We need to drill, drill, drill...so we can export our oil to other countries. Does that make sense? (Only to right wing nuts who don't have a clue what's really going on.)
July 8, 2008
US Exports Record Gasoline and Diesel Fuel
While the U.S. oil industry wants access to more federal lands to help reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, U.S.-based companies are shipping record amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel to other countries.
A record 1.6 million barrels a day in U.S. refined petroleum products were exported during the first four months of this year, up 33 percent from 1.2 million barrels a day over the same period in 2007. Shipments this February topped 1.8 million barrels a day for the first time during any month, according to final numbers from the Energy Department.
July 10, 2008
An American Life Worth $1 Million Less Today
An American Life Is Worth $1 Million Less Than It Was 5 Years Ago, EPA Says
(AP) It's not just the American dollar that's losing value. A government agency has decided that an American life isn't worth what it used to be.
The "value of a statistical life" is $6.9 million, the Environmental Protection Agency reckoned in May _ a drop of nearly $1 million from just five years ago.
Impeachable Offense
If a US teenager were tortured by so-called terrorists, every American would be up in arms. But when we do it, everyone falls into a deep slumber. Another war crime, another impeachable offense.
July 15, 2008
Kill me, moans young Guantanamo inmate
TORONTO — Jailhouse video of Omar Khadr under interrogation by a Canadian spy service agent — the first public glimpse of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay — was released Tuesday showing the teenager at times defiant, at times distraught, and rebuffed in his pleas to return to Canada.
Parts of the 10 minutes of video from a hidden camera — selected by his lawyers from more than seven hours of footage — show the 16-year-old Khadr weeping, his face buried in his hands.
July 18, 2008
In Reversals, Bush, McCain Embrace Progressive Positions on Iran and Afghanistan
Two long-held progressive positions were embraced this week in stunning foreign policy reversals by George Bush and John McCain. First, the Bush administration will sit down at the negotiating table tomorrow with Iran and is seriously considering establishing a permanent diplomatic presence in Teheran. Second, John McCain - after downplaying Afghanistan in his campaign and failing to attend a single hearing on Afghanistan the past two years - has reversed himself and embraced Sen. Obama's plan to increase our troop commitment. The Bush administration has also signaled that, like progressives, it wants to respond to commanders' in the field and increase U.S. forces in Afghanistan. John McCain has yet to indicate whether he still believes diplomatic talks with Iran represent appeasement, or whether he will join President Bush and embrace Obama's position on Iran as well.
The approval rating of Congress is at an all time low. Democrats failed to uphold the oaths of office and protect the constitution from its greatest enemy - the Bush Administration.
July 16, 2008
Congressional panel to review Kucinich's call to impeach Bush
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich's single article of impeachment will get a committee hearing -- but not on removing President Bush from office.
The House on Tuesday voted 238 to 180 to send his impeachment article -- for Bush's reasoning in taking the country to war in Iraq -- to the Judiciary Committee, which buried Kucinich's previous 35-article effort in June.
Bush's military and Bush's contractors are killing our soldiers and lying about it. We don't need enemies when incompetence is the norm.
Impeachable OffenseJuly 18, 2008
Electrical Risks at Iraq Bases Are Worse Than Said
WASHINGTON — Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents.
During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military's largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007.
Everyone wants us out of Iraq except Bush. Maybe Bush will give in and free these people from our occupation.
Impeachable OffenseJuly 16, 2008
Iraqi PM says US should leave as soon as possible
BERLIN - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says U.S. troops should leave Iraq "as soon as possible," according to a magazine report, and he called presidential candidate Barack Obama's suggestion of 16 months "the right timeframe for a withdrawal."
In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel magazine released Saturday, al-Maliki said he was not seeking to endorse Obama. The Illinois senator and likely Democratic nominee has pledged to withdraw combat troops from Iraq within 16 months if he is elected.
Stopping inflation is easy...all the Fed has to do is raise interest rates. But we have assholes running things these days. Not only aren't they raising rates but we just got another welfare check (a.k.a "a stimulus package"). The stimulus packages all but guarantees we're going to have a very, very severe recession. The government should do whatever needs to be done to slow spending, not increasing it with more welfare programs. Idiots.
July 16, 2008
Bernanke: too little growth, too much inflation
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the U.S. economy faces a "difficult period" of too little growth and too much inflation. Speaking shortly after the Labor Department released a miserable June consumer price index, Bernanke told the House Financial Services panel that "inflation currently is too high." The data showed a 1.1% jump in headline inflation and a 0.3% rise in core prices, excluding food and energy costs.
"It is a top priority of the Federal Reserve to run a policy to bring inflation to an acceptable level consistent with price stability as we go forward," Bernanke said Bernanke clearly had a sense that the June price data was going to be poor. He told the Senate Banking Committee in his first day of testimony on Tuesday that "inflation seems likely to move temporarily higher in the near term." Although Bernanke reserved his clearest warning for a possible rate hike if consumers begin to base their economic decisions on expectation of higher prices, he was uneasy about growth as well. "The possibility of higher energy prices, tighter credit conditions, and a still-deeper contraction in housing markets all represent significant downside risks to the outlook for growth," Bernanke said.
The Bush White House and the military lied to the American people. What more needs to be investigated?
