Watchdog back soon

its been a few years since i was there, but there's a great mexican restaurant down on the south side of denver:

Blue Bonnet Mexican Cafe & Lounge‎

...kind of a contradiction.

Snoozing Watchdog/Couching Tiger...my favorite form of martial arts

Thanks for the comments on the 2nd to the last thread!

"eyeroll"

Don't know why but that really pissed me off this AM.

>>Don't know why but that really pissed me off this AM.

I know what you mean, I think its the `know-it-all' aspect of eye-rolling?

The Animal Rescue Site!

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3

Your clicks count! Since The Animal Rescue Site began in 2002, together we have funded more than 126,000,000 bowls of food for rescued animals in shelters and sanctuaries

Biden: Obama Acts Like a President, Chooses a President (Brent Budowsky)
@ 8:50 am
In his first truly presidential decision, Barack Obama acted like a president and chose a presidential-caliber candidate for vice president. I recently wrote that this choice would speak volumes about the kind of president he would be, that if he choose one of the heavyweight contenders, such as Sam Nunn or Joe Biden, over the less-qualified candidates it would be an enormously positive sign. Obama came through, big time. Joe Biden's arc began when his first wife and one of his children were sadly killed in a tragic auto accident before he was sworn into the Senate; today his son is headed to Iraq in uniform: Biden is a military dad. > Read More

http://pundits.thehill.com/2008/08/23/biden-obama-acts-like-a-president-...

Democrats Should Remove Joe Lieberman as Committee Chairman (Brent Budowsky)
@ 9:17 am
Joe Lieberman has questioned Barack Obama's patriotism, and for that he should be removed as chairman of any congressional committee or subcommittee by Democratic leaders. The minute Lieberman said that Barack Obama does not put our country first is the minute that he disqualified himself from being chairman of any committee in a Democratic Congress.

This is an extraordinary step that I do not propose lightly. It is bad enough for Sen. Lieberman (I-Conn.) to be campaigner in chief for McCain and bad enough for him to speak at the Republican convention. When Lieberman goes the next step and questions Barack's patriotism, that is the limit; that is the end; that should lead every Democrat to support stripping Joe Lieberman of any committee chairmanship. > Read More

http://pundits.thehill.com/2008/08/21/democrats-should-remove-joe-lieber...

I really wonder why such a large percentage Hillary supporters didn't contribute to her campaign.

Did these supporters expect their dates to pick up the tab?

maybe they weren't voting for Hillary as much as voting against the other candidates.

when a hack like this writes you just have to ignore it. the basic message is that no matter what course obama chose he would have found something wrong with it.

>>Democrats Should Remove Joe Lieberman as Committee Chairman

yes. Do it BEFORE McCain picks him as VP.

its a delicate issue which is really a stalemate because taking decisive action against this scum will force him to declare himself a republican and then the dems lose control of the senate.

on the other hand we've seen the senate gridlocked because of this 60 vote nonsense, so maybe losing control is irrelevant, especially if liebermann is eviscerated in the process.

probably a lot of truth in that. the crossover vote was the only reason hillary won ohio.

>>maybe they weren't voting for Hillary as much as voting against the other candidates.

I'm sure some did...but the extremely vocal `Hillary or else' crowd?

A developer, his deals and his McCain ties
By David D. Kirkpatrick and Jim Rutenberg

Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Donald Diamond, a wealthy Arizona real estate developer, was racing to snap up a stretch of virgin California coast freed by the closing of an army base a decade ago when he turned to an old friend, Senator John McCain.

When Diamond wanted to buy land at the base, Fort Ord, McCain assigned an aide who set up a meeting at the Pentagon and later stepped in again to help speed up the sale, according to people involved and a deposition Diamond gave for a related lawsuit. When he appealed to a nearby city for the right to develop other property at the former base, Diamond submitted McCain's endorsement as "a close personal friend."

Writing to officials in the city, Seaside, California, the senator said, "You will find him as honorable and committed as I have."

Courting local officials and potential partners, Diamond's team promised that he could "help get through some of the red tape in dealing with the Department of the Army" because Diamond "has been very active with Senator McCain," a partner said in a deposition.

For McCain, the Arizona Republican who has staked two presidential campaigns on pledges to avoid even the appearance of dispensing an official favor for a donor, Diamond is the kind of friend who can pose a test.

A longtime political patron, Diamond is one of the elite fund-raisers McCain's current presidential campaign calls Innovators, having raised more than $250,000 so far. At home, Diamond is sometimes referred to as "The Donald," Arizona's answer to Donald Trump — an outsized personality who invites public officials aboard his flotilla of yachts (the Ace, King, Jack and Queen of Diamonds), specializes in deals with the government, and unabashedly solicits support for his business interests from the recipients of his campaign contributions.

