Moyers Is Great, Too

Olbermann’s Special Comment was great.  But, Bill Moyers deserves a moment or two of your time. 

Bill Moyers | A Great but Broken Promise

Bill Moyers writes: "Think it over: In 1960, the gap in wealth between the top 20 percent of our country and the bottom 20 percent was 30 fold. Now, it is 75 fold. Stock prices and productivity are up, and CEO salaries are soaring, but ordinary workers aren’t sharing in the profits they helped generate. Their incomes aren’t keeping up with costs. More Americans live in poverty – 37 million, including 12 million children. 12 million children! America’s a broken promise. America needs fixing." [...]

Tags: Bill Moyers

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Blatantly Wrong

At least it seems that way.  Unless the facts have been terribly twisted in this story, there SHOULD be prosecution involved.

DA Refuses to Prosecute Rape Case, Despite Eye Witnesses, DNA

From Mother Jones: What’s the penalty for gang-raping a drunk, 17-year-old girl at a party with 10 of your buddies? Bupkus, said the Santa Clara, California District Attorney’s office yesterday. The alleged rape occurred March 3 at a wild, off-campus party hosted by a member of the DeAnza College men’s baseball team in San Jose, California. Three [...]

Tags: Rape, Gang-Rape

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War Stats

Bottom line?  More bodies. Less Support

Bush ‘Surge’ Fails To Prevent Rise In Iraq Killings

More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive designed to curtail sectarian violence in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, Health Ministry statistics show that such killings are rising again [....]

Poll Shows Opposition to Iraq War at All Time High

Six in 10 Americans say the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq and more than three in four say things are going badly there [...]

Tags: Iraq, Poll

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Great Clip

I’m in a video kind of mood tonight.  Crooks and Liars has a great clip from Chris Matthews from yesterday’s show.

Matthews Gets Fired Up

On yesterday’s "Hardball" Chris Matthews was in rare form and fired up about Iraq, Immigration and fact-free Republican Presidential candidates. During his interview with Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) he slams President Bush for his Iraq rhetoric and playing the terror card when it suits him, but his main target was Republican [...]

Tags: Hardball, Chris Matthews, Biden

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Presidential Presser

As noted below, the President took advantage of the Iraq Supplemental vote to deliver a pretty good smackdown on the Democrats today.  However, the Rose Garden Press Conferences wasn’t without its flaws…

Unraveling a cover-up takes a while without cooperation

The president held a 50-minute press conference in the Rose Garden this morning, offering a veritable treasure trove of content for blog posts. (Taking notes during the Q&A, I felt like a kid at a candy store…) Here’s one of several notable exchanges: Q: Good morning, Mr. President. I’d like to ask you about the Justice Department. [...]

Tags: Bush, Press Conference, Rose Garden, Iraq, Democrats

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Gas Prices

High.  And, predictably, going higher.  I’m certainly no expert in the pricing of gasoline.  I’m an end-user.  Buy it at the pump.  I’ll also confess that I’m somewhat mystified by the fact that gas at Station A is $3.15 a gallon, while it’s $3.24 at the same brand station six blocks away.  With that in mind, here’s what seems to be a pretty solid assessment of the situation…

Pointless anti-gouging law

…Right now the big driver in the current level of oil prices is constrained supply which means expensive crude oil and refinery capacity starting to hit their maximum sustainable production limits. The gas station owner or the regional distributer to multiple gas stations does not have a whole lot of pricing power. The station owner is in pretty fierce competition with [...]

Tags: Gas Prices, Price Gouging

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I’d Hate To Be…

I’d hate to be an elected Democrat, headed home for the holiday weekend.  I don’t think many are going to be welcomed with open arms and warm smiles.  Not after this week’s Iraq Supplemental debacle.  Steve Soto has a great post up at The Left Coaster, summarizing all that’s been mismanaged and mishandled..

A Failed Democratic Strategy Got Us Here

Let me summarize my complaints against the funding bill and how this turned out. As I have said previously, my complaint starts with the position that the Democrats should never have gotten themselves backed up against the Memorial Day phony deadline in the first place. Reid and Pelosi made several attempts early in the session to move a bill that would express congressional sentiment for a change in course, and both times the GOP caucuses in each house opted for continuing the autopilot war. At that point, in early February, Reid and Pelosi should have [...]

