pseudo manitou (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} pseudomanitou) wrote,@ 2008-03-28 11:50:00 |
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Today in the News:
INANE AND/OR INSANE...
All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors.
DayPop.com; Wired News; Fark.com; Icon Factory; Pixel Girls; Cute Overload; Postsecret; Best of Craigslist; Urban Legend Reference...
[LINK:] CuteOverload -- The Telltale Quaking Paw...
[LINK:] LOLcatz -- invisible text message breakup...
[LINK:] The Failblog is watching you...
[FEAR ONLY SPREADS:] ACLU Watch List Counter -- Why are there so many names on the U.S. government's terrorist list?...
[LINK:] Japanese judges have thrown out a libel case against Nobel prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe, who was accused of lying about the country's war time past (Japan wants to deny their actions in China and so on during WW2, but they want an apology from the US for the nuclear bombs? Hypocrite much, Japan?)...
[LINK:] Our noses can quickly learn to link even subtle changes in smell with danger, claim scientists...
[LINK:] Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, says he will sue the maker of an anti-Islam film...
[LINK:] Mexico is magical to its warlocks and witches...
[LINK:] Cigarette Company Paid for Lung Cancer Study...
[LINK:] Wal-mart's lawsuit: legal, but wrong -- The retail giant's pursuit of funds paid to a severely injured former employee puts hardship on a family...
[LINK:] Why we DON'T listen to religious sermons for political advice (DJ remix version here)...
[LINK:] Christ-vertising... no, I don't think this is a joke (Pray to bring New Coke back)...
[LINK:] A Mosaic: 4,000 Americans Dead...
[LINK:] Slap. But Very Slowly...
[LINK:] Thor - God of Metal...
[LINK:] TRON Fan Film...
[LINK:] 10 Things You Can Do to the Earth (According to Satan)...
[HA!:] Metafilter vs. YouTube Comments...
[LINK:] Eddie Izzard’s Death Star Canteen - In LEGO...
[LINK:] Massive Vintage Logo Upload to Flickr...
[LINK:] Taking Pictures of Strangers: Part I...
.................
THE WORLD IN GENERAL...
Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.
CNN.com; BBCnews.uk; International Herald Tribune; Washington Post; CNN-money; ABC News; Slate (MSN); Alter.Net; PBS Newshour; Yahoo News; Reuters; ABYZ News links.com (great for finding very localized news)...
[YOUWATCHNOW:] PBS Frontline: The Definitive Account of “Bush’s War”...
[LINK:] The Fed Bailed Out Heavy-Hitter Investors But Ignored Subprime Warnings For Years (Privatize the profit, publicize the risk. Tell me again why we shouldn't tax the wealthy -- I keep forgetting)...
[LINK:] The economy nearly sputtered out at the end of the year and probably is faring even worse now amid continuing housing, credit and financial woes...
[LINK:] Cubans are to be allowed unrestricted access to mobile phones for the first time, in the latest reform announced under new President Raul Castro...
[LINK:] A federal judge on Wednesday ruled Michigan's presidential primary law unconstitutional and blocked the state from giving voter lists from the Jan. 15 election to the state's major political parties...
[LINK:] Only a year ago, James Cayne's stake in Bear Stearns was worth more than $1 billion on paper. But on Thursday, Cayne, the chairman of Bear, disclosed that he had sold all of his shares this week in the troubled investment bank for just $61 million (Aw, poor guy. Let's give him our tax dollars. Waddya say folks? Let's bail his dumb ass out!)...
[LINK:] Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged with perjury and other offenses Monday — and got a stern lecture about the importance of telling the truth — after a trove of raunchy text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with his chief aide...
[LINK:] Newly found documents show OSHA detected dangerous levels of formaldehyde in trailers used to house Katrina evacuees as early as 2005—but FEMA mass distributed them anyway...
[LINK:] Chinese authorities have launched mass arrests of Tibetans in Lhasa for interrogation about the fiercest anti-Chinese uprising for decades, a Beijing-based source told Reuters on Wednesday...
[LINK:] China is taking a handful of foreign diplomats to Tibet, following widespread criticism of Beijing's crackdown on Tibetan protests...
[LINK:] Zimbabwe's security forces have been put on full alert amid fears Saturday's election could spark violence similar to that in recent Kenyan polls...
[LINK:] Further chaos is expected at Heathrow's Terminal 5 after its opening day was marred by a catalogue of errors which left many stranded overnight...
[LINK:] Colombia has offered to release jailed Farc rebels if they first hand over former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages...
[LINK:] North Korea has test-fired short-range missiles off its western coast, the South Korean government has confirmed (Aw, that's cute. I guess they want more money?)...
