Ben Huggins, Monty Colvin, Alan Doss and Wally Farkas recorded this video in Minneapolis, MN on 10/19/98 (yes, I was there)
Rough-up man asking questions about Allen's sealed divorce documents, allegedly to include charges he spit on his now ex-wife...
TPM Cafe lists the four most recent polls that all show Webb surging ahead of embattled George "Macaca" Allen...
Rasmussen = Webb by 5%
Zogby = Webb by 4%
CNN = Webb by 4%
GHY Research Group = Webb by 4%
Former Bush White House speech writer Paul Burgess confesses his hatred for...
...the deranged, lying left, Cindy Sheehan, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Ward Churchill, Nicholas De Genova, Kevin Barrett, Ted Turner, the executives at CNN, Howard Dean, and Democrats.
nod to Eric Alterman
Today's subjects include the White House's involvement in stem cell research, along with claims that Bush has "actually taken the lead" when it comes to climate change (global warming)...
Think Progress has the video...
Claims a tax break of some $224k...
More than a decade after the Save Our Homes tax cap took effect, the biggest winners are high rollers in exclusive neighborhoods and lakefront and seaside estates.
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On the coast in Palm Beach County, singer Jimmy Buffett and his talk-show neighbor Rush Limbaugh each get a tax break of about $224,000.
Factcheck.org crunches the numbers, which show exactly how desperate and unprincipled the GOP has become...
Republican Mudslinging On An Industrial Scale
Both political parties are functioning in the 2006 House races as factories for attack ads, but the National Republican Campaign Committee's work stands out this year for the sheer volume of assaults on the personal character of Democratic House challengers.
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However, the DCCC ads generally attack Republican candidates on policy issues or their performance in office – accusing them of casting votes favorable to drug or oil companies, or of supporting President Bush's unpopular policies in Iraq or on Social Security.
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Here we focus on the NRCC's ads, which are much more likely to demean an opponent's character. That's the very definition of political mudslinging.
Well.. maybe not quite that long. But the people on the ground say the 12-18 month milestone for Iraqi police to be fully trained could be "decades" off...
The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., predicted last week that Iraqi security forces would be able to take control of the country in 12 to 18 months. But several days spent with American units training the Iraqi police illustrated why those soldiers on the ground believe it may take decades longer than Casey's assessment.
Seventy percent of the Iraqi police force has been infiltrated by militias, primarily the Mahdi Army, according to Shaw and other military police trainers. Police officers are too terrified to patrol enormous swaths of the capital. And while there are some good cops, many have been assassinated or are considering quitting the force.
"None of the Iraqi police are working to make their country better," said Brig. Gen. Salah al-Ani, chief of police for the western half of Baghdad. "They're working for the militias or to put money in their pocket."
Her church believes the Pope is the antichrist...
Liberal blogs are abuzz with claims that the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the parent of Bachmann's church, holds that the pope is the antichrist.
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The Rev. Jonathan Brohn, co-pastor at Bachmann's church, Salem Lutheran in Stillwater, said the synod views the antichrist -- or "antichrists," as the Bible sometimes refers to -- as "someone who stands in the place of Christ."Luther saw the office of the papacy as falling into this role because it stands between man and God and tries to take too much authority from God," Brohn said.
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The synod's website (www.wels.net) includes this statement: "We thereby affirm that we identify this 'antichrist' with the papacy as it is known to us today.
Media Matters has the memo showing the USPS and US Navy specifically request their commercials don't air during any Air America programs...
Our Republican-controlled government is spending millions of tax dollars telling adults not to have sex...
Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.
Abramoff strikes another blow against the GOP...
A Republican media consultant and friend of indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff recently wrote a letter to a Montana newspaper saying Burns' staff ate so many free meals at Abramoff's restaurant, people joked they would have "starved to death" without the lobbyist.
"Frankly, it was widely viewed in D.C. that Mr. Abramoff effectively exerted implicit control over Mr. Burns whenever he and his team needed to get something accomplished," reads the letter, which was sent to the Whitefish Pilot last week.
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The author, Monty Warner, a GOP media consultant, told the Gazette State Bureau last week that he came across an article in the Pilot recently in which Burns is quoted as saying he only got $5,000 from Abramoff. That, combined with Burns' other statements in which he says he hardly knew Abramoff and, at one point, he wished Abramoff had never been born, compelled him to write the letter, Warner said.
TPM Muckraker has the story of Jason Torchinsky, a former Bush/Cheney campaign counsel who has formed a "progressive" non-profit group that is working to drain support for Democratic senatorial candidate Bob Casey in Pennsylvania..
Stevie Ray Vaughan live from New Orleans...
Multiple warrants were issued for his arrest -- Allen's not talking...
Senatorial candidate Michael Steele is behind by double digits, and Corker is suffering from he backlash of his racist ads. It's no wonder they're scraping the bottom of the dirty-tricks barrel to turn things around...
Talking Points Memo has the goods...
George "Macaca" Allen attacked Webb by charging that his fictional novels are an indicator of his character.. apparently unaware that one novel is singled out as required reading by the Marine Corps...
Republican Rep-turned gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibbons enthusiastically announces that a supposedly non-existent surveillance tape that just appeared shows that he was never in the parking garage that he previously claimed he was in at the time of his alleged assault of a cocktail waitress...
TPM Muckraker has the goods...
Chicago Transit Authority -- the late, great Terry Kath...
[youtube]NmX23l0ouo8[/youtube]
Dubya at his finest.. courtesy of David Letterman
Issued signing statement overriding Congress's stipulation that future FEMA Directors must have experience...
President Bush reserved the right to ignore key changes in Congress's overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- including a requirement to appoint someone with experience handling disasters as the agency's head -- in setting aside dozens of provisions contained in a major homeland security spending bill this week.
Besides objecting to Congress's list of qualifications for FEMA's director, the White House also claimed the right to edit or withhold reports to Congress by a watchdog agency within the Department of Homeland Security that is responsible for protecting Americans' personal privacy.
Still waiting on an explanation of what he meant by "dunk in the water".. but apparently Cheney believes it's been instrumental in interrogations of top terror suspects...
In the interview on Tuesday, Scott Hennen of WDAY Radio in Fargo, N.D., told Cheney that listeners had asked him to "let the vice president know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we're all for it, if it saves American lives."
"Again, this debate seems a little silly given the threat we face, would you agree?" Hennen said.
"I do agree," Cheney replied, according to a transcript of the interview released Wednesday. "And I think the terrorist threat, for example, with respect to our ability to interrogate high-value detainees like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that's been a very important tool that we've had to be able to secure the nation."
Cheney added that Mohammed had provided "enormously valuable information about how many (al-Qaida members) there are, about how they plan, what their training processes are and so forth. We've learned a lot. We need to be able to continue that."
"Would you agree that a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?" asked Hennen.
"It's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president `for torture.'
Two former House committee investigators who were examining Capitol Hill security upgrades said a senior aide to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert hindered their efforts before they were abruptly ordered to stop their probe last year.
