Server Upgrade Coming!

again

Be sure to put the sacrifice to YouTube and post it here.

I think I'll go see him, sounds interesting

Won't be sooooo Crappy(Tech Wise) ?

That would be Great ! :)

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

In the final hour, special-interests worked to weaken the hard-fought product safety bill. They want to make it harder for your state to act quickly when new dangers show up on store shelves.

Federal regulators can’t find all the dangerous products and lead-laden toys out there, especially when many of our products are imported.

But states can respond quickly to new dangers and act to make your family safer. Industry opponents want to make sure that the standards set by the federal government right now are the strongest you will ever get. Federal law should be a floor, not a ceiling.

A special committee is negotiating to produce a final version.
Consumersunion.org

Link to petition-Please Sign-Thank You

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

you sure the feathers, blood, nudity and lurid strange body paint won't offend anyone?

eff "W" and the boys...

this makes ALL their crimes shrink in comparison.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/02/health/webmd/main2147223.shtml

back tonight.

love y'all!

Feingold!

take care SJ..i also gotta get cracking...dentist appt. 2.30 pm and am going to walk there this time no "gypsy cab"

McClellan: Cheney’s memoir could be called, ‘I Upped Halliburton’s Income - So Up Yours.’
In a speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco last night, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan offered cutting criticism of Vice President Dick Cheney, saying he “had a terribly negative influence over this president.” At one point, McClellan suggested “some ideas for book titles Cheney might consider“:

McClellan who is clear that he has no great admiration for Cheney, joked to the audience that his national book tour has given him some ideas for book titles Cheney might consider: “The Lies I Told,” or “I Upped Halliburton’s Income - So Up Yours.”

McClellan also offered potential book title ideas for Karl Rove and Scooter Libby: “The Lies I Told to Whom and Why” and “Well, Pardon Me,” respectively.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/25/mcclellan-cheneys-memoir-could-be-ca...

Beautiful Day eh :)

Hey Jimmer, think you could give me a buzz, need a little advice on Life and a little mechanical advice.

and you are the expert on both fronts I reckon ;)

voting "no"?

OMG that has got me laughing so loud

I think it's a quorum call. It's to delay the vote.

One of the Greats for sure!

Submitted by Bob26003 on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 12:51pm.
...need a little advice on Life and a little mechanical advice.
---------
Always draft a prenuptial agreement and never buy a Chevy Vega.

Why is ugly mug posted on this site?

I thought this was a safe place :D

Looks like we can't escape em ........ Their everywhere! And they crave Human Brains........

AAAAAAaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh

I will definately keep that in mind? ;)

Crank, I just got my meds today, so you better be come with funnies Mister.

Good Lord knows I need it. :D

?

A friend of a friend went to some Cheney "fund raising" [god only knows] events recently [his father was ex-CIA - and mysteriously died - so he escorts his mother]. He reported to my friend that everyone at this one event was bad mouthing Bush and co.

Not surprised. I think this is just more anecdotal evidence, along with Gates being appointed and trying to get rid of Cheney neo-cons in various agencies. Another friend who also has ties in the government and military/pentagon, had said that Gates being appointed was a move to counter the Cheney people.

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In US War And Occupation Of Iraq "1,225,898"

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In U.S. War And Occupation Of Iraq 4,106
Cost of U.S. War and Occupation of Iraq

$531,089,948,024
For more details, click here.

http://nationalpriorities.org/cms/costofwar

oh ok was wondering what was happening

The finishing touches on several contingency plans for attacking Iran

By David DeBatto

Just after the first waves of U.S. bombers cross into Iranian airspace, the Iranian Navy, using shore based missiles and small, fast attack craft sinks several oil tankers in the Straits of Hormuz, sealing off the Persian Gulf and all its oil from the rest of the world. Continue

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20164.htm

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq

"The Iraqi-U.S. agreement contains several items that impinge upon the sovereignty of Iraq, including the right of the U.S. forces in Iraq to attack any nation and raid any Iraqi house and arrest people without prior permission from the Iraqi government," Khalaf al-Alyan, a member of parliament from the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). Continue

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20165.htm

And I imagine Bush peeps don't like them either. After all they concocted this PNAC plan. Which led to Bush being the worst President in History. Among other things of course. But you get my point

Got any new Jokes ya been workin on Crank
Submitted by Bob26003 on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 1:01pm.
------
I thought that the Man Has Sex With Picnic Table jokes had been exhausted weeks ago, then gbasin tossed in a "naughty pine" pun.

I've been demoralized ever since.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen left yesterday on a trip that will take him to Israel, “just as the Israelis are mounting a full court press” to urge the Bush administration to strike Iran. “Israelis are uncertain about what would be the policies of the next administration vis-à-vis Iran,” said CBS consultant Michael Oren.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/24/eveningnews/main4206201.shtml?...

You don't know how happy Steve will be that you honored his joke by being demoralized....and between you and me he is the worst joke teller in the world...his jokes make my teeth ache and my bowels turn.

But that WAS a great one last night.

Last December, the White House refused to open an e-mail from the EPA that declared global warming emissions to be a pollutant regulated under the Clean Air Act. Today, the agency will release a watered-down ruling that strips the agency’s finding that tough regulation of car emissions “could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits over the next 32 years.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/washington/25epa.html?ref=us

“Barack Obama’s Senate staff has requested an intelligence briefing on the latest in Iraq and Afghanistan from aides to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggesting the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate could be gearing up for a trip abroad.”

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/06/25/obama-camp-requests-intelligence...

A bipartisan group of 200 former government officials, retired generals and religious leaders will issue a statement today “calling for a presidential order to outlaw some interrogation and detention practices used by the Bush administration over the last six years.” The group, which includes former Reagan secretary of state George Schultz, seeks to outlaw secret detentions and rendition to countries that torture.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/us/25torture.html?ref=us

New military data shows that “insurgent activity is increasing sharply in Afghanistan and has spread into once stable areas, with attacks up almost 40% in the eastern provinces alone.” The violence marks “the latest in a series of troubling developments that have led to markedly higher U.S. casualties” and has prompted military leaders to review strategies on “how to make do with limited numbers of American troops.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-usafghan25-2008jun2...

Yesterday, in a surprise victory, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill “to prevent a 10 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors that was scheduled to take effect July 1.” Backers of the legislation warned that such a cut “would lead to many physicians opting out of treating Medicare patients.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR200806...

got lost within all the other posts...

The Senate confirmed five new commissioners for the Federal Election Commission last night, “ending a six-month partisan standoff between the White House and Senate Democrats and putting the campaign watchdog back in business.” The fight began last year when Democrats refused to bring up the nomination of controversial former Justice Department official Hans von Spakovsky.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0608/Senate_confirms_new_FEC_comm...

Submitted by mhappenow on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 1:27pm.
...his jokes make my teeth ache and my bowels turn.
------
I hate to blow his cover...but he might be designing jokes just to reset the rev limiter on your groan-o-meter.

gotta run along now...what colour shades to wear today? black or white ones? i will go with the black pair...

later yourll

yesterday a picture of a solar grid in germany was published. i believe when operating at full capacity it was capable of generating 40+ megawatts.

i know its a stupid question but do these grids generate any electricity at night or on a cloudy day? do they have to be backfilled with a storage mechanism (battery or capacitive) to provide even levels of energy?

if only he were that sharp....

Message To The Federal Government: No, You Can’t Search My Laptop!
Our guest blogger, Peter Swire, is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and served as the Clinton administration’s Chief Counselor for Privacy, working on encryption policy and other issues.

In recent months, I have become increasingly aware of what I consider a deeply flawed and disturbing policy. In April, a federal appeals court held that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) can search laptops, and even copy their entire contents, as a routine part of border searches. The ruling held that the CBP does not need probable cause, or even the lower standard of “reasonable suspicion.”

The government’s legal theory is that it can open a suitcase at the border, so it can force a traveler to open a laptop and reveal passwords and encryption keys as a condition of entering the country. This simplistic legal theory ignores the massive factual difference between a quick glance into a suitcase and the ability to copy a lifetime of files from someone’s laptop, and then examine those files at the government’s leisure. Some of the problems that arise with this policy:

– U.S. policy creates bad precedents that totalitarian and other regimes will follow. If the United States adopts a policy, then it is generally much harder for the United States to object if other countries adopt a similar policy. Even if you trust handing your encryption keys to the United States, would you feel the same way handing the keys for all your communications to a totalitarian regime?

– Severe harm to personal privacy, free speech, and business secrets. Intrusive laptop searches by the United States and other governments would chill free speech. One vivid example is a human rights activist entering or leaving China, perhaps on a religious or other mission that is controversial in that country. The government may say that they would not do such things, but the lack of legal safeguards once again means that we must simply trust the government not to misuse its power.

– Disadvantaging the U.S. economy. Foreign tourists will not like the idea of having their laptop inspected at the border, and may decide to visit elsewhere. International conferences and conventions will choose to locate elsewhere. If laptop searches were vital to the fight against terrorism, then we might craft procedures to do them while minimizing the intrusion. The available cases, however, are not about terrorism-related investigations.

CPB has refused to acknowledge any limits on its discretion to search laptops, Blackberries, and other computing devices whenever someone enters or leaves the country. Today, I will be testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is holding the first hearing about this increasingly common problem. The hearing, called by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), features a coalition of civil liberties and business groups that oppose these searches. I hope that today’s hearing will spell the beginning of the end of this troubling policy.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/25/swire-laptop/

My little secret Lucille ;)

I heard Dodd talk about a filibuster last night. Fiengold brought it up too. I think tonight they will do a dog and pony show like they do when they just want everyone to go home. All of the time in quorum calls today, someone has risen to add the time to post cloture time which would mean all of it counts towards some kind of a so called filibuster imo.

anybody listening to the senate hearings? talking about how there are countys where the fed owns most of the land but as a rule the fed doesn't have to pay taxes so no method exists for funding schools, etc. they are trying to pass an act to make payment to these countys.

does anyone know if the fed is collecting fees from the lumber companys that are working on the fed land?

If I see the URL, I will cross post it on my blog and at:

http://www.samsedershow.tv

If this blog is down tonight and you don't know where to go, you will find directions there.

Sen. Mike Crapo (R) Idaho

Bet he was teased as a kid!

Leahy on the floor denouncing the FISA capitulation.

Gitmo Detainee’s Lawyer ‘Not Allowed To Tell Him’ He’s No Longer An ‘Enemy Combatant’

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/25/parhat-combatant-solitary/

Submitted by dan on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 1:49pm.
...i know its a stupid question but do these grids generate any electricity at night or on a cloudy day? do they have to be backfilled with a storage mechanism (battery or capacitive) to provide even levels of energy?
-----
I am sure that you already are aware of the current (no pun intended, okay...maybe a little) and proposed methods of storing solar-produced energy generated from a centralized location, so I won't go into that discussion.

Absent storage, keep in mind that the greatest electrical demand on a grid is during the daylight hours. The grids always have other (usually fossil fuel) sources of energy, so reducing the use of fossil fuels pays-off even when limited to the daytime.

Also (maybe not in Germany?), when the sun is highest and the weather is hottest, air-conditioning increases demand on the grid tremendously. In the U.S. the yearly peak demand is always during the daytime in the summer, and the peaks determine costs throughout the year.