[OUCH:] The Supreme Court on Monday gave employers a green light to reduce health benefits for millions of retirees who turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare. The justices turned away a legal challenge from AARP, the nation's leading senior citizens lobby, which had contended these lower benefits for older retirees violated the federal law against age discrimination (I told you that court Bush set up was a bunch of corporate whores)...
[LINK:] U.S. Supreme Court justices questioned on Tuesday whether federal judges in the United States can block U.S. military officials in Iraq from turning over Americans to Iraqi authorities for trial or punishment...
[LINK:] Behind the Pentagon's closed doors, U.S. military leaders told President Bush they are worried about the Iraq war's mounting strain on troops and their families. But they indicated they'd go along with a brief halt in pulling out troops this summer (So? Bush is going to run the military into the ground to hold the line for the 2008 elections. he doesn't care)...
[LINK:] Destroyed CIA tapes loom over detainee cases (funny how destroyed evidence can cause legal issues when we know that evidence used to exist)...
.................
THE ENVIRONMENT...
Nature does nothing uselessly.
TruthOut.com-E; GreenPeace; Bush Greenwatch; NRDC; Sierraclub.org...
[LINK:] There is strong evidence that exposure to pesticides significantly increases the risk of Parkinson's disease, experts believe...
[LINK:] A new study says that black carbon pollution contributes more to global warming than previously thought...
[LINK:] For Carbon Emissions, a Goal of Less Than Zero...
[WOW!:] New Record: Wind Powers 40 Percent of Spain ...
[LINK:] Million acres of Guyanese rainforest to be saved in groundbreaking deal...
[WHOOPS:] A chunk of Antarctic ice bigger than the city of Montreal has suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday...
[LINK:] A controversial land swap proposal could open portions of an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, dividing Alaska natives and stoking opposition from environmentalists seeking to protect the bears, moose and birds that live there...
.................
IRAQ AND THE MIDDLE EAST...
It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.
Iraq Coalition Casulaty Count; Iraq Body Count; The Cost of War; Soldiers for the Truth; Iraq Daily; IraqMeter; Iraq Maps; Operation Truth...
[LINK:] Heavy fighting erupted in a bastion of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia in Basra onThursday, witnesses said, as military operations against gunmen in the southern city entered a third day...
[LINK:] American-trained Iraqi security forces failed for a third straight day to oust Shiite militias from the southern city of Basra on Thursday, even as President George W. Bush hailed the operation as a sign of the growing strength of Iraq's federal government (Does Bush even own a fucking TV?)...
[HMMM:] Chevron Corp. and other international oil companies are negotiating with the Iraq Ministry of Oil to begin tapping into some of the country's largest oil fields, according to published reports...
[LINK:] Iraq's government has extended by 10 days a deadline for Shia militiamen fighting troops in the southern city of Basra to hand over their weapons...
[LINK:] Two Pakistani intelligence agents involved in tracking al-Qaeda suspects have been shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi, police say...
[LINK:] Two more Arab states have said their leaders will not attend the Arab League summit in Syria on Saturday...
[LINK:] Global oil prices have fallen slightly in Friday trading on the news that an attack on an Iraqi export pipeline was not as serious as earlier thought...
[LINK:] Afghans Lack $10 Billion in Aid, Report Says...
[GOOD:] The deposed chief justice emerged from house arrest Monday after Pakistan's new prime minister ordered police to pull back razor-wire barricades and release judges ousted last year by President Pervez Musharraf...
[UGH!:] to arm the Afghan forces that it hopes will lead this fight, the American military has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a 22-year-old man whose vice president was a licensed masseur (you have GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!)...
[LINK:] Iraqi doctors in al-Anbar province warn of a new disease they call "Blackwater" that threatens the lives of thousands. The disease is named after Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. mercenary company operating in Iraq (no such thing as bad publicity?)...
.................
HIDE THE WOMEN AND THE LIQUOR, THE DEMOCRATS ARE COMING...
"The purpose of a liberal arts education is to learn that a person can like both cats *and* dogs!"
StreetProphets.com; FromTheRoots.org; DNC.org; DFLers.org; SourceWatch.org (great tool); PRwatch.org...
[LINK:] Most of the superdelegates who have yet to pick sides in the Democratic presidential primary appear to be waiting for another authority — either voters or party leaders — to select their party’s nominee...
[LINK:] Democrats, looking for a way out, are pondering a new idea: an unprecedented "mini convention" to bring their punishing presidential season to an early close...
[LINK:] Top fundraisers for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign upbraided House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday for suggesting that Democratic superdelegates should back the candidate with the most pledged delegates and urged her to respect the right of those delegates to back whomever they choose at the end of the primary season (shut the fuck up, Clintonites. If the people have spoken, then the delegates have NO RIGHT to change that vote)...
[LINK:] Hillary Rodham Clinton adviser James Carville is refusing to apologize for comparing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to Judas...
.................
