FOX, which is more a Republican mouthpiece than a real news organization. But when real news outlets follow FOX's lead, we have to hold them accountable. Otherwise, FOX will continue to elevate smear after smear against Democrats into the mass media in 2008. Click here to see the new video and sign the petition.

The attacks on Obama are so bad that this morning Fox anchor Chris Wallace called the network out and Brian Kilmeade even stormed off the set (in part) because of it. Just take a look at this unedited version of a sermon by Obama's pastor Wright and compare it to what all of the networks have been playing over and over:

There's a war going on, our current administration is corrupt and drunk with power, the future of the planet is being ignored, our economy is teetering, and all that's on the tv is what Obama's pastor said. Our media is corrupting the entire electoral process. Enough is enough.

Jim Cramer: "No! No! No!" Don't Sell "Bear Stearns is not in trouble!"

2008-03-17T19:30:00.005-05:00

Jim Cramer, March 11, 2008, reading "Mad Mail":

Cramer:
Peter writes, 'Should I be worried about Bear Stearns in terms of liquidity and get my money out of there?'

(screaming, of course) No! No! No! Bear Stearns is fine! Do not take your money ou.. -- This is rea.. -- If there's one takeaway other than the plus four hundred (garbled). Bear Stearns is not in trouble! I mean if anything, they’re more likely to be taken over. Don’t move your money from Bear! That's just being silly! Don't be silly!

When Cramer said that Bear Stearns was still trading at over $60 a ahare.

The news, six days later:

JPMorgan to Buy Bear Stearns for $2 a Share
(Reuters) JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Sunday it would buy stricken rival Bear Stearns (nyse: BSC - news - people ) for just $2 a share in an all-stock deal that values the U.S. investment bank at the centre of the credit crisis at about $236 million. [...]

Bear's stock closed on Friday at $30.85, valuing it at $3.5 billion, after tumbling 46 percent that day. Shares in the fifth largest U.S. investment bank hit a record high of more than $171 in January 2007...

McBush's Third Term

2008-03-07T03:31:00.004-06:00

h/t Hobson's Choice

McCain: McSame as Bush

O'Reilly Defends Saying Arianna Is No Different Than a Nazi

2008-03-01T13:19:00.003-06:00

Pot, meet kettle.

Why does Bill O'Reilly still have a job?

Even if we leave out the fact that Bill O'Reilly himself is just as guilty of doing the exact same thing he's slandering Arianna Huffington for (which is nothing other than allowing anyone to post an offensive comment on her website that only stays up until a moderator is able to edit or delete it), how is calling someone a fascist, racist, genocidal murderer not much worse than calling a women's basketball team slutty with racial overtones?

O'Reilly Says Arianna Huffington Is No Different Than Nazis/KKK

2008-02-28T02:00:00.007-06:00

You know, a week ago when Bill O'Reilly was threatening Michelle Obama with "a lynching party", I thought that was one of the most outrageous things he'd ever said. Well, it sure didn't take him long to top it.

Bill O'Reilly: "What's the difference between the Ku Klux Klan and Arianna
Huffington? What's the difference?" [...] "I don't see any difference between
Huffington and the Nazis. I don't see any difference."

O'Reilly continues his assault on progressive blogs by attacking them for anonymous comments that could have been made by anyone of the thousands and thousands of people who comment on Huffington Post every day - comments that very well could have been made by people intentionally trying to set the site up for this smear. In any case, as Bill O'Reilly knows because he has a website with comments too, the hateful comments are subsequently removed in short order (something his site is no better at doing). his attacking Arianna Huffington personally and comparing her to Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan is something that should cost him his job, but why do I think it probably won't?

Media Matters: O'Reilly continued to attack Daily Kos while ignoring objectionable comments on his own site

Media Matters: O'Reilly continued to compare Daily Kos to Nazis and the KKK

Americablog: Bill O'Reilly's Web site threatens Hillary's life

Oh yeah, that's why. What a douche bag. Maybe it's time for another Falafel Day.

"Defense of Democracies" Attack Ad Against Rep Nancy Boyda

2008-02-26T12:45:00.003-06:00

TPMmuckraker Paul Kiel:

Stepping up the pressure on House Democrats, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies has launched a national ad campaign criticizing Democrats for not passing the Senate's surveillance bill.

According to the group's press release, the ad "will be seen on cable and satellite stations throughout the country and is also seen locally in 17 media markets across the United States." The ads target 15 House Democrats, such as Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN). Brian Wise, the spokesman for the group, told me that the group had chosen the 15 because they were Dems "who we believe understand the issue and who would be the most effective to pushing the House leadership to vote on this." He added: "politics really has nothing to do with it."

It's similar in tone to an ad the House Republicans put together last week -- and similarly misleading. It claims that the lapse of the Protect America Act has meant that "new surveillance against terrorists is crippled."

Dems, including Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the force behind the Senate bill, vehemently disagree. And as even The Washington Times concluded, the lapse of the law would have "little effect" on surveillance collection. ...(more)

Also, I noticed this: Sourcewatch: Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

If that's the same group, it's list of "Directors, Fellows, Personnel" of the group is comprised of many PNAC neocons and many Democrats too. Why are (or were?) Democrats incl, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA), Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) etc (and Donna Brazile) affiliated with a group that would be running these ads?

UPDATE: Begged question answered. Mcjoan:

Who's behind the shadowy organization isn't entirely clear, but it is definitely an offshoot of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, an organization that until a few days ago listed among its board of advisors Donna Brazile, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA), Zell Miller, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY). Engel, Schumer and Brazile have all resigned form the board, with Brazile making this statement [...]

There's another board member listed at FDD as "Distinguished Advisor" who hasn't resigned as a result of these false attacks. Three guesses who that would be. Yup, our old buddy Joe Lieberman.

'What Better Way for Walter Reed to Shed its Reputation as a (ahem) Mickey Mouse Operation?'

2008-02-26T12:23:00.006-06:00

Sometimes this stuff just writes itself.

Washington Independent:

On Wednesday the House oversight committee's national security and foreign affairs subcommittee will hold a hearing, "One Year After Walter Reed." It's intended to assess how much the Army medical center's improved upon the scandalously bad care given to returning Iraq soldiers that the Washington Post documented last February.

Well, today's Post describes one indication of a new Walter Reed. Tongue firmly in cheek, Steve Vogel reports that the Army is paying the Walt Disney Corporation $800,000 to bring a positive mental attitude to hospital staff. This can mean medical workers watching slides of a cranky Donald Duck frustrated by unresponsive nurses or doctors. Or a glowing Snow White showing how customer service is done. ...(more)

60 Minutes: AL Gov Don Siegelman Story - Framed By Karl Rove?

2008-02-25T08:46:00.004-06:00

Part 1

Part 2

You can read their article (basically, a transcript) and see the full segment on the CBS website here.

Laura Rozen:

Harper's Scott Horton does some truth-squading of Rove and his attorney on Siegelman, the subject of a 60 Minutes story tonight. Horton's post broadcast write up here.

Also, RawStory's Larisa Alexandrovna notes that there was a Media Blackout of 60 Minutes story in Alabama.

Ralph Nader Officially Announces 2008 Spoiler Presidential Candidacy

2008-02-24T11:08:00.004-06:00

Here we go again. this morning on Meet the Press:

Um, Message to Ralph Nader:

Maybe if Nader had actually spent any time in the last eight years building a viable third party instead of throwing Hail-Mary passes and accepting dirty cash and support from Republicans and reichwing orgs, I’d still have a shred of respect for him. As it is, he deserves no respect whatsoever for a number of reasons.

"GOP donors funding Nader Bush supporters give independent’s bid a financial lift"

"Nader defends GOP cash Candidate says he’s keeping money"

"Nader’s Republican pipe dream"

Look at the groups that Nader gets his support from: Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation, a corporate front funded by Exxon, Hertz Corp., Philip Morris, Amoco, Bell Atlantic, Citibank, General Electric and General Motors and so on.

more: Organized Crime Ring: Killer Koch’s Citizens for a Sound Economy - (Nader's buddies)

Let's face it. Nader doesn't give a rat's ass about being viable or building a third party. This is just another way he can bleed the corporations and Republicans some more because he knows they will spend millions supporting his candidacy, and that is all he has ever really cared about.

Complete Democratic Debate in Austin TX, Feb 21, 2008

2008-02-23T19:38:00.003-06:00

The full-length debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at the University of Texas, in Austin. (1hr 35min)

Also see:
Complete Democratic Debate at UNLV 11-15-07
Full Democratic Presidential Debate at Drexel University 10-30-07
ABC News Iowa Democratic Debate 8-19-07

Would You Like Sick Cow With Those Fries?

2008-02-18T00:52:00.003-06:00

NYT:

A Humane Society video revealed the way workers beat or otherwise abused sick cows at the California company so they would appear well enough to be slaughtered. It is not for the faint of heart, but the gruesome evidence is here:

After viewing the footage and launching its own investigation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has shut down the California plant and assured consumers that these animals had not reached the market. That gives little comfort, however, given the department’s spotty record of identifying “non-ambulatory” cows. ...(more)

And then this (CBS News):

USDA Recalls 143M Pounds Of California Beef
California Slaughterhouse Already Under Investigation For Mistreating Cattle
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sunday ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse, the subject of an animal-abuse investigation, that provided meat to school lunch programs. [...]

