Global Warming

Fair is fair.  Comparing apples and oranges is not.  I’m still pretty well convinced that global warming is for real.  All the more reason not to exagerate the problem unfairly.

Weather Expert: Sub-tropical Storms Being Named to Fuel Global Warming Alarmism

For weather watchers, the name Joe Sobel should be a familiar one, as he has been with AccuWeather for 35 years, and is a regular guest on radio stations as well as MSNBC. With that in mind, Dr. Sobel posted an article at the AccuWeather blog Wednesday highly critical of the naming of sub-tropical storms, most recently Andrea. In his view, this practice – which is only five years old – is exaggerating the number of storms per year thereby adding to global warming alarmism Sobel began (emphasis added throughout): [...]

Tags: Global Warming, Climate Change, Joe Sobel, AccuWeather

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Another Non-Surprise

Whatever good news there was from the VA, you had to figure it would dissipate before long..

VA exaggerated success of medical system.

“The Department of Veterans Affairs has habitually exaggerated the record of its medical system, inflating its achievements in ways that make it appear more successful than it is,” reports McClatchy. Among the many distortions: – The agency has touted how quickly veterans get in for appointments, but its own inspector general found that scheduling records have [...]

Tags: VA, Veteran’s Affairs

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When The Truth Hurts

What do you do?  You try to block it, of course…

Pentagon Restricting Testimony in Congress

The Pentagon has placed unprecedented restrictions on who can testify before Congress, reserving the right to bar lower-ranking officers, enlisted soldiers, and career bureaucrats from appearing before oversight committees or having their [...]

Tags: Pentagon, Congressional Testimony

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Incoming

It’s going to be really tough for the Giuliani campaign to deflect this political missile…

Giuliani’s Ties To OxyContin Firm’s Criminal Investigation

This one will leave a mark upon Giuliani. He’s revealed now as just another pay-for-play Republican who put money ahead of human life. "Rudolph Giuliani and his consulting company, Giuliani Partners, have served as key advisors for the last five years to the pharmaceutical company that pled guilty today to charges it misled doctors and patients about the addiction risks of the powerful narcotic painkiller OxyContin. Federal officials say the company, Purdue Frederick, helped to trigger a nationwide epidemic of [...]

And, it just gets worse from there.  Also, if you’re from here in Arkansas, there’s a damning reference to Asa Hutchinson, too.

Tags: Giuliani, Hutchinson, OxyContin

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Civics 101

Gather round, children. #2 pencils ready?  There will be quiz after tonight’s class in Civics 101.  If the Administration really did use a quirk in the law and a 41 second session of the Senate to keep as bunch of "recess appointees" in office…well, there’s something seriously wrong with our system.

…The Senate calendar on the Democratic site shows no meeting until Congress opened on January 18, 2006, which would lead one to assume that date marked the opening of the second year of the 109th Congress. But the Library of Congress indicates a session was held on January 3, 2006, thus officially opening the 109th. And lo and behold, the Daily Digest reports a 41-second pro forma Senate session, from 12:00:04 PM to 12:00:45 P.M., on that date. The Senate convened, immediately adjourned and thus began a "recess in the middle of the session," not meeting again until January 18, 2006. The day following the less-than-a-minute convening, of course, Bush made his recess appointments—now officially during a session of Congress—which allowed his eminently rejectable appointees to complete the "balance of the session in progress plus the full length of the session that follows." Meaning we’re stuck with [...]

Tags: Recess Appointments, Bush Administration, 41 Second Session

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Up To His Eyeballs

That would be Mr. Rove who is up to his eyeballs.

The Plot Thickens

Murray Waas has a new report at the National Journal that could get Rove, et al. in serious hot water. According to Waas, the Bush administration has withheld information from Congress that would reveal efforts by senior officials at the White House and Justice Department to conceal Karl Rove’s role in naming Timothy Griffin to be the new U.S. Attorney in Arkansas. "The withheld records show that [...]

