Sacrifice
Transcript
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Saturday, May 23, 2009
President Obama's Weekly Radio Addresss, May 23, 2009 (Video and Transcript)
MEDIA: Stop enabling Liz Cheney. She is not an authority on torture.
I am doing a piggyback off of Al Rodgers diary which includes the confrontation between Liz Cheney and Lawrence O'Donnell.
Liz Cheney has been doing her media tour to help clean up her father's image, but from now on waterboarding is equivalent to DROWNING and if it is drowning someone, intentionally, it is TORTURE.
It is time for shows like morning joe or morning joke, to stop enabling the likes of Liz Cheney by allowing her to come on their shows with LIES, TALKING POINTS FROM DADDY and utter BULLSHIT. Enough. What happened to the truth?
I am damn angry and mad right now. After watching Liz Cheney in Al's diary, I am too over WTF, but at get these lying sacks of shits off the airwaves and I mean, yesterday!!
What really has catapulted this debate, in my opinion, is the revelations by Mancow on waterboarding is drowning. This comparison hit me, personally that Mancow almost drowned when he was a kid and said that is how waterboarding feels. Well, I almost drowned at 12 on a trip to Orlando, FL to Disneyworld. Playing rough and the other kids not knowing, I got into the deep part of the pool. They were playing while I was DROWNING. I had to be revived and I have been DEATHLY afraid of water until I decided to learn how to swim in my 30's. The main reason I learned how to swim is that I love to fish and we go out on the boat all the time. I am not the strongest swimmer, but I can save myself. So, I know EXACTLY how that waterboarding feels.
It is time for these so called, "talk show hosts, analysts" to do their fucking jobs and challenge Liz "I know everything about torture" Cheney and stop enabling her.
This country deserves to have the story told to us right and honestly. The media needs to get this right, not wrong like they did during the Bush Administration. The media FAILED us during that time, by not doing their jobs and investigating the obvious. Instead, they wrote what was given to them from the Bush White House as fact, they allowed themselves to be used by planted stories, they failed the American Public.
Don't do this again, media. Allowing Liz Cheney on these talk shows as an "authority" of torture is not only insulting it is ridiculous. She is spewing propped up talking points fed to her by her daddy. Does anyone in their right mind think Liz is an authority in this? When was the last time she was in torture camp? Or waterboarding school? She has never been near anything like this and the media needs to do their jobs and quit enabling her.
Every single expert who has been waterboarded or had experience in it has said it is torture. Why is Liz Cheney all over the television saying this technique is not?
Finally, everything written from now on in regards to waterboarding should be equated to drowning. See this issue has been muddled because it has not been explained properly, but thanks to the honesty of Mancow, we all can relate to what waterboarding is, drowning and if done intentional, again, torture. Just about everyone knows what too much water in your mouth and nose feels like, it feels like drowning. That is how this argument needs to be presented moving forward.
If it is intentional drowning, that means it is TORTURE.
Cross-posted @ Daily Kos
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Friday, May 22, 2009
Lawrence O'Donnell schools Liz Cheney on Good Morning America (Video)
Liz Cheney is a fraud and Al Rodgers is right, she is on the leave my daddy alone tour.
Again, Liz Cheney did not want a match up with Lawrence O'Donnell. O'Donnell is one of the smartest analyst on television, who kills his opponents with FACTS.
After the conservative talk jock, Mancow and his admission of torture, the new meme going forward is that Waterboarding is DROWING.
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Roger Simon on Hardball about Cheney, "....68, white and bitter, he is the Republican Party" (Video)
Wow.
Again, the Republican Party needs to get it together, as in "a broad brush to welcome folks in". That image of Cheney vs. Obama yesterday is a killer for the GOP.
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Conservative Talk Show Host "Mancow" got waterboarded and he said it is torture
One thing I know, for me, is that I don't need to get drowned to realize it is torture, but for those who are running around here saying it is not, do what Mancow did, get waterboarded. From Think Progress:
Via John Chait, it seems that conservative talk radio host Eric “Mancow” Muller decided it would be a fun stunt to have himself waterboarded in order to prove that it’s not really torture. Didn’t work so well:
“It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,”Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. “It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back…It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture.”
“I wanted to prove it wasn’t torture,” Mancow said. “They cut off our heads, we put water on their face…I got voted to do this but I really thought ‘I’m going to laugh this off.’”
Seems like Mancow could not even last 10 seconds. From Daily Kos:
"The average person can take this for 14 seconds," Marine Sergeant Clay South answered, adding, "He's going to wiggle, he's going to scream, he's going to wish he never did this."
With a Chicago Fire Department paramedic on hand, Mancow was placed on a 7-foot long table, his legs were elevated, and his feet were tied up.
Turns out the stunt wasn't so funny. Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.
Well, again, you don't have to waterboard me to tell me it is torture. I am like Mancow, I almost drowned when I was 12 and it took me YEARS to attempt to learn how to swim. To this day, I am not a strong swimmer, but I learned for my own safety sake because you just never know. Why don't Cheney, morning joke, and all these blogviated noise makers out there running around saying, "it's not torture....we only waterboarded 3 people...", why don't they take the test since they are so FOR THE BUSH/CHENEY WE DID NOT TORTURE PROGRAM????
Yep. Silence is a bitch.
Want to see the video? Here it is.
Oh, since Mancow is from Chicago, here is the NBC-5 take on Mancow's admission.
Lastly, rememeber Christopher Hitchens who also ran around here for a bit and said it was not torture? Well, here is his waterboarding experience and he too, did an about face on the waterboarding is not torture, meme.
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President Barack Obama's Commencement Speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD (Video and Transcript)
Former Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge disagrees with Dick Cheney (Video)
Call it what you want. Dick Cheney does not, in the end, help the Republican Party's argument. The GOP has always been the party of National Security, but under the Bush Administration and their disastrous handling of both wars it became apparent that many were just incompetent and we had a leader that listened to NO ONE. This killed the GOP in the end at the ballot boxes.
As people have listened to both speeches, read transcripts, it is clearly obvious that Dick Cheney wishes this administration to fail. Hopes that another terrorist attack will prevail. Even though all of his arguments have massive holes in them, or just down right lies. I am with Lawrence O'Donnell on this one, if you are using former CIA Director George Tenet as evidence and backup to your claims, the one who manufactured the Iraq evidence, your whole argument has major problems. A must read is from McClatchy Newspapers which dissects and destroys Cheney's argument, definitely worth a read.
From Tom Ridge:
Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told CNN Thursday that former Vice President Dick Cheney's repeated charge the Obama administration has made the country less safe is wrong.
