In Case You're Still Wondering

ABC News: Panel: Global Warming a Threat to Earth

The latest scientific information to escape governmental and corporate censorship paints a dire picture of what's already happening to the planet's ecology due to global warming caused by human generated pollution and greenhouse gases. The scientists wanted the wording to be even more serious than it was forced to be by the primary polluters and profiteers, so we are left to imagine the ultimate degree to which we've already messed things up and how much damage we will do all too soon.

I live in rural upstate New York. At the ever increasing rate the human race is speeding toward ecological catastrophe, I wonder if I'll live to see tropical species and storms without ever having to move south for retirement.

WTF!?

ABC News: Setting Sights on the White House, Michelle Obama Puts Career on Hold:

But the attention quickly turned to the 5-foot-11-inch beauty strolling into the room with the body of a basketball player and the poise of a ballet dancer.

Wearing all black and a single strand of over-size pearls, Michelle Obama took the microphone, marking her first trip to New Hampshire, home to the nation's first presidential primary.

Hey, ABC, is this any way to speak about the wife of the possibly next President of the United States? Who edits this stuff, anyway?

Romney Lacks, Umh, Credibility

ABC News: Romney Calls Himself a Longtime Hunter

The Republican presidential contender has told audiences on several occasions, most recently this week in gun-savvy and early voting New Hampshire, that he has been a longtime hunter. But it turns out he has been on only two hunting trips.

Critics said it was the latest example of a White House aspirant willing to say anything to reach the Oval Office.

Well, now, maybe that's a bit extreme?

"I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life," he told a man sporting a National Rifle Association cap.

Yet the former Massachusetts governor's hunting experience came during two trips at the bookends of his 60 years: as a 15-year-old, when he hunted rabbits with his cousins on a ranch in Idaho, and last year, when he shot quail on a fenced game preserve in Georgia.

Okay, maybe not.

I can't say I liked Romney, even before he started his run for the Oval Office. He seemed pretty shifty as the Governor of Massachusetts, an aberration that I can only attribute to voter hysteria or maybe Diebold (what kind of voting machines do they use in MA anyway?). Oh, well. I guess it was about time for the Repugs to have their own Joe Biden. See ya', Mitt!

Meanwhile, Consorting With Terrorists...

Karzai admits meetings with Taliban - Focus on Afghanistan - MSNBC.com

...or trying diplomacy, take your pick, our appointed freely elected Afghani President is making deals chatting with the enemy his neighbors.

Doesn't The Dick Read The News?

WP: Saddam's ties to al-Qaida discounted - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com:

'Overall, the reporting provides no conclusive signs of cooperation on specific terrorist operations,' that CIA report said, adding that discussions on the issue were 'necessarily speculative.'

The CIA had separately concluded that reports of Iraqi training on weapons of mass destruction were 'episodic, sketchy, or not corroborated in other channels,' the inspector general's report said. It quoted an August 2002 CIA report describing the relationship as more closely resembling 'two organizations trying to feel out or exploit each other' rather than cooperating operationally.

The CIA was not alone, the defense report emphasized. The Defense Intelligence Agency had concluded that year that 'available reporting is not firm enough to demonstrate an ongoing relationship' between the Iraqi regime and al-Qaeda, it said.

But the contrary conclusions reached by Feith's office -- and leaked to the conservative Weekly Standard magazine before the war -- were publicly praised by Cheney as the best source of information on the topic, a circumstance the Pentagon report cites in documenting the impact of what it described as 'inappropriate' work.

Like I said....

Cheney Is Still Delusional

Cheney reasserts al-Qaida-Saddam link - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com:
"WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney repeated his assertions of al-Qaida links to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq on Thursday as the Defense Department released a report citing more evidence that the prewar government did not cooperate with the terrorist group."

Denial is not just a river in Africa. Somebody, please, tell this Dick he's hallucinating again.

Latest Bush Appointment Even Worse Than Expected

No Recess From Bad Appointments - New York Times

It's been BushCo's SOP to put the most contrarian or least effective cronies into key positions throughout the federal government, but these seem even more pointed toward rubbing sand in Congress' collective eyes. I hope the Dems cry foul and re-call these appointments to the traditional approval process, and over-rule the pResident.

Can we put impeachment back on the table now? Please?!

