New Orleans Update

The New York Times has a great piece on the healthcare system in New Orleans. It is not in good shape. Surprised?

Patchwork City: For New Orleans, Reviving Health Care System Will Set City’s Future

Of all the factors blocking the economic revival of New Orleans, the shattered health care system may be the most important.[...]

Tags: New Orleans, Katrina, Health Care

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Gas Prices

So, how much are you paying for gasoline?  I managed to find some for $2.72, thanks to a grocery store card loyalty card.

Refined Excuses

Been wondering why you’re paying $3.00 a gallon — or more — lately? The main reason, according to Jad Mouawad of the New York Times, is because there’s a bottleneck in US refining capacity, which means that the least little disruption causes higher prices: There have been blazes at refineries in Louisiana, Texas, Indiana and California, [...]

Tags: Gas Prices, Refineries

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Why Should It Come To This?

It’s just plain tragic when things come down to this level…

Iraq vets sue Bush administration.

A coalition of injured Iraq war veterans filed a class action law suit charging outgoing Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson “of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment.” The lawsuit asks federal court to “order the VA to make immediate improvements that would speed disability payments, ensure fairness in awards [...]

Tags: Iraq War, Law Suit, Nicholson, Veterans

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Ordered by God

Okay, now. This is officially starting to sound more than just a little bit strange.

Crazy Freaky Voters

One of those crazy stupid wacky voters was just on CNN and he informed Kyra Phillips that Bush claimed that God told him to attack Iraq. Kyra thought this was some sort of crazy freak stupid uninformed voter conspiracy theory. True or not, it was reported in [...]

Tags: God Told Bush, Kyra Phillips, CNN

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Campaign $$$$

Some spectacular numbers from the campaign front today. 

Dems Have $100 Million More

We have literally never seen a political landscape like this: So far in the 2008 campaign, Democratic candidates for the White House and Congress, along with the Democratic National Committee and other party committees, have raised a total of $388.8 million, compared with $287.3 million for Republicans, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. The figures include reports filed Friday by the House and Senate party committees for fund raising through June 30. Should that gap persist through the end of next year, it would be the first [...]

Tags: Campaign Financing

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You Never Know

What you’ll see in the blogosphere…Here, now, your Monday evening dose of usefull information.  Really!

Because There’s Life Beyond Salad Dressings

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The Political War

The pressure builds. But, will the Pentagon respond?

Hillary’s war with…

Hillary’s war with the Pentagon continues. The latest: She’s just joined forces with Senators Webb, Bayh and Byrd, calling in a letter for Senate Armed Services Committee hearings to force the […

Tags: Clinton, Webb, Bayh, Byrd, Pentagon, Iraq War

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The Romney Record

Greg makes a great point tonight about some of the things Mitt Romney has been saying lately. He seems to really need a fact-checker for his speech writers.

More Adolescent Fibbing About Hillary From Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney often seems a bit like a kind of cross between an oily confidence man and a snickering adolescent. You can easily imagine him running a Three-Card Monte scam in a high-school cafeteria [....]

Tags: Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton

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All You Need To Know

About free enterprise…

Halliburton profits jump.

“Halliburton Co., the world’s second-largest oil services company, said on Monday that second-quarter profit from continuing operations rose 19 percent, topping Wall Street views, helped by [...]

Tags: Halliburton

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Clinton’s Latest Project

Former President Bill Clinton has certainly been keeping busy.  Not only helping with his wife’s Presidential Campaign, but putting together an imporant new project in Africa. 

How A Former President Should Act

How much you wanna bet we’d never read a story like this about any former President named "Bush"? "DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Former President Bill Clinton launched a program on Sunday to make subsidized malaria drugs available in Tanzania in a test scheme that could serve as a blueprint for Africa as a whole. The project will make life-saving ACT drugs available at [...]

By the way, here’s an interesting twist on this story: Bill Clinton Blogs

Tags: Bill Clinton, Malaria Drugs, Tanzania

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Those Missing Years

Quite the weekend revelation from the good senator from right next door in Missouri.  It just didn’t come across quite the way he meant it to…

Now he tells us

As E&P reports, ”In a letter to the editor published [yesterday] by The New York Times, Sen. Christopher (”Kit”) Bond of Missouri, an influential Republican, declares that the administration until recently had the “wrong plan” for Iraq for three years. Unfortunately, he did not tell anyone about his concerns until today. Bond’s letter, meant to praise the [...]

Tags: Iraq War, Kit Bond

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Impeachment Chatter

There continues to be a pretty solid stream of chatter about impeachment among bloggers.  I honestly don’t see it happening and I’m not sure Congress should devote all the time that would be needed.  There are other, more important, things that need to be addressed.  Still, there are some strong cases being built FOR impeachment…

The Impeachment Express

That the administration is determined to prove itself above the law is certainly sufficient grounds for impeachment, but there is a far more compelling reason to get the impeachment train out of the station. Bush and Cheney are both still sitting around with too much spare time on their hands, and these dudes get dangerous [...]

