Edwards out

Shocking Show of Anger from Former President

In what political observers called a shocking display of anger from a former President of the United States, Bill Clinton today keyed the car of Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Mr. Clinton’s attacks on Senator Obama have become more scathing in recent days, but few Democratic insiders expected his rhetorical attacks to turn into outright vandalism.

That is precisely what happened, however, in the parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts in Nashua, New Hampshire, where Mr. Obama and his aides had stopped for an early morning campaign appearance.

Spotting the Illinois senator’s car in the lot, a wild-eyed Mr. Clinton pulled out his key ring and “started twirling it on his finger like a six-shooter,” according to one eyewitness.

Saying he was “damned sick and tired” of everything going Mr. Obama’s way, the former President dragged his keys across the length of the senator’s car, creating a deep gash in the paint job that experts said would cost hundreds of dollars to repair.

As news of Mr. Clinton’s attack on Mr. Obama’s automobile spread like wildfire across New Hampshire, political insiders branded the former president’s move as a tactical mistake that could turn off Democratic voters.

“Keying another candidate’s car is really beneath the dignity of a former President of the United States,” said Carol M. Foyler, a longtime media advisor to Democratic candidates. “That’s the kind of thing you want surrogates to do.”

For his part, Mr. Clinton was unrepentant, telling reporters “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

“Where does he live?” Mr. Clinton shouted at the press corps. “I’ma go TP that bastard’s house.”

A Republican President and a Democrat Congress is natural state of equilibrium for the United States.

--------

McCain 48% Clinton 40%
McCain 47% Obama 41%

http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_...

Early voting in Louisiana started last weekend and goes till this Saturday. I had a feeling my choice, JRE, would drop out after super Tuesday. Oh well, this early exit now gives me the chance to vote early without worrying about my candidate dropping out after my vote and before my states primary day.

That said, this afternoon following Edwards speech, I'm going downtown to the registrars office at the courthouse and casting my vote for Barak Obama.

It was The Surge the Made McCain
new
Submitted by Part of the 97 ... on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 11:49am

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

i have to laugh to keep from crying....

Net income of the American oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. in 2007 was $3,5 billion, up 46% from $2,4 billion of the previous year. Halliburton reported that revenue was $15,3 billion, an increase of 19% from $12,9 billion in 2006. Operating income grew 9% to reach $3,5 billion. Halliburton’s net income for the fourth quarter of 2007 was $690 million. This compares to net income of $658 million in the fourth quarter of 2006.
Revenue was $4,2 billion, up 20% from $3,5 billion in the forth quarter of 2006. Operating income was down 3% - from $923 million to $907 million.

If Dubya looked you in the face and said, "Trust me"
What would you do?

I know I would run as fast as I could in the opposite direction.

I agree - its Obama all the way.

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — An Iraqi television cameraman and his driver were killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad, Al-Forat TV reported on Wednesday. The female correspondent and camera assistant traveling with them were wounded.

Alaa Abdul-Karim al-Fartoosi, 29, was traveling with the three colleagues Tuesday when a roadside bomb went off next to their car in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, said Haider Kadhum, a Al-Forat news editor. He did not identify the others in the party by name.

Fartoosi is survived by his wife and two children.

The top U.S. commanders in northern Iraq, meanwhile, said Tuesday the battle to push al-Qaeda out of its last urban stronghold will not be a "climactic" but rather a protracted "campaign for Mosul."

The military leaders also discounted statements by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that Iraqi forces headed into Nineveh province would be conducting a "decisive" confrontation in a major attack to begin as soon as all units are in place.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-01-30-iraq-wednesday_N.htm

By Paul Tait

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Police found nine bodies and 10 severed heads in an abandoned field north of Baghdad on Tuesday, in a region where U.S. and Iraqi forces were pressing ahead with offensives against al Qaeda forces.

In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide car bomber killed one civilian and wounded 15 others in an attack on a U.S. convoy, U.S. and Iraqi security officials said.

The U.S. military said none of its soldiers were wounded in the latest attack in Mosul, where extra Iraqi troops and police have been sent for what Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has called a "decisive" final push against al Qaeda

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL2971530920080129

Florida: Romney 33% McCain 27%

http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/archive/florida_romney_33_mcc...

Free Democracy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The city that popularized the fast food drive-thru has a new innovation: 24-hour medical marijuana vending machines.

Patients suffering from chronic pain, loss of appetite and other ailments that marijuana is said to alleviate can get their pot with a dose of convenience at the Herbal Nutrition Center, where a large machine will dole out the drug around the clock.

"Convenient access, lower prices, safety, anonymity," inventor and owner Vincent Mehdizadeh said, extolling the benefits of the machine.

But federal drug agents say the invention may need unplugging.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2008-01-30-marijuana-machines_N.htm

i will bite his nose off dig his eyes out cut his tongue out with a machete...now you dont want me to go any further, coz i am salivating already...

he will not have that privilege of coming that close to me TRUST ME!

Last week in Currituck County, N.C., Superior Court Judge Russell Duke presided over the final step in securing the first criminal conviction stemming from the deadly actions of Blackwater Worldwide, the Bush administration's favorite mercenary company. Lest you think you missed some earth-shifting, breaking news, hold on a moment. The "criminals" in question were not the armed thugs who gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians and wounded more than 20 others in Baghdad's Nisour Square last September. They were seven nonviolent activists who had the audacity to stage a demonstration at the gates of Blackwater's 7,000-acre private military base in North Carolina to protest the actions of mercenaries acting with impunity -- and apparent immunity -- in their names and those of every American.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/75244/

I hear ya.

comment Lucille. I myself feel the same way.

Bob Ball, Dead at 93

You probably don't know his name. And you probably won't see any news of his passing outside of the obit section. But Bob Ball, who died last night at the age of 93, probably played a greater role in expanding and defending Social Security than anyone in the second half of the 20th century.

Ball became a Field Assistant in the Social Security Board's New Jersey field office in 1939. He became Assistant Director of the Bureau of Old Age and Survivors Insurance in 1949. Later he became Deputy Director and then Acting Director. In 1962, President Kennedy appointed Ball a Commissioner of Social Security, where he remained until 1973.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

A co-pilot was reportedly dragged screaming from the cockpit of a London-bound flight from Toronto after a suffering a mental breakdown, forcing the jet - with 149 passengers onboard - to make an emergency landing.

Witnesses said the first officer was seen shoeless and restrained by crew members with the help of a passenger who was a member of the Canadian military. The co-pilot's wrists and ankles were shackled as he was escorted off the Air Canada flight which landed in Shannon, Ireland at 3 a.m. EST Tuesday.

Passenger Sean Finucane told CBC News that the co-pilot had said, "he just wanted to talk to God.

"He was ... very, very distressed," said Finucane, who added that the co-pilot started yelling loudly when crew members tried to put his shoes back on.

Eyewitness accounts differed from the words of an Air Canada spokesperson.

"At no time was safety compromised," Air Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur said.

A spokesperson for the Shannon International Airport said, "the captain advised air traffic control that he was going to divert to Shannon due to a crew member being unwell. It wasn't an emergency landing. This was just a diversion, a medical diversion."

The co-pilot, whose name has not been released, was taken to an area hospital for treatment.

I'm so down about Edwards dropping. I agree - hope it's not for family reasons...

Doris

A 43-year-old Manhattan detective who worked at the World Trade Center wreckage and a Staten Island landfill for months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks has died of cancer.

William Holfester's relatives believe conditions at Ground Zero might have caused the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that killed the young grandfather last week at a Long Island hospital.

The 17-year NYPD veteran was diagnosed 18 months ago, said his brother-in-law, Paul D'Arcangelo.

"His duty was to pretty much rake through and sift through for any personal items and body parts," said D'Arcangelo, 53. "I'm sure the mix of all of these chemicals produced quite a mixture of noxious materials.

"We all feel it is related [to the cleanup work], but I don't know what proof there is."

Holfester, who worked in lower Manhattan's 1st Precinct, put in 12-hour days for about three weeks, including weekends, after the attacks, relatives said.

NYPD officials confirmed Holfester put in "a lot of hours" during the recovery effort while assigned at Ground Zero and at a landfill, but could not provide specifics on hours or days. The family has filed for line-of-duty death benefits, the officials said.

Sgt. Michael Ryan, 41, also died from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma last November. He was one of five NYPD Ground Zero workers who died of cancer last year and were given line-of-duty recognition by the department.

Holfester of Mastic Beach, L.I., died Jan. 22 at Stony Brook University Medical Center and spent the last months of his life attached to a feeding tube. At the end, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Holfester weighed only 80 pounds.

"He was a good guy. His bosses told us Billy was the type to get a case that involved a lot of investigation," D'Arcangelo said. "His [case] folder would start out small and get very big. That was the type of guy that he was."

Holfester left behind his wife, Michelle, two children, 12 and 24, and three grandchildren.

back to blog home »
Author Photo
Hillary on John and Elizabeth Edwards
by Crystal Patterson
in News
1/30/2008 10:41 AM

Hillary:

John Edwards ended his campaign today in the same way he started it - by standing with the people who are too often left behind and nearly always left out of our national debate.

John ran with compassion and conviction and lifted this campaign with his deep concern for the daily lives of the American people. That is what this election is about - it's about our people. And John is one of the greatest champions the American people could ask for.

I wish John and Elizabeth all the best. They have my great personal respect and gratitude. And I know they will continue to fight passionately for the country and the people they love so deeply.

Following the clearance of McCains "donation" check to "feed the children" of Mahdi army soldiers, Muqtada al-Sadr quietly endorsed John McCain by agreeing to continue with the Mahdi Army stand-down. A McCain staffer spoke off the record saying "Hey, this kind of thing helped Reagan defeat Carter, it's a proven method that has served the GOP well, so I don't see a problem with it. I mean hey, you should see the size of the checks sent to the American Media to keep quiet about this."

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

FUN-KNEEEEEEE!!!!

"All Edwards, All the Time" theme this week on BlueRootsRadio. I'll have to fix that when I get home tonight. I think I may just read all the messages in this thread to fill the time, so mind your P's and Q's. ;-)

___
brr

Submitted by pbtrue1 on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 12:08pm.
If Dubya looked you in the face and said, "Trust me"
What would you do?
I know I would run as fast as I could in the opposite direction.

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

A true gift of metering grace equally to all regardless of whether they deserve it.

Reminds me of someone else I know...

;-)

So our choices are Hillary or Obama, Romney or McCain.

This is going to be about as non-plusworthy as the superbowl.

[edit] OK, that sounded egotistical.

How about thanks, I wrote that.

Edwards on the telly at 1:00
later!

Russia's most famous female bodyguard Anna Loginova has been killed after failing to prevent her own Porsche being carjacked.

The glamorous 29-year-old died from head injuries after clinging on to the door handle and being dragged along the street at high speed as the car screeched away.

"She suffered serious injuries and died at the scene," said a police spokesman.

Police believe that she was killed in a random carjacking and was not the victim of an attack based on her work for wealthy high-profile Russian clients.

Loginova ran an agency for female bodyguards, some trained by the ex-KGB, to give discreet protection to Moscow's billionaires and their wives and mistresses.

In a recent magazine interview, she insisted that she and her team of glamorous bodyguards gave better protection than the more traditional beefy male security men.

"I do think that a girl should be a girl, not a Terminator," she said. She posed semi-naked for a Moscow men's magazine to make it clear that she was feminine as well as good with a gun.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_ar...

will be on at 12:00 CT or 1:00 ET

I'm wearing 3 layers and still cold. I think I will put on a movie, and crawl under the afghan I'm making for my youngest. I'll post a pic when it's done.

think warm thoughts

later

Nader eyes 2008 presidential bid

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ralph Nader is seeking the presidency — again.

The consumer activist and political gadfly kicked off an exploratory presidential campaign Wednesday with the launch of a new Web site that promises he'll fight "corporate greed, corporate power, corporate control" and asks people to donate $300 each.