Impeachable OffenseJuly 14, 2008
Bush officials' 'lack of recall' thwarted Tillman, Lynch probes
WASHINGTON — "A near universal lack of recall" by Bush administration officials has thwarted a congressional investigation into whether the administration deliberately misrepresented the details of the friendly fire death of former NFL player Patrick Tillman in Afghanistan and the capture of Jessica Lynch in the first days of the Iraq invasion.
In a report released Monday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform expressed skepticism about the widespread lack of memory of the two events, which were the subject of widespread media coverage and can be counted among the best known incidents of the wars.
I'm listing this as an impeachable offense because the Bush White House drastically cut back on IRS auditors so criminals can go free.
Impeachable OffenseJuly 17, 2008
Tax cheats cost Americans $100 billion
WASHINGTON (AP) -- European bankers and some of their U.S. clients can expect a grilling from a Senate panel looking into offshore tax abuses that investigators believe are costing American taxpayers about $100 billion a year.
The questioning, expected at a hearing Thursday, follows the release of a report by the Senate panel accusing the banks of helping commit massive tax evasion and urging tougher laws to combat offshore tax havens around the world.
July 10, 2008
Can you still afford to retire? Check Again.
The economic downturn has thrown an extra problem at older Baby Boomers who had planned to retire over the next few years: They now have less money at their disposal than they had projected.
Retirement portfolios are shrinking. Home equity is plunging. And Social Security faces an uncertain future. This trifecta of grim news means that all but the wealthiest Baby Boomers may have to review — and possibly rethink — whether their retirement target dates are still realistic.
McCain is the perfect conservative. He promises to spend and borrow and he promises to balance the budget. Since this nonsense began (under Reagan) we've gone from less than $1 trillion of debt to almost $10 trillion. If tax cuts work, why can't republican presidents balance the budget?
July 9, 2008
McContradiction
For example, McCain has publicly promised to "abolish" and "phase-out" the Alternative Minimum Tax, the separate tax system that falls on about 4 million high-income taxpayers each year. His web site still says he will "permanently repeal" it.
But the Center, apparently based on the details provided by McCain aides, concluded that the Arizona senator "does not plan to repeal the individual AMT" but only to exempt more families from it. As David Leonhardt of The New York Times has pointed out, this will take more upper-income families off the AMT, but it is simply not a repeal.
A better headline could have been "The Surge Failed" or "The Media Was Rolled Again." The entire reason for the surge no longer exists...they want us out, there will be no plan to fix Iraq, we will leave Iraq and the GOP will claim victory. Idiots!
Impeachable OffenseJuly 12, 2008
U.S.-Iraqi give up on long-term deal
WASHINGTON - U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have abandoned efforts to conclude a comprehensive agreement governing the long-term status of U.S troops in Iraq before the end of the Bush presidency, according to senior U.S. officials, effectively leaving talks over an extended U.S. military presence there to the next administration.
In place of the formal status-of-forces agreement negotiators had hoped to complete by July 31, the two governments are now working on a "bridge" document, more limited in both time and scope, that would allow basic U.S. military operations to continue beyond the expiration of a U.N. mandate Dec. 31.
This is a very old story but it's getting more print in recent weeks. The first story on this scandal said there were 11 Americans killed by KBR, this one says 13...so the number keeps rising, the press remains mostly silent and the congress remains asleep at the wheel and the Bush White House does nothing to stop KBR from killing our soldiers.
Impeachable OffenseJuly 13, 2008
US contractor in Iraq accused of electrocution deaths
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The biggest US military contractor in Iraq, KBR, was steeped in another scandal Friday as lawmakers, families and experts accused it of recklessly causing the electrocution deaths of US soldiers.
"While I had always been prepared to hear that one of my sons died by way of a firefight or a roadside bomb, I was dumbstruck to hear that my son was electrocuted while taking a shower in his living quarters," said Cheryl Harris, mother of army Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth, who died in January.
The GOP and Blue Dog Democrats say we can cut taxes and balance the budget. All we have to do is cut spending. So, here's an idea, lets give them the same pension plan, the same salary, the same health care plan we have. Conservatives will stop asking for cuts from the rest of us and start finding fixes for all of us.
July 17, 2008
U.S. still flunks health care test
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States fails on most measures of health care quality, with Americans waiting longer to see doctors and more likely to die of preventable or treatable illnesses than people in other industrialized countries, a report released on Thursday said.
Americans squander money on wasteful administrative costs, illnesses caused by medical error and inefficient use of time, the report from the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund concluded.
Here's an off the war thought. Wouldn't it be nice if every minister, priest and pope who utters anti gay comments be given the same one year in jail sentence? Maybe then they'd stop using gays to keep conservatives in their place.
July 11, 2008
Former U.S. diplomat gets year for anti-Arab comments
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A retired U.S. diplomat was sentenced on Friday to one year in prison and fined $10,000 for sending racist, threatening messages to an Arab-American group, the Justice Department said.
The diplomat, Patrick Syring of Arlington, Virginia, sent abusive and intimidating e-mails and voice mails to employees of the Arab American Institute, a Washington group.
The Catholic Church is very conservative and they've had decades of sexual scandals with children. Now a conservative diplomat says it's ok to have sex with children because other culters accept it. Is this a uniquely conservative problem or does the party of God hide behind God?