"Yeah, I disagree with Dick Cheney," the Pennsylvania Republican and former Bush administration official told CNN's John King, adding he "does not" think the country is more vulnerable to an attack under President Obama.
Ridge appears to agree with a majority of Americans, according to a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. In that survey, taken last month, 72 percent of registered voters said they did not think the country was less safe under President Obama.
Ridge's comments came the same day both Obama and Cheney gave dueling speeches on national security, during which the president sharply condemned Bush administration interrogation practices while Cheney vigorously defended them.
In the interview with CNN, set to air in full on State of The Union with John King Sunday, Ridge said he disagrees with "the approach both men are taking."
"It's just the whole notion of a Republican vice president giving a speech after the incumbent Democratic president," he said. "It's gotta go beyond the politics of either party."
And from Keith Olbermann's guest, former Colin Powell aide, Ret. Lt. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson:
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Defense Secretary Gates, "....Guantanamo Bay has a taint...." (Video)
He is right. The torture happened there. It ruined our international standing there. It needs to be closed. And he backs up EVERYTHING that has been said about fear mongering and the ridiculous notion that these detainees or terrorists will all of a sudden be released and/or escape. Again, is Charles Manson walking around here? Is Sirhan Sirhan at your neighborhood grocer? Was Timothy McVeigh pumping gas around your corner? The obvious answer is no. This is a fear mongering argument, trumped up by the Republicans and the public knows it, or should know it.
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
Fundraiser for UK Ambassador
President Obama will nominate key Democratic fundraiser and investment banker Louis Susman to be the country's ambassador to the Court of St. James. Susman bundled $300,000 in donations towards Obama's inauguration, and was a major fundraiser for Senator John Kerry's campaign as well. Susman, 71, retired in February from his post as vice chairman of Citigroup. Ambassadorships are frequently meted out as rewards to a successful campaign's high-rollers. Obama said in January that he would probably appoint some top donors as ambassadors: "It would be disingenuous for me to suggest that there are not going to be some excellent public servants but who haven't come through the ranks of the civil service," he said.
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Don't get it twisted in regards to Dick Cheney
I just want to make sure we are all on the same page.
Dick Cheney's performance today was all about what is coming down the road and it does not look good for him. Liz Cheney's performance is all about helping her father's legacy, at any cost.
Right now we are at a crossroads in this country. A serious one. We are either going to be a country that stand by our rules and laws, which means we will follow the rules and laws. Or a country that will ignore our laws, justify breaking our laws and bear the consequences. We must decide what we want to do.
There's a lot of moving parts going on here and let me tackle them.
First, Dick and Liz Cheney.
Dick Cheney broke the law, period. He stood on that stage today and justified torture. He did not waiver, he was clear, he was concise. He stands behind the program that has put this country in more harms way than ever. It was a strong argument that Cheney gave and he needed, too. Why? As all of this is unraveling he needs to justify what happened during the Bush/Cheney years as deserved and rational. During his speech, Cheney continues to associated 9/11, WMDs and Iraq as the reason for the invasion, when he knows that it is a blatant lie.
Transcript
Right now there is considerable debate in this city about the measures our administration took to defend the American people.
Today I want to set forth the strategic thinking behind our policies.
Nine-eleven caused everyone to take a serious second look at threats that had been gathering for a while, and enemies whose plans were getting bolder and more sophisticated.
We could count on almost universal support back then, because everyone understood the environment we were in.
Everyone expected a follow-on attack, and it was our job to stop it. We didn’t know what was coming next, but everything we did know in that autumn of 2001 looked bad. This was the world in which al-Qaeda was seeking nuclear technology.
We had the training camps of Afghanistan, and dictators like Saddam Hussein with known ties to Mideast terrorists.
Foremost on our minds was the prospect of the very worst coming to pass - a 9/11 with weapons of mass destruction.
We turned special attention to regimes that had the capacity to build weapons of mass destruction, and might transfer such weapons to terrorists.
In the years after 9/11, our government also understood that the safety of the country required collecting information known only to the worst of the terrorists.
I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program.
They were legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do.
To call this a program of torture is to libel the dedicated professionals who have saved American lives, and to cast terrorists and murderers as innocent victims.
You cannot keep just some nuclear-armed terrorists out of the United States; you must keep every nuclear-armed terrorist out of the United States.
For all the partisan anger that still lingers, our administration will stand up well in history - not despite our actions after 9/11, but because of them.
Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz are continuing to beat the drum of justification for the Torture Program under the Bush Administration.
Lastly, never in over 40 years has a previous administration, President or Vice President complained, criticized and voiced strong opinions about a new administration. Viewing Cheney's speech, his demeanor, body language is one of do it my way or the high way. Obviously, Cheney is finding it difficult to rationalize that Barack Obama won the election and not by a slither but by 8 percentage points. That is mandate numbers and Cheney and the Republicans are having a difficult time dealing with it.
Talking Points for the GOP
Various television shows in the past week or so have hammered home the closing of Guantanamo Bay, coupled with the Nancy Pelosi comments on the lack of truth from the CIA. While this banter is going on, the Democrats removal of the closing of Guantanamo Bay monies and falling for the "terror scare" of the Republicans had many scratching their heads with WTF? The following crafted by Senator John Thune (R-SD):
The American jail system is designed for American systems, for criminals. It's not designed to handle the types of threats and risks and dangers that having terrorists housed in some of these prisons would pose to communities and neighborhoods in this country, Andrea.
And I think what you saw in the Senate today was a vote. It was 90 to six, Democrats and Republicans coming together. And actually it was an about-face for the Democrats in the Senate because earlier they had put funding into the bill that would have gone toward closing Guantanamo, but they recognized that that was a losing proposition, particularly given the fact that the president has not put forward any kind of a plan or detailed what he would do with these detainees.
Let's be clear here. The United States of America has more prisons and people incarcerated than any other country, period. The notion that we can not harbor and incarcerate 200+ detainees/terrorists in maximum security prisons is just preposterous.
But remember, this is going to be the argument for 2010 mid-term election. Get ready for the boogey man ads to the public. Be prepared for the "terrorist is moving into your neighborhood". That is the card the GOP will play as they try to regain the trust of the American public. Yes, they are going to try it.
In Barack Obama's speech he made it clear that he is closing Guantanamo Bay and that his number one priority is the safety of this nation. He also addressed the politicization of the national debate issue:
Obama accused the Bush administration officials of acting from "fear rather than foresight" in the days after the 9/11 attacks, with "hasty decisions" that undermined U.S. efforts in the war against Islamic terrorism.