McCain hasn’t voted in the Senate since April 8.
In April, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) became the most absent member of the Senate. According to the Washington Post’s votes database, McCain has “missed 367 votes (61.4%) during the current Congress.” In fact, CQ reports today that McCain hasn’t voted in the Senate since April 8. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) last voted on June 4.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/m000303/

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Sarah H.

Rove critical of NY Times for ‘outing’ CIA agent
By David Edwards and Muriel Kane | Uncategorized | Wednesday, 25 June 2008

Former presidential aide Karl Rove has been widely suspected of having played a major role in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. These suspicions have never been fully dispelled, even when former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage acknowledged he was the person who gave Plame’s name to columnist Robert Novak, who then revealed it in print.

On Tuesday, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly suggested to Rove that the New York Times, in particular, had hounded him in the Plame affair, making it ironic that the Times itself recently revealed the name of a CIA interrogator.

Last week, the New York Times outed a CIA agent — I’m not going to mention his name — who interrogated Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” said O’Reilly. “The CIA asked the New York Times not to do that, it obviously puts the CIA agent in danger because al Qaeda knows who he is, and they say, ‘Well, we’ll out anybody unless they’re under cover.’”

The Times added an Editor’s Note to the story following its initial publication, explaining why they had revealed the interrogator’s name even though the CIA asked them not to do so. “After discussion with agency officials and a lawyer for Mr. Martinez, the newspaper declined the request, noting that Mr. Martinez had never worked under cover. … The newspaper seriously considered the requests from Mr. Martinez and the agency. But in view of the experience of other government employees who have been named publicly in books and published articles or who have themselves chosen to go public, the newspaper made the decision to print the name.”

“The New York Times has a double standard,” Rove replied to O’Reilly. “It was deeply concerned when Richard Armitage outed Valerie Plame. Of course, they were only concerned until the point that it became apparent it was Richard Armitage, not Karl Rove.”

“But the New York Times has a habit,” Rove continued. “They previously … revealed the existence of programs to monitor the electronic communications of known and suspected terrorists abroad. They put our country at risk when they revealed the details of a program that saved America from attacks.”

More here:

http://rawstory.com/news08/2008/06/25/rove-critical-of-ny-times-for-outi...

I can't see it where I'm at... Real player is blocked here.

Wednesday 06/25/2008 - 2:00 PM

2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law

Hearing on the Executive Office for United States Attorneys

By Direction of the Chairman

I'm pretty sure Jonathan Turley was testifying in this hearing. I hope someone got it recorded, it was not aired on C-Span.

Addington and Yoo are scheduled to testify before the Judiciary regarding torture in the ongoing torture hearings. I'll be updating my Dungeon Open Mic with updates on where we are in the process of catching these criminals when the blog comes back online.

Scheduled events for dates
6/26/2008  -  6/26/2008

Thursday 06/26/2008 -
9:30 AM

2237 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Courts, the
Internet, and Intellectual Property

Markup of: H.R. 4789, the “Performance Rights Act”

By Direction of the Chairman

Thursday 06/26/2008 -
10:00 AM

2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on the
Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties

Hearing on: From the Department of Justice to Guantanamo
Bay: Administration Lawyers and Administration Interrogation
Rules, Part III

By Direction of the Chairman

Thursday 06/26/2008 -
1:30 PM

2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Commercial and
Administrative Law

Meeting to consider: A resolution authorizing the Chairman
to issue a subpoena to Attorney General Michael Mukasey for
certain documents previously requested

By Direction of the Chairman

 Thursday 06/26/2008 -
1:00 PM

2237 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Crime,
Terrorism, and Homeland Security

Hearing on H.R. 1889, the “Private Prison Information Act of
2007” (Part II)

By Direction of the Chairman

Bush, Cheney...Bush people don't like Cheney people and Cheney people don't like Bush people...while they push-pull for power, the rest of US and the World get trashed.

Sen. Kit Bond on the floor to answer questions Leahy brought up.

alt min income tax bill.

Submitted by CeeCee on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 2:18pm.
Bush, Cheney...Bush people don't like Cheney people and Cheney people don't like Bush people...
----------
Forgive me for boiling this down to The Three Stooges, but it's an image I can't shake.

Cheney = Moe

Bush = Curly

All of the Cheney and Bush people = Larry

Kucinich. It had a prayer of hope for our country and a few thanks for donations. I felt like framing it. He asked for nothing from me. He was just thanking his supporters. When do you ever see a thank you that doesn't also contain a request for more help?

does that mean new blog?
here's something I saved from last year before
the old majority report blog changed to sss
you can still read some of the comments
if anyone wants to go down memory lane

http://www.majorityreportradio.com/index.php

isn't enough to properly advertise the whore she really is. She could charge more if she changed her lipstick color to a brighter shade too. Add a corset and clear heeled platform shoes with that. Total prostitute. I wonder how much she went for? What did those telecoms pay her to move her mouth like that?

Cheap and tawdry is all I see there right now. What a sellout.

who comes from a long line of fascist whores will be up to pimp the FISA capitulation blow job.

so as usual, you provide an astute correlation ;)

Corrupt Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is the longest serving Republican with over 40 years in the Senate.

He is notorious for his excessive pork projects like the $320 million "bridge to nowhere."

He thinks the "internets" is made up of a "series of tubes" even though at the time he headed the Senate Commerce Committee charged with regulating the Internet.

But that's not the worst of it. Senator Stevens is under federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the IRS for corruption. Evidently, Senator Stevens has a close relationship with an oil services company executive who has pled guilty to bribing Alaskan legislators.

The people of Alaska deserve better than Ted Stevens. They deserve a Senator who will fight for them, not use influence to make money and do favors for friends and family.

Mark Begich is the Democrat ready to move Alaska forward. Born and raised in Alaska, Mark is currently the Mayor of Anchorage, where he has balanced the budget repeatedly and the economy continues to grow even under President Bush.

Support Mark with $25 right now and fund his aggressive campaign.
http://www.actblue.com/page/supportmark
SEND MARK BEGICH TO THE SENATE TODAY!

Nails it.

I'm a proud member of MoveOn and his actions today will say a whole lot about how aggressive my position will be on him in the future.

Why is it they always want the POST 9/11 telecom spying to be immune, but never mention the Government requested spying done PRE-9/11?
They started data mining and wire tapping as soon as Shrub took the Oath.
Considering how legally sharp that gaggle of crooks is supposed to be, could this an oversight of that 8 months? Would Cheney leave his ass bare like that?

I'm really confused here.

Workers' rights boosted by US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court this year made a number of key rulings on workplace discrimination which, unusually for the conservative court, mostly favored workers over their bosses.

Last week, the US high court ruled in favor of several workers in a high-profile age discrimination lawsuit. In a 7-1 decision, the court said an employer bore the burden of explaining its reasons for laying off some two dozen workers -- all of whom happened to be aged over 40.

The court ruled that employers must provide "reasonable factors other than age" for the action in order to successfully defend itself against an age discrimination lawsuit.

The US Supreme Court, which meets from October to June each year, considered some 70 cases this year, with some of its highest profile deliberations on hot-button cases like Guantanamo, the death penalty and Americans' constitutional right to bear firearms.

But about a dozen decisions dealt with the decidedly less sexy but vitally important issues of workers' rights -- including several cases which focused on age or racial discrimination.

The recent workers' victories come in sharp juxtaposition to last year, when the court dealt workers a major setback, in a blockbuster case which labor leaders said dramatically curtailed employees' rights to sue for pay discrimination.

That case involved worker at a Goodyear Tire plant in Alabama who sued the company after learning that, as the sole woman among 17 management-level employees, she was the lowest paid, although she was not the lowest in seniority.

The conservative US high court, in a narrow five-to-four ruling, found that under US labor law, employees have a 180-day time period for filing a gender discrimination lawsuit, and that the employee had not uncovered and documented the discrimination in a timely fashion.

The debate later went to the US Congress, where Republicans succeeded in blocking Democratic efforts to change the law.

But this year, on the heels of that defeat for workers' rights, the US high court's record on employment cases is much more of "a mixed bag," said Neal Mollen, a prominent US employment attorney, who said workers this year might even have come out slightly ahead.

"In most of the cases, the employees have won," Mollen said.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Workers_rights_boosted_by_US_Suprem_0625200...

there are no existing civil suits existing prior to 9/11. Someone would have to prove they were spied on prior to that date. It's a loop hole. The only existing civil suits that will be thrown out are between the 9/11 date and the Feb 07 cut off. The fact that it's public knowledge that the room was assembled only months after GWB took office won't see a court room because no one has standing to bring it up.

Isn't it interesting that they had the infrastructure ready on day 1 to spy on all America? Gee do they think American's are so stupid that we can't put 2 and 2 together?

Hey, pbtrue1. Did you see Grassley accuse the Investigator General who got the Riggs Bank debacle of corruption? He did that this morning.

with ONE meatball!!!

bernie saunders is putting it all in perspective. these republicans know bush et.al. has been breaking the law and going way past spying on terrorists but all they can do is try and scare us.

No Immunity for Telecoms that Illegally Spy on US!

Last Friday, the House of Representatives granted de facto amnesty to the phone companies who cooperated with the Bush administration's illegal spying on American citizens. Our final opportunity to prevent this from becoming law lies with the Senate. We must stop the Senate from making the same terrible decision, a decision that chips away at one of our most fundamental and progressive values-the right to privacy.

Please call your senators right now and tell them to vote against any bill that lets the Bush administration and these telecom companies off the hook for shredding the constitution.

We cannot let the Senate give the phone companies and the Bush administration a free ride for past and future violations of our basic civil liberties. If we join together and ask our Senators to stop this bill by supporting a filibuster and voting NO against a bill that gives the phone companies amnesty, we can protect our privacy rights from this assault by conservative forces in Congress.

Call Your Senators Today.

The Senate switchboard is (202) 224-3121 (see below for a list of direct numbers). Tell them your state and ask them to connect you to your senator. Be sure to speak with both senators from your state.

In addition to giving phone companies a free pass, this bill fails to restore adequate judicial review for future surveillance, which will continue to put our privacy rights at risk. Protecting our privacy rights is a core progressive value. Don't let them slip away. Take action by calling your senator today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBRUAToB3Ww

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2004-05-14-riggs-fine_x...
Posted 5/14/2004 12:28 AM

The Senate Finance Committee chairman, Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa, recently asked the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks to examine Saudi transactions totaling tens of millions at Riggs and FleetBoston Financial Corp.

"Riggs Bank deserves every penny of this huge fine," Grassley said in a statement Thursday. "Banks have a patriotic duty, not to mention legal requirement, to report suspicious activity. When banks look the other way, they put our national security at risk. Whether it's through incompetence, negligence or greed, they are allowing terrorists to funnel their blood money through the system."

Google" Grassley Riggs Bank

A whole slew of info comes up dating back 5 years and more

are helping them dan. This is a bipartisan ass pounding to all Americans by both parties. The are treating us like we are the pig in a spit.

good news - probably this means that i will stop hearing all those whistles and bristles from my security system every time i open the page, loud thump and the warning "this site is not safe - owner hides its identity" highlighted in blue-red-yellow

i'ge gotten used to it by now and it will probably be missed, kinda like a creaky door in your house

do any of you have the same experience? I use the ca security package

That's what was so striking about him calling out the Investigator General who brought light to the money laundering. It was bizarre. I tivo'd it at home.