July 10, 2008
Ex-diplomat: Sex with teens OK in foreign cultures
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - An ex-diplomat convicted of having sex with teenage girls in the Congo and Brazil and taping the encounters is asking a judge for leniency, claiming that cultural differences in those countries make sex with girls more acceptable.
Gons G. Nachman, 42, pleaded guilty in April to possessing child pornography after admitting that he had sex with 14- to 17-year-old girls while serving as a consular officer in Brazil and Congo and documenting the encounters in pictures and videos.
The judge has agreed to delay Nachman's sentencing until Aug. 22 so that he can be examined by noted forensic psychologist Stanton Samenow. Defense attorney Stephen Stine said in court papers that a psychological examination might show that cultural differences led Nachman to believe that sexual contact with teenage girls was acceptable, and that should have an impact on what kind of sentence he receives.
This generation has had two periods of major bank collapses. The first was during the Reagan and the Bush years and now during Bush 41 tenure in office. Is it conservatism, or inaptitude?
July 16, 2008
'Who Is Next' lists 7 banks in 'danger zone'
Regional bank stocks, which got slammed Monday after the government took over IndyMac Bank over the weekend, recovered a bit on Tuesday. But concerns linger over what other banks could fail.
Bove said a ratio over 5 percent "represents danger." Yet only seven of the 107 institutions were over the 5 percent threshold.
The institutions (and their ratios) were Downey Financial (13.9 percent), Corus Bankshares (13.2 percent), Doral Financial (12.8 percent), IndyMac Bancorp (10.5 percent), FirstFed Financial (6.7 percent), Oriental Financial Group (6.12 percent) and Bank United Financial (5.4 percent).
IndyMac is by far the largest of these. Washington Mutual, one of the nation's 10 largest financial institutions, was 12th on Bove's list, with a ratio of 3.9 percent.
July 9, 2008
Bush Threatens to Veto Homeless Vet Bill
WASHINGTON - The House approved a homeless veterans housing bill overwhelmingly Wednesday, even though White House advisers warned they'd urge President Bush to veto it.
Bush's advisers said in a statement they oppose a wage provision in the bill that requires builders of veterans housing to pay employees prevailing wage. The advisers said that provision is the bill's major problem. Bush has long opposed any changes to the law that would either increase or decrease the number of employers subject to the prevailing wage requirements in the Davis-Bacon Act, the advisers said.
June 18, 2008 (posted July 15)
GOP Wants State Veto Power Over Offshore Drilling
On Capitol Hill, Republicans are proposing several bills to undo the ban. They differ on how close to shore drilling could begin, but all would give states a veto on oil exploration within 100 miles of their coastlines. Ms. Perino said Mr. Bush believed Congress should pass one of the bills, so the federal government and the states could work together to share revenues from exploration.
Bush promised to clean up corrupt corporate accounting, but what do we have after seven years of Bush...more corporate accounting.
July 14, 2008
Citigroup's $1.1 Trillion of Mysterious Assets Shadows Earnings
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- At an investor presentation in May, Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said shrinking the bank's $2.2 trillion balance sheet, the biggest in the U.S., was a cornerstone of his turnaround plan.
Nowhere mentioned in the accompanying 66-page handout were the additional $1.1 trillion of assets that New York-based Citigroup keeps off its books: trusts to sell mortgage-backed securities, financing vehicles to issue short-term debt and collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, to repackage bonds.
July 14, 2008
Bush claimed to give us golf for soldiers and LIED
George W. Bush famously claimed to have given up golf out of respect for soldiers in Iraq:
"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."
But this great sacrifice has taken the backseat to a more urgent concern -- raising money for John McCain:
Impeachable Offense
July 8, 2008
One-Third of Guantanamo POWs to be Freed
WASHINGTON - U.S. and Yemen remain at odds over a proposal to release more than one-third of the detainees from Guantanamo Bay, officials said Monday, even as the Bush administration wrestles with the future of the military prison.
About 100 of the approximately 270 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo Bay are Yemeni nationals. A U.S. delegation visited the capital city of San'a last week to discuss the possible transfer of a few detainees to Yemen. Yemeni officials hoped to negotiate the release of all but the most dangerous prisoners.
The future of Guantanamo Bay has been in doubt since the Supreme Court ruled last month that detainees have the right to challenge their imprisonment in U.S. courts. A deal with Yemen could dramatically shrink the inmate population before the Bush administration is forced to explain to federal judges why the detainees are being held.
Impeachable Offense
July 8, 2008
Free This Detainee
There's someone I'd like to introduce to President Bush. Also to Chief Justice John Roberts and Sen. John McCain. His name is Huzaifa Parhat, and that get-together might be tricky to arrange. Parhat is also known as ISN (Internment Serial Number) 320 at Guantanamo Bay.
Parhat is Uighur, a Muslim ethnic minority group from western China. He fled China for Afghanistan, and, when the camp he was living in there was bombed by U.S. forces, went to Pakistan. For a bounty, Parhat was turned over to U.S. authorities and shipped to Guantanamo.
He has been held as an enemy combatant for more than six years -- even though the government concedes he was never a member of the Taliban or al-Qaeda and never took part in any hostilities against the United States.