NEO-CONS, CONSERVATIVES, AND BUSHIES, OH MY...
"You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you're gone." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006.
OurCongress.Org; SmirkingChimp.com; ACLU; TruthOut.com; CCR; Daily Kos; Unknown News; FactCheck.Org; Media Matters for America; MotherJones.com; Air America Radio; Bush Watch; Democratic Underground; Disinfopedia.org; Crooks and Liars...
[LINK:] The Supreme Court rebuffed President Bush on Tuesday for exceeding his powers under the law, ruling he does not have the "unilateral authority" to force state officials to comply with an international treaty...
[LINK:] Fred Kagan -- "The first thing I want to say is that: The Civil War in Iraq is over. And until the American domestic political debate catches up with that fact, we are going to have a very hard time discussing Iraq on the basis of reality"...
[LINK:] The Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission is scheduled to vote this Wednesday on a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution that would allow the government to fund religious proselytizing activities and discriminate among religious groups...
[TOLD YOU SO:] Ensuring Permanence -- The Bush Administration Is Negotiating a Long-Term Iraq Occupation...
[LINK:] Chris Wallace backpedals on Fox News criticism...
[AS IF ON CUE:] While giving one of his standard “we’re winning in Iraq... I don’t care what you say” speeches today, Senator McCain was interrupted by MSNBC with some breaking news of violence from that country (I have to wonder if McCain is trying to recoup the loss in Vietnam by dragging shit out in Iraq)...
[LINK:] Studies show Abstinence Education is not working, but don't tell that to James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, where they think it's proof of the exact opposite...
[DEMS ARE IN TROUBLE?:] At a time when the GOP presidential nominee will need more assistance than ever, a number of state Republican parties are struggling through troubled times, suffering from internal strife, poor fundraising, onerous debt, scandal or voting trends that are conspiring to relegate the local branches of the party to near-irrelevance...
[LINK:] Cheney on 4000 American Dead: “They Volunteered.”...
[LINK:] Connecticut paper apologizes for endorsing Lieberman in 2006...
[LINK:] Conservapedia Attacks! The Democratic Candidates...
[LINK:] Matthews: "4,000 people are dead now because of decisions made by politicians like the Clintons" (AGIAN: Clinton voted to support Bush's war [based on Bush's lies] only if Bush got a vote from the UN to proceed, WHICH BUSH DID NOT DO. Bush is responsible for ALL OF THIS, not Congress. The fault in Congress is that they didn't impeach Bush's ass)...
[LINK:] Chicago Tribune falsely claimed Clinton, Obama, and McCain "essentially agree" on immigration...
[LINK:] Kurtz continues to cover Wright comments while giving short shrift to Hagee, Parsley comments...
[LINK:] GOP strategist Tantaros falsely claimed Al Gore "said ... he invented the Internet" (That line of bullshit is older than you, bitch. At least tell us a new lie)...
[LINK:] Morning Joe reported that Saddam allegedly financed three Dems' Iraq trip, but not that DOJ reportedly said they didn't know...
[LINK:] Dick Morris again falsely claimed Clinton said Chelsea "was jogging around the World Trade Center on 9/11" (and why the shit is that even an issue?)...
INVERTING McCAIN'S REALITY - IT'S THE OPPOSITE CAMPAIGN!
[LINK:] CNN's Todd claimed Dem contributions from securities and investment industry "dwarf" McCain's -- but a greater proportion of McCain's donations came from Wall Street...
[LINK:] Boston Globe's Canellos claimed McCain has a "nonideological voting record" -- but not according to McCain...
[LINK:] Wash. Times' Lambro asserted McCain "burnish[ed] his defense and foreign policy credentials" on trip, ignored Al Qaeda-Iran gaffe...
[LINK:] Media continue to ignore McCain endorsers' controversial comments...
[LINK:] MSNBC's O'Donnell falsely claimed McCain "called for Don Rumsfeld's resignation"...
[LINK:] Media report that McCain now insists on respect for U.S. allies -- but ignore 2003 smears of Germany and "aging movie actress" France...
[LINK:] Just weeks after criticizing McCain for exploiting campaign finance laws, Wash. Post dubbed him a "champion" of campaign finance reform...
[LINK:] AP uncritically quoted McCain claim that Obama will "raise taxes" on homeowners...
.................
OPINIONS, ANALYSIS, ESSAYS...
Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence.
Reason.com; The Gadflyer; Jim Hightower; DailyKos.com; Atrios; Joe Conason; Democracy Arsenal; Randi Rhodes...
[LINK:] With a revamped withdrawal proposal, Clinton is pressing Obama on military contractors and redeployment strategy. Yet the candidates' plans still hardly differ, and neither candidate would completely withdraw troops from Iraq...