McCain has occasionally rebuffed Diamond's entreaties as inappropriate, but he has also taken steps that benefited his friend's real estate empire. Their 26-year relationship illuminates how McCain weighs requests from a benefactor against his vows, adopted after a brush with scandal two decades ago, not to intercede with government authorities on behalf of a donor or take other official action that serves no clear public interest.

In California, the McCain aide's assistance with the army helped Diamond complete a purchase in 1999 that he soon turned over for a $20 million profit. And McCain's letter of recommendation reinforced Diamond's selling point about his McCain connections as he pursued — and won in 2005 — a potentially much more lucrative deal to develop a resort hotel and luxury housing.

In Arizona, McCain has helped Diamond with matters as small as forwarding a complaint in a regulatory skirmish over the endangered pygmy owl, and as large as introducing legislation remapping public lands. In 1991 and 1994, McCain sponsored two laws sought by Diamond that resulted in providing him millions of dollars and thousands of acres in exchange for adding some of his properties to national parks. The Arizona senator co-sponsored a third similar bill now before the Senate.

http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12214277

GOP rolls out hefty list of Denver party ‘crashers’
By Jared Allen
Posted: 08/21/08 02:14 PM [ET]
Republicans are planning quite the party crash at next week’s Democratic convention in Denver.

Traditionally a time for one party to own the spotlight and the opposition to linger in the shadows, Republicans are determined to steal as much thunder as possible from the Democrats during their week-long coronation of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the party’s likely presidential nominee.

To accomplish this, Republicans — in coordination with the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) — are set to bring to Denver a list of heavy-hitting surrogates, including two of McCain’s former presidential rivals and multiple members of Congress, who will do on-site media interviews all week long.

Leading the list of Republicans heading to Denver are former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Romney will anchor the GOP’s Tuesday press availability — the same day Obama’s former presidential rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), is scheduled to speak to the Democrats.

The heavy GOP presence at the Democratic convention is a sharp change from four years ago, when there was not much of a response team on the ground in Boston.

Romney, along with Republican Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (Fla.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), will be camped out in the Republican war room, which houses its own television studio and is within “walking distance” of the Democratic convention floor, GOP officials said.

Republicans will also be working to book Romney and the members of Congress on the morning shows of the local network affiliates and local radio stations throughout the week, all in an attempt to divert as much news coverage as possible from the Democrats' show. Colorado is seen as a key state that will be fiercely contested in the general election.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gop-rolls-out-hefty-list-of-denver-p...

does one hyperventilate while under water? This synchronized swimming sport is still a huge mystery to me. How do they do that stuff?

>>does one hyperventilate while under water?

If there was ever a question for the `Hyperventilating Bed-wetter', this is it.

I figger they start off by imagining Obama getting elected and surrendering to bin Laden?

200,000 Homeless veterans vs John "10 House" McCain
by Hesiod
Fri Aug 22, 2008 at 06:12:57 AM PDT
In order to keep this whole house flap alive, you have to constantly come up with new angles to push. One obvious one is that, according to the Veterans Administration, "nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. And nearly 400,000 experience homelessness over the course of a year."

The contrast with John McCain -- and his multiple million dollar homes, is about as stark as it gets.

Not only that, it allows the Obama campaign to hit McCain on his lackluster support for veterans programs, such as his initial opposition to Jim Webb's GI Bill.

Last year, Barack Obama introduced a major homeless veterans bill. In July of this year the House version was passed overwhelmingly, but President Bush threatened to veto the bill.

The senate bill is here.

Will John McCain support the bill, or will he support President Bush's veto threat?

Support the Homes for Heroes Act.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: For ways you can get involved and help homeless veterans visit the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans website. This isn't some political tactic. It really should be something we work hard to deal with regardless of the election.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/22/8506/94630/59/572522

>>200,000 Homeless veterans vs John "10 House" McCain

so...if we can find 2000 more McCain-type veterans (ones w/ a 10:1 house to veteran ratio) the issue will average itself out, there'll be (an average of) one home per veteran.

The problem of homeless veterans will be solved!

is a good interview with Biden. Right now he's talking about the tragedy he went through with his family.
3pm a live show of him and Obama

Sychronized Swimming on NOW!
Submitted by Fernando on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 1:26pm.
-----------
Fernando,

The following Men's Synchronized Swimming video is presented for your comedy pleasure.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4122944961711350389

that's what i'll be praying (forget the rain) i'll be praying that they end up in those metal cages

Submitted by Chubby Bubba on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 1:10pm.
...I think its the `know-it-all' aspect of eye-rolling?
--------
Well, DUH!

Chuck Hagel: "An Obama-Biden Ticket Is A Very Impressive And Strong Team"

Talkin Points Memo

This statement on Biden, just out from GOP Senator Chuck Hagel, won't make him any more friends on the right:

"Joe Biden is the right partner for Barack Obama. His many years of distinguished service to America, his seasoned judgment and his vast experience in foreign policy and national security will match up well with the unique challenges of the 21st Century.

