Great Speech

Ted Kennedy delivered one heck of a speech today.  Although, if you’re in the Bush Administration, you’re not likely to think so.  Here, my friends, is the longest headline in blog history.  Maybe.

Ted Kennedy on Retroactive Immunity for the Telecoms: “We would be aiding and abetting the President in his illegal actions, his contempt for the rule of law, and his attempt to hide his lawbreaking from the American people”

Ted Kennedy gave a great speech today in the Senate denouncing any form of immunity for the Telecoms that participated in the illegal practices of warrantless wiretapping that the Bush Administration called for. He also painted the picture that BushCo. is trying to avoid being prosecuted for this [...]

Huckabee Tonight

It wouldn’t be an evening without a little Huckabee, would it?  RevGov is taking some hits tonight for a new TV ad that starts running in Iowa on Tuesday.  The topic? Did you really have to ask?  It is, after all, that time of year…

Huckabee invokes Christ in new TV ad

Yeah, it’s the season and all, but invoking Christ in a TV ad feels awfully creepy and opportunistic. It’s also yet another not-so-subtle reminder that unlike some Mormon GOP presidential candidates, Huckabee is a “real” Christian. But please [...]

Romney has one, too..

Romney Hits Huck On Pardons

Mitt Romney has a new 30-second “contrast” ad up in Iowa. The spot is by anyone’s account more of a hit ad, though, raising the issue of Mike Huckabee’s pardons and commutations as governor of Arkansas.  Script For [...]

The quote from conservative blogger, Ace, is worth the price of admission!

The ‘Huckabee Panic’ revisited

Following up on the extensive discussion over the weekend about the conservative establishment’s aversion to Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign, Andrew Sullivan notes just how far this sentiment goes among leading bloggers on the right. Ace, for example, who few would consider a moderate, is even willing to vote for Hillary Clinton over the former Arkansas governor. Not [...]

Olbermann and Moyers

PBS and MSNBC.  There was a time when you wouldn’t find PBS welcoming a competing personality for an interview.  Times, my friends, have changed.  Transcript and video, from PBS.

Moyers Interviews Olbermann

Welcome to the journal. We have a lot of ground to cover in this hour – from journalism and media merger mania to politics and race. First, despite the clutter and conglomeration in commercial broadcasting a new voice occasionally emerges that proves the exception to the rule. The rule is either echo right-wing ideology or bow your knee to the god of “objectivity,” meaning you simply counter a pound of official propaganda with an ounce of counter spin. Jon Stewart broke this mold with his daily show on comedy central. And now MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has done the same for cable news. Olbermann leaves no doubt about [...]

We Needed A Bill To Do THIS??

Uh, folks. I’m sorry.  Shouldn’t this be part of the basic “common sense” part of the American military management? Sheesh.

Gang-Bangers Banned From Military

A new bill passed by Congress means you can no longer be a member of the military and a member of a gang at the same time. The 2008 Defense authorization bill orders the Pentagon to put membership in a criminal street gang on the list of prohibited activities for service members, according to Army Times. Today, Stars & Stripes notes, Defense Department regulations “prohibit membership in [...]

The Health Care Debate

It’s one of the big debate of this election and George W. Bush is doing his best to leverage his strengths..

Bush Claims ‘We Have Fabulous Health Care’ Compared To ‘Other Systems Around The World’

During a Q & A following his speech on the economy in Fredericksburg, VA today, President Bush declared that “we have fabulous health care in America“: I’m going to tell you something — we have fabulous health care in America, just so you know. I think it’s very important — before people start griping about [...]

It’s Called “Waffling”

Mike Huckabee got some attention with a strongly-worded, anti-Administration, quote in an article he wrote.  If you, too, were a bit surprised, we didn’t need to be.  Give him 24 hours, and – well – you can guess what happened…

Huckabee and Bush

In his recent Foreign Affairs essay, Mike Huckabee had hard words for George Bush’s approach to national security:American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out. The Bush administration’s arrogant bunker mentality [...]

Far as I know, John Bolton is sticking with HIS comments…

Does John Bolton Owe President Bush An Apology?

In the current issue of Foreign Affairs, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee criticized the Bush administration’s unilateral foreign policy, arguing the “Bush administration’s arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad” and has pit “us against the world.” In response, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney rushed to defend Bush, stating, “we ought to be [...]

Parsing Their Words

Oh, what a tangled web we weave….

