Friday night videos

I can't IMAGINE what Pachelbel would think of this Canon.

McCain embraces anti-Catholic Bigot

Glenn Greenwald has the scoop and an interview:

As I wrote about earlier today, John McCain yesterday happily received an endorsement from, and then expressed lavish gratitude towards, one of the most hateful and radical evangelical ministers in the country, Pastor John Hagee. As documented in that post, Hagee has a history of making some of the most extreme and twisted statements of any religious figure in the country towards multiple groups of Americans.

Among the many groups which McCain's new associate has targeted for hateful bigotry are Catholics. As a result, The Catholic League today issued a statement -- entitled "McCain Embraces Bigot" -- which pointed out that Hagee:

has waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church. For example, he likes calling it "The Great Whore," an "apostate church," the "anti-Christ," and a "false cult system."

The Catholic League demanded that McCain repudiate Hagee and his endorsement, just as Barack Obama did earlier this week with Louis Farrakhan (despite the fact that Obama, unlike McCain with Hagee, never sought out or accepted Farrakhan's endorsement).

How thick are the walls on that bubble?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- President Bush, saying he was unaware of predictions of $4-a-gallon gasoline in the coming months, told reporters Thursday that the best way to help Americans fend off high prices is for Congress to make his first-term tax cuts permanent.

Remember this?

"Bush said today that he would bring down gasoline prices by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude. "I would work with our friends in OPEC to convince them to open up the spigot, to increase the supply. Use the capital that my administration will earn, with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, and convince them to open up the spigot." - NY Times Jun 28, 2000

What is this? 1901?

Blood Thinner Might Be Tied to More Deaths

Everytime you turn around, there's tainted drugs, tainted meat, tainted everything. The Republicans aren't just turning the clock back to before Franklin Roosevelt - they're trying to turn it back to before TEDDY Roosevelt.

If the Government actually does anything useful, they try and stop it. They think the Government exists to take money from the working and middle class and hand it to their political and corporate cronies.

Didn't the Government used to inspect this stuff BEFORE people put it into their bodies?

More shortchanging of the soldiers

From now on, anytime you hear a Republican claim that his party supports the troops, you should laugh in his face.

Of course, you should say the same when they claim to oppose increases in Government Spending and a less powerful Federal Government, too.

On February 6th, The New York Times reported that Sioux Manufacturing, which makes the Kevlar for helmets, has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the company had shortchanged the armor in up to 2.2 million helmets for the military, including helmets used by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Defense, aware of both the problem with Sioux's helmets and the company's efforts to cover it up, awarded another contract to Sioux a mere 12 days before the lawsuit was settled. That same day, CREW sent a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees requesting an investigation into a Department of Defense $74 million contract awarded to Sioux Manufacturing.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today, “How was Sioux Manufacturing allowed to make insufficient Kevlar in the first place and then once that was exposed how could the company be awarded a new contract? Are there soldiers who would have escaped injury or death if their helmets had met government standards rather than the inferior ones produced by Sioux? Frankly, the chairs and ranking members of Armed Services, Senators Carl Levin and John McCain and Representatives Ike Skleton and Duncan Hunter cannot be permitted to take a pass on this.”

As for how it happened, I'd like to lay a bet that the principles of Sioux Manufacturing were Bush's cronies, so whether or not they actually did a good job didn't matter. What are the lives of a few dozen soldiers compared to the importance of Bush enriching his friends?

Tools? Who needs tools?

One of the amazing things about the Bush administration is their schtick that they're the guys who know how to run a war - and the United States has NEVER run a war with such total incompetence and cluelessness. EVERYBODY has done a better job than these clowns.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An investigation into allegations the Marine Corps delayed sending blast-resistant trucks to Iraq also will examine whether the Marines were negligent in delivering a laser to divert drivers and people from checkpoints and convoys, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

Marines on the front lines sought the tool, known as a Compact High Power Laser Dazzler, but stateside acquisition officials did not deliver it, a civilian Marine Corps official said. A less capable laser was eventually sent, but delays of nearly 18 months may have led to an untold number of Iraqi civilian casualties, according to allegations by the official, an internal critic whose claims are being investigated.