Nader sought the White House in each of the last three presidential elections: He ran on the Green Party ticket in 1996 and 2000, and as an independent in 2004.

LINK

Greenspan doubts Fed's ability to prevent recession

Former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan cast doubt on the ability of the central bank to prevent a US recession in an interview to appear on Thursday.

Greenspan told the German weekly Die Zeit that the Fed or political policies could "probably not" keep the world's biggest economy from sliding into recession, as financial markets widely expected the US central bank to cut its main lending rate.

"The influences of the global economy today are stronger than almost any monetary or budgetary response," the German-language weekly quoted Greenspan as saying.

Although he left the post of Fed chairman two years ago, Greenspan's opinions on the economy are still sought after.

"Real long-term interest rates have much more influence over the heart of economic activity than national decisions," he was quoted as adding.

"And central banks have less and less power to influence long term rates."

The former Fed chief put the chances of a US recession at 50 percent, but added: "We have few indications that would allow us to say we are already there."

Some analysts have said that low interest rates under Greenspan's watch were responsible in part for the US housing bubble that burst last year, and led to the current financial crisis.

Die Zeit quoted him as saying he found it hard to understand that "the Federal Reserve policy had somehow allowed housing and stock prices to rise."

Fallout from the crisis, which began with a meltdown of the US market for high-risk, or subprime, mortgages, continues to rock international financial markets and now threatens the US economy with a recession.

For Greenspan however, the turmoil was "entirely the result of market forces at a global level."

The Fed's Open Market Committee (FOMC) was to announce its decision on US lending rates later on Wednesday.

It surprised markets last week by slashing the base Fed funds rate by three quarters of a percentage point to 3.50 percent, but it is widely expected to follow through with another cut to 3.0 percent.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Greenspan_doubts_Fed_s_ability_to_p_0130200...

I'm bummed. Edwards was my last hope for a true change in direction for this country. I hope he runs again in the future.

I am getting these 3 hour infusions of Remicade. It's supposed to stop the inflamation and slow the progress of RA.

I'll miss edwards speech but I am sure I will be able to see it later.

There is a TV in the infusion room and if I had a lap top I could also bring that. But...

Maybe I could buy a lap top with the stimulus money.

but got out ok...

-Nader eyes 2008 presidential bid
Submitted by Kevin © on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 12:46pm.
Nader eyes 2008 presidential bid-

Have a great morning Blog...

Hi smcgee43..
severed heads... ew.

He was my great hope to get away from the eastern establishment bookends-my rural representation, anti-corporation......so sad, so sad...........

Has anyone out there in Sederville seen or heard anything more on Benazir Bhutto murder?????

At a time when more women than ever are getting breast implants, fewer voices than ever seem to be asking “Why?” And fewer still are asking “Are they safe?” ABSOLUTELY SAFE takes an open-minded, personal approach to the controversy over breast implant safety. Ultimately, ABSOLUTELY SAFE is the story of everyday women who find themselves and their breasts in the tangled and confusing intersection of health, money, science, and beauty.

At its heart, ABSOLUTELY SAFE is driven by the experience of the filmmaker’s own mother. Diagnosed in 1974 with breast tumors, Audrey Ciancutti underwent a double mastectomy with silicone-implant reconstruction surgery. A year later, her implants ruptured, and soon after, her health steadily declined. Like thousands of other women, Audrey believes her debilitating illnesses—joint pain, chronic fatigue, scleroderma-- are linked to her breast implants; however, most doctors and researchers deny this link. Among the debate by plastic surgeons, toxicologists, attorneys, implant manufacturers, whistle blowers, government officials and activists, ABSOLUTELY SAFE introduces more everyday women like Audrey who make choices about their breasts in our appearance driven culture.

27 year-old Deneé Dimiceli has long been insecure about her breast size, and she’s frank about why: a deep envy of pop culture icons and images of big-breasted women. Although her husband likes her breasts as they are and does not want her to take any risks by having surgery, Deneé chooses to go ahead with breast augmentation. Step by step, the film follows Deneé through the implantation process. With the help of renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Franklin Rose, Deneé becomes the “Full C” she has longed to be. Months after surgery, Deneé is happy and healthy, though she initially lost sensation in her breasts.

As Deneé makes the choice to get breast implants, we meet Wendi Myers who has spent years longing for a life without implants. After suffering unexplained illnesses for years—dizziness, hair loss, fatigue—Wendi believes her silicone implants are making her sick and that they are ruptured, even though the implants appear to be in tact. As a younger woman, Wendi was an exotic dancer and had to get implants to earn more money. With the financial help from her mother and the surgical skill of Dr. Edward Melmed, one of the few plastic surgeons in this country who argues that implants have severe flaws and cause illness in some women, Wendi makes a unique choice—to have her breast implants “ex-planted” and removed from her body forever. The remnants of Wendi’s implants, are an alarming discovery for Wendi and her family.

http://www.absolutelysafe.com/index.html

I'll be off to the hospital soon
Submitted by toniD on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 12:52pm.

I am getting these 3 hour infusions of Remicade

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Holy Crap ..... I hope everything is OK!!!

Hope it works for you. 8-)

STFU!!

I'll start to cry.

Why aren't things getting better. Ah, well.

I'll report on the infusion later Shell. I hear it's not really difficult. Just time consuming.

C-Span 1: http://play.rbn.com/play.asx?url=cspan/cspan/wmlive/cspan1v.asf&proto=mm...

also on CNN

There were a number of accidents here and everywhere yesterday. I heard about 10 and 20 car collisions.

My brother's here so time to leave.

Later

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

THE BOOK

The Center for Public Integrity’s Buying of the President series made its debut in 1996, with subsequent editions published in 2000 and again in 2004, when the book made The New York Times best-seller list. Like its three predecessors, the 2008 edition will explore the roles that money and special interests play in presidential politics — a behind-the-scenes examination of everything from how the major candidates and their parties raise money to the ins and outs of opposition research and the spoils that go with a term in the Oval Office.

Unlike previous editions, which offered profiles and career-patron tallies for both front-runners and avowed also-rans, The Buying of the President 2008 will be a top-to-bottom examination of how big money influences the presidential election process. It will be published, in hardcover, in the fall of 2008 by Gotham Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA). An updated trade paperback edition will follow in the summer of 2009.

THE WEBSITE

This website is a companion to The Buying of the President 2008. Like the book, this site explores the roles that money and special interests play in presidential politics. But unlike the book, which will provide a behind-the-scenes examination of how big money influences the presidential election process, this site is a work in progress — a continually updated window into the 2008 race that’s also richly supplemented with details, insights, and revelations from previous campaigns and, where feasible, those who engineered them.

In addition to details about the 2008 candidates and their political benefactors, for example, the site includes everything from a history of money in presidential politics to in-depth, on-the-record interviews with current and former presidential candidates, consultants and strategists, donors and fundraisers, and academics who have studied the intricacies of the political system. What’s more, the site offers the Center for Public Integrity’s complete body of work on presidential elections, most notably cover-to-cover, full-text-searchable copies of the three previous books in the Buying of the President series.

There are other features, as well, all of which collectively aim to eliminate the mystery of how presidential campaigns are financed. Ultimately, we hope, the insights and revelations offered here will help readers puzzle through an increasingly central question of our democracy: Is the presidential campaign more election or auction?

The Buying of the President 2008 site was launched in 2007 with grants from the Arca Foundation and the Education Foundation of America.

http://buyingofthepresident.org/

great picture.

Alice - Wasn't I the one who should spun into a ditch last night? After all we had 75 mile an hour winds and drifting (to say the least) SNOW.
Now please stop taking all of the attention. Ha-Ha-Ha
Sorry last night when I finally got home - I showered & just went to beddie-bye.
My ferals that live in my garage are from the momma cat (Scruffy) who was still a kitten herself when we moved into our rental home. She (Scruffy) has produced 4 litters of kittens. 2 of those litters my partner & I have raised & found homes for. The other 2 litters are the ones that live in our garage. They have all been T-N-R'ed. I have my real problems trying to trap Scruffy. She is very smart. The daddy (Mystery Kitty) is another one Im having troubles getting. There is a vet that we do work with - she is in the neighborhood. That is sweet deal right there. But we also use P.A.W.S. that is on the south side of Chicago. Actually not far from the Cook County Jail. P.A.W.S. usually has spay days once a month.
The cats that live in the garage have heat, food & fresh water everyday. When we move we plan on taking them with us. Only because I don't think that whomever moves into this house when we leave are going to want to take care of a bunch of feral cats. Plus I love my cats!

An Air Canada flight made an emergency landing in Ireland after a pilot apparently suffered a mental breakdown.

A passenger said the pilot was carried from the plane shouting and swearing, saying he wanted to talk "to God".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7217977.stm

Only Room for One Egomaniac in Race, Activist Says

Not so fast.

That was the message delivered today to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg by consumer activist Ralph Nader, who warned Mr. Bloomberg, “If some egomaniac is going to jump in and screw up this election, it’s going to be me.”

Mr. Nader established an exploratory committee for a presidential bid today to let Mr. Bloomberg know that there was “only room for one self-absorbed gas-bag in the 2008 race.”

At a press conference in Washington, Mr. Nader said that voters who are looking for someone to spoil the 2008 election should be suspicious of Mr. Bloomberg’s motives: “Michael Bloomberg has a track record of winning elections, not screwing them up.”

In contrast, Mr. Nader said, “I know how hard it is to wreck an election, and I am prepared to put in the long hours necessary to mess this one up big-time.”

If both Mr. Nader and Mr. Bloomberg were to enter the race, they would be competing head to head for the vote of egomaniacs, who make up three percent of the electorate nationwide but closer to fifty percent in California and New York.

Speaking to that egomaniac constituency, Mr. Nader called Mr. Bloomberg a “novice spoiler,” adding, “When it comes to screwing up elections, experience matters.”

“Michael Bloomberg can’t point to a single election he’s messed up – I can,” he said. “I am ready to screw this one up on Day One.”

Elsewhere, Attorney General Michael Mukasey clarified his position on waterboarding, saying, “Having to answer questions about whether waterboarding is torture or not is torture.”

let us know how everything goes.
I had to go to the Dr. yesterday. I have to go for a couple tests. They took about 8 vials of blood. But this Dr. is really on the ball. I like her. She knows her shit.

Love to you toniD

thanks for the heads up. andrea mitchell and tweety bird were driving me crazy. claiming edwards failure was tied to the 400 haircut and that he just couldn't break thru the attention being garnered by billary and obama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRyRW8asLs4

Bill Hogan of the Center for Public Integrity on Dan Rather Reports, "Race to the White House — Talking Politics at Princeton University," originally aired February 27, 2007 on HDNet.

is your car still in the ditch? Does this mean you have to stay home and blog w/us until the tow truck can come by? :)

Barak is speaking in Denver, complimenting Dodd, Kucinich and Edwards.

CNN will break away to Edwards when John is ready.

The Top 100 Private Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan

KBR, Inc., the global engineering and construction giant, won more than $16 billion in U.S. government contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004 to 2006—far more than any other company, according to a new analysis by the Center for Public Integrity. In fact, the total dollar value of contracts that went to KBR—which used to be known as Kellogg, Brown, and Root and until April 2007 was a subsidiary of Halliburton—was nearly nine times greater than those awarded to DynCorp International, a private security firm that is No. 2 on the Center's list of the top 100 recipients of Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction funds.

Another private security company, Blackwater USA, whose employees recently killed as many as 17 Iraqi civilians in what the Iraqi government alleges was an unprovoked attack, is 12th on the list of companies and joint ventures, with $485 million in contracts. (On November 14, the New York Times reported that FBI investigators have concluded that 14 of the 17 shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, and that Justice Department prosecutors are weighing whether to seek indictments.) First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting, which immediately precedes Blackwater on the Top 100, came under fire in July after a pair of whistleblowers told a House committee that the company essentially "kidnapped" low-paid foreign laborers brought in to help build the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad. First Kuwaiti and the U.S. State Department denied the charges.