July 8, 2008
69 Senators Voting to Give Telecoms Immunity
Senators Voting in Favor of Illegal Wiretapping and Immunity
Kick them out of office ASAPAlexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCaskill (D-MO)McConnell (R-KY)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
Regardless of what Congress did, Bush was going to do whatever he wanted to do anyway. That's what happens when the Congress is filled with wimps.
Centrists and conservatives are still controlling the Congress. Until everyone of them is defeated our Constitution is in peril. Obama has shown himself for what he really is...a worthless Bush clone - a coward! My suggestion is to stop donating to this clown. Maybe he'll learn he has to protect the Constitution before protecting his ass.
Impeachable OffenseJuly 8, 2008
Senate bows to Bush, approves surveillance bill
WASHINGTON - Bowing to President Bush's demands, the Senate approved and sent the White House a bill Wednesday to overhaul bitterly disputed rules on secret government eavesdropping and shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits complaining they helped the U.S. spy on Americans.
The relatively one-sided vote, 69-28, came only after a lengthy and heated debate that pitted privacy and civil liberties concerns against the desire to prevent terrorist attacks. It ended almost a year of wrangling over surveillance rules and the president's warrantless wiretapping program that was initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Bush White House told the truth and quickly apologized.
July 8, 2008
Italian PM Insulting Bio and the Apology
The White House has apologized to Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi for a briefing describing him as a political "amateur" who is "hated by many".
The "insulting" biography was included in a press kit distributed to reporters traveling with President George W Bush to a meeting of world leaders in Japan.
He was "one of the most controversial leaders" of a country "known for governmental corruption and vice".
Mission Accomplished
Boone's ads are very good. President Carter had it right...conserve and find new energy sources. Reagan got it all wrong (again).
July 8, 2008
Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens wants to supplant oil with wind
SWEETWATER, Texas — Get ready, America, T. Boone Pickens is coming to your living room.
The legendary Texas oilman, corporate raider, shareholder-rights crusader, philanthropist and deep-pocketed moneyman for conservative politicians and causes, wants to drive the USA's political and economic agenda.
"We're paying $700 billion a year for foreign oil. It's breaking us as a nation, and I want to elevate that question to the presidential debate, to make it the No. 1 issue of the campaign this year," Pickens says.
Maybe another deficit-creating tax cut is in order. We have nearly $10 trillion of debt - most of which was created under two presidents; Reagan and Bush 43. Fiscal conservatives always lie about the budget, tax cuts, surpluses and balanced budgets and the media lets them get away with it.
July 8, 2008
The buck doesn't stop here; it just keeps falling
Signs saying "We accept euros" are cropping up in the windows of some Manhattan retailers. A Belgium company is trying to gobble up St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, the nation's largest brewer and iconic Super Bowl advertiser.
The almighty dollar is mighty no more. It has been declining steadily for six years against other major currencies, undercutting its role as the leading international banking currency. The long slide is fanning inflation at home and playing a major role in the run-up of oil and gasoline prices everywhere.
Helms, like many conservatives, attacked people who can't defend themselves - people without a voice. Now, that's he's silenced, let this attack pay tribute to the era of conservative incompetence and arrogance.
July 4, 2008
Jesse Helms: American Garbage
Jesse Helms died today, 25 years too late, but the stench of his rotten career will always linger in the Senate, and over the South.
He was a hero to bigots and the cigarette corporations, a menace to the poor and downtrodden, and a mean little troll whose heart was so wrecked by wickedness that doctors had to patch it up with coronary valves from a pig.
So where are all those "faith-based" programs that are eating up billions of dollars?
There's always enough money to go to war, stay in that war long after we're asked to leave and give tax cuts to the rich, but there's not enough money to help people who need it. In fact, every major corporation in the country employs lobbyists who's sole job is to ask for more government hand-outs. Corporate welfare goes on for decades, but individuals are forced off of welfare in a couple years. I've never meet a conservative who's Christian.
July 5, 2008
As Gas Prices Soar, Elderly Face Cuts in Aid
Faced with soaring gasoline prices, agencies around the country that provide services to the elderly say they are having to cut back on programs like Meals on Wheels, transportation assistance and home care, especially in rural areas that depend on volunteers who provide their own gas. In a recent survey by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, more than half said they had already cut back on programs because of gas costs, and 90 percent said they expected to make cuts in the 2009 fiscal year.
"I've never seen the increase in need at this level," said Robert McFalls, chief executive of the Area Agency on Aging in Palm Beach, Fla., whose office has a waiting list of 1,500 people. Volunteers who deliver meals or drive the elderly to medical appointments have cut back their miles, Mr. McFalls said.
July 5, 2008
Americans' unhappy birthday: 'Too much wrong right now'
But then talk turns to the state of the Union, and the Optimists become decidedly bleak.
They use words such as "terrified," "disgusted" and "scary" to describe what one calls "this mess" we Americans find ourselves in. Then comes the list of problems constituting the mess: a protracted war, $4-a-gallon gas, soaring food prices, uncertainty about jobs, an erratic stock market, a tougher housing market, and so on and so forth.
July 9, 2008
Librarian with 'McCain=Bush' sign charged with trespassing
DENVER (AP) -- The lawyer for a woman who received a trespassing ticket after a liberal group's protest outside John McCain's town hall event in Denver says she will contest the ticket.
