Tax advice

()*

I posted it in open mic.

Read it at your own risk.

Submitted by toniD on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 11:09am.
Don't need anything right now.
---------
How 'bout some cheery or political refrigerator magnets for knee decor? Maybe a magnetized spring clip to keep your grocery list close at hand?

Waxman’s Strategy for Undoing Blackwater

by Matthew Schwarzfeld - July 30, 2008 4:22 pm EDT

Blackwater Worldwide may have misrepresented its size to obtain small business contracts, the House oversight committee announced on Monday. The finding is the result of an investigation by the Small Business Administration (SBA), and it's just the first of three reviews of the controversial security contractor requested by Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA).

Unlike a number of investigations by the FBI and the committee itself that have focused on the conduct of Blackwater's guards in Iraq and Afghanistan -- for instance, the allegedly unprovoked shooting of Iraqi civilians -- Waxman appears to be taking a new tack: scrutinizing the contractor's employment practices to make it ineligible for future federal contracts.

In March, Rep. Waxman contacted the SBA, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Labor (DOL) to ask each agency to conduct a review of Blackwater's compliance with federal employment laws. The first to report its findings (PDF), the SBA inspector general, determined that Blackwater and its affiliates may have obtained more than $100 million in contracts set aside for small businesses, in spite of receiving more than a billion dollars in federal contracts since 2002.

As Waxman explained in a memo (PDF) accompanying the launch of the three investigations, they each hinge on Blackwater's self-classification of its workers as contractors rather than employees. Waxman argues that classifying security personnel as contractors has allowed Blackwater to apply for small business contracts for which it wasn't eligible, underpay income taxes and workers benefits, and avoid complying with DOL anti-discrimination requirements for federal contractors.

Blackwater has argued that it recruits and trains workers but relinquishes management and oversight to its clients. "After being deployed, Blackwater has little if any knowledge regarding the location or activities of these independent contractors. Blackwater's only real involvement is to pay the independent contractors," Blackwater President Gary Jackson said in an October 2006 affidavit for the small business application.

Waxman has countered Blackwater's claims by pointing to statements by Erik Prince -- including in televised interviews (5:02-5:21) and congressional testimony (PDF) -- in which Blackwater's CEO says that his company maintains tight control over its personnel. Waxman also referred to the company's legal defense in a civil suit brought against it by the estates of four Blackwater guards killed in Fallujah. The company argued that because the four dead guards were employees, rather than contractors, the company's liabilities were limited to the provisions in the Defense Base Act.

http://www.propublica.org/article/waxmans-strategy-for-undoing-blackwate...

A secret government document submitted at the military commission of Osama bin Laden's driver Salim Hamdan confirms that Hamdan was sexually humiliated by a female government agent. Hamdan's lawyers claim the document is proof that Hamdan was coerced into making a confession. (New York Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/us/31gitmo.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&em...

Some Army recruiters have been caught lying to recruits in order to keep them from dropping out. One high school student in Houston was threatened with jail time if he left the recruitment program, despite signing up for a non-binding program. (KVUE)

http://www.kvue.com/news/state/stories/072808kvuerecruit-bkm.10c88acd.ht...

A Wall Street broker who is under federal investigation for sales of mortgage-related securities is suspected of fleeing the country. His disappearance comes as he faced possible federal charges for allegedly lying to investors. (Wall Street Journal)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121746841444299461.html?mod=googlenews_w...

magnet joke, ykes, but it does raise some questions, would it work? just curious (toni i am not asking you to try!) :))

Titanium is not magnetic!

You might want to send a giant magnet of flower to Cheney though.

"Love and Gratitude to Water" ceremony.

Gravity and water
Submitted by ellwort on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 1:57am.
==
Dr. Emoto invites you to participate in the 2008

Hawaii: 10 pm to 11 pm on Saturday, August 2
Los Angeles: 1 am to 2 am on Sunday, August 3
New York: 4 am to 5 pm on Sunday, August 3
Greenwich Mean Time: 8 am to 9 am on Sunday, August 3
Irkutsk & Lake Baikal: 5 pm to 6 pm on Sunday, August 3

~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

I took the day off work today. My house is a mess. Kids...summer...oh thank God it's almost over.

You people just don't have a clue.

I was just sent this-- I can only hope they can do it.

http://rawstory.com:80/news/2008/30_Foot_rat_may_greet_Lieberman_0730.ht...

I wonder when folks will start connecting the Republican Convention to Labor day and the Republicans willingness to dismantle the American Labor in this country.

i was in the gym early this morning - i generally have my ipod with and listen to malloy's screed from night before, sometimes they pump me up, sometimes they irk me, sometimes boring, heard that stuff before, whatever, so i look up at the tv screens on the wall and so i muted malloy to listen as they were talking shoes, ferragamo shoes, hey italy can use the promotion of its homegrown manufacturing (probably made in china actually but whatever

it's only fair what's good for the goose (john edwards) is good for the gander (john mccain) is that how it goes? so how does the $400 haircut compare to the $2500 shoes, giggle giggle the stepford witchy look on cindy's face on the CNN background

and by the way what happened to Edwards possible vp'hood. Is the sex scandal which festered on the weekend somehow connected to his eing ditched

i am not sure how i feel about this kaine guy, and what's sad is i don't think obama cares one way or another how we, are base, feels, that's what's really depressing more than anything else - it'be great if he'd pick a real progressive, but who are they? Is it true that we're down to three, of the three i feel no particular enthusiasm about any of them

yay!!!!

gotta remember not to post in a hurry and to preview, i never do

it doesn't do anything...

my french is not up to par these days

Submitted by toniD on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 11:50am.
Titanium is not magnetic!
--------
I knew that...but never let it be said that I allow mere facts to get in the way of a joke.

