Republican Lies About Offshore Drilling

environmentalist from dKos cuts through the GOP's BS concerning offshore drilling:

First of all, there is no "ban".

"Ban" is just more GOPer-speak. In reality, there is a moratorium on drilling in certain coastal areas. Other areas are not only open to drilling but leases and drilling permits have already been issued.

And they are not being drilled.

In fact, only 17% of the leased areas [are] in production. So, with about 33 million acres of offshore areas already available to drill and not being drilled, why does the oil and gas industry need to have access to still more? The fact is that nearly 25 BILLION barrels of oil off the coast of the United States is currently available for drilling...and industry is not drilling it.

Not to mention natural gas. Most of the natural gas occurring offshore (over 328 TRILLION cubic feet – an eleven year supply at current consumption rates) is currently available for leasing and development.

And they’re not going after it.

This is the story throughout the country, more than 44 million acres of onshore public lands are leased for oil and gas development and yet most of it is not being drilled. All told (onshore and offshore), 68 million acres are leased and sitting idle. Over 10,000 permits are currently 'stockpiled' by industry. But still they want more.

Between 1999 and 2007, the number of drilling permits issued for development of public lands increased by more than 361%. And did you see your gasoline costs drop? How about your electricity costs? Propane? natural gas? Uh...no. There is absolutely no correlation between the industrialization of public lands and the price of fossil fuels.

It has been estimated that if all of those currently inactive leases were drilled, the USA would produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas EVERY DAY, accounting for a doubling of US oil production and a 75% increase in US natural gas production. The Minerals Management Service tells us that about 80% of fossil fuels available in offshore are currently available for development.

What's going on here is yet another cynical attempt by the GOP and the oil and gas robber barons to increase and assure huge industry profits at the expense of the American people. These companies don’t want to drill these areas. They want to hold them as [assets] to limit the amount of oil and gas on the market so that prices rise still further - and they make more money.

Republicans and the oil industry are lying to America out the ying yang on this. Surprised? I didn't think so...

New York City Is Becoming So Pedestrian

Mayor Bloomberg announces an experimental plan to stop traffic altogether in part of New York city:

The scheme, called Summer Streets, will run on three consecutive Saturdays in August - the 9th, 16th and 23rd.

A seven-mile (11km) route linking Brooklyn Bridge in the south to the Upper East Side will close to traffic.

...snip...

Exercise classes, such as dance and yoga sessions, will be held along the route, which will run from Lower Manhattan to East 72nd Street, via Centre Street, Lafayette Street, Fourth Avenue and Park Avenue.

Bikes will be available to rent along the route, and there will be rest areas at various points for cyclists to take on water and repair bikes.

Throw in some beer and free street music and this would be an even bigger draw for suburbanites... And I would promise to take the train into town, Mikey. :)

"That's a little racist..."

So sayeth my daughter upon seeing this while reading over my shoulder:

A booth at this weekend’s Texas Republican convention sold buttons asking, “If Obama Is President…Will We Still Call It The White House?”:



The company that makes the buttons boasts providing “Patriotic and Republican Products.” Another button they sell features a picture of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), with the phrase: “Life’s a b**ch, don’t vote for one.” (HT: AmericaBlog)

I couldn't agree with her more as we get a glimpse of the kind of campaign the GOP will be running in this election cycle. And if that Hillary slogan is what they are offering to the former Hillary supporters to crossover and vote for 4 more years of failed bush policies... Well? Good luck with that to the bed wetting set in the insane asylum known as GOP headquarters.

CT BOB interviews Rep. Chris Murphy

From Bob Adams, aka Ct Bob:

Congressman Chris Murphy from the 5th CD joined me for an interview on Saturday morning. The video covers topics such as the 2006 election, the Supreme Court, the Constitution, current bills before the House, and Chris's impressions from his first term in Congress. The entire interview runs 22 minutes.

McCain Campaign Runs out of Toilet Paper

As evidenced by the stains on their campaign ads:

Dump and Dumper...

Needless to say: Eeewwwww...
(photo h/t TPM)

Those two bush turds weren't the only Hershey squirts staining the McCain campaign recently...

Parents Magazine has asked Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama to share their favorite cookie recipes, with readers voting on their favorite. “Apparently, the winner of the cookie contest has predicted the election the past four times.” However, McCain’s recipe for Oatmeal-Butterscotch cookies is an exact copy of Hershey’s recipe. In April, the McCain campaign was caught having duplicated three recipes from the Food Network almost word-for-word, posting them on the campaign website. The error was blamed on a “low-level unpaid staffer.”

The only question? Which McCain staffer will be used to wipe up these messes?

Obama VS McCain: Man of Action VS Cheesy Egomaniac

ThePoliticalCat draws a sharp contrast between the Obama and McCain campaigns... How some men are men of action, and others are do nothings that just pay lip service to critical situations:

La Casa de Los Gatos votes for the man with the shovel. The man who is not afraid to go to the site of the disaster and pick up the tools and work alongside the affected people.

Where is FEMA? These people have lost access to clean drinking water. They need portable toilets and water, medicine, clean food, supplies, health care, temporary shelter. Where the fuck is FEMA? Why aren't they on the ball? Where is Michael Chertoff? Why hasn't Georgee cut short his taxpayer-funded jaunt in Europe and headed home to pick up a shovel, the worthless PoS?