Expert tells Olbermann: DOJ ‘goon squad’ betrayed legal ideals
By David Edwards | Uncategorized | Wednesday, 25 June 2008

A new Justice Department audit has revealed that under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, highly qualified applicants for jobs or summer internships who had liberal leanings were passed over in favor of conservatives, in violation of the supposedly non-partisan spirit of those programs. For example, in 2006, 82% of summer internship applicants with liberal affiliations were rejected, but only 13% of those with conservative affiliations.

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann invited constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley to discuss these findings, which he described as “the Bush administration’s attempt to make the Justice Department into kind of a goon squad for the Republican Party.”

Turley noted with a smile that “it’s ironic. … The Bush administration has lost so many terrorism cases — maybe this is the reason. You don’t get a very good government when you have political commissars selecting people not because they’ve achieved something, but because they toe a party line.”

However, Turley was far more concerned with the moral issues involved. “We believe that as lawyers, we represent our clients zealously and we put our politics aside,” he stated passionately. “They violated something very precious to most lawyers, liberal and conservative.”

“The honors program is jealously protected by the Department of Justice,” Turley emphasized. “It is one of the proudest and longest-standing programs in the legal profession. It has always transcended politics. … For the Bush administration to invade even that program and to apply a political litmus test is really abhorrent to many lawyers. This is not a conservative or liberal issue. … It’s a very fundamental betrayal.”

In concluding, Olbermann asked Turley if he could connect this latest scandal with Karl Rove’s pursuit of a permanent Republican majority and the US Attorney scandal.

Turley laughed and replied, “The Justice Department’s neutrality and independence is the sort of grout that holds together the other departments. …The invasion of politics by the Bush administration into that department has been so extensive and so severe, I expect the Justice Department will be the one that is most difficult to put back together. … This just shows how deep the damage is. It’s well below the waterline.”

This video is from MSNBC’s Countdown, broadcast June 24, 2008.

http://rawstory.com/news08/2008/06/25/olbermann-doj-goon-squad-rejected-...

what a prince. We need more like that.

Clue to Senator Oral Hatch. He invaded the privacy of ALL American's not just foreigners. Are you lying or stupid?

After Clinton's brief words to her colleagues at the lunch, Reid and other Democratic leaders formed a procession to escort Clinton toward the reporters outside. Reid described "one of the most emotional caucuses I've attended," complete with tears. But he also made it clear that, in the Senate, he was in charge. He introduced Clinton, decreed that "she'll be happy to take a couple of questions now" and decided when to cut off the session.

Clinton delivered a version of the party-unity theme she had voiced behind closed doors. "I come back with an even greater depth of awareness about what we have to do here in Washington," she said. She spoke with vagueness about her new role ("to be the very best senator I can be"), her plans ("I'm rolling up my sleeves and getting back to work") and her vice presidential ambitions ("I am not seeking any other position"). And she repeated the requisite promise to "work very hard to elect Senator Obama our president."

The ceremonial welcome over, it was time for Clinton to get back to the humdrum life of the legislator. She returned to her old office on the fourth floor of the Russell Building and, handing off her handbag to Reines, began to greet her aides -- until she heard the cheers coming from her office. Inside, she found the players, referees in uniforms borrowed from Foot Locker, three dozen staffers, and signs saying "I like Mike" and "I'm an Ann Fan."
ad_icon

"Silence, please!" the line judge called out.

Clinton beckoned to the ping-pong table. "I think we'll leave this right here -- it doubles as a conference table," she proposed. "Now," she added, "we've got to get back to work."

Moments later, the ping-pong table was gone, and Clinton had sat down for a meeting with Gen. Wesley Clark.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR200806...

that can't be true, orin hatch just says its a terrorist smoke detector. i know with a name like orin, he would never lie to us.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/25/serenity-lost-obama-and-t_n_109...

just got the mail, and i got a thank you from kuccinich too!!!!

wish you'd come by more often.

You know to look for the URL during the server outage right???

I'll be cross posting the URL at http://samsedershow.tv as well.

that the Senate may put off wire tap vote, soon!

Perhaps the Telecoms had a talk with Harry like the hedge fund guys did. I'm reminded of David Cay Johnston's interview on Bill Moyers. Here's what Harry the harlot did:

January 18, 2008
Bill Moyers talks with David Cay Johnston

Excerpt:

BILL MOYERS: But did you notice what happened when the Democrats briefly toyed with the idea of removing that tax break from the hedge fund and private equity managers Congress thought very briefly about removing it. And then the industry held a big party for-- Harry Reid, Senate Democratic majority leader down in Las Vegas, and he came back from that big party and said, "I don't think we'll be taking that up anytime soon."

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: The problem of the political donor class's outsized influence and its grip on Congress is bipartisan. There's one party in Washington. It's the party of money. It has different wings and factions. But Washington is the party of money. And the wealthiest people in America, the large corporations in America, are busy milking the government for everything they can get. And you are paying the price of their free lunch.

C-Span will be doing a Tribute to Senator Thurmond. What a disgrace.

then

Torture Hearings are scheduled at 10am tomorrow on C-Span3.

Good to see you here! Things are heating up again.

The House Dems just had a news conference re energy but I caught the very end of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKqc8cSqJ1E

Good to be here! How are you feeling these days? Great articles as always. Nothing throws you off your game!

so, my understanding is that "sam" is going to post a new temporary URL here.

right?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WFgnyM_9rnQ

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2aFT5LBvcCw

My cousin, fishing for sockeyes in Bristol Bay right now, got fucked hard today. A resident fishermen of Kodiak Island in 1989, he has been waiting for his settlement from the punitive phase of the the Exxon Valdez catastrophe for decades. For decades, he would get legal notices estimating his compensation at about 120,000 dollars (1990 dollars). With this complete sellout settlement to Exxon, I doubt he will even get 12,000 dollars (current dollars).
When I started fishing with my father in the 70's, diesel, if I remember right, was eighty cents a gallon. Meanwhile, reds, what my cousin is fishing for right now, were worth about fifty cents a pound. Thirty years later, I think my cousin might get sixty-five cents a pound for reds this summer , but now diesel is five bucks a gallon. The boat he is fishing on will burn up, at least, 15,000 dollars worth of diesel for "Red Season" alone.
A settlement of 500 million dollars is peanuts. Exxon, by legally holding off a fair settlement for decades-- until they finally got a favorably disposed Supreme Court-- have completely robbed Alaska's fishermen.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pbx5blCkjaM

orin hatch is saying people are against the fisa bill only because of their hatred for a wonderful man, george bush...

Waiting for an operation is difficult. I want to get it over with!

Keeping busy helps.

Are they going to vote on FISA today?

________________________________

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” –Helen Keller

I will cross post it at the .tv site.

Toni, you have to have surgery???

________________________________

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” –Helen Keller

I thought this was interesting. This may be the fundraiser I was referring to upblog.

Fundraising: What Comes Around ...
Republicans Set To Host A Dinner For Big Fund-Raisers At The Vice President's Official Residence
By Michael Isikoff | Newsweek Web Exclusive
May 19, 2001

Vice President Dick CheneyRepublican National Committee

The activity kicks off Monday night, NEWSWEEK has learned, with an unpublicized dinner reception for top party donors hosted by Cheney and his wife, Lynne, at the vice presidential residence. It culminates the next evening with a glittering "Presidential Gala" at the National Guard Armory featuring appearances by President Bush and members of his Cabinet.

Anxious to avoid comparisons with the widely criticized fund-raising activity of the Clinton White House, Republican officials insist that the kick off dinner at Cheney's government residence-expected to draw a crowd of over 400-is "not a fund-raiser."

...

[snip]

While the guest list for Cheney's house remains a state secret, a copy of the official program for the next evening's "Presidential Gala"-obtained by NEWSWEEK-shows that a "who's who" of Washington lobbyists and interest groups have committed to raising a sizable chunk of the party's funds. Among those entities listed as "vice chairmen" of the event-an honorific that requires a commitment to raise or donate at least $250,000-are Philip Morris, the country's largest tobacco company; Tom Loeffler, a former Texas congressman who now lobbies for the chief trade association of nuclear power companies, and Cassidy & Associates, a powerful Washington lobbying firm whose top clients include the private institute that represents the interests of the government of Taiwan.

Listed as either "deputy chairmen" (requiring a commitment to raise or donate $100,000) or members of the "dinner committee" (requiring a commitment of $50,000) are AT&T; Bristol-Myers Squib; Sig Rogich, a veteran Republican consultant who represents Nevada gambling interests; Carol Hallett, president of the Air Transportation Association, the lobbying arm for commercial airlines; Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, and Ed Gillespie, a Washington lobbyist whose burgeoning client list includes Microsoft and energy giant Enron.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/79247

Yes, surgery. Knee replacement. Couldn't put it off any more. July 11th is the date.

Anxious to avoid comparisons with the widely criticized fund-raising activity of the Clinton White House, Republican officials insist that the kick off dinner at Cheney's government residence-expected to draw a crowd of over 400-is "not a fund-raiser."

Tax payer dollars!

Toni :(

My right knee is crunchy. Im worried I'll have to do that one day.

________________________________

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” –Helen Keller

Poll: McCain Takes Seven-Point Lead In Missouri
By Eric Kleefeld - June 25, 2008, 3:25PM
A new SurveyUSA poll shows John McCain taking a decent lead in one battleground state: Missouri.

The numbers: McCain 50%, Obama 43%, with a ±4.3% margin of error. Three weeks ago, Obama had a statistically insignificant lead of 45%-43%. The race here has a very stark gender gap: Men go for McCain 60%-36%, and women for Obama 50%-41%.

This state has 11 electoral votes, and has voted for the winner in every presidential election over the last 100 years except for 1956.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/poll_mccain_take...

Rockefeller on after the Honorable Senator Dodd?

One of my friends is being told she has to have a historectomy. At the same time, we teachers are all being told we might not have jobs in the fall. Which means she would lose her health insurance.

________________________________

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” –Helen Keller

Keep a watch on it. There might be any easy surgical fix right now. Maybe have a Dr check it.

You getting one of those fancy robot knees?

________________________________

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” –Helen Keller

Senate Vote on FISA Bill May Wait Until July
Final Senate action on an overhaul of electronic surveillance rules could slip to after the July Fourth recess as the chamber juggles other priorities and procedural snarls.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., on Wednesday said clearing the legislation this week is less important than completing work on housing and Medicare bills.

The spying bill would rewrite the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Reid said Republicans have been holding up the housing bill, thus causing a delay of the FISA legislation, which is supported by the Bush administration.

Reid said he still planned to move the FISA bill this week — even though he opposes it — because he has an “obligation” to act on the measure. It has the support of a majority of senators, including many Democrats.

“I’m going to try to do that,” Reid said. “The only reason why I wouldn’t is . . . if we’re stuck on the housing thing and I can’t get to that.”

But he left open the possibility that the FISA vote could be delayed until July.

“There are two things we have to do before we go home for July Fourth: housing and Medicare,’’ he said. “We do not have to do, if the Republicans don’t want to do it, we don’t have to do FISA and we don’t have to do the supplemental” spending measure for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., said he is eager to resolve the “complicated legislative tangle” and has the same goal as the Democratic leader: to “get all of those things done in the next few days.”

Senate liberals have been throwing up procedural roadblocks to the FISA bill, which they object to because it would effectively grant retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies being sued for allegedly aiding the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program.