Carol Kreck, 60, a former reporter for The Denver Post, held a sign that read "McCain = Bush" Monday when police removed her from the atrium of the Denver Performing Arts Complex.
If Iran is so bad, why are we selling to them. Either Bush is lying about Iran being a threat or he's a hypocrite. Since both are probably true, we know he and McCain can't be trusted when it comes to Iran (or anything else).
Impeachable OffenseJuly 8, 2008
US Exported $158 Million to Iran
WASHINGTON - U.S. exports to Iran — including brassieres, bull semen, cosmetics and possibly even weapons — grew more than tenfold during President Bush's years in office even as he accused Iran of nuclear ambitions and helping terrorists. America sent more cigarettes to Iran , at least $158 million worth under Bush, than any other products.
Other surprising shipments to Iran during the Bush administration: fur clothing, sculptures, perfume and musical instruments. Top states shipping goods to Iran include California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of seven years of U.S. government trade data.
July 8, 2008
Group seeks Bush sewage 'tribute'
A citizens group in San Francisco wants to pay an ironic tribute to President George W Bush when he leaves office - by naming a sewage plant after him.
The group, calling itself the Presidential Memorial Committee of San Francisco, wants the issue voted on at this November's election.
We went to war using fabricated intelligence against a country that was unarmed by the UN and after years of fighting this war for no reason with an unarmed country we still haven't won. Is the military going to try to push for more Iraq War comedies?
July 7, 2008
Military Hopes to Shape Iraq War Movies
Burned by portrayals of Vietnam, the Pentagon focuses on a new era of filmmakers. 'It's important to tell the full story,' says Army Lt. Col. J. Todd Breasseale, who is deployed to Wilshire Boulevard.
There's a war going on, and Army Lt. Col. J. Todd Breasseale has a mission.
But it's far removed from the captured Iraqi palace where he was once stationed. He fights his war now from an office on Wilshire Boulevard lined with movie posters chronicling conflicts real and imagined, from "Patton" to "War of the Worlds."
Let's see...the Fed kept interest rates low so housing would take off and keep Bush's sorry excuse for an economy going, but now that it's all falling apart they say Congress should do nothing. Maybe they should have increased interest rates a long time ago and stopped the houseing "bubble."
July 8, 2008
Fed study says home price drop 'necessary'
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Large-scale government intervention in the US housing crisis would be counterproductive and prevent a "necessary" correction in home prices, according to a Federal Reserve study released Monday.
The study by economist William Emmons of the St. Louis Fed concluded that "government interventions directly in housing or mortgage markets are not necessarily the best policy responses."
July 8, 2008
Zogby: Obama Leads McCain in Electoral College Tally, 273-160
The Democrat also leads 44% to 38% in the nationwide horserace test as Libertarian Bob Barr wins 6%
UTICA, New York – As the race for President passes the Independence Day holiday and heads toward the dog days of summer, Sen. Barack Obama holds a 44% to 38% lead over Sen. John McCain in the horserace contest, but also leads by a substantial margin in a state-by-state Electoral College tally, a new Zogby Interactive poll shows.
Bush promised to leave Iraq when the Iraqis asked us to leave. He lied to the American and to the Iraqi people. Nixon was forced to resign because he lied to the American people, yet Bush is still in office after lying about WMD. This generation of cowards that we call the Congress have shamed us for the rest of time.
Impeachable OffenseJuly 7, 2008
Iraq floats US pullout timetable
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has raised the prospect of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
It comes as the US attempts to push through a new security deal before the end of 2008, when the UN mandate allowing a US presence in Iraq expires.
The Pentagon has played down the suggestion of a withdrawal timetable.
The legacy of conservatism is trillions of dollars of debt. They'll never support Obama if he asks for tax increases to pay down what they borrowed...trust me. They support war and a strong military as long as they're getting their taxes cut.
July 7, 2008
Why some conservatives are backing Obama
(07-07) 04:00 PDT Washington -- The "Obamacans" that Sen. Barack Obama used to joke about - Republican apostates who whispered their support for his candidacy - have morphed into a new phenomenon, or syndrome, as detractors like to call it: the Obamacons.
These are conservatives who have publicly endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee, dissidents from the brain trust of think tanks, ex-officials and policy magazines that have fueled the Republican Party since the 1960s. Scratch the surface of this elite, and one finds a profound dismay that is far more damaging to the GOP than the usual 10 percent of registered Republicans expected to switch sides during a presidential election.
The richest country in the world can afford tax cuts for the very rich, even if we had to borrow every penny of it (over 3 trillion dollars under Bush alone), but of course we can't afford to care for the elderly anymore. We live in an increasing sick society. Give to those to who don't need and it and take from those who do.
July 8, 2008
Doctors urge Congress to abandon Medicare cuts
The county's elderly are caught in the middle of a health care tussle in Washington that shows little sign of letting up amid fierce election-year posturing.
Congress last week allowed a scheduled 10.6 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements to proceed, meaning local doctors will soon get less money to cover the costs of treating seniors and disabled patients enrolled in the federal insurance program.
Traditionalists think a penis should be the sole determinate of priesthood. When will traditionalists grow up. They sound like five-year olds.
July 8, 2008
Anglican Vote on Female Bishops Sparks Threat of Separation
July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Traditionalists threatened to quit the Church of England over female bishops, saying that "actions always have consequences," after the church's parliament voted yesterday to go ahead with consecration of women.