Senator Obama's Website features a plea for help for the victims of flooding in the Midwest:

Click to embiggen

Ancient McInsane's site features a cheesy picture of the egomaniac with his Daddy and a cheesy Father's Day message.



Listen up, McSenile: Lots of fathers in the Midwest are worried about being able to take care of their children now, and in the future, thanks to your best bud's policies, which you promise to continue if elected. Now is the time to get your ancient, pasty, wrinkly behind into gear and help some of those people. Not flit between your eight or nine multi-million-dollar houses with a paid staff of servants waiting on you hand and foot.

Oh, it looks like we forgot to whom we were speaking. John McBush wants you to know how he feels your pain, Midwesterners:

Statement by John McCain on the Midwest Floods

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement on the flooding in the Midwest:

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those impacted by the flooding throughout the Midwest. Cindy and I would like to extend our sympathies to all those who have lost loved ones, and stand ready to help those in the Midwest to recover and rebuild."

Standing ready doesn't cut it, Mr. Multi-millionaire. How about shelling out a few shekels?

That's right, we forgot. The last time a natural disaster hit, you were pictured doing this:

Iz mai birfday! Wut hurrykains?

Read more at ThePoliticalCat...

Foreclosures Hitting Record Highs

As I mentioned a while back, my family already lost our home... I hope that many of these homeowners manage to avoid slipping through the cracks of this GOP created mortgage crisis:

"Nationwide, 261,255 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in May, up 48 percent from 176,137 in the same month last year and up 7 percent from April.

According to the RealtyTrac report, one in every 483 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in May, the highest number since RealtyTrac started the report in 2005 and the second-straight monthly record."

And, meanwhile, back on the corporate ranch:

"Struggling to make ends meet;
CEO pay creeps up only $280K in 2007:

As the American economy slowed to a crawl and stockholders watched their money evaporate, CEO pay still chugged to yet more dizzying heights last year, an Associated Press analysis shows.

The AP review of compensation for the heads of companies in the Standard
& Poor's 500 index finds the median pay package added up to nearly $8.4
million. That's a comfortable gain of about $280,000 from 2006.

The 3 1/2 percent pay increase for CEOs came even as the landscape for both
workers and shareholders darkened considerably and the economy was choked by a
housing market in free fall, layoffs and soaring prices for fuel and food."

Previously brewed in New Milford:

On the Sub-Prime Crisis

Many of you already knew that we were probably losing our home in the first wave of foreclosures hitting this state and the country. I have been sort of busy the last couple of weeks with this issue and (some of) you may have noticed that my Blog has been dormant because I have been so busy.

The bad news? We have given up trying to save our home.

The good news? Unlike the many American families that are, right now, living in tent cities (from the morgtage crisis and also from hurricane Katrina) we have been fortunate enough to find a house to rent. And we will not have to move from New Milford, either. The kids are happy about that second part. They have made friends and like living here.

Finding a place to live has not been easy. Being in the first wave of foreclosures, many landlords refused to rent to us. This issue will likely resolve itself for others later on as more and more people with foreclosures and bankruptcies on their credit reports will flood the renters market. For now it is still an issue. An issue we that we kind of lucked our way around.

Lemons Meet Lemonade (Continue reading...)

Blogger Arrests Hit Record High Worldwide

We are all in this together...

While China, Egypt and Iran have accounted for more than half of the reported arrests of Bloggers since 2003, the threat of being arrested for exercising acts of free speech is on the rise according to the BBC:

More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a report.

Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.

In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed.

The World Information Access (WIA) report found that:

Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. They criticised public policies and took political figures to task.

The report said the rising number of arrests was testament to the "growing" political importance of blogging. It noted that arrests tended to increase during times of "political uncertainty", such as around general elections or during large scale protests.

Bloggers averaged about 15 months of prison time when arrested, but the report acknowledges that, like in the case of Burma where there were hundreds of reports of arrests, many of whom were purported to be Bloggers, verifying the arrest of these internet scribes was not always possible.

Predictions of rising numbers of arrests are expected for the entire Blogging world, including the USA and partially due to elections this year and higher Blogging participation rates.

Welcome to the new and improved corporate owned America that the GOP built during the criminal bush years. Where spying on innocent Americans, lying America into illegal wars of aggression and "100 year" occupations, torturing innocents and criminals, spending this country into recession, selling nuclear secrets to the enemy and outing entire spy networks are treated as acts of conservatism heroism... And speaking and the truth liberally could cost you your not-so Constitutionally protected right to freedom.

P.S: I am testing the Scribefire add-on for my Firefox browser, so I am not sure how well this will work for posting to my Blog. Sorry. in advance, if it messes with things! :)

What Will Lunatic Shays Say About This?