[YEP:] Flip Side of Democrats' Spat: Higher Turnout (double edged sword -- and will that turnout go down by 40% when one candidate is selected finally?)...
[LINK:] The last thing China wanted, in the year it is to host the Olympic Games, was the world watching its army brutally suppressing protesters...
[LINK:] Blue Collar, Bare Cupboards...
[UH-OH:] Make oil a public utility...
[LINK:] Basra "Surge" update...
[LINK:] Bush’s heads-I-win-tails-you-lose argument in Iraq...
[HMMM:] Don’t Get Caged - Check Your Voter Registration Today...
[LINK:] I keep forgetting that Chuck Norris has a column at Townhall. Let’s head over there and see what this great big stick of fistic jerky has to say to us...
[LINK:] What Does Bush Mean by "Victory in Iraq"?...
[LINK:] Campaign spending limits don’t apply to mavericks...
[TRUTH:] Remind me again: where does all this cred come from? And what window do Democrats go to to get the same treatment the press gives McCain?...
[LINK:] You'd think installing the guy and having 150,000 troops there to underwrite his government would at least buy American forces a heads up. You'd be wrong...
[LINK:] Obviously, if McCain got that upset about simply "suggesting" we bomb in Pakistan I can only imagine how angry he might get when he finds out that it's actually happening!...
[LINK:] I have yet to see Petraeus make any comment on the situations and I'm wondering what he thinks, especially since he has spent the last few months cultivating Sadr. I feel like he'd be out there more publicly if he actually thought this was a good idea...
[LINK:] I am convinced that one of the many reasons America is stumbling and its image and legitimacy is erroding is the lack of a grand strategic foundation...
[TRUTH!:] So, we did a fact check on McCain's speech. The basic gist. If the speech gives you warm fuzzies and makes you feel like McCain's foreign policy is somehow better then George Bush's, check that idea quickly...
[LINK:] It really is amazing that any White House press officer continues to allow Dick Cheney to speak to the media. Check out a few of these quotes from our esteemed Vice President...
[LINK:] Democrats from Carter to Clinton helped roll back the government's regulatory power, but as the economic crisis deepens, "regulation" is no longer such a dirty word...
[LINK:] The Militias in the Middle East Classrooms -- Some Iraqi refugee children haven't been to school in five years. Do they still have career goals?...
[LINK:] Exclusive: Who's Behind Abu Ghraib? -- For the first time, one chart shows the scandal's full chain of command from Bush to detainees...
[LINK:] McCain on the Housing Crisis: Quick, Do Nothing!...
[LINK:] The little administration that couldn't: rebuilding the American economy, Bush-style...
.................
HUMOR...
He that jokes confesses.
Get Your War On!; Doonesbury.com; DubyaSpeak.com; Propaganda Remix; The WhiteHouse.Org; ToStupidTooBePresident; The Daily Show; The Onion...
[LINK:] Five years later -- neocons discuss their regrets...
[LINK:] Four more years...
[LINK:] Doonesbury -- got my attention...
[LINK:] Doonesbury -- figure of speech...
[LINK:] Doonesbury -- A situation...
[LINK:] Time Traveler: Everyone In The Future Eats Dippin' Dots...
[LINK:] Fearmongers, Warmongers Gather For Annual Mongering Conference...
[LINK:] Marine Determined To Win Heart, Mind Of At Least One Iraqi...
[LINK:] In order to assist her presidential bid, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library has made public 11,000 pages of Hillary Clinton's calendar while she was in the White House. Here are some of the notable excerpts...
[LINK:] I heard they had to get all the information about the original 90210 from the last surviving cast member...
[LINK:] Finally, the name Gibson will be synonymous with fake guitars...
[LINK:] Let's look on the bright side: At least they are gaining the respect of their male peers...
[LINK:] John McCain Announces Solutions to Sub Prime Mortgage Crisis...
[LINK:] Pentagon 'Punked' by Satire Writers with 'Iraq Fighting Good Sign' Story...
[LINK:] Clinton Campaign Announces Endorsement from Tonya Harding...
[LINK:] with a whimper...
[LINK:] solution to feeling bad...
[LINK:] I warn you...
[LINK:] disagree on what we can all plainly see...
[LINK:] needs immediate treatment...
.................
Wrap up: I'm so comforted over the fact that the elected government in Iraq is acting for the press just like Saddam's government did. No, no attacks here. There's no problem. No pipeline attack -- anyone claiming that is a terrorist...
Yep, REALLY comforting...
...........
I'm getting rather disgusted with how much McCain has done wrong, but how right the media says he is. McCain could drive a truck of nuclear waste off a bridge, and the media would simply ignore it, and counter word of mouth of the event by claiming McCain is the best driver in the world.
Enough of this bullshit...
America cannot be a democracy or even a republic if it is never given the information it needs to make decisions. From here on out -- anyone who lies in the news and does not offer correction is officially in favor of dictatorship. There, how's that?