They also argue that court and congressional oversight provisions in the measure are not enough to defend the privacy of U.S. citizens whose communications with foreign spying targets may be monitored without a warrant under the legislation.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=cqmidday-00000290569...

for women. Supposedly is a bit more flexable and smaller.

Don't know what you mean about robot knees, Meg.

every time i turn to c-span it is some ahole speaking (rockfeller now, orin hatch earlier) I have missed ron weyden - just turned in when he was ending - who i'm sure had something good to say

hopefully they'll rerun it tonight

For bin Laden's Election Help Before He Was Against It
John McCain says he "strenuously disagree[s]" with advisor Charlie Black's claim that another al Qaida mass casualty terrorist attack would be good news for McCain's election prospects. But back in 2004 he said pretty much the same thing.

--Josh Marshall

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/mccain_in_2004_b...

Not literal robot knees.

Just referring to the cool replacement knees.

________________________________

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” –Helen Keller

"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American," Nader said. "Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards."

The Obama campaign had only a brief response, calling the remarks disappointing.

Asked to clarify whether he thought Obama does try to "talk white," Nader said: "Of course.

"I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a black American politician aspiring to the presidency should be is to candidly describe the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities and the rural areas, and have a very detailed platform about how the poor is going to be defended by the law, is going to be protected by the law, and is going to be liberated by the law," Nader said. "Haven't heard a thing."
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/25/nader-critical-of-obam...
We'll see how the liberal talkers spin this. Kuby just went off on it: "Who's Ralph to say..."
Notice how Mike Malloy has been championing Nader of late? The last true Democrat.*TLL*

More offshore drilling does little at the pump: EIA

By Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Allowing oil drilling in U.S. offshore waters that are now closed to energy exploration would do little to lower gasoline prices paid by consumers, the government's top energy forecaster said on Wednesday.

In response to record pump prices, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and President George W. Bush this month called for Congress to end its moratorium on drilling off the East and West coasts and in Florida waters, leaving it up to each affected state to decide where to permit drilling.

McCain and Bush said the additional oil supplies likely to be found in the closed areas would help reduce gasoline costs.

However, Guy Caruso, who heads the federal Energy Information Administration, said consumers would see little savings at the pump.

"It would be a relatively small effect, because it would take such a long time to bring those supplies on," Caruso said during a briefing at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the EIA's new long-term international energy forecast. "It doesn't affect prices that much."

Most energy experts say it would take five to 10 years to find oil in the closed areas and bring the crude to market. Caruso said the additional supplies would amount to only a couple of hundred thousand barrels of oil a day.

"It does take a long time to develop these resources, and therefore the price impact is muted by that," he said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2546114820080625?feedType=RS...

Bye for now.
________________________________

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” –Helen Keller

Presser, on CNN

Crank, your State! Still in the grip of the Rethugs!
Submitted by toniD on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 4:15pm.
------
Decide for yourself how much this is worth: I've been seeing McCain television advertisements for two weeks and Obama television advertisements for two days coming out of the Springfield regional market...which is redder than Mao Tse Dung.

I don't know what's happening in the Kansas City and St. Louis markets...which are blue. (mo-lib knows the St. Louie market, I think?)

It struck me as odd that McCain would spend so much money in the already-rural-and-red portion of the state. It did not seem odd to me that Obama was not wasting money around here. If he were to travel to Springfield, Missouri, Barack would double the black population. Okay, maybe I'm guilty of hyperbole, but not by much.

I assume that the real battle is happening in the two largest cities...but I don't know. The rural vote can easily swing a close vote in the cities but swaying a rural voter is an uphill battle for a black, commie, liberal Muslim candidate who hates America and pisses on the flag when he isn't already busy sneaking ee-legal aliens across the border.

-Exxon "settlement" absolutely criminal.
Submitted by ghettodefender on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 4:02pm.-

Submitted by toniD on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 4:31pm.
...Don't know what you mean about robot knees, Meg.
--------
They are preprogrammed to do the lindy.

The Big Let Down

Obama Scolds Black Fathers, Gets Bounce in Polls

By ISHMAEL REED

It’s obvious by now that Barack Obama is treating black Americans like one treats a demented uncle, brought out from his room to be ridiculed and scolded before company from time to time, the old Clinton Sistah Souljah strategy borrowed from Clinton’s first presidential campaign when he traveled the country criticizing the personal morality of blacks and wooing white voters by objecting to what he considered anti -white lyrics sung by rapper Sistah Souljah.

As in Clinton’s case, Obama’s June 14th finger wagging at black men was a case of pandering to white conservative voters. This follows a pattern of using public perceptions of black men fanned by the media and Hollywood to win political favor. Bush One and his sleazy cohorts won votes by depicting black men as dangerous. After the Willie Horton ad, featuring a black rapist, was aired, support for Bush soared to 20% among southern white males, according to Willie Brown, former San Francisco mayor. Obama, by depicting them as irresponsible, saw his poll numbers climb to a 15% lead over McCain, according to a Newsweek poll. With his speech, he received a bounce in the polls that was denied to him after he gained the democrat nomination. He also enjoyed the bounce in the polls from Pennsylvania and Ohio.

According to pundits, the reason he lost these states during the primary was because he couldn’t bowl His Father’s Day speech was meant to show white conservative males that he wouldn’t cater to “special interests” groups, blacks in this case. This was the consensus of those who appeared on MSNBC and other opinion venues of the segregated media on 6/16/2008 even the progressive ones. (Segregated? Not quite. The two percent of African Americans who support Bush all seem to have jobs as pundits...
http://www.counterpunch.org/reed06242008.html
*TLL*

he's calling his a campaign for the people and the vast majority are against telecom immunity so is Obama lying or stupid?

How is an Inspector General going to get access to the evidence without the disclosure of Civil actions Obama? HUH? Waiting....

"Existence itself may be considered an abyss possessed of no meaning. I do not read this as a pessimistic statement. If it be true, then I can see in it nothing else but a declaration of autonomy for my imagination & will for the most beautiful act they can conceive with which to bestow meaning upon existence."

Excerpt:

As it became clearer that Obama would claim his party's nomination, McCaskill was among those urging him to make stops in places like Cape Girardeau, Mo., and southwest Virginia - conservative country where Democrats seldom tread.

"I will make a bold statement," McCaskill said in an interview. "Barack Obama will campaign in places that no presidential candidate has ever campaigned in, much less a Democrat."

The need for Democrats to campaign hard in rural and conservative areas is a lesson McCaskill learned the hard way. After losing the 2004 gubernatorial race to Republican Matt Blunt, she said her biggest mistake was ignoring GOP bastions where she got trounced.

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080625/D91H0VNG2.html

Complement to Dean's 50-State Strategy.

A six-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza was killed by Israeli fire on 12 June. “Medics say the girl was decapitated by a [tank] shell,” Associated Press (AP) reported the next day. The Israeli military said the soldiers opened fire in retaliation against “militants launching rockets into Israel”. AP dispassionately elaborated that, “Gaza militants fire rockets and mortars into Israel almost daily.”

The story of a few lines ended with another corroboration of the claims made by the Israeli military: “The shelling occurred near the border where militants fired 30 rockets into Israel on Tuesday.”

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/2608771627_8386058f1c.jpg

Hume: "[W]e regret the error" in report of Jerusalem Post story about Obama's half brother

http://mediamatters.org/items/200806250005

There are some young people here that don't even know what the lindy is. My mother and father used to do the lindy. Favorite dance.

By the way, the lindy pre-dates me!

Here is an article dated today that recounts the story that spawned a billion jokes. (A billion only accounts for my own contributions.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-wilson/dare-to-discipline-how-ob_b_1...

Dare To Discipline: How Obama-Critic Whipped The Mini Weiner Dog Rebellion

...To those inclined toward such crude perspectives (which is to say almost anyone, at least on a subconscious level) Dachshunds are in effect mobile phallic symbols, on legs. Dr. James Dobson was thus compelled, forced to reassert his Biblical and God-given authority over wife and family, and over his suggestively elongated mini weiner dog...

June 24, 2008 -- Democrats hit back at McCain on offshore drilling: "Today's McCain Myth: John McCain and Gov. Schwarzenegger agree on oil drilling."

From Democratic National Committee:

For Immediate Release
June 23, 2008

McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and Oil Drilling

Today's McCain Myth: John McCain and Gov. Schwarzenegger agree on oil drilling.

Washington, DC - When John McCain is in California this week he will no doubt try to tie himself to Gov. Schwarzenegger and distance himself from President Bush. But when it comes to offshore drilling, an important issue to coastal states, like California, Senator McCain is on Bush's--not Schwarzenegger's--side. When McCain announced last week he wanted to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling, President Bush and big oil were quick to side with him, even though the idea has been met with much criticism and would do nothing to solve our short-term energy crisis. Just as bad, Senator McCain hi! mself campaigned against off-shore drilling in states like Oregon, Maine, and even California in the run-up to the 2000 election.

Senator McCain's new Bush-like energy policy announcement might have worked in front of oil executives in Houston, but it's not going to work in front of the people of California this week.

McCain and Bush Call For Lifting Oil Drilling Moratorium. "President George W. Bush was to call Wednesday on Congress to end a decades-old ban on offshore oil drilling, as a way to tap new energy sources to combat soaring gasoline prices…Bush's statement comes one day after Republican presidential candidate John McCain called for the federal government to scrap the 27-year-old US moratorium on offshore oil drilling. In his speech in the Texas oil capital of Houston, the Arizona senator reversed his support for the ban when he ran for president in 2000." [AFP, 6/18/08]

Schwarzenegger Gives "Thumbs! Down" to Oil Drilling Plan. "From Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the state's Democratic leaders, California reacted with a swift thumbs down Wednesday to President Bush's proposal to lift a ban on new oil drilling in coastal waters." [San Jose Mercury News, 6/20/08]

1999: McCain, Campaigning In California, Endorsed A Moratorium On Offshore Oil Drilling. "For a moment, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain almost sounded like a San Francisco liberal. The Arizona senator said yesterday that gays and lesbians would be welcome to serve in his administration. He decried the influence of money in politics. He endorsed a moratorium on offshore oil drilling." [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/29/99]

After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even! contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.

DOJ Official Fired in Wake of ABC News Investigation
Official Had Refused to Testify at Congressional Hearing Last Week
By ANNA SCHECTER and MURRAY WAAS
June 25, 2008

A Department of Justice official was fired yesterday after refusing to testify at a Congressional hearing regarding whether or not her office awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in grants based on political favoritism and personal connections.

Michele DeKonty, Chief of Staff for the DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Administrator, cited the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and declined to appear at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing last week.

DeKonty's departure also comes on the heels of a Justice Department probe into alleged irregular contracting practices within its own ranks according to a federal law enforcement official close to the investigation.

Questions about the agency's awarding of grants were raised earlier this month by ABC News on Nightline. (click here to watch the report)

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5245645&page=1

June 25, 2008 -- UPDATE 1X. Another war production sign points to British involvement in Iran attack

On June 23, 2008, WMR reported: " the Defense Department has ordered a step-up in production of the AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missile from the Lockheed Martin Hellfire production facility at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama. Our sources have revealed that there are not currently enough Hellfires in stock for what is being described as a plan for the United States to begin a military attack on Iran after an initial attack is launched by Israel."