Given his knowledgeable background in sports, as evideneced by his statements at the baseball/steroid hearings, I am looking forward to hearing Chris Shays comments on this blockbuster basketball news:

NBA referees rigged a 2002 playoff series to force it to a revenue-boosting seven games. That's what a former referee at the center of a gambling scandal is alleging. Without identifying anyone or naming teams, disgraced referee Tim Donaghy (DAHN'-uh-gee) also claims the NBA routinely encouraged refs to ring up bogus fouls to manipulate results but calls against star players. Speaking before the start of the NBA finals Game 3 featuring the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, NBA commissioner David Stern calls the allegations baseless

Will we get to hear him be outraged about this serious sports issue instead of the minor issue of people dying in Iraq?

Previously brewed in New Milford:

The Twisted Republican Perspective

Nearly 4,000 dead American soldiers and over 29,000 wounded

U.S. Casualties By Calendar Year

Year	US Deaths	US Wounded
2003	486	2,416
2004	849	8,002
2005	846	5,947
2006	822	6,400
2007	901	6,084
2008	56	231
Total	3960	29080

And the senile old fart, Republican John McCain, thinks debating his age will distract us?

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis today sent an unmistakable message to Barack Obama over the Illinois Democrat's effort to stoke the obvious age contrast between himself and the 71-year-old McCain: Bring it on.

Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis...

We maintain a daily count based on news reports. It is not intended to be complete. There is no agency that keeps track of accurate numbers of Iraqis killed. JustForeignPolicy maintains a running estimate based on the Lancet study with the rate of increase derived from the Iraq Body Count.

And Republican Senator Arlen Specter is intent on hunting down football tapes?

"There was confirmation that there has been taping since 2000, when Coach Belichick took over," Specter said.

Specter said Goodell gave him that information during the 1-hour, 40-minute meeting, which was requested by Specter so the commissioner could explain his reasons for destroying the Spygate tapes and notes.

On the home front, the country is getting flushed down the toilet by failed conservative policies run amok:

The U.S. economy is faltering. Family debt is on the rise, benefits are disappearing, the deficit is skyrocketing, and the mortgage crisis has worsened. Conservatives have attempted to deflect attention from the crisis, by blaming the media’s negative coverage and insisting the United States is not headed toward a recession, despite what economists are predicting.

And Republican Rep. Chris Shays is in a steroid induced stupor:

Once again, Chris Shays embarrasses the state of Connecticut with one of the most embarrassing tirades to date. Our congressman from the fourth district took grandstanding to a whole new level with his browbeating of Roger Clemens trainer Brian McNamee during today's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on steroids in baseball.

After hearing Shays refer to McNamee as a "drug dealer" and spewing out what can only be described as complete nonsense, WFAN's sports radio personality (and former Shays supporter) Chris "Mad Dog" Russo saw the light.

Living up to his famous nickname, Russo took Shays to the woodshed and became Jim Himes' biggest supporter...all in the classic Mad Dog fashion that's made Russo famous.

It is obvious that the only campaign platform these spineless GOP candidates have to run on this election cycle is to avoid and deflect from every issue that is really important to this nation. These Republican children need to grow up and take responsibility for the failures they have created. There is no doubt about this fact:

The GOP has lost all perspective of reality.

And anyone would have to be a fool to vote for any of them...

[update] Changed video to add extended version of ctblogger's uploaded video. Original video is here... And normally I wouldn't ask this BUT... Help Connecticut Bob shut up:

"Shays struck out swinging with his ridiculous tirade. His wild pitch embarrassed everyone in the 4th District. Help Jim Himes hit a grand slam by contributing to Jim's ActBlue fund.

If you do, I promise I'll stop with the stupid baseball references."

JK Bob :)

Coulter Trying to Redefine Words

Let the conservatard's batshit-loopy rant begin:

Words mean nothing to liberals. They say whatever will help advance their
cause at the moment, switch talking points in a heartbeat, and then act
indignant if anyone uses the exact same argument they were using five minutes
ago.

When Gore won the popular vote in the 2000 election by half a
percentage point, but lost the Electoral College -- or, for short, "the
constitutionally prescribed method for choosing presidents" -- anyone who denied
the sacred importance of the popular vote was either an idiot or a dangerous
partisan.

But now Hillary has won the popular vote in a Democratic
primary, while Obambi has won under the rules. In a spectacular turnabout, media
commentators are heaping sarcasm on our plucky Hillary for imagining the
"popular vote" has any relevance whatsoever.

It's the exact same
situation as in 2000, with Hillary in the position of Gore and Obama in the
position of Bush. The only difference is: Hillary has a much stronger argument
than Gore ever did (and Hillary's more of a man than Gore ever was).

[...]

After nearly eight years of having to listen to liberals crow that Bush was "selected, not elected," this is a shocking about-face.

While it is true that Gore won the popular vote, it is nowhere near the same situation and Coulter - a lying republican mouthpiece - knows very well that Bush was SELECTED by the Supreme Court and NOT by the actual votes.

This set into motion a series of recounts (portions by machine, and
portions by hand), questions about portions of the Florida vote, and finally
lawsuits.