INANE AND/OR INSANE...
All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors.
DayPop.com; Wired News; Fark.com; Icon Factory; Pixel Girls; Cute Overload; Postsecret; Best of Craigslist; Urban Legend Reference...
[LINK:] CuteOverload -- The Telltale Quaking Paw...
[LINK:] LOLcatz -- invisible text message breakup...
[LINK:] The Failblog is watching you...
[FEAR ONLY SPREADS:] ACLU Watch List Counter -- Why are there so many names on the U.S. government's terrorist list?...
[LINK:] Japanese judges have thrown out a libel case against Nobel prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe, who was accused of lying about the country's war time past (Japan wants to deny their actions in China and so on during WW2, but they want an apology from the US for the nuclear bombs? Hypocrite much, Japan?)...
[LINK:] Our noses can quickly learn to link even subtle changes in smell with danger, claim scientists...
[LINK:] Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, says he will sue the maker of an anti-Islam film...
[LINK:] Mexico is magical to its warlocks and witches...
[LINK:] Cigarette Company Paid for Lung Cancer Study...
[LINK:] Wal-mart's lawsuit: legal, but wrong -- The retail giant's pursuit of funds paid to a severely injured former employee puts hardship on a family...
[LINK:] Why we DON'T listen to religious sermons for political advice (DJ remix version here)...
[LINK:] Christ-vertising... no, I don't think this is a joke (Pray to bring New Coke back)...
[LINK:] A Mosaic: 4,000 Americans Dead...
[LINK:] Slap. But Very Slowly...
[LINK:] Thor - God of Metal...
[LINK:] TRON Fan Film...
[LINK:] 10 Things You Can Do to the Earth (According to Satan)...
[HA!:] Metafilter vs. YouTube Comments...
[LINK:] Eddie Izzard’s Death Star Canteen - In LEGO...
[LINK:] Massive Vintage Logo Upload to Flickr...
[LINK:] Taking Pictures of Strangers: Part I...
.................
THE WORLD IN GENERAL...
Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.
CNN.com; BBCnews.uk; International Herald Tribune; Washington Post; CNN-money; ABC News; Slate (MSN); Alter.Net; PBS Newshour; Yahoo News; Reuters; ABYZ News links.com (great for finding very localized news)...
[YOUWATCHNOW:] PBS Frontline: The Definitive Account of “Bush’s War”...
[LINK:] The Fed Bailed Out Heavy-Hitter Investors But Ignored Subprime Warnings For Years (Privatize the profit, publicize the risk. Tell me again why we shouldn't tax the wealthy -- I keep forgetting)...
[LINK:] The economy nearly sputtered out at the end of the year and probably is faring even worse now amid continuing housing, credit and financial woes...
[LINK:] Cubans are to be allowed unrestricted access to mobile phones for the first time, in the latest reform announced under new President Raul Castro...
[LINK:] A federal judge on Wednesday ruled Michigan's presidential primary law unconstitutional and blocked the state from giving voter lists from the Jan. 15 election to the state's major political parties...
[LINK:] Only a year ago, James Cayne's stake in Bear Stearns was worth more than $1 billion on paper. But on Thursday, Cayne, the chairman of Bear, disclosed that he had sold all of his shares this week in the troubled investment bank for just $61 million (Aw, poor guy. Let's give him our tax dollars. Waddya say folks? Let's bail his dumb ass out!)...
[LINK:] Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged with perjury and other offenses Monday — and got a stern lecture about the importance of telling the truth — after a trove of raunchy text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with his chief aide...
[LINK:] Newly found documents show OSHA detected dangerous levels of formaldehyde in trailers used to house Katrina evacuees as early as 2005—but FEMA mass distributed them anyway...
[LINK:] Chinese authorities have launched mass arrests of Tibetans in Lhasa for interrogation about the fiercest anti-Chinese uprising for decades, a Beijing-based source told Reuters on Wednesday...
[LINK:] China is taking a handful of foreign diplomats to Tibet, following widespread criticism of Beijing's crackdown on Tibetan protests...
[LINK:] Zimbabwe's security forces have been put on full alert amid fears Saturday's election could spark violence similar to that in recent Kenyan polls...
[LINK:] Further chaos is expected at Heathrow's Terminal 5 after its opening day was marred by a catalogue of errors which left many stranded overnight...
[LINK:] Colombia has offered to release jailed Farc rebels if they first hand over former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages...
[LINK:] North Korea has test-fired short-range missiles off its western coast, the South Korean government has confirmed (Aw, that's cute. I guess they want more money?)...
[OUCH:] The Supreme Court on Monday gave employers a green light to reduce health benefits for millions of retirees who turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare. The justices turned away a legal challenge from AARP, the nation's leading senior citizens lobby, which had contended these lower benefits for older retirees violated the federal law against age discrimination (I told you that court Bush set up was a bunch of corporate whores)...