Tags: Karl Rove, Tim Griffin, Bud Cummins, National Journal, Murray Waas

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Not Wanted

They simply don’t want us there. Is that a good excuse to come home?

AP confirms: Iraqi lawmakers want timetable.

“A majority of Iraqi lawmakers have endorsed a bill calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and demanding a freeze on the number of foreign troops already in the country, lawmakers said Thursday.” The bill would require the Iraqi government to seek approval from parliament before it requests an extension of the U.N. [...]

Tags: Iraq War, Iraq Parliament, Timetable for Withdrawal

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Jsut a Goal

Not a pledge. Let’s hope the plan for a year-long break will, eventually, come together.  Given the current temperment in DC, it needs to happen quickly.

Pentagon Breaks Pledge To Troops, Sends Them Back To Iraq After Just Nine Months At Home

On April 11, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that tours of duty for the Army would be extended from 12 months to 15 months, effective immediately. In exchange for the extensions, soldiers would receive at least a year home between deployments. This rest time was intended to “provide some long-term predictability for the soldiers and [...]

Tags: Pentagon, Robert Gates, Tours of Duty, Army

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Medical Care Crisis Looming

The blogger’s language is decidedly anti-Administration, but there certainly seems to be some validity to some of the concerns.  It’s all based on a doctor-driven article in Newsweek and it doesn’t paint a good picture for the future of Emergency Room care…

Bushies Are Trying to Kill You

What else can one conclude from this, except that the Bushies have a dastardly plan to kill us, especially the poorer among us? Arian Campo-Flores writes at Newsweek.com that the Bush Administration is “reforming” Medicare in a way that will cause emergency rooms and even hospitals themselves to close. The rule, scheduled to take effect on [...]

Tags: Emergency Rooms, Medical Care, Medicare, Medicaid

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Great Television Spot

Whether you like Governor Bill Richardson’s Presidential Possibillities, or not, I’d suggest he’s got a darn good ad agency working for him.

Richardson’s New Ad: What Makes Him Think He’s Qualified?

Governor Bill Richardson’s new ad just hit the airwaves, and it’s freaking great. Informative, original and hysterical…This is not an endorsement, but Governor Richardson easily has the most impressive résumé of any candidate in the race on [...]

Not everyone agrees.  I still think it works.  At least, it works for me…

Bill Richardson’s New Ad

There’s some chatter about Bill Richardson’s new ads in the news and the blogosphere. Some favorable, some not. The Fix notes: Richardson has done this sort of thing before. His “Western” ad during his 2006 re-election campaign made our list of the top 10 political ads of the cycle and showed Richardson’s willingness to take [...]

Tags: Bill Richardson, Campaign Ads, Richardson Campaign Ad

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GOP Revolt

I’m a bit bringing this to the table, but it’s been busy around here!  Caught bits and pieces of this, running through the house last night.  It’s still, to me, a fascinating trip into the world of Washington Politics.  It’s also important because it shows the rank and file are becoming increasingly concerned…

The GOP is Cracking

Think Progress has the video, here is the transcript from tonight’s NBC News. Tim Russert reports on a bit of a palace revolt. WILLIAMS: Tonight we’re also able to report new and exclusive details on the politics of the war in Iraq, specifically involving President Bush and members of his own party. For that we are joined by our Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert. What do we know? RUSSERT: Brian, all eyes on the Republican Party. How long will they support the president’s position on the Iraq war? Yesterday may [...]

The Carpetbagger says words are nice, but action is better..

A ‘defining pivotal moment’ in the Iraq debate?

Indicative of the growing unrest among congressional Republicans on the president’s war policy, multiple news reports note that 11 House Republicans met with Bush and his senior aides in the White House on Tuesday for an “unvarnished” conversation. House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit [...]