"Today marks the largest beef recall in U.S. history, and it involves the national school lunch program and other federal food and nutrition programs," said U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. "This begs the question: how much longer will we continue to test our luck with weak enforcement of federal food safety regulations?"...(more)

H/T Jamie

Ann Coulter's repeated use of "B. Hussein Obama" and "President Hussein"

2008-02-16T01:56:00.005-06:00

I really don't have anything else to say about Ann's latest offensive absurdity other than the 2 min clip speaks for itself. She refers repeatedly to Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama as "B. Hussein Obama," five separate times, and then says "It's shocking that he's probably going to be our next president, President Hussein."

btw, this is me just kicking the tires on RedLasso with my first clip from there. It's a really neat service with the slogan "Find it, Clip it, Share it" that provides a keyword search feature for recorded tv and radio that allows you search, find and edit a clip from the raw file and then link to or embed it like YouTube, only better. With RedLasso you don't have to record, edit, convert and upload a video - you don't even need to have a tv or anything other than a computer and internet. RedLasso lets you search out a key word or a phrase to find and then edit out a clip all online. In this my first attempt - "Ann Coulter" returned too many results, I had to limit the time and channel and search for "Hussein"before I found the clip I was looking for. Here's a short how to video.

As far as I can tell at this point you have to request an invite to be able to register and use the service or even just to use the search tool to find clips. I get that they might want to limit the total number of us yahoos in there editing and posting clips, but I'd have thought they'd allow anyone to be able to search, find and embed clips that us yahoos have already made. No? I think its still a bit in the beta stage though so I imagine it will get more user friendly over time, and it took me more than one request attempt and a little while before I received mine, but I can tell already it was well worth the wait. Now when I get a tip or see a comment that someone just saw or heard someone say something on Fox/CNN/CSpan etc I can just go to RedLasso and 'Find it, Clip it, and Share it.' (also RedLasso Blog)

60% Or More

2008-02-13T12:06:00.005-06:00

This list just keeps getting more and more impressive, and every network now has Obama with the lead in total delegates.

States Obama won with (so far) more than 60% of the vote:
Alaska 75%
Colorado 67%
District of Columbia 75%
Georgia 67%
Idaho 79%
Illinois 67%
Kansas 74%
Maryland 60%
Minnesota 67%
Nebraska 68%
North Dakota 61%
Virginia 64%
Virgin Islands 90%
Washington 68%
States Clinton won with (so far) more than 60% of the vote:
Arkansas 70%

When I first posted this list on Sunday (before yesterday's additions to it), I forgot to h/t Laura & Kos for starting it.

FBI “Clean Team” Scrubbed Torture Evidence For 9/11 Death Penalty Cases

2008-02-12T17:18:00.001-06:00

There truly is no bottom to the depths of depravity that the Bush administration will stoop to to try and keep their skeletons buried, at least until they are out of office. Read my latest on this at C&L

[Update] Spencer Ackerman* has more.

* You may remember Spencer from his days at TPMmuckraker. Do check him out at at his new muckraking home, The Washington Independent, a classy new upstart in new media.

John McCain: No, You Can't

2008-02-12T01:12:00.000-06:00

Barely Political of Obama Girl fame did a spoof on the Obama "Yes, We Can" video too.

It may not have been quite as good as Andy Cobb's "John.He.Is" though, imho (at least partly because Andy and crew beat it to the punch), but still it's clever and really well done.

New Iraqi Law Requires Waiting Period For Suicide Vest Purchases

2008-02-11T18:46:00.000-06:00

ONN:

John.He.Is

2008-02-11T11:26:00.000-06:00

A simultaneously hillarious and scary parody of the great Obama viral video "Yes, We Can."

I don't know how, but Andy Cobb and friends somehow manage to keep outdoing themselves.

Bravo!

Here's a few of their other recent YouTube hits.

Message To Ralph Nader
Democrats For Romney
The Loneliest Icelander

[Update] As SBT pointed out in the comments, I left out perhaps their best one of all.

The Record Breaking 2008 Youth Voter Turnout

2008-02-10T20:21:00.000-06:00

Cafferty and his emailers weigh in. These are some exciting times in election history.

Young Voters Turning Out in Big Numbers
Something big is happening in our democracy – young people are voting. Already, young people turned out in record numbers at the nation’s first caucus and primary contests of 2008. The youth vote:

* More than tripled in the Iowa caucuses
* Increased by 25 percent in the New Hampshire primaries
* Nearly tripled in the South Carolina primary (Democratic)
* More than tripled in the Florida primaries ...(more)

60% Or More

2008-02-10T18:06:00.000-06:00

States Obama won with (so far) more than 60% of the vote:

Alaska 75%
Colorado 67%
Georgia 67%
Idaho 79%
Illinois 67%
Kansas 74%
Minnesota 67%
Nebraska 68%
North Dakota 61%
Washington 68%

States Clinton won with (so far) more than 60% of the vote:

Arkansas 70%

And there are caucuses going on today in Maine in which Obama is currently leading at 59% with 99% reporting.

Michael Moore: Voting for Hillary Clinton would be "an Immoral Act"

2008-02-10T14:09:00.000-06:00

I guess this is his way of Endorsing Barack Obama. I really like and respect Michael Moore, but I wish he would have just kept that thought to himself. I don't see how saying that was very helpful to anyone.

Ottawa Herald's Gary Sillett - Obama is a "Muslim Fundamentalist"

2008-02-07T05:33:00.000-06:00

h/t Wonkette

You know, fresh off of the huge turnout here in Kansas in the Democratic caucuses and finding out that the new(er) DailyKos front-pager is a Kansan too (and had very much the same experience as I did Tues night), I was just starting to think that maybe there's not so much the 'matter with Kansas' any more, and then this idiot has to come along, and not just him either. His editors took the time to attempt to hide some (but not enough) portions of his article from appearing online, but as Ken Layne points out "were too stupid to remove the entire retarded text from appearing when you click to read the comments." The entire printed version of the column can still be seen in their PDF edition here (jpg screenshot here for when they take it down) If there ever was a desperate plea for more attention, this is one. The Ottawa Herald's contact info (please do be civil): [also, see update below]

Jeanny Sharp, Editor and Publisher jsharp@ottawaherald.com
Gordon Billingsley, Managing Editor gordon@ottawaherald.com
Address: 104 S. Cedar, Ottawa KS, 66067
Web site: ottawaherald.com
Fax: 785-242-9420
Letters to the Editor: letters@ottawaherald.com

I know this is just a podunk paper in nowhere KS, kind of like where I'm currently residing, but this really pisses me off. Clearly this column is what caused Barack to capture only 74% of the Kansas vote. lol. Seriously though, there is quite a bit of this around and it's not the Democrats who voted in Tues' caucus who believe this tripe and perpetuate it. It's the Republicans here that it plays to that I'm worried about that will come out en masse in Nov and vote because of it. I did quite a bit of GOTV canvassing for Super Tues and these myths persist in great abundance here in Kansas and are hard enough to smack down without having the hometown paper spreading them.

Here's the brainless bigot's article in full:

Don’t betray your heritage for Obama’s ‘change’
By GARY SILLETT, Community Viewpoint

A couple years ago, President Bush thought it would be a good idea to turn over control of one or more vital seaports in the continental United States to an Arab-owned conglomerate. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth including from me.

How could this be? we asked. In the aftermath of 9/11, as we now remember it, that would be like handing the keys of New York City to Osama Bin Laden. I believe there are some of you who remember who he is?

The hue and cry was deafening. To suddenly find our seaports our points of entry, our gateways to the world in the hands of Muslim fundamentalists was not only abhorrent, but also frightening. Even with countless reassurances from Bush administration officials, Arab corporation executives, et al, there was no convincing us this was a good idea for us or for the future of America. That dog don t hunt.

Well, now comes another bad idea ... maybe even worse. The Democratic Party actually intends to put a Muslim fundamentalist in the White House. Yes, you read it right. They want to put a man of Muslim origins in the White House.

Barack Hussein Obama hit the campaign trail from nowhere and continues to gain momentum as his political handlers crank out generic catchphrases to lure the unsuspecting voter with words like hope and change.

Now there s nothing wrong with hope or change. It has been our tradition as a nation that when we get tired of something or someone, we exercise our constitutional rights and throw them out. That s why we asked our representatives for term limitations. But to even consider turning over the reins of government to a Muslim fundamentalist would be, as my grandmother used to say, throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Some Web sites suggest Obama will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He refuses to wear an American flag lapel pin. He will not face the flag during the playing of the National Anthem nor will he sing it or even mouth the words. [Editor s note: Other reputable Web sites refute each of those claims and show Obama leading the Pledge of Allegiance in the Senate.]

I know, there are some of you out there right now who are ready to say these are only symbols: Icons of days gone by; Relics of the past. You want change. We should all remember that these relics, symbols and traditions are not just representative of some coffee clache or sewing circle. These are traditions handed down from father to son, mother to daughter. They represent the deep-seated patriotism that brave men and women have given their lives to uphold for more than two centuries.

To elect Barack Obama to the highest office in the land would be nothing less than spitting on the graves of the victims of 9/11, as well as the memory of the countless thousands of American loyalists who have pledged and given their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in defense of those tired old symbols and icons of the greatest nation on earth. In many cases, these things are all that is left to families of American heroes who heard the call and stepped forward and defended not only their heritage, but the legacies of millions in foreign lands.

Hold fast to these symbols and icons, I say. Hold them up every day and pledge that they are still important to us all. Keep reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Sing the National Anthem. Place your hand over your heart in remembrance of all those who gave their lives so that we all may do so. Remember that they are the very fabric of which our nation is made. Our flag is not just a symbol. It is representative of our soul as a nation. It embodies all the hopes, dreams and aspirations of those who have gone before us, those who are defending freedom today and those who will choose to do so in the future.