Other key findings from the Center's analysis:

• Over the three years studied, more than $20 billion in contracts went to foreign companies whose identities—at least so far—are impossible to determine.

• Nearly a third of the companies and joint ventures on the Top 100 are based outside the United States. These foreign contractors, along with the $20 billion in contracts awarded to the unidentified companies, account for about 45 percent of all funds obligated to the Top 100.

• U.S. government contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan have grown more than 50 percent annually, from $11 billion in 2004 to almost $17 billion in 2005 and more than $25 billion in 2006.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/WOWII/

Published on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 by The Washington Post
by Rick Weiss
Video footage being released today shows workers at a California slaughterhouse delivering repeated electric shocks to cows too sick or weak to stand on their own; drivers using forklifts to roll the “downer” cows on the ground in efforts to get them to stand up for inspection; and even a veterinary version of waterboarding in which high-intensity water sprays are shot up animals’ noses — all violations of state and federal laws designed to prevent animal cruelty and to keep unhealthy animals, such as those with mad cow disease, out of the food supply.

Moreover, the companies where these practices allegedly occurred are major suppliers of meat for the nation’s school lunch programs, including in Maryland, according to a company official and federal documents.

The footage was taken by an undercover investigator for an animal welfare group, who wore a customized video camera under his clothes while working at the facility last year. [ View the video on the Humane Society Web site ] It is evidence that anti-cruelty and food safety rules are inadequate, and that Agriculture Department inspection and enforcement need to be enhanced, said officials with the Humane Society of the United States, which coordinated the project.

“These were not rogue employees secretly doing these things,” the investigator said in a telephone interview on the condition of anonymity because he hopes to infiltrate other slaughterhouses. “This is the pen manager and his assistant doing this right in the open.”

The investigator and Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society, said the footage was taken at Hallmark Meat Packing in Chino, Calif. Hallmark sells meat for processing to Westland Meat Co. in Chino, according to Westland President Steve Mendell, who is also Hallmark’s operations manager.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/30/6731/

The last six years have been a golden age of American apprehension and mistrust. Thanks to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, all of America was united, standing shoulder to shoulder in sheer, unrelenting fear. But tragically, that atmosphere of panic and confusion has begun to fade, and without another terrible attack to bond us as a nation, we are dangerously close to entering a post-post-9/11 era.

We cannot allow that to happen.

We must all do whatever we can to preserve America by refocusing our priorities back on the contemplation of lethal threats—invisible nightmarish forces plotting to destroy us in a number of horrific ways. It is only through the vigilance and determination of every patriot that we can maintain the sense of total dread vital to the prolonged existence of a thriving, quivering America.

Our country deserves no less than every citizen living in apprehension.

Doesn't this perfectly describe our 97%'er... whadda effin' bedwetter!

~-~-~

Expect a whole lotta ugly from a never ending parade of stupid. - Motormouth Maybelle (Hairspray)

Published on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 by Associated Press
by Noor Khan
About 500 Afghan women gathered in a rare mass protest Tuesday against the kidnapping of an American aid worker. The women, many wearing burqas, called on officials to find the captive American and urged the kidnappers to release her.

Officials said they still had not identified any suspects in the kidnapping of Cyd Mizell and her Afghan driver, Abdul Hadi. Gunmen abducted the two Saturday in a residential neighborhood of the southern city of Kandahar.

The demonstration by so many Afghan women in the conservative southern province of Kandahar was a rare display of women’s wishes. The 90-minute meeting was filled with prayers and speeches calling on government leaders to act.

Rona Tareen, director of the Kandahar Women’s Association, urged Mizell’s captives to free her immediately, saying she had helped Kandahar’s women with small business projects.

“She was here helping the woman in Kandahar. She was trying to get their embroidery outside of the country,” Tareen told the 500 to 600 women - many wearing the all-encompassing burqa - who gathered in a Kandahar wedding hall. The crowd estimate came from participants in the rally and an Associated Press journalist.

“Her kidnapping is against our culture and tradition,” Tareen said. “We demand that the kidnappers free her immediately.”

Another woman, Bibi Nanai, said she received permission from her husband to join the protest.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/29/6689/

*snif*

Did anyone on the left, flailing away Paul, ever hold Dennis Kucinich's feet to the fire for all those years attacking choice, before his presidential ambitions prompted to jump the fence and change his views? Not for Kucinich the rigorous adherence to principle that prompted Paul to launch a nutty attack on social security to a mostly elderly audience in Florida. Small wonder he ended up arm wrestling Fred Thompson for fifth place. Still, even Giuliani, in his strange farewell address, confessed that "Ron Paul won every debate."
Cockburn&St. Clair

Hang in there ! :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Stop that off-roading on the way to work ! ;)
Just kidding.. Glad your ok ! :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Just now on the radio, Rush said it looks like McCain will be the nominee and even if I vote for him it may not matter.

McCain vs. Clinton?

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
and JEFFREY ST. CLAIR

Before his handlers told the press Bill Clinton wouldn't be taking any more questions, the former president gave it as his considered opinion that his wife and John McCain are a lot alike, and that assuming the two become their parties' nominees, the fall campaign would be "the most cordial in history." Setting aside such well-known traits as ill-temper towards subordinates, what Mrs Clinton and McCain certainly do have in common is a readiness to hang their own party out to dry when it's a matter of personal advancement.

McCain has steadily amassed political capital by promoting himself as the Republicans' maverick, on campaign reform, pork barreling, immigration. He lashes the Christian right. He voted against the Bush tax cuts and denounced Don Rumsfeld early on for his management of the war.

Hillary's been a career triangulator and indeed introduced her husband to the dark art, by recruiting Jesse Helms' pollster, Dickie Morris, when Bill was trying to come back from defeat after one term as the governor of Arkansas. It was Hillary who told Bill firmly in the summer of 1996 that he should sign the Republicans' bill destroying welfare. The chilling aspect to this counsel was that it came at a moment when it was clear Bill was going to hammer Bob Dole in the presidential contest. Hillary's view was that it would be better for them to be seen as running athwart the old liberal lions, like Ted Kennedy who waited twelve long years for his revenge, in the form of his endorsement on Monday of Obama.

McCAin's victory in Florida on Tuesday is a measure of the terrible shape the Republican Party now finds itself in. They now have a front-runner that no faction in the party really likes. He's old, short, bald, with a history of serious skin cancer and a record of psychological instability. He is favor of a war deeply disliked by about 70 per cent of all Americans and has publicly proclaimed that the U.S. may well be in Iraq for a hundred years. With the country is poised on the lip of recession he calls for budget cuts. In Michigan he told distraught auto workers, --many of them "Reagan Democrats", that their jobs were never coming back. In Florida he said he didn't know much about economics but that Social Security would have to be fixed --i.e. privatized. Over half the people voting in Florida's Republican primary were over 60 and the Arizona senator's blithe endorsement of privatization would have scarcely been encouraging as they read the slumping bottom lines on their private 401K retirement accounts.

Small wonder the Clintons are licking their lips at the likelihood, deemed inconceivable only a few short weeks ago, that McCain will be the Republican nominee in the fall. The Republican right may well be making the calculation that it would no bad thing to have Hillary Clinton in the White House for four years, encumbered with the mess in Iraq and an economy in recession.
www.counterpunch.org

suspending is a different word than ending.

whats with that?

so far. Edwards will do great things. I'm sure of it.

And the bit about the ending poverty pledge was at least a promise of progress to come from both Obama and Clinton. It's up to us to hold them to it.

Right Wing Attacks Khalilzad For Not Defending Bolton’s Honor: ‘A Lack Of Testicular Fortitude’

THINK PROGRESS

Last Saturday, Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, participated in a panel discussion on Iranian foreign policy with two high-ranking Iranian officials at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The New York Times reports that the White House and Condoleezza Rice were “angered” by Khalilzad’s move because he did not receive explicit authorization.

(Watch video of the event here.) The moderator of the forum joked that Khalilzad has a “really formidable advantage of having a name that is not John Bolton.”

Because Khalilzad let that comment stand without repudiating it, right-wing bloggers have erupted in full rage that Khalilzad did not jump to defend Bolton’s honor (as they surely would have). Thus, Khalilzad’s behavior was “disgusting,” “an insult to the United States” and showed “a lack of testicular fortitude”:

Powerline: “The moderator begins the panel with an insult to former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. Rice is apparently angry that Khalilzad participated in the panel without administration authorization. I am angry that Khalilzad participated after the insult to his predecessor in office. Disgusting.”

Captain’s Quarters: “The moderator noted in his effusive introduction of Khalilzad that among his outstanding qualities was “the further, really formidable advantage of having a name that is not John Bolton.” Regardless of whether Khalilzad had prior authorization, allowing the insult to Bolton to stand unchallenged represents an insult to the United States and a lack of testicular fortitude on the part of his replacement.”

During the panel discussion, Khalilzad “did not veer from the U.S. position” and “stuck to the administration playbook” during the entire event.

So, despite the fact that Khalilzad adhered to the Bush administration line on Iran during the discussion, the right-wing bloggers found it reprehensible that an American official would have the temerity to sit in the same room with an Iranian official and let a mild dig at John Bolton go undefended.

UPDATE: Newshoggers writes, “Poor Zalmay. He’s been a loyal neocon for years and they lauded him for his work in Afghanistan and Iraq when he was up for the UN post. … But let a slur on the Almighty Moustache slide and he’s neocon toast.”

... in the White House to relieve his ennui

So, are we better off now than we were before Ralph Nader helped throw the 2000 and 2004 elections to George Bush? How has his grand plan helped our country? There has been NO positive change, whatsoever, from Nader having entered either race. The only possible impact anyone can point to is that Nader may have handed the presidency to George Bush, twice. That's all Nader has going for him - the possibility that he's responsible for giving the country waterboarding, the Iraq war, the mortgage mess, skyrocketing oil prices, massive budget deficits, signing statements, Alito and Roberts, Gitmo...

~-~-~

Expect a whole lotta ugly from a never ending parade of stupid. - Motormouth Maybelle (Hairspray)

showing courage - they are the Code Pink of Afghanistan.

YOU GO GIRLS!!!

push the candidates to the left.
http://www.naderexplore08.org/index.html

i caught that too. he's left the door open rather than slam it shut. the more critical point is that he has challenged clinton and obama to take up the mantle of his campaign with its focus on ending poverty (and healthcare, and workers rights, etc).

i would like someone to explain to me why, as andrea mitchell stated, ending poverty moves the party to the left.

give his speech. I have tears in my eyes.
Thom Hartmann is right it is "WE THE PEOPLE" not Hilary not Obama & not John Edwards.
But I do think he (John Edwards) was the only one with a clear voice of the haves & have nots.
I really believed that he could turn around the shit that this corrupt administration has dished out.

he should do us all a favor and just go away. he serves no purpose in the dialog.

No kidding - via the Register

Republicans in general are self serving - - me, me, me & only me people.
Self Centered Money grubbing assholes. (Just my opinion)

PRINCETON, NJ -- Barack Obama has now cut the gap with Hillary Clinton to 6 percentage points among Democrats nationally in the Gallup Poll Daily tracking three-day average, and interviewing conducted Tuesday night shows the gap between the two candidates is within a few points. Obama's position has been strengthening on a day-by-day basis. As recently as Jan. 18-20, Clinton led Obama by 20 points. Today's Gallup Poll Daily tracking is based on interviews conducted Jan. 27-29, all after Obama's overwhelming victory in South Carolina on Saturday. Two out of the three nights interviewing were conducted after the high-visibility endorsement of Obama by Sen. Edward Kennedy and his niece Caroline Kennedy.

Clinton's lead in the three-day average is now 42% to Obama's 36%.

you are right - Edwards will do great things.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused to legally define waterboarding as "torture" during Senate testimony Wednesday, although he acknowledged that if the interrogation technique were performed on him, he would personally "feel that it was."