These ultimately resulted in a December 12 7-2 United
States Supreme Court decision that the Florida Supreme Court's plan for
recounting ballots was unconstitutional, as well as a 5-4 United
States Supreme Court decision that ended the Florida recounts and allowed
Florida to certify its vote. The vote was certified according to Florida state
election law by Katherine Harris, the Republican Secretary of State who had been the Florida co-chair of Bush's campaign.[34] Because Bush's younger brother, Jeb Bush,was the governor of Florida, there were allegations that Harris and Jeb Bushhad manipulated the election to favor the governor's brother.[35][36]

In reality, if it had been left to the actual votes and the delegates in Florida Bush Junior would never have been SELECTED by the Supreme Court... And Gore would have been President in 2000.

It would be nice if stupid republicans would stop trying to rewrite history and redefine words so liberally. Until the Supreme Court has to decide on the 2008 Democratic party candidate for President, Coulter's false comparison is just more dumpster diving from the fanatical right wing.

[update] Though it has little to do with Coulter trying to redefine what liberals mean by "Bush was selected", I should have pointed out the other obvious flaw in her false argument (since there has been a lot of discussion on this), but thanks to MLN's Jon Kantrowitz for pointing this out in comment:

Hillary DID NOT win the popular vote - her claims rest on uncontested
states - FL and MI - where there was no real vote.

Not to mention that the people that claim Hillary won the popular vote completely ignore caucus states. Dubious claims at best.

A little background on Senator John McCain

Because we all want to know where Senator John McCain really stands on the issues:

1. Senator John McCain Votes to Filibuster Minimum Wage Hike.


2. Senator John McCain housing policy shaped by lobbyist.


3. Bush and Senator John McCain plug Social Security.


4. Senator John McCain blasts Obama's and Clinton's attacks on NAFTA.


5. Senator John McCain in NH: Would Be "Fine" To Keep Troops in Iraq for "A Hundred Years".


6. Senator John McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion.


7. Senate passes expanded GI bill despite Bush and Senator John McCain's opposition.


8. Senator John McCain says overturn the law that legalized abortion.


9. Senator John McCain Defends Bush's Iraq Strategy.

Keep in mind that McCain says economics is his weak suit. To be fair, the present economic situation proves that all Republicans do not have a clue about economics. Do you really want a 3rd term of bush failures and incompetence?

On the Sub-Prime Crisis

Many of you already knew that we were probably losing our home in the first wave of foreclosures hitting this state and the country. I have been sort of busy the last couple of weeks with this issue and (some of) you may have noticed that my Blog has been dormant because I have been so busy.

The bad news? We have given up trying to save our home.

The good news? Unlike the many American families that are, right now, living in tent cities (from the morgtage crisis and also from hurricane Katrina) we have been fortunate enough to find a house to rent. And we will not have to move from New Milford, either. The kids are happy about that second part. They have made friends and like living here.

Finding a place to live has not been easy. Being in the first wave of foreclosures, many landlords refused to rent to us. This issue will likely resolve itself for others later on as more and more people with foreclosures and bankruptcies on their credit reports will flood the renters market. For now it is still an issue. An issue we that we kind of lucked our way around.

Lemons Meet Lemonade

The house we are renting? It is a little bit smaller than the home we loved but it does have some serious plusses that make this a better place for us. First, it has a nice little wood stove in the living room to curl up in front of on those chilly New England nights. It will also save us money on oil. Second, it has a nice, big and sunny room that I plan on turning into my media room that will look right out over the back yard. Third, it is not on a main street so the kids and the dog will be a little safer playing outside. Fourth, we will be saving hundreds compared to what our original mortgage payment started at, never mind how much our ARM was by the time it doubled.

As for the luck part? Well, we are renting the house from someone that was on the verge of losing it all, as well. She pretty much knows our situtation and, because of her own situtation, was a little more forgiving on our credit check. The lady who owns the house is where we were in the foreclosure process about 9 months ago. She did not have "ARM" or sub-prime issues, but employment/relocation issues. As the real estate agent that helped us find a place said, this is a win/win situation for everyone here. She won't be crushed financially like we were and we will have a roof over our heads.

I'll have more to write on this later but, for now, don't be surpised if my Blogging particiaption is a little bit irregular.

Mariana Islands Republican Values

What more can you say about those highly moral Republicans that hasn't already been said?

Earlier today we noted that the Republican Senate candidate from Colorado, Bob Schaffer, told the Denver Post that America should adopt an immigration and guest labor policy modeled on that of the Mariana Islands (aka the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) -- whose guest worker program is notorious around the world for forced abortion, slavery, child prostitution, sex trafficking, beatings, female workers kept in shacks with no plumbing surrounded by barbed wire and other fun stuff.

Well? You could say Jack Abramoff...

TPM Reader AK points out that the folks at ProgressNowAction have done a little digging. And it seems that that back in 1999, when Schaffer was serving in Congress, he went on one of those junkets to the Islands put together by none other than disgraced lobbyist and now-federal inmate Jack Abramoff.

But Jack Abramoff is nothing new when it comes to republicans. There is more on this over at TPM.

Torture Is Illegal

And these are all criminals:

ABC News reported tonight that President Bush’s most senior and trusted advisers met in “dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House” beginning in 2002 to approve the use of “combined” interrogation techniques (the joint use of harsh interrogation techniques). Those tactics included whether detainees “would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.”