[LINK:] U.S. Supreme Court justices questioned on Tuesday whether federal judges in the United States can block U.S. military officials in Iraq from turning over Americans to Iraqi authorities for trial or punishment...
[LINK:] Behind the Pentagon's closed doors, U.S. military leaders told President Bush they are worried about the Iraq war's mounting strain on troops and their families. But they indicated they'd go along with a brief halt in pulling out troops this summer (So? Bush is going to run the military into the ground to hold the line for the 2008 elections. he doesn't care)...
[LINK:] Destroyed CIA tapes loom over detainee cases (funny how destroyed evidence can cause legal issues when we know that evidence used to exist)...
.................
THE ENVIRONMENT...
Nature does nothing uselessly.
TruthOut.com-E; GreenPeace; Bush Greenwatch; NRDC; Sierraclub.org...
[LINK:] There is strong evidence that exposure to pesticides significantly increases the risk of Parkinson's disease, experts believe...
[LINK:] A new study says that black carbon pollution contributes more to global warming than previously thought...
[LINK:] For Carbon Emissions, a Goal of Less Than Zero...
[WOW!:] New Record: Wind Powers 40 Percent of Spain ...
[LINK:] Million acres of Guyanese rainforest to be saved in groundbreaking deal...
[WHOOPS:] A chunk of Antarctic ice bigger than the city of Montreal has suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday...
[LINK:] A controversial land swap proposal could open portions of an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, dividing Alaska natives and stoking opposition from environmentalists seeking to protect the bears, moose and birds that live there...
.................
IRAQ AND THE MIDDLE EAST...
It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.
Iraq Coalition Casulaty Count; Iraq Body Count; The Cost of War; Soldiers for the Truth; Iraq Daily; IraqMeter; Iraq Maps; Operation Truth...
[LINK:] Heavy fighting erupted in a bastion of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia in Basra onThursday, witnesses said, as military operations against gunmen in the southern city entered a third day...
[LINK:] American-trained Iraqi security forces failed for a third straight day to oust Shiite militias from the southern city of Basra on Thursday, even as President George W. Bush hailed the operation as a sign of the growing strength of Iraq's federal government (Does Bush even own a fucking TV?)...
[HMMM:] Chevron Corp. and other international oil companies are negotiating with the Iraq Ministry of Oil to begin tapping into some of the country's largest oil fields, according to published reports...
[LINK:] Iraq's government has extended by 10 days a deadline for Shia militiamen fighting troops in the southern city of Basra to hand over their weapons...
[LINK:] Two Pakistani intelligence agents involved in tracking al-Qaeda suspects have been shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi, police say...
[LINK:] Two more Arab states have said their leaders will not attend the Arab League summit in Syria on Saturday...
[LINK:] Global oil prices have fallen slightly in Friday trading on the news that an attack on an Iraqi export pipeline was not as serious as earlier thought...
[LINK:] Afghans Lack $10 Billion in Aid, Report Says...
[GOOD:] The deposed chief justice emerged from house arrest Monday after Pakistan's new prime minister ordered police to pull back razor-wire barricades and release judges ousted last year by President Pervez Musharraf...
[UGH!:] to arm the Afghan forces that it hopes will lead this fight, the American military has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a 22-year-old man whose vice president was a licensed masseur (you have GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!)...
[LINK:] Iraqi doctors in al-Anbar province warn of a new disease they call "Blackwater" that threatens the lives of thousands. The disease is named after Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. mercenary company operating in Iraq (no such thing as bad publicity?)...
.................
HIDE THE WOMEN AND THE LIQUOR, THE DEMOCRATS ARE COMING...
"The purpose of a liberal arts education is to learn that a person can like both cats *and* dogs!"
StreetProphets.com; FromTheRoots.org; DNC.org; DFLers.org; SourceWatch.org (great tool); PRwatch.org...
[LINK:] Most of the superdelegates who have yet to pick sides in the Democratic presidential primary appear to be waiting for another authority — either voters or party leaders — to select their party’s nominee...
[LINK:] Democrats, looking for a way out, are pondering a new idea: an unprecedented "mini convention" to bring their punishing presidential season to an early close...
[LINK:] Top fundraisers for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign upbraided House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday for suggesting that Democratic superdelegates should back the candidate with the most pledged delegates and urged her to respect the right of those delegates to back whomever they choose at the end of the primary season (shut the fuck up, Clintonites. If the people have spoken, then the delegates have NO RIGHT to change that vote)...
[LINK:] Hillary Rodham Clinton adviser James Carville is refusing to apologize for comparing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to Judas...
.................
NEO-CONS, CONSERVATIVES, AND BUSHIES, OH MY...