WMR has now learned that the British Ministry of Defense has ordered stepped up production of the Brimstone anti-armor air-to-surface missile for use in an attack on Iran. The Brimstone is a derivative of the American Hellfire missile. Like the Hellfire, the Brimstone missile can also be fitted on the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The stepped up production of the Hellfire and Brimstone missiles suggest that the Americans and British have settled on a close air support plan to use the missiles to target specific Iranian leadership, especially those in vehicles, in an initial attack on Iran.

UPDATE 1X: WMR had also learned that AC-130 US Air Force Special Operations gunships are being flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana for deployment to the Middle East.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/articles/20080625

Submitted by toniD on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 4:56pm.
...By the way, the lindy pre-dates me!
-----
I know. It was my Mom's era. Still, I was certain that you would get the reference even if no one else did.

And a gal needs some pretty good knees to do the lindy.

June 25, 2008 -- Behind the Bush ethnic slur to Philippines President

There is much more to the ethnic slur uttered by President George W. Bush in his meeting at the White House yesterday with Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo than meets the eye. Bush, in a lame attempt to complement the Philippines, said, "I am reminded of the great talent of the . . . of our Philippine Americans when I eat dinner at the White House ... And the chef is a great person and a really good cook, by the way, Madam President." Bush was referring to White House head Cristeta Comerford, a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Philippines.

Bush's reference to Philippine talent by referring to the chef hearkens to the time period when Filipinos were only guaranteed government jobs as stewards and cooks in the U.S. Navy. Soon, that tradition was extended to the Presidential yacht, the Sequoia.

The untactful comment by Bush follows an initial decision by the increasingly right-leaning National Press Club to deny Macapagal Arroyo a featured luncheon speaker spot or a club-sponsored "Newsmaker" event. The Philippine embassy was told to rent a room at the club if they wanted their president to have a speaking venue. In effect, the National Press Club put the President of the Philippines in the same category as anti-Barack Obama fabulist Larry Sinclair, who rented a room at the Press Club last week.

President Macapagal Arroyo does not enjoy the support of the main player at the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney. The following abridged article by Antonio Abaya appeared in the Manila Standard on December 22, 2005:

...

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/articles/20080625_1

Have to subscribe for the rest and I won't give Murdock any money or info.

Fed Holds Interest Rates Steady, Expresses Concern on Inflation
By Sudeep Reddy
Word Count: 905
The Fed, for the first meeting since the credit crisis began last summer, didn't lower interest rates, signaling rising worries about inflation risks.

Its concerns were tempered by language indicating continued worries that the aftershocks of the credit crisis that triggered its rate cuts could weaken the economy further.

The central bank left the federal funds rate, charged on overnight loans between banks, at 2%. In a statement accompanying the decision, the Fed's language suggested it will continue trying to balance the economy's risks from stubbornly high inflation with the threat of continued weak growth in the second half of ...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121441365386303937.html?mod=hps_us_whats...

Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Mr. Obama, called the remarks “downright delusional” and “reprehensible.”

Mr. Driscoll responded by reading a statement from Mr. Nader. “Obama’s abstract campaign has been delusional and irresponsible when it comes to avoiding concrete policies that truly defend and empower the 100 million Americans living in poverty or near poverty,” he said.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/nader-defends-remarks-abou...
*TLL*

San Francisco - Other US presidents have Mt Rushmore, statues, airports and libraries.

When US President George W Bush leaves office in January he may well have another monument to his achievements: a San Francisco sewage plant.

That's the idea behind a ballot initiative that's likely to be put before San Francisco voters in the November elections when the satirically-named Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco will ask voters to approve changing the names of the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant to the George W Bush Sewage Plant.

During the inauguration, the group also wants supporters to participate in a "synchronised flush", which they say would be a "fitting monument to this president's work".

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the group already appears to have 8 500 signatures, more than enough to put the proposal to a vote.

And despite the dismissive remarks of local Republican chairperson Howard Epstein, that it's just "typical San Francisco crazies", the measure would appear to have a good chance of success in this famously quirky and liberal city.

In 2006 a proposition calling for the impeachment of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney passed with 58% of the vote.

"This is the way the democratic process is supposed to work, even though it's a silly idea in some people's eyes," organiser Brian McConnell was quoted as saying.

"Fifty years from now in a civics class, students will learn about the Lincoln Memorial, that other presidents are on Mount Rushmore - and George W Bush got a sewage plant.

"It will prompt people to ask why, and they can discuss the Iraq war, and everything that led to it. People want to forget bad moments of history, and this is our way of making sure that doesn't happen."

The biggest opposition he foresees in the ambitious plan is that people in the Democratic stronghold might oppose naming anything after the 43rd president. - Sapa-dpa

to be at odds with Barack Obama.

T. Boone Pickens rejects submissions refuting Kerry swift boat ads

02:41 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 25, 2008
By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News
gjeffers@dallasnews.com

Dallas billionaire T. Boone Pickens has rejected contentions from 10 men who served in Vietnam with John Kerry that information in the controversial Swift Vets and POWs for Truth ads during the 2004 presidential campaign were false.

That means Mr. Kerry’s crewmates won’t be paid the $1 million that Mr. Pickens offered last fall to anyone who could prove that the ads contained falsehoods.

“Unfortunately, key aspects of my offer of $1 million have not been accurately reported,” Mr. Pickens wrote. “My offer, reiterated in a letter to Senator Kerry not long after the challenge was made, was to pay $1 million for information that would prove any of the ads — which I helped fund — inaccurate. In reviewing your material, none of the information you provide speaks specifically to the issues contained in the ads, and, as a result, does not qualify for the $1 million.”

“I guess now we know the ‘T’ in T. Boone doesn’t stand for ‘truth,’’’ said Del Sandusky, one of the crewmen who signed the letter to Mr. Pickens. “His response is slicker than an oil spill. I really hoped we could’ve taken him at his word, but now he’s … running away from his own bet. … Mr. Pickens hasn’t heard the last from us. We won’t rest until he admits the truth that he bankrolled a big lie.”

The ads focused on Sen. Kerry’s anti-war activities after his tour of duty and the merits of his medals for heroism.

On Thursday, the crewmates sent a letter to Mr. Pickens accepting the challenge and provided some documentation. They offered to provide even more and requested that Mr. Pickens give the $1 million to a veterans group of their choice.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062608...

Time will tell how Obama does. Remember, he is better than McCain and his Bushean ideas of how this country should be run.

puts one thru for real....if i had a choice i mean---phew i am so scared of needles

what you said jenise? xrays with a toe ring and ankle chain...that was too cute

will be on CNN shortly

would you mind giving me a recap of what obama said? Was he on cnn earlier?

many of the events that are not scheduled on CNN are also available from their website. You can catch a lot of the better stuff there for free.

toniD on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 5:20pm.
I know but it's hard not to want to donate is what I meant. I'll vote for him but I was referring to wanting to be more active in his campaign. His FISA position will always keep me from allowing myself to do it. I mean I can't do it even if I want to.

I was just wondering, when do you get your funky new knee? I thought it was to happen around now, or early July?

Taking an office break now, stepping outside to make my calls to my reps.

Then wait until you think he might need a bumb in fianacing. It will feel more like help then.

i didn't expect it

He said so much and answered alot of questions.

I'm trying to find a video for you. He spoke and answered questions for half an hour.

He said he was for the Fisa bill but against telecom immunity. From what I understand, from Feingold, the Dems are trying to ammend this bill again to remove the immunity.

He didn't like the Supreme decision on not giving the death penalty to child rapists.

He talked about energy and what he would do. He wants the Enron loophole eliminated and thinks and was told that that would lower oil prices a little. He wants to give the working people another incentive to help with the price of Gas and heating gas. He wants to tax big oil to help people pay the higher prices for gas and to help with discovery of new energy, Green energy. And he wants to start right away toward research for better energy optins.

That's a little of what I can think of right now.

Can't wait to get it over with!

are you serious? i missed it! is that what he said? oh how i pray!

do you have help toniD at home i mean after the op?

A few statements have been made but I have yet to hear a real debate on FISA capitulation. Not sure, I was making room on my tivo... Bothersome they do nothing all day and then pull something like this out of no where.

T, I will never donate to his campaign or do anything more than vote for him if he votes for this bill. I'm an odd duck, who does not take these things lightly. He would have to do much to regain my respect, more than he's got I'm afraid.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Grrp6mxrY5Y&feature=related

I'll be staying with my bro and sister-in-law for a week or two and when I come home I have a care-giver from my county and will have about 20 hours a week from her.

My nephews and neice are close too. And my step-daughter.

really appreciate it i know it's not easy to summarize political talk - i was just trying to get a grip on what's happening with FISA and whether Obama has been moving to the right like i've been reading on some blogs - i know he was never really left - i really don't like many of his positions but he's what we've got

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fq2Mt0HAq4M&feature=related

oh good! it bothers me sometimes how the elderly are treated here in the US...

there is an elderly lady downstairs that raised her grand daughter till age 18...now the mother has taken her back and the lady is left with no help at all...(well also a care giver that gives her no care at all)

i always go down when she needs something from the store coz she uses a walker to get by...she lives alone

I'd be a lot more happy with all-you-can-eat meatball Wednesday if you came up with the Cooder or the Van Ronk. Maybe Alice can help later.

Mire, Rollins does apparently get into a lot of commentary between songs. This came up a few weeks ago when someone was complaining about Billy Bragg spouting so much politics. He did a short spoken word tour earlier this year with Garofalo and Maron.

you roll..HA!

How much different is the knee rehab supposed to be from the hip?

For James Dobson and a growing cadre of supporters armed with Dobson's breakthrough theory and insight, the only sane approach parents can take towards childhood rebellion is to beat it out of them. Otherwise chaos, socialism and Satan will prevail.

In truth it's the moral duty, the obligation of Christian parents who take their faith seriously, unlike those alleged Christians who merely mumble the tenets of their faith during their sporadic Sunday forays to degenerate liberal church services rife with pagan ritual and coded Satanic-sexual symbolism, to break the will of their children to resist and rebel much like torturers break the wills of prisoners to resist and rebel - in the end, it's for their own, and society's, best interest. The enterprise is, in a very real sense, the project of chasing out the devil, demonic spirits that otherwise can infest children and lead them into ruin, into future lives corrupted with iniquity and sin, drug and alcohol abuse, gayness and liberal political opinions, feminazi bigotry and eco-terrorism, into apartments in New York or San Fransisco and the wearing of sexually suggestive or sexually ambiguous clothing, into the consumption of tofu and tempeh rather than proper sirloin, proper bacon, into seductive lifestyles leading inexorably to eternal torment in the flaming pits of Hell.

if you do your rehab and Physical Therapy, it's a faster heal. I was up and walking the day after hip surgery and in PT right away. I kind of push myself so I imagine I'll be up and moving right away. As long as the pain is gone!

Reid just threatened the Senate with a Saturday session. WTH! That should shut the Repuglycans real quick.

(that would be lindy's new york style cheesecake)

i don't have tivo i don't get cnn - i've had a hard day at work and couldn't follow c-span as much as i would have liked and these procedures are so obscure and these people talk so orwellian that even when you hear them you don't know what they're saying

i agree with you on obama, vote for him, but also vote for a renewal of the congress in a progressive direction (vote the bums out!) and give money to this effort rather than to obama, given that he's getting the corporate money anyway he won't be getting mine

my mom is looking into knee replacement..if you have any info or links that I could print out and give her I would much appreciate it... She needs a hip too...she is 83. I am at yahoo (same nic) if you prefer to email.

