While I am very interested in the question of "Who paid Bart Stupak's rent? " I would also like to know who was paying the rent of his roommates. Some of those roommates were . . .
Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Senator John Ensign (R-NV)
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Rep Zach Wamp (R-TN)
Rep Mike Doyle (D-PA)
Who wants to bet Fox asks Doyle about this but not DeMint, who is the front man for their Tea Party astroturfed Corporatist movement.
But that is not the BIG QUESTION I want to ask Stupak and his Christian Mafia cult members. No, my question to them is . . .
"Should we kill our gays now, or wait until later?"
This will be, in the proper blogotoobz vernacular, a short diary.
Simply put, I DEMAND media coverage of America's wars NOW!
If these wars are NOT worth media coverage, they are not worth fighting. If the threat America faces from it's enemies is so great that it is absolutely necessary that we go to war, than it is absolutely necessary that the "free" press gives it ample coverage.
Since the Presidential Primaries back in the Spring of 2008 coverage of America's wars have almost entirely disappeared from the traditional media. With the exception of a few intrepid journalists the traditional media has given us NOTHING as far as details of what is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan except for the times when Dick Cheney emerges from his crypt, when President Obama sent more troops to Afghanistan, when an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at George Bush's idiot of a son and when Rudy "9/11,9/11,9/11" shows up to collect his royalty fee.
In short, I want DETAILS, and if you're not in the mood you better GET IN THE MOOD, Mister.
At least half a dozen leaders of the Republican Party have joined forces to create a new political group with the goal of organizing grass-roots support and raising funds ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to people familiar with the effort.
The organizational details of the group, expected to be called the American Action Network, are still being worked out, but it is expected to contain both a 501(c)3 and a 501(c)4 component. In simpler terms, a 501(c)3 can advocate on policy matters while a 501(c)4 is an election arm.
Republican leaders expected to be affiliated with the group include former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former Bush adviser Karl Rove, Republican strategist Ed Gillespie, and Republican donor Fred Malek.
As reluctant as I am to whore myself for donations, I am, literally, hungry. I just ate the last can of tuna and there is a bag of brown sugar, one cup of instant coffee and a box of Penne that will have to last me the next week. It is either going to be a big, sweet, crunchy cup of coffee or the worst pasta dish ever known to mankind.
Therefore, I hope to strike up a deal with the readers and dear friends of mine online.
I will do a political trash job on the politician of your choice as payment for a small donation towards my future breakfast, lunches and dinners. Pictures of ponies and pooties will be accepted in lieu of donations, but I kindly ask that said pooties/ponies are pics of a tasteful nature, just in case any children happen to find themselves on this website.
Can anybody explain why Bush/Cheney Accountability is NOT happening?
Jeremy Scahill blows the lid off "Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan" in an article just published in The Nation. This story brings together an amazing array of bad actors: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Stanley McChrystal and Blackwater. It should come as no surprise, then, that the outcome of this team working together is a jaw-dropping tale of war crimes that continue to be carried out.
Reading a story like this breaks my heart and makes me mad as hell.
A group called the Chicago Tea Party Patriots publicly heckled a grieving family and suggested that the couple fabricated their tragic story.
~snip~
Midge Hough was heckled by anti-reform crowd members. "You can laugh at me, that's okay," she said, crying. "But I lost two people, and I know you think that's funny, that's okay."
BECK: Last week, I head you say that - you were on with Dennis Miller. ... You two were talking about an insurrection coming.
O'REILLY: Tax revolt.
BECK: He used the word insurrection. And not in a comedic way.
O'REILLY: Yeah, tax revolt. I think people, when they figure out how badly they're going to get hurt in the next few years, there's going to be a tea party on taxes and its gonna get nasty. Nancy Pelosi's going to be bobbing up and down in the Boston Harbor.
This statement appeared to be too much for Beck even, who replied, "Uh, I don't think that's necessary."
World leaders representing nearly two-thirds of world economic output massively watered-down their public commitment to lowering greenhouse gasses last night, in what may be a grim portent for next month's climate change talks in Copenhagen.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, this on should suffice in explaining the urgency of our species phlight to act NOW, not later, and not pragmatically.
It is both ironic and sad that as climate change reform is watered down, the sea levels will rise even more.
Very rarely does Rachel Maddow lose her temper. Rather, she usually engages even the worst issues with a snarky, cheerful grin, but if you see the look on her face at the end of this segment you will see the burning rage that I have a LOT of trouble surpressing, especially on topics such as these.