If your knee replacements were magnetic, you would only be able to cross your legs once.

(It could double as a birth control device.)

The price sure is skyrocketing!

http://catalog.usmint.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?lang...

Overwhelming....
new
Submitted by Annette on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 11:56am.
I took the day off work today. My house is a mess. Kids...summer...oh thank God it's almost over.

You people just don't have a clue.

Been there, done that, not even a t-shirt, glad it's over!!!

the right wing fundies may actually create and promote some contraption that does that (control births)

i never can with my work computer when it's flash, i think you need to have the latest version or the compatible version of flash software installed, it's adobe i think

by J R Hand
Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 08:39:11 AM EDT

Seriously? Obama picked [him/her]?!

In every year of my adult life when there has been a [presidential/congressional/senatorial/school board] election, I have tried not to [be a single-issue voter/threaten to vote for the Republican out of spite/jump off a bridge over one soundbite/get stuck in the voting booth]. But this time around, I'm [putting my foot down/drawing the line/saying "enough's enough"/having a sandwich].

More mutiple choices here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/31/83911/4535/833/545290

(It could double as a birth control device.)

At my age? Heh!

Project to rebuild Internet gets $12M, bandwidth
NEW YORK (AP) -- A massive project to redesign and rebuild the Internet from scratch is inching along with $12 million in government funding and donations of network capacity by two major research organizations.
==
If we [taxpayers] build it doesn't that mean we 'own' it? Just like we 'own' the current internet version.
~`~`~`~`~`~
Jamesbennett

and I have updated flash.

Anyone else having a problem?

XXXXX

Democrats criticise oil companies on heels of Exxon's $11.7bn quarterly profit

Oil companies are facing new rancour in the US today after Exxon Mobil reported a quarterly profit of $11.7bn, the largest in American history.

That stunning figure – equivalent to a profit of $1,486 per second – elicited harsh condemnations from Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats, who wasted no time in accusing John McCain of protecting cash-rich oil companies while fuel prices rise.

"Perhaps the only thing more outrageous than Exxon Mobil making record profits while Americans are paying record prices at the pump is the fact that Senator McCain has proposed giving them an additional $1.2bn tax break," Obama said in a statement.

"Instead of an energy policy that reads like an oil-company wish list, it's time to create a new American energy economy by investing in alternative energy, creating millions of new jobs, increasing fuel efficiency standards, and ending the tyranny of oil once and for all."

Obama camp estimates show that McCain's tax plan would increase Exxon's annual profits by $1.2bn – with the oil industry netting $4bn overall.

Four senior Democrats in Congress called a press conference today to lambaste the largest US oil companies for spending more on stock buy-backs to enrich shareholders than on energy exploration.

In the first quarter of this year, Exxon spent $8.8m on repurchasing its own stock and $5.5bn on exploration. Despite its history-making profit in the second quarter, Wall Street analysts had expected a bigger haul from the company and its shares fell today in early trading hours.

"[D]oes the oil and gas industry really need more tax breaks and more public land?" asked a fact sheet on Exxon profits released by Democrat Nancy Pelosi, leader of the House of Representatives.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/31/usa.exxonmobil?gusrc=rss&fee...

The embed at the top of the thread doesn't work for me,
but this does:
http://www.goleft.tv/interface/flash/player.swf?id=1610

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185304443/bctid1701198911

By Mike McKimm
Science Correspondent, BBC Northern Ireland

It's a landscape no human has even seen. And those who live right beside it had no idea it even existed.

Deep below the sea, off the north coast of Northern Ireland, a dramatic geological mystery has been discovered.

Huge cliffs, vast basins and plateaus, a lake and even rivers have been found. But so far no-one is certain what caused them to end up like this deep under the sea.

The discovery was made when the seabed was being surveyed to update old Admiralty charts, drawn up in the mid-1800s.

Funded by the European Union and backed by the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency, a survey vessel has been scanning the seabed along most of the north coast of Ireland, including the seabed north of Rathlin Island.
Marine biologists have been surveying the sea bed

Most of the bottom was largely flat and unremarkable, but as the survey headed east it suddenly came across an unexpected landscape.

For the first time marine biologists could understand what was down there and the scale of it all.

"I'm always very envious of my terrestrial biologist colleagues", said Joe Breen, Head of Aquatic Science with Northern Ireland's new Environment Agency, who has dived the area for years.

"They can go out on land and see where their habitats are. Underwater we've never had that luxury.

"On a dive you can only see about 15 metres so it's like operating in fog. Now, with this survey, we can report on the true extent of the features.

"For the European Habitat Directive, we have to report the extent of our reefs and sandbanks. This will help with the whole concept of marine spatial planning.