He inherited "a mess," Obama said. Bush-era officials "trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions" with policies "neither effective nor sustainable."
And now, "we have seen a return of the politicization of these issues," Obama said. "We will be ill-served by ... the fear-mongering" that has "more to do with politics than protecting our country."
Ask General Petraeus. Wars on terror are inherently different. The brutal techniques of unbridled warfare can be counterproductive when employed against groups like the Taliban and al Qaeda.
"They serve as a recruitment tool for terrorists, and increase the will of our enemies to fight us, while decreasing the will of others to work with America," Obama said. "They risk the lives of our troops by making it less likely that others will surrender to them in battle, and more likely that Americans will be mistreated if they are captured.
"In short, they did not advance our war and counterterrorism efforts—they undermined them."
Today we heard two speeches, one from the President of the United States and one from the former Vice-President of the United States. This country must decide if we are going to be a country that stands by the rule of law and moral ground, or are we just going to by pass it and do what we want as we see fit, no matter what the consequences may be.
The latter has put us in the mess we are in now and has forced President Obama to reach out and broker destroyed relationships created by the Bush Administration. We voted for Barack Obama and change, but change does not come by pulling a lever, punching a card or filling in a circle. Change is what you fight for. We have every right to question and take Barack Obama to task when we disagree, but we must stand with him and give him time to fix the long laundry list left by the Bush Administration. It won't happen over night, but we owe him the chance to do it his way. This is what we voted for.
As for the mid-term elections in 2010? Get ready it is not going to be nice.
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Obama's Speech on National Security at the National Archives Museum (Video and Transcript)
Protecting Our Security and Our Values
National Archives Museum
Washington, D.C.
May 21, 2009
Note: Barack Obama is the President of the United States. Why the media is giving Dick Cheney any time on television is utter bullshit. Yes, I am throwing the bullshit around a lot today. Calling it the way I see it. Anyway, some will like to see how Dick Cheney is attempting to clean up his legacy, his speech here. Cheney transcript, here.
Transcript
MSNBC Video
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Michelle Obama on the cover of Time Magazine: The Meaning of Michelle
It was just two days after the Inauguration when an e-mail went around to Michelle Obama's staff, instructing everyone to be in the East Room of the White House at 3 that afternoon. The First Lady's advisers arrived to find the room filled with ushers and plumbers, electricians and maids and kitchen crew gathered in a huge circle, and Michelle in a T shirt and ponytail, very casual and very much in charge.
"This is my team that came with me from Chicago," Michelle said, pointing to her communications staff and policy people. "This is my team who works here already," she went on, indicating the ring of veterans around the room. Many of the household staff had served for decades; some had postponed retirement because they wanted to serve an African-American President. And so the two groups formed concentric rings and spent the next hour or so making sure that everyone had a chance to meet everyone else. I want you to know that you won't be judged based on whether they know your name, Michelle had warned her advisers. You'll be judged based on whether you know theirs. (See pictures of Michelle Obama behind the scenes.).....
MSNBC Video
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Ed Schultz proves why Joe Scarborough is one of the dumbest political analysts on television
This morning with nothing but FACT in his pocket, Ed Schultz proved why Joe Scarborough is one of the dumbest political analysts on television. I talk about Joe Scarborough because a lot of what he says is utter bullshit and he is proven wrong more than right on many occasions.
Full blown on Daily Kos
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Oh, NOES!!! President Obama got an earful and didn't like it, from Rachel Maddow (Video)
Well, Obama has been good at marketing his message and style, perception is everything no matter what you say. He will have to get used to alot of this.
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Another Kennedy running for the senate, it seems, in Illinois
Yes, RFK's son who has lived here for years is sniffing the senate. Chris Kennedy on wiki.
Chris Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy, is considering a 2010 Illinois Senate bid for the seat currently held by Democrat Roland Burris, who was appointed by impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
A spokeswoman for Kennedy confirmed to the Associated Press that he might run, but did not say when an announcement would be made.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley told the Chicago Sun-Times that the Kennedy name still holds sway in politics. “Sure it does. Yes, it does. You’d better believe it. Same thing as Barack Obama’s name. Those two names. You’d better believe it,” Daley said.
A number of Democrats are eyeing the seat regardless of whether or not Burris seeks re-election. His controversial appointment and almost non-existent fund-raising have opened the door to both a primary and general election challenge.
Yes, I agree with Daley, Kennedy's name does carry weight and after the debacle of President Obama's former seat, I put Chris Kennedy the one to beat at this time, on name recognition only. We all know politics, the sniffing has begun. And it has gotten very quiet downstate Illinois with this rumor.
Source
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Minority Leader, John Boehner admits that the CIA lies to congress (Video)
frackin' h/t to Jed over at Daily Kos
Transcript
BLITZER: Last year, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, he said this in response to a case that he was watching very closely — an American citizen who was killed in a plane crash — a coverup, he alleged, involving the CIA.
He said these words: “We cannot have an intelligence community that covers up what it does and then lies to Congress.”
That’s what Pete Hoekstra said in 2008.
BOEHNER: Pete Hoekstra did say that, and the inspector general at the CIA did an investigation, and it became clear that some CIA operatives did in fact cover this up.
…
BLITZER: You agree that the CIA then lied to Congress?
BOEHNER: I know as much about this case as Pete Hoekstra does, and the inspector general did in fact do an investigation, produced a report, and frankly supported, I think, Pete’s claims.
Again, anyone believing the CIA does not lie, stop drinking and smoking!!! They are professional LIARS, that is their job.
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WHAT.THE.HELL!!! They pulled a "DAUGHTRY" tonight on American Idol
KRIS ALLEN BEAT ADAM LAMBERT!!!
Yes, they pulled a Daughtry.
Folksy singer Kris Allen is the new “American Idol,” turning judges’ favorite Adam Lambert into an also-ran.
Host Ryan Seacrest said on Wednesday’s finale that nearly 100 million votes were cast for the finalists. The 23-year-old Allen, a student from Conway, Ark., bested the 27-year-old Lambert, a theater actor from San Diego.
The two-hour finale included performances by the Black Eyed Peas, Cyndi Lauper, Carlos Santana and Rod Stewart. Lambert performed with Kiss and Allen dueted with Keith Urban.
Before the announcement, the two finalists dueted on “We are the Champions” with the surviving members of Queen.
Allen gets a record contract along with his “American Idol” title.
As the finale got under way Wednesday, host Ryan Seacrest said more than 100 million votes were cast after Tuesday’s singing showdown between Lambert and Allen. A record-setting 624 million votes were cast over the season.