Behold the TOTAL DESTRUCTION of America's Pro-SLAVERY capitalist status quo, courtesy of the wit and brilliance of Rachel Maddow.
Dearest Dharma Bums, I apologize for not being myself lately.
I have gotten far too optimistic despite reality. That reality is not kind, nor is it full of much hope, rather it is very cruel and very full of shit.
As many of you have probably read already I posted a diary here this morning that probably left you shaking your heads. I was on my way out to job hunt this morning, and I was trying to give myself a pep talk. Since I wanted to publish a diary before leaving I let that pep talk bleed into my thoughts, but that is a reality that exists in the bright sun of a new day only, and once the wind has hit your face and the ground starts to hurt your feet it is hard to ignore the hunger in your belly that has not been sated, nor is it possible to stay blind with hope forever.
Therefore, I hereby swear to STOP putting a happy face on BULLSHIT. I have been misusing the Yell Louder mantra, and I promise to STOP the BULLSHIT and only Yell Louder for REAL CHANGE.
And what we are getting from these corrupt Democan't is faaaaar from real change.
Until now I didn't want to give up on hope. But I have finally realize that hope is for fools if it is not followed by ACTION. Without ACTION hope is just an empty promise, and I will NOT play the pied piper to fools who would happily swallow empty promises, nor will I call a Shit Sandwich a meal rather than starve.
So, I first wanted to apologize to you all here, whom I love dearly, for enduring my bullshit these past few weeks. I have had problems with depression in the past, and I have taught myself to fight through it by remaining positive even when tere is no reason for doing so. I am now learning that this is not the right way to treat the problem. Putting a smiley face on my great depression and our national great depression for everyone but the top 1% isn't helping me, you or anyone else. For that, I apologize. I have been trying to keep myself out of a depressive cycle by putting on my positive face, but I have had ENOUGH of it, and I am ready to do what I think I do best.
And that is to get MAD!
And boy am I pissed right now.
I am on the verge of homelessness, I can't find a job to save my ass, and even if I do I will still be a fucking wage slave, forever doomed, it seems, to live beneath the Iron Heel of the Corporations and their Corporatist puppets in political power.
There is no happpy spin I can put on this any longer, no positive side to look at it from. I am tired of watching my fellow Americans, be they workers or women, LGBT activists or retirees suffer so that Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Goldman Sachs may live, and I am tired of trying to find the positive side to the shit sandwich we are being served rather than facing the starvation that awaits us if we follow this path, because even though Shit may be filling, it has no nutrition, and neither does this change or reform if that is what some would like to call it.
So, I am fucking DONE with More and Better, I say it is time for Opertaion Chaos. Though I may get involved in certain elections and races, I am no longer buying an inch of the party line bullshit. I will vote my conscious, speak my principles, and compromise with NO ONE anymore while fighting for my beliefs.
I want to thank you for having patience with me, and especially to those who were kind enough to hear me out and remind me where my heart truly lies.
Becuase my heart lies with no party, but with the people it is supposed to represent.
Yesterday, South Carolina Congressman Joe "YOU LIE" Wilson gave a speech condemning Health Care Reform as a "Greater Control" on American lives. The video can be seen here, but the main event is below the fold.
Fear mongering over health care reform is nothing new for Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC02), but the speech he gave on the House floor a few days ago that was mocked by Jon Stewart should stand in the Wingnut Hall of Fame of insane, disconnected rants that have nothing at all to do with the reality of the issues being discussed.
Senate negotiators have decided not to include a provision revoking the insurance industry's anti-trust exemption in the bill leadership sends to the floor, said a Democratic aide close to the merger talks. Instead, the measure will be offered as an amendment on the Senate floor.
The House bill will have language ending the Insurance cartels anti-trust exemption. Why won't the Senate bill have similar language in it before it is brought to the floor for debate?
I felt a correction was in order after the diary I wrote yesterday. Upon deeper introspection I have come to the conclusion that no matter how bad Obama might phuck up he couldn't possibly be worse at Presidenting than the last a$$clown who tried.
And upon being reminded what a phuck up the last guy was, I would like to invite you all to please join me in remembering the EPIC and Ongoing FAIL that was the George W. Bush legacy.