Members of the National Security Council’s Principals Committee — Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, George Tenet, and John Ashcroft — approved the use of these techniques. “Sources said that at each discussion, all the Principals present approved.” According to ABC’s report, Ashcroft indicated he was troubled by the meetings:

According to a top official, Ashcroft asked aloud after one meeting: “Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly.”

Those people need to be locked up...

The Widening Income Gap In Connecticut

Via rba at ePluribus Media:

Lisa Lambert/AP: Poor get poorer as recession threat looms: report
In Connecticut, incomes of the wealthiest 20 percent are eight times those of the poorest 20 percent, according to the report. New York has the greatest disparity, with incomes of the top 20 percent 8.7 times the bottom ones, followed by Alabama, where the top are 8.5 times the bottom.

Just when some thought the economy was getting better in Connecticut:

Only recently has Connecticut begun recovering from the downturn of six years ago, according to Douglas Hall, associate director of research for Connecticut Voices for Children, who participated in the call. By August 2007 the state gained enough jobs to make up for those lost in the last recession, he said, but now it is losing them again.

Buckle up Nutmeggers... It is going to be a rough ride.

The Extreme Ignorance Of Chris Shays

Via Connecticut Bob:

Yesterday Rep. Chris Shays admitted he never read the document that the Bush administration used to justify the invasion of Iraq. Over five years later, Mr. Shays still hasn't gotten around to it.

Let the congressman tell you in his own words in this brief video...

Probably the most important vote he has ever had to make in his political career and he couldn't bother to read the actual reports on the situation? 5 years later and he still hasn't managed to read the report?

ctblogger at MLN had an update to add to this:

Make sure to share this with your local print and broadcast media outlets. That Shays failed to read the intelligence before leaping into the Iraq war – even though he insisted at the time that he had to vote against his constituents because, in his words, "I know too much about this threat" – is genuinely newsworthy.

Where will you be in 2009? Honestly?

BooMan asks an Honest Question:

Let's say hypothetically that Barack Obama secures the nomination and wins the presidential election in the fall. And let's say that the Democrats substantially increase their majorities in both the House and the Senate. What do you see happening to the progressive blogosphere in 2009? What's our role? What's our significance?

To start off: I don't - and never have - considered myself as a progressive. Nor do have any ties to the Democratic party. I have aligned myself closer to them in the past few years for the simple reason that tend to deal more with reality and less with spin and lies.

The simple fact that Connecticut's progressives were responsibly spearheading the efforts to deal with one of the worst Democratic party abusers of lies and propaganda in the nation - a true neocon through and through - Joe Lieberman (R- Idiot), speaks volumes on how they have chosen to tackle the Democratic party in the past... And, I truly hope, is a telling sign of their future treatment of the worst of the worst politicians that can, and do, come from any and all political parties.

Like most Americans, I believe that most of the worst that American politics has to offer is still rooted deeply in the heart of the Republican party. But that time will likely soon come to pass as they lose more and more power.

I am curious as to what many of my progressive allies, those that I have come to look at as trustworthy friends, in the Democratic party look at as their future goals and objectives?

I already understand that many of them will view "More and Better Democrats" as an obvious part of their agenda if they should clear the hurdles of obstructionism by Republicans in Congress through the likely victories that this election cycle is paving the way for. The shear number of Republican incumbents dropping out coupled with a lack of "top notch" candidates to fill those campaign holes and adding in their lack of grassroots funding at almost every level of national politics is creating the very real likelihood of a tsunami of change with very little the GOP can do to stop this beyond wishful thinking.

I am truly curious as to whether it will be hard for the many on the left that are attached to and/or operating within the Democratic party structure, and have lived off "reality" for so long, to ever find it possible to continue a posture of "cheer leading" for their team while ignoring the failures of some of their own candidates?

If the Democratic party does achieve a complete, or near complete, domination of national politics, what do you Democratic Bloggers view as your goals and objectives?

Like I said: I believe that most of you have more interest in truth. I even believe that the most partisan of you Democrats that I know do honestly have what you think is in the best interests of not just your party at heart but the nations' best interests as well.

My goals will always be to seek out truth. And will always include kicking any dishonest politician regardless of party affiliation. So, I can honestly say that my objectives would never change regardless of who has their hands on the levers of power. Truth and honesty, in a perfect world, would have no political bias. But this world ain't near a perfect world.

Have you considered what your goals and objectives will be, or continue to be, beyond the 2008 election cycle? I am certain that many of your allies, both within and without the Democratic party, would be interested in knowing.

Given the political tides, NOW is probably the time for you to begin contemplating and assessing your future within the blogosphere, and as an activist as well...

Hillary Humor and rumors on suspending her campaign

On the birth of a funny YouTube movie, via Real History Lisa at the BooTrib:

Well, "movie" is stretching it, in that it's about 1.5 minutes. But if you knew all that went into the making of this, movie is the correct term.

As you will recall, Omir here posted a hilarious sketch about "Mrs. C". I loved it and couldn't get it out of my head.

I talked to two people I had met in a screenwriting class, one of whom just completed his first film, and another who was dying to get a project under her belt. Between the two of them, aided by some generous donations from several people, we managed to get this video, birthed right here on Booman, up and running!