During his first testimony since his November confirmation, Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that it wouldn't "be appropriate for me to pass definitive judgment on the technique's legality."

Interrogation by torture is illegal under U.S. law and Mukasey said labeling waterboarding as torture would give "our adversaries the limits and contours of generally worded laws that define the limits of a highly classified interrogation program."

Currently banned by the Pentagon and CIA, waterboarding involves strapping an interrogation subject to a surface, covering the person's face with cloth and pouring water on the face to imitate the sensation of drowning.

The method is at the center of a Justice Department criminal probe about the CIA's acknowledged destruction in 2005 of videotapes showing agents using waterboarding and other "alternative" interrogation techniques on suspected al Qaeda operatives in 2002.

Sen. Edward Kennedy pointed out that -- because the attorney general has acknowledged his opposition to torture -- his refusal to pass judgment on waterboarding is "like saying you're opposed to stealing but not quite sure that bank robbery qualifies."

t one point the Massachusetts Democrat posed a blunt question to Mukasey: "Would waterboarding be torture if it was done to you?"

The attorney general responded, "I would feel that it was."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/30/mukasey.waterboarding/?iref=mpsto...

amazing dialoge between Specter and Mukasey. Basically GWB acted criminally as far as I can tell. I know, what a surprise...

smcgee43 - so lets not fret Edwards dropping out. Let's see what happens next. Progress has always been incremental at best.

Best consession speech
Submitted by Fernando on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 1:37pm.

so far. Edwards will do great things. I'm sure of it.

And the bit about the ending poverty pledge was at least a promise of progress to come from both Obama and Clinton. It's up to us to hold them to it.

*****************

There was a article a few days ago by Novak ... which is why I didn't post it ... anyway in his article he said that Obama offered Edwards the Attorney General job if he is Pres. Which if true and happened ... Edwards would be in the postion to enforce labor laws that have been ignored for years.

Oh Hell..Here we go again !

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

...would serve the country best by appointing John Edwards as Attorney General, if they do nothing else.

I'm up for something...Good Lord this is depressing.

coming up in 3 minutes and counting

I read that too but don't trust Novakula either. It is illegal to promise political favor in the future between candidates so I don't think all of it can be that way.

i thought it was 2:15

what do you think they will do?

dan. Ben is freaking out so I expect he will over react.

Therapy, anyone?
new
Submitted by Annette on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 1:55pm.
I'm up for something...Good Lord this is depressing.

I need it.

Submitted by Annette on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 1:55pm.

I'm up for something...Good Lord this is depressing.

**************

Three sisters, ages 92, 94 and 96, live in a house together. One night the 96-year-old draws a bath. She puts her foot in and pauses. She yells to the other sisters, "Was I getting in or out of the bath?"

The 94-year-old yells back, "I don't know. I'll come up and see." She starts up the stairs and pauses "Was I going up the stairs or down?"

The 92-year-old is sitting at the kitchen table having tea listening to her sisters. She shakes her head and says, "I sure hope I never get that forgetful, knock on wood." She then yells, "I'll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who's at the door."

he demonstrated that the markets controlled him with the emergency 3/4 cut last week which makes him a political hack like betrayus. i would like to see the fed get a spine and say enough is enough and do nothing but pragmatically i think they will do the .25

have a Contact/Email address ? uumm..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

---Therapy, anyone?---
new
Submitted by Kevin © on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 2:04pm.

Thanks for the giggle..."some of my best laughs are through tears,"

there you go being a moderate and trying to use reason.

You need to factor the nut jobs on that side of the aisle.

Edwards out
Submitted by SEDER on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 11:06am.
Dunno who it helps if he doesn't endorse...

Edwards said in his speech just now that he asked both Obama and Clinton to "Pledge" to keep issues like poverty and healthcare on the front burner. My feeling is he'll wait to see if either of them actually does this in the weeks to come and maybe then he'll make an endorsement.
Doris

Doris

2

Man, I feel sorry for Ralph Nader. When he came on the

scene, back in the 60's or 70's, fighting to get us safer

cars, etc. he truly seemed like an honest, down to Earth

hero. Now, when you see him on TV, he has that exact same

crazy glint in his eyes that McCain has. It's a glint that

screams out..."this mother fucker is seriously insane."

Poe seeks meeting with Rice on KBR rape case.

Frustrated with “unacceptable” written responses from the State Department regarding the gang rape in Iraq of one his constituents, Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday asking her to “answer questions in person” about the high-profile case involving military contractor KBR. Declining to comment further about whether Rice would actually meet with Poe, State spokesperson Nicole Thompson only said “the secretary’s office will respond to the congressman.”

If Edwards is inclined to endorse, and specially if he's inclined to endorse Obama, my thought, fwiw, is:

Edwards oughtta wait on endorsing till two days before Super Tuesday. In the interim, Edwards oughtta be droppin' hints about a possible, then probable, then imminent endorsement to keep the horse-race fetishists in the press corpse on 24-hour endorsement watch.

As evidenced from campaigns past (and recently seen by the impact of popular Fla. governor Charlie Crist's endorsement a coupla days before the Florida primary), the last coupla days before an election is when the undecideds swing.

For maximum impact, Edwards oughtta weigh in w/an Obama endorsement (if that's what he's inclined to do) Sat. night, e.g., so alla the cable gasbags can talk it up on Sunday morn.

imo

haa--sorry--they said it was the clock--but 2:15 is the right time

Oh shit--- half a point!

is Rudy falling on his face !

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

phooey

here goes the DOW--watch it climb

(for now)

slapping the crap out of the nose!!

some on MSNBC panels are still saying no recession (even though we may already be in it)

hoping for 2 good quarters.... hmmm...

...has done nothing, not a damn thing to build a third party (locally or nationally) that can caucus in a congessional body effectively. He could do that with all these millions thrown at him to "run" for President.

Until he proves third party success by supporting/financing campaigns for either local or national Congress/Senate FIRST, he can kiss my gay ass.

You want a viable third party that represents you? A third party force to be reckoned with? Fine. Build it then. But until he can do nothing more but play spoiled little brat in our currently fucked up election system...? Sorry... that doesn't earn my respect one bit.

No offense, but personally, I just don't like the man.

their goal is to take its the economy stupid off the table in the presidential race so that the republicans have a better chance.

Gallup: Hillary's National Lead Over Obama Down To Six Points
By Eric Kleefeld - January 30, 2008, 1:17PM

The new Gallup poll shows the national Democratic race might be really tightening — Hillary's lead is down to the single digits. Here are the numbers, compared to their last poll from two days ago:

Clinton 42% (-2)
Obama 36% (+3)
Edwards 12% (-2)

Only a week ago, Hillary was up by 16 points.

We'll find out soon enough what the impact of Edwards' withdrawal will be, and also where the remaining undecideds will end up.

Charlie...did you read my comment about the crazy glint in

Ralph's eyes?

Davis will not seek reelection

Republican Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia announced that he will not seek reelection, issuing a release announcing his retirement this afternoon.

"After much soul-searching and discussion with those closest to me, I have decided the time is right to take a sabbatical from public life," Davis said in a statement. "I will serve out the remainder of my term, and plan to remain an active contributor to Republican causes, but will not run for office in 2008."

“I have not yet decided what opportunities to pursue when I depart Congress. But it’s clear to me that returning to the private sector and reacquainting myself with that view of the world is the best move for me and my family."

Davis' Northern Virginia district has been trending in a Democratic direction over the past decades, and offers Democrats a good opportunity to pick up the seat. Already Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairman Gerry Connolly (D) has formed an exploratory committee, and has high name identification in the district.

Former Rep. Leslie Byrne and retired Naval officer Doug Denneny have also announced their candidacies on the Democratic side.

Businessman Keith Fimian is a leading candidate on the Republican side; he has already raised over $350,000 in individual donation over the past six months.

Nader launches exploratory website
Email|Link|Comments (18) Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor January 30, 2008 11:46 AM

Ralph Nader, the consumer activist whom many Democrats blame for costing them the White House in 2000, launched an exploratory committee website today.

The site asks "Which side are you on?" and features a litany of criticisms of corporate America.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote but was edged out in the Electoral College by Republican George W. Bush after the US Supreme Court stopped a recount in Florida.

Nader, the Green Party candidate, won about 2.8 million votes nationwide, or nearly 3 percent of the vote. But his vote in close, key states helped swing the election to Bush.

Nader...

Submitted by GBC on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 2:20pm.

... Until he proves third-party success by supporting/financing campaigns for either local or national Congress/Senate FIRST, he can kiss my gay ass.

________________

Tho' I suspect Nader is prolly an asexual ascetic, are you really prepared to face the arse-fury of those Brillo-pad eyebrows?

"Dunno who it helps if he doesn't endorse... "

It helps Obama, immediately. He gets more of Edwards' automatically-divided delegates than Clinton does.

But he's still behind by a margin that's negligible compared to the amount of delegates that are up for grabs on Tuesday.

It's the story about Edwards stopping by at an underpass, to talk to some homeless people, before the concession speech. That one gets me crying. Presumably he told them, before we all knew, the race was over for him.

As he left, they called out to him, "Don't forget about us!"

...

Chelsea Clinton Finds Her Voice

By Joel Achenbach
SALT LAKE CITY -- Chelsea Clinton can talk! And here's the big news, sure to be ominous for those who abhor political dynasties: She can talk very, very well. Ms. Clinton speaks in complete paragraphs, and can weave the multiple threads of a complex issue into a coherent and reasonable answer. You'd think it was in her genes or something.

Ms. Clinton stumped for her mother yesterday in Salt Lake City in the student union of the University of Utah, saying right up front that she's never spoken to a crowd from a stage before. "I'm feeling a little intimidated about that," she said.

But she didn't show it. After all these years of being a silent figure on stage with her parents, Chelsea, 27, still doesn't seem to savor the spotlight. Nor does she go for the soaring flights of rhetoric. At first blush, she's more like her Mom than her Dad -- comfortable with the subtleties of policies, but remaining somewhat reserved.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/30/chelsea_clinton_find...

Submitted by dan on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 11:31am.
i know you're making an important point cb but i don't understand it.
--------
I apologize for the delay.

The blog's shallowest political analyst implied that the quantity of campaign funding is determined by the quality of the candidate's ideas. He was referencing Edwards.

A candidate's ideas are a piece of the campaign-funding puzzle at best. The quality of the ideas are subjective at best. In Edwards' case, funding was predetermined to be difficult to obtain because his platform attacked the Big Money source of campaign funding.

Potdog's analysis is based on obviously strong odds and nothing more. He doesn't bank on the quality of ideas. He banks on probabilities.

I remind everyone that he voted for George W. Bush twice, indicating that his recent analysis of the quality and competency of a candidate for the presidency is piss poor though his choice gained the office.

He doesn't care about good governance. His vote is merely used to place a two-dollar bet at the political horse track.

Tomorrow nights Dem Debate will be interesting .... with just Obama and Clinton on there.

Obama has been running ads here for about a week .... and I have only seen them on Spanish TV .... Clinton ... the first ad I saw from her was this morning on Local TV.

sorry but that is TOO funny! giggle, giggle!

if Edwards does not endorse anyone, does that mean that his supporters will be lost and will not know how to vote unless he tells them too?

Putin: No foreign meddling in election

Putin: No Foreign Countries Will Be Allowed to Influence Russian Presidential Vote

No foreign countries will be allowed to meddle in the campaign leading up to Russia's crucial presidential election in March, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

Putin's comments to members of the country's primary security agency, the Federal Security Service, came as Russia was poised to again sharply limit the number of foreign election observers allowed in the country.

Election officials said this week that half the number of monitors allowed in the 2004 presidential vote will be permitted this time.

The group whose election reports are considered most authoritative — the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe — has been limited to around 70 observers, the same figure as for the December parliamentary vote. The OSCE ultimately decided not to send any observers then.

"It is necessary to strengthen the work to obtain timely information about attempts to interfere with our internal affairs," Putin said. "This is particularly necessary during the period of the elections for the presidency of Russian Federation. Our country is a sovereign state and we will not allow the conduct of the election campaign to be corrected by anyone from outside."