People have died - lots and lots of people have died - through these idiots' sheer incompetence. And not only don't they learn, they continue to fantasize that they know what they are doing.

Debate recap

Winners: Hillary and Obama.

Loser: Tim Russert.

Did McCain break the law?

You know, last night at the Question-And-Answer Session (let's face it, these things aren't "debates" in any real sense of the word), Charlie Brown Russert "challenged" Obama on taking public financing, and demonstrated that he didn't listen to the answer when asking a followup question:

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Obama, let me ask you about motivating, inspiring, keeping your word. Nothing more important. Last year you said if you were the nominee you would opt for public financing in the general election of the campaign; try to get some of the money out. You checked "Yes" on a questionnaire. And now Senator McCain has said, calling your bluff, let's do it. You seem to be waffling, saying, well, if we can work on an arrangement here.

Why won't you keep your word in writing that you made to abide by public financing of the fall election?

SEN. OBAMA: Tim, I am not yet the nominee. Now, what I've said is, is that when I am the nominee, if I am the nominee -- because we've still got a bunch of contests left and Senator Clinton's a pretty tough opponent. If I am the nominee, then I will sit down with John McCain and make sure that we have a system that is fair for both sides, because Tim, as you know, there are all sorts of ways of getting around these loopholes.

Senator McCain is trying to explain some of the things that he has done so far where he accepted public financing money, but people aren't exactly clear whether all the T's were crossed and the I's were dotted.

Now what I want to point out, though, more broadly is how we have approached this campaign. I said very early on I would not take PAC money. I would not take money from federal-registered lobbyists. That -- that was a multimillion-dollar decision but it was the right thing to do and the reason we were able to do that was because I had confidence that the American people, if they were motivated, would in fact finance the campaign.

We have now raised 90 percent of our donations from small donors, $25, $50. We average -- our average donation is $109 so we have built the kind of organization that is funded by the American people that is exactly the goal and the aim of everybody who's interested in good government and politics supports.

MR. RUSSERT: So you may opt out of public financing. You may break your word.

Don't let the facts get in your way, Tim.

But what I find astonishing is that there was no mention in this exchange of St. McCain being under FEC investigation for screwing around with campaign financing, and Russert seems totally oblivious of that fact. And Obama didn't take the opportunity to dump all over the "reformer" who is possibly in big ethical trouble.

Lapel pins

Perfect.

The Liberal Press

They appear to be determined to continue repeating every stupid piece of shit the right-wing feeds them.

I really have had this sort crap up to my eyebrows.

What I want this time is for CNN, the AP, and the rest of the media to be FLOODED with reponses from people who are absolutely furious every single time they do this.

"Observers say Castro will either be replaced by his brother Raul, or by his idiot son, Fidel W. Castro." - David Letterman

Jon Stewart at the Oscars

Asshole

Ralph Nader has announced plans to run again for the US presidency.

No other comment required.

Friday Night Video

The Piano Men: Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Fats Domino. With Ron Wood and Carl Perkins thrown in for good measure. Good Lord.

Mistake

From Think Progress:

Coburn: ‘I Think It Was Probably A Mistake Going To Iraq’

Gee whillikers, Mr. Coburn! A mistake? How could you POSSIBLY think it was a mistake? Why? Just because it failed to accomplish a single goal we claimed to have when we started it? You think that makes something a mistake?

We said there were WMDs. There were no WMDs.

We said they'd greet us as liberators. They didn't. We've lost 4000. And tens of thousands HORRIBLY wounded.

We said it would cost about a billion and a half dollars. It's going to be at least a trillion.

It didn't even get us more oil. It's caused oil prices to skyrocket.

It did not stop terrorism. It increased terrorism.

It took our attention away from where it belonged: Osama Bin Laden, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It increased Iranian influence and power.

It decreased American influence and power.

It has decimated our military.

Why on earth would you think all that means that it's a mistake?

Ok, this is unsettling.

At an Obama rally in Dallas, the Secret Service decided to stop checking people coming in for weapons. In Dallas.

Read that again.

DALLAS -- Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on.

"Sure," said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a "friendly crowd."

The Secret Service did not return a call from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

Doors opened to the public at 10 a.m., and for the first hour security officers scanned each person who came in and checked their belongings in a process that kept movement of the long lines at a crawl. Then, about 11 a.m., an order came down to allow the people in without being checked.