Beware of wolves in sheep s clothing, it s been said. Don t betray your heritage simply for the sake of change. Heed the voices of your fellow Americans, past, present and future who call upon you to uphold the principles of the United States and protect them from pretenders like Barack Hussein Obama.

Gary Sillett is a Princeton resident and a pressman at The Ottawa Herald.

[emphasis mine]

[Update} Kansas Newspaper Sort Of Regrets Calling Obama A Muslim Fanatic

Red State Update: Super Tuesday

2008-02-06T02:09:00.000-06:00

I really F@#king luv these guys.

Glenn Beck Says he's Voting for Hillary if McCain's the GOP Nominee

2008-02-05T16:47:00.000-06:00

He joins Ann Coulter in right-wing nutcases who can't deal with McCain becoming the Republican Presidential nominee.

And here's Ann Coulter saying the same thing. She even says she'll campaign for Hillary, but I doubt Sen Clinton wants any part of that.

If youy ask me they are both full of it and this is just a last ditch ploy to try to swing the vote their way, but it's still pretty funny.

Three and a Half Hours Until ...

2008-02-05T14:25:00.000-06:00

They open the doors to my state's Democratic caucuses.

And I might as well say it - John Cole speaks for me today. Every fricking word.

Except for the not voting today part.

;^P

Late Update - I haven't even had time to see what all went down across the country on Super Tues other than a glance here. Looks like Obama pretty much kicked Hillary's ass in total states (14-10 I believe) and maybe even in delegates, but he looks to be still slightly behind overall, but he's gained considerably and he's got waaay more cash on hand and Kos says "The calendar up ahead is tailor made for Obama." We'll hear more about the delegates tomorrow I guess, but just look at what he did in my home state. He slaughtered Hillary almost 3 to 1.

George W. Bush is JUST Like Lincoln

2008-02-04T00:27:00.000-06:00

Or so ~~Pravda~~ Fox News would have you believe.

I must admit I had quite a bit of fun putting that video and post together for C&L, but as it turns out, a friend emailed to point out that Fox News was actually plagiarizing The Daily Show.

btw, since that was pre-writer's strike, perhaps they can sue?

¡Si, Se Puede!

2008-02-03T03:44:00.000-06:00

Now, I'm not trying to endorse or favor one candidate over any other, but I have to say that this is just about the most powerful campaign video I think I've ever seen. Wow.

yeswecansong.com

Here's a YouTube version, but I recommend clicking on the pic instead because the graphics and the sound is so much better. You can watch Hillary's official campaign song on YouTube here.

I don't care who your favored candidate is. As long as you've done your homework and know more about your choices than the campaign commercials or catchy videos, get your ass out there and vote (unless it's a Republican, and in that case, you clearly have more homework to do).

When Old Things Become New Again: Nader Exploring a Possible 2008 Spoiler Candidacy

2008-01-30T23:29:00.000-06:00

So Ralph Nader has launched an exploratory website that ironically asks “Which side are you on?” Right back at you Ralph.

Last time around Nader was backed by Koch’s rightwing think tank/corporate front group, Citizens for a Sound Economy (now FreedomWorks), so don’t be surprised this time when the billionaire-financed rightwing attack machine Freedom’s Watch backs him with their supposed $250 million dollar war chest. I’m just saying. CNN’s Abbi Tatton tells that Nader is saying that if he can “raise 10 million dollars and to rustle up enough lawyers to help him get ballot access, then he is definitely going to do this,” and we already know Ralph doesn’t have a ~~conscience~~ problem with getting his back scratched by republicans.

[Update] And if you thought I was hard on traitor-Nader. Check John Aravosis out.

John Edwards Bows Out.

2008-01-30T13:49:00.001-06:00

I'm sorry to see this. I've tried to remain impartial in my postings, but I guess I can say now that I was solidly in the Edwards camp even after it became apparent he wasn't getting the traction needed to compete, and was really looking forward to caucusing for him next week.

So, does this help Clinton or Obama more? Dick Morris says neither.

KS Gov Sebelius' Democratic Response to the SOTU

2008-01-28T23:51:00.002-06:00

That's my Governor.

Transcript here.

Rumors are Gov. Sebelius going to endorse Barack Obama on "Tuesday or Wednesday." If so, I'm guessing it'll probably be Tuesday when Obama will be in Eldorado, Ks., "his grandparents' hometown."

Also, I know that it's putting the cart before the horse, but it's not surprising that there is further speculation that Sebelius may be lined up to become Obama's running-mate should he win the nod. We'll see. Obama's still got a steep hill to finish climbing with only a week before Super Tuesday. I do think that she would be a great choice for a number of reasons though. She's a two term red state Gov with a 64% approval rating who knows how to get the job done, and she aint afraid to go up against the big energy boys to do what's right.

I can see a few reasons to suspect Sebelius is aspiring, deservedly so imho, for bigger and better things. She's been making rounds outside the state for a while now. She's also featured in Feb's Vogue magazine (hence the pic), and conspiracy theorists will just love the fact that she attended a gathering of the Bilderberg Group, "a select group of international business leaders, diplomats, thinkers and statesmen," in Istanbul, Turkey last year. Just like Clinton and Bush!! Oh No! Get real. Alright, sorry about that, but I've already seen it on threads so I know it will only increase if she does move up the food chain, as she seems poised to do. Is her next stop going to be Cheney's place? Who knows? If so, I sure hope she consults a feng shui expert, exorcist, or something along those lines before she moves in to make it suitable living quarters for the undead, but I digress. I'd say it all adds up to one really classy lady with the smarts to match who's ready for whatever comes next, so it's no surprise the movers and shakers would want to hear from her.

[Update] Lest anyone think I'm way out there bringing up the whole Bilderberg thing the way I did, here's the KC Star reporting on yet another visit to the mysteriously elite Bilderberg group, this time in VA.:

Illuminati watch

For the second year in a row, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius attended a gathering of the Bilderberg Group. ...

AP: Obama Wins Backing of Kansas Governor

Bush, Rep Chris Shays, and the ol' SOTU Kiss of Death

2008-01-28T21:41:00.000-06:00

So, who's making the float this time?

[Update] Jane: What a lovely gift to the Jim Himes campaign.

[Late Update] It took Bush less than 20 min to put Rep Dingell (D-MI) to sleep.
Mitt Romney wants your grandma to mow his yard.
And, it may sound hard to believe, but Jenna Bush apparently got the clap from an orangutan. (h/t Wonkette)

Watching the SOTU tonight.

2008-01-28T20:18:00.000-06:00

I'll probably have some video later. Maybe of Bush, I don't know, but definitely of KS Gov Kathleen Sebelius' Democratic response.

More Wars McCain!

2008-01-28T10:46:00.000-06:00

Steve Benen:

A few weeks ago, John McCain raised a few eyebrows when he said he’s prepared to leave U.S. troops in Iraq for another century. Yesterday, he made matters worse, assuring voters that there are more wars on the way. ...

The man is CRAAAAAZY!

And a major hypocrite. Or both.

Sen Barack Obama Wins SC Primary

2008-01-26T22:26:00.000-06:00

It was a big night for Barack Obama. Here's his victory speech from Columbia South Carolina.

(transcript) Watch the second part here. And here's the vote breakdown from CNN and MSNBC.

Barack Obama also got an incredible endorsement from Caroline Kennedy in tomorrow's NYT:

A President Like My Father

OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama. [...]

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans. (read the whole thing)

Wow. Just. Wow.

It was a huge night for the Democratic Party too in a red state. As Sullivan points out from his readers:

In last week's SC GOP primary, McCain and Huckabee (the top 2 finishers), got 147,283 and 132,440 votes respectively. That's a total of 279,723. Obama just pulled down 291,000 by himself. Here's the data. [...]

This ... shows that George W Bush is a uniter after all: People are so fucking frustrated that even rednecks are willing to give a black guy a chance.

Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark. If the Democrats can bring almost 20% more voters total to the polls than the Republican Party in a solidly red state like SC then that spells really bad news for Republicans come Nov. With the flood of GOP incumbents retiring leaving 4 times as many GOP open seats in the House and the fact that 22 of the 34 Senate races this year are currently held by Republicans, the deck was already heavily stacked against them.

[Late update] Or rather, late Red State Update: Obama Beats Hillary In South Carolina

lmao

Early NH Primary Recounts Full of Errors

2008-01-18T10:43:00.000-06:00

(click on the pic to enlarge)

I can't see that it would swung the primary for Hillary as many of the conspiracies claim (this is just the first county reporting though so who knows what the rest of the results will bring), or altered the end result in any way, but just look at the recount totals being posted by the NH Secretary of State.

www.sos.nh.gov/recountresults.htm

They are full of errors in most of the precincts/wards reporting so far. Maybe they are errors in these hand recounts. If so, how would you know? I doubt it but it was worth mentioning. I'm not positive whether/which some or all of Hillsborough county's precincts/wards' ballots were hand-counted for the official primary results or whether they were machine read. It's my understanding that some precincts/wards in NH hand-count the official results and others use Diebold's optical scan machines that read paper ballots, not the electronic touchscreens. It's not the bunch of undervotes in Manchester Ward 5 that worries me so much. Those could be a malfunctioning optical reader that has trouble reading the ballots. A serious problem indeed, but it doesn't seem nefarious or like it favored one candidate so much over another.

What worries me is all of the overvotes! (the numbers in blue) How exactly do the machines count votes more than once?