The former Appropriations Committee investigators said Ted Van Der Meid, Hastert’s chief counsel, resisted from the start the inquiry, which began with concerns about mismanagement of a secret security office and later probed allegations of bid-rigging and kickbacks from contractors to a Defense Department employee.
Ronald Garant and a second Appropriations Committee investigator who asked not to be identified said Van Der Meid engaged in “screaming matches” with investigators and told at least one aide not to talk to them. Van Der Meid also prohibited investigators from visiting certain sites to check up on the effectiveness of the work, the investigators said.
nod to TPM Muckraker
In other news, sun rises in the East...
The Halliburton subsidiary that provides food, shelter and other logistics to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan exploited federal regulations to hide details on its contract performance, according to a report released Friday.
The special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction found that Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root Services routinely marked all information it gave to the government as proprietary, whether it was or not. The government promises not to disclose proprietary data so a company's most valuable information is not divulged to its competitors
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Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, said that in 13 oversight hearings on the war in Iraq the committee found more than $1 billion in waste, fraud, abuse and what it called "shoddy work" by contractors."I'm convinced that this is the most significant waste, fraud and abuse in the history of this country," Dorgan said.
If the Democrats take control of the Senate, he said, they will launch oversight hearings on war matters ranging from faulty intelligence leading up to the war to wrongdoing by contractors.
TPM Muckraker has tons of info on the alleged assault, shifting explanations, the police report and the subsequent attempts at covering-up the scandal...
If his "Reagan Defense" during the Foleygate investigation isn't proof, his attempt at smearing Pelosi should suffice...
Think Progress has the story of Hastert loudly proclaiming Pelosi as NEVER been to the border, followed closely with a picture of Pelosi posing with border guards...
Claims Cheney's statement of dunking terrorism suspects was not in regards to waterboarding -- but couldn't explain what he meant...
The White House said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney was not talking about a torture technique known as "water boarding" when he said dunking terrorism suspects in water during questioning was a "no-brainer."
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President Bush, asked about Cheney's comments, said, "This country doesn't torture. We're not going to torture."
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In an interview Tuesday with WDAY of Fargo, North Dakota, Cheney was asked if "a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives."The vice president replied, "Well, it's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there I was criticized as being the vice president for torture. We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in."
Peppered with questions about the remarks, Snow said Cheney did not interpret the question as referring to water boarding and the vice president did not make any comments about water boarding. He said the question put to Cheney was loosely worded.
The administration has repeatedly refused to say which techniques they believe are permitted under the new law. Asked to define a dunk in water, Snow said, "It's a dunk in the water."
The "genius" of Rove is nothing more than gutter politics...
- Opponent used taxpayer money for phone sex line (wrong number cost taxpayers $1.25)
- Supports man/child sex (opponent is a psychologist who objected to statement saying child abuse victims are unable to have a healthy relationship in adulthood)
- Opponent associated with a killer/rapist (the attorney for the killer/rapist had previously done work for candidate)
- Opponent supports abortion of black babies (the infamous "hos" ad)
- Opponent (black) is attracting white women (went to a Playboy Superbowl Party, along with many conservatives, including Bill Oh Really)
Of course, the False Balance Media had to counter the sleazy Republican ads with factual, issue ads run by Democrats, including the Michael J Fox ads, and an ad by Chris Carney reminding voters that his "Family Values" opponent (Republican Rep Don Sherwood) admitted to having a mistress, but denied her claim that he choked her.
The Abramoff scandal racks up another Republican casualty...
David Safavian, was sentenced in federal court today to 18 months in federal prison. Safavian, a former top White House procurement official, and also the one-time chief of staff of the General Services Administration, was convicted in June of lying to investigators about his dealings with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
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Hundreds of e-mails presented at his trial showed how Abramoff showered Safavian with trips and other perks while constantly peppering him for inside information about GSA-controlled property the lobbyist wanted -- including the historic Old Post Office in downtown Washington.Safavian's convictions stems from his statements to GSA ethics officials and FBI investigators about a 2002 golf junket to Scotland he attended along with Abramoff, Rep Bob Ney, and former Christian Coalition head, Ralph Reed.
Macaca must be desperate, using fictional passages to damage Webb's image among female voters...
The bitter Senate campaign in Virginia turned uglier Friday when the Republican incumbent pulled up sexual passages from novels written by his Democratic opponent, who called the move baseless character assassination.
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"I mean we can go and read Lynne Cheney's lesbian love scenes if you want to, you know, get graphic on stuff," he said.
CNN just aired Rush's "apology", where he said he would apologize to Michael J. Fox "if" he was wrong when he accused him of acting. Apparently a conditional apology is all that Wolf needs to call things even. Jeebus...
Steve Vai Live in Minneapolis, Minnesota -- 11/2/96 (I was there, 11th row)
Crooks and Liars has the sickening video from Olbermann's show...
As mentioned earlier, ABC has announced their intentions to "balance" their coverage in a quest to prove to conservatives that ABC News doesn't have a liberal bias. After broadcasting a story on the evening news declaring "both sides" are involved in campaign mudslinging, they followed up with a story on Nightline highlighting the rash of Republican sleaze ads, noting that "Democrats aren't necessarily running clean campaigns", yet failing to produce any Democratic-generated sleaze ads...
Media Matters again has the story...
Exxon posted the second largest profit ever by a publicly-traded company, trailing only their own profit from the 4th quarter of last year...
Oil industry behemoth Exxon Mobil’s earnings rose to $10.49 billion in the third quarter, the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company. Its share price briefly rose to a 52-week high.
The report Thursday comes as high crude prices this year have fueled record profits in the oil industry, triggering an outcry from consumers who were being asked to pay about $3 a gallon for gasoline in early August.
The largest quarterly profit ever was Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $10.71 billion profit in the fourth quarter of 2005.
The company may beat that next quarter, said Howard Silverblatt Standard & Poor’s Senior Index Analyst. “Then in all likelihood they will be at that $40 billion mark for the year.”
If only we had a president who could "jawbone" oil producers to lower their prices...
The woman who claims was assaulted by Gibbons now claims he tried to bribe her to drop the charges...
A woman who says she was assaulted and propositioned by a Republican congressman running for Nevada governor said Wednesday she was physically threatened, pressured and offered money to drop her accusations and change her story.
A negative campaign ad against Harold Ford Jr. that critics have denounced as having racist overtones will continue airing in the Chattanooga area, despite the head of the Republican National Committee’s statement today that the ad was off the air.
Bush made a big deal about his signing of a bill to "authorize" a security fence. Problem is, the Secure Fence Act doesn't include dedicated funding for an actual fence...
Think Progress has the story...
Says waterboarding has been used and is a "no-brainer" for him....
Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al-Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called "water-boarding," which creates a sensation of drowning.
Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn't regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. "It's a no-brainer for me," Cheney said at one point in an interview.
Cheney's comments, in a White House interview on Tuesday with a conservative radio talk show host, appeared to reflect the Bush administration's view that the president has the constitutional power to do whatever he deems necessary to fight terrorism.