"So, if someone wants to put in renewable energy or extract aggregate, we now have a blueprint and can see how they're going to interact and if it's sustainable."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7532771.stm

Israel's Likud calls for early vote

Netanyahu could spoil Kadima's plans to form the next government after a snap election [AFP]

Israel's opposition Likud Party is calling for fresh elections after the announcement by Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, to step down as leader of his Kadima party.

Following Kadima's decision to hold a leadership contest on September 17, Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the opposition Likud party, called for parliamentary elections to end the government's "total failure".

"This government has reached an end and it doesn't matter who heads Kadima," Netanyahu told Israeli Radio.

"They are all partners in this government's total failure ... National responsibility requires a return to the people and new elections."

Haim Ramon, a minister in the prime minister's office, said new elections were a "high" probability because he believed the next Kadima leader would find it difficult to form a new government otherwise.

Netanyahu could thwart Kadima's plans to form the next government by mustering a majority in parliament, either to form his own coalition or, as he has called for, to advance the elections scheduled for 2010.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/07/2008731151430933727...

Two huge pieces of ice measuring almost 20 square kilometres have broken off a Canadian Arctic ice shelf, the biggest break-up of ice in the Arctic for three years, officials said.

The chunks broke off from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf on the coast of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, forming two floating ice islands, according to scientists.

"The first broke off sometime around July 22 and the second in the night of July 23 to 24," Luc Desjardins, a senior iceberg forecaster for the Canadian Ice Service, said on Tuesday.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/07/200873103243561467.ht...

will they float far enough to be a shipping hazard or are they too big to move with the currents.

is a Tax attorney. She advertizes on TV to help lower taxes you owe the government for being late.

Think she's not to swift when it comes to economy!

McCain campaign accuses Obama of playing race card
Associated Press

John McCain's campaign accused Barack Obama on Thursday of playing racial politics a day after the Democratic candidate predicted Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

Obama "played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said in a statement. He called Obama's remarks "divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."

While Obama was meeting with victims of this summer's flooding here, his aides were initially dismissive of the McCain broadside. "We're not in the habit of reacting every time they put out a statement," spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

The first black candidate with a shot at winning the White House, Obama argued while stumping in Missouri on Wednesday that President Bush and McCain will resort to scare tactics to maintain their hold on the White House because they have little else to offer voters.

"Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer to the challenges we face. So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me," Obama said. "You know, he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name,' you know,he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.'"

Obama himself didn't make clear what distinctions he thinks McCain is likely to raise regarding the presidents on U.S. currency - white men who for the most part were much older than Obama when elected. McCain has not raised Obama's race as an issue in the campaign; he has said Obama lacks experience.

On Thursday, Gibbs said the senator was not referring to race.

"What Barack Obama was talking about was that he didn't get here after spending decades in Washington," Gibbs said. "There is nothing more to this than the fact that he was describing that he was new to the political scene. He was referring to the fact that he didn't come into the race with the history of others. It is not about race."

Obama often makes references to his distinctions as a candidate, such as saying there are doubts among some voters because he has "a funny name." At times he refers to his race as well, saying he looks different from any previous candidate but then adding that the differences are not just about race. Addressing supporters Tuesday night at a fundraiser in Springfield, Mo., he said, "It's a leap, electing a 46-year-old black guy named Barack Obama."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/McCain_campaign_accuses_Obama_of_playing_0...

Houston docs find way to destroy HIV?
Doctors call vulnerable section of key protein 'weak spot of HIV.'

http://www.kvue.com/news/state/stories/072908kvuehivbreakthrough-cb.14e2...

$1,486 per second

Democrats criticise oil companies on heels of Exxon's $11.7bn quarterly profitElana Schor in Washington guardian.co.uk, Thursday July 31 2008 Oil companies are facing new rancour in the US today after Exxon Mobil reported a quarterly profit of $11.7bn, the largest in American history.

Obama said in a statement:

"Instead of an energy policy that reads like an oil-company wish list, it's time to create a new American energy economy by investing in alternative energy, creating millions of new jobs, increasing fuel efficiency standards, and ending the tyranny of oil once and for all."

Obama camp estimates show that McCain's tax plan would increase Exxon's annual profits by $1.2bn – with the oil industry netting $4bn overall.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/31/usa.exxonmobil

EXCLUSIVE: To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To Dress Up Navy Seals As Iranians And Shoot At Them
Speaking at the Campus Progress journalism conference earlier this month, Seymour Hersh — a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New Yorker — revealed that Bush administration officials held a meeting recently in the Vice President’s office to discuss ways to provoke a war with Iran.

In Hersh’s most recent article, he reports that this meeting occurred in the wake of the overblown incident in the Strait of Hormuz, when a U.S. carrier almost shot at a few small Iranian speedboats. The “meeting took place in the Vice-President’s office. ‘The subject was how to create a casus belli between Tehran and Washington,’” according to one of Hersh’s sources.

Interviewing Hersh during the journalism conference event, I asked him specifically about this meeting and if he could elaborate on what occurred. Hersh explained that, during the meeting in Cheney’s office, an idea was considered to dress up Navy Seals as Iranians, put them on fake Iranian speedboats, and shoot at them. This idea, intended to provoke an Iran war, was ultimately rejected:

HERSH: There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don’t we build — we in our shipyard — build four or five boats that look like Iranian pt boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up.