If you ask me, this isn't even close to good enough for any democracy.

* I moved the columns around to put the candidates side by side and added the plus/minus in blue/red respectively.

Bradblog has more

[LATE UPDATE] Partial Primary Recount Ends After Finding Few Errors
Results Don't Change Significantly For Candidates

And again: Bradblog has more (including an updated recount graphic like the one above by yours truly)

Rep Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) Says More Corporate Tax Cuts OK Because People Like Working Longer Hours

2008-01-17T01:01:00.000-06:00

On the same day the House GOP unveiled their "Middle Class Job Protection Act" — which does nothing for the middle class (there goes that GOP doublespeak again). Instead, it reduces the corporate tax rate by 25 percent. ...

ThinkProgress:

At a press conference today unveiling the stimulus proposal, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) justified the conservative plan to give tax breaks to corporations — instead of working Americans — by arguing that people actually like working long hours:
I am so proud to be from the state of Minnesota. We’re the workingest state in the country, and the reason why we are, we have more people that are working longer hours, we have people that are working two jobs.

And this has been reason 84,257 why the Republican Party is destined to get their asses handed to them this Nov.

Oh Well, Whatever

2008-01-11T02:37:00.000-06:00

I was going to post my latest Billo post I put together for C&L but YouTube was being a pain and I'm not up to trying over and over to put the vid up there. Oh well, Whatever, you'll just have to wait like everyone else to see it if and when it gets put up tomorrow.

btw, have you seen Jimmy Carter's new Op-Ed yet?

The Bradley Effect - The Barack Man's Burden?

2008-01-09T05:18:00.000-06:00

As soon as the NH results started trickling in the explanations began as to how the polls could have been so wrong. Was it the voters reaction to the media’s coverage of a show of emotion from Hillary? Or could it have been those damn Diebold machines again?! On MSNBC, WaPo’s Eugene Robinson brought up one explanation that’s now being floated around: the Bradley Effect, in which people supposedly lied to pollsters about whether they would vote for a black candidate.

NBC’s political director Chuck Todd on the Bradley Effect and why it may have been an influence in New Hampshire primary and not in the Iowa caucus:

In Iowa - a very public caucus . In New Hampshire, you have a voting curtain. And the privacy of the vote versus not.

And Howard Fineman explained why he thinks that could be a problem for Obama if true:

It’s Barack Obama’s burden and blessing that he can’t really - I don’t think - talk about this a whole lot. His whole message is about bringing people together. He can’t start complaining about miscalculations in the polls.

Do note that there seems to be some reason to doubt that the Bradley Effect explains the outcome, especially considering the polls were actually right about Obama, they just didn’t account for the surge in votes for Hillary. Ezra wonders if it wasn’t the caucuses that did the discriminating.

Don’t look to me to postulate one way or another (I will say that Pam’s “Tweety Effect“ holds some appeal for me though). We’ll be hearing lots more about it in the days to come. I’m just enjoying the fact the polls lied so the pundits now have to eat crow and it’s starting to look like we might have an actual race on our hands where the voters and not the powers that be get to do the deciding. Who’d have thunk?

Iraq Blogger Major Andrew Olmsted Killed in Ambush

2008-01-04T14:32:00.000-06:00

Just 2 months ago, following a three week absence from his blog due to a death in his family, Major Andrew Olmsted reassured his readers on his Rocky Mountain News blog that he was Not Dead Yet. Sadly, Andrew will not be able to do so again this time (This news comes to us via hilzoy).

Final Post
"I am leaving this message for you because it appears I must leave sooner than I intended. I would have preferred to say this in person, but since I cannot, let me say it here."
G'Kar, Babylon 5

"Only the dead have seen the end of war."
Plato*
This is an entry I would have preferred not to have published, but there are limits to what we can control in life, and apparently I have passed one of those limits. And so, like G'Kar, I must say here what I would much prefer to say in person. I want to thank hilzoy for putting it up for me. It's not easy asking anyone to do something for you in the event of your death, and it is a testament to her quality that she didn't hesitate to accept the charge. As with many bloggers, I have a disgustingly large ego, and so I just couldn't bear the thought of not being able to have the last word if the need arose. Perhaps I take that further than most, I don't know. I hope so. It's frightening to think there are many people as neurotic as I am in the world. In any case, since I won't get another chance to say what I think, I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. Such as it is. ...(read on)

UPDATE: From the comments on his last post:

This is Maj Andrew Olmsted's mother-in-law. My Daughter, Amanda, Andy's wife, was notified today 1/3/08 that Andrew was killed today in Iraq when his team was ambushed.
I want to thank all you wonderful people who commented on Andy's blogs and wished him and his team. He will be missed by many. Thank you also for all your prayers. I'm sure Andy has a special place in Heaven.
Posted by Kathy on January 3, 2008 08:18 PM
Major Andrew Olmsted and Captain Thomas Casey were both killed when we were ambushed. They both displayed tremendous courage under fire. I am proud to have served with them. They will be greatly missed. We were all blessed to have known them. They will always be my brothers in arms.

Captain John Thompson
Nightmare 3
Posted by John Thompson on January 4, 2008 06:37 AM

I have no words to add. Tears - yes. Words - no.

AP: 3 soldiers die in Iraq, the 1st of '08

Huckabee, Obama Win In Iowa

2008-01-04T14:25:00.000-06:00

Jackie and Dunlap give you their take:

This Year's 'Golden Dukes' Award Winners and Other Noteworthy D*¢%heads

2008-01-01T09:20:00.000-06:00

After poring for weeks over the list of nominees, Josh Marshall's first annual "Golden Dukes Awards" winners are finally here.

Watch for them soon to be featured on Bill Moyers Journal.

Also worth checking out are Bill Maher's 'D*¢%heads of the Year' (perhaps nsfw) for Rolling Stone magazine and I'm sure you won't want to miss TPM's Great List of Scandalized Administration Officials.

And a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and yours.

Kansas GOP Chair Sends Email Boasting of Voter Caging

2007-12-25T16:49:00.001-06:00

Kris Kobach, a former counsel to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft who is currently the chairman of the Kansas GOP, sent out an email on Thur entitled “Kansas Republican Party Year in Review” in which he brags of voter caging. Blue Tide Rising has the goods:

… Kris Kobach, chairman of the Kansas GOP, sent out a self-congratulatory litany of accomplishments. Among them was one particularly eye-catching item:
"To date, the Kansas GOP has identified and caged more voters in the last 11 months than the previous two years!" […]
Slate.com has the best comprehensive write-up on how the Republican Party employs caging techniques to suppress the votes of the poor, the deployed, and college students. (You know, likely Democratic voters.)

Did we mention it’s illegal? And that Kris Kobach is proud to be doing it?

Since Kris Kobach can’t expand his own party or force his own Party’s members to support his candidates he’s shamelessly trying to keep Democrats from voting instead. This is the stratagem of a desperate and shrinking party.

Someone needs to ask Kris Kobach which voters he’s caging and how he’s doing it. Someone like a newspaper editor or perhaps a Grand Jury. … (more)

More on Kris Kobach here and here (He apparently suffers from an advanced case of Lou Dobb's disease). Depending on what methods are being used in Kobach’s admitted voter caging scheme, it may very well be illegal, but hardly surprising. Voter suppression through caging lists has become a standard part of the Republican playbook to steal elections for some time now. In Sept McClatchy detailed current Republican voter caging efforts underway in Florida and Ohio to “impede Democratic-leaning minorities from voting in 2008,” and back in July PBS NOW took a look at the Republican Party’s voter caging plan “designed to keep Democrats from voting, allegedly by targeting people based on their race and ethnicity.” Watch that video here.

Late Update: This post really took off. After I helped shine a light on it by posting it over at C&L, it got picked up by several other of the more notable blogs including HuffPo and DailyKos, was all over Air America for a day or two (especially Thom Hartmann), then was picked up by the KC Star political blog, the Lawrence Journal, then the AP. As Blue tide Rising says now: "Kris Kobach is famous"

Happy/Merry Christmas/ Festivus/ Hanukkah/ Holidays/ Kwanzaa/ Yule

2007-12-25T14:59:00.000-06:00

Been a while since I posted, but I definitely wish all who dare to venture to my site peace and all the very best now and always. We went through a week without power/cable/phone/internet after an ice storm (by "we" I mean our entire city and much of the county. Some went two weeks or more) a little more than 2 weeks ago. That and I've been working a lot more than usual, so I kind of let my blog-less-traveled take a back seat for a while. Still, you can usually find me more often than not posting and putting videos together for C&L.

How Healthy is Your Medical Credit Score?

2007-12-25T14:49:00.000-06:00

Your money or and your life!

Dallas Morning News: Mortgage lenders aren’t the only ones showing more interest in your credit score these days – the health industry is creating its own score to judge your ability to pay. […]

The score is already raising questions from consumer advocacy groups that fear it will be checked before patients are treated. People with low medical credit scores could receive lower-quality care than those with a healthy medFICO, they argue.

Your life usually isn’t at stake when a credit report turns up something negative, but in this case it very well might be. To some extent these types of decisions have already been being made by some hospitals, like when they just dump indigent patients on skid row, but this can only make it easier for other hospitals to make similar decisions for even more people. While a person’s overall credit score is largely based on voluntary purchases which one typically has some control over (assuming there isn’t an error), health care debt is largely involuntary. Even someone lucky enough to have health insurance can suddenly find themselves overwhelmed with debt they cannot afford through no fault of their own. A study two years ago found that “34% of U.S. adults ages 19 to 64 face problems with medical bills or have medical debt, although 62% of those individuals have health insurance.”

