Disgusting

I could not have MEANT this to come out the way it did.  Still…it’s really ugly.

Senate GOP leader downplays significance of troop fatalities

During a meeting with constituents this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) took some time to comment on the war in Iraq. He wasn’t reading from a prepared text, but in retrospect, he probably should have been. “Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other isle are having a hard time admitting things are getting [...]

Friday Night Funny

Friday night’s almost wrapped up around these parts, so we’ll slip in a chuckle.  Courtesy of Shakespeare’s Sister.  It’s cute.  Trust me.  Just click.

Georgie Sends a Letter

CNN: “In a rare move, U.S. President George W. Bush has reached out, by letter, to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, whom Bush has labeled a tyrant and part of what he called ‘the axis of evil.’ The letter urged North Korea to follow through on an agreement to declare and dismantle its nuclear programs.” As you know, I’ve got the best sources in the blogging biz, so naturally I’ve already gotten my hands on a copy of the letter to share with you, Shakers—because [...]

Huck’s Immigration Plan

Obviously, this thing was patched together and rushed into the public without final vetting among advisors, trying to divert attention from the Wayne Dummond debacle.  He picked up points during the debate by saying he would let children of illegal immigrants get college scholarships, but now….

Huckabee hit with frontrunner-itis

…But something weird happened. He became a front-runner, and it looks like people started whispering in his ear. Because now, he has released an immigration plan that is nothing short of regressive. And most ridiculous amongst its tenets? [...]

There is a new poll from Iowa, but it’s pre-Huckabee’s immigration plan:

(Newsweek Poll) Huckabee Surges, Obama Gains in Iowa

Just So Confused

The stories aren’t straight, conservatives and neocons are running in circles, trying to figure out why they don’t like the NIE on Iran.  Actually, they know WHY they don’t like it – it doesn’t fit their plan. What to do about it?  Now, THAT’S the issue.

Republicans target intelligence community over NIE

Consider a thought experiment. Let’s say Republicans were anxious to confront Iran militarily, and Democrats preferred a diplomatic approach. Both sides awaited the collective judgment of U.S. intelligence agencies in the form of a National Intelligence Estimate. The NIE’s conclusions are published, and they tell Republicans everything they want to hear — Iran is a [...]

Coming Clean

A couple of conservative bloggers are all excited about an article that they think proves Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, despite all of the other reports to the contrary.  For a really good time, read through the comments. It’s a good thing some of these folks aren’t in the same room together, or we’d be calling 911.  Angry, angry bunch.

Saddam’s Files

I totally missed this when it first came out, but luckily one of our commenters here posted a link to this story and I’ve decided put up a quick post on it since it clearly hasn’t gotten the attention it should. According to John Loftus, writing at FrontPage Magazine, we now know what happened to Saddam’s [...]

The Scientific Approach

An interesting experiment, comparing the Kennedy and Romney religion speeches…

Focus grouping Romney and JFK ‘faith’ speeches

HCD Research used its MediaCurves.com technology to get a sense of how a modern-day audience reacted to Mitt Romney’s “faith” speech and the original such speech, given by John F. Kennedy in 1960.  They tested segments of both speeches for a members of an Internet audience who were able to register using their computer mice how sincere or insincere they found either politician to be. Here’s [...]

Drawing a Line

They’re trying, they really are.  Trying to hold the President accountable for what the people want – American troops coming home from Iraq.

Webb: No permanent presence without Congress’s consent.

Bush recently announced a new, “enduring” occupation of Iraq, to be implemented without Congress’ approval. Today, Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Robert Byrd (D-WV), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Carl Levin (D-MI) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) warned Bush against committing the U.S. to a long-term presence without congressional consent: “[W]e want to convey our strong concern [...]

Sex On The City – Continued

Aw, ain’t this nice.  Can you say “special treatment”?

Rudy’s girlfriend got NYPD protection far earlier then revealed

Wow. It was good to be Rudy and Judy — having an affair paid for by the taxpayers of NYC. Rudy’s then-mistress was receiving NYPD protection way earlier than Rudy’s people ever admitted — and way before the affair was public: [...]

Pearl Harbor Day

Remembering those who served.  And remarking on the changing time.

December 7, 1941

We lived in a different America then. News that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor came from bulletins that broke into Sunday afternoon radio programs and was spread by word of mouth over the telephone, on the streets of cities and house to house in small towns. World War II came to us in [...]

Reunited

One of those little events that just makes you feel like you’ve been reunited with an old friend. In the process of changing jobs and moving computers around, I knew I had misplaced some of my favorite old blogs – the ones you put in your reader and check frequently.  I’d forgotten I had loaded up the Google Reader a couple of years back and just happened to stumbled upon it again today.  And, happily, I found a couple of my missing blogs are stilll active.  Including this one that has a fascinating story about how the Canadian economy is boom, thanks to the decline in our dollar…

Canadian Boom Town $$$

I was flipping through yesterday’s paper and had to find this story online. So here it is: “This Is the Life: Luxurious Digs On Frigid Oil Sands Firms in Canada Pay Well, And Steak Is on the Menu; ‘Smell of Money’ Beckons By DOUGLAS BELKIN December 5, 2007; Page A1 WOOD BUFFALO, Alberta — Mike Savoie’s new room comes with a 20-inch flat-screen TV, double bed, high-speed Internet access and daily [...]