The two-hour finale featured a lineup of pop stars, including the Black Eyed Peas, Cyndi Lauper and Keith Urban.
Fox TV says a moment of silence during the Black Eyed Peas performance wasn’t the network’s doing.
Midway through the song “Boom Boom Pow,” TV viewers heard only silence and saw an “Idol” logo across the screen for a few moments. A Fox spokesman said it was singer will.i.am’s decision to stay mum, apparently to keep an expletive from airing during Wednesday’s performance.
Don't worry, Adam Lambert is going to be HUGE.
Source
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Alberto Gonzales, former Attorney General, Approved Torture Months Before Memos Written
When it rains, it pours.
When you lie, it eventually comes out.
Here it comes....from Daily Kos, via NPR....GOP explain this one...
NPR is reporting that Alberto Gonzales while the White House Atty, not the Atty Gen, was approving the Torture of Abu Zubaydah months before the Aug. Torture Memos were even written. It appears the ACLU has the proof from a ongoing court case.The source says nearly every day, Mitchell would sit at his computer and write a top secret cable to the CIA’s counterterrorism center. Each day, Mitchell would request permission to use enhanced interrogation techniques on Zubaydah. The source says the CIA would then forward the request to the White House, where White House counsel Alberto Gonzales would sign off on the technique. That would provide the Administration’s legal blessing for Mitchell to increase the pressure on Zubaydah in the next interrogation.
Late May 19, the CIA sent the ACLU a spreadsheet as part of a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. The log shows the number of top secret cables that went from Zubaydah’s black site prison to CIA headquarters each day. Through the spring and summer of 2002, the log shows someone sent headquarters several cables a day.
I don't care what the Obama White House wants to do or say, this torture crap and what the Bush Administration did will not go away.
Read more from McJoan of Daily Kos, here.
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White House Poetry Jam (Full Video)
The clips are a total of 9, as they are being converted, I will post or just bookmark and come and view later. Everyone has been waiting for the video of this event. Enjoy!!
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
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First Gitmo Detainee Coming to NYC For Trial
And it is starting....
A top al-Qaida suspect held at Guantanamo Bay will be sent to New York for trial, an Obama administration official said Wednesday.
Ahmed Ghailani would be the first Guantanamo detainee brought to the U.S., and the first to face trial in a civilian criminal court.
An official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to disclose the decision, told The Associated Press the administration has decided to bring Ghailani to trial in New York. He was indicted there for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa — attacks that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. read more here....
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CIA and their lack of the truth or "truthiness"?
All the made up, fake outrage by the Republicans against Speaker Nancy Pelosi is just trumped up bullshit.
Really, it is.
I wrote that the GOP needs someone, something to make noise and it is Pelosi since she called the CIA out.
And all this utter bullshit about the honor of the CIA is just a "rolleye" moment. The CIA or "the company" is a product of secrecy. If anyone thinks that the CIA will look you in the eye and tell you the honest truth, stop smoking and drinking. This is an agency that LIES, period. And they have LIED to congress, many times.
Sure, I don't like stating this, but hell, wake up folks. How in the hell did we get into Iraq? It was based on lies trumped up by that Bush crew with George Tenet manufacturing trumped up evidence to substantiate going to war. Don't believe me, watch PBS' Frontline documentary "Bush's War". It is all there. So, please let's just stop it with the GOP talking points of "The CIA don't lie", YES THEY MOST CERTAINLY, DO.
And now others are coming forward challenging the CIA and their so-called NOTES.
New questions surfaced Wednesday about the accuracy of a CIA document meant to settle who in Congress knew about severe interrogation methods approved by the Bush administration.
Three new errors appeared to emerge in the CIA's matrix of 40 congressional briefings on so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. Those techniques include waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, which President Barack Obama has called torture.
The CIA acknowledged one of the errors but continued to stand by its version of events in the other two cases. read more here....
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Are you holding your breath yet? Guess what?
The GOP will not rename the Democratic Party, "The Democrat Socialist Party".
Are you shocked? Were you waiting for their lovely attacks?
Whomever thought this one up, if he is on the payroll, needs to be fired.
Republicans on Wednesday abandoned an effort to label their opponents the "Democrat Socialist Party," ending a fight within the GOP ranks that reflected the divide between those who want a more centrist message and those seeking a more aggressive, conservative voice.
Two Republican National Committee members who backed a resolution to ask the Democratic Party to change its name said supporters agreed to changing the measure's language to urge Americans to oppose what the GOP is calling the Democrats' "socialist" agenda.
The name-changing resolution supported by Jim Bopp of Indiana and David Norcross of New Jersey had drawn criticism from GOP Chairman Michael Steele. Other party leaders called the move "stupid" and "absurd," saying it made Republicans look petty during a troubling time for the nation.
This idea was beyond absurd. Again, whomever thought this brilliant idea up, should be fired. Republicans you win with ideas, not with attacks and definitely not with petty antics. Sheesh!!!
Source
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Obama's Census Director Being Confirmed
Remember, this was a sticking point for Senator Judd Gregg, as this responsibility is being taken out of the Commerce Department, though it is hard for me to believe he accepted this job without the full disclosure from President Obama.
President Barack Obama's nominee to be the next census director moved closer to Senate confirmation on Wednesday, with approval all but assured after he ruled out the controversial use of statistical sampling in the 2010 head count.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved Robert Groves by voice vote without objections.
Last week, Groves offered his assurance not to use sampling. Groves also expressed concern about a persistent undercount of minorities, who typically vote for Democrats, but he has not said whether he would push for a government halt to immigration raids — as the Census Bureau successfully did in 2000.
Groves, 60, a veteran survey researcher from the University of Michigan, was expected to be confirmed by the full Senate as early as this week.
House Republicans have been vocal in expressing concern about Groves. As a former census associate director, Groves pushed for sampling in the 1990s to make up for an undercount of millions of minorities but was later overruled by the Republican Commerce secretary, who called the move "political tampering."
After last week's hearing, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he appreciated Groves' commitment to keep sampling out of the 2010 census but said he would remain watchful for a "census potentially being tainted by political influence."
Source
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Glenn Beck was taken to the "woodshed" on The View by Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg (Video)
Glenn Beck is a liar.
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Obama, Cheney both giving national security speeches tomorrow
OK????
Wow, where do I start?
First, Cheney. Dick Cheney must have a difficult time of sleeping at night. Why is that? He is concerned about how he left the White House, his post as Vice President, what he left his Republican Party and those abysmal polling numbers of his, 19% approval.