So, what do you think will happen once the hospital finds out your “medical credit score” doesn’t measure up?

Anatomy of a Failure: How America Lost the War on Drugs

2007-12-03T07:21:00.000-06:00

Great new read by Ben Wallace-Wells in this month’s Rolling Stone that exposes how the $500 Billion spent on the Drug War over the last 35 years has been all but a complete waste of time and money, and an absolute failure by any standard of measure.

[A]fter U.S. drug agents began systematically busting up the Colombian cartels - doubt was replaced with hard data. Thanks to new research, U.S. policy-makers knew with increasing certainty what would work and what wouldn’t. The tragedy of the War on Drugs is that this knowledge hasn’t been heeded. We continue to treat marijuana as a major threat to public health, even though we know it isn’t. We continue to lock up generations of teenage drug dealers, even though we know imprisonment does little to reduce the amount of drugs sold on the street. And we continue to spend billions to fight drugs abroad, even though we know that military efforts are an ineffective way to cut the supply of narcotics in America or raise the price.

All told, the United States has spent an estimated $500 billion to fight drugs - with very little to show for it. […]

Even by conservative estimates, the War on Drugs now costs the United States $50 billion each year and has overcrowded prisons to the breaking point - all with little discernible impact on the drug trade. …(read on)

That is a truly one great article every policy maker should have to read. I can’t ever read a word on this topic without remembering how Col Oliver North was involved in smuggling cocaine into the U.S. under Reagan, circumventing Congress to pay for an illegal proxy war, which coincided with the birth of the crack epidemic at the very same time the President had declared a War on Drugs (Remember Nancy’s ‘Just Say No‘?) and the great expansion in the building of prisons and increasing sentences that has resulted in the disenfranchisement of generations of mostly black would-be voters to this very day. But of course all that was just another unintended consequence of Ronald Reagan’s.

O'Reilly Goes After McClellan Sends Fox News Goons to His Home

2007-11-30T04:30:00.000-06:00

O'Reilly goes ballistic over former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's publisher's recent revelations for not coming out and clarifying whether he is calling Bush a liar in his upcoming book or not.

O'Reilly: It's not going to hurt his dopey book sales to come out and clear the air about a very serious allegation about people he worked with, people he was close to. What's the matter with this McClellan?

So Billo, just as he has done so many times before, sent his minions out to ambush him at his home but there was no answer. The big giant head then gets himself all worked up, screaming and shaking his finger and he basically calls Scott a wimp in playgroundspeak.

Word to Scotty. Billo's coming to your home and insulting your manliness in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers. You just gonna take that?

George 'Macaca' Allen Luvs YouTube, the Internets & Fred Thompson

2007-11-29T20:15:00.000-06:00

Here's George Felix 'Macaca' Allen saying several things I never would have expected him to say.

He apparently loves YouTube and the internet and defends Fred Thompson's use of a negative "attack ad" at the CNN YouTube debate thusly:

Allen: Why would you say it's negative? It's their own words.

Wow!! He's apparently learned quite well from what did him in last November. I would have sworn that we had seen the last of George Allen, but I would have been so wrong. Apparently Fred Thompson doesn't think Allen's macaca moment, the severed deer head story, his white supremicist buddies, nor his widely reported proclivity for using the "N" word will become a noose around his campaign's neck. What's more, Allen even hints that may try to make a political comeback at some point in the future. In the meantime he'll apparently be dividing his time between stumping for Thompson and his duties as the presidential scholar for the Reagan Ranch (Well, at least that last part comes as no surprise).

Debate- Giuliani Asked About Creative Bookkeeping To Hide Travel Expenses

2007-11-29T04:20:00.000-06:00

Although this latest Rudy scandal only broke just yesterday afternoon, to Anderson Cooper’s credit he at least made sure Rudy was called on it during last night’s CNN YouTube debate.

Rudy says “it wasn’t true” (really? what part?) and that he had “nothing to do with the handling” of the records and Cooper didn’t follow up (ok it was short notice) by asking him to explain why then were his travel costs, which included at least 11 trips to the Hamptons “during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons,” later split up and billed to obscure agencies that had nothing to do with the mayor’s security detail. Even if we were to be so gullible as to just take Rudy at his word (and we won’t, but will the msm?) that he had nothing to do with the cooking of the books to hide his travel expenses (presumably at least in part so he could spend time with then-mistress Judy), is this Enron-for-philanderers kind of accounting system really the answer to our current federal budget woes?

Complete Democratic Debate at UNLV 11-15-07

2007-11-26T10:25:00.000-06:00

It took a while, and several attempts to get this up on google video. This is the full-length (2 hr) debate at UNLV, Las Vegas Nevada on Nov 15, 2007. See a highlight video from this debate with a minute or so of each candidate's applause-getters here.

Most noteworthy is the 6 min back and forth between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to start the night, and then Wolf Blitzer's snub of John Edwards, not allowing him to respond after Hillary accused him of "throwing mud" and using tactics out of "the right-wing playbook," choosing instead to go to Joe Biden. That was a real debate-killer for Edwards courtesy of CNN. Also noteworthy is the softball question to Hillary to close the debate and the controversy surrounding it.

How fair was CNN in moderating the debate? You decide:

Also:

Full Democratic Presidential Debate at Drexel University 10-30-07

ABC News Iowa Democratic Debate 8-19-07

Bush's 'Sixteenth Century Concept of Judicial Conduct'

2007-11-24T05:06:00.000-06:00

No, it's not a remake of the movie. This is the sad but true story of Al-Timimi and Omar Khadr, and the desecration of justice under Bush.

... Reports have begun to circulate that the Administration has put together a group of scholars headed by a right-wing activist judge to craft legislation to introduce a new court of Star Chamber, perhaps to be floated in the coming year. As we see in the public pronouncements of the Bush Administration, accusations leveled at detainees in the war on terror are leveled for political effect, and often to parallel partisan political campaigns. If those accusations are rejected by a court, it therefore undermines confidence in the Administration and the Party. Which is why, in the Bush view of justice, a failure to convict is unacceptable. And which is why the Bush view of justice is no justice at all. ... more

Cuz if you're really going to go pre-Habeas Corpus Act, you gotta have your own Star Chamber.

Sen Jim Webb's 30 Secs to Stop Bush

2007-11-21T01:26:00.000-06:00

CNN follows Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) to work this Thanksgiving holiday just to bang the gavel so that technically the Senate is not in recess to make sure Bush can’t slip any more of his crooks and cronies by us with more recess appointments.

Among the likely candidates this move thwarts are the homophobic Dr. James Holsinger as Surgeon General and/or the election engineering Hans A. von Spakovsky to a spot on the Federal Election Commission.

It's worth remembering not only the more well known in-your-face past Bush recess appointments like John Bolton, Swift boat hack Sam Fox, and anti-civil rights judge Charles Pickering. In just his first six years in office, President Bush had made 171 recess appointments (pdf) including a controversial pick with Otto Reich so he could continue his dirty tricks south of the border, a spot at the pentagon for a great guy like Eric Adelman (just don't ask Sec Gates), a DOL spot for Eugene Scalia (the son of that Scalia), a cushy ambassadorship for Bush's ex-girlfriend April H. Foley and an important one as a treat for C. Boyden Gray, his judicial bulldog on the Hill back in the day when the GOP majority made his job easy.

It's nice to finally see the Democrats step up and do what it takes to stop Bush from running roughshod right over them. Thank you Sens Webb and Reid.

If you want to know more about Congressional recess, I'll let Uncle Jay explain it to you.

Freedom’s Watch Test Marketing the Right Slogan to Sell You a War

2007-11-20T05:24:00.000-06:00

Laura Rozen has the scoop [see update below] on how ~~Ari Fleischer’s Freedom’s Watch~~ The Israel Project has been hard at work test marketing the right message that could be used to convince you that we need a war with Iran.

Laura Sonnenmark … drove to the offices of Martin Focus Groups in Alexandria, Virginia, knowing she would be paid $150 for two hours of her time. After joining a half dozen other women in a conference room, she found, to her surprise, that she had been called in to help some of the country’s most prominent hawks test-market language that could be used to sell a war against Iran to the American public. “The whole basis of the whole thing was, ‘we’re going to go into Iran and what do we have to do to get you guys to along with it,’” Sonnenmark, 49, tells Mother Jones.

The client paying for the focus group session, according to Sonnemark, was Freedom’s Watch …read on

Update: Firedoglake

After the MJ article came out, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi of the right-wing group The Israel Project stepped forward to say that her outfit and not Ari's had funded the focus group. But she really must like Ari's group a lot to let them hand out flyers and other goodies at her focus-group sessions.

That's a good point. Besides both obviously wanting a war with Iran, how affiliated are the two groups? And what do these Reps and Sens think about their group testing the waters for a slogan to sell us a war?

The Israel Project Board of Advisers

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-GA, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-MN, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL, Sen. Rick Santorum, R-PA, Sen. Arlen Spector, R-PA, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR, Rep. Rob Andrews, D-NJ, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-NV, Rep. Tom Davis, R-VA, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-NY, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-NJ, Rep. Jon Porter, R-NV, Rep. Jim Saxton, R-NJ, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-CA, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-SC, Ron Silver, Actor & Director

Also, The Economist took a closer look at an oft cited Ayatollah Khomeini (mis)quote used to bolster an attack on Iran used by neo-con patriarch and Giuliani Middle East adviser Norman Podhoretz, and says “it now appears likely that this quote is bogus.” Sullivan has more.