The U.S. Army, senior Republican lawmakers, human rights experts and many experts on the laws of war, however, consider water-boarding cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment that's banned by U.S. law and by international treaties that prohibit torture. Some intelligence professionals argue that it often provides false or misleading information because many subjects will tell their interrogators what they think they want to hear to make the water-boarding stop.
Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker replaces one racist ad with one that's even more racist - jungle drums and all...
TPM Cafe has the audio...
Media Matters has the story of ABC News reporting on the ugliness of campaign commercials, and, unable to cite any examples of "nasty" commercials from Democratic candidates, proclaim it's just a matter of time before they "unleash its garbage as well."
Audioslave (Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk)performing Cochise...
Iraqi PM angry about crackdown on death squads...
U.S. and Iraqi forces raided the stronghold of a Shiite militia led by a radical anti-American cleric in search of a death squad leader, but the deadly operation was quickly disavowed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki, who relies on political support from the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said the strike against a figure in al-Sadr’s Mahdi militia in Sadr City “will not be repeated.”
Keep digging that hole deeper, Rush...
Possibly worse than making fun of someone's disability is saying that it's imaginary. That is not to mock someone's body, but to challenge a person's guts, integrity, sanity.
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"Anyone who knows the disease well would regard his movement as classic severe Parkinson's disease," said Elaine Richman, a neuroscientist in Baltimore who co-wrote "Parkinson's Disease and the Family." "Any other interpretation is misinformed."
New DNC Ad -- What "Stay The Course" has gotten us..
Illegal Domestic Spying Cartoon -- They're listening...
Reason Number Seventy-Three To Vote Democrat - Tuition continues to rise, available government aid continues to decline...
Endangered Indiana Republican Rep John Hostettler plays the "gay" card a new ad...
An embattled Indiana congressman has launched a new campaign ad that warns a vote for his Democratic opponent could trigger a shift in House leadership and advance a “homosexual agenda.”
In the one-minute radio ad paid for by Friends of Rep. John Hostettler, an announcer impersonating Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” character says a vote for challenger Brad Ellsworth would be a vote for California Democrat Nancy Pelosi as House speaker.
“Pelosi will then put in motion her radical plan to advance the homosexual agenda, led by Barney Frank, reprimanded by the House after paying for sex with a man who ran a gay brothel out of Congressman Frank’s home,” the narrator says.
Newsweek's Jonathan Alter in defense of the Michael J. Fox ad..
He's been too busy fighting off calls for his resignation to campaign to keep his job...
Sidelined by scandal, House Speaker Dennis Hastert has been largely absent from the campaign trail this month as Democrats mount their strongest challenge in a decade to the Republicans' grip on the House.
Doyle Bramhall II, Charlie Sexton, Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon on Austin City Limits
MSNBC had video of Hastert looking pretty grim as he headed in to testify...
Breaking...
Afterall, Democrats were labelled Defeat-ocrats when they suggested setting timelines and benchmarks for withdrawal...
U.S. officials said Tuesday Iraq’s government has agreed to develop a timeline for progress by the end of the year, and Iraqi forces should be able to take full control of security in the country in the next 12 to 18 months with “some level” of American support.
Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, also said he felt the United States should continue to focus on drawing down the number of American forces in the country, adding that he would not hesitate to ask for more troops if he felt they were necessary.
I believe this is another example of Bush Flip-flopping..
Claims Michael J. Fox was "off his meds" or acting for the Claire McCaskill ad.
"And in this commercial, he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He is moving all around and shaking. And it's purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has."
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"folks, this is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting, one of the two."
Media Matters has the goods...
Another Republican headed to court for inappropriate actions. Coincidentally, it's the same Congressman who's page was the target of Mark Foley's advances..
"Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), already enmeshed in the ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) page scandal, now faces a new controversy as a former staffer has sued his office for sexual harassment.
TPM Muckraker has the story...
Crooks and Liars has the video and the transcript...
So that leaves two options, Mr. President: the first option, you and your Department of Homeland Security don't have the slightest idea what you're doing here. Thus, contrary to your flip-flopping between saying, "we're safe" and saying, "but we're not safe enough", and contrary to the Vice President's swaggering pronouncements about the lack of another attack since 9/11, the last five years HAS been just an accident.
Or there's the second option: your political operatives leaked this nonsense for the same reason your political operatives put out that commercial. To scare the gullible.
Obviously, the correct answer, Mr. Bush, is: all of the above.
Claims Afghanistan is in no danger from the Taliban, despite expert opinion to the contrary...
Think Progress has the video..
So says US News and World Report...
The FBI and Justice Department appear to be expanding their probe into the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in hopes of nabbing another member of Congress and aides, according to sources involved in the case. . . .
"We thought it was wrapping up, but they've indicated that it is really about to expand," said one source involved in the case. "It's not ending anytime soon or even when he goes to jail."
It makes sense, since the FBI provided Abramoff with his own desk...
Jack Abramoff, the lobbying scandal figure, has become such a chatty rat that probe insiders say he's been given a desk to work at in the FBI. We're told he spends up to four hours a day detailing his shady business to agents eager to nail more congressmen in the scandal. And when cooperative witnesses spend that much time inside, they get a desk.
Another prominent Republican breaks rank and calls for change...
Just two weeks before the Nov. 7 elections that will determine whether Republicans retain control of Congress, the White House tried to calm political anxieties about deteriorating security in Iraq. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers are calling on President Bush to change his war plan.
"We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an Associated Press interview.
Two weeks before the election, and to the most endangered Republican battleground...
The first federal bonuses to reward teachers who raise student test scores have gone to four of Ohio’s biggest, poorest and most academically challenged districts — where teacher pay is already well above the state average.
The bonuses, totaling $20 million over five years, were announced Monday, just two weeks before the challenging election for Republicans. They were the first of 16 state grants that the Bush administration is doling out this year, which will total $42 million. South Carolina also is to receive grants but the other states that will benefit haven’t been announced.
Republican Rep Tom Reynolds, on the brink of losing his House seat, claims he warned Hastert last Spring, several months before Hastert claims to have been alerted..
Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., who entered the House ethics committee chambers Tuesday morning, has said he warned Speaker Dennis Hastert about Foley last spring.
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The speaker has said he can't recall the Reynolds warning, and has contended he doesn't remember having a separate conversation about Foley earlier this year with Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. Boehner not only recalls speaking with Hastert, but said the speaker told him the page's complaint "had been taken care of."
Republican incumbent threatens physical abuse against her wheelchair-bound opponent...
Immediately after the lights and cameras shut down, incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin walked to Libertarian candidate Thomas Rankin, who had criticized her for receiving contributions from former House Speaker Tom Delay, R-Texas.
"'If you weren't sitting in that chair, I'd slap you across the face,'" Cubin told Rankin, he said Monday.
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He is disabled with multiple sclerosis and uses an electric wheelchair, he said.The Cubin campaign did not deny the exchange on Monday.