An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team. Biden's selection is good news for Obama and America."

The whole thing edges awfully close to an endorsement, and the claim that Biden's national security experience "will" match the 21st Century's challenges sounds a lot like an outright prediction of victory.

Free Democracy

>>Well, DUH!

I know you are, but what am I?

DENVER, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement on the selection of Senator Joe Biden as Barack Obama's running mate:

"Senator Obama has made an outstanding selection in Joe Biden. Joe Biden is a strong leader, fierce advocate, and devoted family man with values rooted in the best of what America stands for. He will be a strong partner with Barack Obama in bringing the change America wants and needs.

"Delegates here in Denver are already buzzing with strong enthusiasm for the Obama-Biden ticket.

"Senator Obama's selection shows that unlike the Bush-McCain way of doing politics, Obama is not afraid to have strong people around him helping to lead our great country.

"Together they will serve America well over the next eight years, and our Party is ready to rally behind them and put them on the path to the White House starting right here in Denver."

NEW ORLEANS - Signs are emerging that history is repeating itself in the Big Easy, still healing from Katrina: People have forgotten a lesson from four decades ago and believe once again that the federal government is constructing a levee system they can prosper behind.

In a yearlong review of levee work here, The Associated Press has tracked a pattern of public misperception, political jockeying and legal fighting, along with economic and engineering miscalculations since Katrina, that threaten to make New Orleans the scene of another devastating flood.

Dozens of interviews with engineers, historians, policymakers and flood zone residents confirmed many have not learned from public policy mistakes made after Hurricane Betsy in 1965, which set the stage for Katrina; many mistakes are being repeated.

"People forget, but they cannot afford to forget," said Windell Curole, a Louisiana hurricane and levee expert. "If you believe you can't flood, that's when you increase the risk of flooding. In New Orleans, I don't think they talk about the risk."

Tyrone Marshall, a 48-year-old bread vendor, is one person who doesn't believe he's going to flood again.

"They've heightened the levees. They're raised up. It makes me feel safe," he said as he toiled outside his home in hard-hit Gentilly, a formerly flooded property refashioned into a California-style bungalow.

Geneva Stanford, a 76-year-old health care worker, is a believer, too. She lives in a trim and tidy prefabricated house in the Lower 9th Ward, 200 feet from a rebuilt floodwall that Katrina broke.

"This wall here wasn't there when we had the flood," Stanford said, radiant in a bright kanga-style dress. "When I look at it now, I say maybe if we had had it up it there then, maybe we wouldn't have flooded."

They're not alone. A recent University of New Orleans survey of residents found concern about levee safety was dropping off the list of top worries, replaced by crime, incompetent leadership and corruption...........

>>"Welcome to Wal-Mart"

I bet the combined square footage of his many homes would be larger than most Wal-Marts...

The Biden pick caused me to wonder a lot of stuff about Delaware.

For instance:

Is Delaware the least visited state in the nation?

Does anyone know anyone who vacationed in Delaware?

Does anyone live in Delaware whose last name is not Inc?

Are there any white cliffs in Dover?

Does a Fire Marshal restrict the maximum occupancy of Delaware?

>>The State No One Has Seen

are you trying to raise our `Del-awareness'?

Hey Chubby and Fernando,

Did you see the Olympic boxer from Bahrain?

When the cornerman removed his hooded robe, he was wearing a keffiyeh and aba underneath.

[rim shot]

Do you get that at Chinese or Japanese restaurants or just French?

>>and aba underneath.

was the Aba playing `Dancing Queen' (McCain's favorite song)?

Back in the 90s anyhow it used to be a pretty big queer (ok, mostly gay) vacation spot (not like Ptown but you know) and generally a pretty nice beach.

Don't hear much about it these days, but I assume it's still there.

And when I went there, there were no income taxes, so the cops supposedly gave lots of tickets.

That's all I know. Happy to help.

Or maybe it was no sales tax. Not sure.

Submitted by gloryoski on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 3:22pm.
...when I went there, there were no income taxes,
----
Submitted by gloryoski on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 3:23pm.
Or maybe it was no sales tax. Not sure.
------------------------
Or maybe it was no corporate tax. One of the three.

Two erudite and articulate speakers in the White House?

Be still, my beating heart.

I guess there's one good thing about voting for a 3rd party for president: There's no risk they'll be in any position to break their campaign promises...

Video: Bush says gas prices are Dem's fault
Renewed call for offshore drilling, tax cuts for energy companies.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bush_blames_Democrats_for_high_gas_0823.ht...

PUMA declares: “We will overthrow Biden and install Hillary. Just watch us!”

Court rules jail strip-searches were illegal
US 9th Circuit Court rules San Francisco violated rights of thousands.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/23/BAQP12H067.D...

