Info Times

'Project Runway' Returns to the Air

2009-08-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

From the Yawner File

Reality fashion show Project Runway returns to television Aug. 20 after a 10-month hiatus.

Delayed for months by a dispute between rival networks, the sixth season of the popular fashion design contest comes back with a three-hour time slot on Lifetime Television August 20, along with a companion series about runway models and an all-star challenge with eight favorite designers of the past.

Host and model Heidi Klum, designer Michael Kors, fashion editor Nina Garcia and urbane mentor Tim Gunn with his catchphrase "make it work" are all back to guide 16 fledgling designers in a competition to launch their own fashion line.

The biggest change will be the switch from New York to Los Angeles -- home of the biggest celebrity red carpets in the world.

Women Shopping; Men Fretting

2009-08-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

The economic crisis has not affected the spending habits of some women as much as it has men, according to this news item from Reuters.

Gender marketing expert Diana Jaffe said the uncertainty about jobs caused by the economic slump posed a threat to male identity, prompting men to cut back on spending. Meanwhile, women are taking steps to cheer themselves up with a treat.

"Women are also worried about their jobs, but not to the extent that they feel their mere existence is being threatened and so they are in the mood to buy despite the crisis," Jaffe said.

Some men have stopped themselves from splurging on flashy goods that could be deemed as tasteless during times of austerity, while others don't have the capacity to think about spending on luxury items, Jaffe said.

House Votes for Restricting Wall Street Pay

2009-07-31T12:35:00.000-07:00

From the It's-About-Damn-Time File:

WASHINGTON – The House voted Friday to slap restrictions on how Wall Street executives are paid after nine banks that took government bailout money rewarded thousands of their employees with bonuses topping $1 million each.

Bowing to populist anger and defying President Barack Obama's suggestion that government rely on incentives instead of intervention to curb excessive salaries and bonuses, the House passed the bill on a 237-185 vote.

"This is not the government taking over the corporate sector. . . . It is a statement by the American people that it is time for us to straighten up the ship," said Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C.

Don't Tase Me, Bro - Times 3

2009-07-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

According to a report by the Associated Press:

Taser International unveiled its first new stun gun since 2003 Monday, a device that can shock three people without being reloaded.

Or, one person three times.

Taser CEO Rick Smith said, "This is as big a step as when firearms went from a muzzle loader to the revolver. If I was a cop I'd want to carry one."

Of course he would like every cop in the U.S. to carry one at $1,799 a pop. Pun intended.

The gun will come in handy if a Texas deputy stops a car load of little old ladies.

New Killer African Virus

2009-06-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

A new killer virus has been discovered in Africa.

ATLANTA - Scientists have identified a lethal new virus in Africa that causes bleeding like the dreaded Ebola virus.
The so-called "Lujo" virus infected five people in Zambia and South Africa last fall. Four of them died, but a fifth survived, perhaps helped by a medicine recommended by the scientists.
It's not clear how the first person became infected, but the bug comes from a family of viruses found in rodents, said Dr. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist involved in the discovery.

Mexico Places Bounty on Drug Lords

2009-03-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

File this in It's About Time:

MEXICO CITY – Mexico's government on Monday offered $2 million each for information leading to the arrest of 24 top drug lords in a public challenge to the cartels' violent grip on the country. The list indicated that drug gangs have splintered into six main cartels under pressure from the U.S. and Mexican governments.

The two most powerful gangs — the Pacific and Gulf cartels — each suffered fractures that have given rise to new cartels, according to the list published by the Attorney General's Office.

The list offers 30 million pesos ($2 million) in rewards for 24 top members of the cartels and 15 million pesos ($1 million) for 13 of their lieutenants.

Mexico's drug violence has killed more than 9,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 as gangs battle each other for territory and fight off a government crackdown. Some of that violence is spilling over into the United States, especially the Southwest, where kidnaps and killings are on the rise.

Democrats Lead List of Richest Senators

2008-10-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

Of the richest U.S. senators, Democrats fill seven of the top ten slots, according to a study conducted by nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

On the House side, Republicans fill six of the top ten.

Authors of the study said it's impossible to give a precise net worth for members of Congress because their individual assets and liabilities are disclosed in broad ranges. To conduct the study, the Center for Responsive Politics determined a member's minimum net worth and maximum net worth and then calculated an average, which was used to rank the members.
Because the law does not require them to do so, members of Congress don't disclose the value of their homes unless they produce income. As a result, a member's true net worth is likely to be much higher than what gets reported.
"Members of Congress don't make it easy for the public to keep tabs on their personal holdings and any conflicts of interest those holdings present," said Dan Auble, who manages the center's database of lawmakers' financial information.

A listing of the richest members of Congress follows:

Senate

1 John Kerry (D-Mass.)........$336,224,883

2 Herb Kohl (D-Wis.)........$241,545,513

3 Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.)........$103,560,020

4 Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)........$93,715,011

5 Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)........$89,509,099

6 Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)........$84,171,162

7 Gordon Smith (R-Ore.)........$46,127,014

8 Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)........$33,308,537

9 Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)........$32,428,089

10 Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.)........$31,421,472

House of Representatives

1 Jane Harman (D-Calif.)........$397,412,077

2 Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)........$343,457,521

3 Robin Hayes (R-N.C.)........$173,409,173

4 Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.)........$165,748,714

5 Michael McCaul (R-Texas)........$64,073,077

6 Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)........$62,468,047

7 Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.)........$50,297,547

8 Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.)........$47,350,092

9 Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.)........$43,716,445

10 Gary Miller (R-Calif.)........$39,978,021

Source: Center for Responsive Politics

Bush/McCain Iraq War May Be 'Lost'

2008-10-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's not looking good for the we-will-stay-until-victory crowd - Bush and McCain- in Iraq.

From ConsortiumNews.com:

The shape of that defeat is outlined in the Oct. 13 draft of the “status-of-forces” agreement negotiated between Washington and Baghdad in which the United States accepts a full withdrawal of its combat troops by the end of 2011, or earlier if the Iraqi government demands.

Over the past several months as the agreement has taken shape, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government has escalated its demands, and the Bush administration has made concession after concession. Yet even now, many powerful Iraqi politicians -- especially among the Shiites -- are demanding that American troops get out even faster.

Iraq seems intent on telling the United States the diplomatic equivalent of “don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

If that’s the case, the United States may end up achieving almost none of its core geopolitical objectives despite the deaths of more than 4,000 soldiers, the maiming of more than 30,000 others, and the expenditure of $1 trillion or more in taxpayer dollars.

Is the latest bailout plan crap?

2008-09-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

A lot of people don't think too highly of the Bush Administration's latest raid on the treasury.

From Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo:

As noted in the previous post, I'm quite convinced that some drastic action needs to be taken to avoid a cascading and debilitating series of crises. But the more I look at this plan, the more wrongheaded it seems. But if I'm understanding this deal, the taxpayers are going to pony up close to a trillion dollars to take bad debts off the hands of financial institutions who were foolish enough to make the deals in the first place. And in exchange, I think the tax payers get nothing? Sebastian Mallaby makes the good point that this is radically different than the S&L Crisis RTC which was liquidating the assets of thrifts that had already gone belly up -- paid the ultimate price, as it were. And as the insurer on the accounts, the government inherited the assets anyway. It was just a matter of selling them off. But here the point is to take these bad debts off these companies' hands so they can go back to being profitable businesses. This is moral hazard on steroids if I'm understanding this right.

From Paul Krugman of The New York Times:

I hate to say this, but looking at the plan as leaked, I have to say no deal. Not unless Treasury explains, very clearly, why this is supposed to work, other than through having taxpayers pay premium prices for lousy assets.

As I posted earlier today, it seems all too likely that a “fair price” for mortgage-related assets will still leave much of the financial sector in trouble. And there’s nothing at all in the draft that says what happens next; although I do notice that there’s nothing in the plan requiring Treasury to pay a fair market price. So is the plan to pay premium prices to the most troubled institutions? Or is the hope that restoring liquidity will magically make the problem go away?

Then there is VoteNoBailout.org.

Why won't the McCain Campain Allow Sarah Palin to talk to the media?

2008-09-06T03:51:00.000-07:00

Jay Carney, head of TIME magazine's Washington office, reports that the McCain campaign will prevent Sarah Palin from taking direct questions from the media.

What are they trying to hide and why?

Perhaps they are afraid of American voters learning about the real Sarah Palin.

Arrest Karl Rove

2008-07-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

From an email sent out by democrats.com:

The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Karl Rove to testify on July 10, but on July 1 Rove announced he would defy the subpoena.

Could you or I get away with defying a Congressional subpoena? Of course not. So why can Karl Rove? Like George Bush and Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, believes he is simply above the law.