Tags: Bush, Cheney, Impeachment

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Living In A Bubble

They really are insulated from reality in Washington, aren’t they?

Cheney Confused Iraq POW Jessica Lynch With Jessica Simpson

Thought you knew everything about Vice President Dick Cheney? Think again. In Stephen F. Hayes’ new biography — "Cheney: The Untold Story of America’s Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President" — we learn a few more interesting nuggets about America’s favorite hunting partner. He once confused Jessica Simpson with Jessica Lynch. Hayes details how, when the vice president threw out the first pitch before [...]

This book is looking pretty good!  How about another sample?

Quote of the day

Tags: Cheney, Jessica Simpson, Jessica Lynch

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From The Press Release Pile

In the "old days", it WAS a pile of paper.  Now, it’s a folder in my inbox or on Bloglines.  In the effort of fairness, I’m telling you right upfront that this is directly from a press release for the author of a new book.  Just remember, you heard about it here, first…

Intelligence Expert Uncovers Disturbing Details of how Corporations Provide Content for the President’s Daily Brief

In our Intelligence Community, employees of corporations are handling sensitive government responsibilities including analytical products that are incorporated into our nation’s most important and sensitive document, the President’s Daily Brief. Intelligence expert Dr. R.J. Hillhouse who revealed the surprising details commented, "Thanks to outsourcing, for-profit companies have the American president’s ear on a daily basis and their words carry the weight of the combined intelligence agencies of [...]

Tags: Bush Administration, President’s Daily Brief, Hillhouse

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I Get Dizzy

Just reading about this new skyscraper makes me feel a bit woozy. I’m not good with heights to start with, and this just sounds like a stomach-churner…

Looking Down on the Empire State Building

A 1,680-foot skyscraper under construction in Dubai has been declared the world’s tallest building by its developers – its final height when completed is being [...]

Tags: Dubai, Skyscraper

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As Outspoken As They Come

This is Jimmy Breslin.  At his angriest.  As Carl writes at "Simply Left Behind", that’s when Breslin does his best writing.  Read on and you’ll understand why.

Jimmy Breslin, National Treasure

There are few men like Jimmy Breslin in journalism anymore. You folks outside of New York probably only know Jimmy Breslin if you are of a certain age, and drank Piels’ beer. "It’s a good drinkin’ byeer!" We here in the city know Breslin to be a champion of the common guy, the Joe Lunchbuckets of the world who make things work and fix things when they don’t, who go home at night and read a tabloid with a beer and a meat and potatoes dinner. A dying breed, in other words. He’s lost a bit off his fastball as he’s gotten older, but occasionally can crank out a high hard one when he gets angry enough. Today, he got angry enough: "The war was there to take his life because George Bush started it with bold-faced lies. He got this [...]

Tags: Jimmy Breslin, Iraq War, George W. Bush

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Speaking of Polls

Welcome to Monday.  And the latest round of polls.

Bush Hits 25% Approval

According to a new American Research Group poll, just 25% of Americans approve of the way President Bush is handling his job as president and 71% disapprove. These are record lows for the survey. When it comes to [...]

Tags: Bush Approval, American Research Group

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She’s Still Out In Front

Hillary Clinton seems to be running an almost-perfect presidential campaign.  She’s certainly showing no signs of failing to hold onto her core supporters. And, in fact, seems to be continuing to pick up new followers…

Clinton Expands National Lead

By a wide margin, Democrats view Sen. Hillary Clinton "as the party’s candidate best positioned to win the general election," a new Washington Post-ABC News Poll found, with 54% saying the former First Lady is the most electable candidate. In the nomination race, Clinton leads with [...]

Tags: 2008 Campaign, Hillary Clinton, Giuliani, Obama

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More Excellent Reporting

The gang at the McClatchy newspapers continues to crank out some of the best reporting I’ve seen in a long time.

‘With Iraq on fire, rest of world on hold.’

As the “White House struggles to show progress in the 52-month-old war, other important global issues increasingly are getting pushed to the side.” McClatchy reports: Two months ago, President Bush enthusiastically accepted an invitation to visit Singapore in September. But he abruptly changed plans, and his summit with Southeast Asian leaders is off. Secretary of [...]

Tags: McClatchy, Iraq War, Bush Administration

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Just Passing Along

Today’s suggested reading from TPMmuckraker.  It’s a typically outstanding bit of writing..

Today’s Must Read

Last month, TPMmuckraker reported on an Army reserve intelligence officer who filed a sworn declaration in D.C. Circuit court alleging systemic problems with the way the Pentagon certifies that [...]

Tags: Gitmo, Guantanamo Prison, Detainees

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