More thoughts, via Big Tent Democrat:

On Iraq: Something In The Beltway Water [TalkLeft]

Via Stoller, and Matt, it is good to see you back in first rate form, this story adds to my theory that there is something in the water in DC: "Democrats said this week they would have jeopardized their fall bargaining position if they had insisted on keeping withdrawal timelines in the current supplemental spending bill (HR 2206). Persisting now would [...]

Tags: Iraq War, Iraq Supplemental, War Funding

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Validating The Bloggers

I take this to mean the White House now believes bloggers really do have an audience and really can have an impact…

White House Establishes "Rapid Response" Team To Counter Internet Blogs

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday that Republican conservatives working to block an immigration bill risk endorsing a "silent amnesty" by insisting on deportations that are "not going to happen."…The Homeland Security secretary said he canceled an overseas trip to help. In addition, the president is expected to stump for the bill next week and a "rapid response" team is countering critics, not only in the conventional media but, for the first time, on Internet blogs, said White House communications director Kevin Sullivan. The president’s press secretary, Tony Snow, already has [...]

Tags: Homeland Security, Chertoff, Rapid Response Team, Bloggers

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Journalism?

Not hardly.  This would be outright laughable, if it weren’t true..

If the presidential race were a beauty contest…

Look, I know NewsMax is a conservative political magazine. I don’t expect hard-hitting investigative journalism, and I don’t expect anything but flattering coverage of Republican candidates and officials. But Ben Smith noted yesterday that NewsMax wrote a profile about Ann Romney, Mitt’s wife, that is so remarkably over-the-top, one almost wonders if it’s a joke. Alas, [...]

Tags: Romney, NewsMax

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Missed Opportunity

Investigative Reporter Greg Palast says the Judiciary Committee missed a big chance to get some big news from Monica Goodling yesterday.  How? Read on.  Trust me, this guy makes sense…

Palast Exclusive: The Goods on Goodling and the Keys to the Kingdom

*** Special to The BRAD BLOG by Greg Palast This Monica revealed something hotter — much hotter — than a stained blue dress. In her opening testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, Monica Goodling, the blonde-ling underling to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Department of Justice Liaison to the White House, dropped The Big One….And [...]

Tags: Goodling, Judiciary Committee, Gonzales, Rove, Griffin, Sampson

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Listen Up!

Pay attention.  Open your eyes. If you haven’t done it, read/watch Olbermann’s Special Comment from last night. Then, consider the following post a vital update.

Congratulations Dems, you caved and Bush just bashed you on TV for it

Well that little surrender of yours on the Iraq supplemental was quite effective. Bush just went on TV, praised how all of your bad un-American ideas were struck from the bill, and then he told the country that you still have too much pork in the bill. So, basically, he just made fools of you. He attacked, you caved in order to stop the attack, and he attacked again. No one could have predicted that. Speaking of being made a fool, let’s hear from Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA). Congressman Moran thinks that [...]

Tags: Olbermann, Bush, Moran, Iraq Supplemental

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Olbermann Vs. The Democrats

Some of you probably won’t believe that headline, but it’s accurate.  The man the right loves to chastise for his anti-Bush Administration stance on most issues is turning the tables tonight.  I, for one, am glad to see him show a bit of a bipartisan side.

Special Comment Tonight: Compromised

Keith Olbermann will deliver a Special Comment tonight on the "compromise" struck between the Democratic leadership and the White House over the latest troop funding bill…Here’s a preview…"The Democratic leadership has, in sum, claimed a compromise with the Administration, in which the only things truly compromised are the trust of the voters, the ethics of the Democrats, and the lives of our brave, and doomed, friends, and family, in Iraq. You, the men and women elected with the simplest of directions – Stop The War – have traded [...]

Video to follow, when I can find some…

UPDATE:  Video and comments from two perspectives:

Thursday Open Thread Pro-Keith site with links to full text and vido

Countdown with Keith Olbermann – May 23, 2007 Our friends over at Olbermannwatch – where they don’t like Keith

Tags: Olbermann, Iraq War, War Funding, Countdown With Keith Olbermann

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The British Assessment

Ask them how the U.S. is doing in Iraq and they’ll tell you this:

US Surge Is Failing, Says UK’s Iraq Envoy

In a pessimistic assessment of the strategy designed to pull Iraq back from all-out civil war, Alastair Campbell, the outgoing defense attache of the British embassy in Baghdad, claimed that extra US forces were not achieving the desired drop in [...]