"In connection with that, the task of all state structures is guarantee the democratic character of the elections, social-political stability, to give our citizens to possibility to make a free and deliberate choice," he said.

Putin was joined at the meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, whom he named last month as his favored successor in the March 2 vote.

Medvedev has promised to make Putin prime minister if he wins, a near-certainty given his popularity and the Kremlin's near-total domination of the country's political life and national media.

I'll tell you if you remember to link your stories.. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

allows him to hold onto his delegates for some amount of time. i think he is waiting to see which of the remaining candidates will step up to the plate and adopt some part of his platform.

there is also the remote chance that a groundswell in the next few days or write ins on super tuesday might bring him back in but thats just me bs'ing.

Reasons to Conyers dilemmna:

I think Mr. Conyers knows there is no rush to impeachment. First people need to understand that time has no bearance on the process. In fact we can still impeach Harry Truman. Consider that a President served 2 terms and at the end of his term in his last month he did egregious crimes to the Nation, waging a lying War, and killing thousands of innocent people. Are we to believe that because there is no time left, we can't impeach? How idiotic. Of course impeachment is always on the table throughout time.

It is getting people educated about this. Think of it here we are in 2008, and still have not had a Black President. Think maybe Conyers is waiting to see how Obama comes out? There is only 41 black congressmembers to a 435 membership, and the only senator is Barack. Pretty scant and disgraceful that so few black Americans serve in Government. But Obama has come out against impeachment. Think maybe Conyers is following Obama's anti-impeachment? I think that is the issue. And if this is the reason which I think is, it goes to prove this race is about race.

http://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS

are you serious Rules....i link all my stories---i take pride in that!!

Didn't You Vote To Approve This Guy ?

"I understand that you and some other members of the (Judiciary) Committee may feel that I should go further in my review, and answer questions concerning the legality of waterboarding under current law," Mukasey wrote to Leahy. "I understand the strong interest in this question, but I do not think it would be responsible for me, as attorney general, to provide an answer."

Didn't You Say This ?

"I do believe he will be a truly nonpolitical, nonpartisan attorney general; that he will make his views very clear; and that, once he has the opportunity to do the evaluation he believes he needs on waterboarding, he will be willing to come before the Judiciary Committee and express his views comprehensively and definitively," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, one of the six who voted with the majority for confirmation.

Praying For Your resignation !

Thank you,MMRules..A Democrat..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Bravo to K.O. for taking it to Hillary for giving him this stupid cackle of a laugh (as in: to talk in a shill manner) to a very serious question. She does this purposefully to diminish the legitimacy of the question.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lq0lJ02WLc

Assuming she wins the nomination or general elction, these are naked moments when we get to see just how dismissive HC will be of the 49% of Americans who will not have voted for her. And our kids will have to wait another 4-8 years for anything of substance to get done.

Thanks Florida!

Sen. Clinton welcomes endorsement from Patty Murray

By MATTHEW DALY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton is ready to lead the nation from her first day in office and deliver the change the country needs, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Wednesday in endorsing the New York Democratic senator for president.

"Hillary and I both came to Washington together in 1993, and since that time she hasn't stopped working on the priorities that matter most to America's families," Murray said.

The two women have worked together to pass port security legislation, stand up to the Bush administration on environmental issues and boost programs for veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Murray said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_murray_clinton.html

BERLIN (AFP) — Former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan cast doubt on the ability of the central bank to prevent a US recession in an interview to appear on Thursday.

Greenspan told the German weekly Die Zeit that the Fed or political policies could "probably not" keep the world's biggest economy from sliding into recession, as financial markets widely expected the US central bank to cut its main lending rate.

"The influences of the global economy today are stronger than almost any monetary or budgetary response," the German-language weekly quoted Greenspan as saying.

Although he left the post of Fed chairman two years ago, Greenspan's opinions on the economy are still sought after.

"Real long-term interest rates have much more influence over the heart of economic activity than national decisions," he was quoted as adding.

"And central banks have less and less power to influence long term rates."

The former Fed chief put the chances of a US recession at 50 percent, but added: "We have few indications that would allow us to say we are already there."

Some analysts have said that low interest rates under Greenspan's watch were responsible in part for the US housing bubble that burst last year, and led to the current financial crisis.

Die Zeit quoted him as saying he found it hard to understand that "the Federal Reserve policy had somehow allowed housing and stock prices to rise."

Fallout from the crisis, which began with a meltdown of the US market for high-risk, or subprime, mortgages, continues to rock international financial markets and now threatens the US economy with a recession.

For Greenspan however, the turmoil was "entirely the result of market forces at a global level."

The Fed's Open Market Committee (FOMC) was to announce its decision on US lending rates later on Wednesday.

It surprised markets last week by slashing the base Fed funds rate by three quarters of a percentage point to 3.50 percent, but it is widely expected to follow through with another cut to 3.0 percent.

Deep Thought

Maybe if Edwards had announced his exit from the race every week he would have gotten more media coverage.

-Atrios 13:55

Further proof that if you vote in a later primary, your vote doesn't mean shit.

I'm pissed. I didn't even get a chance to vote for him. But I guess it doesn't matter. The corporations have already decided who they want. We The People are irrelevant

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House played down talk that the United States might be headed for a recession and said a report on fourth-quarter gross domestic product released earlier on Wednesday did not change its outlook.

"I have not heard at all that we have changed our outlook, and we are not forecasting a recession," White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters traveling with President George W. Bush to California for the start of a tour of western states.

U.S. GDP in the fourth-quarter grew at a meager annual rate of 0.6 percent, the Commerce Department said. That reading was weaker than 1.2 percent rate forecast by private economists.

The report also said GDP increased by 2.2 percent in all of 2007, the slowest pace in five years.

Fratto also urged the U.S. Senate to move quickly to pass a $150 billion stimulus package aimed at boosting the economy.

"I think the only thing we can do is help remind them that America is expecting action and they are expecting it quickly and the only way for an economic growth package to have the desired impact is to do it quickly," he said.

Hahahahahahahahahaha. The plaintiff cry of the Sour Grapes Loser! You defy the 97% you get the horns. Ask Gore, Kerry, Dean, Dodd, Kucinich, or Edwards they will give some variation of the sour grapes excuse.

Of course the odds are on our side, we are the 97%! If you want to win you have better have a plan.

The 97% just smiles, the 3% yells "Just deal the fuckin cards!"

Hahahahahahahahaha.

NEWS ASIA-PACIFIC
Rudd to make apology to Aborigines
The apology is the first item of business
for Rudd's new parliament [AFP]
Australia's government is to formally apologise to the country's indigenous people for policies that removed Aboriginal children from their families, but is to refuse calls for compensation.

Kevin Rudd, Australia's prime minister, is to deliver the apology on February 13, Jenny Macklin, the Indigenous Affairs minister, said on Wednesday.

"The apology will be made on behalf of the Australian government and does not attribute guilt to the current generation of Australian people," Macklin said.

Christine King, from the Stolen Generations Alliance, one of the groups consulted ahead of the apology, said she was "overwhelmed".

"Older people thought they would never live to see this day," King said. "It's very emotional for me and it's very important."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/186539CF-3599-47D2-ADD3-4BCAB0422...

Is "mustard" slang for "a really dumb condiment"?

i keep getting an apache 500 error.

F these two parties...

I feel the same way....sorry.

When Part of the 97 farts, blame it on the Dog.

A guide to recession retrenchment

How, precisely, to dress for a recession? Modestly, resourcefully, with an eye toward vintage. Moth-eaten sweaters will stage a comeback. Holes are huge.

Worn shoes, too. Hand-me-downs, share-arounds, what-was-I-thinking and if-it-still-fits-wear-it will out-Vogue Vogue.

The old-money look will be the epitome of style - without, understandably, the money part.

Slippers are a sound purchase, unlike stocks, as many Americans won't be traveling anywhere with their farcical dollars. We will be spending much, much more time at home, with the heat turned way, way down.

Overpriced, oversized handbags will be rendered the sartorial equivalent of the dodo: a dead joke, akin to paying too much with a subprime mortgage. If India's Tata Motors can turn out a $3,000 car, women can do without four-figure handbags.

In? Reusable shopping bags.

What to eat for the recession? Soup. Soup is always good.

Also, apples, a historical crowd-pleaser from the Great Depression. For some reason, broccoli. Water, drunk from a glass, will be the height of elegance while mindful of the environment. Bottled water is so 2007. Four-dollar coffee, too.

Four dollars is what we'll spend on soup. Made with broccoli. Purchased with reusable shopping bags.

Know what else is so 2007? Discretionary income.

How best to travel? By foot. Bike, too. This is healthy for the body and planet, to say nothing of cash flow. Or, rediscover the exoticism of regional rail.

Know how wretched air travel has become? Give it up! Listen to others commiserate about late flights, missed connections and lost luggage while being freed from such anxiety, disappointment and lost hours crammed inside germ-infested vessels.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.heller30jan30,0,142...

from the dept. of (sadly) funny b/c it's (bitterly) true
new
Submitted by dr on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 3:05pm.
Maybe if Edwards had announced his exit from the race every week he would have gotten more media coverage.

-Atrios 13:55
*******

Amen !

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

No.

I think it was called Ending Poverty in America....

Breaks over... l8r...

The 3% should have no complaint, they had more than one candidate put forward the 3% agenda. Elections give the folks a chance to take a look at differing ideas. For 7 years now the 3% has been making the claim that the country is moving thier direction. The fact of the matter is those candidates pulled 3% of the vote.

Fair is fair, now it's time to focus on the candidates whose ideas have merit with the majority!

Mustard is a member of the Brassica family of plants which bears tiny round edible seeds as well as tasty leaves. Its English name, mustard, is derived from a contraction of the Latin mustum ardens meaning burning wine. This is a reference to the spicy heat of the crushed mustard seeds and the French practice of mixing the ground seeds with must, the young, unfermented juice of wine grapes.

At first, mustard was considered a medicinal plant rather than a culinary one. In the sixth century B.C., Greek scientist Pythagoras used mustard as a remedy for scorpion stings. One hundred years later, Hippocrates used mustard in a variety of medicines and poultices. Mustard plasters were applied to "cure" toothaches and a number of other ailments.

Prepared mustard dates back thousands of years to the early Romans, who used to grind mustard seeds and mix them with wine into a paste not much different from the prepared mustards we know today.

The mustard seed is a prominent reference for those of the Christian faith, exemplifying something which is small and insignificant, which when planted, grows in strength and power. Pope John XXII was so fond of mustard that he created a new Vatican position - grand moutardier du pape (mustard-maker to the pope) - and promptly filled the post with his nephew.

In 1866, Jeremiah Colman, founder of Colman's Mustard of England, was appointed as mustard-maker to Queen Victoria. Colman perfected the technique of grinding mustard seeds into a fine powder without creating the heat which brings out the oil. The oil must not be exposed or the flavor will evaporate with the oil.

We all know that losers and quitters can't cut the mustard (live up to the challenge). And perhaps the reason ballpark mustard is so popular is because pitchers apply mustard to their fastballs to get those strike-outs. The disabling and even lethal chemical weapon known as mustard gas is a synthetic copy based on the volatile nature of mustard oils.

Submitted by Crank Bait on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 3:10pm.
Is "mustard" slang for "a really dumb condiment"?

___________

In the same way "condimentary" way that "mayonaisse" is associated w/the Carter administration?

When Part of te 97 farts in an uninhabited woods, does he make a sound?

Something Rotten?

Thousands protested in the streets for four days
Not so long ago, Denmark prided itself on having the most open immigration policies in Europe. The country has always been known for its progressive, open society.

But this image has come under threat after a number of high profile and violent encounters between members of the public and state.

In early 2007 a brutal four-day riot resulted in over 1,000 arrests and a closure of all international borders to stop overseas support for the protest from coming in.