Submitted by Kevin © on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 4:04pm.

--------

June 29, 2008

The very backbone of PUMA is supposedly the idea that they will fight for Hillary to become the Democratic nominee, YET, this PAC form was filled out 4 days before Hillary “suspended” as in, conceded, her campaign. That doesn’t sound like someone who REALLY cares about Hillary Clinton’s campaign much. For months Hillary had been taking the heat from the sexist media. Why wasn’t PUMA- the angry feminist “movement”- created sooner if they were founded on some principle to help Hillary?

Also, the founder Darragh C. Murphy, an outspoken Clinton supporter on FOX news, doesn’t seem to think that it is too important to tell her followers that she felt sooo compelled to help John McCain in 2000 that she donated $500 to his campaign, only that she NOW supports John McCain because of Hillary’s loss. $500 from a “Homemaker” is pretty hefty dinero, don’t you think?

http://yestodemocracy.org/2008/06/29/puma-founded-by-republicans/

Obama went out of his way to insult Hillary by sending the text message [of selecting Biden] at 3 am…..

El oh el

* PUMA meaning "party unity my ass". Basically, people who threaten to vote for McCain because Hillary didn't get the nomination.

Hagel Weighs In
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) issued the following statement on the Biden selection:

"Joe Biden is the right partner for Barack Obama. His many years of distinguished service to America, his seasoned judgment and his vast experience in foreign policy and national security will match up well with the unique challenges of the 21st Century. An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team. Biden's selection is good news for Obama and America."
--David Kurtz

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/08/chuck_hagel_an_o...

Just stopped by for a sec on the way to somewhere else.

Now Kevin's got me laughing so hard I'm gasping for breath.

LSHIGFB

Bush's Bureaucratic Dark Arts: Why the Federal Register Is the Most Important Publication in America Right Now

By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive.

Bush has vowed to sprint through the final five months of his Administration, and you better believe him.

Because he is pulling all the bureaucratic levers in the Executive Branch to advance his right-wing agenda.

Unable to accomplish his goals legislatively, Bush is trying to get them done by fiat.

If you look at proposed regulatory changes at the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior, and the Justice Department you get a sense of how vast this hustle is.

"Political appointees at the Department of Labor are moving with unusual speed to push through in the final months of the Bush Administration a rule making it tougher to regulate workers' on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins," The Washington Post reported last month.

The Department of Labor is not exactly making the safety of workers a priority. As the Post reported, this change "would address longstanding complaints from business."

The Bush Administration was trying to sneak this one through. "The agency did not disclose the proposal, as required, in public notices," the Post reported.

The proposed change at the Department of Health would redefine some kinds of contraception as abortion, even contraception before implantation. Hospitals that offered such contraception would forfeit federal aid. They would also forfeit the aid if they refused to hire health professionals who opposed abortion or birth control. This regulatory change "could also undermine state laws that require hospitals to prove emergency contraception to rape victims," according to womensenews.

At the Department of the Interior, the Bush Administration is going after the Endangered Species Act. It has published a proposed regulatory change in the Federal Register that would, as the New York Times noted, "eliminate the requirement for independent scientific reviews of any project that could harm an endangered species living on federal land."

http://www.alternet.org/story/95975/

ROFLASTC*
Thanks, Kevin ©!
_______________________

They are tricky but I am not so easily fooled.

*Rolling on floor laughing and scaring the cats.

gosh

I have heard the right wing attach machine complain about biden's "verbal gaffes"

these from the people that gave you george bush and now want mcain

There's never any corporate tax anywhere. Duh! So eye roll right back atcha.

For McCains, a Public Path but Private Wealth

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
PHOENIX — When Senator John McCain is in Washington, he lives in a luxury high-rise condominium in Arlington, Va., owned by his wife, Cindy Hensley McCain. Mrs. McCain also owns their condos in Phoenix, San Diego and Coronado, Calif., and their vacation compound near Sedona, Ariz. And it is the beer business, Hensley & Company, she inherited from her father that is the source of the McCain family fortune.

That fortune makes Mr. McCain one of the richest members of the Senate. Yet barely a sliver of it is in his name.

Democrats have increasingly highlighted Mr. McCain’s wealth. Senator Barack Obama ridiculed him on Thursday for being unable to say how many homes he owned, saying it showed that Mr. McCain was out of touch with ordinary Americans. But with the McCains’ money in Cindy McCain’s name, as dictated by a prenuptial agreement, the senator’s finances are more difficult to assess and scrutinize than those of many other political candidates.

The husbands and wives of senators are subject to fewer disclosure requirements than their office-holding spouses. In addition, Mrs. McCain, who files separate tax returns from her husband, controls a privately held company and invests mainly through a web of limited-liability corporations and trusts that have few disclosure requirements. She declined to be interviewed.