Former President George W. Bush told more than 11,000 people at the Fort Worth Convention Center that he was confident he made the right decisions as president, even if it hurt his popularity.
"Every single day I was honored to be your president by bringing honor and dignity to the office," Bush said Monday afternoon, during his first foray into motivational speaking, at the day-long "Get Motivated" seminar.
For those who will automatically balk at the Obama = Bush charge, I submit to you the fact that by Geneva Law, if Bush/Cheney is not held accountable for the War Crimes they have committed, than the Obama Administration is complicit in those crimes and guilty of covering them up.
The Obama administration has clung for so long to the Bush administration's expansive claims of national security and executive power that it is in danger of turning President George W. Bush's cover-up of abuses committed in the name of fighting terrorism into President Barack Obama's cover-up.
Today on ABC's Top Line, co-host David Chalian asked Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) if he would "opt-out" of the public option for his state if the measure passed. Pawlenty dodged: "Well, I don't know if we would opt out but I personally would like to opt out because I don't like government run health care." But Chalian persisted, and ultimately, Pawlenty said that he would oppose the public option for Minnesota:
CHALIAN: But you would lead a charge in your state to opt out if that was an option available?
PAWLENTY: I think so because I don't like government run health care.
It IS torture, hell I can't stand more than 20 seconds of it.
Of course, forcing people to listen to loud music for days on end is NOT the worst War Crime committed by Bush/Cheney, but it IS a War Crime nontheless by Geneva Standards.
Well, it looks like Rage Against The Machine, Pearl Jam and many other musicians are DEMANDING accountability on torture, as far as their artistic contribution to it is concerned.
Some of the more famous names in the music industry are formally lending their prestige to an effort being led by retired generals, progressive groups and a former member of Congress to shut GITMO down. The list includes Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne, Rise Against, Rosanne Cash, Billy Bragg and the Roots, all of whom are joining the broader National Campaign to Close Guantanamo which was launched earlier in the week.
Hoping to cast further light on the potential illegalities that took place at the detention facility, the group is also working to obtain records about why and how music was used (under laws authorized by the Bush administration) to effectively torture suspected terrorists. The musicians have officially endorsed a Freedom of Information Act request for the declassification of all secret government records pertaining to music utilized during interrogations. At least two members of the coalition, Reznor and Morello, have had their music linked to interrogations.
"Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured -- from water boarding, to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts -- playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums," said Morello, in a statement provided by the NCCG. "Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me -- we need to end torture and close Guantanamo now."
While former U.S. president George W. Bush talked about democracy inside a downtown Edmonton conference centre on Tuesday, hundreds of protesters were outside exercising their right to free speech with signs, songs and screams.
"Stop the killing, stop the war," the protesters chanted to the beat of a drum. They held signs that said "Bush is a war criminal;" "Bush lied, 1,000s died;" and "Canada is not Bush Country."
Several dozen police officers kept protesters away from the front of the Shaw Conference Centre and as the crowd grew, metal barricades went up between the police and the crowd.
Marilyn Gaa, who holds both American and Canadian citizenship, held a three-metre-tall black-clad Grim Reaper with a sign on his back that said: "GWB I am your biggest fan" and on the front, "Thanks for 8 great years."
I submit this for the approval and enjoyment of my fellow Dharma Bums as a challenge, not just to Kos, but to each and every Progressive in our nation. It is time to stop bitching about Harry Reid. It is time to do something about him politically.
So what are you gonna do?
With Love,
MoT
By At All Costs I mean POLITICALLY of course.
Not just Kos, we need everyone''s help, but I address this directly to Kos, among others whose aid we will need to pull this off.
Republican filibuster? Democrats have 60 voters. There is no Republican filibuster, just a Democratic one. The problem is Reid's inability to keep his caucus together. His office can't even be honest about Reid's leadership failures.Fucking liars.
I'll take a Chuck Schumer-run Senate with 57 Democrats (bye bye Reid, Lieberman, and Lincoln) than a Harry Reid-run one with 75 Democrats.
The Military Industrial Complex meets the Terroism Industrial Complex.
In his widely reported London speech earlier this month, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, described how people constantly offer him ideas for fixing that country's problems. One of the more unusual recommendations, he suggested, came from a paper that advocated using a "plan called 'Chaosistan.' " McChrystal said it advised letting Afghanistan become a "Somalia-like haven of chaos that we simply manage from outside," but there was no further explanation of its origins.
March on Washington