It's time for Congress to prove them wrong by using its power of "inherent contempt" to send the Sergeant-at-Arms to arrest Karl Rove (as imagined in photoshop at left) and bring him before the full House to answer to the charge of Contempt of Congress, and to punish him to the maximum extent allowed by law, including prison.

Before Democrats won Congress in 2006, Nancy Pelosi said the most important reason to put Democrats in control of Congress was "subpoena power." But now Pelosi is quietly blocking the use of inherent contempt.

Tell your Representatives to Arrest Karl Rove:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/106

US Ranks Low on Peace Scale

2008-05-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

The United States of America is rated 97th out of 140 on the Global Peace Index.

USA! USA! USA!

Water Smuggling of People Increases on Pacific Coast

2008-03-15T06:14:00.000-07:00

From The New York Times:

Improvements at Land Border Push Smugglers West, to the Pacific

LOS ANGELES — Three Mexican men were charged Friday with smuggling people into the United States after an ill-fated effort to ferry a dozen people to San Diego by boat from an island off Tijuana, Mexico, ended with the vessel adrift for nearly two days.

For years, smugglers have sought to bring people into the United States on boats in the Pacific Ocean, usually hiding among the bountiful pleasure craft off San Diego in the summer. People have also been caught trying to surf, use jet skis and swim in.

But the arrests this week, the authorities said, point to a troubling turn to the prospect of year-round smuggling; some 20 boats have been intercepted or found washed ashore on the San Diego County coast since August. Twenty-six people have been apprehended in those cases, but several more probably made it to their destinations: some have been observed by homeowners coming ashore and leaving their boats behind.

“We have never seen an increase like this in the off- or winter season,” said Michael Unzueta, the agent in charge of the San Diego office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mr. Unzueta said that more elaborate security on the land border, rife with cameras, sensors and steel fences, was pushing smugglers east into remote terrain and west into the ocean. But it is also possible, he said, that the spike is the result of a newer organization long on ambition but short on marine skills.

Chavez Reopens Embassy in Columbia

2008-03-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's whacky leader, is reestablishing ties with Coloumbia.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela said Sunday that it was restoring full diplomatic ties with Colombia that were broken off in a regional crisis sparked by a cross-border Colombian attack on a leftist rebel camp in Ecuador.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said it was reopening its embassy in Colombia and will allow back Colombian diplomats it expelled last week. It cited an easing of tensions at a summit in the Dominican Republic on Friday, where President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa shook hands with Colombia's U.S.-backed leader, Alvaro Uribe, after a tense debate.

Venezuela described the reconciliation as a "victory for peace and sovereignty."

Chavez ordered the Venezuelan embassy in Bogota closed and sent troops to the border with Colombia after Uribe's government carried out a March 1 strike in Ecuador that killed 25 people including Raul Reyes, a spokesman and top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Venezuela also said it was expelling Colombia's ambassador and all diplomatic personnel.

Rare White Killer Whale Spotted

2008-03-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

Researchers spotted a rare white killer whale in the Aleutian Islands.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The white killer whale spotted in Alaska's Aleutian Islands sent researchers and the ship's crew scrambling for their cameras. The nearly mythic creature was real after all. "I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it."

The whale was spotted last month while scientists aboard the Oscar Dyson, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship, were conducting an acoustic survey of pollock near Steller sea lion haulout sites.

It had been spotted once in the Aleutians years ago but had eluded researchers since, even though they had seen many of the more classic black and white whales over the years.

Fearnbach said the white whale stood out.

"When you first looked at it, it was very white," she said Thursday.

Further observation showed that while the whale's saddle area was white, other parts of its body had a subtle yellowish or brownish color.

It likely is not a true albino given the coloration, said John Durban, a research biologist at NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. That's probably a good thing — true albinos usually don't live long and can have health problems.

Roberts' Court Sides Against Enron Investors

2008-01-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Supreme Court fronted by John Roberts refused to hear a case involving Enron investors suing Wall Street investment banks for fraud.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court dealt Enron investors a defeat Tuesday, rejecting their lawsuit alleging securities fraud by Wall Street investment banks that did business with the Texas energy company.

Enron stockholders may seek to revive their case in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which ruled against them once before.

The chances that Enron shareholders can recover some money dimmed a week ago with the Supreme Court's decision against investors in a separate suit. It alleged that two suppliers doing business with a cable TV company engaged in securities fraud.

Tuesday's rejection came without comment in a routine list of rejected cases.

Bush Approval Ratings Lower Than Nixon

2007-11-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

Nearly 70 percent of Americans disapprove of the job George W. Bush is doing at president. Since he doesn't read, he'll never know.

NEW YORK For almost two years, President Bush has been threatening to unseat Richard M. Nixon as the most unpopular president in the history of the Gallup poll, and it finally happened this week.

The latest USA TODAY/Gallup survey finds Bush with a 31% approval rating -- and for the first time ever in the polling history, 50% say they "strongly disapprove" of a president.

The previous high (or low?) was a 48% strong disapproval rating for Nixon at the worst moments of Watergate in 1974.

The telephone survey of 1,024 adults was conducted last Friday through Sunday.

Meanwhile, ABC News relates today, "Recent reports of fewer casualties in Iraq haven't altered most Americans' perceptions of the war: Fifty-nine percent still don't think the United States is making significant progress restoring civil order there, and a record six in 10 want the level of U.S. forces reduced.

"Those results in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll seem to reflect a continued hardening of attitudes on Iraq. Views on progress are unchanged from early September, and they haven't been positive since December 2005, shortly after the Iraqi elections."

Southern States Lead Corrupt List

2007-10-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

Louisiana is the most corrupt state, followed by three other southern states in the top four, according to information from Corporate Crime Reporter.

Louisiana is the most corrupt state in the nation.

That’s according to an analysis of government data released today by Corporate Crime Reporter.

Louisiana (1), Mississippi (2), Kentucky (3), Alabama (4) and Ohio (5) are the top five most corrupt states in the country, according to the analysis.

Rounding out the top ten are Illinois (6), Pennsylvania (7), Florida (8), New Jersey (9), and New York (10).

“If you type the word ‘corruption’ into Google News, the vast majority of news stories that come up are from overseas,” said Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, a print weekly legal newsletter based in Washington, D.C. “But public corruption is booming right here in the USA.”

“There have been more than 20,000 public officials and private citizens convicted of public corruption over the past two decades,” Mokhiber said. “That’s an average of 1,000 a year for the last twenty years.”

Corporate Crime Reporter looked at the 35 most populous states in the nation. (The fifteen states with population of under two million were not included in the analysis.)

The ranking is based on data from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section’s 2006 report – which was made public just last week.

Ramsey Clark's Appeal for Impeachment

2007-09-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, long-time promoter of the impeachment of the Bush Administration has issued the following appeal.

Impeachment and conviction are the only way to prevent further aggressions by Bush. It will tell his successors that the President of the United States and the officials who serve with him are not above the law and that where the people are vigilant, they will be held accountable. This message is imperative now.

The largest possible turnout at the demonstration in Washington on September 15 is an essential part of the struggle. Major demonstrations have temporarily stayed the hand or altered the course of the government time and time again. Remember the Civil Rights rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 where Dr. King described his dream, or the March on the Pentagon in October 1967 that was the turning point for public opinion toward opposition to the War in Vietnam.

President Bush has unlimited resources with which to confuse, mislead, divert, deceive and overcome the real interests and will of the people. The disadvantage at which we work is revealed by the mere $15 million a handful of his former Ambassadors (all rich, including a multi-billionaire named the third-richest American) have contributed for TV ads in the weeks before September 15 to support a continued Surge in Iraq.

But organized, the power of the people is Supreme. For $150,000—only one hundredth of what was spent on this single TV Campaign supporting the U.S. occupation of Iraq—we can place ads in newspapers across the country calling for impeachment of the Bush cabal that will reach millions who rarely hear the word, and may ignite a movement that can finally overcome.

There are just over 950,000 persons who have voted to Impeach George Bush, Dick Cheney and others on the http://www.impeachbush.org/ website. It would be wonderful to be able to announce that One Million have signed on at the September 15 rally. Individual efforts and newspaper ads in the next week could do it. I hope you can lend a hand in this effort.

The non-gay Republican Senator from Idaho

2007-08-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

Although arrested for lewd behavior and copping a plea to a lesser charge Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, an anti-gay Republican, says he is not gay.

You betcha!

BOISE, Idaho - Under fire from leaders of his own party, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig on Tuesday the only thing he had done wrong was to plead guilty after a police complaint of lewd conduct in a men's room. He declared, "I am not gay. I never have been gay."

"I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport," he said at a news conference with his wife, Suzanne, at his side.