NYC Fire Chief: Giuliani 'Not Mr 9/11' 'Not a Hero' 'He Ran That Day'

2007-11-19T22:27:00.000-06:00

Rudy is now "trumpeting his leadership in the wake of 9/11 in campaign mailings to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire" despite claiming all along that he wasn't running on his 9/11 record. Dan Abrams has on FDNY Deputy Fire Chief Jim Riches, whose group, 9/11 Firefighters and Families, vows to not let Giuliani get away with it.

Riches: "We are going to follow him around and tell the true story of what happened on 9/11." ... "and get the message out to all of America and every state to let them know that Rudy Giuliani is not Mr 9/11. He's not a hero. He ran that day."

What the Giuliani campaign is now outwardly touting as his strength could very well become his achilles heel. This is not the first NYC firefighter group to take on Rudy. Under pressure from these groups, NYC has just launched an investigation into "how the FDNY ended up using faulty equipment during the terrorist attacks and why Giuliani gave a no-bid contract to Motorola for that equipment." And it's not like the Kerik indictment doesn't strike right at the heart of his 9/11 hero claims too.

btw- Kudos to Abrams for his use of videos by TPM and 'The Real Rudy' with proper credit in his show.

Cafferty: Leaked Inside Look At Guantanamo 'A Little Scary'

2007-11-16T19:56:00.000-06:00

Cafferty: “We’ve got an inside look at the early days of Guantanamo Bay prison camp. It’s emerging and it’s a little scary. A confidential 2003 manual that was leaked onto the internet shows that military officials had a policy of denying some detainees access to Red Cross monitors. … Some experts are saying that this policy may in fact have violated international law. …”

The Guantanamo prison camp's 2003 field operations manual was posted on Wikileaks, a Web site that encourages posting of leaked materials. The Pentagon claims "that the manual appeared genuine but described outdated policies and that all Guantánamo detainees could now see Red Cross monitors." Whew, I guess that clears that up. I mean, they said so so it must be true, and after all that was like 4 years ago so it's not like anyone could still be held accountable for apparent violations of international law from that far back, and besides, if they were in Gitmo they must have been really really bad guys who deserved never to see the light of day anyway or they wouldn't have been there in the first place, right? So why are so many of Jack's emailers still so worked up about it?

Democratic Debate at UNLV Highlights

2007-11-16T18:43:00.000-06:00

A mashup of each candidate's applause-getters from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from Thur night, November 15, 2007

"Iran Has a Right to Seek Nuclear Capability"

2007-11-12T15:58:00.000-06:00

I've been saying this for some time now. Now an anti-proliferation scholar is also calling out the US for its glaring hypocrisy when it comes to Iran and the NPT. From the Philly Enquirer:

Some call it "the nuclear double standard;" others, "nuclear apartheid;" still others, "America's nuclear hypocrisy". ... (read on)

Krugman v Brooks and Reagan's 'Mistaken' Legacy of Racism

2007-11-11T20:16:00.000-06:00

Steve Benen caught on to a subtle feud being played out between NYT’s Paul Krugman and David Brooks in their respective op-eds recently. Krugman's column a few weeks back pointed to Ronald Reagan's notable embrace of a Southern Strategy during a 1980 Philadelphia Miss. speech to capitalize on racism to secure the votes of those white voters who had become disenchanted by the Democratic Party following Lyndon Johnson's endorsement of Civil Rights legislation in the 60's. In an apparent response, on Fri Brooks offered up a version of what's becoming an all too common lately, a myopic defense of Reagan's infamous "states' rights" speech, taking Krugman to task without ever actually mentioning him by name.

Krugman fired back a snarky retort a day later, likewise not mentioning his fellow columnist by name. Benen writes, "As Krugman explained on his blog, Reagan’s defenders would have us believe that his “states’ rights” speech in Philadelphia, Mississippi, was just an “innocent mistake,” which Reagan managed to make over and over again." Krugman went on to list a litany of other Reagan "mistakes" such as his oft told tale "about the welfare queen driving her Cadillac, and kept repeating the story years after it had been debunked," or that time when he "declared in 1980 that the Voting Rights Act had been “humiliating to the South.” ...

There was also that time Reagan mistakenly "intervened on the side of Bob Jones University's ban on interracial dating," or when he accidentally "fired three members of the Civil Rights Commission" only to have them later reinstated by the courts, and when he "opposed making Martin Luther King Day a national holiday." That "Poor Reagan," Krugman wittily opines, "He just kept on making those innocent mistakes, again and again and again."

Like Benen, I don't know that Brooks will be able to come up with a response to that, but should he try, I'd like to point to a few other "mistakes" that Krugman didn't mention, like Reagan's embrace of the white racist leaders of then-apartheid South Africa and his defense of Sen. Jesse Helms' attacks on Dr Martin Luther King, and his drastic cuts to important social programs that provided needed assistance to minorities, or that time when he accidentally had Col Oliver North involved with smuggling cocaine into the U.S. which led to a crack epidemic at the very same time he had so erroneously declared a war on drugs, building prisons and increasing the sentences that has resulted in the disenfranchizement of generations of mostly black would-be voters to this very day.

If you think about it it's quite remarkable. How ever did anyone so mistake-prone ever manage to fall upward all the way to the White House for two terms and still manage to be held in such high regard by so many (white) people?

No, Reagan didn't invent the Southern Strategy for the GOP to capitalize on America's bigotry for their electoral gains, but his administration just about perfected and ingrained it into the core of his party. And make no "mistake" about it, no matter what Tony Snow says otherwise, racism is still alive and well and being used as an electoral crutch by the Republican Party to this very day. The only difference I can tell is today's boogieman is starting to look less like the Civil Rights Act and more like a border fence, or rather the lack thereof.

UPDATE: Here's video of Krugman on CSpan's book TV discussing his book, The Conscience of a Liberal and Reagan & the GOP's use of race:

Big hug to uniongal/ heathr234 aka 'Heather' a fellow daily contributor to C&L for grabbing this vid for me.

I See London, I See France ...

2007-11-11T18:27:00.000-06:00

I See Bush's Inconstance.

Au revoir, mon chien caniche.

Rudy Giuliani's Right Hand Man, Bernie Kerik's Scandal Rap Sheet

2007-11-09T18:16:00.000-06:00

TPM's Ultimate Kerik Scandal List!

In Thursday's indictment:

-- Bribery. Accepted $255,000 worth of renovations to his apartment [...]
-- Tax fraud. Kerik failed to report $236,269 in rent for his Upper East Side apartment [...]
-- More tax fraud. Kerik also failed to disclose $20,000 in consulting fees from a computer software company and $75,953 in advances for writing his autobiography.
-- Even more tax fraud. Kerik failed to report his wages to his nanny (more about that below), claimed $80,000 in phony charitable contributions, and falsely claimed a home office deduction for a home he had not moved into yet.
-- False statements. Lied on application for head of Department of Homeland Security [...]

-- Deported from Saudi Arabia. [...]
-- Bringing Tammany to Rikers. Kerik was named in a 1999 civil suit alleging that correctional officers were coerced into supporting Mayor Giuliania’s campaign efforts and that those who refused or privately supported Democrats were punished or run out of their jobs.
-- Gifts from mob-tied buddy. Interstate, that mob-connected construction company hired the best man at Mr. Kerik's wedding, his good friend Lawrence Ray, on Kerik's recommendation in late 1998. Ray, who has mob ties, said he gave Kerik $7,000 worth of cash and other gifts [...]
-- 9/11 love nest. Kerik used a downtown Manhattan apartment, originally donated for the use of weary police and rescue workers who were helping at Ground Zero, for extramarital trysts with celebrity book editor Judith Regan and Jeanette Pinero, a city correction officer [...]
-- Retaliation against city employees for crossing his mistress. [...]
-- Using homicide detectives to find his other mistress's lost cell phone. [...]
-- Used city detectives as researchers for his book. Kerik was fined $2,500 by the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board in 2002 for using a police sergeant and two detectives to research his autobiography.
-- Shirked condo fees until a warrant was issued for his arrest. [..]
-- Ran prison cigarette slush fund. [...]
-- The nanny. In 2002 and 2003, Kerik failed to pay taxes for a family nanny-housekeeper who might have been in the country illegally. She returned to Mexico. [...]

And that's not all. Check it out.

Related: Greg Sargent:

Memo To Pundits: Kerik Indictment Cuts At Core Rationale Of Rudy Candidacy

53-40 Mukasey Confirmed as US Attorney General

2007-11-09T01:20:00.000-06:00

Mukasey Approved As Attorney General

The vote was 53-40, with only seven Democrats - Sens. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Evan Bayh (Ind.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Tom Carper (Del.) and Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) - voting for his confirmation.

All four Democratic presidential candidates - Sens. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.), Barack Obama (Ill.), Joe Biden (Del.) and Christopher Dodd (Conn.) - missed the vote, as did Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz..), who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. ...

"seven Democrats" with a big "D"? Funny (not), I only count six, and yet not one ~~testicle~~ vertebrae between them.

Related: House Dems Introduce Anti-Torture Bill

More Wily than Willey, Alan Colmes Rips Dissembling Clinton Accuser to Shreds

2007-11-08T14:07:00.000-06:00

On Wed when Kathleen Willey went on H&C to promote her new Hillary bashing book I'm sure she expected to be treated with the same kid gloves by the pliant media she had been accustomed to, and for his part Sean Hannity played that role as well as ever, but that all ended when it was Alan Colmes' turn.