“Cindy is a private person, and I think in many ways that defines her,” said Robert Delgado, her father’s successor as chief executive of Hensley & Company, who spoke at the McCain campaign’s behest.

But the Hensley family wealth, from its rough-and-tumble origins to prominence in Arizona’s corporate world, is also the fortune that propelled John McCain into national politics. A clearer picture of that fortune emerges from a review of public records and interviews with employees, business associates, friends and relatives.

Hensley & Company has grown from a tiny operation in the 1950s to the dominant beer wholesaler in Arizona and the third-largest Budweiser distributor in the country, with more than $300 million in annual sales. It plays a leading role in corporate Phoenix — Andy McCain, the senator’s stepson from his first marriage and a top executive of the beer company, is now president of the city’s Chamber of Commerce — and is a forceful presence in state politics on the issues that matter to it. (I'm wondering if they meant son from hi first marriage)

Much more here and interesting

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/us/politics/23mccain.html?_r=1&th=&emc...

Terence McKenna on 'culture':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOy3H4yyocQ&NR=1

WASHINGTON – John McCain broadcasts his affection for Theodore Roosevelt, but his opposition to regulating the local telephone industry suggests that he may not share the former president's passion for busting huge corporate trusts.

Unlike Roosevelt, who railed against "malefactors of great wealth," McCain's positions frequently have echoed those of the giant regional Bell phone companies, now consolidated as AT&T, Verizon and Quest, the big survivors of the telecommunications wars of the last quarter-century.

McCain's opposition to the 1996 Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act, intended to spur competition by pressuring the Bells to lease their lines and switches to competitors cheaply, offers a window into how he might view regulation of other markets as president.

The Arizona senator characterizes his unsuccessful stand against the measure, and his later attempts to thwart its implementation, as in keeping with his commitment to free markets and his maverick positions on behalf of American consumers. He was the only Republican senator to vote against the legislation.

Critics charge, however, that McCain backed an approach to telecommunications that has limited competition and kept prices high. They note that executives of the big three telecom giants and their lobbyists have raised and donated millions of dollars for his political committees.

With McCain on their side, the Bells wound up escaping the stringent sanctions of a 1982 federal court antitrust case that broke up AT&T and the curbs of the 1996 law. They now dominate local and long-distance phone markets.

In two stints as the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee from 1997 to 2004, McCain proposed legislation and sent tough letters aimed at hindering the Federal Communications Commission from implementing the 1996 law. He even tried to persuade a nominee for FCC chairman not to appeal a court ruling that would have neutered the law. McCain's legislation stalled, and the Clinton-era FCC stood its ground in court.........

Red State Update offers to moderate a debate forum for all non-corporate candidates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EtsOGe1Rxo&NR=1

This is in reference to the BANKRUPTCY BILL.

There are rewards for serving Mammon instead of serving humankind.

And I very much liked Biden. He was so good at sharp questions and the 'flare of righteousness', I called it, during the Iran Contra hearings was it? and I had great hopes for him. But somehow his moments of brilliance never went further than that. He never seemed willing to lose it all for the principle of the thing. He became more of a bureaucrat, and then a servant to the corporations. Despite this VP thang, such potential unrealized imo.

is it smart to put two Irish old men on one ticket? Isn't that a bit too Irish?

O'bama/Biden

Way too Irish, and that is coming from a person who loves the Irish...

An overwhelming number of the Democratic senators who voted to authorize use of force indicated they would vote differently today, including former and current Democratic Senators Joe Biden of Delaware, Chris Dodd of Connecticut, John Breaux of Louisiana, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. - ABC Jan 2007

Any more questions? The Bankruptcy Bill? That was pandering for the #1 employer in his state :( He needs to talk about that vote because it represents a complete failure of progressive values. Not that Obama has much support left from true progressives...

"It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting". : Alfred Emanuel Smith - Source: in a speech in Albany

Crunch Time

By Mike Whitney

The impending global recession has nothing to do with crafty mortgage lenders, opportunistic loan applicants, dodgy rating agencies, or crooked home appraisers. That's like blaming Lindy England for Abu Ghraib. The source of the troubles is the Federal Reserve and monetary policies that are designed to rob people of their life savings.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20595.htm

"Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. . . . " Frederick Douglass - July 4, 1852

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c8an2XZ3MU&NR=1

Terence McKenna on rewriting the culture program

Patraeus as VP

only if he gets to keep the uniform...

;)
==

at bestbuy using a mac. keys are a little different

what was the big Sammy news? missed it.

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

Although I can't agree about the anarchistic utopia of libertarianism being the solution, the Libertarians have my utmost respect for zeroing in on the festering problems in the system and pursuing them doggedly for decades, and those problems include: the Federal Reserve, IRS tactics, the below the radar structures of our powerful instittutions.

got to sign off....

Rythumic(sp) gymanstics(sp) was on ....