In a Break From the Past, Florida Will Let Felons Vote - New York Times

In a Break From the Past, Florida Will Let Felons Vote - New York Times

Progress, for a change. Not perfection, just progress.

Rachel Maddow Throws Down On Orrin Hatch

Crooks and Liars » Rachel Maddow’s Open Letter To Orrin Hatch

I just love her! Here, she's asking Orrin Hatch WTF he thinks he's doing spreading total BS about Carol Lam, one of the attorneys purged from the Justice Department by Bush's cronies. It's a slam!

Go, Obama, Go!

My Way News - Obama Slowly Plans Health Care Proposal

"The status quo is unsustainable," Obama said. "Standing pat is not an option."

[...]

"We shouldn't just put more money into a system that isn't efficient," he said.

I just love it when he talks the talk. And I hope and believe he'll walk the walk.

U.S. Is Supporting Terrorism In Iran

The Blotter:

Pakistani government sources say the secret campaign against Iran by Jundullah was on the agenda when Vice President Dick Cheney met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in February.

A senior U.S. government official said groups such as Jundullah have been helpful in tracking al Qaeda figures and that it was appropriate for the U.S. to deal with such groups in that context.

Some former CIA officers say the arrangement is reminiscent of how the U.S. government used proxy armies, funded by other countries including Saudi Arabia, to destabilize the government of Nicaragua in the 1980s.

I guess it's gotten to the point where whatever the administration accuses other nations of doing is what we are doing to them.

You Don't Have To Remember If You Don't Lie

Gonzales Prepares to Fight for His Job in Testimony - washingtonpost.com:
"Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has retreated from public view this week in an intensive effort to save his job, spending hours practicing testimony and phoning lawmakers for support in preparation for pivotal appearances in the Senate this month, according to administration officials."Now, old Alberto here has a lot of remembering to do, and a lot of rehearsing, if he's going to pull off any more whoppers with Congress. I like the fact that Congress thought to ask Justice to put up a "firewall" between Gonzales and his aides so they don't have a chance to get their stories straight (though with this group, I wouldn't be surprised if later on we find out they conspired collaborated anyway).

And You Thought Only The Private Sector Screwed With Pensions

N.J. Pension Fund Endangered by Diverted Billions - New York Times:

The New Jersey Education Association has sued the state for failing to put enough money into the teachers’ pension fund. The lawsuit does not describe all the accounting maneuvers, but a State Superior Court judge has held that the case, now scheduled for trial in May, can proceed.
State law requires New Jersey’s seven pension plans, large and small, for various types of public employees, to be funded according to actuarial standards. Over the last decade, though, the Legislature has passed, and various governors have signed, a series of amendments to statutes that allow smaller contributions or none. These were justified by various maneuvers and approved with little scrutiny. In interviews, officials of the Treasury said the changes were made at the behest of the Legislature, while legislators faulted the Treasury.

This really sucks! As a state employed worker (not for New Jersey, thank you!), this is more than worrisome. I've been saying for a while that the trend by large corporations to take away or totally screw up pensions to the point they can't pay them was worse than most people thought. It sets a terrible precedent. It should never have been allowed to get this far, not in the private sector, and not in the public sector.

Guilty Conscience?

French genocide bill prompts Turkey to suspend pipeline talks - International Herald Tribune

Man! These guys are touch-eeee! Why can't they just cop to it and move on? Are they afraid they'll have to give something back to the Armenians? Or are they worried about setting a precedent when the Kurds are looking for independence? Hmmmmm. Kurdistan, if it is formed, might want to include southern Turkey as well as northern Iraq. Lots of oil there. That's a formula for trouble.

Guilty Conscience?

French genocide bill prompts Turkey to suspend pipeline talks - International Herald Tribune

Man! These guys are touch-eeee! Why can't they just cop to it and move on? Are they afraid they'll have to give something back to the Armenians? Or are they worried about setting a precedent when the Kurds are looking for independence? Hmmmmm. Kurdistan, if it is formed, might want to include southern Turkey as well as northern Iraq. Lots of oil there. That's a formula for trouble.

Bush Disses Dems, Smirks, Farts

ABC News: Bush Bypasses Dems to Name Ambassador

And then he said, "Pull my finger, heh-heh."