The trouble began after an anti-terror squad raided the Ungdomshuset building, or Youth House, in the capital Copenhagen, which had been occupied by left-wing activists since the 1980s.

The local government sold the building to a Christian group in 2000, which then obtained a court order to have the squatters evicted.

But the activists vowed not to leave, saying the council had no right to sell the building while it was still in use.

The fury that unfolded was some of the worst seen in Denmark since World War II.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9A7B6987-C294-4B4C-8CFC-7C3526D0B...

That Iran is a threat to be taken very seriously. Which is why we should not be pandering for votes with "Sense of Senate" resolutions naming elements of it's armed forces terrorist org's.

Bye the Bye; Please provide a link to Ackma-mad-in-the-head (my words) saying "Accept that the life of Zionists will sooner or later come to an end," at this nuclear reactor speech. I like to verify and I've never seen a cold water nuclear reactor close up.

Now I have a question for you and await your response:

When and where has Hillary Clinton ever said US and Israeli policy diverge?

In honor of Mark Maron (this is half his day right) I'll answer my own question. NOWHERE! Or as NYT columnist Nicholas Kristoff (another self hating Jew) puts it, Hillary is "ALL ISRAEL, ALL THE TIME." (EMPHASIS ADDED)

do you live in Florida?

A species of hummingbird makes a chirping noise with its tail feathers, not its throat, a study using high-speed video has suggested.

The exact source of the noise from male Anna's hummingbirds has been the subject of debate among researchers.

By using specialised footage, a team of US scientists were able to show that male hummingbirds' tail feathers vibrated during high-speed dives.

The findings appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal.

The loud chirp sound is produced by male Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) as the birds dive towards the ground at speeds that exceed 50mph (80km/h) during their displays for nearby females.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7216230.stm

Gilded apartheid for the old? No.

Visited Baco Raton though. As in the Boca Raton Resort and Spa, favorite vacation spot of John Boehner. Accidently drove up to Rush Limbaugh's condo, didn't get far. Did wander down a hallway with nondescript signs on the doors reading HALLIBURTON, KERRR-MCGEE, KBR, KELLOG BROWN AND ROOT AND (wait for it) BANK OF AMERICA. Do I live in Florida, NO!

Did see the beaches eroding before my very eyes.

Internet services have been disrupted in parts of the Middle East following damage to an undersea cable in the Mediterranean, according to reports.

There was disruption to 70% of the nationwide network in Egypt, a government official told Reuters.

There was also disruption in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, reported the Associated Press.

India also suffered up to 60% disruption, a national industry body told Reuters news agency.

The Internet Service Providers' Association of India blamed a breakdown in an international undersea cable network.

One Indian internet service provider, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), linked the problem to the Egyptian disruption.

Egypt's Telecommunications Ministry said it would probably take several days for internet services to return to normal following the disruption on Wednesday.

Emergency teams were trying to find alternative communication routes, including satellites, AP was told.

The ministry's Rafaat Hindy said: "Despite this being an international cable affecting many Gulf and Arab countries, we are closest to it and so we have a lot of responsibility.

"We are working as fast as we can."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7218008.stm

Run time: 2:14

Barack Obama says that George Bush and Dick Cheney must hear from the American people: "You don't have our support, and you don't have our authorization for another war" in Iran.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyHJZxNm-Cg

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/949628.html

---------

Iran is going to Obama's Achilles heal. Iran demonstrates Obama inexperience and naive approach to dealing with Terrorists. As a matter of fact Hillary just might mention that tonight. But there is plenty of time for all that. We are down to the detail level now.

OKAY----okay!

........

Submitted by Kevin © on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 12:13pm.

[Kevin's slap-down of Dog's citing Rasmussen by demonstrating how wrong Rasmussen got the Florida vote, then:]

_____________

And while we're on the subject of deadly sulfurous explosions (which never gets old):

-------

--Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard's Almanac"

Hitler: sicker than you thought (which is really saying something)

It may sound like a Woody Allen scenario, but medical historians are unanimous that Adolf was the victim of uncontrollable flatulence. Spasmodic stomach cramps, constipation and diarrhea, possibly the result of nervous tension, had been Hitler's curse since childhood and only grew more severe as he aged. As a stressed-out dictator, the agonising digestive attacks would occur after most meals: Albert Speer recalled that the Führer, ashen-faced, would leap up from the dinner table and disappear to his room.

This was an embarrassing problem for a ruthless leader of the Third Reich. With uncharacteristic concern for his fellow human beings [more like w/characteristic single-minded self-interest], Hitler had first tried to cure himself when he was a rising politician in 1929 by poring over medical manuals, coming to the conclusion that a largely veg diet would calm his turbulent digestion as well as make his farts less offensive to the nose. A rabid hypochondriac, he would also examine his own feces on a regular basis and administer himself camomile enemas.

Hitler decided to swear off meat completely in 1931, when his niece (and presumed romantic interest) Geli Raubel committed suicide: When presented with a plate of breakfast ham the next morning, he pushed it away muttering, "It's like eating a corpse." From that squeamish moment on, great piles of vegetables, raw or pulped into a baby mulch, were Hitler's daily staple ...

Strangely, Hitler was unfazed by the fact that this high-fiber diet was having the opposite effect on his digestion than what he had intended. His private physician, Dr. Theo Morell, recorded in his diary that after Hitler downed a typical vegetable platter, "constipation and colossal flatulence occurred on a scale I have seldom encountered before."

Hitler's stomach problems may even have played their part in his losing the war, thanks to this shadowy figure of Dr. Morell, an incompetent quack who took over Hitler's medical care in 1937 ...

Morrell was an unpleasant figure even by Nazi standards—grossly obese, with frog-like features, sulfurous B.O. and venomous halitosis. But when he cured a painful case of eczema on Hitler's legs and provided temporary relief for his stomach cramps, the Führer was won over. To the irritation of other Nazi doctors, Hitler then proceeded to swallow any of Morell's advice, no matter how hair-brained, for the next eight years.

For example, to combat recurrences of the volcanic stomach problems, Morell plied him with a remedy called "Dr. Köster's Anti-gas pills," which contained significant amounts of strychnine—and Hitler often took as many as 16 of the little black pills a day. The sallow skin, glaucous eyes and attention lapses noted by observers later in the war are consistent with strychnine poisoning; another ingredient in the pills, antropine, causes mood wings from euphoria to violent anger.

Even more peculiar were the injections of amphetamines that Morell administered every morning before breakfast from 1941, which may have exacerbated the erratic behavior, inflexibility, paranoia and indecision that Hitler began to display increasingly as the war ground on ...

After the war, US intelligence officers discovered that Morell was pumping Hitler with 28 different drugs, including eye-drops that contained 10 percent cocaine (up to 10 treatments a day), a concoction made from human placenta and "potency pills" made from ground bull's testicles. But despite the barrage of medicines, Morell's diaries (which were recovered from Germany and are kept in the National Archives in Washington, DC) make clear that the bouts of "agonizing flatulence" remained a regular occurrence.

A relatively healthy man when he met Morell, Hitler degenerated quickly towards the end of the war until he was a physical wreck. Hitler's arms were so riddled with hypodermic marks that even the normally passive Eva Braun complained to her mother about Morell as "the injection quack." When Hitler came down with jaundice in 1944, three Nazi doctors tried to have Morell fired. But the Führer remained fiercely loyal—or just as likely, addicted to his chemical cocktails—and dismissed the trio of troublemakers instead ...

__________

Why is none of this surprising?

Edwards, the Obama Movement &
the Fight for a Progressive Congress

Dear Friend,

John Edwards just announced that he is suspending his populist presidential campaign that had put corporate greed and economic injustice under the spotlight. We wish him and Elizabeth well. And we thank all of you who've worked so hard for John Edwards or for progressive stalwart Dennis Kucinich (now focusing on reelection to Congress.)

No matter who we've supported so far for president, many PDAers have seen firsthand the enthusiastic, youthful, multiracial movement that has embraced Barack Obama. The Senator hasn't been totally progressive on the issues, but our engagement with the inspiring Obama movement--which includes tens of thousands of open-minded newcomers to activism--leaves us hopeful. If the Obama movement succeeds, it could play an important role in the remaking of the Democratic Party that PDA is helping to bring about. (See PDA Advisory Board member Tom Hayden's recent endorsement of the Obama movement.)

As important as the presidential race is the fight for a progressive Congress. PDA chapters have been endorsing solid progressives for U.S. House seats. Eight have received national endorsements already.

Two of our endorsed candidates are battling for seats in Maryland and Illinois. Their campaigns are the most pressing--and need our help now to put them over the top.

* Donna Edwards in Maryland's fourth Congressional district. (Contact diane@pdamerica.org to volunteer to phone bank for Donna Edwards.)

* John Laesch in Illinois' fourteenth congressional district.

PDA's other endorsed candidates are: Clint Curtis, Corbett Kroehler and Samm Simpson (FL); Randi Scheuer (IL); Dr. Bill Durston (CA); and Mahdi Ibn-Ziyad (NJ).

Let's work to put more progressives in Congress.

And wherever activists gather, especially in the Obama movement--and wherever Congressional or presidential candidates gather--let's continue to promote and distribute the full progressive agenda.

In solidarity,

Tim Carpenter
National Director

I have to admit that I am impressed that you are so

politically astute while being unable to construct a

meaningful sentence. You are a marvel of human

accomplishment.

That's what I'm talking about Kevin. Powerful video...IN YOUR Eye with a pumpkin pie.

FIRED UP AND READY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pick another loser Peter. You have the "kiss of death!" How about reverse psychology, why don't you support a Republican. Everyone you support ends up in the ash heap!

I never saw that quote before ...

The only two men I have ever voted for in a prez race

were JFK and Bill Clinton. Both winners. Peter Dragon does

NOT have the kiss of death.

I'm just kidding. ( you know I had a FRIEND tell me Barak Obama is a muslim) I'll have to chew on the article. Thank you for the follow up. I mean that.

I would like for US to go back to beeing, or at worst, being able to sell the perception of being, the "neutral partner" if that is the proper phrase, I can't remember.

Gotta get the kids.

Dear Lucille,

When I endorsed Barack Obama on Monday, I was also endorsing a candidate with the power to transform America.

As President Kennedy said in 1960, "It is time for a new generation of leadership."

This campaign is about a new generation of leadership today. A generation ready to be part of something bigger than themselves. A generation ready to change the country, and a generation ready to change the world.

I'm doing everything I can to elect Barack Obama. With less than a week before my state and 21 others make their voices heard, there is no time to lose.

Please join me by making a $50 donation now:

https://donate.barackobama.com/newgeneration

Like my son Patrick and my niece Caroline, I have found a new generation of leadership for America in Barack Obama -- and I hope you have too!

Sincerely,

Senator Edward M. Kennedy

P.S. -- You may have already seen clips of my speech or parts of it on Monday. But take a look here. The energy in that room was amazing, and it's spreading across America:

Video: Kennedy Rally

https://donate.barackobama.com/newgeneration

Donate

some writer/researcher had some time on their hands, but I am amused none the less...

I don't believe for a second that Liz Lemmon makes that little in New York

http://tinyurl.com/33ycdb

Intel chairman sees dim hopes that partisanship will improve
Nick Juliano

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is worried that national security issues will remain just another arrow in partisan quivers in coming years, perhaps limiting his panels ability to ensure legal and ethical conduct in the nation's intelligence community.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, who became intel chairman after the Democratic takeover of Congress, tells US News and World Report that he sees "rather dim" prospects for improvement in the partisan atmosphere that has engulfed his committee.

The Intelligence Committee oversees US intelligence committees and has tackled controversial subjects such as the destruction of CIA tapes that allegedly depicted waterboarding and the Bush administration's attempts to expand its warrantless surveillance authority, which has provoked sharp attacks from the GOP warning that Democratic plans would endanger national security.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Intel_chairman_sees_dim_hopes_that_0130.ht...

afternoon everyone,

watch this video,

this song always cheers me up.

if appreciate good beats and even better looking bud, you'll

like this....one word of warning, KUSH!!!

and what the hell is Simon Rex doing up in there??