I figure you have done lots of research if not I will get to googleing.

thanks, Michele

with crutches, I hope. The amazing thing is the swift relief even without the drugs.

Does the knee rehab take longer than the hip?

i just cannot imagine it---but that is just me again..it all seems so painful

this is a spoken word but without garofalo and maron, so I don't know, I am drinking a beer (belgian) and fading already since i had a difficult day and woke up at 5.... i don't think i can make an 8 o clock gig, where i would have to go an hour early just to get a seat, i have become such a home body, a tragedy when you live in new orleans - late night city

but rollins does sound good on you tube, very interesting

my upper jaw is so sore but i refuse to take the ibuprofen 800mg's they gave me...i hate drugs....(but i guess if there are no other choices one has to take them) i aint mad at anyone that does....i just hate them

and link - just make sure you don't you give your mom the one toni posted that looked like, you know, very sexy and suggestive they were talking about that black golfer's knee i believe

:)

starting to have an effect on me :) maybe I WILL go out

My Doctor gave me a program to watch about knee replacements but you need a personal password to get in. I've been working with that.

Here's something from the Mayo Clinic about knee replacement:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/knee-replacement/HQ00977

i kinda like 'em

Government should never regulate any business especially the telecoms which are without any sins unless its the one convenience store in my towns in Iowa where they should be denied the business decision to rebuild over floods without any help establishing future flood risks.

mire, my mom would enjoy that. She is one of those very cool sicilian liberals who voted for Stokely Charmichael back in the day...still a horny broad.

i'm watching him with the mute on, can't stand him, thanks for summarizing nando

are they "european" is she fair skinned? i heard most of them are dark...only asking

Half Sicilian half northern Italian...I get real dark from the sun though and my son is a very white redhead with brown eyes...go figure genes

hell, if I had to leave the blog once beer affected my judgment or spelling you wouldn't see me here after 6pm.

toniD. I'm going to confess something right now. I was once put under for a surgery that I woke up from pain free and have never even had a cavity or broken bone. I've had a couple of hang nails and an ear ache. Getting older scares the hell out of me. I'm 47 so I feel it coming. Will you teach me to be brave? Not like getting in a fight brave. I've been in plenty of brawls but chronic pain makes me a big baby.

I'm not sure but I think it's a bit longer rehab than hip. At least that's what I've been told.

Lucille, the pain is gone, except for the surgery pain. After hip surgery, they asked the level of my pain from 1-10. I said 6. The nurse was amazed and said that I must have a high pain tolerance. I said, you didn't feel the pain before the operation. She said she was expecting me to say 11! I had a morphine drip and didn't use it at all after the first day. They gave me codine if I had pain and I asked for something less strong because the codine gave me wierd dreams. So I was then given darvocet as needed.

don't mix, or do they? i think one thing at least is gonna work out, diner is delicious sofar, scallops and mushrooms over pasta, oops time to go drain the spaghetti ..........

pain. I am 57 and am starting to get all stiff each morning..I swim laps and hike but it is hard to hold Iris(my back) but fuckit..I won't lift heavy items but I will carry her until she falls asleep or for as long as she wants me to.

Getting old requires radical acceptance.

from the norman conquest long ago don't recall what century - men and women both gorgeous, men used to be short now they're tall and just gorgeous

my eldest daughter on the flickr! poor thing! will hang out in the sun on the beach to tan---not a wink of a tan...put me and my little ones out there...we come home looking like brinjals! she gets so mad at us!

sicilian? just asking?

I think we are all babies when pain is involved. You have to learn to live with it and try to be as active as you can with the pain.
You have to pull yourself out of feeling sorry for yourself and try to do things to make you forget the pain.

I guess I'm lucky to have this admin and elections to live through. I get so angry at the admin and politicians that I forget the pain.

we use "an ubba blanket" which could mean a huge towel or a sheet whatever ties around...that way they will hear the sound of your voice...always keep them close to you...they will learn a lot including "humming"

I always thought it was odd that you could get konked on the head by your sister with an iron and not really feel it but a paper cut stings for days.

I have an friend who is an engineer and has given himself a paper cut on the same eyeball not once but twice. How FUBAR is that?

Thank you mire. That's good stuff there.

that is bee-AH--oo--tee--FULL

they come out they want to be!!

a cut on the eyeball is no damn fun. It throbs right into the brain.

mama sed--

...it's better to burn out than it is to rust.

Yes?

___
bluerootsradio

she sed before from her 2 daughters am i right? cousins right?

very well put mb...I associate myself with your comment...

:)

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

Next time you go to the beach with your family, would you like to see a mammoth oil rig only three miles off the coast?

There's been a moratorium on offshore oil drilling since 1981, but if President Bush has his way, there won't be for long. Earlier this week, Senator John McCain reversed his previous position and called for lifting the moratorium that has protected our shores for the last 27 years. Days later, President Bush hopped on the bandwagon, demanding that Congress reverse this time-tested policy by July 4th. Such action would be a disaster for the environment, a boon for the oil companies, and won't have any effect whatsoever on gas prices.

If Congress lifts the ban on offshore drilling, oil companies could start drilling as close as only three miles off the coast -- even if our state opposes it.

CREDO Action.

Link to Petition-Please Sign-Thank You !

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

The M$M Couldn't Suck Worse !

Surveillance bill survives key Senate test

By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - An electronic surveillance bill has cleared an important hurdle in the Senate. A test vote on the measure Wednesday won the support of 80 senators who want to begin debate. Only 15 senators tried to kill the bill by blocking the debate.

Opponents are upset that the bill would protect from lawsuits those telecommunications companies that allegedly helped the government eavesdrop on American phone and computer lines without approval from a court for nearly six years after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Senate is expected to vote on final passage by late Thursday. The House approved the bill last week.

Link

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

check it out and tell me what you think.
http://samsedershow.tv/
http://samsedershow.tv/index%20Down.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DmYLrxR0Y8&feature=related

My grandfather was Sicilian. Had fair red hair, blue eyes and freckles. He has 7 children and there was a smorgasbord of coloring.

You have really adorable grandchildren!!

A bipartisan group of 200
Submitted by toniD on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 1:40pm.
A bipartisan group of 200 former government officials, retired generals and religious leaders will issue a statement today “calling for a presidential order to outlaw some interrogation and detention practices used by the Bush administration over the last six years.” The group, which includes former Reagan secretary of state George Schultz, seeks to outlaw secret detentions and rendition to countries that torture.

*******

And,can someone tell these Moron's

These interrogation and detention practices used by the Bush administration over the last six years Are Already Illegal ! Duh !

Rethugs To The Rescue ! Jeebus !

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

:)

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

you don't like the weather in Texas. Wait five minutes.

He didn't like the Supreme decision on not giving the death penalty to child rapists.

Was this Obama? Pandering politician, he. Ron Kuby had a good conversation on this very issue today.

*TLL*

changed ma mind!! woop!!

aches 'n pains are here to stay.

Live with it!

___
bluerootsradio
If it doesn't hurt
You ain't doin' it right! ;-)

(Just seemed like a little Neil Young was called for at this juncture.)

http://seniorvirgin.blogspot.com/

I found them both to behave about the same speedwise....fast. Is that the new server?

___
bluerootsradio

hbo most of the night...

host is guest hosting Clout tonight. I believe her name is Christine..*TLL*

is the reno kjfk host who is very excited to be guest hosting

The Money Laundering Operation at the Heart of the Democratic Party
by: Matt Stoller
Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 12:11

Every week or two I read another article in Roll Call, the Hill or the Politico on the increasing clout of the Blue Dog caucus. Today's came out in Roll Call, titled 'Blue Dogs' Bite Gets Stronger'. Anna Palmer's article opens with the sentence, "Blue Dogs get ready: The ranks of obsequious lobbyists looking to curry favor - and contribute to your war chest - is set to explode." The article also dubs Blue Dogs 'pro-business' and 'fiscally conservative'.

Since the 2006 elections, the Blue Dog political action committee has become one of the fastest growing, and is among the largest in Democratic leadership. Already it has nearly doubled its fundraising this cycle from the $1.2 million raised in 2006. This cycle, through the end of May, it had raised more than $2.2 million, according to CQ MoneyLine.

That puts it nearly on a par with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's (D-Md.) AMERIPAC, which as of the end of April had raised more than $2.2 million.

"We've always been fairly successful with fundraising, even when we were in the minority," said Vickie Walling, chief of staff to Tennessee Rep. John Tanner, a founding member of the group.

Going on to the FEC site lets you see the truth about the Blue Dog PAC - 85% of its money - $1.95M - comes from conservative corporate interests. The list is pretty standard. Walmart, Verizon, AT&T, Charter, Comcast, US Chamber of Commerce, Raytheon, Boeing, etc. And Steny Hoyer's PAC - AmeriPAC - isn't much better. Roughly 65% of his money comes from PACs, most of them similar to the ones flooding the coffers of Blue Dogs - Raytheon, AT&T, Boeing, etc.

From Hoyer and the Blue Dog PAC the money spreads outward. Just check out the list of candidates and committees Hoyer supports, from the Congressional Black Caucus to conservatives like John Barrow, Al Wynn, Don Cazayoux, Larry Kissell, Brad Ellsworth, and the Blue Dogs to progressives like John Hall, Dennis Schulman, Jim Himes, and Darcy Burner.

Now don't get me wrong, I like a lot of the people that Hoyer gives to, which is the point. We've endorsed some of them on our Better Democrats page. It's just important to note that much of the capital funding the Democratic Party is corporate PAC money, sluiced through figures such as Steny Hoyer and the Blue Dog caucus.

This has real consequences, for the business community. Check out the roll call for the net neutrality amendment that went down to defeat in 2006, 269-152. Blue Dogs voted against it, by and large, which is not so much pro-business as it is pro-telecom and cable industry and anti-technology and innovation. Or if you look at the people protecting the large tax credits for oil and gas, just check out the Blue Dog caucus and you'll find a good number in there. And telecom immunity matters deeply to businesses that don't break the law.

The sluicing funds within the Democratic Party represent relationships that make it really easy to go along with the status quo. They are at their heart network systems, dense thickets built to withstand change. I'm really quite excited about some new mapping tools I saw at Personal Democracy Forum which will help us understand just how dense the networks are, on all sides.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6576

V

She is discussing Colin Powell and his Gulf War buildup treachery.
*TLL*

All good things with all her doctor dealings.

It's intended to act as a curtain that opens or closes and redirects or is live. Not sure how to make it always open on time if Sam has random start times. That would be a problem....

AIPAC is a long time funder of the Dems. Real estate interests is another. Ever wonder why solid Blue Cities like San Francisco and Manhattan are so freaking expensive to live in?
I will look for specifics later.*TLL*

Here’s the exchange that I had with Ms. Perino Wednesday:

Q Has the President ever met with a group of TV military analysts assembled by the Pentagon?

MS. PERINO: I don’t know. But what — I don’t know.

Q Well, the Pentagon released emails saying that they were seeking such a meeting — that was in March 2006.

MS. PERINO: I think it would probably have been a good idea if they had. It would have been a good meeting.

Q What would such a meeting have discussed?