"You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you're gone." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006.
OurCongress.Org; SmirkingChimp.com; ACLU; TruthOut.com; CCR; Daily Kos; Unknown News; FactCheck.Org; Media Matters for America; MotherJones.com; Air America Radio; Bush Watch; Democratic Underground; Disinfopedia.org; Crooks and Liars...
[LINK:] The Supreme Court rebuffed President Bush on Tuesday for exceeding his powers under the law, ruling he does not have the "unilateral authority" to force state officials to comply with an international treaty...
[LINK:] Fred Kagan -- "The first thing I want to say is that: The Civil War in Iraq is over. And until the American domestic political debate catches up with that fact, we are going to have a very hard time discussing Iraq on the basis of reality"...
[LINK:] The Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission is scheduled to vote this Wednesday on a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution that would allow the government to fund religious proselytizing activities and discriminate among religious groups...
[TOLD YOU SO:] Ensuring Permanence -- The Bush Administration Is Negotiating a Long-Term Iraq Occupation...
[LINK:] Chris Wallace backpedals on Fox News criticism...
[AS IF ON CUE:] While giving one of his standard “we’re winning in Iraq... I don’t care what you say” speeches today, Senator McCain was interrupted by MSNBC with some breaking news of violence from that country (I have to wonder if McCain is trying to recoup the loss in Vietnam by dragging shit out in Iraq)...
[LINK:] Studies show Abstinence Education is not working, but don't tell that to James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, where they think it's proof of the exact opposite...
[DEMS ARE IN TROUBLE?:] At a time when the GOP presidential nominee will need more assistance than ever, a number of state Republican parties are struggling through troubled times, suffering from internal strife, poor fundraising, onerous debt, scandal or voting trends that are conspiring to relegate the local branches of the party to near-irrelevance...
[LINK:] Cheney on 4000 American Dead: “They Volunteered.”...
[LINK:] Connecticut paper apologizes for endorsing Lieberman in 2006...
[LINK:] Conservapedia Attacks! The Democratic Candidates...
[LINK:] Matthews: "4,000 people are dead now because of decisions made by politicians like the Clintons" (AGIAN: Clinton voted to support Bush's war [based on Bush's lies] only if Bush got a vote from the UN to proceed, WHICH BUSH DID NOT DO. Bush is responsible for ALL OF THIS, not Congress. The fault in Congress is that they didn't impeach Bush's ass)...
[LINK:] Chicago Tribune falsely claimed Clinton, Obama, and McCain "essentially agree" on immigration...
[LINK:] Kurtz continues to cover Wright comments while giving short shrift to Hagee, Parsley comments...
[LINK:] GOP strategist Tantaros falsely claimed Al Gore "said ... he invented the Internet" (That line of bullshit is older than you, bitch. At least tell us a new lie)...
[LINK:] Morning Joe reported that Saddam allegedly financed three Dems' Iraq trip, but not that DOJ reportedly said they didn't know...
[LINK:] Dick Morris again falsely claimed Clinton said Chelsea "was jogging around the World Trade Center on 9/11" (and why the shit is that even an issue?)...
INVERTING McCAIN'S REALITY - IT'S THE OPPOSITE CAMPAIGN!
[LINK:] CNN's Todd claimed Dem contributions from securities and investment industry "dwarf" McCain's -- but a greater proportion of McCain's donations came from Wall Street...
[LINK:] Boston Globe's Canellos claimed McCain has a "nonideological voting record" -- but not according to McCain...
[LINK:] Wash. Times' Lambro asserted McCain "burnish[ed] his defense and foreign policy credentials" on trip, ignored Al Qaeda-Iran gaffe...
[LINK:] Media continue to ignore McCain endorsers' controversial comments...
[LINK:] MSNBC's O'Donnell falsely claimed McCain "called for Don Rumsfeld's resignation"...
[LINK:] Media report that McCain now insists on respect for U.S. allies -- but ignore 2003 smears of Germany and "aging movie actress" France...
[LINK:] Just weeks after criticizing McCain for exploiting campaign finance laws, Wash. Post dubbed him a "champion" of campaign finance reform...
[LINK:] AP uncritically quoted McCain claim that Obama will "raise taxes" on homeowners...
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OPINIONS, ANALYSIS, ESSAYS...
Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence.
Reason.com; The Gadflyer; Jim Hightower; DailyKos.com; Atrios; Joe Conason; Democracy Arsenal; Randi Rhodes...
[LINK:] With a revamped withdrawal proposal, Clinton is pressing Obama on military contractors and redeployment strategy. Yet the candidates' plans still hardly differ, and neither candidate would completely withdraw troops from Iraq...
[YEP:] Flip Side of Democrats' Spat: Higher Turnout (double edged sword -- and will that turnout go down by 40% when one candidate is selected finally?)...