Several Dallas police officers said it worried them that the arena was packed with people who got in without even a cursory inspection.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because, they said, the order was made by federal officials who were in charge of security at the event.

"How can you not be concerned in this day and age," said one policeman.

WTF?

Pooooor McCain

John McCain's minions are screaming bloody murder about the MEAN MEAN NEW YORK TIMES and how they TIMED the article pointing out McCain's questionable relationship with a lobbyist.

But the fact is that the Times endorsed McCain, and, indeed, they DID time it. They timed it to hurt him AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE.

They broke the story AFTER he had the nomination sewn up. And the longest possible period of time before the General Election. This is the BEST time for this to come out, from McCain's point of view.

The fact is that they sat on it for two months because they didn't want to hurt McCain in the primary. Because they endorsed him.

They're starting...

What Mr. Greenwald mentioned in the post just below seems to be beginning:

"I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down." - Bill O' Reilly

A "LYNCHING PARTY."

And then, of course, he says he's going to LOOK for "evidence" ("We'll track it down") so, I suppose, he can then GO on a "lynching party."

It isn't POSSIBLE that Bill O'Reilly - a professional talker - is just picking an ill-chosen word. It isn't possible that he doesn't realize that the term "lynching" is racist and implies physical violence. In fact, he chose that term BECAUSE it's racist and it's his way of appealing to the racists in his audience.

What's Coming

Glenn Greenwald gives a thorough rundown.

Al Sadr may end cease fire

Sigh.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Mehdi Army cease-fire that has been credited with helping to reduce violence in Iraq since August could end soon, a spokesman for the radical cleric who heads the Shiite militia said Wednesday.

If Muqtada al-Sadr doesn't issue a statement by Saturday extending the cease-fire, the freeze will be over Sunday, said Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for the cleric.

On August 28, al-Sadr called for a temporary suspension of Mehdi Army activity, including attacks on police and rival factions. At the time, he said the six-month suspension would allow his militia to be restructured.

The U.S. military maintained Wednesday that the cease-fire has helped reduce assassinations and Shiite infighting in Baghdad and the southern Shiite heartland.

The "cease-fire has been helpful in reducing violence and has led to improved security in Iraq," Smith said in a news conference. "We would welcome the extension of the cease-fire as a positive step by the [Sadrist movement] to continue its support of rebuilding the new Iraq."

Gee, here we've been told that violence was down because we were "surging." It turns out that violence is down because this nut agreed to a cease fire so he could restructure his militia.

We're supposed to be fighting terrorists. Instead, we're fighting Iraqi rebels on behalf of the Iraqi Government.

How come this is the first time I've seen this mentioned in the American press?

Obama wins Wisconsin

CNN.

And I think Hillary really is in trouble, since the only demographic where she led was with women, and that was slim, 51%-48% (per exit polls).

I hope that Hillary doesn't do anything foolish in an attempt to win, like try and use superdelegates to actually reverse the result, or try to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan. Because, I think whatever happens, the Democrats will be pumped and united in November - unless something like that is done.

Not sure how I missed this.

But a Bush-appointed judge was arrested for drunk-driving. When arrested, he was wearing a cocktail dress, fishnet stockings, and pumps. And he had to fumble through his purse for his driver's license.

Some things just make your day.

The Clinton Rules.

Starbucks is coming to Cuba

(CBS/AP) Ailing leader Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president early Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying in a letter published online by state media that he would not accept a new term when the newly elected parliament meets on Sunday.

I imagine things are pretty wild in Miami right now.

Benny Hinn in Uganda

It would very helpful if Christians the world over denounced phony scum like this.

He actually said it.

Chris Matthews, on his latest man-crush:

"There's the feeling most people get when they hear a Barack Obama speech. I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean -- I don't have that too often!"

Bush's friends

This is the guy who Barbara Bush calls "Bandar Bush" because he's like one of the family.

Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.

Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.

Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.

Holy crap - they did it.

U.S. House finds Bolten, Miers in contempt

I guess they actually have at least one working vertebra.

McCain inspires such loyalty

One of the John McCain's top advisers says that if Obama is the nominee, he's quitting McCain's campaign.

ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: On Wednesday, a top adviser to John McCain said more definitively than he has in the past that he will step down from the Arizona senator's presidential campaign if the presumed GOP nominee faces Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in the general election.

"I would simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be inevitably attacking Barack Obama," said McCain adviser Mark McKinnon in an interview with NPR's "All Things Considered." "I think it would be uncomfortable for me, and I think it would be bad for the McCain campaign."

Let's see if they have any balls at all.

The House is voting today as to whether to hold Miers and Bolten in contempt. This is a no-brainer, even if nothing comes of it. They subpoena somebody. That person says, (in effect) "Screw you, I'm not showing up. What are you going to do about it?" Well, when people do that to a legislative body, they HAVE to do something about it, if only to assert a principle.

And how completely above the law do these people think they are? I mean, the sheer gall is astounding: "I don't have to answer a subpoena. I ONCE worked in the White House, and that means I get executive privilege." Where in the hell did THAT come from? Has anybody ever MADE such a claim before?

IF Congress actually has the stones to hold the contemptuous in contempt, Bush's D.A. will probably refuse to prosecute. But that's ok - let the nation see - again - how completely lawless the Bush Administration is. For the record of history, if for nothing else.

Modern Journalism

"With every delegate precious, Mrs. Clinton’s advisers also made it clear that they were prepared to take a number of potentially incendiary steps to build up Mrs. Clinton’s count." - New York Times

The Times apparently believes that Hillary Clinton is going to try arson.

Happy Valentine's Day

Banner by Colleen Rowley.

Less Jobs, More Wars

Pssssst....Do Something.

Click here and watch the videos.

Great slogan for the McCain campaign:

"A HUNDRED MORE YEARS!"

Glory be

A newscast actually does its job and examines Bush's claims for accuracy.



They're 7 years late, but it's about time.

Lipstick on a pig.

Lipstick? Hell, they like to pretend that the pig is Miss America.

In the latest, Bush is touting a plan to crack down on contract fraud - it will force companies to report abuse of taxpayers money. The kicker? It doesn't apply to Iraq.

"The proposed rules, which are in the final approval stages, specifically exempt "contracts to be performed outside the United States," according to a notice published last month in the Federal Register.

Critics including the watchdog group Taxpayers Against Fraud said the overseas exemption raises suspicions.


"I hate to sound cynical, but what lobbyist working for a contractor in Iraq wanted this get-out-of-jail card?" asked Patrick Burns, spokesman for the government watchdog group.

So the billions of dollars that have disappeared? FORGET THEM, they don't count. We're in debt up to our eyebrows, Bush's cronies have "lost" billions, and George W. has no interest in finding out where it is. If Contract Fraud occurs in Iraq - it didn't happen, and won't be reported. Thanks to Bush.

Now - why do you think he wouldn't want contract fraud in Iraq to be reported?

John McCain vs. John McCain

Evangelical diversity

From Thinkprogress:

Exit polls show political diversity of Evangelicals.

Throughout the primary campaign, Faith in Public Life has noted that exit polls have failed to ask Democratic voters if they are Evangelicals, while consistently asking the question of Republicans. On Feb. 5, the group took action into its own hands, commissioning exit polls in Tennessee and Missouri, which found that “one in three white evangelical voters in Missouri and Tennessee participated in Democratic primaries.” The group’s exit polls also found that “evangelical voters want a broader agenda that goes beyond abortion and same-sex marriage.”

Bush on taxes

"Most Americans feel overtaxed and I promise you the Democrat party is going to field a candidate who says I'm going to raise your tax.

"If they're going to say, oh, we're only going to tax the rich people, but most people in America understand that the rich people hire good accountants and figure out how not to necessarily pay all the taxes and the middle class gets stuck.

"We've had -- we've been through this drill before. We're only going to tax the rich and all you have to do is look at the history of that kind of language and see who gets stuck with the bill." - Bush

In the first place, it's rather frightening that a guy who holds the most powerful position in the world actually has a brain that produces this level of babbling drivel. You shouldn't raise taxes on the rich because they hire accountants? That's supposed to make sense?

In the second place, if Bush thinks that rich people use accountants to keep their taxes lower than they should be, why the hell did he cut them?