Craig's defiant stance came as Senate Republican leaders in Washington called for an ethics committee review into his involvement in a police sting operation this summer in the airport men's room.

"In the meantime, the leadership is examining other aspects of the case to see if additional action is required," Sen. Mitch McConnell and other top GOP lawmakers said in a written statement.

A private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, also filed a complaint with the ethics committee seeking an investigation into whether Craig violated Senate rules by engaging in disorderly conduct.

Craig entered his plea several weeks after an undercover police officer in the airport arrested him and issued a complaint that said the three-term senator had engaged in actions "often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in sexual conduct."

Craig said he has hired a lawyer and will ask him to review the case.

The airport incident occurred June 11. Craig signed his plea papers on Aug. 1, and word of the events surfaced Monday. The senator issued a statement Monday night that said, "In hindsight, I should have pled not guilty."

He repeated that assertion at the Idaho news conference. "In June, I overreacted and made a poor decision," he said. "I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in hopes of making it go away."

Gonzales Lied to Congress according to documents

2007-07-29T06:36:00.000-07:00

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lied in his testimony to the U.S. Congress, according to documents released last week.

WASHINGTON - Documents indicate eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The documents underscore questions about Gonzales' credibility as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization.
A Gonzales spokesman maintained Wednesday that the attorney general stands by his testimony.

Squeezing the Middle Class

2007-07-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

There are two economies in this country. One for the very rich and one for the rest of the United States. Why do we tolerate it?

From AlterNet:

The commercial media is telling us two perfectly contradictory stories about the American economy. The first is how wonderfully rich we are in the United States. The stock market's booming -- some analysts predict the Dow will break the 15,000 this year -- the economy is expanding at a healthy clip, productivity growth is up and unemployment and inflation are relatively low.
But, at the same time, we're also told that we don't have the money to pay for a robust social safety net. When it comes to paying for universal health coverage, affording retirement security for our elderly, investing in programs for the poor or educating our children, we need to pinch pennies. According to this storyline, we face a looming "entitlement crisis" -- we won't be able to afford to keep the Baby Boomers in good health and out of poverty, we're told, unless we slash their benefits and privatize the programs that their elderly parents enjoy today.
This is the line we hear from the Administration when it talks about entitlement "reform": Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says that "The biggest economic issue facing our country is the growth in spending on the major entitlement programs: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security." The solution, according to the Heritage Foundation, is to cut entitlement spending: "Reforming Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is the only way to get the budget under control."

Fewer Teens Having Sex

2007-07-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

Less Sex, More Condoms

WASHINGTON - Fewer high school students are having sex these days, and more are using condoms. The teen birth rate has hit a record low.

More young people are finishing high school, too, and more little kids are being read to, according to the latest government snapshot on the well-being of the nation's children. It's good news on a number of key wellness indicators, experts said of the report being released Friday.

"The implications for the population are quite positive in terms of their health and their well-being," said Edward Sondik, director of the National Center for Health Statistics. "The lower figure on teens having sex means the risk of sexually transmitted diseases is lower."

White House to Ignore Subpoenas

2007-06-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

The White House said it will not comply with subpoenas from two congressional committees trying to find out the truth behind the firing of U.S. attorneys. It was expected.

Excerpt from published reports:

The Democratic chairmen of the two committees seeking the documents accused Bush of stonewalling and disdain for the law, and said they would press forward with enforcing the subpoenas.

"With respect, it is with much regret that we are forced down this unfortunate path which we sought to avoid by finding grounds for mutual accommodation," White House counsel Fred Fielding said in a letter to the chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. "We had hoped this matter could conclude with your committees receiving information in lieu of having to invoke executive privilege. Instead, we are at this conclusion."

Thursday was the deadline for surrendering the documents. The White House also made clear that Miers and Taylor would not testify next month, as directed by the subpoenas, which were issued June 13. The stalemate could end up with House and Senate contempt citations and a battle in federal court over separation of powers.

Reid Fast Tracking Immigration Law

2007-06-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has placed the immigration bill on the fast track. We hope Congress does it's homework this time.

WASHINGTON — Senate leaders Monday relaunched a controversial proposal to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, offering a new version of legislation that faltered earlier this month.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used his prerogatives as majority leader to reintroduce the bill and bypass the usual committee process, putting it on the calendar for quick consideration. A final vote is likely next week.

"I applaud Sen. Reid's action to bring the immigration bill back to the floor and the determination of so many of our colleagues to do the challenging work we were elected to do," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the bill's leading Democratic proponent.

The new version cleans up the legislation, which had been altered so much in the last year that it had become legislatively unwieldy. It includes a provision, agreed to in principle last week by Senate leaders with the support of President Bush, that would boost funding for border security and workplace enforcement by $4.4 billion.

"Republican obstructionists are going to have a very simple decision to make later on this week," said Jim Manley, Reid's staff director. "Are they going to stand for efforts to provide increased funding for border security along with comprehensive immigration reform? Or are they going to continue to block one of the top priorities of the president?"

The proposal announced Monday will incorporate the substance of about two dozen amendments adopted when the Senate debated the bill for two weeks this year. The core of the legislation has become known as the "grand bargain." Under the plan, opponents agreed to provide many illegal immigrants now in the United States a path to citizenship in return for a restructuring of the immigration system to give greater weight to education and job skills, rather than family ties.

Iran Arming the Taliban

2007-06-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

According to an American diplomat, the Iranians are arming the Taliban in Afghanistan. Is the Bush administration preparing for an attack?

PARIS - A senior U.S. diplomat accused
Iran on Tuesday of transferring weapons to Taliban insurgents in
Afghanistan — the most direct comments yet on the issue by a ranking American official.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, speaking to reporters in Paris, said Iran was funding insurrections across the Middle East — and "Iran is now even transferring arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan."

"It's a country that's trying to flex its muscles, but in a way that's injurious to the interests of just about everybody else in the world," he said. "I think it's a major miscalculation."

Lohan and the Knife

2007-06-06T13:06:00.001-07:00

Fox News is reporting that Lindsay Lohan threatened Vanessa Minnillo with a knife.

Come on, folks, this is Fox, it didn't happen.

A Break in Republican Ranks

2007-05-30T08:46:00.000-07:00

Seems that some Republicans are starting to come to their senses:

As opposition to his failed war in Iraq mounted, President George W. Bush always knew he could count on the unwavering support of hard-core Republicans.

That was then. This is now.

Increasingly, Republicans express weariness with the war and his lack of progress and support for candidates who back Bush without question is eroding.

And more and more Republicans now admit, belatedly, that they may have been wrong to back the President without question.

America Betrayed Again

2007-05-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

As Keith Olbermann points out, the American people continued to be betrayed by their elected officials.

Be sure to watch his latest Special Comment: The entire government has failed us on Iraq

What are the Dems thinking?

2007-05-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

The majority of the American people are against Bush's War, so why are the Democrats caving in?

It would be nice to be able to say, "We never saw this coming," but that would be a lie. Deep down inside everyone knew that the Democrats would eventually cower before Bush's Iraq war belligerence. These Democrats are after all, more or less, the same spineless crew that rolled over and voted for Mister Bush to invade Iraq in the first place. And don't let them rewrite history...Democrats knew the basis for the Iraq war was a pack of lies, they just didn't have the courage to stand and be counted.

Cheney: Everything's Fine in Iraq

2007-05-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

What a moron:

SHANNON, Ireland - Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he generally got good responses from Arab allies in his appeal for more help in stabilizing Iraq. He also said he recognizes that advancing the Israel-Palestinian peace process is a related issue that also must be addressed.

"You don't get to pick and choose," the vice president told reporters aboard his plane as he returned from a weeklong tour of the Middle East, including an unannounced two-day visit to Iraq and stops in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan.

Of his meetings with rank-and-file U.S. troops in Iraq, Cheney said, "I thought they were amazingly positive. They believed in what they were doing."

The Rest of the Story

Terrorist Plot in US

2007-05-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

The FBI has arrested 6 men on charges of plotting to attack Fort Dix, New Jersey.

"This was a serious plot put together by people who were intent on harming Americans," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said Tuesday. "We're very gratified federal law enforcement was able to catch these people before they acted and took innocent life."

One suspect reportedly spoke of using rocket-propelled grenades to kill at least 100 soldiers at a time, according to court documents.

"If you want to do anything here, there is Fort Dix and I don't want to exaggerate, and I assure you that you can hit an American base very easily," suspect Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer said in one conversation secretly recorded by a government informant, according to the criminal complaint.

"It doesn't matter to me whether I get locked up, arrested or get taken away," a suspect identified as Serdar Tatar said in another recorded conversation. "Or I die, it doesn't matter. I'm doing it in the name of Allah."