What a dick-wad!

This Is Just Stupid

Shackles on the AIDS Program - New York Times:

Programs to prevent the spread of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, are perhaps the most important tool in that long-term fight. Yet Congress specified that only 20 percent of the money could be spent on prevention, and one-third of that had to be used to promote abstinence until marriage. More money has been spent in that area than on other prevention activities, including distribution of condoms and blocking mother-to-child transmission.

Another restriction that existed even before the creation of Pepfar forbids the use of taxpayer money to give clean needles to injecting addicts, while a third requires that all antiretroviral medications be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, even those already approved by the World Health Organization.

Ten guesses which side of the aisle these hairbrained restrictions came from, and your first two don't count.

Nancy Does It Better

Syria, Israel may resume peace talks - Los Angeles Times

She got results. BushCo never does.

One Crisis Is Over

My Way News - Iran Frees Detained British Sailors:
"TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran on Wednesday freed the 15 detained British sailors and marines in what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called an Easter gift to the British people. Prime Minister Tony Blair said he bore 'no ill will' toward the Iranian people."

Maybe they heard us in Washington and London for a change, or maybe it was all just for show in the first place. Either way, I'm glad this one has passed.

Obama Did Even Better Than Reported Earlier

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker:
"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, raised 'at least $25 million' for his presidential bid in the first three months of 2007, his campaign announced Wednesday morning."

Lou Dobbs Is A Smart Man

Dobbs: We're on a 'fast track' to bad trade policy - CNN.com

And I agree with him on this 100%.

We've got to get the lobbyists out of the bedrooms and meeting rooms of Congress and the President. As far as I can tell, the best candidates to get this done are Obama and Edwards. I just can't trust Hillary to tell the lobbyists to go to hell. I barely trust the others to do so, but I think at least they will try.

Lou Dobbs Is A Smart Man

Dobbs: We're on a 'fast track' to bad trade policy - CNN.com

And I agree with him on this 100%.

We've got to get the lobbyists out of the bedrooms and meeting rooms of Congress and the President. As far as I can tell, the best candidates to get this done are Obama and Edwards. I just can't trust Hillary to tell the lobbyists to go to hell. I barely trust the others to do so, but I think at least they will try.

Lou Dobbs Is A Smart Man

Dobbs: We're on a 'fast track' to bad trade policy - CNN.com

And I agree with him on this 100%.

We've got to get the lobbyists out of the bedrooms and meeting rooms of Congress and the President. As far as I can tell, the best candidates to get this done are Obama and Edwards. I just can't trust Hillary to tell the lobbyists to go to hell. I barely trust the others to do so, but I think at least they will try.

More Proof They Knew They Were Lying When They Lied

WP: How phony letter drove Iraq war - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com:

Like most Europeans, Elisabetta Burba, an investigative reporter for the Italian newsweekly Panorama, waited until the next day to read the newspaper accounts of Bush's remarks. But when she came to the 16 words, she recalled, she got a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach. She wondered: How could the American president have mentioned a uranium sale from Africa?

Burba felt uneasy because more than three months earlier, she had turned over to the U.S. Embassy in Rome documents about an alleged uranium sale by the central African nation of Niger. And she knew now that the documents were fraudulent and the 16 words wrong.

Impeach the bastards, now! What are we waiting for?

Another Crony To Put On The Chopping Block

My Way News - Lawmakers Demand Bush Fire NASA's Cobb

Way To Go, Harry!

My Way News - Reid May Move to Cut Iraq War Funds:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday he wants to cut off money for the Iraq war next year, making clear for the first time that Democrats are willing to pull out all the stops to end U.S. involvement.

Reid's new strategy faces an uphill battle because many of his colleagues see yanking funds as a dangerous last resort. The proposal increases the stakes on the debate and marks a new era for the Democratic leadership once reluctant to talk about Congress' power of the purse.

'In the face of the administration's stubborn unwillingness to change course, the Senate has no choice but to force a change of course,' said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who signed on Monday as a co-sponsor of Reid's proposal with Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

Now, back that up with some results. You know we want our troops back home. You know this "war" is just a land-grab for oil. You know our troops deserve better. So get it done.