Cheney has personally decided to side with the Rush Limbaugh side of the Republican Party, which is pushing moderate Republicans out faster than a swinging door. All the memos coming out, the torture pictures (that will eventually be out), Cheney and his legacy does not have a leg to stand on. Throughout his tenure as VP he has sided with big business, crafted the torture program, told President Bush what to do, and was unyielding. Cheney was brutal.
In the end, Cheney will write his memoirs, many are awaiting but the real memoir written about Cheney is evident, he was the master crafter of the United States of America's Torture Program.
Now, he is preparing a big speech on national security. This coming from a politician who destroyed our international stature, could have cared less about our domestic agenda, and sided with big business repeatedly. Who is listening to Mr. 19%? The 21% that identify themselves as Republicans?
The Republicans want Cheney to STFU and sit the f**k down, forever. Republicans, good luck on that one.
President Barack Obama will attempt to regain control of a boiling debate over anti-terrorism policy with a major speech on Thursday — an address that comes on the same day that former Vice President Dick Cheney will be weighing in with his own speech on the same theme.
The dueling speeches amount to the most direct engagement so far between Obama and his conservative critics in the volatile argument over what tactics are justified in detaining and interrogating suspected enemy combatants.
The national security debate — egged on by frequent charges from Cheney that Obama is leaving the country more vulnerable to attack — is the only subject on which many Republicans believe they have been able to gain traction against a popular president and the Democratic majority that now dominate Washington.
But, as described by administration sources, Obama’s speech is also intended to quiet the ire aimed at him from the political left. Some activists are furious over his recent decisions on continuing military commissions rather than civilian trials for suspected terrorists, and his about-face in deciding to fight a court order releasing photos of detainees undergoing abuse. read more here....
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Michael Steele? Chairman? Quit? RNC? Really?
Again, I wrote that the minute the RNC PTB (powers that be) stepped in to take control of the checkbook, Steele is nothing but a Token.
And I am right.
Remember, taking the realm of the checkbook removes the power from Chairman Steele. Another thing, this is an inside way to push him out or give him an out to leave the post. It is not like Republicans are jumping for joy over Michael Steele. The man equates himself on the same stage as President Barack Obama and sorry, he not only lacks the gravitas, Steele can't even lick the boots of the man. for real. So, the Republicans took a gamble and made a dumb choice. This post is about grassroots, organizing, building the party and strengthening it in the states, not about all the glory road television gigs that Steele has had.
"They can contemplate all they want to, but the reality is if they want a figurehead chairman you can have a figurehead chairman, but it won't be Michael Steele," he said.
Ooooooooh.......
The Republicans so want this man to leave, so want him off the television, so want him to shut up, so want him to GO AWAY. Me, I would so love Steele to stay!!! His daily antics are to die for!!!
Then of course, the minute Steele drops a verbal viagra bomb, here comes the clean up crew:
Steele aides insist the chairman was not threatening to quit, but merely to fight over retaining his authority. But his comments reflect the persistent tension within the Republican National Committee over his chairmanship.
I don't care what anyone says, the RNC, GOP, Republicans have a pot of continuous hot mess stirring, I mean continuous.
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Pressure escalating in Minnesota, "SEAT FRANKEN"
Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) has an uphill battle. He is between a rock and a hard place. How?
He is a glowing new or semi-new face in the Republican Party. He has pressure from his party to keep his boot on Franken's neck and not sign the certificate to seat him in the senate. This pressure from the GOP will continue, even if the Minnesota Supreme Court sides with Franken on the win for the senate seat against Norm Coleman.
If Pawlenty does not sign the certificate, he is playing politics, clear and simple. He is going against the will of the people in his state and he is allowing this to drag on. If Pawlenty does this, bad move.
We all know that Al Franken won this seat, in a mandatory recount because the vote total was too close. During the recount and every court appeal, Franken has come out ahead and he is stil 300+ votes to the north. It is over for Coleman.
And Coleman? The polls are out and the people of Minnesota want this over with and Coleman to concede. If Coleman does not, he can forget any other political aspirations in Minnesota. He will be forever remembered as the grumpy, sourpuss, sore loser who dragged a senate race to the courts, knowing he did not have the votes and knowing he LOST.
So, what will Pawlenty do? I hope the right thing.
DNC Chairman Tim Kaine penned a letter to Tim Pawlenty on Tuesday, asking the Minnesota Governor to persuade Norm Coleman to concede and, short of that, sign the certification of Al Franken's election once the state's Supreme Court makes its final ruling.
The letter is the latest in a growing effort to ramp up the pressure on the governor - and Republican Party as a whole - to seat Franken, as the Minnesota Senate race drags on more than six months since the actual election. In his note, Kaine claims it is "all but indisputable" that Franken won the election and urges Pawlenty to "use [his] influence to bring this process to an end by asking Norm Coleman to allow his neighbors and yours, their full representation in Congress."
"However," Kaine adds, "if Mr. Coleman refuses to concede and this case is heard and decided by the Minnesota State Supreme Court, I urge you to commit to signing an election certificate for the rightful winner as soon as the Court issues a ruling in this case. To allow this to process to continue into the federal courts for no other reason than to deny for as long as possible the seating of another Democratic Senator would make what has been a bad situation for Minnesotans even worse. I urge you to do everything within your power and influence to bring this process to an end." read more here....
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Well, the Democrats threw a bomb on "GITMO" closing
Yes, our Democrats.
I don't know what the real deal is, but I do agree with morning joke that this was political, especially by Harry Reid. Reid is not looking too good right now, but before morning joke jumps for eternal joy, it is going to be very hard to beat Reid in Nevada.
Anyway, the funds to close Guantanamo Bay were stripped from the bill by the Democrats.
U.S. Senate Democrats stripped from a war spending bill $80 million that was allocated for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison.
The move Tuesday came the same week President Barack Obama was scheduled to outline his plan for the 240 terrorism suspects still detained in the facility, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Pressure from Republicans and concern about relocating terrorism suspects to U.S. soil led the Democrats to remove the funding, part of the emergency Iraq and Afghanistan spending moving through the Senate.The Washington Post reported. The bill cleared the House last week without funding for the Guantanamo shutdown.
"Guantanamo makes us less safe," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told a news conference. "However, this is neither the time nor the bill to deal with this. Democrats under no circumstances will move forward without a comprehensive, responsible plan from the president. We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States."
My thing about these detainees is this, we have mass murders, pedophiles, domestic terrorists, mentally criminally insane folk, gang bangers, drug lords, right here in the United States of America and guess what? They are all on lock down. When was the last time you saw Charles Manson walking around here? Was Timothy McVeigh at your local gas station before he was executed? The answer is NO.