"He misrepresented her and insulted her integrity during the debate," Cubin spokesman Eric Cullen said, reading from a prepared statement.
Kristoff also breaks down the long-term costs of disabled soldiers, equipment replacement, retention bonuses, etc
Our poor example of detainee treatment is now being used as an excuse by other nations for their mistreatment of prisoners...
Several governments around the world have tried to rebut criticism of how they handle detainees by claiming they are only following the U.S. example in the war on terror, the U.N. anti-torture chief said Monday.
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"Today, many other governments are kind of saying, 'But why are you criticizing us, we are not doing something different than what the United States is doing?'"
Just announced...
Update: 24 years and 4 months, to be precise. Also, $60 million in restitution, $15 of which will go towards attorney fees.
King's X performing Dogman just after their appearance at Woodstock '94 on the Jon Stewart Show...
Claims the White House policy was never "stay the course"...
Think Progress has a good compilation of Bush and his minions assuring the public that we will "stay the course"...
With no chance at victory, Clinton's opponent, Republican John Spencer, accuses her of spending millions of $$ on plastic surgery....
Hillary Clinton's Republican challenger is getting personal and it's not pretty: He says the senator used to be ugly - and speculates she got "millions of dollars" in plastic surgery.
By a 51-44 margin...
After secretly being paid by the Bush administration to support their programs, Williams agrees to repay $34k of the tax dollars given to him...
"I will gladly pay," said Williams, a conservative commentator whose 2003 deal to promote President Bush's education agenda spawned a governmentwide crackdown on propaganda and a Justice Department probe.
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Williams will actually pay $90,000 in penalties, but the government will reimburse him for all but $34,000.
Watching Joe Satriani on HD Net... been awhile since I've listened to any of his stuff. Here's something from a concert a couple of years ago...
As if Cheney's blatant lies weren't pathetic enough, Bush is doing his best to top him. The latest....
STEPHANOPOULOS: James Baker says that he’s looking for something between “cut and run” and “stay the course.”
BUSH: Well, hey, listen, we’ve never been “stay the course,” George. We have been — we will complete the mission, we will do our job, and help achieve the goal, but we’re constantly adjusting to tactics. Constantly.
Think Progress has the video...
The wheels are coming off the "stay the course" dogma....
A senior U.S. diplomat said the United States had shown “arrogance” and “stupidity” in Iraq but was now ready to talk with any group except Al-Qaida in Iraq to facilitate national reconciliation.
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“We tried to do our best but I think there is much room for criticism because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq,” he said.
Why Does Fred Barnes hate America?
The problem here is that national security isn't the leading campaign issue. And saying it should be won't make it so. What's needed is an event–a big event–to crystallize the issue in a way that highlights Republican strength and Democratic weakness. It was two events–the foiled British terrorist plot and the need to comply with a Supreme Court decision on handling captured terrorists–that led to the Republican mini-rally in September.
Of course there's little time left for a major event to occur. The North Korean bomb test wasn't big enough to change the course of the campaign.
Media Matters has the video of Tweety making an ass out of himself.... again....
MATTHEWS: Well, let's go to the -- let's go to the usual suspects. Republicans know from the polls they got two strengths right now. One is terrorism. Anything that reminds us of 9-11 reminds us of Bush's leadership back them -- and since then. Taxes -- Republicans are good at cutting taxes; Democrats are notorious for not cutting them, whether the current polls back that up or not.
Yep... polls show what polls don't show. Typical Tweety...
Slowly but surely, step-by-step, Bush and his minions are embracing the same policies they earlier descibed as treasonous...
The Bush administration is drafting a timetable that includes specific milestones for the Iraqi government to address sectarian divisions and assume a larger role in securing the country, The New York Times reported in its Sunday editions.
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“We’re trying to come up with ways to get the Iraqis to step up to the plate, to push them along, because the time is coming,” the paper quoted a senior Bush administration official as saying. “We can’t be there forever.”
Not according to the latest Newsweek poll...
Bush Approval = 35%
Control of Congress = Dems with a 23% advantage, 56% - 32%
As mentioned here earlier, Republican candidate for the House (MN-06)Michelle Bachman spoke at a church gathering last weekend, causing quite an uproar -- not because of what she said (God told her to run), but for what the Pastor said about her. The Pastor, Mac Hammond, announced that he would personally vote for Bachman. Unfortunately for Hammond and for the church, the announcement violated IRS rules forbidding churches from making political endorsements. Even more unfortunate is that the whole episode was broadcast over the internet.
Now for the ironic part of the story -- Hammond doesn't even live in Bachman's district. He lives in the third district, meaning he isn't eligible to vote for Bachman. The Star Tribune has more...
When Living Word Christian Center pastor Rev. Mac Hammond said he planned to vote for Michele Bachmann, the GOP Sixth District candidate for Congress, he stressed that he was making an individual choice.
But Hammond can't vote for Bachmann. He lives in the Third District.
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Voter registration with the Minnesota Secretary of State indicates Hammond has been registered at the same address and voted in the same precinct since 1994.The IRS prohibits churches from "directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate."
At least Republican Rep Ray LaHood came clean...
Today on Fox News, LaHood said, “I’ll tell you why I did it. The reason I did it was because Jane Harman released the Duke Cunningham — who sat on our Intelligence committee — report.” That report, which detailed the misconduct of Cunningham, who is now serving a jail term, was not classified.
A Fox anchor asked, “So, it’s payback?” LaHood responded, “There are some of us on the other side who can equally play politics, and I’m not afraid to do it.”
Think Progress has the video...
[youtube]a9WB_PXjTBo[/youtube]
The difference between a Democratic-controlled Congress and staying the course can't be made any clearer...
Spreading fear among the populace in the weeks preceding an election has long been a Republican tactic, and frequently a successful one. This election is no different, with Rove's hitmen taking the airwaves spreading doom and gloom about the "perils" of a Democratic-controlled Congress. Fortunately, it's looking more and more like their frantic and desperate screams are falling on deaf ears. Don't be surprised to see a Bin Laden video show up the Thursday evening before the election, followed the next Sunday by the verdict in the Saddam trial. Republicans are so predictable...
Nothing works better than to pay your enablers...
"I’m telling you a retired FBI agent, whom I have named, came to me and said that a (Sestak) campaign worker told him three weeks ago that this was going to happen," he said.
While Weldon identified his source as Gregory Auld, he failed to mention that Auld has been on the campaign’s payroll since May.
Campaign finance reports filed this week show that Weldon Victory Committee has paid Auld & Associates Investigations $25,000 to conduct opposition research.
Clap louder....
Think Progress is on the story...
Unknowingly endorses my policy...
“This will show seriousness of purpose, I think. It will give our population some hope and enthusiasm that this is not a never-ending affair. And also it will put the heat on the Iraqis, because ladies and gentlemen, we can’t win this militarily. By the way, we can’t lose this militarily.”
Think Progress has the details...