Might cost some lives. And it was rejected because you can’t have Americans killing Americans. That’s the kind of — that’s the level of stuff we’re talking about. Provocation. But that was rejected.

Watch it: At link

Hersh argued that one of the things the Bush administration learned during the encounter in the Strait of Hormuz was that, “if you get the right incident, the American public will support” it.

“Look, is it high school? Yeah,” Hersh said. “Are we playing high school with you know 5,000 nuclear warheads in our arsenal? Yeah we are. We’re playing, you know, who’s the first guy to run off the highway with us and Iran.”

Transcript: Read the rest of this entry »

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/31/cheney-proposal-for-iran-war/

ballet like myla but she does cello practice, here she's on one of her better days - i prefer not to show her worser days when she doesn't feel like practicing but she has to ......

Exxon spends 1 percent of profits on alternative energy.Filed Under: Energy
By Satyam at 12:26 pm ABC: Exxon spends 1 percent of profits on alternative energy.
Exxon Mobil today broke its own record for the highest-ever profit by a U.S. company, with net income this quarter rising to $11.68 billion. While Exxon officials regularly tout the company’s investment in alternative energy, ABC reported today that Exxon spends only 1 percent of profits on alternative energy sources. Watch it: At link

“They’re probably spending more on the advertising than they are on the research,” noted an oil analyst contacted by ABC. BP invested the most out of the big five oil companies, at 2.9 percent.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/31/abc-exxon-spends-1-percent-of-profit...

good day bloggerbuds

HERSH: There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don’t we build — we in our shipyard — build four or five boats that look like Iranian pt boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up.

Might cost some lives. And it was rejected because you can’t have Americans killing Americans

Did any of you watch Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC interviewing McCain's Campaign person Rick Davis? She totally disagreed with him and had a hard time because he never stopped talking or gave her a chance to ask questions.

I'll try to find a video later when it's up.

A class of insecticides derived from flowers – long believed to be environmentally safe – is in fact causing significant human health problems in the US, according to an inquiry released today by public-interest campaigners.

Poisoning incidents caused by insecticides made with pyrethrins and pyrethroids, compounds made from the chrysanthemum flower, rose 63% between 1998 and 2006, the inquiry by the Washington-based Centre for Public Integrity (CPI) found.

"The Centre for Public Integrity uncovered this public safety issue through more than a dozen freedom of information … requests and crunching the data. This should be basic public information if the EPA were doing its job."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/31/environment.usa

US judge: White House aides can be subpoenaed

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's top advisers are not immune from congressional subpoenas, a federal judge ruled Thursday in an unprecedented dispute between the two political branches.

House Democrats called the ruling a ringing endorsement of the principle that nobody is above the law.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge John Bates said there's no legal basis for Bush's argument and that his former legal counsel, Harriet Miers, must appear before Congress. If she wants to refuse to testify, he said, she must do so in person. The committee also has sought to force testimony from White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7692272

Absolute Power, No Responsibility: White House reaction to the Department of Justice hiring scandal
Eric Brewer

It had been two days since the Department of Justice released a report accusing itself of illegally discriminating against political enemies in its hiring of supposedly independent judges and prosecutors, and no one in the White House press corps had bothered to ask the administration for its reaction. As usual, I'd been trying, but the press secretary rarely calls on me. Wednesday was going to be the last briefing in Washington for at least a couple of weeks, so I went in for one more try. The question I hoped to ask:

Any reaction to the Inspector General's report that found that the Department of Justice illegally discriminated against Democrats in the hiring of non-political judges and prosecutors?

Followed up if necessary by:

Does the President take responsibility for the failed leadership that allowed the nation's top law enforcement agency to break the law and abandon its long tradition of independence from politics?

I attended both the morning "gaggle" and the more formal, televised briefing in the early afternoon. The gaggle was sparsely attended. I was one of only six reporters sitting in the first two rows, so I thought my chances were pretty good. Dana Perino called on the other five—they asked about the housing bill, offshore drilling, and Iran's defiant nuclear enrichment program—but then Perino abruptly ended the session after just 13 minutes.

A couple of hours later I went back for the briefing. The room was crowded, but again I got a good seat in the second row. This time, however, the second reporter called on—I believe it was Jim Axelrod of CBS—asked my question. Here's his exchange with Ms. Perino:

Q Dana, what's your reaction to the Justice Department report where they -- the report essentially says, yes, that there was inappropriate influence on politics and ideology that was part of our hiring and firing practices?

MS. PERINO: Well as I have read the coverage of it -- I haven't read the report, but as I read the coverage of it, there's obviously information in there that would cause concern to anybody. And we agree with Michael Mukasey that -- the Attorney General -- that there was concern. There should be concern any time anyone is improperly using politics to influence career decisions. We believe that is improper. We could absolutely not defend that. And we are pleased that the Attorney General has taken steps to change it there at the Justice Department.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Absolute_Power_No_Responsibility_White_Hou...

how many times do we have to hear this crap from perino, she never reads any reports, she never knows anything, what a farce, why do these supposed serious journalists put up with this crap - this is one of instances where i agree with malloy, she's an absolute twit and these journalists should not refrain from using foul language to address her

Update: Pelosi says Rove contempt citation possible
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that a federal judge’s ruling that former White House counsel Harriet Miers has to appear before a congressional committee could pave the way for Congress approving a contempt citation against Karl Rove later in the day," Jared Allen reports for The Hill.

