Ah, yes, history will look kindly on the Bush Administration. That’s what George W. keeps telling us. Ya kinda have to wonder “why”?
Bushed!: KBR Rape Case, CIA Waterboarding Tapes and Katrina
Keeping track of the Bush scandals so we don’t have to, Keith Olbermann updates some truly egregious violations of decency on the part of the Bush administration: First up is Jamie Leigh Jones, the KBR employee who accused her company and the federal government of covering up the gang [...]
Tags: Bush Administration, KBR, Waterboarding
Categories: Bush Administration · Halliburton · Waterboarding
It’s just after 11:30 pm around these parts, as this post hits the net. Time for a nightcap of the economic news of the day. Not that it’ll help you sleep…
Economic Roundup
Three pieces of economic news today: First, holiday sales sucked: “An already weak holiday shopping season turned out to be even worse than expected for many of the nation’s retailers, who reported Thursday they had disappointing sales results for December [....]
33 percent:
Number of Americans who approve of President Bush’s handling of the economy, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll. “With signs of economic stress abounding,” Bush’s numbers have dropped from 36 percent last month. Just 27 percent believe [...]
Tags: Economy
Categories: Bush Administration · Economy
A company in India has come up with a new car. Total cost? $2500. That’s right - 25 hundred dollars. What do you get for your money? 65 miles an hour and…well, take a look.
Tata Motors Unveils $2,500 Car
Tata Motors today took the covers off the world’s cheapest car — the Nano. Over the past year, Tata has been building hype for a car that would cost a mere 100,000 rupees (roughly $2,500) and bring automotive transportation to the mainstream Indian population. It has been nicknamed the “People’s Car.” Over the course [...]
Tags: Tata Motors, Indian Car, Nano
Categories: Consumer
There’s something mildly satisfying about this, doncha think?
FBI: Can you hear me now?
The AP reports that telephone companies “cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau’s repeated failures to pay phone bills on time,” according to Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine. The “FBI’s lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations” resulted in “telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established [...]
Tags: Wiretaps
Categories: Bush Administration · FISA · National Security
Another quotable quote from somebody who SHOULD know better!
Hillary Supporter Cuomo: Obama Tried To “Shuck And Jive” With Media
The Hillary campaign might have their own surrogate with foot-in-mouth syndrome who they’ll have to deal with. During an appearance yesterday on talk radio — at almost the same time as Obama co-chair Jesse Jackson Jr. questioned Hillary’s tears — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo used some words about Barack Obama that have a very troublesome racial history [...]
Tags: 2008 Election, Hillary Clinton
Categories: 2008 Election · Clinton
Another change of course in Iraq. It’s become much like the old “keep thowing stuff against the wall until something sticks.” Maybe. Maybe not.
Today’s Must Read
Remember all that stuff about benchmarks? You know, measurements of progress by the Iraqi government? Well, that was last year. There’s a new catchphrase in town: “Iraqi solutions.” And it means that while the Iraqis might have failed to accomplish just about all the goals the U.S. set, that’s OK, and you gotta just roll with it and let [...]
Tags: Bush Administration, Iraq
Categories: Bush Administration · Iraq War
And scientists with (obviously) a sense of humor.
Two Proteins, Called BERT And ERNI, Control Brain Development
Scientists at University College London have discovered how two proteins called BERT and ERNI interact in embryos to control when different organ systems in the body start to form, deepening our understanding of the development of the brain and nervous system and expanding our knowledge of stem cell behavior [...]
Tags: Science, Proteins, BERT and ERNI
Categories: Stem Cell Research
Well, now. Ain’t this somewhat surprising? I find myself agreeing with Karl Rove. No, there’s no fever or mind-altering substances involved. You must read what he wrote for the Wall Street Journal:
Karl Rove Op-Ed: “Why Hillary Won”
From Karl Rove’s op-ed today in the Wall Street Journal: “Mrs. Clinton won a narrow victory in New Hampshire for four reasons. First, her campaign made a smart decision at its start to target women Democrats, especially single women. It has been made part of the [...]