Things looking not so remarkably well after Al Sadr's militia took control of the Iraqi city of Amarah...
The Shiite militia run by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by the country's powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said.
...
Mahdi Army fighters stormed three main police stations Friday morning, planting explosives that flattened the buildings, residents said.
The course was fine before, but apparently now he wants to change it...
Less than three weeks before the Nov. 7 election, politics and reality have converged to unravel U.S. Sen. George Allen's stay-the-course mantra on Iraq.
For months, "we win, they lose and there is no substitute for victory" has been Allen's battle cry on the Middle East and terrorism.
Those who dared to challenge Bush administration orthodoxy on the war, including Democratic challenger Jim Webb, were dismissed as coddlers of terrorists.
The rejected domestic spying program TIA has been repackaged as Tangram...
The government's top intelligence agency is building a computerized system to search very large stores of information for patterns of activity that look like terrorist planning. The system, which is run by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is in the early research phases and is being tested, in part, with government intelligence that may contain information on U.S. citizens and other people inside the country.
...
Intelligence and privacy experts who reviewed the document said that it reaffirms their long-held belief that many computerized terrorist-profiling methods are largely ineffective. It also raises significant privacy concerns, because to distinguish terrorists from innocent people, a system that's as broad as Tangram purports to be would require access to many databases that contain private information about Americans, the experts said, including credit card transactions, communications records, and even Internet purchases.
Pissed off that the Intel Committee's top Democrat released a summary report of Duke Cunningham's illegal dealings, Republican John Hoekstra suspended Jane Harman's top staffer..
Democrats say the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee had no grounds to suspend a staff member who's come under scrutiny for the leak of a secret intelligence assessment.
...
The Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Jane Harman of California, said Hoekstra's "action is without basis and an abuse of his power" in overseeing security access."There is no evidence to suggest that the professional staff member in question did anything wrong," she said in a statement. She depicted Hoekstra's move as political payback, saying the chairman was angry that Harman had released a report about a former Republican congressman jailed for taking bribes.
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann with perhaps his best yet "Special Comment" -- this time on the death of Habeas Corpus...
Crooks and Liars has the video..
Think Progress has the story of the constantly receding level of available electricity in Baghdad...
Prewar = 16-24 hours per day
Oct '05 = 8-9 hours per day
Oct '06 = 2.4 hours per day
Bleak and bleaker for Republicans...
NBC/WSJ --
Just 20 days until Election Day, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds approval of the GOP-held Congress is at its lowest mark in 14 years, the Republican Party's favorability rating is at an all-time low and President George W. Bush's approval rating remains mired in the 30s -- all ominous signs for a party trying to maintain control of Congress.
...
In the survey, Bush's approval rating is at 38 percent, a one-point decline from a previous NBC/Journal poll released earlier this month after the Foley news first broke. Perhaps more revealing, only 16 percent now approve of the job Congress is doing -- its lowest mark since 1992.
CNN/Gallup --
The survey found only 23% of the country approves of the job the GOP-led Congress is doing, with 71% saying they disapprove. In 1994, a Gallup Poll done from Oct. 22 to 25 before the Republican revolution election found the virtually identical anti-incumbent opinion.
Media Matters is an invaluable resource for debunking the "liberal media" myth. Here are a couple of recent examples of the false balance of today's "liberal" media...
"Liberal" CNN devotes 50 times the coverage to Reid's paperwork glitch than to Hastert's $2 million profit from his heavy-handed land deal..
NBC/MSNBC's Noron O'Donnell doing the heavy work for Republicans by pressing a Democratic congressional incumbent to "promise" on the record not to make the final two years of the Bush presidency "a living hell"
The "Family Values" president...
President Bush is campaigning for two G-O-P lawmakers today, as Republicans struggle to maintain their grip on Congress.
The president's speaking at a fund-raiser for Virginia Senator George Allen in Richmond, and one for Pennsylvania Congressman Don Sherwood at Keystone College.
...
Meantime, Sherwood's been in trouble since admitting a lengthy affair with a much younger woman -- and settling a lawsuit claiming he choked her.
I'm sure this is just the first of many attempts...
A state attorney general's investigation into letters apparently designed to suppress Latino voter turnout in Orange County for the upcoming election is focusing on the campaign of Republican congressional candidate Tan Nguyen, according to people familiar with the inquiry.
...
"You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time," the letter, written in Spanish, says.
Deadeye Dick loses this round...
A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to release information about who visited Vice President Dick Cheney's office and personal residence, an order that could spark a late election season debate over lobbyists' White House access.
...
A lawsuit over similar records revealed last month that Republican activists Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed — key figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal — landed more than 100 meetings inside the Bush White House.
I'm guessing the anti-abortionists are targeting Black Man #2 with this ad..
BLACK MAN #1: “If you make a little mistake with one of your ‘hos,’ you’ll want to dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked.”
BLACK MAN #2: “That’s too cold. I don’t snuff my own seed.”
Puts a damper on his "stay the course" mantra...
Think Progress has the video...
History will show how severely this administration has over-reached and over-reacted by shredding the Constitution for political purposes. Until then....
"The president can now, with the approval of Congress, indefinitely hold people without charge, take away protections against horrific abuse, put people on trial based on hearsay evidence, authorize trials that can sentence people to death based on testimony literally beaten out of witnesses, and slam shut the courthouse door for habeas petitions," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.
"Nothing could be further from the American values we all hold in our hearts than the Military Commissions Act," he said.
...
The legislation also says the president can "interpret the meaning and application" of international standards for prisoner treatment, a provision intended to allow him to authorize aggressive interrogation methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts. White House press secretary Tony Snow said Bush would probably eventually issue an executive order that would describe his interpretation, but those documents are not usually made public and Snow did not reveal when it might be issued.
She's done it again.. after doubting the legitimacy of global warming and describing Terri Schiavo as "healthy", Looney Michelle Bachman spoke to a churchful of her faithful, describing not only how God told her to run, but that "God is focusing like a laser beam on this race" in response to the Foley scandal. As icing on the cake, she received the endorsement of the church, which puts in jeopardy their tax exempt status...
Watch the video at dumpbachmann.blogspot.com
Think Progress has the audio of Limbaugh's interview of Cheney, where Deadeye Dick described the "general overall situation" in Iraq as going "remarkably well"...
Watch the YouTube video.. it's scary that he's in a position of power...
nod TPM Muckraker
Is it any wonder these buffoons are losing?
Think Progress has the video of Republican Rep Peter King of NY describing the scene in Baghdad as stable, and "like being in Manhattan"
The House Page Board is looking into the camping trip Arizona Republican Rep Jim Kolbe took with couple of former pages. Let the Dem-blaming begin...
I wonder if Bush realizes he's insulting two thirds of the country?
Think Progress has the video...
TPM Muckraker has the info on former FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford, who lasted a whole two months before resigning...
CNN has Bush's Approval at 36%, and an all-time high Disapproval rating of 61%. Meanwhile, support for the Iraq fiasco has never been lower -- 34% support, 64% oppose...