Forward in Faith, a worldwide association of Anglicans opposed to women as priests or bishops, said in a statement posted on its Web site that it "regretted" the church's decision not to appoint "super-bishops" to whom opponents of female consecration can turn if a female bishop is appointed to head the church in their area.
ALL the military experts who testified against allowing gays in the military under Clinton lied under oath. Senators who believed their lies knew they were lying. What studies did they have to prove they were telling the truth? None...yet new laws were crafted against gays using their lies. The era of idiocy has been upon for quite sometime now and it's time for these children to go away or shut up.
July 8, 2008
Military gays don't undermine unit cohesion
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress should repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law because the presence of gays in the military is unlikely to undermine the ability to fight and win, according to a new study released by a California-based research center.
The study was conducted by four retired military officers, including the three-star Air Force lieutenant general who in early 1993 was tasked with implementing President Clinton's policy that the military stop questioning recruits on their sexual orientation.
According to conservative propaganda, tax cuts are supposed to stimulate the economy and create more jobs. Since it's not happening, their ideology is based entirely on beliefs that are wrong. It's time to remind them of this fact every time they open their mouths.
July 3, 2008Impeachable Offense
438,000 Americans lost their jobs so far this year
WASHINGTON - The nation lost jobs for a sixth month in a row in June, a storm of pink slips drenching this year's July Fourth holiday for more than 60,000 Americans and leaving thousands more worried about the future.
n June alone, employers got rid of 62,000 jobs, bringing total losses so far this year close to a staggering half-million — 438,000, according to the Labor Department's report released Thursday. The economy needs to generate more than 100,000 new jobs a month for employment to remain stable.
June 18, 2008Impeachable Offense
U.S. hid suspects from Red Cross
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military hid the locations of suspected terrorist detainees and concealed harsh treatment to avoid the scrutiny of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), according to documents a Senate committee released Tuesday.
"We may need to curb the harsher operations while ICRC is around. It is better not to expose them to any controversial techniques," Lt. Col. Diane Beaver, a military lawyer who has since retired, said during an October 2002 meeting at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, prison to discuss employing interrogation techniques that some have equated with torture.
Beaver also appeared to confirm that U.S. officials at another detention facility — Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan — were using sleep deprivation to "break" detainees well before Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved that technique. "True, but officially it is not happening," she told another person at the 2002 meeting.
A third person at the meeting, Jonathan Fredman, chief counsel for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, said detainees were moved routinely to avoid the scrutiny of the ICRC, which keeps tabs on prisoners in conflicts around the world. "In the past when the ICRC has made a big deal about certain detainees, the [Defense Department] has 'moved' them away from the attention of the ICRC," Fredman said, according to the minutes.
August 2008 issue (posted July 5, 2008)
Believe Me, It's Torture
You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it "simulates" the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure. The "board" is the instrument, not the method. You are not being boarded. You are being watered. This was very rapidly brought home to me when, on top of the hood, which still admitted a few flashes of random and worrying strobe light to my vision, three layers of enveloping towel were added. In this pregnant darkness, head downward, I waited for a while until I abruptly felt a slow cascade of water going up my nose. Determined to resist if only for the honor of my navy ancestors who had so often been in peril on the sea, I held my breath for a while and then had to exhale and—as you might expect—inhale in turn. The inhalation brought the damp cloths tight against my nostrils, as if a huge, wet paw had been suddenly and annihilatingly clamped over my face. Unable to determine whether I was breathing in or out, and flooded more with sheer panic than with mere water, I triggered the pre-arranged signal and felt the unbelievable relief of being pulled upright and having the soaking and stifling layers pulled off me. I find I don't want to tell you how little time I lasted.
Note the absence of cable news and talk radio. Cable News and Talk Radio must learn to grow up. MSNBC has potential but it still has far too much worthless tripe that they insist on calling news. If they want to be taken seriously they have to do news, not gossip. A nice way to start would be a hard-hitting review of the lies Rush Limbaugh says. A week long series pitting fact against Limbaugh's idiocy would win accolades from real journalists.
2008
2008 Murrow National Winners
RTNDA Announces the Winners of the 2008 International Edward R. Murrow Awards Honoring 54 News Organizations for Journalism Excellence
The Radio-Television News Directors Association has announced the 2008 winners of the coveted Edward R. Murrow Awards, honoring excellence in electronic journalism.
In the network television category, ABC News has been awarded a total of six Murrows, including one for Overall Excellence. CBS News wins four awards, including one for Best Newscast for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. NBC and ESPN have also won.
The conservatives members of the US Supreme Court said that if we allowed these innocent men to be charged and tried, we'd lose the war on terror. Idiocy has no bounds. Conservatives have fallen as low as they can get. Now, we can only hope they're grow up someday, but it'll be many decades before that happens.
Impeachable OffenseJune 15, 2008
America's prison for terrorists often held the wrong men
American troops dragged Akhtiar out of his home in Gardez, Afghanistan, in May 2003, flew him to Guantanamo in shackles that July and held him there for more than three years. The tribal leader from eastern Afghanistan belonged to an insurgent group and had taken part in rocket attacks on U.S. forces, American officials said.