As it stands, there are rumors that Hillary Clinton may suspend her campaign:

This just in from AFP:

April 1, 2008 Washington, D. C. Senator Clinton is set to suspend her campaign tomorrow morning, according to senior campaign advisers.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, two prominent campaign officials stated today that Senator Clinton, after consultations with officials at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and other party leaders, has agreed to suspend her campaign in exchange for an agreement to seat both the Michigan and Florida delegations, whose primaries were held in violation of party rules.

Senator Clinton has made it a point to state recently her strong desire to seat these delegations, both of which awarded her the lion's share of the delegates at stake. Senator Obama's campaign has consistently maintained that it agrees with the sanctions imposed by the DNC which stripped both Michigan and Florida of their delegates. It is believed that Clinton's proposal to suspend her campaign was accepted by Senator Obama's campaign late last night, according to a sources at the DNC, who spoke on condition that their identities not be disclosed, as they were not authorized to discuss the matter on the record. No one contacted within Senator Obama's campaign would comment with regard to whether he had agreed to such a proposal from the Clinton camp. [...]

"She really had no viable option at this point in light of her funding problems," said one her chief advisers. "This allows her to preserve her viability as a candidate and to claim that she won a victory by getting the Michigan and Florida delegations seated."

Although Senator Clinton will attend no further campaign events or fundraisers, and will shut down all campaign operations, including television advertising, in the remaining primary states, she will continue to remain on the ballot in each of those states. [...]

In addition, "The suspension of her campaign is not binding on any of her supporters not officially associated with the campaign, who may continue to speak on her behalf, or carry on other activities in support of her candidacy, should they wish to do so," said another Clinton advisor.

It is also not clear at this point whether her husband, former President Bill Clinton, or her daughter, Chelsea, has agreed to withdraw from making any further public appearances on her behalf.

If true, this is quite a significant development. Obviously Clinton's funding issues were more precarious than anyone had previously reported.

Significant indeed, if it were true.

How Many Shovels Have YOU Used?

How many times have you actually picked up a shovel and buried a friend? A colleague? A comrade? A fellow soldier?

You can't buy me on the truth...

Noah Shachtman at Danger Room finds a 2006 report written for U.S. Special Operations Command that suggests ways the military should deal with the blogosphere. One suggestion is for the military to hire bloggers to “pass the U.S. message“:

Information strategists can consider clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers or other persons of prominence…to pass the U.S. message. … On the other hand, such operations can have a blowback effect, as witnessed by the public reaction following revelations that the U.S. military had paid journalists to publish stories in the Iraqi press under their own names. People do not like to be deceived, and the price of being exposed is lost credibility and trust.

An alternative strategy is to “make” a blog and blogger. The process of boosting the blog to a position of influence could take some time, however, and depending on the person running the blog, may impose a significant educational burden, in terms of cultural and linguistic training before the blog could be put online to any useful effect.

Only unvarnished facts here.

Do you even know how many American soldiers are dead because of Iraq? How many are seriously injured? How do I politely say "Fuck you!" because you very likely did not know? Hell! The majority of you don't seem to care.

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03):	4011	3274
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list)	3872	3166
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03):	3550	2966
Since Handover (6/29/04):	3152	2641
Since Election (1/31/05):	2573	2379
American Wounded	Official	Estimated
Total Wounded:	29496	23000 - 100000
Latest Fatality Mar. 31, 2008
Page last updated 03/31/08 12:07 am EDT
Iraqi Casualties
US Military Deaths by Month from Icasualties.org
Put a Casualty Counter on Your Website
Others
Other Coalition Troops	309
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan	491
American Civilian Casualties
Sources: DoD, CentCom, MNF, and iCasualties.org
Daily DoD Casualty Release
20,000 vets' brain injuries not listed
The Faces The List Sources American Casualties Iraqi Casualties Contact U.S. lacks mechanism to accurately track troops wounded in Iraq A Running Log of the Wounded UPI reports : As many as 1 of every 10 soldiers from the war on terror evacuated to the Army's biggest hospital in Europe was sent there for mental problems. Between 8 and 10 percent of nearly 12,000 soldiers from the war on terror, mostly from Iraq, treated at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany had "psychiatric or behavioral health issues," according to the commander of the hospital, Col. Rhonda Cornum. That means about 1,000 soldiers were evacuated for mental problems. The hospital has treated 11,754 soldiers from the war on terror, with 9,651 from Iraq and the rest from Afghanistan, according to data released by the hospital. Also see The Missing Wounded. American Count Dates and sources of Americans killed in Iraq since 5/1/03 are documented in this file. Admittedly the file is incomplete, for the Department of Defense does not maintain old records. All data was compiled from http://www.defenselink.mil. If something is amiss in the data collection, please contact Margaret Griffis. Iraqi Civilian Count We maintain a daily count based on news reports. It is not intended to be complete. There is no agency that keeps track of accurate numbers of Iraqis killed. JustForeignPolicy maintains a running estimate based on the Lancet study with the rate of increase derived from the Iraq Body Count. Sources and Links Web page listing names of those killed since 5/1/03 Central Command Department of Defense Cost of War BBC News Coalition Casualty Count The Washington Post JustForeignPolicy Fox News Listing by month

You know you couldn't answer these simple questions.