Helped his daughter land $1 million in lobbying contracts to lobby her dad...
The Justice Department is investigating whether Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) traded his political influence for lucrative lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, according to sources with direct knowledge of the inquiry.
The FBI has formally referred the matter to the department's Public Integrity Section for additional scrutiny. At issue are Weldon's efforts between 2002 and 2004 to aid two Russian companies and two Serbian brothers with ties to former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic, a federal law enforcement official said.
Update:
TPMMuckraker.com reports that agents have raided the home of Weldon's daughter this morning...
After confirming they have given hope on Mark Kennedy's bid for Mark Dayton's open Senate seat in Minnesota, GOP officials have cutoff funding for Ohio Republican incumbent Mike DeWine's reelection bid...
Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year's fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said.
The decision to effectively write off De- Wine's seat, after a series of internal GOP polls showed him falling behind his Democratic challenger, is part of a fluid series of choices by both parties as they set the strategic framework of the campaign's final three weeks -- signaling the Senate and House races where they believe they have the best chances of success.
Courtesy of scandal-plagued Republican Richard Pombo...
Tucked into a massive energy bill that would open the outer continental shelf to oil drilling are provisions that would slash future royalties owed to the federal government by companies prospecting in Rocky Mountain oil shale deposits.
Sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Stockton, and passed by the House earlier this year, the bill would amend an existing requirement that the federal government receive a "fair return" from oil companies that hold oil shale leases on public lands. Instead, Pombo's bill would reduce royalties from the customary 12.5 percent of annual revenue to 1 percent.
nod to Atrios
Or do they have another Diebold trick hidden up their sleeves?
Amid widespread panic in the Republican establishment about the coming midterm elections, there are two people whose confidence about GOP prospects strikes even their closest allies as almost inexplicably upbeat: President Bush and his top political adviser, Karl Rove.
Some Republicans on Capitol Hill are bracing for losses of 25 House seats or more. But party operatives say Rove is predicting that, at worst, Republicans will lose only 8 to 10 seats — shy of the 15-seat threshold that would cede control to Democrats for the first time since the 1994 elections and probably hobble the balance of Bush's second term.
A four-day rampage of sectarian fighting raged unchecked Monday an hour's drive north of Baghdad and at least 91 people were dead, police and army officials said.
The authorities appeared unable or unwilling to stop the bloodshed in Balad and its environs that may set the standard for the building inter-communal conflict should it spread further and the pace hasten, which appeared likely.
The Balad fighting exploded Friday with the discovery of the headless bodies of 17 Shiite workers discovered in an orchard near the city, 50 miles north of Baghdad.
Hagel joins Warner in calling for a new Iraq strategy....
Compares the GOP's outrage over Clinton's Christmas list to Abu Ghraib. Guess which they feel was worse?
The current Congress has shown no inclination to investigate the Bush administration. Last year The Boston Globe offered an illuminating comparison: when Bill Clinton was president, the House took 140 hours of sworn testimony into whether Mr. Clinton had used the White House Christmas list to identify possible Democratic donors. But in 2004 and 2005, a House committee took only 12 hours of testimony on the abuses at Abu Ghraib.
Speaking truth to power is finally paying off...
"As a critic of the administration, I will be damned if you can get away with calling me the equivalent of a Nazi appeaser," Olbermann told The Associated Press. "No one has the right to say that about any free-speaking American in this country."
Since that first commentary, Olbermann's nightly audience has increased 69 percent, according to Nielsen Media Research. This past Monday 834,000 people tuned in, virtually double his season average and more than CNN competitors Paula Zahn and Nancy Grace. Cable kingpin and Olbermann nemesis Bill O'Reilly (two million viewers that night) stands in his way.
Says he won't publicly (or necessarily privately) endorse Connecticut's Democratic Gubernatorial candidate...
As mentioned here previously, UnitedHealth Group's CEO Bill McGuire came under fire for his questionable stock options. UnitedHealth Group confirmed that McQuire will resign... no word yet on whether he gets to keep his $1.6 billion in options...
The UnitedHealth shake-up adds to the list of corner-office victims of stock option backdating. So far, at least 30 senior executives or directors at 16 companies with stock option problems have resigned or been fired.
...
McGuire, who had $1.6 billion in exercisable options at the end of 2005, is likely to remain under scrutiny, Henning said.“Prosecutors are going to look pretty closely at Dr. McGuire. When you see dollar figures like over a billion dollars in unexercised options, that draws everyone’s attention,” he said.
Surprise, surprise... Saddam verdict to be announced November 5, two days before the election...
Media Matters has the story on Noron O'Donnell's latest attempt at being fair and balanced...
David Sirota spells out how Lieberman followed up his broken pledge of not missing more than 300 votes with his broken pledge of not serving more than three terms (he's running for his fourth)...
Crooks and Liars has the video of looney neocons Hume and Kristol trying to out neocon each other when it comes to Iran and NK. Hume also throws out the theory that a Pelosi-led House would spell doom for Hilary in '08.
Think Progress has the details on how Paramount and Oliver Stone are partnering up with the clown behind "The Path To 9/11" on a new movie about the hunt for Bin Laden...
Damned "cut-n-runners"...
The Supreme Allied Commander In Europe, General James Jones...
“Military and civilian officials close to the secretary are taken aback by Gen. Jones’ comments,” said the former aide, who asked not to be named. “Rumsfeld certainly takes a very different view of how he has empowered the Joint Chiefs by involving them in every decision. James Jones is highly political — a real Washington operator. He of all generals to claim that the chiefs have become political is highly ironic if not laughable.“
After defending Hastert by calling Senator Kennedy a killer, Connecticut Rep Chris Shays describes the events at Abu Ghraib not as torture, but as a "sex ring"...
"Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture," Shays said at a debate Wednesday.
"It was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from (Maryland) who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked," added Shays. "And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture."
Rick "man on dog" Santorum acts like a rabid dog in a highly publicized debate...
Faux's Chris Wallace responds to email requests when it comes to making Dems look bad, but ignores email requests when it makes Cons look bad... go figure...
Think Progress has the details...
A double whammy for the scandal-plagued GOP..
Think Progress provides a statement from Al Qaeda showing why Stay The Course is playing into the terrorists' hands...
The most important thing is that the jihad continues with steadfastness and firm rooting, and that it grows in terms of supporters, strength, clarity of justification, and visible proof each day. Indeed, prolonging the war is in our interest, with God's permission.
Bye bye democracy.... hello ethnic cleansing...
Apparently victory isn't an option...
A commission formed to assess the Iraq war and recommend a new course has ruled out the prospect of victory for America, according to draft policy options shared with The New York Sun by commission officials.
Currently, the 10-member commission — headed by former secretary of state for President George H.W. Bush, James Baker — is considering two option papers, “Stability First” and “Redeploy and Contain,” both of which rule out any prospect of making Iraq a stable democracy in the near term.
...