Colmes, breaking out from his role as the strawman liberal patsy on the Republican News Network, had clearly done his homework this time and came armed with Linda Tripp’s sworn grand jury testimony that directly contradicted her claims. He then put up Independent Counsel Robert Ray's report that further damaged her credibility.

The 9 pg final report “Investigation of Allegations Made by Kathleen E. Willey” (pdf) from the Independent Council investigation of President Clinton had concluded:

Willey’s Jones deposition testimony differed from her grand jury testimony on material aspects of the alleged incident. She said at her deposition that she could not recall whether President Clinton succeeded in kissing her50 and that he did not fondle her. [...]

The Independent Counsel agreed not to prosecute Willey for any offense arising out of the investigation, including false statements in her Jones deposition, so long as she cooperated fully and truthfully with the investigation. Following that first immunity agreement, Willey gave false information to the FBI about her sexual relationship with a former boyfriend, and acknowledged having lied about it when the agents confronted her with contradictory evidence. [...]

Linda Tripp’s testimony that Willey had a previous romantic interest in President Clinton (and appeared to view his alleged advances positively) departed from Willey’s testimony. Tripp’s cooperation with this Office in the Lewinsky investigation ultimately yielded evidence about President Clinton’s conduct with Monica Lewinsky that was contrary to the President’s testimony. Thus, evidence supplied by Linda Tripp regarding Willey that was consistent with President Clinton’s testimony would likely be favorably received by a jury.*

This is the same woman who has made allegations that the Clintons had her husband killed, had her cat killed and left its skull on her porch, had her tires slashed, and more recently she claimed they had her home broken into and stole the manuscript to this tall tell-all (no, I won't link to any of that, but it's out there). I'd like to think that after this disaster of a book interview she would finally seek the professional help she desperately needs, but I won't hold my breath. Unfortunately you can bet that lots and lots more of this is what we have to look forward to if Hillary is the nominee.

FEMA Protecting Its Employees, Not Evacuees

2007-11-08T11:11:00.000-06:00

There are still 50,000 families forced to live in FEMA trailers ever since Hurricane Katrina. Trailers in which the levels of formaldehyde present in the air are so high, CBS has obtained emails that indicate the agency is prohibiting its employees from even briefly stepping inside them, and despite agency claims "that it is still working on the formaldehyde problem," it isn't.

In July the head of the agency told Congress he was working quickly to deal with the toxic formaldehyde issue.

“FEMA and the CDC are scheduled to begin Phase One of a study in the Gulf Coast within the next few weeks,” said FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison.

Now FEMA says the study has been halted - not a single trailer tested.

The stated reason: the agency says it needs to identify "action levels for responding to the results."

In other words, when FEMA finds high levels of the toxic fumes, the agency still doesn't know what to do about it.

Sadly, this is exactly what we can expect as long as the party that doesn't believe in government is heading our government. Ever since Ronald Reagan's inaugural speech when he declared “Government isn’t the solution; it is the problem,” Republicans could hardly have done more to make sure it is the case.

Bill Moyers on What's Wrong With Our Corporate Media

2007-11-03T22:51:00.000-05:00

FCC's New Attempt at Allowing Local Media Monopolies

Four years ago, without public input, the FCC rolled back 30 yr old rules that limited a single company’s ability to be able to dominate local TV, newspaper and radio media markets. Thankfully, the rules changes triggered a massive public response and through legislation and lawsuit, they were defeated. Now FCC chair Kevin Martin is attempting to do it again by trying to push through a similar set of changes allowing further media consolidation as soon as December 18.

Already there are just six companies that own most of the major sources of our information in our country: newspapers, television stations, radio stations, and cable systems. It is harmful to the public discourse and these giants are even a threat to our democracy. This time we needn't wait until after we have been sandbagged. You can help stop it from happening by contacting Congress (through Common Cause's form letter at that link or through the 'Contact Congress' widget on the right) and the FCC now to stop Kevin Martin before he gets away with slipping this one by us.

Bill Moyers then goes one further and focuses on one glaring example of how our media is already failing us today:

The Corporate Media Blackout of Anti-War Protests

BILL MOYERS: It's important who owns the press, as we've just seen and heard...but it's also important who decides what is news.

Why wasn't it news last weekend when more than 100,000 people turned out in 11 cities across the country to protest the occupation of Iraq ... but if you blinked while watching the national news, you wouldn't have known it was a story? ...(transcript)

It's no wonder why groups like Code Pink must go to such lengths to make sure the overwhelming voice of public opinion against the occupation of Iraq isn't ignored entirely. Thank goodness we at least still have Bill Moyers to help make sure that doesn't happen.

As always you can watch the full episodes on the PBS website.

Breaking: Condi Rice, Stephen Hadley and Elliot Abrams Subpoenaed in AIPAC Case

2007-11-02T14:09:00.000-05:00

AP: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior intelligence officials will be subpoenaed to discuss their conversations with pro-Israel lobbyists, a federal judge ruled Friday in an espionage case.

Lawyers for two former American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists facing espionage charges have subpoenaed Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams and several others to testify at their trial next year. Prosecutors had challenged the subpoenas in federal court.

The facts surrounding the case are complicated. Basically ...

Lawrence Anthony Franklin, a Department of Defense official, was caught red-handed giving highly classified papers to two officials, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, of AIPAC—in part, concerning U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and the war on terrorism. But from the carefully worded indictment, it is clear that a lot more may have been going on. ...(more)

If Rice, Hadley and Abrams are forced to take the stand, we're sure to find out a lot more.

CPSC Head and Toy Industry In Bed While Our Kids Suck Lead

2007-11-02T07:25:00.000-05:00

Just three days ago Speaker Nancy Pelosi was calling for Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Acting Chairman Nancy Nord to resign after she fired off a couple of letters to Congress opposing tougher legislation that would strengthen the agency she heads that is supposed to oversee the safety of consumer goods, echoing White House concerns that favored industry profits over the health and welfare of consumers, especially children in the wake of recall after recall and the revelation that the CPSC has only one full-time employee that tests toys.

Well, as it turns out, Nancy Nord should have taken Pelosi's advice and left to spend more time with her family while the getting was good. CNN had WaPo's Elizabeth Williamson on this morning to discuss her article today which reveals that Nord "and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate" while parents were buying millions of lead-tainted toys. In addition some of the trips actually "were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards."

Buh-Bye!

Raw Story Roundup

2007-11-02T02:50:00.000-05:00

BUSH: MUKASEY OR NO ATTORNEY GENERAL AT ALL
Thirty senators warn Bush has no authority on Iran
Bush to Congress: Heed Osama's warnings, not Code Pink
We don't get it: South Carolina Democrats nix Colbert bid
'Dog' Bounty Hunter show suspended for N-word rants
Attack: Bush calls out Dems, MoveOn, Code Pink in speech
RUMSFELD TOLD MILITARY 'LINK IRAQTO IRAN' 10 MONTHS BEFORE 'PROOF'
Huckabee blames Bill Clinton for rapist-murderer's release
Taxes increasingly fund religious groups
'Bearded' Osama video fake? - Cheney's dog was Sith Lord
CNN: 'Pressured' resignation in another GOP gay scandal
Students feel betrayed by Fox on climate
'Curve ball' fake informant named
blogs/media
MyDD: Plain Dealer Shoots Itself In the Foot With Blogger Firing
DKos: Child abuse allegations haunt Giuliani
HuffPo: Congresswoman's bid to ban Blackwater

Because a perfectly good raw story (or even a bad one) shouldn't just disappear down the memory hole.

The Latest GOP Gay Sex Hypocrite Scandal

2007-11-01T15:23:00.000-05:00

Proving he's no Larry Craig, this latest of three Republican officials in as many months to be caught soliciting gay sex has resigned.

If you want to know more, Pam has all the lurid details about the homophobic anti-gay voting GOP State Rep. Richard Curtis, "who "engaged in mutual sexual activities" with male escort/porn actor Cody Castagna."

Full Democratic Presidential Debate at Drexel University 10-30-07 *

2007-11-01T00:44:00.000-05:00

* All except for the final few minutes as the debate ran over its scheduled time

Also see the ABC News Iowa Democratic Debate 8-19-07

Olbermann Spanks Bush For His Pathetic Hissy Fit

2007-10-31T04:34:00.000-05:00

Bush just can't stand Congress not KowTowing to him, and he really can't stand Congressional oversight, so he went on TV Tues morning and had a tantrum about it and spewed lie after lie. Olbermann sets the record straight:

Despite all of the constant bashing of this Congress not just from Bush here, but from many on the right and the left as well, the fact is that this has been the hardest working Congress in US history despite the Republicans blocking 3 times more bills than ever before including the 8 times the GOP has blocked the Democrats efforts to end the war so far.

Presidential Candidate's Halloween Costumes - 2007

2007-10-31T04:02:00.000-05:00

A Halloween treat from tweety from his show on Sunday

''When the President Does it That Means That it is Not Illegal''

2007-10-28T05:27:00.000-05:00

BILL MOYERS: Remember "The Lives of Others" - the movie that won this year's Academy Award for best foreign language film....a story of life under East Germany's secret police. The critic Roger Ebert said: "The movie is relevant today, as our government ignores habeas corpus, practices secret torture, and asks for the right to wiretap and eavesdrop on its citizens. Such tactics, he said, did not save East Germany; they destroyed it, by making it a country its most loyal citizens could no longer believe in." You want to say it couldn't happen here but we've been close before. During the cold war with the Soviet Union and then the hot war in Vietnam, a secret government mushroomed in this country. ...(transcript)

In 1975 the Select Senate Committee headed by Sen Frank Church (D-ID) began looking into allegations first reported by Seymour Hersh in the NYT and found that the CIA, NSA, FBI and other Federal Agencies had been involved in plots to assassinate foreign leaders, the illegal storage of poisons and biological warfare agents including anthrax, the warrantless opening of mail, wiretapping, other illegal intel-gathering on US citizens, the misuse of the IRS and other illegal activities on orders from the Executive Branch. One of the ways Congress responded to try and restore checks and balances was by passing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, which established a secret court to oversee all domestic wiretapping activity.