"If the Goverment is a car setting out to give every one a ride to work, then for 40 years the Republicans have been puncturing the tires, pouring sand in the gas tank, stealing the distributer cap, and, whenever they can get their hands on the wheel, driving it straight into the nearest ditch and then, pointing to the wreckage as the tow truck backs up to it, saying, See, this proves that people were meant to walk.

And they do this so that they don't have to chip in on gas." - Lance Mannion

Huckabee is challenging the Washington results

And he should. Here's why.

He who controls the present controls the past.

A study which the Army had commissioned found that the Bush administration was riddled with wishful thinking and gross incompetence.

So they buried it.

But the study’s wide-ranging critique of the White House, the Defense Department and other government agencies was a concern for Army generals, and the Army has sought to keep the report under lock and key.

A review of the lengthy report — a draft of which was obtained by The New York Times — shows that it identified problems with nearly every organization that had a role in planning the war. That assessment parallels the verdicts of numerous former officials and independent analysts.

The study chided President Bush — and by implication Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who served as national security adviser when the war was planned — as having failed to resolve differences among rival agencies. “Throughout the planning process, tensions between the Defense Department and the State Department were never mediated by the president or his staff,” it said.

The Defense Department led by Donald H. Rumsfeld was given the lead in overseeing the postwar period in Iraq despite its “lack of capacity for civilian reconstruction planning and execution.”

The State Department led by Colin L. Powell produced a voluminous study on the future of Iraq that identified important issues but was of “uneven quality” and “did not constitute an actionable plan.”

Gen. Tommy R. Franks, whose Central Command oversaw the military operation in Iraq, had a “fundamental misunderstanding” of what the military needed to do to secure postwar Iraq, the study said.

He who controls the present controls the past.

A study which the Army had commissioned found that the Bush administration was riddled with wishful thinking and gross incompetence.

So they buried it.

But the study’s wide-ranging critique of the White House, the Defense Department and other government agencies was a concern for Army generals, and the Army has sought to keep the report under lock and key.

A review of the lengthy report — a draft of which was obtained by The New York Times — shows that it identified problems with nearly every organization that had a role in planning the war. That assessment parallels the verdicts of numerous former officials and independent analysts.

The study chided President Bush — and by implication Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who served as national security adviser when the war was planned — as having failed to resolve differences among rival agencies. “Throughout the planning process, tensions between the Defense Department and the State Department were never mediated by the president or his staff,” it said.

The Defense Department led by Donald H. Rumsfeld was given the lead in overseeing the postwar period in Iraq despite its “lack of capacity for civilian reconstruction planning and execution.”

The State Department led by Colin L. Powell produced a voluminous study on the future of Iraq that identified important issues but was of “uneven quality” and “did not constitute an actionable plan.”

Gen. Tommy R. Franks, whose Central Command oversaw the military operation in Iraq, had a “fundamental misunderstanding” of what the military needed to do to secure postwar Iraq, the study said.

Obama won Maine.

Hillary's campaign manager just quit.

I think Hillary is seriously worried. They are about tied in delegates, but the momentum is all Obama's.

Sweep

It looks like Obama took a clean sweep of today's caucuses, and now I think that Hillary is in real trouble.

Huckabee might wind up sweeping, too. He wouldn't actually win, of course, but it would weaken and already weak McCain.

The Democrats have an ad, if they want one

Bush: McCain will best carry out my agenda.

Just what America wants: someone to carry out Bush's agenda.

BTW, there are caucuses today in Nebraska, Kansas, and Washington; and a primary in Louisiana. Maine has a caucus tomorrow.

He has a point

Bin Laden, Omar not operating in Pakistan-official

A senior U.S. administration official told reporters in Washington Bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri and others were operating out of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan has consistently denied that the militant leaders were on its territory since they disappeared when U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban in Afghanistan for refusing to hand over bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiqsaid if a U.S. official had information on the whereabouts of the wanted militants he should tell Pakistan.

"If there is any actionable intelligence it should be shared with the government of Pakistan so that they can be neutralised," Sadiq said. "You don't talk to the media if you have information like this."

Yeah, good point. If the Bush administration has information about Bin Laden being in Pakistan, why are they telling it to the media? And NOT sharing what they know with Pakistan?