The “Redeploy and Contain” option calls for the phased withdrawal of American soldiers from Iraq, though the working groups have yet to say when and where those troops will go.
Looks like the Brits have seen enough "progress" in Iraq to conclude the time to leave is coming soon....
Britain's new army chief called for a withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, warning that the military's presence there only exacerbates security problems, according to an interview published Thursday.
Yep, says Isikoff...
An unsolicited remark from Porter Goss, then chairman House Intelligence Committee, led a British journalist to unravel many of the details of the CIA’s controversial “extraordinary rendition” program, according to a new book. The disclosure of this highly sensitive operation later prompted a major leak investigation that roiled the agency.
The hypocrisy of the Bush admin shines through again, this time seen through the eyes of a faithful insider...
Media Matters steps up to the plate and thoroughly debunks the many Foleygate myths..
Advisors advise him to shut up if he wants to have a chance at winning...
Weeks after George Allen 's mouth got him into serious trouble, the senator's advisers have apparently decided that he should shut up.
...
Now, though, he has turned to some of his longtime advisers, who have concluded that if Allen simply doesn't talk to the media, he can't make any more of those mistakes.
It's not like there are any other incidents that warrant an investigation (energy policy, Iraq intel, torture, wiretapping, secret prisons, etc), why not investigate a case closed by the Justice Dept 18 months ago?
After being laughed at after expressing doubt about global warming, she topped herself by descibing Terri Schiavo as "healthy"...
The good news keeps rollin' in...
Most economists said the economy would perform best in the coming years if Democrats take control of at least one chamber of Congress. Only 12 of the 35 who answered the question said the economy would perform best under continued Republican control of the House and Senate.
TPM Muckraker explains how off-base Solomon's smear piece is, and refreshes our memory about the last attempt to smear Reid...
Arnie caught with his hand in the cookie jar?
Christmas in October!!!
It seems increasingly clear that the GOP congressional leadership, eager for every safe incumbent in the House to run for re-election, looked the other way as evidence accumulated that Mark Foley had a thing for pages. Holding onto his seat became more important than confronting him over his extracurricular activities.
But there's more to the story of why Foley stood for re-election this year. Yesterday, a source close to Foley explained to THE NEW REPUBLIC that in early 2006 the congressman had all but decided to retire from the House and set up shop on K Street. "Mark's a friend of mine," says this source. "He told me, 'I'm thinking about getting out of it and becoming a lobbyist.'"
But when Foley's friend saw the Congressman again this spring, something had changed. To the source's surprise, Foley told him he would indeed be standing for re-election. What happened? Karl Rove intervened.
According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by "the White House and Rove gang," who insisted that Foley run. If he didn't, Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career.
Crooked actions violate 501c status...
nod TPM Muckraker
Republican Rep Richard Pombo (CA) appears to be next in line...
nod to Think Progress
Makes you wonder how long they would ask for if Safavian hadn't cooperated..
Media Matters details the latest nonsensical mission of Tweety... this time, Democrats and taxes..
Things are starting to heat up, with Kirk Fordham testifying he informed Hastert's C of S, and Republican Rep Shelley Moore Capito claiming she, one of three members on the Page Board, was kept in the dark about the allegations...
He won't hesitate for a second to stick a knife in Hastert's back...
Roll Call says Shimkus set to testify, too
Let's hope Gore steps up....
Finally a race Republicans can win.. they scored 17 out of the top 20...
Think Progress has the goods on McCain's flip-flop -- blaming the Clinton administration one day, lectures those who would "engage in finger-pointing" the next...
One in four vets of Bush's War on Terror file disability claims...
One in four veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are filing disability claims, according to records released by the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) under the Freedom of Information Act after nine months of denying their existence and posted today on the National Security Archive Web site.
Think Progress has the video of Bush proclaiming his "amazement" that Iraqi's are willing to tolerate the current level of violence, despite polls showing 71% of Iraqis want our troops to leave...
As if it were ever plausible to begin with?
"One of ABC News's sources, a former page, said he went public with his knowledge of the instant messages on Sept. 29 only after the network, the day before, published the questionable e-mails that Foley had sent to the Louisiana boy. The former page and current college student stressed that he is a 'staunch Republican' who 'wouldn't vote for a Democrat ever.' He also said that he is not calling for the resignation of Hastert or any other Republican leader....
"'I decided that it was in the best interests of kids in general, pages and my friends specifically that Foley be dealt with quickly and swiftly so that he couldn't hurt anyone else,' the Republican student wrote in his e-mail. 'We've seen how long the Justice department and every other government bureaucracy can take to deal with criminal issues and abuse. I knew the media would be the fastest way to get Foley the justice he deserved.'"
Final throes, indeed...
The U.S. Army has plans that would keep the current level of troops in Iraq -- about 15 brigades -- through 2010, the top Army officer said Wednesday.
Things are going from bad to worse for Republicans...
Bush Approval - 37% (44%)
Vote Held Today - D 59%, R 36% (48-48)
Handle Terrorism - D 46%, R 41%
Foley Coverup - 54%
Bush Approval - 34%
Vote Held Today - D 49%, R 35%
Share Moral Values - D 47%, R 38%
Foley Coverup - 62%
CNN
Bush Approval - 39%
Vote Held Today - D 58%, R 37%
Mishandled Foley Matter - 75%
Foley Coverup - 52%
Bush Approval - 39%
Vote Held Today - D 54%, R 41%
Handle Iraq - D 51%, R 38%
Foley Coverup - 64%
Bush Approval - 33%
Vote Held Today - D 53%, R 35%
Handle Iraq - D 47%, R 34%
Foley Coverup - 52%
It would be funny if it wasn't so sad...
A former pesticide industry executive has been selected to lead the Environmental Protection Agency's regional office here.
...
While working in the pesticide industry, Miller served on the boards of two leading industry lobbying groups, CropLife and Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment.
Josh Marshall spells out why Bush's policy (or lack of one) allowed NK to build and detonate a plutonium nuke, the same plutonium that was mothballed under the Clinton policy...
ABC has the story of McCain's call for an outside investigation into Foleygate
TPM Muckraker does the heavy lifting...
Unless you consider $1.1 million "worthless"...
No doubt the sycophants at Faux News disagree. On the bright side, a school somewhere has a new coat of paint...
I'm more puzzled by comments that the violence isn't any worse than any American city. Really? In which American city do 60 bullet-riddled bodies turn up on a given day? In which city do the headless bodies of ordinary citizens turn up every single day? In which city would it not be news if neighborhood school children were blown up? In which neighborhood would you look the other way if gunmen came into restaurants and shot dead the customers?
Maine Senator Olympia Snowe defects...
Snowe said in a statement that as conditions in Iraq continue to worsen, "there must be no question among the (Bush) administration, the Congress and the Iraqi unity government that staying the course is neither an option nor a plan."
