Kudos to Elizabeth Edwards for having the guts to put John McCain in his place. And, she does it with class.
Elizabeth Edwards responds to McCain’s ‘cheap shot.’
Earlier this month, Elizabeth Edwards, who is now a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, criticized Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) health plan because it doesn’t guarantee coverage for people who have pre-existing conditions — like both Edwards and McCain. She also noted that McCain had benefited from government-run health care his [...]
Categories: Consumer · Health Care
Ya’ know, pretty soon people aren’t going to be able to afford to get to work. This is just crazy. Somebody, somewhere, must be able to get this under control.
Retail gas hits record $3.50 a gallon as oil marches higher
Retail gas prices hit another new milestone Monday, jumping to an average $3.50 a gallon at filling stations across the country. Crude oil prices, meanwhile, set new records of their own, spiking above $117 a barrel after an attack on a Japanese oil tanker in [...]
More gas, less of everything else
I’ve been contending that the reason why people are very pessimistic on the economy is that the items which are very difficult to do without or at least with less have been increasing dramatically in price even when [...]
Technorati Tags:
Gas Prices,
crude Oil
Categories: Consumer · Economy
The old “two bag” limit when you fly is set to become 1 bag. That’s right, they’re going to charge you extra for anything more than a single checked bag!
Airlines to Begin Charging for a Second Bag
Five of the six major airlines in the United States plan to start charging coach passengers as much as $25 next month to check a second bag, in their latest move to offset high [...]
Categories: Consumer · Economy
Oh, those darn talking points. Let’s tear into them, shall we?
Intellectual laziness and the ‘al Qaeda’ shorthand
About a year ago, it became painfully obvious that the president started lying about al Qaeda in Iraq as part of a cynical approach to bolstering support for the war. While that was hardly unexpected, the more noticeable problem was that the media started playing along with the White House’s scheme, and began characterizing everyone [...]
Categories: Bush Administration · Iraq War
I guess this just proves that good management is the key. Or having friends in high places, perhaps.
In midst of recession, Halliburton rakes in billions.
Economists are forecasting a recession, U.S. company profits in almost all sectors are taking a hit, and many American families cannot say they are better off than they were eight years ago. But one giant oil services company is weathering the economic storm quite well. Reuters reports Halliburton “said on Monday that first-quarter profit rose [...]
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Halliburton
Categories: Bush Administration · Economy
The mortgage crisis continues to worsen. And nobody seems to have any answers.
Walking Away
In phase one of the foreclosure crisis, distressed homeowners started to mail in their keys to the bank and walk away from their houses. Apparently we’re now in phase two: homeowners are beginning to set fire to their houses [...]
Categories: Economy · Housing Market
At some point (perhaps we’re there), this become counterproductive, doesn’t it?
More convicted felons allowed to enlist in Army, Marines
Under pressure to increase their numbers, the Army and Marine Corps have sharply raised the number of recruits with felony convictions they are admitting to the [...]
Categories: Bush Administration · Military
A well-oiled machine? Not hardly. The boss is a big critic.
Secretary Gates Slams Air Force: Getting Them To Send Equipment To Iraq “Like Pulling Teeth”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Air Force is not doing enough to help in the Iraq and Afghanistan war effort, complaining that some military leaders are “stuck in old ways of doing business.” Gates said in a speech at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan has been “like pulling teeth.” Addressing officer students at the Air Force’s Air University, the Pentagon chief praised [...]
Categories: Iraq War · Military
That’s the terminology: harmonizing. A way to get the U.S., Mexico and Canada all on the same page. It might sound good, on the surface. But Greg Palast (who’s usually a darn good investigative journalist) says there are some things about the movement that are downright frightening.
José Can You See? Bush’s Trojan Taco
Psst! George Bush has a secret. While you Democrats are pounding each other to a pulp in Pennsylvania, the President has snuck back down to New Orleans for a meeting of the NAFTA Three: the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of Mexico. You’re not supposed to know that [...]
Categories: Bush Administration
There was a marvelous article in yesterday’s New York Times that deserves some attention, still today. I was buried in family things and didn’t read about it until today. Here’s some help in digging through the lengthy piece.
A Guide to ‘NYT’ Scoop on Pentagon’s Media Propaganda
The front-page David Barstow epic in today’s New York Times on how the Pentagon, starting in 2002, assembled a crew of retired military officers to disseminate propaganda via all-too-willing network and cable news outlets is drawing wide attention (see other story). Barstow aptly refers to this as [...]
The NYT article is here.
Categories: Bush Administration · Iraq War
That’s right. Food is being rationed in parts of America. That’s how bad it’s become.
Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World
Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as [...]
Categories: Economy
Russert blew it Sunday morning. He really did. I haven’t decided who I’m voting for, but fair is fair. Right is right. Wrong is wrong.
Russert should debunk nonsensical attacks, not repeat them
A top advisor to John McCain recently described his sense of what the media’s role should be in the presidential campaign — the press, the advisor said, should “play referee on what is a bogus claim and what isn’t.” That sounds about right to me. Clearly, news outlets have broader responsibilities, but at a minimum, journalists [...]
Categories: 2008 Election · Obama
At the very least, they broke their own ethics rules. This story just gets worse and worse.
Addington, Gonzales Witnessed Gitmo Interrogations In 2002; Approved Of ‘Whatever Needs To Be Done’
Last month, ABC News revealed that President Bush’s most senior advisers approved the use of harsh interrogation tactics. Days later, Bush confirmed to ABC he “approved” of the tactics. In a forthcoming book, British international law professor Phillippe Sands further documents how the most extreme interrogation techniques — including stress, hooding, noise, nudity, and “dogs” [...]
Categories: Torture · Waterboarding
I woke exhausted this morning. It was simply too busy of a weekend for this old man. But, it was all worth it. A five-mile hike on Saturday, dinner with the kids on Sunday, combined to make it a busy one. My brain simply did not want to respond when the radio kicked on at 5:30 this morning. Usually the dogs start prancing around when they hear the radio, forcing me to my feet to let them outside. This morning, even THEY delayed reacting to the sound.
Much of the online chatter today focuses on Tuesday’s big primary election in Pennsylvania. AMERICAblog has a good summary of the final polls – assuming you put any belief in the numbers:
PA Polls: SurveyUSA shows Clinton lead drops from 14 to 6 over past week; Quinnipiac has Clinton up 7; PPP has Obama up 3
NOTE FROM JOHN: To put these polls in context, Joe added a link at the bottom of this post to a Bloomberg News article. The article explains that even if Hillary beats Obama by 25 percentage points in Pennsylvania, she still is unlikely [...]
Expectations
Drudge is running a big headline claiming that Hillary Clinton’s internal polling shows her 11 points ahead in Pennsylvania. Was this a deliberate leak from HRC to Drudge? Josh Marshall doesn’t think so:Here’s why. The game is heavily about expectations [...]
But, before you start passing that report along, consider this:
Clinton Campaign Swats Down Drudge Story
On a conference call with reporters just minutes ago, Clinton campaign spokesperson Howard Wolfson and senior strategist and pollster Geoff Garin jumped to “categorically deny” the existence of any [... ]
Categories: 2008 Election · Clinton · Obama