It wouldn't be because the claim has more to with PR than reality, would it>

How unusual: Congress debates

House Dems, GOP to launch debates this month

House Democrats and Republicans have agreed to begin a series of debates this month between members to focus attention on national issues facing the nation and show that Washington can rise above the partisan animosity.

“These debates will enable Republicans and Democrats to discuss our differences without being disagreeable, and our policy differences without being partisan,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “I look forward to the battle of ideas, not insults.”

Dear Idiots In Congress:

One of the purposes of Congress is to debate "national issues facing the nation." (Nice redundancy, BTW.)

If debating the "national issues facing the nation" seems novel to you, it's because you don't do that anymore. During discussion, none of you are actually there, or you're talking to the cameras instead of each other.

You're looking for an opportunity to challenge one another over "national issues facing the nation"? How about doing that IN CONGRESS where you are SUPPOSED TO?

If you want to make it REALLY, REALLY clear that you aren't doing your jobs, one way to do that is to form a debating society because IT'S A NOVELTY TO DISCUSS THINGS rather than ACTUALLY DEBATING in the venue where you are SUPPOSED to debate and where the outcome actually MATTERS.

What worthless morons.

"Pimped out."

"Pimping" Chelsea Crack Gets NBC's Shuster Suspended

Talking about ex-First Daughter Chelsea Clinton on the campaign trail [David] Shuster said it was "a little bit unseemly to me that Chelsea's out there calling up celebrities, saying support my mom, and she's apparently also calling these super delegates," in a conversation with Bill Press. Then he said "Doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?"

You know, my problem isn't with phrase "pimped out." True, it's damned distasteful, but it's just a phrase. What I find ridiculous and offensive is the press taking perfectly normal activity - in this case, a family member helping with a campaign - and implying that it's somehow corrupt, questionable - "unseemly." Why does the media CONSTANTLY do this with the Clintons? And NOBODY else?

Hillary Clinton's daughter is helping out with her mother's campaign. So? Why does this jackass Shuster seem to think that there's something wrong and "unseemly" about that?

Neat picture

Domingo Pianezzi surfing with his cat Nicolasa off San Bartolo beach, south of Lima, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008.

A Tortured Explanation from the White House.

From True Majority

If you're a disabled soldier returning from Iraq or Afghanistan and need a hand filling out the paperwork for your benefits, don't bother asking the Department of Veteran Affairs. They won't help.

That's because last year Army officials instructed representatives from the VA at Fort Drum, NY not to help veterans with their disability paperwork because there was a "conflict of interest."¹ Soldiers that get help from the VA tend to get higher disability ratings...which means that the government owes them more money. And within the Bush administration's corporate worldview, that just doesn't work. After all, they've got their buddies to pay. Tell Secretary of the Army Geren that this is not acceptable and sign our petition today.

Secretary Geren: Disabled soldiers should get all the help they need

http://act.truemajorityaction.org/t/53/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=45

The soldiers say they feel betrayed and Americans should be outraged. These are men and women who have fought for our country and deserve better.

Unbelievable,

Ben Kroetz
TrueMajority.org Online Organizer

1. "Document Shows Army Blocked Help for Soldiers," NPR Morning Edition, February 7, 2008

Heh.

From the Huffington Post:



Fox News identified John McCain as a Democrat.

Reagan's 11th Commandment

Many of the current woes being experienced by the modern Republican Party spring from the philosophy and teaching of their Great Saint - Ronald of Hollywood.

What Reagan did that is now hurting the Republican Party was devising a philosophy whose purpose was the holding of political power - a seemingly innocuous, but really repulsive idea - his famous "11th Commandment" which is quoted approvingly again and again by today's Republicans: "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."

They LOVE that statement; they repeat it, promulgate it and adhere to it.

But think about the moral bankruptcy of it: don't speak ill of a fellow Republican? No matter WHAT he does? That's an open claim that Party is more important than Right and Wrong. Party is a higher principle than morals, a higher principle than decency, a higher principle than the good of America. And that's what Republicans claim as a commandment.