MS. PERINO: I’m not going to speculate on a meeting that I don’t remember, that I don’t know it happened. I just will say I don’t know, but I think it would have been a good idea had there been a meeting.

Q Can you find out?

MS. PERINO: Mm–we’ll see.

Considering that I’ve asked the White House before about the President’s involvement in the military analyst program, and that the White House has defended both the program and its involvement with the program as routine public relations activities, it’s odd that she’s being coy now. Normally, when a reporter asks the Press Secretary to find out more information about something she doesn’t know about, she readily agrees. I’m going to keep asking, so we will indeed see if on this topic, she and the White House have something to hide.

Incidentally, I tried to ask this question on three previous occasions—June 17, 23, and 24— but Perino and her deputy Tony Fratto refused to call on me. I may have had better luck today, because this time I sat in Helen Thomas’s front row seat. Helen hasn’t attended the briefing for over a month, and, according to Editor and Publisher, she is recovering from a gastric infection. Get well soon, Helen!

The preceding article was a White House report from Eric Brewer, who will periodically attend White House press briefings for Raw Story. Brewer is also a contributor at BTC News. He was the first reporter to ask about the Downing Street memo and the Pentagon analysts scandal at White House briefings.
http://rawstory.com/news08/2008/06/25/white-house-wont-admit-that-bush-m...

For the well wishes :)

It was Colonel Mustard. In the Kitchen. With the Candlestick.

I win! Now go home. Or did you forget your promise of thirty six years ago?

He ran on the idea of creating term limits for Senators. He claimed that Senators ... had lost touch with their constituents.

Colin Powell...I am learning stuff from my local talker....she is good. AArgh stream

Report: Global warming expected to increase terrorism.
National Intelligence Council (NIC) chairman Thomas Fingar today told Congress that global warming is expected to “aggravate existing problems such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions” around the world, which “could increase the pool of potential recruits into terrorist activity.” Fingar’s remarks were based on a new NIC report on the topic, which conservative House members blasted as “a waste of time.”

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/25/climate.change.security/index.htm...

Obama on FISA
If there was any doubt that Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) would vote for the new FISA legislation -- even if he fails to strip telecom immunity from the bill -- he cleared that up in a press conference today, saying that telecom immunity does not override "the security interests of the American people."

--David Kurtz
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/obama_on_fisa_te...

i thought the blog was down for good due to server makeover and went to watch some documentaries

glad we're back up - i had prepared a response re the grandkids that was stuck in limbo during the black out

i'll cut and paste it below

Top Democrat: US should restrict military aid for Pakistan, triple humanitarian efforts

ANNE FLAHERTY
AP News

Jun 25, 2008 13:22 EST

A top Democratic senator on Wednesday proposed tripling non-military aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year, while restricting money intended for anti-terrorism operations.

Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the U.S. has too little to show for the billions spent reimbursing Islamabad to go after terrorists along its troubled Afghan border.

A recent independent audit concluded the U.S. has little proof that the $5.6 billion given to Pakistan to go after terrorists since 2001 has been used for that purpose. At the same time, Biden said, not enough is being done to build schools, hospital clinics and roads in the border region, where extremists have found refuge.

"We believe we're paying too much and getting too little. The Pakistanis believe exactly the opposite," said Biden, D-Del.

"Both sides feel that the costs of the relationship may soon outweigh the benefits" he added. "The status quo is unsustainable."

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said the administration was open to considering Biden's approach.

"While we do not agree on every point in the current version of the proposed legislation, we welcome this initiative and feel strongly that a new, bipartisan commitment to partnership with Pakistan is crucial," Boucher told the committee.

Boucher testified on the heels of a Government Accountability Office study that found, for example, that the U.S. recently gave Pakistan more than $200 million for air defense radars without bothering to investigate whether the money was needed specifically to go after terrorists.

The U.S. has given Pakistan a total of $10.8 billion in economic and military aid since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

U.S. officials have responded that better controls over military reimbursement payments are needed. But, they add, the value of the aid program should not be underestimated because many terrorists have been captured or killed with Pakistan's help.

Boucher told the committee Wednesday that he sees promise in a forthcoming anti-terrorism agreement among Pakistan's political and military leaders.

The agreement, expected to be announced shortly by Pakistan's prime minister, should make clear that Islamabad plans only to negotiate with tribal leaders along the Afghan border and not with the militants, Boucher said.

Pakistan's leaders have said in the past this was their policy, but some have negotiated directly with insurgents — an approach that resulted in an increase in violence and cross-border attacks into Afghanistan, according to Boucher.

"Certainly the approach of saying, 'We will work with the tribes to kick out the terrorists' is a better approach than going directly to negotiate with militants," Boucher later added. "And that seems to be the approach they are adopting, not one that they have implemented successfully yet."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/06/biden_calls_for_new_approach_t...

no. Incubus keeps Sam's server I think.

hard to believe, if the second one chiara hadn't been born at home i would have thought switched in the hospital! we had to go scour the family history to try and found out where the red hair came from! probably my ex hustand's dad who always had white hair when I knew him but was told he was a redhead when young(dead now) and since they tell me you have to have red on both sides to produce a red, i guess on my daughter's husband's side dutch family, his dad is from the nederland his mom's grandparents jews from ukraine, so you have a big genetic pool - my oldest grandaughter louisa looks italian, the second one chiara irish, odd enough, both beautiful and smart, the joy of my life, very hard for me to say which one i like better :)

more vids here

http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j211/mira2gusto

and will add to the good wishes for you toniD.

Good nite all!

Submitted by Thespian Lipsti... on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 9:43pm.
AIPAC is a long time funder of the Dems.
-----
If I was running the show as The Not Necessarily Benevolent Dictator Of All Things, AIPAC would be known as JUDO.

My post that got eaten when the blog went down...

They are both so adorable!

Your kids, you love them and raise them, but your grandkids...there are no words!

... telecom immunity does not override "the security interests of the American people."

oh yeah, he said that already. And I still disagree.

They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.

my problem is he said there was a way to go forward without any discovery of evidence. Is he implying a Special Prosecutor is coming? How is it going to happen if there are no civil suites? Is that blatant pandering and a way to shed responsibility while in office? Or is it this Barack knowing much more than us common folk?

that there is no prohibition for criminal suits. We shall see. I am still real disappointed in Obama for this.

was that the server upgrade? I think I felt it but I might have been eating dinner.

cares about one thing only, to become president, and will do and say whatever is needed to achieve this, or what he thinks is needed, and he may be right - maybe it's us being too naive, c'est la vie, not pretty, folks

the democratic socialists...he is hawking to the independents and dlc'ers...fuck us...I am used to being in this position though,not naive as much as hopeful. He will probably do something before November to pull us in...it is so Bullworth.

Update on FISA: Obama, Harry Reid, Calls to Hoyer
By: John Amato @ 5:15 PM - PDT
Here’s a quick update. There was a vote today on the floor in favor of cloture on the FISA bill 80-15, which means there will be 30 hours of debate on FISA. A lot is happening so please post about it in the comment section. Obama has fallen on the wrong side of the debate. It doesn’t look good.

“The bill has changed. So I don’t think the security threats have changed, I think the security threats are similar. My view on FISA has always been that the issue of the phone companies per se is not one that overrides the security interests of the American people.”

Schumer has come out against FISA. Reid is obviously juggling a few bills at once and that is coming into play. This is from a rough transcript of a statement he gave on the Senate Floor yesterday announcing his opposition to the FISA bill:

Reid: I am not going to vote for the FISA bill. There are people, Mr. President, who have worked on this FISA matter for three months or more and again the Administration worked with them. Did they, on the FISA bill, move enough to make me vote for the bill? The answer is no.

Reid is joining Dodd and Feingold on their efforts to strip out immunity from the bill.

Blue America has placed some robo calls to Steny Hoyer’s house on Telecom Immunity.

On Friday we told you about ads going up in the Washington Post that hold Steny Hoyer accountable for brokering this horrible bill, paid for by these donations. Today Color of Change and Blue America have robocalls going out to Hoyer’s constituents, recorded by Reverend Lennox Yearwood who is from the district.

Emptywheel brings up some good points.

As you look at Reid’s comments, remember that Reid is dealing with all three of these playing pieces, not just the one we’re most focused on, FISA. And to the average American, the other two pieces are way more important than the FISA piece. As well-versed as I’ve become in FISA, frankly, I can’t imagine telling my neighbors facing foreclosure that defeating immunity is more important than them keeping their house.

I’m just making an outtamyarse guess, but I’m guessing that Reid’s delay comment last night may be tailored to get action on the housing bill, by holding the two things the Administration wants–FISA and the supplemental–hostage until a hold-out Republican and Bush agree to the housing compromise…read on

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/25/update-on-fisa-harry-reid-i-wil...

What if he is he implying a Special Prosecutor is coming? This bill can be fixed in short order but I can't stand the precedent. It's not even constitutional really.

Submitted by Fernando on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 10:43pm.
was that the server upgrade? I think I felt it but I might have been eating dinner.
-------
Fernando belches, thumps his chest with the side of his fist, and mutters to himself "Not sure if it's the server interruption or the habaneros."

LAWSUITS FILED

"We can tell those companies that answered their government's call for help in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks that a grateful nation stands behind them and that they will be given the civil liability protection they rightly deserve," Bond said.

The bill would protect companies that participated in the warrantless domestic spying program Bush secretly began shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

About 40 lawsuits have been filed accusing AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp of violating Americans' privacy rights. Damages could total in the billions of dollars.

While the House-passed bill would not provide the retroactive immunity Bush had demanded, it would enable a federal district court to dismiss a suit if written certification is presented that the administration assured the companies that the program was legal.

Such assurances were provided.

But critics charge that Bush, in implementing the program, violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that requires secret-court approval to electronically track any foreign target in the United States. Such an effort can sweep up law-abiding Americans communicating with foreigners.

Bush maintains he had the wartime power to authorize the program. But he put it under FISA jurisdiction in January 2007. Terms remain secret.

Democrats control the House and Senate. Yet they have faced election-year pressure to pass the bill, fearing failure to do so would let Republicans paint them as weak on security and force them to accept what they saw as a more objectionable earlier version of the legislation.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Spy_phone_protection_bill_clears_Se...

The light show is incredible.

Netroots feel jilted by Obama's FISA stand
By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN | 6/25/08 6:53 PM EST

When former Sen. John Edwards dropped out of the presidential race, the progressive Netroots took their affections to Barack Obama, defending him against attack from Hillary Rodham Clinton and others.

But with his support of a government surveillance bill that offers retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies — a bill that he vowed last year to filibuster — the honeymoon has ended.

Disappointed over his position on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the online activists feel jilted and betrayed and have taken to questioning his progressive credentials. One prominent blogger, Atrios, has even given him the moniker “Wanker of the Day.”

“He broke faith,” said Matt Stoller, a political consultant and blogger at OpenLeft.com. “Obama pledged to filibuster, and he is part of that old politics, in this case, that he said he wasn’t. It will spur us to challenge him.”

The FISA debate marks the presumptive Democratic nominee’s first serious break from the liberal Netroots in the general election. He is still their candidate, but the FISA issue has reignited skepticism among major bloggers, who had largely pushed aside doubts about Obama when Edwards, their favored candidate, ended his bid in February.