Women balk at supporting female candidates

2007-05-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

Seems that women set higher standards for female candidates than they do for their male counterparts. Do they think that badly of men?

Exerpt from Capitol Hill Blue:

But women running for office face an unusual political conundrum: Women sometimes set exceedingly high standards for female candidates.

It's in part because some expect the first female president to be a reflection of them, only better, said Marie Wilson, president of the White House Project, a group that aims to encourage women to lead in business and politics.

"We look at them and we say 'We want them to be perfect. ...' We hold them to a higher standard because they do represent us," she said. "Most of the male candidates running wouldn't be running if they were women. A woman John McCain's age would have a hard time, a woman with Barack Obama's experience would have a hard time."

As a result, female candidates are more scrutinized, an extension of gender-specific criticism still part of American culture, experts say.

More Bad Bomb Jokes From John McCain

2007-04-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

No one really believes Sen. John McCain wants to put a bomb under Jon Stewart's desk, do they?

Was McCain merely joking? You be the judge.

Obama: Bush Fails in Leadership

2007-04-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

From CapitolHillBlue:

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said Monday that President Bush has fallen short in his role as leader of the free world, and the 2008 election is a chance to change that.

"This president may occupy the White House, but for the last six years the position of leader of the free world has remained open. And it is time to fill that role once more," Obama said in a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Affiliate program pays weekly

2007-04-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for an affiliate program that pays every week? Then look no further than Team Link Network.

They offer something that every web site needs - links. And they pay 25 percent commissions on a weekly basis. You can get your money through PayPal or they will mail you a check. It's your choice.

Do it and do it now.

Rudy says America need him

2007-04-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Rudy Giuliania is claiming America at war need him as president?

We don't think so, Mr. Giuliani, but thanks for thinking of yourself first.

House Bill Upsets Congressman

2007-03-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

The House-passed military funding bill is under attack by a Democrat.

As reported in Ravel Babel:

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich is not at all happy with the Military Funding Bill passed by the House last week, calling it "a disaster for America."

Kucinich made the comments in an exclusive telephone interview with the editors at truthdig.com, and he didn't hide his displeasure with the Democratic party.

"The Democrats should have been voting—or come up with a plan to get out of Iraq," Kucinich said. "Not one that’s going to keep us there a year or two. It’s the same kind of thinking that led us into Iraq—that we didn’t have any alternatives."

He said the Democrats should be listening to the American people and taking steps to immediately end the war and bring the troops home.

" ... that means to set in motion a plan to end the occupation, close the bases, bring the troops home using money that’s already in the pipeline to do so. At the same time there’s a parallel process of bringing in international security and peacekeeping forces to stabilize Iraq. And we can get that help once we end the occupation."

The Rest at Ravel Babel

So long, Gonzo

2007-03-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

Time to say bye-bye to Gonzo the AG who shouldn't have been:

Three key Republican senators sharply questioned his truthfulness over the firings last fall of eight federal prosecutors. Two more Democrats on Sunday joined the list of lawmakers calling for Gonzales' ouster.

Several Republicans also urged President Bush to allow sworn testimony from his top aides about their role in dismissing the U.S. attorneys — a standoff threatening to result in Capitol Hill subpoenas of White House officials.

Gonzales faces the toughest test of his two-year tenure at the Justice Department with the release of documents suggesting he was more involved with the firings than he indicated earlier.

Bad News For Elizabeth, John Edwards, America

2007-03-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

The cancer is back for Elizabeth Edwards.

From CNN:

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (CNN) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Thursday his wife's cancer has returned but his bid for the White House will continue.

"The campaign goes on," the former senator from North Carolina said at a news conference, contradicting earlier media reports to the contrary.

John Edwards said tests this week had shown his wife, Elizabeth, had cancer in a rib on her right side. He said the cancer is treatable but not curable.

"We are very optimistic about this," he said, noting that the tumor is small in size and has a "relatively minimal presence."

Elizabeth Edwards said she was "incredibly optimistic" and said her expectations about the future were unchanged.

"I expect to do next week all the things I did last week. And the week after that, and next year at the same time," she said.

And she wanted her husband to continue his run for the presidency.

The Sky is Falling - On our School Kids

2007-03-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

Give us a break, Mr. FBI man. We don't believe your bullshit anymore.

Terrorists are not taking over our school buses.

Evangelicals condemn torture

2007-03-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Found at The Progressive Daily Beacon:

Yahoo News, March 13th, 2007

A major U.S. association of evangelical Christians has condemned torture by the U.S. military and reaffirmed its commitment to environmental activism, positions that highlight broader splits in a movement associated with conservative causes.

"United States law and military doctrine has banned the resort to torture or cruel and degrading treatment. Tragically, documented cases of torture and inhumane and cruel behavior have occurred at various sites in the war on terror," the National Association of Evangelicals said in a statement.

"Current law opens procedural loopholes for more to continue," said the statement endorsed by the association's board of directors at its annual meeting in Eden, Minnesota, over the weekend. It was the first big NAE meeting since its former president Ted Haggard stepped down in November over a gay-sex scandal.

Evangelical Christians have been among the staunchest supporters of the U.S. war in
Iraq and the broader war on terror and many rankle at criticism of the American military which they see as unpatriotic and even un-Christian.

Sooner Thought Interviews Ravel Babel

2007-03-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

Why he did so we don't know, but Alex at the Sooner Thought Podcast interviewed a guy named Jake about his website, Ravel Babel. We don't know why.

Maybe you could take a listen and a look and tell us.

Alex seems to be an intelligent, rational kinda guy, but he has guests like this bozo.

Whatever.

Harry Reid on Libby Conviction

2007-03-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

From Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:

Washington, DC — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today released the following statement on news that a jury has found Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice.

"I welcome the jury's verdict. It's about time someone in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics. Lewis Libby has been convicted of perjury, but his trial revealed deeper truths about Vice President Cheney's role in this sordid affair. Now President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct."

US detainee abuse questioned

2007-03-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

From Capitol Hill Blue:

The U.N. human rights chief expressed concern Wednesday at recent U.S. legislative and judicial actions that she said leave hundreds of detainees without any way to challenge their indefinite imprisonment.

Louise Arbour referred to the Military Commissions Act approved by Congress last year and last month’s federal appeals court ruling that Guantanamo Bay detainees cannot use the U.S. court system to challenge their detention. The case is likely to go to the Supreme Court.

Arbour was critical of the ruling, calling on the judicial system to “rise to its long-standing reputation as a guardian of fundamental human rights and civil liberties and provide the protection to all that are under the authority, control, and therefore in my view jurisdiction of the United States.”

Global warming making you sick

2007-02-25T09:40:00.000-08:00

Don't tell Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, but global warming is making people sick.

From the LA Times:

The spread of human disease has become one of the most worrisome subplots in the story of global warming. Incremental temperature changes have begun to redraw the distribution of bacteria, insects and plants, exposing new populations to diseases that they have never seen before.

A report from the World Health Organization estimated that in 2000 about 154,000 deaths around the world could be attributed to disease outbreaks and other conditions sparked by climate change.

The power of the scrotum

2007-02-21T11:18:00.000-08:00

One little word has set the libarian world on its ear.

From an editorial in The New York Times:

A tempest has been brewing over a children’s book that contains a word some find naughty and unsettling. The word is scrotum. It appears only a few times in the book, “The Higher Power of Lucky,” which is recommended for grades four to six. The scrotum in question belongs to a dog, who is bitten there by a snake.

On that basis, a few queasy librarians have chosen not to order the book, even though it won the prestigious Newbery Medal. The arguments pro and con are bubbling on librarians’ message boards. The cons seem vastly outnumbered, though they have gotten a lot of attention. One likened the author, Susan Patron, to the shock-radio host Howard Stern. Another suggested that teachers reading the book aloud replace that word with “a clearing-throat noise,” a bleep in the form of an “ahem.”

All this seems like a lousy way to treat a sweet, funny book whose main character, a smart, curious 10-year-old girl named Lucky Trimble, is already wise to the power and mystery of words: “Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much. It sounded medical and secret, but also important.”

Librarians all over are flinching at the furor, saying it reinforces their profession’s hated archetype: Marian the Librarian, the prig in a wet blanket. (This is the perception, but it’s nonsense; remember that Marian Paroo, played in the “Music Man” film by the lovely Shirley Jones, is the musical’s only real grown-up, a complicated professional who scandalizes River City ladies with her love of bawdy books. Chaucer! Rabelais! BAL-zac!)

Another mascot bites the dust

2007-02-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

The Chicago Tribune is reporting on the forced retirement of the University of Illinois's 81-year-old mascot Chief Illiniwek.