If you are afraid of hearing my opinion on these facts... Don't ask me to tell you the truth. Because I will. Too bad for you if you don't like the answers. Too bad for you if you can't handle the truth.

Wiffle Waffle...

Please don't let the dream end!

So when people have asked me whether I think Hillary should drop out I've said I don't think she's under any obligation to do so but that I do think, with her odds now this long, she should not be running a campaign that seems to go out of its way not simply to compete but to damage the likely nominee as a general election candidate and attempt to discredit the nomination process itself.

But when I was writing out my take on her interview over the weekend with Post, I realized that I hadn't made clear enough in what I'd written, or even really in my own head, how much the two things are really combined.

As I said in that post, I don't think Hillary's claim that she's going to stay in the race through the convention in Denver is really about Denver, or staying through August or even till June. It's about keeping her troops motivated and confident so that she can keep in the game through April and May.

And here I think we see the pattern. Hillary doesn't want to run for president in 2nd or 3rd gear. It's beneath her dignity.

But it isn't beneath her dignity to continue to run the campaign she has when she has already clearly lost? Third gear? You are talking about retro girl here. Your opinion has just hit the skids on this one, Josh.

I am starting to think I need to start a "2012" elections (more likely "2016," since it will take her that long for her to reform her character after the shit that flew back in her face) to actually bother to list posts on Hillary Clinton "elections."

The fact that you say your are thinking (or rethinking) beyond this reality says a lot. You just can't justify stupid. Wish in one hand and shit in the other... Then come back and tell me which one fills up first... 'Kay?

Fascinating? No.

Delusional? Yes.

Fascinating

From TPM Reader DS ...

Many Clinton supporters find the current attempts to muscle her out of the race despicable. Maybe now is the time for Obama to take one for the team and accept her offer of the VP slot. It is the position he is better qualified for, would end a situation that is supposedly hurting the party, and would put him in a better position to run next time. Clinton has no “next time,” so it makes more sense for Obama to be the one to step aside.

If the convention is held too late in the election cycle for the presidential nominee to campaign effectively, perhaps the date of the convention needs to be changed. The solution cannot be for viable candidates to set aside their ambitions long before a nominee has been clearly chosen.

--Josh Marshall

Nobody "muscled her out" of anything. She simply lost to someone Dem voters think will be a better candidate and shamelessly refuses to acknowledge that fact. Clinton has no "next time," but only because of the fact that she has run her campaign into the ground effectively eliminating any chance of a "this time." I think reader DS needs to take a step back from the keyboard and take a good hard look around at was has already happened.

The Democratic primary is over - it has been for a while now - and Obama won.

And, IMHO, Clinton has shown clearly through her campaign actions and statements why she should not even be offered the slot as Obama's VP. The Democratic party already had one Lieberman as a VP candidate and that was one too many.

Obama makes Texas Toast out of Clinton

Losing by enven more than before:

The conventional wisdom going in is that Barack Obama will get enough projected delegates today to more than beat Hillary's four-delegate advantage from the state primary, thus crowning him the overall winner of the "prima-caucus" system. A clearer picture should emerge tonight, and we'll be updating when that happens.

Late Update: The latest numbers, with 31% of total delegates counted by Burnt Orange Report, stand at Obama 55%, Clinton 45%.

Late Late Update: With just under 40% of the delegate numbers in, it's Obama 58% to Clinton 42%.

Clinton moves the goalposts all the way to Denver?

Sen. Clinton gave a pretty astonishing interview to the Washington Post in which she appears to say she will stay in the race till the convention in August, where she will take her fight to the credentials committee to have the delegates from the non-sanctioned Michigan and Florida primaries seated.

What about "Hell No!" does her campaign fail to understand?

John McCain: The Panamanian president Americans have been waiting for?

Everyone focuses on the message this campaign ad might say about Obama...

The voice-over then concludes, “John McCain: The American president Americans have been waiting for.”

It’s that last line that’s probably the most provocative.

Obama, of course, delivered a speech on Super Tuesday that said, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” The McCain ad, meanwhile, argued that McCain is the “American president Americans have been waiting for.”

So, why use the word “American” twice in the same sentence? Media consultants, especially when creating presidential campaign ads for the general election, don’t waste so much as a syllable. The sentence would have sounded just fine if it said, “John McCain: The president Americans have been waiting for.” But the campaign wanted to add that one extra word.

Michael Crowley noted:

That’s an awfully conspicuous formulation when your opponent has been accused of being unpatriotic and of murky foreign origin. All the more so given that it echoes Obama’s line, “we’re the ones we’ve been waiting for.” Am I reading too much into it?

I don’t think so.

Maybe... BUT they forget the fact that McCain has so many campaign flaws that need to be reformed in the eyes of the republican wing nuts. Stuff like the fact that John Sidney McCain was born in Panama and, theoretically, may not legally be eligible to become president of the USA, nor how his birth in his native homeland of Panama plays out to anti-immigrant voters:

Can Foreign Born John McCain Be President?

The fact that John McCain was born in a foreign land has even the McCain campaign scrambling for legal cover:

Mr. McCain’s likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a “natural-born citizen” can hold the nation’s highest office.