More here:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11349.html

either Nando...we have had almost 8 years of precedents put into the law and hearing, but they will never do that. They will never spy on me. they wont go into the libraries and confiscate info...it will never happen...I trust our government...wtf...any one who trusts their government is just plain stupid and ignorant. I was not the best history student but I got awards in civics because I had a really good teacher in college and you just don't do that...never assume not me, because it makes an ass out of you and uma thurman.

Has Coldplay tonight.

Crazy Legs

Lets not bring up Uma or those thumbs of hers.

too funny...listening now...

Uma's dad is one of my hero's.

Where's jenise when we need her? This translated post reads like solar panel assembly instructions.
------
http://solarmarket.blogspot.com/2008/06/japan-will-grant-tax-concessions...

Japan Will Grant Tax Concessions To Promote The Public Use Of Solar Energy

Japan government tomorrow will announce new measures to plan starting from next year to provide grants and tax incentives to promote more people and families using solar energy.

Government's new measures will also include Japanese manufacturers of solar system costs by half. Japan's major manufacturers of large solar panels, including Sharp, Kyocera and Sanyo. It is reported that the details of allowances and tax cuts will be finalized before the end of August period, when government officials have to put the budget request, included from next year on April 1 start of the new budget. At present, the value of the sale of a solar system 2.3 million yen, with these concessions, the price is expected in the next three years to five years, to 1.1 million yen.

In addition, Japan also plans to pre-2020, more than 70% of the new housing can be equipped with solar panels, which prompted the Government to take drastic measures to accelerate the utilization of new energy alternatives.

Japan's fuel, oil and natural gas supplies are imported from abroad, accounted for more than 50 percent of energy consumption. The report also pointed out that faced with the pressure of soaring oil prices, the Japanese government hopes to reduce the dependence on oil, and further strengthen its presence in the field of environmental protection role.

Source: 联合早报 Jun. 23, 2008

Overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives on Friday, the bill may win needed Senate concurrence before Congress begins a holiday break the end of this week. -RAW

I've been in awe of Uma forever. Kill Bill is crazy but Pulp Fiction was one of her best movies imo.

Long, but important to understand.

Qwest CEO Not Alone in Alleging NSA Started Domestic Phone Record Program 7 Months Before 9/11
By Ryan Singel October 12, 2007
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/qwest-ceo-not-a.html
Startling statements from former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio's defense documents alleging the National Security Agency began building a massive call records database seven months before 9/11 aren't the only accusations that the controversial program predated the attacks of 9/11.

According to court documents unveiled this week, former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio clearly wanted to argue in court that the NSA retaliated against his company after he turned down a NSA request on February 27, 2001 that he thought was illegal. Nacchio's attorney issued a carefully worded statement in 2006, saying that Nacchio had turned down the NSA's repeated requests for customer call records. The statement says that Nacchio was asked for the records in the fall of 2001, but doesn't say he was "first asked" then.

And in May 2006, a lawsuit filed against Verizon for allegedly turning over call records to the NSA alleged that AT&T began building a spying facility for the NSA just days after President Bush was inaugurated. That lawsuit is one of 50 that were consolidated and moved to a San Francisco federal district court, where the suits sit in limbo waiting for the 9th Circuit Appeals court to decide whether the suits can proceed without endangering national security.

According the allegations in the suit (.pdf):
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/files/groundbreakerlawsuit.pdf

The project was described in the ATT sales division documents as calling for the construction of a facility to store and retain data gathered by the NSA from its domestic and foreign intelligence operations but was to be in actuality a duplicate ATT Network Operations Center for the use and possession of the NSA that would give the NSA direct, unlimited, unrestricted and unfettered access to all call information and internet and digital traffic on ATTÌs long distance network. [...]

The NSA program was initially conceived at least one year prior to 2001 but had been called off; it was reinstated within 11 days of the entry into office of defendant George W. Bush.

An ATT Solutions logbook reviewed by counsel confirms the Pioneer-Groundbreaker project start date of February 1, 2001.

The allegations in that case come from unnamed AT&T insiders, who have never stepped forward or provided any documentation to the courts. But Carl Mayer, one of the attorneys in the case, stands by the allegations in the lawsuit.

"All we can say is, we told you so," Mayer told THREAT LEVEL.
[...]
Immunity isn't what Mayer wants.

"The real obligation is upon the Democrats to demand turnover of these documents," Mayer said.

But Mayer and Nacchio may not even be the only two arguing that the NSA started a program of collecting Americans' phone records before 9/11.

In a January 2006 Slate article that came out before the USA Today totally blew open the call records story in May 2006, Tim Naftali and THREAT LEVEL pal Shane Harris reported:

A former telecom executive told us that efforts to obtain call details go back to early 2001, predating the 9/11 attacks and the president's now celebrated secret executive order. The source, who asked not to be identified so as not to out his former company, reports that the NSA approached U.S. carriers and asked for their cooperation in a "data-mining" operation, which might eventually cull "millions" of individual calls and emails.

So, the question is was Nacchio the one talking to Harris and Natfali? Or was it an executive from another company?

The evidence remains inconclusive, but one would think that before telecoms get immunity for allegedly helping the government after 9/11 out of patriotism, Congress should see if the companies began helping out prior to 9/11 with their eyes not on the flag, but on the secret dollars that the NSA could add to their bottom lines.
[...]

The NSA program was initially conceived at least one year prior to 2001 but had been called off; it was reinstated within 11 days of the entry into office of defendant George W. Bush.

An ATT Solutions logbook reviewed by counsel confirms the Pioneer-Groundbreaker project start date of February 1, 2001.

Bloomberg

Spy Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say

By Andrew Harris

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.

``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.''

The lawsuit is related to an alleged NSA program to record and store data on calls placed by subscribers. More than 30 suits have been filed over claims that the carriers, the three biggest U.S. telephone companies, violated the privacy rights of their customers by cooperating with the NSA in an effort to track alleged terrorists.

``The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that AT&T may neither confirm nor deny AT&T's participation in the alleged NSA program because doing so would cause `exceptionally grave harm to national security' and would violate both civil and criminal statutes,'' AT&T spokesman Dave Pacholczyk said in an e-mail.

U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller and NSA spokesman Don Weber declined to comment.

Pioneer Groundbreaker

The NSA initiative, code-named ``Pioneer Groundbreaker,'' asked AT&T unit AT&T Solutions to build exclusively for NSA use a network operations center which duplicated AT&T's Bedminster, New Jersey facility, the court papers claimed. That plan was abandoned in favor of the NSA acquiring the monitoring technology itself, plaintiffs' lawyers Bruce Afran said.

The NSA says on its Web site that in June 2000, the agency was seeking bids for a project to ``modernize and improve its information technology infrastructure.'' The plan, which included the privatization of its ``non-mission related'' systems support, was said to be part of Project Groundbreaker.

Mayer said the Pioneer project is ``a different component'' of that initiative.
[...]

non of the quest's dude's problems involve spying. How does he put that information into a court record?

www.marcmaronrules.blogspot.com

Write Obama about your FISA Concerns..
Go to link below and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "Contact Us"..

Light It Up !
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

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

That puts this NSA upgrade plan under Clinton....

The NSA says on its Web site that in June 2000, the agency was seeking bids for a project to ``modernize and improve its information technology infrastructure.'' The plan, which included the privatization of its ``non-mission related'' systems support, was said to be part of Project Groundbreaker.

Think about it...

28 Pakistani Peace Committee Members Executed
"The bodies of 28 members of a government-sponsored peace committee were found dumped on a road near the tribal area of South Waziristan on Wednesday. The Pakistani Taliban said the men were killed because they supported the government, according to a Taliban statement made to a local journalist.

The peace committee was attacked by forces of Baitullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban, near the town of Jandola on Monday, not far from the Afghan border.

The targeting of the peace committee sent a particularly chilling message because it was a brutal tactic by Mehsud's forces to quash pro-government groups in the region, tribal elders said. The killings appeared to directly challenge the policy of the new Pakistani government to negotiate with militants rather than use military force. Some of the men had been shot; others had their throats slit.

"This is a message to the tribal area that whoever sides with the government will meet the same fate," said Mirza Jihadi, an elder from the tribal areas.

He added that the mass executions of the peace committee members were designed "as a lesson" to people wanting to resist the Taliban."

Jesus .. way to take your eye off the ball- Georgie.

Oooh!! Look!! There's a bright shiny object in Iraq!! Let's go there!! I mean - Damn!! Afghanistan is soooo September 10th - get it, ya'll .. hee hee!!

jenise might not have been able to help. As I suspected, the article that was posted regarding Japan subsidizing solar power was sourced from 联合早报 which translates to United Zaobao when plugged into a Chinese-to-English translator.

It is comforting to know that the Zaobao's have united after all of their years of strife.

Just kidding.
--------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lianhe_Zaobao

Lianhe Zaobao (simplified Chinese: 联合早报; pinyin: liánhé zǎo bào; literally United Morning Paper) is the largest Singapore-based Chinese newspaper with a daily circulation of about 200,000 copies on weekdays and 220,000 on Sundays...

I've missed her so ! :)

You know what the Sad part is ?

With my Chronic pain,I'm starting to get restless leg syndrome !

I don't start doing the Lindy in my sleep..
But,my legs start hurting like crazy..
It Sucks !
One of my Dr's said that's what it is..Oh great !
O'well..That's life..

And,Sam stop being a Dead Ender....Rapture Hoodies For Everyone ! Gotta have em ! :)

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

Phoenix Carries Soil to Wet Chemistry Lab This image taken by the Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows the lander's Robotic Arm scoop positioned over the Wet Chemistry Lab delivery funnel on Sol 29, the 29th Martian day after landing, or June 24, 2008. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University
Full image and caption TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander placed a sample of Martian soil in the spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory today for the first time. Results from that instrument, part of Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, are expected to provide the first measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of the planet's soil.

The analysis of this soil sample and others will help researchers determine whether ice beneath the soil ever has melted, and whether the soil has other qualities favorable for life.

The Phoenix team is discussing what sample to deliver next to the lander's other analytical instrument, which bakes and sniffs soil to identify volatile ingredients. Engineers have identified possible problems in the mechanical and electrical operation of that instrument, the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA.

Scientists are studying information provided by TEGA's analysis of the first Martian soil sample put in that instrument. The instrument has eight single-use oven cells; each cell can analyze one sample. When doors for a second TEGA oven were commanded open last week, the doors opened only partway. Later, the team determined that mechanical interference may prevent doors on that oven and three others from opening fully. The remaining three ovens are expected to have one door that opens fully and one that opens partially, as was the case with the first oven used.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080625.html

WASHINGTON — U.S. border agents are copying and seizing the contents of laptops, cell phones and digital cameras from U.S. and foreign travelers entering the United States, witnesses told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday.

The extent of this practice is unknown despite requests to the Department of Homeland Security from the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution and several nonprofit agencies.

The department also declined to send a representative to the hearing. Subcommittee Chairman Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said Homeland Security had told him that its "preferred" witness was unavailable Wednesday.

Feingold added that he'd submitted written questions about the seizures of electronic data — and of some devices — to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in April. To date, Feingold said, he's gotten no reply.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/42186.html

I hope you are still working with this new server. It's taking me close to 5 minutes to refresh the page. I thought it would be a bit faster than before with the new server.

Tell me you are still working on it and it will become more speedy?

Look at the message atop the new thread.