"He was not an enemy of the government, he was a friend of the government," a senior Afghan intelligence officer told McClatchy. Akhtiar was imprisoned at Guantanamo on the basis of false information that local anti-government insurgents fed to U.S. troops, he said.
An eight-month McClatchy investigation in 11 countries on three continents has found that Akhtiar was one of dozens and perhaps hundreds of men whom the U.S. has wrongfully imprisoned in Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence, old personal scores or bounty payments.
July 4, 2008
European exchanges post sharp falls on fears for banking sector
LONDON (AFP) - European stock exchanges suffered sharp falls Friday on fresh fears for the health of the banking sector sparked by a report from Goldman Sachs.
The US investment bank said in a note it had lowered its 2008-2010 forecasts for more than 40 European banks, warning that some of them may have to raise between 60 and 90 billion euros (94-141 billion dollars) to shore up finances in the face of a nearly year-long credit crisis.
July 2, 2008
Dollar Drops 41% Against Euro Under Bush
July 3 (Bloomberg) -- When President George W. Bush went to his first Group of Eight summit in 2001, a dominant issue was the dollar -- the strong dollar, that is. The U.S. currency was on a record-setting streak, and the free-marketeering president wasn't going to stand in the way.
On the eve of Bush's last G-8 appearance, the dollar's gyrations are again in the crossfire. This time, it is a weak currency, upended by slumping growth, a housing recession and record gas prices, that is gnawing away at the world economy.
June 25, 2008
More Passport Record Snooping
Government workers repeatedly snooped without authorization inside the electronic passport records of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans, a State Department audit has found. One celebrity's records were breached 356 times by more than six dozen people.
The audit, by State's inspector general, was prompted by the discovery in March that three of the department's contract workers had peeked at the private passport files of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain and that a State Department trainee had examined the file of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The Bush White Justice Department hasn't been able to make a case in over seven years so why were they left in jail? Because the US Supreme Court sat on its collective ass for seven years.
July 4, 2008
White House says ruling could free detainees in US
WASHINGTON - The White House said Thursday that dangerous detainees at Guantanamo Bay could end up walking Main Street U.S.A. as a result of last month's Supreme Court ruling about detainees' legal rights. Federal appeals courts, however, have indicated they have no intention of letting that happen.
The high court ruling, which gave all detainees the right to petition federal judges for immediate release, has intensified discussions within the Bush administration about what to do with the roughly 270 detainees held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
July 4, 2008
Dollar Drops 41% Against Euro Under Bush
July 3 (Bloomberg) -- When President George W. Bush went to his first Group of Eight summit in 2001, a dominant issue was the dollar -- the strong dollar, that is. The U.S. currency was on a record-setting streak, and the free-marketeering president wasn't going to stand in the way.
On the eve of Bush's last G-8 appearance, the dollar's gyrations are again in the crossfire. This time, it is a weak currency, upended by slumping growth, a housing recession and record gas prices, that is gnawing away at the world economy.
The dollar's 41 percent drop against the euro during Bush's term writes the economic epitaph of an administration that set out to restore American preeminence. Instead, Bush heads to Japan next week for his final international summit with diminished leverage as Russian and Chinese influence grows.
June 15, 2008
Historians see little chance for McCain
One week into the general election, the polls show a dead heat. But many presidential scholars doubt that John McCain stands much of a chance, if any.
Historians belonging to both parties offered a litany of historical comparisons that give little hope to the Republican. Several saw Barack Obama's prospects as the most promising for a Democrat since Roosevelt trounced Hoover in 1932.
7/5/2008"This should be an overwhelming Democratic victory," said Allan Lichtman, an American University presidential historian who ran in a Maryland Democratic senatorial primary in 2006. Lichtman, whose forecasting model has correctly predicted the last six presidential popular vote winners, predicts that this year, "Republicans face what have always been insurmountable historical odds." His system gives McCain a score on par with Jimmy Carter's in 1980.
June 28, 2008Impeachable Offense
Card Card Companies Are Reducing Borrowing Limits
NEW YORK - Just as Americans grow more reliant on credit cards to help pay monthly bills, they're being hit with a one-two punch: Card companies are reducing borrowing limits for tens of thousands of consumers, which then can lead to lower credit scores.
Those facing this predicament might not even know it until they apply for a loan or another credit card, and then get denied because their credit score has dropped.
This is an unintended consequence of the financial world's widespread ratcheting down of risk. Banks and other card lenders are trying to better protect themselves from more massive losses like those they've seen from subprime mortgages.
July 2, 2008Impeachable Offense
Communist Interrogation Techniques at Guantánamo
WASHINGTON — The military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of &'coercive management techniques' for possible use on prisoners, including "sleep deprivation," "prolonged constraint," and "exposure."
What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners.
June 29, 2008
U.S. 'preparing the battlefield' in Iran
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration has launched a "significant escalation" of covert operations in Iran, sending U.S. commandos to spy on the country's nuclear facilities and undermine the Islamic republic's government, journalist Seymour Hersh said Sunday.
White House, CIA and State Department officials declined comment on Hersh's report, which appears in this week's issue of The New Yorker.
Things are very grave but these predictions always prove to be wrong...but what if...? Decide for yourself. Taking on extra credit - credit that's not absolutely necessary would be extremely unwise.