Tags: GOP Revolt, Bush Administration, White House

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The Attorney Scandal

Two of the nine fired U.S. Attorneys aren’t pulling any punches in talking about what happened to them. And why…

Fired USA: Scandal Will Get "Worse, Not Better"

Purged U.S. attorneys John McKay of Seattle and David Iglesias of New Mexico sat down with The Seattle Times today and had a lot to say. First, they were clear that that they think the various investigations — by Congress [...]

Tags: Purged U.S. Attorneys, John McKay, David Iglesias

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The Kansas Connection

Sad. Stupid. Sorry.  The big three.

Kansas Tornado and Iraq Cross Paths Again

Via Guardian Unlimited: Officer Robert Tim Buckman was rushing to warn rural residents about the approaching storm when the tornado swept up his squad car and flung it 300 yards into a field. The 46-year-old officer hung on long enough for his daughter’s wedding at his hospital bedside, then died of his injuries at a hospital Tuesday [...]

Tags: Kansas Tornado, National Guard, Iraq War

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Running the Numbers

Comparing the polls.

Polls: Hillary Is Beating Obama. By A Lot.

Over on his site Ben Smith has posted a big and nifty chart drawing on a bunch of recent polls. In total, it finds that, well, Hillary is beating Barack Obama. By a sizeable margin. Opines Smith: "The rise of Barack Obama is such a fun story for reporters to tell, that it’s worth stepping back for a minute to note that there’s no longer any evidence [...]

Tags: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama

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Think About It

Our Defense Secretary spent some time in Congress today.  Quite the telling quote:

Gates Contradicts Bush, Says ‘I Don’t Know’ If 2002 War Authorization Is Still Valid

During today’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he doesn’t know whether the 2002 resolution authorizing force in Iraq is still valid, acknowledging that his view differs with that of President Bush. During his questioning of Gates, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) noted that the authorization listed two purposes for the use of [...]

Tags: Robert Gates, Iraq War, Armed Services Committee, War Resolution

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Unwanted Pregnancies

This headline really caught my eye, perhaps because of my past reporting on the teen pregnancy issue here in Arkansas…

One-Third of Pregnancies in America Are Unwanted

One-third of pregnancies in the United States are unwanted, according to a new analysis released by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. That is, 2 million of the 6.4 million pregnancies in 2001 were unwanted (most recent data available). Over half (54%) of unwanted pregnancies occur to women in their twenties. And there is evidence that the [...]

Tags: Teen Pregnancy, Unwanted Pregnancy

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Just in Case

Of course, nobody KNEW we were going to invade several months before we did.  Of course not.

Documents show US had propaganda campaign plan two months before invasion

Months before the US invaded Iraq, Pentagon planners were developing an elaborate propaganda campaign to ensure US government-"approved" information was broadcast to the Iraqi public, according to a previously classified White Paper released Tuesday by the [...]

Tags: Iraq War, Pentagon, Propaganda

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Visiting Iraq

Another Congressional delegation made the journey last weekend.  Kos contrasts the reports…

GA-Sen: Chambliss says progress in Iraq is "truly amazing!"

Tags: Iraq, Chambliss, Snowe

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Looks Like It’s Official

Gonzales DID make way for others to handle the firings of those (now 9) U.S. Attorneys.

DoJ Releases Gonzales’ Secret Hiring Order

Well, here it is, so you can read it yourself, the secret order signed by Alberto Gonzales in March of last year that gave Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling, two young aides with close ties to the White House, the [...]

Tags: Alberto Gonzales, Kyle Sampson, Monica Goodling, U.S. Attorneys

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It Doesn’t Take A Genius

To read between the lines of fired U.S. Attorney Todd Graves’ statement today…

We’ve just gotten…

the latest statement out from fired US Attorney Todd Graves. Speaking of his forced resignation, Graves says how it is "far better to take a graceful exit than to do something that you should be ashamed of." And yeah, we’re curious too [...]

Tags: Todd Graves, Fired U.S. Attorneys

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