In her statement, Pelosi writes, "As public officials, we take an oath of office to uphold the Constitution seriously and today’s landmark ruling by the U.S. District Court is a great victory for the American people, the rule of law and balance of power. We must restore our nation’s fundamental system of checks and balances, and today’s ruling begins to restore that balance."

"As I told the House of Representatives in February when we passed the resolution authorizing this court case, congressional oversight is an institutional obligation to ensure against abuse of power," Pelosi continued. "And when there are credible allegations that law enforcement has been politicized, the need for congressional oversight is at its greatest. "

The Hill notes that "Pelosi said the ruling could give Congress a new impetus to hold Rove in contempt. Rove refused to respond to a subpoena requiring his appearance at a Judiciary hearing earlier this month on allegations of improper White House influence over the Justice Department."

"This decision should send a clear signal to the Bush Administration that it must cooperate fully with Congress and that former Administration officials Harriet Miers and Karl Rove must testify before Congress," Pelosi's statement concludes.

Scroll down at link:

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Federal_judge_rules_Bush_aides_can_0731.ht...

i clapped when she bowed after her concert!

Stevens pleads not guilty in corruption case
17 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he lied about accepting more than a quarter of a million dollars worth of gifts. He asked for a trial before he stands for re-election in November.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080731/ap_on_go_co/stevens;_ylt=AratYdqKiwQ...

Will you be reporting from Sackatomato for us? I really enjoyed your work there from the Van Halen trip.

of Interview with Rick Davis

McCain aide spars over ad
July 31: NBC's Andrea Mitchell talks with John McCain's Rick Davis campaign manager about the Republican presidential candidate's new ad on Barack Obama. Watch the entire interview. Full story

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8004316/

Click on link at site to play video

Senate GOP Set To Block Troop Funding Bill
John Aravosis (DC) · 7/31/2008 01:50:00 PM ET · Link
11 Comments · reddit · FARK · Digg It!

Bring it on.
Republicans in the Senate may be walking into a political trap this week, in which their insistence on considering energy legislation leads them to block significant increases in funding for the troops in Iraq.

Going into this week, the Senate Republicans insisted that they would block all the legislative measures until an energy bill was first brought to the floor.

Democratic leadership, initially furious over the obstructionism, is now calling their bluff. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last night introduced a Department of Defense Authorization bill that would, among other things, include a 3.9 percent across-the-board pay raise for military personnel; major funding increases for research into traumatic brain injury treatment and troop suicide prevention efforts; $26 billion for the Defense Health Program, and $500 million for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. A vote could come as early as tonight.

I sure hope John McCain will be kicking and screaming at the Republicans to support this troop funding bill because, as you'll recall, McCain said that nothing could keep him away from supporting our troops. It looks like in the next 24 hours, we'll get our chance to find out.

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/senate-gop-set-to-block-troop-funding...

US elections 2008: US special interest groups pour funds into state court elections

Sixty-six per cent of Americans can name at least one judge on the popular TV show American Idol while only 15% can identify John Roberts as chief justice of the US supreme court.

That's according to a poll showing Americans are largely clueless when it comes to knowledge of the nation's judicial system.

Yet special interest lobbies - from business groups to labour unions and trial lawyers - know very well who is running for state supreme court seats around the nation because they are pouring unprecedented millions of dollars into these formerly obscure races, with the intent of electing justices who will advance or protect their financial interests.

The recent $6m campaign for a single seat on the Wisconsin supreme court, following a contest a year earlier in which a similar amount was spent, has added to evidence that state courts may be compromised - if not in fact, then in appearance - by campaign cash from contributors that have matters pending before these courts, legal experts warn.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/29/uselections2008.usa

Later

Here's the memo: American corporate media is an extension of the Rethug Party. Period. Which explains why McLiar will be probably win.

That may be true but I'm hearing a different story from the mainstream "people". They are telling their party and the media to get fucked. When you can't put meat 'n taters on the table, propaganda makes a mighty poor side dish.

I hearing this from the June Cleaver mothers...

___
bluerootsradio

The bad side to the 'good war'

emocratic Senator Barack Obama is making the distinction

between the "bad war" in Iraq and the "good war" in Afghanistan a centerpiece of his run for the presidency. He proposes ending the war in Iraq and redeploying US military forces "to finish the job in Afghanistan".

Virtually no one in the United States or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) calls for negotiating with the Taliban. Even the New York Times editorializes that those who want to talk "have deluded themselves".

But the Taliban government did not attack the United States. The US's old ally, Osama bin Laden, did. Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are not the same organization (if one can really call al-Qaeda an "organization"), and no-one seems to be listening to the Afghans.

What Afghans say
A recent poll of Afghan sentiment found that, while the majority dislikes the Taliban, 74% want negotiations and 54% would support a coalition government that included the Taliban.