Let me be clear here. One damn good thing that the United States of America does well is lock folks up in maximum security prisons and they don't break out. We have more prisons than any other country, we are experts at this. So the Democrats broke down, again, by the scare tactics of the Republicans? Example, listen to Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) on morning joe:
Did you get all that?
One word for the Democrats: inexcusable.
Guantanamo Bay is the one place where the international community have taken issue with us. Those images of torture coming out of that place have killed our international standing. The movement by Barack Obama to start moving these prisoners and closing Gitmo got standing ovation worldwide. Now, the Democrats who are the majority in the congress strips the money from the bill?
WTF????
Cross-posted @ Daily Kos
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
In case you missed it, Jesse Ventura lit it up on Hannity (Video)
Yes, Jesse Ventura has been making the rounds talking about torture and slamming the Republicans and also Democrats. He gave Elisabeth Hasselbeck a cup of STFU, he schooled Larry King, now he went into the den with Hannity. Damn, why can't we get a Democrat to stand up and say the very things that former Governor Jesse Ventura has said about torture. Just a pity.
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No wonder Obama will headline a fundraiser for Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) his polling numbers stink
And I mean the numbers are not looking good, for right now.
Reid lost me when he decided to stick his nose in Illinois politics with the Blago fiasco and got called out on it. It is all, here.
For me, Reid has left a lot to be desired and truly, I would prefer someone else in this role. Don't get me wrong, if he is the nominee for the Democratic ticket (and he probably will be), he must be supported, but his lack of leadership on so many things has left a bad taste in my mouth for Reid, which equates to lip service of support and that is about it from me.
Well, enter President Barack Obama, the knight in shining armour, going out west to rescue Reid, via a fundraiser. Grant it, Obama is not doing too many fundraisers, but Reid and Obama must work together to get whatever bills passed, so one hand washes the other.
Who is Harry Reid’s “Favorite Mistake”? And is President Barack Obama the “Wind Beneath [His] Wings”?
No, we can’t picture the staid Senate majority leader singing either of these tunes. But we’re pointing it out because Reid is holding one heckuva fundraiser at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas next week, featuring Obama, Bette Midler, Sheryl Crow and Rachael Yamagata.
This is by far the highest-profile fundraiser
for Reid, a top Republican target who’s up for reelection in 2010. It’s clearly designed to show Reid’s star power — and perhaps scare off any Republican challengers who would have to raise a ton of money for a real challenge.
But maybe Reid’s yet-to-be-named GOP opponent could pull ageless Vegas sensation Wayne Newton, who is a Republican.
Tickets for the Obama-Reid-Crow-Midler-Yamagata show range from $50 to $250. The event is being billed as “The Good Fight: A Tribute to Nevada’s Sen. Harry Reid.”
Reid will need every single penny he can lay his hands on and a machine to get the votes out because his poll numbers are dismal.
Nearly half of Nevadans have had enough of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as the powerful Democrat heads into his re-election campaign, a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll finds.
About a third of the state's voters would re-elect Reid if the 2010 election were held today, according to the poll, but 45 percent say they would definitely vote to replace him. Seventeen percent would consider another candidate.
Reid can brush the dirt off his shoulders like these numbers don't mean anything, but you can bet he is worried and big time. Reid going down is like Tom Daschle going down in 2004. That would be something for the GOP to relish in, it is called "hope".
Is it too early to tell? Who knows? But, Reid needs to fly back to Nevada, hold town hall meetings and get going. Seats are not won sitting up in Washington, DC, but by being in your state with the people.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King are turning in their graves
Their children continue to argue, squabble, fight over money. This is sad all around.
Sure there are two, three even four sides to every story, but this fight is just too much. The latest row is that superstar director, Steven Speilberg wants to bring the life of MLK, Jr. to the screen, but the remaining King Kids (Yolanda has passed) are arguing over, the bottomline, MONEY.
DreamWorks Studios plans to tell the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s story on the big screen in a film to be co-produced by Steven Spielberg, the studio announced Tuesday.
The studio describes it as a monumental project — but two of King's children threatened legal action over the film deal because it was brokered without their blessing.
You mean to tell me that they detest each other so much, or that the two in Atlanta (Bernice and MLKIII), detest Dexter (in California) so much that they can not work together? They are not only sad, but poor examples left by their ledgendary parents.
Dexter King, one of the late civil rights leader's sons, said in a news release that he hoped the movie would "be the definitive film" on his father's legacy. Two other King siblings — Bernice King and Martin Luther King III — said they oppose the deal, which they say was brokered by Dexter without their input.
Dexter is the chairman and chief executive officer of King, Inc.
"This is a deal that Mr. Spielberg and his people ... have entered into believing that they have the blessing of The King Estate. They don't have the blessings of Bernice and Martin King," Bernice King told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Tuesday after finding out about the deal in an e-mail from Dexter King.
A spokesman for Dexter King did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday afternoon.
The three siblings have been involved in several legal disputes regarding their parents' intellectual property in the past year. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III have accused their brother of tarnishing their parents' legacy with his business decisions, and say he has been operating The King Estate for years without their input.
Martin Luther King III said the matter was typical of an ongoing pattern of exclusion.
"It's not that we are against a film," he said. "It's very interesting to me that a company would engage in a business arrangement knowing that there's severe controversy around many issues pertaining to the estate of Martin Luther King Jr."
Sigh, what has happened here? What?
This is very sad to read, but even more ghastly to see Martin Luther King, Jr.'s kids out for blood against each other. Greed is a powerful emotion, it is up there with love and hate. You mean to tell me that they don't have enough love for one another to work it out? A truly, sad list of events.
The ongoing battles are:
King Family Feud
Fighting over Coretta book deal
Still in the courts, fighting
Losing money, because they are fighting each other
Just a shame
Cashing in on King
Jonathan Turley
The list is endless
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Senate passes credit card reform, but...
the senate did not have the spine to cap interest rates at 15%. It is all about their re-election coffers. Sad, but true.
Also, before we jump for credit card change, glee, the industry is about to penalize those with good credit. Yep, we that pay our bills on time are going to get all our perks taken away, along with annual fees that will probably be out of sight. It is time for "Cash is King" to re-emerge.
Credit cards have long been a very good deal for people who pay their bills on time and in full. Even as card companies imposed punitive fees and penalties on those late with their payments, the best customers racked up cash-back rewards, frequent-flier miles and other perks in recent years.
Now Congress is moving to limit the penalties on riskier borrowers, who have become a prime source of billions of dollars in fee revenue for the industry. And to make up for lost income, the card companies are going after those people with sterling credit.