Cheney ran Haliburton when it did business with Iraq, Iran and other members of the "Axis of Evil". Now we're reminded that Rummy sat on the Board of Directors of ABB, a company that sold two nuke reactors to North Korea. All hail capitalism...
nod to Think Progress
Things look pretty bleak for the holier-than-thou Republicans. Perhaps there is justice after all? Iraq, Abramoff, Foley and Dubya all are converging to make what is shaping up to be the biggest political housecleaning since '94...
Among the issues...
Mission Accomplished --
Today's Military -- Good News / Bad News
The good news is they finally met their recruitment goals for the year -- the bad news is that relaxed admission guidelines allowed double the maximum amount of recruits who scored low on the aptitude test to be accepted.
Stand Up, Throw Up
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Authorities arrested the head of the mess hall where at least 350 Iraqi policemen suffered food poisoning, as the military investigated whether the poisonings were intentional, officials said Monday.
Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi, a senior spokesman for the Iraqi military, denied that anyone had died after Sunday’s evening meal breaking the daily Ramadan fast.
The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq has surged to its highest level in nearly two years as American GIs fight block-by-block in Baghdad to try to check a spiral of sectarian violence that U.S. commanders warn could lead to civil war.
Last month, 776 U.S. troops were wounded in action in Iraq, the highest number since the military assault to retake the insurgent-held city of Fallujah in November 2004, according to Defense Department data. It was the fourth-highest monthly total since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
Iraqi authorities said Wednesday that they have suspended an entire brigade of as many as 1,200 police officers for suspected connections to kidnappings and executions.
The Interior Ministry said it would recall and retrain the national police's 8th Brigade, based in the capital, after witnesses reported that men wearing police uniforms were behind the kidnapping Sunday of 26 workers at a south Baghdad meat processing plant.
The Decider --
Iraq Study Group Hints At Timetable -- Freezes Report Til After Election
James A. Baker III, the Republican co-chairman of a bipartisan panel reassessing Iraq strategy for President Bush, said Sunday that he expected the panel would depart from Mr. Bush’s repeated calls to “stay the course,” and he strongly suggested that the White House enter direct talks with countries it had so far kept at arm’s length, including Iran and Syria.
Bush The Appeaser -- North Korea Edition
Remember way back when the Bush administration chided Clinton's "appeasement" of North Korea? Then he turned around and did this, some 3 months after naming NK as a member of the Axis Of Evil...
Then --
The US Government has announced that it will release $95m to North Korea as part of an agreement to replace the Stalinist country's own nuclear programme, which the US suspected was being misused.
Under the 1994 Agreed Framework an international consortium is building two proliferation-proof nuclear reactors and providing fuel oil for North Korea while the reactors are being built.
In releasing the funding, President George W Bush waived the Framework's requirement that North Korea allow inspectors to ensure it has not hidden away any weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors.
President Bush argued that the decision was "vital to the national security interests of the United States".
In 1993, North Korea announced it would pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, leaving it free to divert nuclear material from its energy reactors to make a nuclear weapon and setting off a round of crisis diplomacy led by the Clinton administration. The result was the so-called agreed framework, which - in return for supplies of fuel oil to North Korea - froze most aspects of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme for the rest of the decade.
The agreed framework was in effect consigned to history when the Bush administration came to power in 2001. The new administration argued that although the road to a plutonium-based nuclear bomb had been frozen, the North Koreans were cheating by attempting to develop a uranium-based bomb that was not explicitly addressed by the agreement.
That five years later, North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon will be widely interpreted as a sign of the failure of the tougher approach favoured by the Bush team.
Culture Of Corruption --
Rove / Abramoff Aide Resigns
The top aide to White House strategist Karl Rove quit Friday, a week after congressional investigators portrayed her as a key link between senior officials and the now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff — brokering deals for his clients as she accepted premium tickets to sporting events and concerts.
Susan Ralston had worked as Rove's executive assistant, functioning as a gatekeeper of sorts for President Bush's most trusted political advisor. She was an aide to Abramoff before she joined the White House and became what the lobbyist called his "implant" there.
Allen Pulls A Frist -- Fails To Disclose Stock Options
For the past five years, Sen. George Allen, has failed to tell Congress about stock options he got for his work as a director of a high-tech company. The Virginia Republican also asked the Army to help another business that gave him similar options.
Congressional rules require senators to disclose to the Senate all deferred compensation, such as stock options. The rules also urge senators to avoid taking any official action that could benefit them financially or appear to do so.
Foleygate --
GOP Congressman Admits Foley Knowledge In 2000
A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative Mark Foley's inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and personally confronted Foley about his communications.
A spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) confirmed yesterday that a former page showed the congressman Internet messages that had made the youth feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley (R-Fla.) was taking their e-mail relationship...
The revelation pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress has acknowledged learning of Foley's behavior with former pages.
Foley's Drunken Dorm Folly Reported To Hastert's Office In 2002
He was informed by Jeff Trandahl, then the Clerk of the House, who oversees the page program. On one occasion, sometime in 2002 or 2003, Trandahl told Fordham about Foley's nocturnal adventure to the pages' dorm. Trandahl told Fordham that Foley "appeared intoxicated," according to the source who provided Fordham's account to NEWSWEEK.
This incident prompted Fordham to go to Scott Palmer, Hastert's chief of staff, and tell him about Foley's behavior. Fordham called Palmer and told him that he wanted to speak with him privately, the source says. The two men met in a small office on Capitol Hill. (Palmer says the meeting never took place.)
Republicans First To Politicize The Foley Scandal
Think Progress has the list, from Hastert admitting it was a "political" issue, to the head of the reelection committee (Reynolds) being alerted instead of the head of the Ethics Committee, to the intentional exclusion of notifying the lone Democrat on the Page Oversight Board...
Representative Patrick McHenry (R-Putz)
He has no evidence that Democrats weren't behind the release of the Foley emails -- also has no evidence that they were. Think Progress has the video...
Permanent Majority --
Bush Approval Hits New Low
His 9/11 "bounce" goes flat, hits 33% in latest Newsweek poll...
Control of Congress -- Dems 53%, Republicans 35%
Local Rep Vote -- Dem candidate 51%, Republican candidate 39%
Right Direction 25%, Wrong Direction 67%
A whopping 52% believe Hastert knowingly covered up the Foley scandal
58% believe Bush knowingly misled the public on the Iraq war
66% believe the Iraq fiasco hasn't made us safer
53% believe the Iraq war was a mistake
Campaign issues --
War on Terror - D 44%, R 37%
Moral Values - D 42%, R 36%
Handling Iraq - D 47%, R 34%
Economy - D 53%, R 31%
Health Care - D 57%, R 24%
Federal Spending / Deficit - D 53%, R 29%
Gas/Oil Prices - D 56%, R 23%
Immigration - D 43%, R 34%
Most Important Election Issues --
Iraq 33%
Ecomony 20%
Health Care 12%
Terrorism 12%
Republican Senate Candidate Calls Tennesseans Dumb
Doesn't want to "confuse" them by releasing his tax records...
Mission Accomplished -- Harris Declares Victory In Senate Race
What is it with Florida Republicans? Are they all freaks?
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