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nkxcz7OUbAs

Bart

See ya later gotkids

8-)

How many is that now? I've lost track of my official count. It was 13 about 5 congressmen ago.

dr: "And while we're on the subject of deadly sulfurous explosions (which never gets old)..."
--------
Scat singing, as it were.

Think it's fair to sez the unreconstructed obnoxious dullard who voted for Bush, proudly -- twice, and would do so yet again if it were Constitutionally possible -- is the very essence of the kiss of death.

n-i-c-e----

Whoever I back usually loses ... Edwards out of the race I am announcing my NEW Candidate ....watch the demise before your eyes.

Free Democracy

"today is different, I didn't go right for the weed, I went

to the shower first, then I went to eat."

you told me you were good with numbers, whatsupwiththat??? i'd have to take my socks and shoes off....(use my toes to count)

a couple of days ago when i got the notice from the edwards campaign that the 10 bumper stickers i ordered were
on back order.
i'm crushed but now i will back obama and hope that with all the support he is getting once pres he will have to be more progressive and realize that meeting at a table with liars crooks and thieves will do nothing for this country let alone his future legacy...
future legacy hmmm that would be a contradiction of terms,whatever

of Goobers. Today, I happened to be in the company of some

Goobers. I have some contractors painting my old house that

I'm getting ready to market. I want to give you an exact

quote out of the mouth of one of them....I presume the

fellow is a right winger. He said this...."hell yeah, I'll

vote for that nigger before I'll vote for that commie cunt!"

Somebody asked what a Goober sounds like. Well, today, one

of them sounded like that.

http://www.beheard.com/cgi-bin/beheard/12082
Ralph's Revolt: The Case for Joining Ralph's Rebellion

What a Nader pile-on. Not all liberals trash and dehumanize him so. Check out Hartmann's position on the Florida 2000 election.

U.S. sells Syria dual-use tech that could be used by Iran

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has approved the sale of advanced dual-use computers to Syria.

"It's a major piece of equipment and is being given to an ally that could use it for military purposes as well as share it with Iran," an official said.

The export, disclosed by the U.S. television network Fox, was approved despite U.S. sanctions on Damascus of military and advanced dual-use systems. Syria, deemed a terrorist sponsor, has been in the same category as Iran and North Korea.

Officials said the State Department has provided a license for the sale of advanced computers for a Syrian border surveillance program. They said the systems were being provided through a United Nations program that could significantly enhance Syria's military capabilities.

In 2004, President George Bush signed legislation to severely restrict technology exports to Syria, deemed a gateway of Al Qaida for the war against the U.S. military in neighboring Iraq. But the legislation allowed the president to waive sanctions on grounds of U.S. national security.

Officials said the U.S. firm Cisco would supply computers and networking equipment to Syria under UN program. They said Syria would receive about $2.2 million in equipment under a program termed "Modernization of Syrian Customs Directorate," launched in 2005 and meant to be completed in early 2008.........

"hillary will be the nominee" caca!!

He'll never be prez. Hope he goes back to being a

consumer advocate. That's where he did his best work.

Well .. at least it turns out my interest in the politics has died at a very opportune moment. I thought John Edwards was one of the few who would bring a measure of decorum and adultness to the race. Now he has abandoned us to the children.

I have been saying it for weeks now .. this election s going to resemble the South Park episode of 2004 where the kids have to vote for a new school mascot .. a Douche Bag or a Shit Sandwich. Pretty much the choice again .. and if one is honest .. it's pretty muchalways been the choice.

Tragic .. but definitely motivation to be used well in the den ...

we always did...they tortured for us remember!! probably still do!

Inflation took that long to get here. The feds are negligent beyond the extreme.

Gore didn't lose because of Nader. Nice to blame him for it ...easier to do that than admit his election team blew it.

Nader has done more for this Country being an Activist than he gets credit for.

Anyway ... if he runs this time ... it won't matter. I think if Ron Paul runs in a 3rd party ..... he will get some traction.

A Secession Plan Is Floated for New York City

Emboldened by Mayor Bloomberg's testimony in Albany this week that the city's taxpayers pay the state $11 billion a year more than they get back, a City Council member is offering legislation that would begin the process of having New York City secede from New York State.

Peter Vallone Jr., a Democrat who represents Queens, is pushing the idea, and the Council plans to hold a hearing on the possibility of making New York City the 51st state.

"I think secession's time has definitely come again," Mr. Vallone, who spearheaded a similar push in 2003, told The New York Sun yesterday. "If not secession, somebody please tell me what other options we have if the state is going to continue to take billions from us and give us back pennies. Should we raise taxes some more? Should we cut services some more? Or should we consider seriously going out on our own?"

http://www.nysun.com/article/70397

Too late for Ralph Nader.

Submitted by Peter Dragon on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 4:40pm.
He'll never be prez. Hope he goes back to being a

consumer advocate. That's where he did his best work.

If the Democratic candidate goes populist, then it will be a landslide.
Nader's candidacy will have no effect on the outcome.

has frozen over.

--Think outside the box---
Submitted by Kevin © on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 4:51pm.
Gore didn't lose because of Nader. Nice to blame him for it ...easier to do that than admit his election team blew it.

Nader has done more for this Country being an Activist than he gets credit for.

Anyway ... if he runs this time ... it won't matter. I think if Ron Paul runs in a 3rd party ..... he will get some traction.

You are probably right, although Nader does have a coterie of backers--as does Paul--many of whom would probably not vote in the presidential election

Keep progressive populist issues on the table.

remember how less than three hours ago, the markets rocketed skywards on news that cheap money for banks was more important than controlling inflation for all?

remember how the talking heads all said the fed finally gets it?

remember how despite the fact that it looks like the fed is panicing, bush is out with arnold saying the economy is robust?

well about an hour after the rate cut, news came out that the reinsurers are in serious trouble and in the after market all the gains have been given up.

HELL
new
Submitted by Fernando on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 4:59pm.
has frozen over.

That's what they mean by Hillary's negatives.

is that clinton hate exists in huge quantitys out there and that if she is the democratic nominee, we will all be learning to say president mccain.

wow .... nice backhand 8-)

is that clinton hate exists in huge quantitys out there and that if she is the democratic nominee, we will all be learning to say president mccain.

For some reason. I think it will be a close presidential election if HRC wins the nomination. I give the edge to the Dems. Obama would win in a rout. 2008 will be a D-landslide. Take advantage of the opportunity.

He is PERFECT to be the preznint of the Yoonited States.

McCain is batshit crazy!
new
Submitted by Peter Dragon on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 5:16pm.
He is PERFECT to be the preznint of the Yoonited States.

I hope I am not deluding myself, but I think McCain's batshit qualities will be a factor in his losing in 2008.

guano nutzo?

He seems saner than the current wacko.

Dunno
new
Submitted by zeek on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 5:24pm.
guano nutzo?

He seems saner than the current wacko.

That is not a very high standard. I will never get that "Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb Iran" prank by McCain out of my head.

Tho' I suspect Nader is prolly an asexual ascetic, are you really prepared to face the arse-fury of those Brillo-pad eyebrows?

~-~-~

dr... uh, thanks for making me think that invitation through a little further. ;-p

Ya Peter, I saw it. I don't know. I stand by my word that this man with all his wealth and financial backing could do more to make an effective third party a reality. Then with that kind of support run for president all he likes. (And this is not being said because I think his candidacy blew the 2000 election. The Supreme Court did that.)

But is there ONE moderate-center-right "registered independent" that would or has proudly voted for Nader?

Just a thought.

ciao~

~-~-~

Expect a whole lotta ugly from a never ending parade of stupid. - Motormouth Maybelle (Hairspray)

it was a high bar (barbar-anne)

I don't know how many others including myself have written on these very pages that a vote for Hillary is a vote for the Republicans to win.

NY Post from Murdoch himself who has contributed to Hillary endorses Obama. I'm still dizzy.

you forget that the wingnuts think thats a great joke. have you forgotten that incident where st. ronnie pretended the microphone was off and said something about the bombing of russia will begin in 15 minutes.

or worse, how about monkey boy joking about how he wishes this was a dictatorship.

Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb Iran

Could be considered a joke. But the other examples you cited seem more outlandish to me than McCain's crack.

NY Post from Murdoch himself who has contributed to Hillary endorses Obama. I'm still dizzy.

Maybe Murdoch gives his editors independence.

exactly, yet they were done by sitting wingnut presidents. while you and i may find mccain totally unacceptable as a candidate, there's a whole bunch of individuals out there who have no problem with it, and thats whats very scary.

(i assume you understand /remember the white male 1960's cultural reference from the beach boys)

The President's Troubling non-Verbal Communication
http://www.counterpunch.org/lawrence01302008.html

(i assume you understand /remember the white male 1960's cultural reference from the beach boys)

I don't understand. Let's see:
"Went to the dance looking for romance
Saw Barbara Ann and I went into a trance

didn't mean anything by it, i had the impression from your response that you didn't get he was making a tasteless joke (something which old farts like me are very good at).

And,I guess nader voters..
Light up a Fat one..And,waste Your time..

Link

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

I did not get to hear his speech however.

I understand he left it open. Did he say why he did it? Just curious. I can guess anyway.

Obama is so not progressive. Everyone but his glassy eyed supporters know that.

He's not any of the Republican candidates, but I'm not excited. Not sure if I'll even vote in the primary now. Maybe.

Any chance someone good will run as an Independent? Would Edwards run independent? Is that a possibility?

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

"It is tom for me to step asod!"

my impression is that he left it open so that he maintains control of the delegates that he has currently won.

unless i missed it, he didn't really say why he was quitting. there were some suggestions on the blog this morning that perhaps his wife's condition has taken a turn to the worse.

1960's cultural reference

Now I get it.

No...I just saw him on NBC News.

He said...."It is tom for me to step asod!"

i guess that makes it easier on your painters.

This afternoon, John Edwards said...
new
Submitted by Peter Dragon on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 6:32pm.

"It is tom for me to step asod!"

***

*snark*

people voted for someone.

**

I know someone who actually said she was going to vote for Bush in 2000 because she had gone to school in Texas. That was it. Her only reason. And she's an intelligent woman. Disappointing.

Hillary's been a career triangulator and indeed introduced her husband to the dark art, by recruiting Jesse Helms' pollster, Dickie Morris, when Bill was trying to come back from defeat after one term as the governor of Arkansas. It was Hillary who told Bill firmly in the summer of 1996 that he should sign the Republicans' bill destroying welfare. The chilling aspect to this counsel was that it came at a moment when it was clear Bill was going to hammer Bob Dole in the presidential contest. Hillary's view was that it would be better for them to be seen as running athwart the old liberal lions, like Ted Kennedy who waited twelve long years for his revenge, in the form of his endorsement on Monday of Obama.
Cockburn&St. Clair

"It was Hillary who told Bill firmly in the summer of 1996 that he should sign the Republicans' bill destroying welfare."

Does anybody have a link to this factoid?

there are actually serious consequences to who wins.

Edwards in St. Paul last night: I’m staying in the race. Today in New Orleans: I’m out.

startribune.com

Barely 12 hours before word began leaking out that John Edwards would fold his presidential campaign this afternoon, he sat in a meeting room at a St. Paul union hall and denied — repeatedly — he planned to do any such thing.

Edwards was reacting to the non-stop speculation in recent days that his lackluster showings in the first four Democratic contests would force him to bow out, shortly after his campaign announced that he was canceling appearances today in North Dakota and Alabama. Instead, he was headed for New Orleans, where he launched his campaign more than a year ago, to give a major speech on poverty.

At one point in a brief interview, he dismissed the buzz about him dropping out as “nonsense”

And in a full-throated speech to hundreds of fired-up union members, he left them with the clear impression he was in the race for the long haul. Click here to hear what the former North Carolina senator had to say last night about quitting his second bid for the presidency..........

