San Francisco to Vote on Whether to Rename it's Sewage Treatmant Plant After George W Bush
“On matters ranging from foreign relations to fiscal and environmental stewardship, no other president in American history has accomplished so much in such a short time,” says the group on its website. “We believe this is an appropriate honour for a truly unique president. If you think so too, join this grassroots movement to rename this important and iconic landmark in his honour.”
The official renaming ceremony — the sewage facility is currently named the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant — would take place in January, when the next President is sworn in. Part of it would include a “synchronised flush”, described as a way to send a gift to the renamed plant.
Five Myths About the New Wiretapping Law
WHY IT'S A LOT WORSE THAN YOU THINK.
Sometime today, the Senate is likely to approve the most comprehensive overhaul of American surveillance law since the Watergate era. Unless you're a government lawyer, a legal scholar, a masochist, or an insomniac, chances are you haven't read the 114-page bill. Don't beat yourself up: Neither have most of the 293 House members who voted for it last week. Ditto the mainstream press, who seem to have relied chiefly
Many states turning to paper ballots for fall
Florida's election fiasco in 2000 prompted many states to adopt electronic touch-screen voting systems, but after a spate of malfunctions and meltdowns in 2004 and 2006, paper ballots are making a big comeback.
At least 55 percent of American voters this fall will mark their choice for president on paper ballots that will then be read and tabulated by optical scanning devices - nearly double the percentage in 2000,
Novak: General Powell Will Endorse Obama
What is an "Obamacon?" The phrase surfaced in January to describe British conservatives entranced by Barack Obama. On March 13 the American Spectator broadened the term to cover all "conservative supporters" of the Democratic presidential candidate. Their ranks, though growing, feature few famous people. But looming on the horizon are two big potential Obamacons: Colin Powell and Chuck Hagel.
Neither Powell, first-term secretary of state for George W. Bush, nor Hagel, retiring after two terms as a U.S. senator from Nebraska, has endorsed Obama. Hagel probably never will. Powell probably will enter Obama's camp at a time of his own choosing. The best bet is that neither of the two, both of whom supported President Bush in 2000 and 2004, will back John McCain in 2008.
White House won't admit that Bush met with military
propoganda analysts
At Wednesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Dana Perino claimed that she doesn’t know whether President Bush ever met with TV military analysts who participated in the Pentagon’s secret propaganda program that was suspended earlier this year after its existence was revealed in a NY Times story by David Barstow.
McCain, Gay Republican Group Hold Secret Meeting
The head of the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay Republican group, has confirmed to the GayPatriot that he held a private, and secret, meeting with John McCain:
GayPatriot has exclusively learned that presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Senator John McCain held a personal meeting with the head of the national gay Republicans organization, the Log Cabin Republicans. Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon confirmed his meeting with Senator McCain earlier today.
Can the Obama Campaign Shape the Agenda?
Although Obama seems to be "up" in current national polls, McCain is actually doing a much better job of shaping the agenda to his advantage. He has used strong symbols (it does not matter if they are "gimmicks") to portray himself as activist on gas prices and the environment and put apparent distance between himself and Bush. And he has managed to paint Obama as an ordinary schemer on campaign finance. Abetted by the media's proclivity for dramatic gestures and horse race analysis, the McCain camp has done what it needs to portray their man as a fighting underdog focused on real-world issues. Meanwhile, Obama's "economic tour" has gone little noticed -- and his campaign seems not to understand how very difficult it will be to get the media to convey the economic stakes in this election to ordinary voters.
Plouffe: Obama "Enormously Competitive"
In Over A Dozen Battleground States
David Plouffe is a tough interview to get. When the Wall Street Journal ran a profile of Barack Obama's campaign manager last week, they relied on the Illinois Senator's description of the man in lieu of having direct access to the low-profile strategist.