Banks are expected to look at reviving annual fees, curtailing cash-back and other rewards programs and charging interest immediately on a purchase instead of allowing a grace period of weeks, according to bank officials and trade groups. read more here....
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Karen Hughes, former counselor to Bush, acknowledged torture
Last month, Phillip Zelikow disclosed that while serving as a top-aide to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2005, he had written and circulated a memo expressing grave concerns about the Bush administration’s torture regime. Another memo Zelikow co-authored at around the same time even offered a legal alternative to the program. Now, it turns out that strong opposition to President Bush’s interrogation policies came from within his tight-knit inner circle. Karen Hughes, counselor to the president, told the Houston Chronicle this week that she was “very vocal in the internal debate”:She acknowledged the current uproar over interrogation tactics and allegations of prisoner torture during the Bush years.
“I was very vocal in the internal debate,” she said. “I worried about how that would make us look in the eyes of the world. But I had left the White House when a lot of that was taking place.”
Then she paused, worried for the first time in 90 minutes that she’d made a gaffe. Whatever Sen. John McCain says about interrogation techniques, she added quickly, she has similar views.
It does not get any plainer than that.
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Michael Steele says, "Obama's bankrupting the country" (Video)
Steele also says, the "GOP is BACK!!!"
From BarbinMD over at Daily Kos:
"We are going to take this President on with class, we are going to take this President on with dignity," Steele will say. "This will be a very sharp and marked contrast to the shabby and classless way that the Democrats and the far left spoke of the last President."
The RNC meeting wraps up on Wednesday with a scheduled vote on a controversial resolution that calls on Democrats to rename their party the "Democrat Socialist Party."
Damn, class and dignity? What a joke!!! Did King Rush, Hannity, Michael Savage get the memo? I doubt it.
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Joe Scarborough, from morning joe, LOST HIS MIND ON TORTURE!!! (Video)
I thought morning joke was about to have a heart attack. for real.
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A must read, "Tiny Clues on Decorating the White House"
My new favorite blog, East Wing Rules has great insight on how Michelle Obama is crafting the personal space for the First Family. And Bo looks at home!!
Nancy Reagan was the last first lady to privately fundraise and spend time restoring and decorating Blair House which is across the street from the White House with the mission being the United States guest home for visiting Heads of State House. If anyone knows it is past time for several upgrades in those adjoining townhomes, it is the latest first lady. C'mon, a bed that needs an added section for the head of state if they are over six feet tall is just not appropriate. Michelle Obama ordered a beautiful antique bed for the White House and had it modified to Queen-sized for a comfortable night's rest. No idea who the lucky Obama is that sleeps in on that one.
We do know that Michael Smith of California received official status as Michelle Obama's interior designer in January. Laura Bush had Kenneth Blasingame of Texas and Hillary Clinton used Kaki Hockersmith of Arkansas. Nancy Reagan also had a California designer that indulged her taste for florals and wall paper with florals. Once every decade, Architectural Digest usually does a photo spread including parts of the private residence once significant work is accomplished by a first lady, the curator, the staff and the White House Historical Association after collaborated on significant refurbishing of state rooms. read more here.....
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The GOP comeback is here!!!!
Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele insists the GOP has embarked on a new chapter and says it now must offer genuine solutions for the ailing country.
"The era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is now officially over. It is done," Steele said in remarks prepared for delivery Tuesday to state party chairmen. "We have turned the page, we have turned the corner. No more looking in the rearview mirror. From this point forward, we will focus all of our energies on winning the future."
Yet, even as Steele urged the party to focus on the future, he reached back to a Republican former president, saying: "Ronald Reagan always insisted that our party must move aggressively to seize the moment. He insisted that our party recognize the truth of the times and establish our first principles in both word and deed."
OK. They are coming back, but why are these poll numbers so dismal? Why are they losing in every geographic area except for the church goers? Is that coming back? And look for some, across the board Ronald Reagan was a great president, but he is not here any longer and he was from another time or era. It is time for the GOP to leave the throwback alone and come to the 21st Century. You ask a 20 year old about Ronald Reagan and they are "Ronald who?" Psst, GOP, get current.
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The most famous dog in the world....
getting a tummy rub by the President.....
sorry, y'all, I am a dog lover......
See more photos on flickr.....
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John Legend's Riveting Commencement Speech at University of Pennsylvania
"Finding Your Truth: Living a Soulful Life"
This is worth a watch and listen, for real. Transcript, here.
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White House Cheat Sheet
From The Fix by Chris Cillizza
I just spit up my coffee on this one:
Say What?: "From the day Hillary Clinton ended her historic bid for president, Terry worked tirelessly to unify our party around Barack Obama and get him elected president." -- Former South Dakota senator Tom Daschle affirms the Macker's strong support for President Obama.
Yeah, right.
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The GOP brand is dog crap
The GOP brand, Republican brand is full of sh!t right now, according to the new Gallup Poll.
Any republican should be worried about these numbers, can I type, ALL TIME LOW....
The decline and fall of the Republican Party in recent years has been so widespread that the party has lost support among nearly every major demographic subgroup of likely voters across the country, according to a new Gallup poll.
The party lost support among a broad swath of Americans, from conservative to liberal, low-income to high-income, married to unmarried, and elderly to young.
The only subgroup in which the party saw a slight increase in support from 2001 to 2009 was frequent churchgoers.
The biggest declines, of roughly 10 percent, occurred among the college-educated, 18 to 29-year-olds, and Midwestern voters.
The turning point was 2005, after Hurricane Katrina and Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, when the party's support really started to free-fall, according to Gallup: "By the end of 2008, the party had its worst positioning against the Democrats in nearly two decades."
So far in 2009, aggregated Gallup Poll data show the divide on leaned party identification is 53% Democratic and 39% Republican -- a marked change from 2001, when the parties were evenly matched, according to an average of all of that year's Gallup Polls. That represents a loss of five points for the Republicans and a gain of eight points for the Democrats.
Those are bad news numbers for the Republican brand, thanks to Bush/Cheney, thanks to the idiots talkers as Limbaugh, thanks to politicians like Virginia Foxx, thanks to their own stupidity to kick the likes of a Colin Powell out of their party. If they can not open their eyes up to reality and how this country really is, then they will continue to be in the wilderness.
Gallup Poll
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Monday, May 18, 2009
Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The View, got a cup of STFU from Jesse Ventura in regards to waterboarding (Video)
Ventura is a former Navy Seal, also former Governor of Minnesota. As he blasted Cheney on Larry King, he shuts up the sniping Hasselbeck from ABCs The View.