Whither the Taliban?
In fact, the Taliban appear to be evolving from a creation of the US, Saudi Arabian and Pakistani intelligence agencies during Afghanistan's war with the Soviet Union in the 1980s, to a polyglot collection of dedicated Islamists to nationalists. Taliban leader Mullah Omar told the Agence France Presse this year, "We're fighting to free our country. We are not a threat to the world."

Those are words that should give Obama, The New York Times and NATO pause.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JH01Df02.html

Yes...I hope I can find some action to report to you here...

___

.♡. - .☮.

Huffington Post - Bill Press

Free Democracy

just wanna fuck me up if i did not mention it...((FREE FOOD, FREE FOOD---WHOLE DAY LONG HERE))

Free Democracy

Good. Are they registered? Will they actually vote? And will their vote count?

John McCain Had Attack Ad Ready in Case Barack Obama Did Visit Troops

Business Week - David Kiley

What the McCain campaign doesn’t want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was...wait for it...using wounded troops as campaign props. So, no matter which way Obama turned, McCain had an Obama bashing ad ready to launch.

Free Democracy

to tonid's comment about Andrea Mitchel
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25951733#25951733

to use the troops as props, but god forbid, we have a presidential candidate who actually cares about the troops as people and he is being smeared?

Huffington Post

On news of the massive profits reported by ExxonMobil today, ABC News crunched the numbers and has found that the combined profits of the top 5 US oil companies was $1.5 trillion last year.

The news report points out that this staggering amount of profit is more that the total GDP of Canada, at $1.43 trillion last year.

As many have rightly pointed out that while these profits margins are staggering, they are not out of line relative to other companies like Microsoft. However, where these profits do become obscene is when you consider how much US oil companies receive in taxpayer subsidies.

Here's the breakdown of how your tax dollars will be spent on subsidizing Big Oil over the next 5 years:

Tax breaks = $23.2 billion

Royalty relief = $3.8 billion

Research and development subsidies = $1.6 billion

Accounting gimmicks = $4.3 billion

Andy Borowitz

One day after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) broadcast an anti-Obama ad in which he compared the presumptive Democratic nominee to celebrities Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, the two tabloid mainstays fought back with an eviscerating anti-McCain spot of their own.

While Mses. Spears and Hilton said they had planned to remain on the sidelines during the 2008 presidential campaign, Sen. McCain's negative ad "left us no choice," the notorious party gals said today.

"We don't mind John McCain going after us if he sticks to the facts," Ms. Spears said at a New York press conference. "But we are sick of the distortions about our record."

Ms. Hilton said that the McCain ad appeared to link herself and Ms. Spears to Sen. Obama, leading the casual viewer to conclude that the three of them had "the same energy policy."

"Nothing could be further from the truth," said Ms. Spears. "Both of us strongly favor off-shore drilling to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

Ms. Hilton said she was also "offended" by the implication that she and Ms. Spears favor a tax on electricity: "We have both been very clear on that issue."

In their anti-McCain spot, the two starlets fight fire with fire, comparing Sen. McCain to the Joker from the smash-hit film "The Dark Knight."

"It's perfectly fair," Ms. Spears said of the ad. "They both have pasty white faces and totally creepy smiles."

Elsewhere, Chinese Olympic officials confiscated the poles of the pole vaulting team to prevent athletes from going over the wall.

Yes-registered, Yes-will vote, and who the fuck knows if their vote will count? This is Ohio!

___
bluerootsradio

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama seized on a record oil company profit to argue that rival John McCain offers only tax breaks for Big Oil and "short-term gimmicks" to consumers struggling with soaring gasoline prices.

The Illinois senator quickly incorporated news of Exxon Mobil's nearly $12 billion quarterly profit into his remarks at a town hall meeting here.

"No U.S. corporation ever made that much in a quarter," Obama said. "But while Big Oil is making record profits, you are paying record prices at the pump and our economy is leaving working people behind."

McCain's response, Obama said, is to propose a corporate tax plan that would give "$4 billion each year to the oil companies, including $1.2 billion for Exxon Mobil alone" and a gas tax holiday that Obama said would only "pad oil company profits and save you - at best - half a tank of gas" over an entire summer.

In recent days, Obama has complained that McCain is offering little of substance to voters and does little more than attack.

"All those negative ads he's running won't do a thing to lower your gas prices or lift up the debate in this country," Obama said.............

Free Democracy

This guy is a real ass hole. He figures if he keeps talking the people who are listening will believe him. I would like to punch him.

You invite him on MSNBC where his wife works so he can tell you how phucc it more. When we we learn. The thief that robs you, will not save you.

RACINE, WI - A young woman just asked Senator McCain if he'd gone back on his promise not to "sling mud" in this campaign with the ad his campaign released yesterday comparing Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. McCain responded that there are contrasts to be drawn and his campaign is merely drawing them based on substance, not style.

"Campaigns are tough, but I'm proud of the campaign we're running," McCain told the crowd. "We're proud of that commercial."

(MCCAIN'S RACIST BASE):

Indeed, the very next questioner from the audience was another young woman who announced to the crowd: "I'm 18 and I just have to say that Obama, like, terrifies me. And I would just like to say I think you need to call him on every shot. Don't let him get away with a single thing. We can't afford it." This, too, generated hearty applause from the crowd.