Destroying The Tapes

Okay, this just seems wrong on so many levels.  It prompted a real shouting match this morning on Morning Joe – between Scarborough and David Shuster.  I’ll link to video, if I can find it.  I’m with Shuster on this one, particularly after I dug deep enough into the story to find out that some members of Congress advised the CIA not to destroy the tapes, after the CIA notified them of the plans.  Shouldn’t that have, at least, prompted some discussion?

UPDATE: Make sure you read beyond the jump for the latest information.  This is getting to be a huge issue.

Waterboarding Evidence

The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Al Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about the C.I.A’s secret detention program, according to current and former [...]

You won’t find much support for destroying the tapes here…

Today’s Must Read

Usually, what nails you in Washington malfeasance is the cover-up, not the crime. With the revelation that the CIA in 2005 destroyed videotapes of interrogations of senior al-Qaeda detainees, it’ll be both. Start with the facts as they’re currently understood. In 2002, the CIA videotaped interrogations of Abu Zubaydah, the chief of al-Qaeda’s military committee, and an as-yet-unknown colleague. (My guess is that Detainee #2 is Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who, following his capture that September in Pakistan, was the second most important detainee then in custody.) During that time, [...]

Here’s the New York Times updated, online, version of the story.  Note, in particular, the comment from the law professor who says it’s a “big deal, a very big deal” if the tapes were destroyed. “Obstruction of justice” is the term he uses.

C.I.A. Destroyed 2 Tapes Showing Interrogations

Despite requests and amid scrutiny about its secret detention program, the C.I.A. did not give the videotapes to a federal court hearing or to the Sept. 11 commission [...]

Over at his blog, No Quarter, former CIA guy – Larry Johnson – explains it all, after the jump

This Should Tell You Something

If he’s not winning the hearts and minds of military families, it’s time to throw in the towel and bring our men and women home.

Majority Of Military Families Disapprove Of Bush, Handling Of War

Families with ties to the military, long a reliable source of support for wartime presidents, disapprove of President Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq, with a majority concluding the invasion was not worth it, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.  The views of the military community, which includes active-duty service members, veterans and their family members, mirror [...]

It’s Called Accountability

Sadly, it just ain’t there.  They sure can throw our tax dollars around, can’t they?

More than $1 billion in military equipment missing in Iraq.

A new Government Accountability Office Pentagon Inspector General report details “massive failure in government procurement,” revealing that there is “more than $1 billion in unaccounted for military equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces.” According to the analysis, the military, for example, “could not account for 12,712 out of 13,508 weapons, including pistols, [...]

Another Edition: Friday Follies

In a world turned upside down by events and politics, you never know what you’re going to run into. If there’s one consistent thing, it’s the inconsistency of everything.  Who can explain the economy?  Who can explain the campaigns? The political shows on TV are filled with pundits who yell and scream over each other, trying to make their respective (and widely divergent) points.  I think they do provide a source of information.  But, there are (I’m sure) voters who decide who they support, based on some “talking point” shouted into a microphone by a pundit. 

Let’s agree, shall we, that the economy is pretty much tanking right now. I don’t care if employment was up a bit last month.  I don’t care if the jobless figures are holding steady.  People are losing their homes, they can’t keep up with their bills because expenses are going up way faster than paychecks and there’s no “quick fix” on the horizon.

Home prices to start three-year freefall?

There is a “substantial” risk that U.S. home prices will slide for the next three years or more, in a downturn that could be unlike anything seen before on a national level, Morgan Stanley said on Thursday in a report. Price levels of the RPX Index, a derivative index based on home prices in 25 U.S. metropolitan residential property markets, indicate an expectation that prices will decline for the next three years, with a recovery likely to [...]

Housing Update

So who’s the most disgruntled by George Bush’s new plan to address the subprime mortgage fiasco? Borrowers and consumer advocates, who say the plan is too stingy and shuts out low-income victims? Or careful consumers, who are [...]

Even more disheartening, this prediction that the Bush Administration’s little plan will help few and likely make the problem worse.  Yup. That’s right. So much for a bailout..

More on mortgage meltdowns

If you watched Fox and Friends this morning, you might be shaking your head, giving me a little “tsk tsk” for being so negative.  After all, THEY found the silver lining to all of this!

Putting a Happy Face on the Housing crash

Leave it to the cheery trio at FOX and Friends to find the silver lining in the current housing downturn this morning 12/7/07. They had to misrepresent a few facts but the message was clear: hang in there, it’ll all blow over soon. With Video [...]