[how to get the spell checker to work on a mac?????

by. ttl.

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

Social Security recipients are getting "shortchanged" due to government manipulation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), say two economic experts. Kevin Phillips, the author of 13 books on the economy and politics, says government distortions of the CPI are "shortchanging Social Security Cost-Of-Living Adjustments (COLAs)." California economist John Williams contends that flawed methodologies are used in calculating the CPI allows politicians, who are intent on "stealing income from Social Security recipients." Read more

http://www.seniorsleague.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2...

>>what was the big Sammy news? missed it.

it certainly did not live up to the hype.

I think he's an hour long, internet only, show for the next couple weeks.

better than nothing, but...

To our third party fanciers....
Submitted by toniD on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 5:39pm.

"It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting". : Alfred Emanuel Smith - Source: in a speech in Albany

___________________

Who counts the votes?

FIRST --- I HAVE BEEN SIGNED.... EEK
...guess now I should stay on until L.o.t.R. this eve ... but i also want to talk some politics with RAD Greens ...
...now my computer is sooooooooo sloooooooooowwwww ..

But now to talk of what I can't stand.....

It is SELFISH EGO-FILLED Cowardly NUKE/COAL Puppet, LION (and i like most lions, like Bill) OBAMA which has destroyed my PARTY so much so for the FIRST time EVER I contemplated to start a very RADICAL/ECO PARTY (I found out the info) OR BETTER YET -- JOIN THE GREENS, as they have been "courting" me, especially since I believed in the two parties, but have been ALWAYS since a teen, been A DEM -- mostly for strategy!

It Was ALWAYS JUST ABOUT HIM, Obama -- instead of WE ALL OF THE BLOODY PARTY!

HE CHOSE TO TEAR THIS PARTY TO PIECES!

Rights Group Suing AT&T for Spying Will Sue Government Too

A civil liberties group suing AT&T for helping the government warrantlessly spy on Americans isn't abandoning its lawsuit after Congress voted to give retroactive immunity to the nation's telcoms.

Instead, the scrappy San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation now says that it will expand its efforts and sue the government over the spy program that operated outside of the court system for more than six years.

"If Congress wants to shut down one avenue, we will go down another," EFF legal director Cindy Cohn said, noting that the amnesty provisions in the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 do not apply the government itself as the Administration had first wanted.

The full extent of the government's warrantless spying has yet to be revealed, but it is reported to involve massive data-mining of Americans' phone records, and broad wiretapping of communicationst that enter or leave the U.S. border .

After the portion that targeted Americans' international communications was submitted to the nation's acquiesent secret spying court for blanket approval in January 2007, the program was quickly found to be illegal.

That prompted the Bush Administration to scare Congress into giving it wide, but temporary powers to turn American internet and phone companies into de facto extensions of the nation's spooks.

After a few months of standing up to the Administration's typical terrorism rhetoric, a Democratic-controlled Congress caved to political pressure in July and handed a significant victory to President Bush by approving retroactive amnesty to telecoms that spied on Americans without following the st helping the government warrantlessly and secretly spy on Americans.

Other groups have attempted to sue the government over the warrantless spying, but even the most successful of them have eventually failed since the plaintiffs can't convince a court that they were spied on.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/08/rights-group-su.html

Sorry, I missed Seder's big announcement too,
and I listened to it twice!

Apparently this series of words had a hypnotic effect on me:

Seder: but, uh, here's the announcement, that, uh, well, I should, lemme preface it, by, uh...

>>FIRST --- I HAVE BEEN SIGNED.... EEK

you are giving new meaning to the phrase `hysterical woman'.

Submitted by toniD on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 4:51pm.
“Cindy is a private person, and I think in many ways that defines her,” said Robert Delgado, her father’s successor as chief executive of Hensley & Company, who spoke at the McCain campaign’s behest.

--------

Too bad that didn't apply to Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Might be misinterpreting the quote, but I think that's the hidden meaning. "Who counts the votes?" There should be representatives of all parties ovverseeing the vote count.

WD-- just how much did you contribute to Hillary?

If she was honestly a viable candidate her campaign would not be over 20 million in debt.

You lost, get over it.

If it wasn't for the support from Limbaugh's `Operation Chaos', it would have been over months earlier.

Submitted by WiccanDruid on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 6:31pm.
-----

Go tell the wiccan to smack the druid, then, shut the hell up.

The strangest thing about people like Nobody's orWiccan Druid's rabid support of Hillary -- These are individuals who are normally very leftist, but somehow they overlook Hillary's right/middle corporatist tilt.

McCain's AP Surrogate Strikes Again

Ron Fournier, the Washington chief for the AP has published an "analysis" of Obama picking Biden. The headline alone tells it all:

Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence

This is the kind of garbage the AP puts out, and also the kind Yahoo is keeping on top of their news page right now. It's amazing that people would consider this as some unbiased view given the history of Ron Fournier.