We see McCain's attacks as the pathetic trash that they are. His campaign though see these scum tactics as what is needed to fire-up the natural fascist Rethug base that has been dispirited by Bush. This has worked in the past, and could work again. Americans don't vote on issues.
http://www.time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/

I wish I had more money. I'd leave this evening.

Americans don't care too much for beauty
They'll shit in a river, dump battery acid in a stream
They'll watch dead rats wash up on the beach
and complain if they can't swim

They say things are done for the majority
Don't believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear
It's a lot like what my painter friend Donald said to me
"Stick a fork in their ass and turn them over, they're done"
Lou Reed

McKinney at Hip-Hop and Peace and Freedom

National Hip-Hop Political Convention Opens
By Jeff Chang
Posted 07/31/2008 at 10:27 AM

Today, [Thursday, July 31st] the National Hip-Hop Political Convention opens in Las Vegas.

Thousands are expected to attend the Convention, with some coming from as far as Colombia and South Korea yesterday for the opening b-boy battle, that featured a showdown between Las Vegas’s Knucklehead Zoo and the R16 champs, Gamblerz…

On Sunday Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney will give the closing address and the Convention will revise and update their hip-hop political agenda.

Read the full story, which lists issues important to this community here.

On Friday, August 1st, Cynthia McKinney will be in the Peace and Freedom Party’s Presidential Debate, with Brian Moore, Gloria La Riva and Ralph Nader.

Peace and Freedom Convention this Weekend - Four Candidates, including McKinney and Nader stand-off
from Polidoc, by way of Independent Political Report

The State Convention for Peace and Freedom Party [A feminist, socialist party] will convene on Saturday, August 2 and 3 at the Hawthorn Suites, 321 Bercut Drive, Sacramento California. At the convention Brian Moore, Gloria La Riva, Ralph Nader, and Cynthia McKinney will be seeking the Peace and Freedom Party’s presidential nomination. A debate among the four presidential candidates will be at the same location on Friday, August 1 at 7 p.m.

[Editor's Note, KW: Wow! I would really, really want to see that debate. I wonder if all four will really be there? I think that if the four of them actually converse the political, philosophical ethers might explode, or implode, or someone figures out the puzzle to the answer of world peace...]

RACINE, Wis. - Country music star John Rich wants like-minded voters to join him in "Raising McCain."

Excerpt:

"He stayed strong, stayed extra long til they let all the other boys out. Now we've got a real man with an American plan, we're going to put him in the big White House," the song says. Its refrain: "We're all just raising McCain."

---------------

Rich planned to debut "Raising McCain" on Friday at the Country First concert in Panama City, Fla., with McCain on hand.

Rich, 34, has written best-selling songs for country artists, including Gretchen Wilson's "Redneck Woman" and Faith Hill's "Mississippi Girl."

In an interview, Rich said he hadn't been involved in politics before but got excited about the Arizona senator's campaign. He finished the song about a month ago and sent it to McCain's daughter Meghan, who sent it onto campaign officials.

"I wanted to offer him something that he didn't have, a rally song, one that really captures that maverick spirit," Rich said.

Rich said McCain's Vietnam experience motivated him to compose the song, which he planned to offer on his Web site without charge.

"This guy is a hero," Rich said. "He was physically tortured for years, and yet he gets out of bed every day and serves our country for decades.

con't

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080731/ap_en_mu/mccain_song_3

Country star John Rich wants fans 'Raising McCain'

"He stayed strong, stayed extra long til they let all the other boys out. Now we've got a real man with an American plan, we're going to put him in the big White House," the song says. Its refrain: "We're all just raising McCain."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080731/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_song

When the Witch Doctor Life
throws his silent bones
some are crowned kings
while others lose their thrones

CA, a state outside the margin of election theft.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Why is MSNBC censoring Rachel Maddow?

And she just became my hero. Ow Lorrrdddyy!

Was just watching "Race to the White House". The pundits on were Rachel, Michael Smerconish, Pat and Harold Ford. They were debating Dana Milbank's article, within a broader argument of whether Obama was humble or whether Obama exhibited too much Hubris.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/30/185216/520/751/559634http://...

reminds of the mccain girls it's raining mccain, very catchy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaP9eiWuX3s

zeek?

Submitted by mire on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 4:26pm.
reminds of the McCain girls it's raining McCain, very catchy

--------

Oh but Mire, the singing is so awful.

(CNN) -- An American contractor said Thursday the U.S. mission in Iraq will be undermined if the Iraqi government succeeds in revoking blanket legal immunity for American security contractors.

Carter Andress reacted to a Wednesday government report that said the removal of legal immunity for American private security contractors could set off an "exodus" from war-ravaged Iraq and "impose significant limitations" on American reconstruction efforts.

The scenario is outlined in the quarterly report issued to Congress by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

Andress, whose firm builds bases for the Iraqi army and police and supplies those places with water, food, fuel and maintenance services, said about 40 percent of his staff is involved in security.

"We would undermine the U.S. mission here because they are so reliant on contractors," said Andress, co-founder of the American-Iraqi Solutions Group. "For better or for worse, that's reality."

Free Democracy

Wonkette

Here’s a lengthy segment from MSNBC today, where lovely anchor/reporter Andrea Mitchell talks on the telephone to McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, the adult retarded child responsible for that hilarious memo yesterday about Obama’s food choices, excercise regimen and overall popularity everywhere.