And in the last few years, they have, indeed, as a united body REFUSED to speak ill of some of the most disgusting actions ever taken by any politician in the history of America. He was a Republican, and therefore not to be criticized. Spending like a drunken sailor on leave? "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican." Spying on Americans without a warrant? "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican." Torturing prisoners? "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican." Lying and falsifying so you can have excuse to kill hundred of thousands of people? "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."

And all those actions are now around their whole party's neck like an albatross. They corporately own them.

They decided that Party was a substitute for ethics, morals, honesty and decency. They decided that the route to power was to make Party more important than America.

And Americans, rightly, reject such a cancerous philosophy like the tumor that it is.

Eddie Haskell drops out of the race.

I'm crushed.

Look. Actual News.

The below is from Monkeyfister, who has been feverishly blogging the devastation caused by the tornadoes in the South. As he points out, the obsession with Super Tuesday and the inability of our broken news media to cover more than one big story at a time has caused a huge disaster to be almost ignored.

Whilst we're waiting for George's Promised Prayers to roll in, down here in the Tornado-Stricken Mid-South, I might recommend some DIRECT HUMAN INTERACTION.

This Is My Best First Start To Help My Region.

As Scout Prime is to NOLA, I am, suddenly, to the Mid-South area (I LIVE here, and was Live-Blogging these horrible storms all night), and have started to get the help-ball rolling down here. Some of you know where I work. I started a Food Drive there today for the Mid-South United Way Food Bank.

As the area affected is so broad and detached, and everyone in the Country was distracted by politics last night, as yet, there is no central assistance hub set-up. So, at the link, above, you'll find the two agencies with the broadest radius to help the area right now. Both take DIRECT donations.

A small-blog swarm on that post (or this comment) would be greatly appreciated by more people than just me. I can't describe how wide-spread the damage is down here. It's enormous. The Media, per usual, is only just now waking up to the situation, after their Super-Duper-Let's-All-Wet-Our-Pants-Together- Tuesday Political Hangover. Like NOLA, these are REALLY poor folks down here, and have nothing, and nowhere to go.

A short post about this at YOUR Blog, linking either to my post, above, or directly to the two Orgs mentioned in the post above, would sure be a big help, and would be greatly appreciated by many people who are relying on help. They are all that we have right now.

I just donated a deer's worth of ground venison, along with the 100 pounds of rice and quart-sized ziplock bags that they said that they needed at the United Way Mid-South Food Bank, when I phoned them this morning. Their pantry is BARE, and I'll be loading them up with all the potatoes, rice, veggies, bags, and other staples that I can fit in my truck tomorrow.

This is serious Red State country, and a flood of help from the DFH Left would REALLY make a big difference in a number of good ways.

I thank you all in advance.

Click Here for more about what's going on down here. It's all that I am writing about right now. Help is needed.

Your humble peer,

Monkeyfister

They don't even pretend to care.

Republicans block Senate plan to boost economy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans on Wednesday narrowly blocked a Democratic-backed economic stimulus plan valued at about $157 billion that would have provided benefits for the long-term unemployed and expanded proposed tax rebates to include retirees and disabled veterans.

With the awareness that it looks like their days are numbered, the Republicans have stopped even pretending to represent anyone but the rich. They've ceased even paying their usual lip-service to lower- and working- classes.

In their angusih, they're pulling the mask off and showing everyone the horrible face underneath.

This is so fun.

Comments from the right-wing lunatics at Free Republic regarding John McCain being their likely nominee, and saying that the conservatives should "calm down":

Sorry, Senator, but we’re not rolling over for you and your RINO policies.
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Bite me, John. You're not getting my vote.
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What a pompous POS
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Yeah, I’ll calm down.

I’ll be so calm in November as to not go near the poling place.
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Calm down and agree on "something"? O.K. sure. I think we can all agree with McCain isn't qualified to be the town dog catcher.
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We'll NEVER vote for him!
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This clown makes me want to vomit.
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Most people I know agree that you suck, Juan.
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I’m perfectly calm, John, and you’re still not getting my vote.
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Blow it out your ass, McCain.
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Message to McCain: I’m 48 and I’ve been a Conservative Republican for 30 years. I will NEVER, EVER vote for a liberal, lying, treasonous, worthless son of a bitch like you.
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“I do hope that at some point we would just calm down a little bit and see if there’s areas we can agree on,” McCain said.”