Many are upset about the loss:

Steven Raquel of Naperville, who portrayed the chief in 1992 and '93, said Thursday he would be disappointed if the tradition ended with only a few days' notice.

"It is a dishonorable ending to 80 years of an honorable tradition," Raquel said. "The tradition and the origins and the efforts that we have made over the years have only been done in respect of the history of Illinois and the history of the Illinois tribe. To see that linkage and that appreciation go by the wayside … without an opportunity to find common ground is disappointing."

But it's considered a victory by others:

Retiring the chief is a victory for those who have pressured the university for years to dump the mascot, which they say is humiliating and creates a hostile environment on campus.

It also opens the way for the university to host postseason games, currently prohibited by the NCAA because Chief Illiniwek violates the organization's rules, including next month's National Invitation Tournament in basketball.

Traditions sometimes die hard, but it's usually for monetary reasons.

Honey, please shovel the roof

2007-02-12T06:25:00.000-08:00

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

REDFIELD, N.Y. — A historic snowfall of more than 11 feet is nothing to get excited about in this hardy upstate New York village that thrives on snowmobilers and cross-country skiers.

"It's snow. We get a lot of it. So what?" said Allan Babcock, a lifelong resident who owns Shar's Country Diner, a popular eatery in this village of 650 people.

"It's nice to have all the attention — it's certainly good for business," echoed Patti Patterson, who runs the Redfield Hotel. "Really, though, what's the fuss. Six feet of snow here is nothing."

But this isn't six feet.

Unofficially, there's 11 feet, 4 inches left behind by intense lake-effect squalls that pounded communities along eastern Lake Ontario for nine straight days, before finally winding down Sunday. Gov. Eliot Spitzer declared a state disaster emergency in Oswego County because of the heavy snow.

Goofy Goes to Jail

2007-02-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

A man who plays Goofy at Walt Disney World was arrested on charges of child pornography.

Ya just don't know what's inside those costumes.

Video surveillance to get smarter

2007-02-07T03:30:00.000-08:00

Something to watch out for. Big Brother is getting closer and closer.

From CNN:

In some cities in Europe and the United States, a person can be videotaped by surveillance cameras hundreds of times a day, and it's safe to say that most of the time no one is actually watching.

But the advent of "intelligent video" -- software that raises the alarm if something on camera appears amiss -- means Big Brother will soon be able to keep a more constant watch, a prospect that is sure to heighten privacy concerns.

Combining motion detection technology with the learning capabilities of video game software, these new systems can detect people loitering, walking in circles or leaving a package.

New microphone technology can isolate the sound of a gunshot and direct the attached camera to swivel and zoom in on the source. Sensitivity may reach the point where microphones could pick out the word "explosives" spoken in a crowd.

Fewer Troops Needed, Says General

2007-02-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

The former leader of American troops said Baghdad could be stabilized with far fewer additional troops than President Bush planned to send, according to an account of his appearance at a Senate hearing from The New York Times.

Perhaps this is why he is being promoted. The Bush Administration does have a penchant for rewarding failure as long as they keep toeing the line.

Bush expands power with stroke of the pen

2007-01-30T07:31:00.000-08:00

George W. Bush signed an executive order giving himself the authority to plant political hacks in government agencies to make sure his business buddies are protected from the evil doers that try to protect the American public.

Will the madness ever stop?

Iraq-Vietnam Similarities

2007-01-25T07:19:00.000-08:00

Capitol Hill Blue has an article comparing the Bush War in Iraq to the Vietnam war. Here are some highlights:

Both wars initially had majority support from Americans that evaporated as the war dragged on without clear-cut victories.

Successive escalation by Presidents Johnson and Nixon were billed as setting the stage for victory, to be followed by "Vietnamization" in which South Vietnamese forces would stand up as U.S. forces stood down. Sounds like Bush's game plan for Iraq.

Before a recent admission of mistakes, Bush had been consistently upbeat. So were Johnson and Nixon administration figures, going back to Gen. William Westmoreland's premature 1969 sighting of a "light at the end of the tunnel."

Johnson called Vietnam War critics "nervous nellies." Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney accused Democrats of wanting to "cut and run," White House press secretary Tony Snow branded them "Defeatocrats."

Just as Iraq is depicted as the central front in a global war against terrorism, Vietnam was portrayed as pivotal in a global war against communism.

Is Bush the worst possible?

2007-01-16T10:44:00.000-08:00

He is if you agree with Jane Smiley.

Exerpt:

How do you build yourself a madman? Well, first you flatter him, and then you try never to make him angry, and then you feed him ideas that flatter him even more by making him seem to himself sentimentally visionary and powerful and righteous. You appeal to his already evident mean streak and his hot temper by reminding him all the time that he has enemies, and you cultivate his religious side so that the sense of righteous victimization inherent in extreme religion comes out. If he were not already an ignorant, dependant, fragile, and rigid person, he would not be susceptible to this sort of conditioning, but by temperament and practice, he has nothing of his own to counter your efforts. Then you hire a few shyster-sycophants like John Yoo to tell him (ignorant as he is, with no actual understanding of the Constitution), that as president he can do whatever he wants.

She doesn't pull any punches with this one, does she?

Is it hot here, or is it just global warming

2007-01-10T11:01:00.000-08:00

By all accounts 2006 was a lot warmer in the continental United States. Global warming or just part of nature flexing her muscles?

Read this from The LA Times.

Exerpt:

On the fever chart of rising temperatures, 2006 was the warmest year on record for the 48 contiguous states, pairing a lethal summer heat wave with a winter so mild that in some places daffodils bloomed out of season and bears forgot to hibernate, government climate experts reported Tuesday.

Based on an analysis of readings from 1,200 weather stations around the country, the average annual temperature in the Lower 48 states last year was 2.2 degrees higher than the mean temperature for the 20th century and fractionally warmer than in 1998, which previously held the temperature record, the researchers reported.

Seven months last year were much warmer than average, concluded the scientists at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Indeed, January 2006 was the warmest on record in the U.S. and December was the fourth warmest since record-keeping began in 1895. In five states, December temperatures set record highs: Minnesota, New York, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire.

To Surge or not to Surge

2007-01-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

Media Matters for America points out that CNN's Bill Schneider says the Bush Administration is using the term surge in regard to troop levels in Iraq because it denotes something temporary.

In a January 5 report on what Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer labeled the "great surge debate," Schneider noted that the words surge and escalation imply different timeframes:

SCHNEIDER: Why "surge"? Why not "escalate"? Because "surge" sounds temporary. Waves surge and decline. "Escalation" sounds long-term. President Lyndon Johnson escalated the deployment of U.S. troops to Vietnam in 1965. That war did not end for another 10 years. Whatever you call, it sending more troops would provoke a political firestorm.

Everything, and we mean everything, this Administration has done has been for political reasons. They have shown a callous disregard toward the American people, and continue to show that same disregard for the American troops.

Bring 'em home now!

Resolutions

2007-01-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

Here are some resolutions from public officials Arianna Huffington would like to hear:

"I will run for president of the United States." -- Sen. Barack Obama

"I will run for president of the United States." -- Al Gore

"I will not run for president of the United States. But if I do, I will speak from my heart and not triangulate every issue within an inch of its life." -- Sen. Hillary Clinton

"I will develop a better pick up line than 'get a ruler and measure it for me.'" -- Mark Foley

"I will avoid making appearances on daytime TV after brutal nights spent downing limoncellos." -- Danny DeVito

"I will stop torturing myself by asking 'What if?'" -- Jeb Bush

More>>>

Ford's real legacy

2006-12-30T04:46:00.000-08:00

From Robert Parry at consortiumnews.com:

The disclosure that Gerald Ford opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq but embargoed his objections until after his death fits with his contradictory legacy as a national leader who opposed the imperial presidency while laying the groundwork for its restoration.

...

Symbolically at least, Ford represented a repudiation of Nixon’s imperial excesses. Since Ford’s death on Dec. 26, that contrast between Nixon and Ford has been the theme of many eulogies, effusive praise for a common man of the Midwest who helped heal the nation’s bitter divisions from Watergate and Vietnam.

But in hindsight, Ford’s actions in the White House may have done more to salvage the idea of an imperial presidency than to shatter it. From the perspective of three decades later, the two-plus years of the Ford administration could be viewed more like a period of strategic retreat for the imperial presidency than a return to the traditional checks and balances envisioned by the Founders.

Indeed, given Ford’s appointment of Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and George H.W. Bush to key jobs, one could argue that the Ford administration served as an incubator for the imperial presidency’s rebirth – even if he personally opposed it.