But journalists in Washington, D.C. got a chance to take a crack at Plouffe Wednesday during a briefing he delivered at the DNC on the state of the general election race.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Won't Support FISA Compromise, At Odds With Obama
"I am not going to vote for the FISA bill," said the Nevada Democrat. "There are people, Mr. President, who have worked on this FISA matter for three months or more and again the administration worked with them. Did they, on the FISA bill, move enough to make me vote for the bill? The answer is no."
Reid's position seems, at this point, unlikely to change the contours of the debate. This past week, Democratic negotiators in the House and Senate came to an agreement to pass a sweeping overhaul of the nation's electronic surveillance laws, in the process granting conditional immunity for telecommunications companies who participated in the previously illegal program.
Dems who flipped on FISA immunity see more telecom cash
House Democrats who flipped their votes to support retroactive immunity for telecom companies in last week’s FISA bill took thousands of dollars more from phone companies than Democrats who consistently voted against legislation with an immunity provision, according to an analysis by MAPLight.org.
In March, the House passed an amendment that rejected retroactive immunity. But last week, 94 Democrats who supported the March amendment voted to support the compromise FISA legislation, which includes a provision that could let telecom companies that cooperated with the government’s warrantless electronic surveillance off the hook.
22 year old Miami "Dude" Company AEY And Albanian Supplier Were On State Department Watchlist Before $300 Million contract
Arms dealer AEY Inc. and its 22-year-old president have been on the U.S. State Department's Arms Trafficking Watchlist for years. But that didn't keep them from landing a nearly $300 million Pentagon contract providing ammo to the Afghan Army.
AEY is getting a lot of scrutiny since its 22-year-old president and three others from the firm were indicted last week and accused of providing useless and illegal Chinese-made ammunition under a U.S. government contract.
80% of So-Called Liberal Applicants were "Deselected" by DOJ Using Liberal Buzz Words
The DOJ IG report released this morning, besides providing some memorable quotes on woodland creatures, also gave some valuable statistics on the biased hiring practices of Honor Program attorneys.
The nomination process for attorneys had two stages. First, individual offices in DOJ reviewed applications and selected certain ones for interviews. Then, a Screening Committee selected by the deputy attorney general reviewed the selections and made nominations for final interviews. This was a change made in 2002 when the "involvement of political appointees at the Department in the hiring process was greatly expanded."
The OIG broke down nominees into those that they classified as "Liberal," "Conservative" and "Neutral."........
The Internet Is 'The Only Reason' Obama Not Taking Public Financing, Says John Edwards
John Edwards made a surprise appearance at a politics and technology conference here Monday, when he crashed his wife's video chat with an audience of hundreds of policy wonks and internet political operatives.
Elizabeth Edwards was being interviewed over Skype from the couple's home in North Carolina when the former Democratic presidential candidate could be seen walking in with his children, apparently surprised to find wife perched on the edge of her couch answering questions about the role of the internet in the 2008 presidential campaign. She was being interviewed by New York City entrepreneur Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum.
McCain's Only Victory Path: The Low Road?
The New Republic: His Only Chance To Win Is If 527 Groups Succeed In Activating Unconscious Racial Sentiments. Seldom has a presidential candidate faced such long odds. John McCain has repeatedly allied himself with the most unpopular president since the history of modern polling. He has embraced the most unpopular war since Vietnam. The U.S. economy continues its downward slide. Polls show generic Democratic candidates leading by double digits at all levels of government.
And those are just the beginning of McCain's problems. He is caught between a rock and a hard place in the core narrative about what he stands for. Moderates are turned off every time he takes a right turn to bow to a base whose ideology has proven destructive, while the GOP base is distinctly unenthusiastic about a candidate they suspect is really not one of them.
Feingold: 'Farce' wiretap deal could be hiding 'impeachable offense'
The battle to protect Americans from warrantless wiretaps and hold telecommunications companies accountable is all but lost, Sen. Russ Feingold, a leading critic of President Bush’s likely illegal surveillance programs, said Monday.