He’s a twit. He tells Andrea that the McCain campaign has always been positive and not Trivial; it is focused on Important Issues like offshore drilling. Andrea’s like, “you’re an idiot, you stupid idiot” and Rick’s like, “no Barry Obama is an idiot.” The best part is when they talk about peanut butter snacks 12 minutes in. Peanut butter snacks… [MSNBC]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 19, 2008
Media Inquiries:

Kimberly Rawlings, 301-827-6242
Consumer Inquiries:
888-INFO-FDA

FDA Requests Seizure of Animal Food Products at PETCO Distribution Center
Today, at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Marshals seized various animal food products stored under unsanitary conditions at the PETCO Animal Supplies Distribution Center located in Joliet, Ill., pursuant to a warrant issued by the United States District Court in Chicago.

U.S. Marshals seized all FDA-regulated animal food susceptible to rodent and pest contamination. The seized products violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because it was alleged in a case filed by the United States Attorney that they were being held under unsanitary conditions. (The Act uses the term 'insanitary' to describe such conditions).

During an FDA inspection of a PETCO distribution center in April, widespread and active rodent and bird infestation was found. The FDA inspected the facility again in May and found continuing and widespread infestation.

'We simply will not allow a company to store foods under filthy and unsanitary conditions that occur as a direct result of the company's failure to adequately control and prevent pests in its facility,' said Margaret O'K. Glavin, associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. 'Consumers expect that such safeguards will be in place not only for human food, but for pet food as well.'

The distribution center in Joliet, Ill., provides pet food products and supplies to PETCO retail stores in 16 states including Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

FDA has no reports of pet illness or death associated with consumption of animal food distributed by PETCO, and does not have evidence that the food is unsafe for animals. However, the seized products were in permeable packages and held under conditions that could affect the food's integrity and quality.

As a precaution, consumers who have handled products originating from the PETCO distribution center should thoroughly wash their hands with hot water and soap. Any surfaces that came in contact with the packages should be washed as well. Consumers are further advised as a precaution to thoroughly wash products sold in cans and glass containers from PETCO in the 16 affected states.

If a pet has become ill after eating these food products, pet owners should contact their veterinarian and report illnesses to FDA state consumer complaint coordinators.

stayed extra long til they let all the other boys out""

oh bullshit!

McSame got kid glove treatment after he let them know his dad was ADMIRAL McSame.

the ground level troops got a good hosing for that foopah btw.

thursdays in south africa are called "sheila's day" sheila was a maid that got paid on thursday and worked half day the other half of the day she got her arse nice and drunk
so south africans respect this day more than they do fridays...
woza sheila's (that one is dedicated to A-O)

later (maybe)

lol that's why i like it, should hear me try to sing and you'd understand

Press Release

Pat Buchanan In His Own Words

2/26/96

Here is a sampling of Buchanan's views:

On African-Americans

After Sen. Carol Moseley Braun blocked a federal patent for a Confederate flag insignia, Buchanan wrote that she was "putting on an act" by associating the Confederacy with slavery: "The War Between the States was about independence, about self-determination, about the right of a people to break free of a government to which they could no longer give allegiance," Buchanan asserted. "How long is this endless groveling before every cry of 'racism' going to continue before the whole country collectively throws up?" (syndicated column, 7/28/93)

On race relations in the late 1940s and early 1950s: "There were no politics to polarize us then, to magnify every slight. The 'negroes' of Washington had their public schools, restaurants, bars, movie houses, playgrounds and churches; and we had ours." (Right from the Beginning, Buchanan's 1988 autobiography, p. 131)

Buchanan, who opposed virtually every civil rights law and court decision of the last 30 years, published FBI smears of Martin Luther King Jr. as his own editorials in the St. Louis Globe Democrat in the mid-1960s. "We were among Hoover's conduits to the American people," he boasted (Right from the Beginning, p. 283).

White House advisor Buchanan urged President Nixon in an April 1969 memo not to visit "the Widow King" on the first anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination, warning that a visit would "outrage many, many people who believe Dr. King was a fraud and a demagogue and perhaps worse.... Others consider him the Devil incarnate. Dr. King is one of the most divisive men in contemporary history." (New York Daily News, 10/1/90)

In a memo to President Nixon, Buchanan suggested that "integration of blacks and whites -- but even more so, poor and well-to-do -- is less likely to result in accommodation than it is in perpetual friction, as the incapable are placed consciously by government side by side with the capable." (Washington Post, 1/5/92)

In another memo from Buchanan to Nixon: "There is a legitimate grievance in my view of white working-class people that every time, on every issue, that the black militants loud-mouth it, we come up with more money.... If we can give 50 Phantoms [jet fighters] to the Jews, and a multi-billion dollar welfare program for the blacks...why not help the Catholics save their collapsing school system." (Boston Globe, 1/4/92)

Buchanan has repeatedly insisted that President Reagan did so much for African-Americans that civil rights groups have no reason to exist: "George Bush should have told the [NAACP convention] that black America has grown up; that the NAACP should close up shop, that its members should go home and reflect on JFK's admonition: 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather ask what you can do for your country.'" (syndicated column, 7/26/88) <