The phrase “natural born” was in early drafts of the Constitution. Scholars say notes of the Constitutional Convention give away little of the intent of the framers. Its origin may be traced to a letter from John Jay to George Washington, with Jay suggesting that to prevent foreigners from becoming commander in chief, the Constitution needed to “declare expressly” that only a natural-born citizen could be president.

Ms. Duggin and others who have explored the arcane subject in depth say legal argument and basic fairness may indeed be on the side of Mr. McCain, a longtime member of Congress from Arizona. But multiple experts and scholarly reviews say the issue has never been definitively resolved by either Congress or the Supreme Court.

Just some food for thought as conservatives seem to be on their way to nominating the first Panamanian born candidate for President of the United States of America. Not that he is likely to win, but I wonder if McCain is related to Manuel Noriega?

There is always the possibility that this message is supposed to be some kind of message to their own base as well as the possible undertones directed towards Obama in this typical GOP type campaign ad.

Get Paid To Blog on Politics?

Come on... I keep posting these positions for you Bloggers and a good part of Connecticut is well within the commuting distance to NYC:

Looking For That Special Someone

We're hiring a new reporter.

--Josh Marshall

Need more details?

Job Opening at TPM

Starting today, we're announcing a job opening for a reporter-blogger at TPMmuckraker. The new hire will be one of two full-time reporter-bloggers for the site. There is no deadline for applications. We'll be hiring as soon as we find the right person. If you're interested please send a resume, two clips and a letter describing your interest and qualifications for the job to talk (at) talkingpointsmemo.com with the subject line "TPMmuckraker Job".

This is a full-time position, with health care. The reporter-blogger will report from either New York or Washington, DC., depending on the applicant.

If you've already expressed interest in the position informally, please submit an application as described above.

To learn more about what we do at TPM and what we've accomplished in the last year, see these news reports on TPM from 2007. And thanks to our readers who make all of this possible.

For many of you that are more than qualified to do this job... What are you waiting for?

Also, TPM media is (almost) always looking for interns. Get some great experience and learn from what is a truly top-notch news organization:

TPM interns are vital to our operation and have a hand in everything we do. They work alongside our reporters to write and break stories, help our editors keep a finger on the pulse of the news day, and produce all kinds of digital media from youtube clips to mash-up photographs. Some of our interns have gone on to jobs here at TPM, others have moved on to jobs in new and old media alike, working for Think Progress, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, The New York Sun, and more. To learn more about what we do at TPM and what we've accomplished in the last year, see these news reports on TPM from 2007.

Because each intern is encouraged to work in multiple parts of our operation, it's important that applicants have a basic understanding of new media technologies (blogging, youtube, etc.) and a desire and ability to learn quickly. All internships are unpaid and based in TPM's New York City office.

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Our Spring 2008 Internship runs from mid-March to early June. We will be accepting three or four full time interns. Part-time interns may be considered.

Applications are due on February 8th.

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Our Spring 2008 Internship runs from early June to late August. We will be accepting four or five full time interns. Part-time interns will not be considered.

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Rolling Internships (Intern now!)

At any given time, it is always possible that we could use a smart person in the office to replace a lost intern or help us manage the ever-growing mountain of muck and news. If you're available to come in sooner than the beginning of the next internship cycle begins, let us know.

Think about it... A crash course in political reporting during what will be one heck of an exciting election cycle! And from one of the best political news organizations out there.

About the only disadvantage to the reporting job or the internships I can think of is that you would no longer be able to Blog naked. I am not the only one that does that, am I? :)

John McCain's MASSIVE Credibility Gap

Questions on John "The Bruce McQueen" McCain's credibility from Kevin Drum that the media really needs to address, but instead of just generalizing about the MSM... Perhaps we need to direct this to each of the slack-jawed media bobblehead stenographers individually to get their attention:

Come on Tim Russert:

• Foreign policy cred lets him get away with wild howlers on foreign policy.

How about this Brian Williams:

• Fiscal integrity cred lets him get away with outlandishly irresponsible economic plans.

And you Wolf AIPAC Blitzer:

• Anti-lobbyist cred lets him get away with pandering to lobbyists.

Just for you Britt Hume:

• Campaign finance reform cred lets him get away with gaming the campaign finance system.

For David Gregory:

• Straight talking cred lets him get away with brutally slandering Mitt Romney in the closing days of the Republican primary.

Maybe Greg Stephanopolous could cover this:

• Maverick uprightness cred allows him to get away with begging for endorsements from extremist religious leaders like John Hagee.

And for Chris Matthews:

• "Man of conviction" cred allows him to get away with transparent flip-flopping so egregious it would make any other politician a laughingstock.

How about this topic Joe Scarborough:

• Anti-torture cred allows him to get away with supporting torture as long as only the CIA does it.

Everyone wants to know:

Remind me again: where does all this cred come from? And what window do Democrats go to to get the same treatment the press gives McCain?

So....

Do any of you media types have what
it takes to present a truly unbiased look at
John McCain's MASSIVE credibility gap
on almost every single topic he pushes
into your media talking points?

If any of these issues came up for a candidate on the Dem side it would be on an endless media loop and the lead story on every political wonks show...