Tags: Defense Attache, Iraq War, U.S. Forces

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The Edwards Speech

AJ at AmericaBlog says it was impressive.  Why?

Edwards speech at CFR

The Edwards speech outlined proposals for the future of the military, both in terms of structure and use, and mentioned the foreign policy goals he feels are associated with such policies. I have long wondered exactly what kind of lessons prominent Democrats, especially Clinton and Edwards, took from the debacle in Iraq. I’m not alone in that curiosity, and today’s speech was tremendously encouraging. The speech was perhaps most notable for [...]

Tags: John Edwards

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Goodling’s Testimony

Nothing earthshaking.  Just more icing on the cake…

Monica Goofling: I’ts Not A Crime If You Don’t Mean It To Be

So the much anticipated testimony of former Justice Department flack Monica Goofling (The “GOP’s Monica” as HuffPo puts it) was revealing if for only she basically admitted she “crossed the line” with her behavior in Attorney-gate, but doesn’t think it was illegal because she didn’t “intend to commit a crime.” Get a load of this exchange [...]

Leahy says it was still important stuff, because:

Leahy: Goodling Testimony "Confirms Our Worst Fears"

Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) reacts to Goodling’s testimony today: “It is curious that yet another senior Justice Department official claims to have limited involvement in compiling the list that led to the firings of several well-performing federal prosecutors [....]

Tags: Goodling, DOJ, U.S. Attorneys

Tags: Leahy

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The Defections Begin

It’s looking like quite a few Democrats may vote against the Iraq War Funding Bill, because they’re upset that the party leadership agreed to remove all timetables from the plan.

Defections Now Likely on Iraq bill

Liberal Democrats who reluctantly have backed House leaders on the Iraq spending bill may defect due to the leadership’s decision to eliminate any timeline for withdrawal from the legislation. Funding the troops means more troops [...]

Tags: Iraq, War Funding

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Looking To The Future

There’s much yelling and shouting going on today (on both sides) about the War Funding Bill in Congress.  Over at The Left Coaster, Steve Soto has some well-modulated thoughts about what the future needs to hold…

Plan Now For The Fall Budget Battle Over Iraq

A day after the funding deal was reached, it is now time to figure out what to do next. There is a short term and mid-term course of action. For the short term, as others have noted, Democrats in each house should vote against the supplemental to demonstrate that they are against the GOP’s auto-pilot rubber stamping of this war. Let Mitch McConnell and John Boehner worry about assembling the majorities for their blank checks. Some would say that this is wrong because [...]

Tags: Iraq, War Funding, Federal Budget

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Pesky Emails

Greg Palast understands self-promotion and he handles it quite well.  This is really a push for his new book, but it contains some information germane to the Goodling testimony today in Congress. Interesting stuff.  Read on…

Journalist with BBC Has Rove Office Emails

Goodling/Sampson Obstruction of Justice evidence? For immediate release Wednesday 23 May BBC Television’s Newsnight has 500 “missing” Rove office emails, including a series of self-incriminating notes which provide “the keys to the kingdom” behind the prosecutor firings. In the opening to today’s testimony before Congress, Monica Goodling, former Department of Justice White House Liaison, testified that Deputy Attorney [...]

Tags: Palast, Goodling, Sampson, DOJ

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The Numbers Game

If you’re a seriously intense political geek, you probably soak up all the polls you can find.  I tend to shy away from the 2008 election numbers until we get closer to the caucuses and primaries. However, I stumbled on a couple of sets of numbers today that deserve a mention:

Wave Of New Iowa Polls Shakes Things Up

Iowa, the state which decided it all back in 2004, is getting really, really interesting right now. With four polls conducted in Heaven in the last week, trends completely different from the national picture are emerging: [...]

Tags: Iowa, Polls, 2008 Elections

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Altering The Truth

It didn’t take long for a Dem to jump on this one.  It ain’t about solving the Iraq War,. but it IS something that needs to be investigated.

House investigating Smithsonian global warming exhibit.

Earlier in the week, AP reported that the “Smithsonian Institution toned down an exhibit on climate change in the Arctic for fear of angering Congress and the Bush administration.” House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) has sent the Smithsonian a letter notifying the institution that he is starting [...]

Tags: Global Warning, Smithsonian, Markey

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