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President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Press Availability (Video and Transcript)
Full Video
Transcript
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Pentagon no longer quotes bible versus' on briefings (Video)
That GQ article was a bombshell. I posted it yesterday. It was a huge eyeopener on Rumsfeld and on Bush. Now we have the Pentagon clearing it all up.
The Pentagon said Monday it no longer includes a Bible quote on the cover page of daily intelligence briefings it sends to the White House as was practice during the Bush administration.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he did not know how long the Worldwide Intelligence Update cover sheets quoted from the Bible. Air Force Maj. Gen. Glen Shaffer, who was responsible for including them, retired in August 2003, according to his biography.
For a period in 2003, at least, the daily reports prepared for President George W. Bush carried quotes from the books of Psalms and Ephesians and the Gospel of Peter. At the time, the reports focused largely on the war in Iraq.
The Bible quotes apparently aimed to support Bush at a time when soldiers' deaths in Iraq were on the rise, according to the June issue of CQ magazine. But they offended at least one Muslim analyst at the Pentagon and worried other employees that the passages were inappropriate.
On Thursday, April 10, 2003, for example, the report quoted the book of Psalms — "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him. ... To deliver their soul from death." — and featured pictures of the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down and celebrating crowds in Baghdad. read more here.....
Obviously, it happened and all I can type is "what next to come from under the rug during the Bush years." Again, separation of church and state was WRITTEN explicitly for a reason with metric to govern. The Bush Administration just ignored it, as they did many things during their tenure.
From the Ed Show
And Pat Buchanan had a cow on Hardball over this.....
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FLOTUS, Michelle Obama in New York for the Arts (Pictures)
First lady Michelle Obama spent her second New York City visit emphasizing the crucial role the arts play in our society, reopening part of the American wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday and later addressing the crowd at a glittering ballet gala.
At both events, Mrs. Obama was greeted with enthusiastic ovations from audiences that included prominent figures in politics, the arts, entertainment and fashion. She stressed the importance of giving young people better access to the arts.
"The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it," she said at the museum. "Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation."
"The president and I want to ensure that all children have access to great works of art," she told a crowd that included students from four New York City public schools that focus on the arts. "We want all children who believe in their talent to see a way to create a future for themselves in the arts community, either as a hobby or as a profession."
And she reminded the audience that her husband, President Barack Obama, had included an additional $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts in his economic stimulus package.
Mrs. Obama spoke in the newly renovated Charles Engelhard Court, a striking room filled with sunlight, in front of the Greek Revival-style facade of an early 19th-century bank branch that was originally on Wall Street. She wore a bright purple Isaac Mizrahi sheath and coat.
To the amusement of a crowd that included Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Vogue editor Anna Wintour, former model Iman and designer Ralph Lauren, Mrs. Obama was reminded by museum president Emily Rafferty that she and the president had their first date in a museum.
"Thank you for reminding me," Mrs. Obama said. "You know, after 20-some-odd years of knowing a guy, you forget that your first date was at a museum. But it was, and it was obviously wonderful; it worked." read more here....
Michelle at the Met and the Ballet
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Obama to Netanyahu "...get to the peace table...." (Video)
Obama is being a hardliner for this behind the scenes and he should. If we want things fixed in the Middle East it starts with the two-state solution. Netanyahu can be a hardliner for being against it, but in the end will not get the support he needs in the international community if he does not go back to the table with the Palestinians as an honest broker on this. Simple as that, get to the peace table.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he is ready to resume peace talks with the Palestinians immediately, but any agreement is contingent on their acceptance of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. His comments came after a meeting with President Barack Obama, who bluntly told the Israeli leader it was time to get back to the negotiating table.
Netanyahu and President Barack Obama met for more than two hours at the White House and focused on Mideast peace talks, Iran's nuclear program and the U.S.-Israeli relationship.
Obama said he expects a positive response from his diplomatic outreach to Iran on stopping its nuclear program by the end of the year. The president said the United States wanted to bring Iran into the world community, but declared "we're not going to have talks forever." read more here....
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Obama Administration requires cars to get 42 MPG
This is great news, all around. It should have been done YEARS ago with these automobiles. This is too long overdue.
New cars and trucks will have to get 30 percent better mileage starting in 2016 under an Obama administration move to curb emissions tied to smog and global warming, sources said Monday.
President Barack Obama was expected to adopt the higher mileage standards on Tuesday, administration sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.
The new requirement will mark the first time that limits on greenhouse gases will be linked to federal standards for cars and light trucks.
While the 30 percent increase would be an average for both cars and light trucks, the percentage increase in cars would be much greater, according to the New York Times, rising from the current 27.5 mpg standard to 42 mpg starting in 2016. The average for light trucks would rise from 24 mpg to 26.2 mpg.
California, 13 other states and the District of Columbia had earlier urged the federal government to let them enact more stringent standards than the federal government's requirements. The states' regulations would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and trucks by 2016.
[snip]
Daniel Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, described it as "a triple play: It will help move America off foreign oil, save families money and spur American businesses to take the lead in developing the job-creating, clean-energy technologies of the future."
Obama's plan also would effectively end litigation between states and automakers. The latter had opposed state-specific rules, arguing that having to meet several state standards would be much more expensive for them than just one federal rule.
SOURCE
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Getting fired by a president means nothing if you are a former GM CEO
Again, it means nothing. It was proverbial lip service, obviously, because the man is still getting a pay check.
Seven weeks after the Treasury Department announced that it was ousting General Motors chief G. Richard Wagoner Jr. in the federal bailout of the company, he is still technically on GM's payroll.
Wagoner's removal has been held up because senior Treasury officials have yet to decide whether he should get the $20 million severance package that the company had promised him.
The delay is one of many hitches that have slowed a host of important policy actions in the four months since Timothy F. Geithner became Treasury secretary. While Geithner has taken dramatic steps to address flashpoints in the economy, the work of carrying out those policies has bogged down because critical decisions about how to do so aren't being made, interviews with a broad range of federal officials show.
Government officials, inside the Treasury and out, say the unresolved issues are piling up in part because of vacancies in the department's top ranks. But some of the officials also cite the Treasury's ad-hoc management, which is dominated by a small band of Geithner's counselors who coordinate rescue initiatives but lack formal authority to make decisions. Heavy involvement by the White House in Treasury affairs has further muddied the picture of who is responsible for key issues, the officials add.
In other words, they don't know what the hell they are doing. Sorry, but if you make a decision to fire someone, that decision should be final. Meaning, all discussion and decisions of any bonus should have been made, prior to any firing. So, now we have a fired CEO, getting a pay check and the firing did not mean anything.
At least that is what we minions in the nosebleed section think.
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