June 28, 2008
American 'Meltdown' is the Reason for the Money Injection
BRUSSEL/AMSTERDAM (DFT) - Fortis expects a complete breakdown of the American financial markets within days or weeks. This explains, according to the bank insurer, the series of interventions on Thursday with the aim of strengthening themselves by € 8 billion. "We are ready at the last moment. The U.S. is doing much worse than we had thought," said Fortis chairman Maurice Lippens, who insists that CEO Votron shall not be replaced. Fortis expects bankruptcies of 6,000 U.S. banks that have low coverage. "But the same goes also for Citigroup and General Motors, and thereby starts a complete meltdown in the U.S."
Fortis yesterday increased its capital by € 1.5 billion by means of emission of new shares. By the end of last year, the Belgian-Dutch group already had increased its capital by € 13 billion through issuing new stocks for the takeover of ABN Amro, for which they paid € 24 billion. Lippens based his concerns on talks with bankers. "Two months ago, we didn't know yet that the situation is so dire in the U.S. And the situation will further worsen. We need a thick cushion of funds to survive the next 18 months, when we bring in ABN Amro."
June 29, 2008
Homosexuality A Result Of Genetics And Random Environmental Factors
Writing in the scientific journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, researchers from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, and Karolinska Institute in Stockholm report that genetics and environmental factors (which are specific to an individual, and may include biological processes such as different hormone exposure in the womb), are important determinants of homosexual behaviour.
Dr Qazi Rahman, study co-author and a leading scientist on human sexual orientation, explains: "This study puts cold water on any concerns that we are looking for a single 'gay gene' or a single environmental variable which could be used to 'select out' homosexuality - the factors which influence sexual orientation are complex. And we are not simply talking about homosexuality here - heterosexual behaviour is also influenced by a mixture of genetic and environmental factors.
Here's a thought. After this put this idiot to death, charge the CIA with war crimes and put their officials to death also. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Impeachable OffenseJune 30, 2008
USS Cole mastermind tortured
The CIA has said it used waterboarding on al-Nashiri and he has alleged he was tortured.
Waterboarding is a form of simulated drowning that human rights activists say amounts to torture -- a label the Bush administration does not accept.
Hartmann told reporters at the Pentagon any questions about the admissibility of evidence obtained through waterboarding would be addressed when al-Nashiri came to trial.
I'm going to list this as an impeachable offense now because conservatives told us their deficit causing tax cuts would result in economic growth. That was a lie. We got the tax cuts and the deficits, but not the economic growth they promised. The Bush debt now stands at $3.754 trillion.
Impeachable OffenseJune 24, 2008
Housing Dive "worst in a generation"
NEW YORK — A bottom to the housing slump is nowhere in sight and, if history is any guide, a recession is most likely lurking around the corner, an academic study showed Monday.
Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies painted a bleak picture of the housing downturn, pegging it as possibly being "the worst in a generation" in its "The State of the Nation's Housing 2008" report.
We've always known pro torture nuts weren't well informed but when it comes to their beliefs harming all future warriors, they have to put in their place...and quickly! Has any other group of Americans caused more long-term harm than conservatives
Impeachable OffenseImpeachable Offense
June 19, 2008
US torture methods 'endanger troops'
THE use by the United States of harsh interrogation methods against suspected terrorists has stained the country's image and is putting US soldiers' lives at risk, experts say.
"If we use torture when we question prisoners, we forfeit the right to demand that anyone treat our soldiers decently if they are taken prisoner," former army intelligence officer Stuart Herrington told Agence France-Presse at a forum in Washington DC on the use of torture in interrogations.
"If we engage in that kind of activity, we put our soldiers at increased risk," he said.
June 12, 2008
'Special Weapons' Have a Fallout on Babies
FALLUJAH, Jun 12 (IPS) - Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say.
The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after "special weaponry" was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004.
"We saw all the colours of the rainbow coming out of the exploding American shells and missiles," Ali Sarhan, a 50-year-old teacher who lived through the two U.S. sieges of 2004 told IPS. "I saw bodies that turned into bones and coal right after they were exposed to bombs that we learned later to be phosphorus.
"The most worrying is that many of our women have suffered loss of their babies, and some had babies born with deformations."
June 24, 2008
Israel Prodding U.S. To Attack Iran
(CBS) Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen leaves Tuesday night on an overseas trip that will take him to Israel, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The trip has been scheduled for some time but U.S. officials say it comes just as the Israelis are mounting a full court press to get the Bush administration to strike Iran's nuclear complex.
CBS consultant Michael Oren says Israel doesn't want to wait for a new administration.
"The Israelis have been assured by the Bush administration that the Bush administration will not allow Iran to nuclearize," Oren said. "Israelis are uncertain about what would be the policies of the next administration vis-à-vis Iran."
The Bush White House purged the government of intellectuals and people who can think for themselves. In their place they put demagog.
June 25, 2008
Audit: Democrats, liberals passed over for Justice jobs
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new audit concludes that rookie attorneys with Republican roots got interviewed for plum Justice Department jobs while their liberal-leaning counterparts got passed over.
The Justice Department audit released Tuesday found that a screening program installed in 2002 weeded out job applicants who had liberal or Democratic ties. Improper use of the screening program peaked in 2006, when politics and ideology disqualified what the audit called a significant number of newly graduated lawyers and summer interns seeking jobs.