Like what area of our back is most sensitive to the McCain dagger???
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What a condescending sob.
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A lot of issues we can agree on? LOL. It will be bitter sweet but nice to watch your presidential aspirations go down in flames come November.
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SCREW YOU MCCAIN

Heh.

Letterman on Romney

"Mitt Romney doesn't look like a president, he looks like a ringmaster … Mitt looks like the guy at a party who gives you his card. … Mitt Romney looks like the guy who says to the contestant, 'We're out of time, can you come back tomorrow? ... He looks like the spokesman for senior lending networks. ... He looks like the guy who promises accident victims he'll get the money they deserve. ... He looks like a guy who would run a seminar on condo flipping ... He looks like the photo that comes with the frame. --David Letterman

I don't know, I kind of like the idea of Hillary and Obama going right down to the wire.

And I herewith predict that between now and November, John McCain will say or do something godawful stupid in public, and just have a public meltdown.

Clinton, Obama ad Insurance

Krugman

Heh.

Good start to the day..

N.J. governor can't vote because of poll problems
2/5/2008, 6:36 a.m. EST
The Associated Press

HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's governor is having problems voting in the state's presidential primary.

Jon S. Corzine was scheduled to cast his ballot at 6:15 a.m at the Hoboken Fire Department Engine Company No. 2. But the two machines aren't working and it's not clear why.

Look, up in the sky.

Or Look! There! On the Calendar! It's Constitution Day! It's Mardi Gras! It's SUPER TUESDAY!

Super Tuesday, which can change the course of the election, and bend the pundits in its bare hands.

If you have an election today, go vote. Please God, let the best person win, for once.

And since it IS Constitution Day and Mardi Gras, it might be nice to remember the Constitution and the folks in New Orleans when you vote.

The sick and the old finance the rich.

"We have no choice except to defund help for the poor - we've spent all the money on shit."

"In addition to freezing scored of programs, Bush proposed cutting some some 22 percent of the funding for the program that helps poor families pay to heat their homes."

Let the rich keep the tax cuts.

Spend lots more money on killing people.

Pay for it on the backs of the poor.

Bush projects that the deficit will decline rapidly starting in 2010 and will achieve a $48 billion balance in 2012.

But Democrats said that forecast was based on flawed math that only included $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009 and no money after that and also failed to include any provisions after this year for keeping the alternative minimum tax, originally aimed at the wealthy, from ensnaring millions of middle-class taxpayers. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that fixing the AMT in 2012 would cost $118 billion, more than double the surplus Bush is projecting for that year.

Even some Republicans faulted Bush's budget sleight of hand.

"They've obviously played an inordinate number of games to try to make it look better," Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Budget Committee, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"Let's face it. This budget is done with the understanding that nobody's going to be taking a long, hard look at it," said Gregg, R-N.H.

Worst. President. Ever.

Would this apply to fat State Senators?

Mississippi is introducing a bill banning restaurants from serving obese people.

I'm not making this up.

Apparently, this would apply even if they order a salad or something.

Ummm....Idiots In The Legislature? Obese people DO still need food.

Obama Video

Which must be seen.

More like this

Why haven't Democrats been saying this for the last twenty years?

Question (to Hillary and Obama):"Neither one of you has ever run a business. So why should either of you be elected to be CEO of the country?"

Hillary: "I would, with all due respect, say that the United States government is much more than a business. It is a trust. It is the most complicated organization, but it is not out to make a profit. It is out to help the American people. It is about what we do to stand up for our values and to do what we should at home and around the world to keep faith with who we are as a country. With all due respect, we have a president who basically ran as the 'CEO/MBA President' and look what we got! I am not too happy about the results."

The Edwards Effect

If Krugman is right, and John Edwards forced the other two to actually stand for something other than pure politics, he's owed a giant "thank you."

So John Edwards has dropped out of the race for the presidency. By normal political standards, his campaign fell short.

But Mr. Edwards, far more than is usual in modern politics, ran a campaign based on ideas. And even as his personal quest for the White House faltered, his ideas triumphed: both candidates left standing are, to a large extent, running on the platform Mr. Edwards built.

Over There

Baghdad bombs kill at least 64