[LINK:] The last thing China wanted, in the year it is to host the Olympic Games, was the world watching its army brutally suppressing protesters...
[LINK:] Blue Collar, Bare Cupboards...
[UH-OH:] Make oil a public utility...
[LINK:] Basra "Surge" update...
[LINK:] Bush’s heads-I-win-tails-you-lose argument in Iraq...
[HMMM:] Don’t Get Caged - Check Your Voter Registration Today...
[LINK:] I keep forgetting that Chuck Norris has a column at Townhall. Let’s head over there and see what this great big stick of fistic jerky has to say to us...
[LINK:] What Does Bush Mean by "Victory in Iraq"?...
[LINK:] Campaign spending limits don’t apply to mavericks...
[TRUTH:] Remind me again: where does all this cred come from? And what window do Democrats go to to get the same treatment the press gives McCain?...
[LINK:] You'd think installing the guy and having 150,000 troops there to underwrite his government would at least buy American forces a heads up. You'd be wrong...
[LINK:] Obviously, if McCain got that upset about simply "suggesting" we bomb in Pakistan I can only imagine how angry he might get when he finds out that it's actually happening!...
[LINK:] I have yet to see Petraeus make any comment on the situations and I'm wondering what he thinks, especially since he has spent the last few months cultivating Sadr. I feel like he'd be out there more publicly if he actually thought this was a good idea...
[LINK:] I am convinced that one of the many reasons America is stumbling and its image and legitimacy is erroding is the lack of a grand strategic foundation...
[TRUTH!:] So, we did a fact check on McCain's speech. The basic gist. If the speech gives you warm fuzzies and makes you feel like McCain's foreign policy is somehow better then George Bush's, check that idea quickly...
[LINK:] It really is amazing that any White House press officer continues to allow Dick Cheney to speak to the media. Check out a few of these quotes from our esteemed Vice President...
[LINK:] Democrats from Carter to Clinton helped roll back the government's regulatory power, but as the economic crisis deepens, "regulation" is no longer such a dirty word...
[LINK:] The Militias in the Middle East Classrooms -- Some Iraqi refugee children haven't been to school in five years. Do they still have career goals?...
[LINK:] Exclusive: Who's Behind Abu Ghraib? -- For the first time, one chart shows the scandal's full chain of command from Bush to detainees...
[LINK:] McCain on the Housing Crisis: Quick, Do Nothing!...
[LINK:] The little administration that couldn't: rebuilding the American economy, Bush-style...
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HUMOR...
He that jokes confesses.
Get Your War On!; Doonesbury.com; DubyaSpeak.com; Propaganda Remix; The WhiteHouse.Org; ToStupidTooBePresident; The Daily Show; The Onion...
[LINK:] Five years later -- neocons discuss their regrets...
[LINK:] Four more years...
[LINK:] Doonesbury -- got my attention...
[LINK:] Doonesbury -- figure of speech...
[LINK:] Doonesbury -- A situation...
[LINK:] Time Traveler: Everyone In The Future Eats Dippin' Dots...
[LINK:] Fearmongers, Warmongers Gather For Annual Mongering Conference...
[LINK:] Marine Determined To Win Heart, Mind Of At Least One Iraqi...
[LINK:] In order to assist her presidential bid, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library has made public 11,000 pages of Hillary Clinton's calendar while she was in the White House. Here are some of the notable excerpts...
[LINK:] I heard they had to get all the information about the original 90210 from the last surviving cast member...
[LINK:] Finally, the name Gibson will be synonymous with fake guitars...
[LINK:] Let's look on the bright side: At least they are gaining the respect of their male peers...
[LINK:] John McCain Announces Solutions to Sub Prime Mortgage Crisis...
[LINK:] Pentagon 'Punked' by Satire Writers with 'Iraq Fighting Good Sign' Story...
[LINK:] Clinton Campaign Announces Endorsement from Tonya Harding...
[LINK:] with a whimper...
[LINK:] solution to feeling bad...
[LINK:] I warn you...
[LINK:] disagree on what we can all plainly see...
[LINK:] needs immediate treatment...
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Wrap up: I'm so comforted over the fact that the elected government in Iraq is acting for the press just like Saddam's government did. No, no attacks here. There's no problem. No pipeline attack -- anyone claiming that is a terrorist...
Yep, REALLY comforting...
...........
I'm getting rather disgusted with how much McCain has done wrong, but how right the media says he is. McCain could drive a truck of nuclear waste off a bridge, and the media would simply ignore it, and counter word of mouth of the event by claiming McCain is the best driver in the world.
Enough of this bullshit...
America cannot be a democracy or even a republic if it is never given the information it needs to make decisions. From here on out -- anyone who lies in the news and does not offer correction is officially in favor of dictatorship. There, how's that?