Tags: 2008 Election, Hillary Clinton
Categories: 2008 Election · Clinton
It is still chaos.
Bush’s Legacy: Two Lost Wars
After 7 years in Afghanistan, no end in sight: “The Pentagon is preparing to send at least 3,000 Marines to Afghanistan in April to bolster efforts to hold off another expected Taliban offensive in the spring, military officials said Wednesday…Last year was the most violent since [...]
Tags: Bush Administration, Iraq, Afghanistan
Categories: Afghanistan · Bush Administration · Iraq War
I’m not saying there was fraud in the New Hampshire primary, but the fine folks at Brad Blog are coming up with some most “interesting” numbers. I always do try to keep one wary eye on anything to do with electronic voting machines, so this certainly caught my attention tonight..
7 Point Swing for Clinton Over Obama in NH’s Diebold Precincts
It’s been an exhausting day, as a few folks in the world are finally beginning to open their eyes, and realize that not counting ballots, and trusting instead, in error-prone, hackable machines for “faith-based results” doesn’t make a lot of sense. Particularly in an election for which nobody — and [...]
On the other hand, a blogger over at Daily Kos says there’s no problem:
Enough with the “Diebold Hacked the NH Primary” Lunacy
New Hampshire has no touchscreen voting. None. Every ballot cast in New Hampshire except those few cast by the handicapped is written on a piece of paper. It’s redundant to say this after the previous comment about touchscreen voting, but let’s make it clear: in New Hampshire there is [...]
And the whole thing is getting some MSM attention:
Bloggers form theory New Hampshire vote was rigged
AUSTIN - The results weren’t even in when the blogosphere started to hum with a theory that sharply divided Democrats online […]
Tags: 2008 Election, Electronic Voting Machines
Crossposted at http://www.ivoter08.com and The Krile Files
Categories: 2008 Election · Electronic Voting Machines
Well, that was a short break from politics. In fact, it wasn’t really a break. Not at all. More like a short nap. The fact is, you can’t get away from politics right now. There may be a deserted island somewhere, but that’s about the only way to avoid it.
Big topic around the blogs today: Republicans. And who they could end up with as a candidate. I use the term “end up with” because a lot of GOP’ers aren’t excited about ANY of the candidates.
Republicans may end up with McCain by default
An article in the Politico sums up the state of affairs for Republicans. They may end up with McCain as their nominee not because they like him. In fact, many key factions of the Republican base can’t stand McCain — it’s just that there’s really no one else. Basically, [...]
Tags: 2008 Election, Republicans
Categories: 2008 Election · Republicans
Looks like the political front may be somewhat quiet for a day or so. It’s been exhausting just watching from afar. I can only imagine how it must be for the candidates, their staff and families.
Whoever is elected President will have to deal with the economy. It’s not looking good by almost anyone’s estimation. George W. Bush seems to think it’s rolling right along, but not many others are on that boat.
One Thing to Expect in 2008
I didn’t do any of those 2007 retrospective or ‘what to expect in 2008′ types of diaries. So, here you go: “Goldman Sachs on Wednesday said it expects the U.S. economy to drop into recession this year, prompting the Federal Reserve to slash benchmark lending rates to 2.5 percent by the third quarter. In a note to clients, Goldman said real gross domestic product would contract by 1 percent on an annualized basis in both the second and third quarters. For all of 2008, the investment bank said GDP would [...]
Tags: Economy
Categories: 2008 Election · Consumer · Economy
Even being a native Iowan, I don’t like the importance of my home state’s caucuses. Iowa is a tiny blip on the election radar, when you look at the raw numbers, the number of voters. New Hampshire ain’t much better. Those two states have already killed a couple of campaigns. That just ain’t right.
THIS is why I don’t watch television news
If Iowa has 7 electoral votes, and New Hampshire has 4…why do they get to knock out candidates before I even get to have a primary vote? And why does Wyoming (with only one less electoral vote than New Hampshire) rank so low on the media feeding frenzy that they are totally discounted in [...]
Tags: 2008 Election, Iowa Caucuses, New Hampshire
Categories: 2008 Election