I’m thinking Larry Johnson could be right on target with this one.

Did Bush Eat Popcorn While Watching the Torture Tapes?

Have you watched the videotape of the torture of Abu Zubaydah? No. See how easy that is? The vast majority of folks reading this blog can answer that question succinctly. You do not have to parse. When presidents parse, they are hiding something. So let me explain why I am certain [...]

Another Record

I just don’t get it.  What is it about Ron Paul that makes normal American citizens start tossing around their credit and debit cards like free-spending shopaholics?

Ron Paul’s $6.3 million tea party

A blizzard which dropped eight inches of snow on Boston Sunday didn’t stop over 700 people from packing into Faneuil Hall to hear speeches about Dr. Ron Paul. And nothing could stop 61,000 supporters of Paul’s presidential campaign from dropping a record-breaking $6.3 million into [...]

Ahem.  The answer is?

Ron Paul Raises Almost Six Million But Remains a Fringe Candidate

Supporters of Ron Paul raised almost six million dollars yesterday, falling short of their goal of ten million dollars. This was another tremendous achievement, especially considering that this was the work of supporters and not the official campaign. However in failing to meet their goal it also shows that Paul supporters continue to overestimate their [...]

Mutiny in Iraq

There’s not much more that you can say about this story, other than that it’s sad. And wrong.  And illustrates why the U.S. military presence might be making a dent in the Iraq casualty figures, but at what expense?

‘Army Times’ Article Describes U.S. Troop ‘Mutiny’ in Iraq

While violence is down in Iraq, Americans continue to die and fall badly wounded, and suffer severe stress and trauma caused by 15-month tours of duty. A remarkable article on Friday in the Army Times is titled: “Not us. We’re not going: Soldiers in 2nd Platoon, Charlie 1-26 stage a ‘mutiny’ that pulls the unit apart.” Here are [...]

Snowball Time

And not the kind made of wet, packed, snow.  Rather, the kind of snowball that starts rolling downhill and snags everything in its path.  Let’s see…what’s wheat used in?  Oh, yeah…bread (for starters). Just parlay this tidbit into the bigger picture..

Wheat Price Surges Above $10 for First Time on Supply Concerns

Wheat rose above $10 a bushel for the first time, bolstering prices for other grains and oilseeds and stoking inflation. Chicago wheat futures rose as much as 30 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $10.095 as dry weather threatened crops in Argentina, adding [...]

Another Milestone

Life can be measured in milestones.  Births, deaths, new jobs, graduations.  Our daughter graduated Friday night from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. After a celebratory dinner, it began to snow as we returned to our hotel.  By the time we got there, it was snowing heavily. It snowed all night and much of Saturday, leaving 6 to 8 inches on the ground.  To some of you, that may not sound like much.  To a transplaned Iowan, living now in Arkansas, it’s a lot.  Especially when you’re trying to move a daughter out of an apartment, piling her possessions into three cars. We got much of it done Saturday, in the snow.  By Sunday morning, the final work was done in 15 degree temperatures, with a brisk NorthWest wind to speed us up.  Then, broken windshield wipers had to be replaced before we could begin the treck over relatively clear roads to return home. Kudos to the highway folks in Missouri – they did really quick work to keep the roads passable. Now, it wasn’t quite as bad as this old photo from “Keep The Coffee Coming” would indicate.  It just FELT that bad!

So, today, she’s gainfully employed and managed to find something back at home.  That, my friends, is a milestone.

All that being said, with the holidays rapidly approaching, the massive staff at this little blog is “fixin’” to become busy.  Keep checking back, but if you don’t see anything fresh for a day or two, don’t worry. I’m still around.  It’s just that (this is embarassing to say) we don’t have many Christmas decorations up, yet! Somehow that graduation thing occupied a lot of December hours. 

Blog-wise, I’m playing catchup tonight. Big Time.  Lots of stuff to wade through and it looks like folks were busy over the weekend.  Dig in.

Bush backs off Bali agreement hours after signing

No surprises here except to the rest of the world that actually thought Bush was being sincere when he agreed to nothing and pushed this out for the next president. Same old, same old. Even a signed document with this administration isn’t worth the paper it is written on and Congress is too afraid to ever call him out. Between the [...]

Carl explains it this way:

Bush Got What He Wanted Out Of Bali

He delayed, ran down the clock, deferred, distracted and otherwise pushed off the tough decisions on global warming to the next shnook to sit in his [...]