So does Fournier's article have any merit? Well to answer that we must be able to look into the future. Rumors have been out of McCain picking David Petraues as his running mate. Speaking in hyperbole, if McCain did that would that indicate the military is McCain's weakness? I doubt it, and you can be the right would be up in arms to even suggest it.

If Romney is picked, does that indicate McCain's weakness on economic issues? Again - no.

Let's also look at some of Fournier's past charms. Like when he wrote that Karl Rove needs to "keep up the fight", or how about when he was considered for a spot on team McCain?

This guy has proven a definite bias in the past towards the GOP and John McCain. How in the world can the AP publish an article by him as some unbiased view? Anything Fournier writes should conclude with "I'm John McCain and I approve this message".

http://intoxination.net/jamie/mccains-ap-surrogate-strikes-again

RANDOM BIDEN-RELATED OBSERVATIONS.... While the political world digests the big announcement about Joe Biden joining Barack Obama on the Democratic ticket, I thought I'd pass along a few random observations.

First, Obama/Biden is only the second Democratic ticket in the last 35 years not to have at least one candidate from the South.

Second, if Obama/Biden wins in November, Biden will be the first Roman Catholic vice president in American history.

And third, Biden happens to be up for re-election in Delaware this year. As I understand it, he will, like Joe Lieberman in 2000, run simultaneously for both seats.

Just thought I'd pass these along.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_08/014383.php

Submitted by Chubby Bubba on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 6:56pm.
-----

Their white slip is showing Bubba.

WiccanDruid,

Are you working on any progressive campaigns at the state and/or local levels?

Are you working with any independent groups (rather than political parties)?

Is Fournier Moonlighting for McCain?
by Jonathan Singer, Sat Aug 23, 2008 at 11:02:17 AM EST

Contact the Associated Press (updated)... Kathleen Carroll (Fournier's boss) at kcarroll@ap.org or (212) 621-1500. Be POLITE, but be FIRM. Let them know that you don't want to see them serve as stenographers and amplifiers for pure spin by the McCain campaign.

I wrote earlier that the Associated Press' new Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier was sounding an awful lot like a surrogate for John McCain in his "analysis" piece on the Biden pick that ran across the wires overnight. What I didn't remember at the time was that it wasn't a long time ago that the McCain campaign was actually trying to hire Fournier.

Before Ron Fournier returned to The Associated Press in March 2007, the veteran political reporter had another professional suitor: John McCain's presidential campaign.

In October 2006, the McCain team approached Fournier about joining the fledgling operation, according to a source with knowledge of the talks. In the months that followed, said a source, Fournier spoke about the job possibility with members of McCain's inner circle, including political aides Mark Salter, John Weaver and Rick Davis.

Maybe it shouldn't be surprising that it sounds like Fournier is working hard to carry water for John McCain, or that he engaged in months of conversations at the highest levels of the McCain campaign about taking a senior level position with the outfit. This is, after all, the guy who told Karl Rove to "keep up the fight" during the investigation into the death of Pat Tilman, who editorialized about Howard Dean in what was supposed to have been a straight ahead news piece ("his lack of foreign policy experience, testy temperament, policy flip-flops, campaign miscues and edgy anti-war, antiestablishment message"), who was one of the worst disseminators of entirely false and scurrilous GOP attacks on Al Gore in 1999 and 2000 ("He [Gore] claimed credit for inventing the Internet" and "Gore, who once claimed to have invented the Internet", to take two examples).

If pure Republican spin and McCain talking points are what we are to expect out of the AP under Fournier, it's going to be a long hard slog full of truth squading between now and election day.

Update [2008-8-23 11:6:1 by Jonathan Singer]: Much more on the specifics of the problems with the Fournier piece from the inimitable Steve Benen, who has moved from his Carpetbagger Report over to The Political Animal over at The Washington Monthly.

Update [2008-8-23 11:49:45 by Jonathan Singer]: "McCain camp delights in Fournier piece", writes Jonathan Martin. No doubt they should delight -- they appear to have the AP's Washington bureau chief, who they almost hired, in their back pocket.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/8/23/11217/1320

>>last 35 years not to have at least one candidate from the South.

Delaware is pretty close to a southern state...They were one of the slave states that were on the union side during the civil war.

This is why I can't trust Biden...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlintz/26624298/

As I posted the other day, when I saw Phelps chin, I thought steroids. Apparently, the above is photo of him posted 37 months ago on Flicr. Sorry, I still haven't figured the photo post thingy.

ToniD, would you do the honors, please?

Anybody?

"Change," "Hope" ... Why They Must be Talking About Joe Biden!

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

"Change” and “hope” are not words one associates with Senator Joe Biden, a man so ripely symbolic of everything that is unchanging and hopeless about our political system that a computer simulation of the corporate-political paradigm senator in Congress would turn out “Biden” in a nano-second.