Outrageous Conservative Comments

2006-12-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

From MediaMatters:

How extreme were conservative commentators in their remarks this year? How about calls to nuke the Middle East and an allegation that a "gay ... mafia" used the congressional page program as its own "personal preserve." Right-wing rhetoric documented by Media Matters for America included the nonsensical (including Rush Limbaugh's claim that America's "obesity crisis" is caused by, among other things, our failure to "teach [the poor] how to butcher a -- slaughter a cow to get the butter, we gave them the butter"), the offensive (such as right-wing pundit Debbie Schlussel's question about "Barack Hussein Obama": is he "a man we want as President when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam? Where will his loyalties be?"), and the simply bizarre (such as William A. Donohue's claim that some Hollywood stars would "sodomize their own mother in a movie"). Since there were so many outrageous statements, we included a list of honorable mentions along with the top 11, which, if not for Ann Coulter, we might have limited to 10.

Read the rest>>>

Publishing to be president

2006-12-12T07:22:00.000-08:00

Joan Lowy writes in Capitol Hill Blue:

A torrent of words from presidential candidates is to be expected, but the latest crowd of White House wannabes has taken the old academic stricture "publish or perish" to heart.

At least eight of the prospective 2008 candidates have books scheduled for publication or that have recently been published.

Some of the books are even selling well.

"When I took this job 10 years ago, every publisher said to me, 'Political books don't sell.' Boy, has the world changed. Now political books are hot," said Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, a trade group for the book publishing industry.

The books that rack up the sales tend to be the ones whose authors are already political celebrities, such as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

For most candidates, however, it's the practical political benefits rather than a desire to indulge their inner muse that drives them to pick up their pens — or keyboards, as the case may be.

More>>>

Presidents Gone Wild

2006-12-04T04:13:00.000-08:00

From Information Clearing House:

Tens of millions of Americans want President George W. Bush to be impeached for the lies and deceit he used to launch an illegal war and for violating his oath of office to uphold the US Constitution. Millions of other Americans want Bush turned over to the war crimes tribunal at the Hague. The true fate that awaits Bush is psychiatric incarceration.

The president of the United States is so deep into denial that he is no longer among the sane.

Delusion still rules Bush three weeks after the American people repudiated him and his catastrophic war in elections that delivered both House and Senate to the Democrats in the hope that control over Congress would give the opposition party the strength to oppose the mad occupant of the White House.

More>>>

NBC: Civil War

2006-11-28T02:43:00.000-08:00

NBC is now officially calling the conflict in Iraq a civil war. Better late than never.

NEW YORK -- NBC News on Monday began referring to the Iraq conflict as a civil war, adopting a phrase that President Bush and many other news organizations have avoided.

Matt Lauer said on the "Today" show that "after careful consideration, NBC News has decided that a change in terminology is warranted, that the situation in Iraq with armed militarized factions fighting for their own political agendas can now be characterized as civil war."

General: Don't cut troops in Iraq

2006-11-16T13:37:00.000-08:00

Gen. John P. Abizaid, head U.S. military man for the Middle East told the Senate yesterday it would not be a good idea to start pulling troops out of Iraq.

Exerpt from the NY Times:

General Abizaid did not rule out a larger troop increase, but he said the American military was stretched too thin to make such a step possible over the long term. And he said such an expansion might dissuade the Iraqis from making more of an effort to provide for their own security.

“We can put in 20,000 more Americans tomorrow and achieve a temporary effect,” he said. “But when you look at the overall American force pool that’s available out there, the ability to sustain that commitment is simply not something that we have right now with the size of the Army and the Marine Corps.”

Comics lose to Rumsfeld, Spears

2006-11-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

From The Los Angeles Times:

IT'S BEEN A dark week for satire.

Within 48 hours, two of the world's great punch-line generators — Kevin Federline, alias "Mr. Britney Spears," and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — abruptly punched out.

Not since Oct. 10, 1973 — when Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned just hours after Elvis and Priscilla Presley unplugged their marriage — has topical humor received such a body blow.

Rumsfeld is the bigger loss. It's hard to imagine his prospective replacement, former CIA chief Robert Gates, ever drifting off in a future Iraq news conference to wax on about the days before air conditioning. It's more likely that Britney's next catch will be as dopey as her last. But the truth is, punch lines just don't grow on trees.

Never fear, some other bozo will take the spotlight. You can bet on that.

Rummy Gone

2006-11-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

Donald Rumsfeld Resigns!

Can peace be close at hand?

Bush, bin Laden top danger list

2006-11-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

George Bush and Osama bin Laden are seen by the rest of the world as the top dangers to world peace, according to a recently published survey.

Exerpt:

The survey has been carried out by the Guardian in Britain and leading newspapers in Israel (Haaretz), Canada (La Presse and Toronto Star) and Mexico (Reforma), using professional local opinion polling in each country.

It exposes high levels of distrust. In Britain, 69% of those questioned say they believe US policy has made the world less safe since 2001, with only 7% thinking action in Iraq and Afghanistan has increased global security.

What the election is really about

2006-11-03T06:48:00.000-08:00

Molly's latest as reported in Common Dreams:

I’m still worried sick. The R’s have seized the news cycle! Which says more about how dim American politics are than anything else I can think of.

Apparently, the Michael J. Fox affair didn’t have enough meat to it, and even Rep. Mark Foley is out of the game, so now we have the semi-hemi-demi-gaffe from John Kerry, who is not in fact running for anything.

If Kerry had been given as many breaks for misspeaking as George W. Bush has, he’d be a professor of grammar by now. And this all shows what the Bush regime has: attacks on Kerry, Clinton, Kennedy, Pelosi, liberals! ... but not any actual policies to help it.

The Great Wall of Republican ads is bearing down on us—race-baiting, scare tactics and sleaze-mongering. (Who knew so many people had signed up to “promote the homosexual agenda”? I don’t even know what it is. But apparently, you don’t have to sign up to support—you could be part of it and not even know!) The R’s are throwing distorting ads, funded by endless money, all over the place. Can the people see that, and ignore and punish them for it?

Aside from the Wall of Ads, we are also faced with Disenfranchisement of Democrats again. For some reason, this has come to be regarded as “one of Karl’s dirty tricks”—a clever ploy, a little hardball, rather to be admired.

I’ve covered East Texas politics for a long time. All over East Texas—and elsewhere around the country—there are elderly black Americans who don’t have driver’s licenses because they’ve never had a car, who can’t read because they never got to third grade, and who are scared of The Law because for 70 years or better they’ve been oppressed by it. So if they see a sheriff’s car blocking the road to the polling place and officials checking people’s papers, they head the other direction.

Voting isn’t hard, and believe it or not, these elderly blacks have worked all their lives and paid into Social Security and paid taxes, and they know a lot about how government affects people.

With pundits in Washington, who just a few weeks ago were claiming the Democrats would likely take the House by a razor-thin margin, now victoriously claiming they all along knew it would be a wipeout, I just feel that overconfidence juice starting to kick in. “Maybe 20 seats, maybe 40 seats” ... yeah. People could think: “So that’s settled. I don’t even really have to vote.” Folks, step up and make sure there’s some control on this regime.

May I remind you what this election is about? Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, unprecedented presidential powers, unmatched incompetence, unparalleled corruption, unwarranted eavesdropping, Katrina, Enron, Halliburton, global warming, Cheney’s secret energy task force, record oil company profits, $3 gasoline, FEMA, the Supreme Court, Diebold, Florida in 2000, Ohio in 2004, Terri Schiavo, stem cell research, golden parachutes, shrunken pensions, unavailable and expensive healthcare, habeas corpus, no weapons of mass destruction, sacrificed soldiers and Iraqi civilians, wasted billions, Taliban resurgence, expiration of the assault weapons ban, North Korea, Iran, intelligent design, Swift boat hit squads, and on and on.

This election is about that, but much more—it’s about honor, dignity and comity in this country. It’s about the Constitution, which gives us this great nation. Bush ran on a pledge of “restoring honor and integrity” to the White House. Instead, he brought us Tom DeLay, Roy Blunt, Katherine Harris, John Doolittle, Jerry Lewis, Richard Pombo, Mark Foley, Dennis Hastert, David Safavian, Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, Karl Rove and an illegal and immoral war in Iraq. People, it’s up to you.

Copyright 2006 Creators Syndicate Inc.