Almost A Million Disenfranchised

Florida Governor Is Hoping to Restore Felon Voting Rights - New York Times:

MIAMI, April 2 — Hinting that a remarkable turnaround in state policy was near, Gov. Charlie Crist said Monday that he hoped to persuade members of the Florida cabinet this week to end the practice of stripping convicted felons of their right to vote.

Florida is the most populous of three states whose constitutions require withdrawal of voting rights from all convicted felons, and it has the nation’s largest number of disenfranchised former offenders. The other two states are Kentucky and Virginia.

Felons in Florida who have served their prison and probation time can apply to have their voting rights reinstated, but the process can be time consuming and complex. Only a few hundred have their rights restored each year in Florida, where the American Civil Liberties Union says 950,000 remain disenfranchised.

And that's only counting the felons, let alone those who ended up on the caging lists erroneously-on-purpose or who were intimidated into not voting or whose provisional vote wasn't counted, or....

I hope the new governor is successful. This is an outrage, and the practice (of revoking voting rights of citizens) should be banned at the federal level, at least when it comes to national elections.

More compliance oversight and rights enforcement needs to be done in all of the states to recover public confidence in the voting process, no matter what kind of machines or ballots are used.

You Make The Call

Shiite Cleric Opposes U.S. Plan to Permit Former Baath Party Members to Join Government - New York Times:

Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican and candidate for president who advocates a troop increase in Iraq, said in an upbeat news conference here on Sunday that the Iraqis had demonstrated political progress by committing to revising the de-Baathification law.

But an aide to Ayatollah Sistani said Monday that there was a “general feeling of rejection” over the proposal.

So, which one is lying? You make the call!

Obama, Edwards Well In The Running

Obama Built Donor Network From Roots Up - New York Times

Edwards came in third, apparently, with $14M, Obama got $20M, and Clinton $26M. These are round numbers, each setting records of one kind or another for the candidates, and each showing that these three have a lot of support. Out of these, I have the biggest problem with Clinton, who has a closer affiliation with the big-money, big-business lobbies than the other two, who are more populist/grassroots supported. I'd love to see Obama and Edwards running in '08, with either one as prez and veep. If I have to, I'll vote for Clinton. It would be easier if one of the other two was her running mate.

Of course, there's no way I'd vote Republican after the last six years. No, make that after the last 40 years.

And Some Good News, For A Change

ABC News: Supreme Court Rejects Bush in Global Warming Debate:

Under the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, has argued that carbon dioxide and the like aren't pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and therefore, the agency has no power to regulate them.

In a sweeping 5-4 decision released Monday, the Supreme Court rejected that position, declaring that the Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from cars.

Nice to know the Supreme Court can still agree on world safety and environmental health over corporate greed, even if by the narrowest of margins.

Just as obviously, the EPA hasn't been doing its job. It's a wonder it still exists, though under BuchCo it may as well be extinct.

It's About Time!

WP: Dems to widen conflict with Bush - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

And in response to some of the nay-sayers quoted in the article (i.e., Tom Cole and Leon Panetta), let me remind them that the Democrats won because they have the majority. Their constituents want them to fight back against this administration, and to stop BushCo from doing any more harm to this once-respected nation. The Dems should be doing more, not less, to weed out the corruption and incompetence of this administration. Impeachment should be on the table and the wheels of real justice should be turning. We need this. We want this. We will have this!

Breeding More Capable Terrorists In Iraq

Qaeda Is Seen as Restoring Leadership - New York Times:

Experts say they still see Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as largely independent of Al Qaeda’s hub in Pakistan but that they believe the fighting in Iraq will produce future Qaeda leaders.

“The jihadis returning from Iraq are far more capable than the mujahedeen who fought the Soviets ever were,” said Robert Richer, who was associate director of operations in 2004 and 2005 for the C.I.A. “They have been fighting the best military in the world, with the best technology and tactics.”

This is just what many of us were saying before and during the invasion and occupation of Iraq. And what will happen when we are no longer "fighting them over there," as is inevitable, whether we leave today or ten years from now? Doesn't it seem reasonable that we should get out now before breeding even more of the worst terrorists ever?

Getting out of Iraq now = fewer U.S. soldiers killed + fewer al Qaeda terrorists trained in fighting U.S. soldiers.

Staying in Iraq = more dead + more terrorists.

Do the math!