The first duty of any senator from Delaware is to do the bidding of the banks and large corporations which use the tiny state as a drop box and legal sanctuary. Biden has never failed his masters in this primary task. Find any bill that sticks it to the ordinary folk on behalf of the Money Power and you’ll likely detect Biden’s hand at work. The bankruptcy act of 2005 was just one sample. In concert with his fellow corporate serf, Senator Tom Carper, Biden blocked all efforts to hinder bankrupt corporations from fleeing from their real locations to the legal sanctuary of Delaware. Since Obama is himself a corporate serf and from day one in the US senate has been attentive to the same masters that employ Biden, the ticket is well balanced, the seesaw with Obama at one end and Biden at the other dead-level on the fulcrum of corporate capital.

Another shining moment in Biden’s progress in the current presidential term was his conduct in the hearings on Judge Alito’s nomination to the US Supreme Court. From the opening moments of the Judiciary Committee's sessions in January, 2006, it became clear that Alito faced no serious opposition. On that first ludicrous morning Senator Pat Leahy sank his head into his hands, shaking it in unbelieving despair as Biden blathered out a self-serving and inane monologue lasting a full twenty minutes before he even asked Alito one question. In his allotted half hour Biden managed to pose only five questions, all of them ineptly phrased. He did pose two questions about Alito’s membership of a racist society at Princeton, but had already undercut them in his monologue by calling Alito "a man of integrity", not once but twice, and further trivialized the interrogation by reaching under the dais to pull out a Princeton cap and put it on...
www.counterpunch.org

I think the link is good for that photo. Take a look at the whole photo and you will see what I mean.

the most liberal label
Submitted by mire on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 2:00pm.
most likely will be helpful to these candidates and allay some of the base fear that these are corporatists

=================================================
Biden's shepherding of the bankruptcy reform bill, and his acts to ensure that Delaware remain a friendly environment for the credit industry is glaring proof that Obama/Biden will not shake the corporatist tag.
*TLL*

McCain misfires as he attacks Obama's home purchase.

Summary
On the defensive over the extent of multiple McCain homes, the GOP candidate strikes back. But his TV spot gives an oversimplified and misleading account of how Obama bought his own $1.6 million house in Chicago.

The ad says Chicago power broker Tony Rezko got "political favors" including "$14 million from taxpayers."

But there's no evidence of any connection to the Obama home purchase. The $14 million was to build apartments for low-income seniors. Obama wrote a letter supporting the "worthy" project, but both men say Rezko didn't ask for the letter.

It says Rezko "purchased part of the property [Obama] couldn't afford." Rezko's wife did buy an adjoining tract but later sold the land at a profit. Obama paid market price for his home.

McCain launched the attack after Obama ran one capitalizing on McCain's inability to recall for an interviewer how many homes the McCains own. Obama's ad says it's seven.

The best tally we've seen puts the figure at eight, counting all the apartments and homes owned by McCain's wife, Cindy, and various family trusts, for themselves and their children............

>>Obama/Biden will not shake the corporatist tag.

oh, yeah...and that Hillary, man, is she ever tough on the corporations. Like the "experience" she would have brought to the White House...experience giving blow-jobs to the insurance lobbies.

Run time: 00:38

"Ladies and gentlemen, your kitchen table is like mine. You sit there at night before you put the kids -- after you put the kids to bed and you talk, you talk about what you need. You talk about how much you are worried about being able to pay the bills. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's not a worry John McCain has to worry about. It's a pretty hard experience. He'll have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJeQTTkOzF4

...

Maybe they will approve something for what ails YOU...

why are people disappointed because Sam is doing an internet show? I never get to hear him on air waves so I've always depended on an "internet" stream. I don't know how to say this easier. America can't handle the truth.

Progressive Campaigning and Organizing - WiccanDruid
Submitted by Star Vox on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 7:05pm.

;)

Please stop the fighting about Obama and Clinton on the blog.

Thanks!

Joe Campbell was talking about this in the Moyers interviews..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPqJrJ6Vd_c
Alan Watts: Nothingness And The Illusion Of Opposites

hey 2 thee from the bunny and me!
(\___/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

(¯`*._(¯`*._(--)_.*´¯)_.*´¯)
(¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤

Majikthise : Ron Fournier: If Obama were confident, he would have picked a ficus tree:

Because nothing says confidence like picking a VP who adds nothing to your ticket. A photosynthesizing running mate would have been a decisive break from the status quo, not to mention a source of fresh air. By picking a ficus tree, Obama would have signaled his readiness to win the entire election by himself.

http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2008/08/ron-fournier-if.html

vinegar, water and douchebag media, inc.

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2008/08/peace-mom-v-guardian-of-power.html

*

How dare Cindy not start from the bottom up...