Reaction to Kerry Shows Repub True Side

2006-11-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

From Arianna:

Ken Mehlman sent out an email today with the subject line "Disgraceful." In it, the RNC chair pushes the bogus story line that "failed presidential candidate John Kerry brazenly insulted the brave American men and women serving in our military." You want brazen? Tom DeLay, Dick Armey, and Matthew Dowd are among those Republicans who admit that Kerry flubbed a line and wasn't attacking our troops. But not Mehlman, who writes: "Our troops deserve to be honored, not insulted by the likes of John Kerry." John Kerry, who volunteered to serve in Vietnam, was repeatedly honored for his service, and who has gone on to consistently fight for veterans' issues in the Senate. But what does it matter when there is the chance to rouse the base instincts of the GOP base? "John Kerry's outrageous comments," continues Mehlman's missive, "are a vivid reminder of why these elections matter. In six days, politicians who are as bad or worse than John Kerry could take control of Congress... We need you to now keep the John Kerry Democrats out of power."
This from the guy whose organization paid for the race-baiting Harold Ford ads. Clearly, Ken Mehlman knows from "Disgraceful." Talk about chutzpah!

No Impeachment?

2006-10-31T09:24:00.000-08:00

There may be no impeachment even if Democrats gain control of the House.

That's OK.

We don't have to impeach him, just turn him over to the World Court for war crimes.

2006-10-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

From The New York Times:

Several questionable ads in favor of GOP candidate Bob Corker have led to concern over the role of racism in the Tennessee Senate race between Corker and Rep. Harold Ford, Jr (D-TN). A fictional television commercial sponsored by the Republican National Committee features a white woman who says that she met Ford, who is black, at a Playboy party and then winks at the camera saying, "Harold, call me." A radio ad for Corker features the rumble of "tom-tom" drums every time Ford's name is mentioned.
Corker tried to distance himself from the "Playboy" television ad, asking the RNC to pull it after receiving a negative response, and the ad was taken off the airwaves Wednesday. Corker remains on the defensive as racism charges pile up against his campaign.

Karl Rove: Same Old, Same Old

2006-10-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

The WP reports:

BUFFALO, Oct. 21 -- Republicans have been promising they would ratchet up the rhetoric against Democrats in the final two weeks of the fall campaign, and the man President Bush called "The Architect" of his political campaigns offered a preview of what they have in mind on Friday night.

Appearing in support of embattled GOP Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), Karl Rove offered biting jibes against House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), took a shot at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and asserted that Democratic policies would leave the country weaker.

Same song, 10,000th verse. Could be better, but it's gonna get worse.

Who are they kidding?

2006-10-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

The New York Times says American citizens are exempt from Bush's latest attacks on the Consititution.

After reading Who Is 'Any Person' in Tribunal Law? by Robert Parry, we're not so sure.

Bush Signs Own Pardon

2006-10-18T03:09:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK - October 17 - The following is a statement by The Hon. Elizabeth Holtzman about President Bush signing the military tribunals bill into law today. The new law not only guts detainee protections of the War Crimes Act and Geneva Conventions, but perhaps most significantly and least well known, grants a stealth pardon for President Bush and high cabinet officials by quietly conferring on them immunity from prosecution for detainee abuse crimes like the ones committed at Abu Ghraib, retroactive to 9/11/01.

Holtzman is a former four-term Congresswoman from New York who served on the House Judiciary Committee during Nixon's impeachment. She co-authored the 1973 special prosecutor statute, and has co-written a new book (with Cynthia L. Cooper) analyzing illegal, unconstitutional and/or impeachable actions of the current administration, "The Impeachment of George W. Bush" ( http://www.impeachbushbook.com ). Her recent op-ed analyzing under the new military tribunals law grant of immunity to President Bush is posted here.

-----

Statement by Elizabeth Holtzman on Granting Immunity to President Bush Under the Military Tribunals Law

"Today will go down in the annals of infamy. By signing the military tribunals bill into law, President Bush has taken this country down a long dark road of shame.

"The bill countenances abuse of detainees in defiance of the Geneva Conventions and the country's past moral values and it suspends habeas corpus in defiance of the constitution. As bad as these features is the bill's grant of a pardon to President Bush and his top Cabinet officials for any crimes they may have committed under the War Crimes Act of 1996.

"When a president violates the country's criminal laws and then gets a secret grant of immunity for those crimes, he makes a mockery of the rule of law. Then all lawlessness is permissible.

"This provision in the bill creates a culture of impunity for torture and abuse of detainees. It was slipped into the bill in secret, without hearings or debate. Most members of Congress, most reporters and most Americans have no idea that this has happened.

"By doing this the President has stuck a horrific blow at our basic democratic values and our constitutional system.

"Instead of pardoning himself with the complicity of Congress, the President should be making public what acts of prisoner abuse he authorized the CIA to undertake or what acts of theirs he ratified."

Election hijinx still possible in Ohio

2006-10-17T03:32:00.000-07:00

A Republican candidate in Ohio, who happens to also be the Secretary of State and overseer of elections, could be in a position to rule his opponent ineligible due to a meritless technicality.

This from the state that gave the U.S. Dubya for another four years. Where else?

LA Times: Bush Insulting America

2006-10-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

From an LA Times editorial:

AT HIS NEWS CONFERENCE Wednesday, President Bush expressed not once but three times his view that if the U.S. does not defeat the terrorists "over there" in Iraq, it will have to fight them here in the United States. This crude formulation is tiresome and insulting to Americans' intelligence.

"I firmly believe that the American people understand that this is different from other wars because in this war, if we were to leave early, before the job is done, the enemy will follow us here," Bush said. This conjures up improbable images of Shiite death squads and Sunni insurgents stuffing bomb-making manuals into their backpacks and booking flights to LAX while U.S. troops march out of Baghdad.

Drill sergeants to be warm and fuzzy

2006-10-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

From Capitol Hill Blue:

Hollywood may have to tone down its portrayal of the military's screaming, in-your-face boot camp drill sergeant. In today's Army, shouting is out and a calmer approach to molding young minds is in, says the head of Pentagon personnel. The Army says it has reduced by nearly 7 percent the number of recruits who wash out in the first six to 12 months of military life.

"Part of it is changing the nature of how it treats people in basic training," David S. Chu, undersecretary for personnel and readiness, said Tuesday.

That means "less shouting at everyone, in essence, which some of you may remember from an earlier generation as being the modus operandi," he said.

The changes started about a year ago, as defense officials looked for ways to make drillmasters more effective, said Lt. Col. Mike Jones, head of Army National Guard recruiting.

He said the old way was to "talk loud, talk often, get their attention" _ shock treatment to teach discipline and mold the newly recruited civilian into a soldier.

Democracy Loses

2006-10-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

From Ralph Nader:

Bush has concentrated so much arbitrary power in his Presidency that he can be described in the vernacular as the torturer-in-chief, the jailer-in-chief and the arrestor-in-chief. Who needs the courts? Who needs the constitutional rights to habeas corpus for defendants to be able to argue that they were wrongfully arrested or capriciously imprisoned indefinitely without being charged?

The only light at the end of this Bush tunnel comes from many law professors and knowledgeable members of Congress, such as Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT), who believe that when this law reaches the Supreme Court, its offending and vague provisions will be declared unconstitutional. But that will take two years and in the meantime King George can continue expanding his massively losing tally of arrests, detentions and imprisonment of innocent people who are tortured or mistreated, isolated and defenseless.

Congress tramples Consitution

2006-09-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

Oh, boy ...

Many Rights in U.S. Legal System Absent in New Bill

The military trials bill approved by Congress lends legislative support for the first time to broad rules for the detention, interrogation, prosecution and trials of terrorism suspects far different from those in the familiar American criminal justice system.

President Bush's argument that the government requires extraordinary power to respond to the unusual threat of terrorism helped him win final support for a system of military trials with highly truncated defendant's rights. The United States used similar trials on just four occasions: during the country's revolution, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War and World War II.

Included in the bill, passed by Republican majorities in the Senate yesterday and the House on Wednesday, are unique rules that bar terrorism suspects from challenging their detention or treatment through traditional habeas corpus petitions. They allow prosecutors, under certain conditions, to use evidence collected through hearsay or coercion to seek criminal convictions.

Robbing the poor

2006-09-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

From the Niagra Falls Reporter:

The borrow-and-spend recklessness Bush and his Republican Congress have sold will burden future generations with unconscionable debt. Bush is still selling his old snake oil that Republicans are fighting to help working-class Americans and Democrats will reach into their pockets.

Every reputable economist on the planet tells us the Bush-GOP deficits are "unsustainable." The very notion that running up government debt to provide tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans benefits working families is simply laughable. Working people, whose payroll checks are subject to federal income taxes, are inordinately paying for that debt, a burden that will only increase under Bushevik rule.

The rest of the story >>>

Falwell's Foot in Mouth Disease

2006-09-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

And this man calls himself a Christian.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell acknowledged on Sunday saying that if Hillary Rodham Clinton were the Democrats' presidential nominee in 2008, it would motivate conservative evangelical Christians to oppose her more than if the devil himself were running.
Falwell said in a telephone interview that his comments to several hundred pastors and religious activists at the "Value Voter Summit" conference were "totally tongue-in-cheek."