This week Bill Moyers takes a look at the undoing of Congress' checks and balances put in place following the Church Committee hearings and the unprecedented expansion of Executive authority in the wake of 9-11. You can watch the entire episode online here.

Why Am I Not Surprised?

2007-10-27T23:08:00.000-05:00

Wannabe Catholic priest/anti-abortion activist/world's most wanted (alleged) pedophile

"A long, long way from the seminary"

Pursuing the priesthood

It's not clear why Mr. Neil chose to study for the Catholic priesthood, but he entered the Christ the King Seminary in Mission, B.C., in 1995 at the age of 20. [...]

His old friends are still dumbfounded by the turn of events.

“We heard from police that he was with a transvestite,” said Mr. Collins, his seminary classmate. “That shocked me so much. Oh my. That's a long way from seminary.”

With Friends Like These ...

2007-10-27T15:02:00.000-05:00

This week John McLaughlin takes a look at the cover story in this week's Newsweek, "The Most Dangerous Nation in the World," and much to the dismay of the Bush admin and their PR fronts like Freedom Watch, it isn't about Iran.

Today no other country on earth is arguably more dangerous than Pakistan. It has everything Osama bin Laden could ask for: political instability, a trusted network of radical Islamists, an abundance of angry young anti-Western recruits, secluded training areas, access to state-of-the-art electronic technology, regular air service to the West and security services that don't always do what they're supposed to do. (Unlike in Iraq or Afghanistan, there also aren't thousands of American troops hunting down would-be terrorists.) Then there's the country's large and growing nuclear program. "If you were to look around the world for where Al Qaeda is going to find its bomb, it's right in their backyard," says Bruce Riedel, the former senior director for South Asia on the National Security Council. ...(read on)

Unlike Iran, Pakistan never agreed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which guarantees nations "the inalienable right ... to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes." Neither did India or Israel and yet after their developing nuclear weapons they remain strong US allies (North Korea is the only other nation in the world that is not currently a signatory, but they were until Bush abandoned Clinton era agreements and safeguards and decided to name them to his "Axis of Evil"). I'm not saying they shouldn't be either, but I am saying that when Bush singles out Iran's nuclear program as a cause for WWIII, it is absolutely hypocritical. Pakistan has even been caught exporting their nuclear designs and equipment to other nations, and yet the Bush administration continues to keep a blind eye turned toward them. Sadly, maybe that's a good thing, because this administration has proven time and time again that it lacks even the most basic of diplomatic skills and has pissed away its credibility to be able to deal effectively with these sorts of problems. Hopefully the time-bomb that today is Pakistan will wait until we can elect an administration that can.

Bush's Push For a "Showdown With Iran"- PBS Frontline Documentary

2007-10-24T22:50:00.000-05:00

(cross-posted at C&L)

Tuesday night PBS Frontline aired "Showdown with Iran," which completely laid bare the failures of the Bush administration's foreign policy. While I can't urge you enough to go watch the complete episode at the PBS website, I have made a two-part highlight mashup of many of the more startling revelations.

Watch Part 1:

Despite the U.S.'s long history with Iran beginning with its overthrow of their secular democracy in 1953 and the installation of a US puppet dictator that resulted in the blowback in the form of the '79 Iranian Revolution that brought the current Islamic Republic to power largely based on its hatred of America, Iran had reached out to the U.S. after 9/11, denouncing terrorism and became an important ally of the coalition against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Iran's leaders had even tendered "a secret proposal for a grand bargain resolving all outstanding issues between the U.S. and Iran, including Iran's support for terrorism and its nuclear program" which Bushco simply ignored (or forgot?), opting instead to include them in his "Axis of Evil" on his 2002 State of the Union Address, which once again angered the nation, completely discrediting their moderate reformist leadership and ultimately helped bring the hard-line party of Ahmadinejad to power.

Much of the evidence presented in the documentary was first revealed in a heavily redacted NYT Op-Ed by Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann, both of whom are prominently featured in this PBS special. Despite the White House's attempt to muzzle them from even mentioning information, all of which had already been reported in a variety of media sources that exposed the Bush Administration's incredulous undiplomatic push to keep Iran from ever getting off its enemy list, PBS was able to gain "unprecedented access" to video footage and interviews with Iranian officials that leaves little no doubt that this administration simply refuses to accept any path that would deviate from its decade-old neo-con Middle East war plans.

Watch Part 2:

Perhaps the most damning evidence of Bushco's hell-bent-for-war-with-Iran-insanity from the film is the revelation that the Bush administration bypassed Congress and has actually been harboring a terrorist organization (that's acc'd to our State Dept) known as Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), that has killed U.S. soldiers and civilians in the past and has been utilizing them for cross border operations inside Iran. WaPo even reported that our soldiers have been playing chauffeur for some of them! What the hell ever happened to Bush's "If you harbor terrorists, you are terrorists"? Once again the proof is irrefutable that Republican hypocrisy truly knows no bounds.

Watch the entire episode on the PBS website here.

Raw Story Roundup

2007-10-24T22:39:00.000-05:00

General Claims Bush Ordered Torture
Wiretaps 'victory' for terrorists: Dodd
Gonzales could face prosecution
Cheney 'interfered directly' to get terror plea bargain
Top Democrats condemn controversial judge's confirmation
Tucker: 'I don't want to know' what US believes about 9/11
BROWNIE: NO 'HECKUVA JOB' ON WILDFIRE RESPONSE
Rice unfazed as protester waves 'bloody' hands in her face
Fox touts old memo to float 'Qaeda lit wildfires' theory
Fox, MSNBC amplify Cheney's drumbeat on Iran
Your tax bill for Bush's wars: $8000
Justice Dept's mission was to slur Dems: ex-Reagan official
CNN's Cafferty: Bush puts poor out in the cold to fund wars
Poll: 41% of Americans unable to name any GOP candidates
White House denies 'editing' testimony
Documents in question cite expert's take on health effects of global warming.
US 'mishandled' torture: Rice
Rice concedes in case of innocent Canadian sent to Syria, said to be tortured.

Because a perfectly good raw story (or even a bad one) shouldn't just disappear down the memory hole.

Bush Wants $190 Billion More For War - Bin Laden Tape Shows Up Just In Time

2007-10-22T22:02:00.000-05:00

Just last week Bush vetoed $35 billion for sick children, but now he says he needs $46 billion more for the occupation in Iraq.

“The Iraq war is now costing $330 million a day. That could pay for 1700 more border patrol agents, or provide health-care for an extra 45,000 military veterans, or the funds from just one day in Iraq would give 270,000 more kids coverage under SCHIP.”

On Wed the House will have another hearing on the long-term cost of the war. The last time the figure was $1 trillion and it’s a no-brainer the new figure is going to be much higher.

Jack Cafferty: “I’ve got a quick question Wolf. Who approves the funding for the war?

Wolf Blitzer: The United States Congress

Jack Cafferty: Oh yeah. right. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and those Democrats who were elected to do something about the war. I forgot.

Also, surprise! (not) There’s a new bin Laden tape out, this time urging al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent groups to merge forces. His timing couldn’t possibly have been any better coordinated to conveniently help boogieman Congress into getting Bush all the money he wants, could it?

h/t to B. Mundt for that last vid. lol!

What would you do?

2007-10-17T03:22:00.000-05:00

What if this was your family?

Is it any wonder why:

Not only do most Iraqis oppose the coalition forces in Iraq- they also approve of killing them.

92% of Sunnis, 62% of Shiites and 15% of Kurds approve of attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces.

It all comes down to this.

"Suppose Iraq invaded America. And an Iraqi soldier was on a tank passing through an American street waving his gun at people, threatening them and trashing houses. Would you accept that?

That is why no Iraqi can accept occupation, and don't be surprised by their reactions. Their attitudes are normal."

Above quoted from today's NYT Video Op-Ed: Know Thine Enemy

Rohrabacher: Blackwater CEO Is 'An American Hero Just Like Ollie North Was'

2007-10-10T07:57:00.000-05:00

This from ThinkProgress:

“Erik Prince is doing everything he can to help his country,” Rohrabacher said. “He could be making ten times the money without anybody calling him names.” […]

Rohrabacher did not attend the Blackwater hearing last week before Rep. Henry Waxman’s oversight committee. Rohrabacher is not a member of that panel.

He did watch it on television, and he likened it to the Iran Contra sessions at which former Col. Oliver North testified during the Reagan administration. Rohrabacher was a Reagan speechwriter.

“Prince,” Rohrabacher said, “is on his way to being an American hero just like Ollie North was.”

Hero, or criminal?
Dana Rohrabacher sure can pick'em.

Taliban leaders are "not terrorists or revolutionaries."
Media reports documenting the Taliban's harsh, radical beliefs were "nonsense."
The Taliban would develop a "disciplined, moral society" that did not harbor terrorists.
The Taliban posed no threat to the U.S.

More about Dana's mysterious pre-9-11 Taliban meeting here.