H/T to WIL 8-)

Howard Zinn said that the Democrats may provide a ledge on which we can organize. The Republicans give no such ledge.

How is McCain doing in Ohio?
Florida? How many states are actually competitive? (That is the sort of thing that Greg Bates discussed in his book "Ralph's Revolt".)

Edwards in St. Paul last night: I’m staying in the race.
new
Submitted by Kevin © on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 6:49pm.
Edwards in St. Paul last night: I’m staying in the race. Today in New Orleans: I’m out.

Interesting.

Back from the hospital.

There were 2 men in the infusion room when I arrived. The man in the middle chair was, I'd say, in his 40s with a bad case of Crohns desease. The other man was older and seemed a bit slow, but it could be the desease he had.

The older man just popped out and said, who you gonna vote for? The younger man, I could tell, was a winger. He didn't answer. I said I would not vote for Bush.

Then we got to talking about our deseases. I was telling them about the HUmira shot I was taking cost $1600 a month and after 2 months it had put me into the donut hole on Medicare part D. He told me that the Remicade infusion I was getting cost $4000. But that is covered by regular medicare because it is given in the Hospital. He said, Isn't it stupid that they will pay for the more expensive medicine but not help with the less expensive alternative.

I said, Well, you voted for these guys, they don't think anything out. He said, yes, I know. Dumb, isn't it.

i will probably come around to obama and with a big enough clothespin, billary, if only for the chance to bring the supreme court to the left, but right now, i'm feeling pretty disenfranchised.

First, McCain. I do not underestimate the number of votes available to McCain from military types who do not delve deeper than A) McCain was in the military, and B) McCain saw combat duty, and C) McCain was a Prisoner of War. For some people these are qualifications above and beyond any others.
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Second, Gore. There was no President Gore for three reasons, listed chronologically but not necessarily in order of importance. 1) Gore's campaign was not well designed. Despite current news, Bill Clinton could have helped immensely. Al Gore could have projected more passion and dynamism, and he could have assured the electorate that he would retain many of the personnel from the Clinton administration by stating, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "Successful experience is the best kind." 2) Election day was filled with errors and dirty tricks which, combined, have huge impact on a close race. 3) The Supreme Court erred on the side of expediency.
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Third, Isuzu. The company has announced its cessation of the sales of passenger vehicles in the U.S. I owned an Isuzu years ago. It was a wonderful, trouble-free vehicle.
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Fourth, mixed metaphors and bromides, etc. Anyone who cannot keep "magic bullet" distinct from "silver bullet" should avoid trite metaphors. The following screw-up is in a current news article about the Mayor of Detroit:

"What really gets people's gall was the money shelled out to keep this secret -- $9 million was paid off to three former police officers."

(What gets my goat is the gall, often unmitigated, of some people.)

the real message about hell freezing over
new
Submitted by dan on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 5:06pm.
is that clinton hate exists in huge quantitys out there and that if she is the democratic nominee, we will all be learning to say president mccain.

...we should go to the military branch recruiter of our choice and sign up.

I report...,you decide. LOL

All I ask Catharine is that you watch the news tonight and

tell me tomorrow whether or not he said..."It is tom for me

to step asod!"

Short and sweet and sounding exactly like that.

There went Johnny.....and my twenty bucks.

Now I know how Ray felt when he 'waved lincoln and jackson a last goodbye.'

*sniff*sniff* :-(

Dan...I didn't hire the painters....my contractor did.

That's the kind of shit that's out there with right wingers

in the real world.

if mccain wins, they'll be coming door to door to get enough fodder for their war machine.

Free Democracy

heh, you're funny.

Dunno
Submitted by zeek on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 5:24pm.
guano nutzo?

He seems saner than the current wacko.

...a Republican value. Their nominee just has to be breathing and able to stand upright for the cameras.

you got that one right.

i used to live in warren county (southwest ohio) before moving inside the cincy beltway. it had the distinction of not having an active democratic party because there weren't enough people that would vote for them although that is changing.

a lot of people that worked at my company were pistol packin bible totin wingnuts thru and thru.

last time i checked most were skeered that illegal immigrants were going to overrun the county.

If I'm not mistaken....it was Warren County that locked down

the board of elections during the last prez election. They

prevented media from watching the count...as I remember.

Then it turned out that there was a big disparity in vote

numbers. More votes....right wing votes...than people in

the county. Am I remembering that right?

Last Saturday on THIS IS HELL they read my email answer to the question they posted on the site. Question: What's wrong with John Edwards?

My answer was: Nothing is wrong with John Edwards .... except his foreign accent.

"It was Hillary who told Bill firmly in the summer of 1996 that he should sign the Republicans' bill destroying welfare."

Does anybody have a link to this factoid?

***

No, but I was curious whether it was true or not.

I report...,you decide. LOL

All I ask Catharine is that you watch the news tonight and

tell me tomorrow whether or not he said..."It is tom for me

to step asod!"

Short and sweet and sounding exactly like that.
***

I don't watch the MSM news generally, but I am quite sure you are doing an excellent impression of him.

This afternoon, John Edwards said...
Submitted by Peter Dragon on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 6:32pm.
"It is tom for me to step asod!"

...a progressive with a southern accent, i.e. John Edwards, Mike Papantonio, Morris Dees to name a few. I also like the Scottish accent.

You may have to check with a linquist to verify but I think that the southern accent may have been derived from Scottish and/or Irish ancestry.

I boned-up on McCain's broken aircraft. I was wrong, as Edna pointed out, by stating that he crashed one airplane. By my newly-educated count, four Navy aircraft were destroyed or badly damaged while John McCain was in the pilot's seat. I think that Ms. Poe claimed that McCain broke five airplanes but I'm not willing to quibble over a few hundred thousand military dollars taken from our pockets.

He can be excused of responsibility for at least one trashed airplane. Another airplane sitting on the carrier fired a rocket into McCain's aircraft while he awaited his turn to launch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain

in an attempt to get laid. I ended up spitting in my

target's eye when I said "Arrrrrggggghhhh lasssss!"

Nest eggs shrink and grow amid stock market gyrations, giving those nearest retirement particular reason to worry.
By Jonathan Peterson and Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
January 30, 2008
Like many Americans, Steve Kriegsfeld has been watching his life savings bounce up and down each time the stock market takes a dramatic turn.

Lately, it's the drops that have grabbed his attention. In just one day last week, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 465 points before partially recovering. It is down nearly 6% since Jan. 1.

Con't-LATimes

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

I will track this welfare thing down when I get a chance. I will wager that it is true, though.

And,where did you grow up ?
Just wondering.. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

we should go to the recruiter of our choice

Submitted by dan on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 7:02pm.

if mccain wins, they'll be coming door to door to get enough fodder for their war machine.

_______________

I have it on good authority that Part of the 97 is such a big Hillary booster b/c he doesn't want to have to join the Air Force again if McCain wins.

I was born in the town of Westerly, Rhode Island. Grew up

in that little town and am grateful for it.

HILLARY CLINTON SEEKS ROLE IN WELFARE REFORM POLICY.(News)
From: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA) Date: November 25, 1996 More results for: "welfare reform" hillary 1996 | Copyright information
Hillary Rodham Clinton said she'll seek a ``formal role'' in the presidential administration's welfare reform policy, according to a Time magazine interview released yesterday.

She also would like to tour the country to check the progress of welfare reform in various states and report her findings to her husband. ``I intend to speak out about it and write about it,'' she said.

The White House has been going back and ...

http://therealmccain.com/

John Edwards: It’s time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path

By: Nicole Belle @ 11:59 AM - PST

The Edwards campaign has put the full speech up on YouTube.

I want one of those in my house.....anyone....anyone......

Peter B Collins just played the audio portion on his radio show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X_GQCjSzCk

there are actually serious consequences to who wins.
Supreme Court
Iraqi Occupation
Health Care
Our enviroment
Taking care of our poor & mentally ill
Social Security

"It’s tom for me to step asod so that history can blaze its path"

It is time for Barack!

dan: "...last time i checked most were skeered that illegal immigrants were going to overrun the county."
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In northwest Arkansas (the intergalactic home and headquarters of Walmart), the pre-gargantuan Walmart natives are skeered of the ee-legal aliens.

Northwest Arkansas also happens to be the intergalactic headquarters of Tyson Foods, Inc. Tyson breeds, grows and processes enough chickens to form a Mambo poultry line dance to the Moon and back several times. Tyson also controls growing and processing operations jam-packed with other vertebrates.

Northwest Arkansas is among the greatest boom areas in the nation. Land values have skyrocketed, even for the old-guard bumpkins who contributed nothing to the explosion of wealth beyond caring for a handful of cattle and laboring in small manufacturing plants.

They hate the increasing property taxes and congestion that go hand-in-hand with a boom but they loves their increased property valuations and the rent from trailers they landlord. Paradoxically, they hate them brown-skinned interlopers who, not incidentally, originally found their way to northwest Arkansas on an underground railroad created by Tyson and supported later by Walmart.

Cee Cee...I tried to affect a Scottish accent once
new
Submitted by Peter Dragon on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 7:26pm.
in an attempt to get laid. I ended up spitting in my

target's eye when I said "Arrrrrggggghhhh lasssss!"

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. But wait, consummation was probably more affected by your reference to your prospective lover as a "target."

can I come over? :)

US Senate panel OKs expanded economic stimulus package

The US Senate Finance Committee Wednesday passed a 157 billion dollar economic stimulus package that expands tax benefits already agreed by the House of Representatives and the White House.

The package crafted by both Democrats and Republicans, which passed the panel by 14 to 7 votes, reduces the per-person amount of rebates to be distributed but extends the rebates to an additional 20 million low income Americans, and also lengthens unemployment benefits.

"This package will put rebates into the hands of 20 million additional American seniors, plus lower-income payroll taxpayers and disabled veterans -- all of whom will spend this money quickly and give our economy the shot in the arm that it needs," said committee chairman Senator Max Baucus.

The Senate move came one day after the House of Representatives passed a package it had negotiated with the White House to boost economic growth, which slowed over the last quarter of 2007 to a 0.6 percent annual rate on the back of a deep housing slump, according to a government report Wednesday.

The Commerce Department survey revealed that fourth-quarter growth in the world's biggest economy was much weaker than economists' expectations of a 1.2 percent pace.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_Senate_panel_OKs_expanded_econom_0130200...

http://www.naderexplore08.org/

Well....I was trying to joke there....I didn't really do

that. But on the other hand....when man is thinking with

the dick head....target seems appropriate...no?

What is your fuckin' problem? Edwards speaks beautifully. I am from the South and don't speak that way but to hear him speak it works for me.

And please stop the nadir talk now.

Someone find SEDER or Lauren before we hit page 2.

Sounds like Arnie is gonna go with McCain.

McCain can not hide his contempt.
Debate Link

I don't have that one...yet.

All I did was point out that Edwards said, "It is tom for

me to step asod!"

I didn't say I had a problem with it. I just said that he

said it. You can listen to it yourself. Toni posted it on

the thread.

Jeezus Christ man...don't go over the edge about it!

if we can make fun of the way Bush speaks....why can't we

make fun of the way Edwards speaks? Huh? What's up with

that?

That's the voter the Great White Dope expected to carry him to victory.

Are you listening to Olbermann? Craig Crawford said all these early voters voted before all these endorsements were made and the early voters in Florida that voted Hillary did not match the votes of the day which tended more for Obama.

Now what does Edwards do?

Peter, I find some southern accents quite charming. I didn't mind Edwards accent at all. Sorry!

It's a mess for both parties. And the MSM does not help.

As usual, you're way wrong about that. Goobers don't dig

Edwards....at all. They think he's an ambulance chasing

shyster...and light in the loafers, at that.

Goddammit! I didn't say I MINDED it.

All I said was that it exists.

CeeCee: "...I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. But wait, consummation was probably more affected by your reference to your prospective lover as a "target."
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It ain't called a Bulls-Eye fer nuthin'.