"I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate," Falwell said at a breakfast session Friday in Washington. "I hope she's the candidate, because nothing will energize my (constituency) like Hillary Clinton," he said. "If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't."

Clinton press secretary Philippe Reines said Sunday, "Working for someone who believes in the Golden Rule, we're not going to engage in such vitriolic discourse — but it seems that a new low has been reached in demonizing political opponents."

Falwell told the AP that he did not intend to demonize the former first lady. "That was totally tongue-in-cheek and everyone in the building knew that and everyone laughed," Falwell said.

In the words of the wise old rabbit: What a maroon!

Privatizing MediCare

2006-09-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

Looks like the money the health insurance lobbying has been spending on Congress is paying off.

The New York Times reports:

For years, private insurers have offered alternatives to the federal Medicare program that are meant to give patients lower-cost options than the government coverage provides. More than 7 million people now subscribe to such plans, out of a total Medicare population of 42.5 million.

But suddenly a type of private insurance plan is gaining ground that looks very similar to the basic coverage long available to anyone with a federally issued Medicare card.

And the government is paying the private insurance industry a subsidy of 11 percent per patient, on average, to provide it.

FBI Investigation Force Triples

2006-09-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

From the New York Daily News:

WASHINGTON - There is so much political corruption on Capitol Hill that the FBI has had to triple the number of squads investigating lobbyists, lawmakers and influence peddlers, the Daily News has learned.

For decades, only one squad in Washington handled corruption cases because the crimes were seen as local offenses handled by FBI field offices in lawmakers' home districts.

But in recent years, the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and other abuses of power and privilege have prompted the FBI to assign 37 agents full-time to three new squads in an office near Capitol Hill.

FBI Assistant Director Chip Burrus told The News yesterday that he wants to detail even more agents to the Washington field office for a fourth corruption squad because so much wrongdoing is being uncovered.

See, the Republicans have created more jobs.

Tell the Senate not to Pardon Bush

2006-09-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

Join the campaign to insist Congress not give Bush a walk.

NO BUSH PARDON

No More 9/11 Conspiracy Theories, Please

2006-09-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

Check this out at AlterNet:

We have enough proof that the Bush administration is a bunch of lying evildoers. We don't need to make it up.

Bush Losing More GOP Support

2006-09-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

Many Republicans are just now seeing the craziness of George W. Bush.

"The White House has lost its way on a number of important issues," says Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. Bush's Iraq war, Hagel adds, "is a replay of Vietnam."

Republican Tom Kean Jr., running for Senate in New Jersey, says Bush has been dishonest with the American people about the war in Iraq.

"There have been horrendous mistakes made in the war in Iraq," Kean told the Newark Star-Ledger. "The president should acknowledge that. He needs to level with the American people."

What took them so long?

Stop the Evildoers

2006-09-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

Join human rights first in their attempt to stop the Bush evildoing.

A Republican's Republican

2006-09-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

House Majority Leader John Boehner said this about Democrats:

I wonder if they're more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people." They certainly don't want to take the terrorists on and defeat them.

That's a great way of starting a productive dialog.

Lest we forget

2006-09-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

The real axis of evil that destroyed America

Exerpt:

Five years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States of America lies beaten, battered and defeated - not by an enemy of extremists who hide in caves in Afghanistan but by its own government and leaders who sold out their nation for power and politics.

The America that exists today is a far cry from the one that woke up on the morning of September 11, 2001. It is a rotting corpse of a nation, eaten out by a cancer of power, greed and corruption.

Osama bin Laden and his minions did not destroy America when hijacked airliners slammed into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and an empty field. They simply provided the spark to ignite nothing less than a coup to take over the United States government, a coup staged by a group of traitorous men and women who swore to uphold the Constitution but, instead, set about to dismantle that hallowed document and destroy the freedoms that once defined a great nation.

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice and those who control Congress and support Bush's actions serve as co-conspirators in this coup.

It's way past time to have these thugs thrown out of office and into prison.

Article should end 'Path' debate

2006-09-09T05:38:00.000-07:00

After one reads this post by Jamison Foser, there should be no more need to waste time talking about this issue.

Is the show slanted and biased? No doubt there.

Is ABC slanted and biased? Need you ask.

Will we be watching? After ABC moved Monday Night Football from the free airwaves to cable? Not a chance. ABC has nothing to offer us.

Karl, Ken Kweer?

2006-09-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

The Closets of Karl and Ken

Sure raises some interesting points.

Global Warming Taken Seriously

2006-08-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

It seems that Global Warming is taken much more seriously in other countries.

In the United States, the world's biggest contributor of global warming pollution, our president has publicly refused to see the documentary film Americans are flocking to see, An Inconvenient Truth.

Compare that to New Zealand's Prime Minister, Helen Clark, who recently made a point to view An Inconvenient Truth during the Wellington Film Festival.

Not only was she moved by it, but she immediately arranged a screening for the entire New Zealand Parliament and government officials, scheduled for next week.

Of course when you have a representative of the major cause of global warming sitting in the White House, the problem will be ignored in the interest of profit.

What's in a slogan?

2006-08-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

The point of public relations slogans like "Support our troops" is
that they don't mean anything. ... That's the whole point of good
propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and
everybody's going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it
doesn't mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention
from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy?
That's the one you're not allowed to talk about. -- Noam Chomsky

Takes One to Know One

2006-08-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

Following the break up an alleged plot to blow up U.S. passenger airplanes flying out of the United Kingdom, George W. Bush said, "this nation is at war with Islamic fascists."

He ought to know a fascist when he sees one. After all, he only needs to look in the mirror.

Killing state No. 3 facing challenges

2006-08-08T03:51:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma, who has killed more condemned prisoners than any other states except Texas and Virginia, is facing court challenges to its lethal injection method.

The Los Angeles Times writes:

Death by lethal injection faces a significant challenge in federal court today in Oklahoma City, with doctors contending that the state's method creates an unnecessary risk that a condemned inmate will suffer excruciating pain, in violation of the constitutional prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

Nearly 30 years ago, Oklahoma became the first state to develop a procedure for lethal injection — leading three dozen other states to develop similar methods.

It seems some doctors are opposed to the methods.

In sworn statements in the case, anesthesiologists Dr. Mark Heath and Dr. Thomas K. Henthorn say Oklahoma's method shows state corrections officials have a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the role of the three drugs they use in lethal injections.

Some critics point out that the United States is the only civilized country that still uses the death penalty.

Others say use of the death penalty proves the United States has yet to become civilized.

Report Detail Administration Misconduct

2006-08-07T17:49:00.000-07:00

From Mother Jones:

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Rep. John Conyers, Jr., the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is releasing a 370-page report, describing in full numerous instances of lawlessness and misconduct by the Bush Administration. Many members of congress were quick to hail recent court cases, including the Hamdan decision, as “victories” for democracy, but Conyers refuses to buy it. “The unfortunate reality is we are a long way from being out of the constitutional woods under the dangerous combination of an imperial Bush presidency and a compliant GOP Congress,” he writes.

The only surprising thing about the report is the way Congress, the Media and the American people continually overlook the criminality of the Bush White House.

Past time for a new suit

2006-08-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

... the citizen who thinks he sees that the commonwealth's political clothes are worn out, and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit,is disloyal; he is a traitor.
- Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Joe wants to be cool

2006-08-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman had this to say about Ned Lamont's appearance on The Colbert Report:

I think you can try too hard to be cool and the coolness can come back to hit you in the face.

Lamont is Lieberman's Democratic primary opponent.

Sour grapes?

Carnage in Lebanon to Continue

2006-07-31T10:01:00.000-07:00

Israel has rejected calls for a cease fire over its incursion into Lebanon.

From the BBC:

Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz says Israel cannot agree to an immediate ceasefire, despite a partial halt to air strikes on south Lebanon.

Mr Peretz told parliament that if the offensive stopped, "the extremists will rear their heads anew".
He said Israel intended to "expand and strengthen" its operations in Lebanon.
Earlier Israel suspended air raids for 48 hours - apart from those to defend its civilians or troops - to allow an inquiry into civilian deaths at Qana.
At least 54 people, many of them children, were killed in the southern Lebanese village on Sunday when the house in which they were sheltering was hit by Israeli war planes - the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July.

Hezbollah militants may have started it, but clearly Israel continues to be the loser on the world stage.

RIP: Mickey Spillane

2006-07-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles Times has reported the death of Mickey Spillane, one of our favorite writers.

"How c-could you?" she gasped.

I only had a moment before talking to a corpse, but I got it in.

"It was easy," I said.

RIP, Mickey.