The “farce” of a surveillance law deal heralded by House Democratic leaders last week could permanently hide evidence of an “impeachable offense” on the part of President Bush, the Wisconsin Democrat said.
Surveillance Showdown Promised, Dodd and Fiengold to
Fillibuster FISA Overhaul
Liberal members of the Senate are gearing up to try to block a rewrite of the nation’s electronic surveillance laws from clearing this week, but it appears likely they will lose. The Senate is on course for at least one and perhaps two key votes over the next few days that will help determine whether President Bush will get a bill he would sign. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., filed cloture Monday on a motion to proceed to the legislation (HR 6304), setting up a vote Wednesday.
The Senate is likely to invoke cloture, and Reid has said he would like to hold a vote on an amendment that would strip a provision of the bill that almost certainly would provide retroactive legal immunity for telecommunications companies accused of aiding the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program. However, there is no agreement yet on how the Senate will proceed after Wednesday’s cloture vote, and two liberal senators don’t intend to make it easy for the legislation to advance.
FISA Overhaul Set to Clear Senate?
Despite a deep divide among Democrats, the Senate is expected to clear legislation this week overhauling electronic surveillance rules that would grant President Bush much of what he has sought in a lengthy struggle with Congress.
With no senators threatening to hold up the bill (HR 6304), one of the last hopes for opponents faded June 20 when Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois announced he would vote for the legislation. Some civil liberties groups that oppose the measure had called on Obama to use his position in the party to derail it.
McCain strategist: Terrorist attack 'would be a big advantage' in election for McCain
The Fortune interviewer goes on to say that “Black concedes with startling candor after we raise the issue” that McCain would also be helped by “another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. ‘Certainly it would be a big advantage to him,’ says Black.”
Washington Monthly’s Kevin Drum was scathing in his comments on McCain’s response. “It’s as if McCain is trying to become a parody of himself here,” writes Drum. “Is his answer to every question ‘Islamic extremism’? … Two things are remarkable here. First, that McCain genuinely seems to believe that Islamic extremism poses not just a threat, but a threat to the very existence of the West. This is science fiction territory. Second, that he apparently can’t come up with any better answer to Fortune’s question about economic threats.”
Richard Clarke: McCain should fire Charlie Black (Video)
Former national counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke talks with Countdown’s Keith Olbermann about the apparent desire of the McCain campaign to exploit fears of terrorism in the 2008 race for the White House.
Top McCain strategist Charlie Black told Fortune Magazine that even though the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto last December was an “unfortunate event,” it was useful to McCain in the New Hampshire primary, because “his knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who’s ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us.”
Fox News claims North Korean Dictator endorses Obama (Video)
On Monday, June 23, Fox News personality Laura Ingraham declared that Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama has been endorsed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
"In our 'friends like these' department, the unsolicited endorsements keep piling up for Obama," she said. "First, it was Hugo Chavez, and then it was the modern day band of merry men Hamas. And let's not forget the Jack Lalanne of totalitarianism, Fidel Castro. Now it's, drum roll, please, the one and only contestant in North Korean Idol, Kim Jong Il, ladies and gentlemen."
Obama Camp Closely Linked With Ethanol
When VeraSun Energy inaugurated a new ethanol processing plant last summer in Charles City, Iowa, some of that industry’s most prominent boosters showed up. Leaders of the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, for instance, came to help cut the ribbon — and so did Senator Barack Obama.
Then running far behind Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in name recognition and in the polls, Mr. Obama was in the midst of a campaign swing through the state where he would eventually register his first caucus victory. And as befits a senator from Illinois, the country’s second largest corn-producing state, he delivered a ringing endorsement of ethanol as an alternative fuel.
George Carlin Changed the World (Video)
Today is a very sad day, indeed. One of the greatest masters of all time has left the planet, joining the other late comic geniuses in what must certainly be the only true heaven, where laughter reigns supreme.
Those of us of a certain age surely feel as if George Carlin was one of our dearest friends. My own memories of George are long and deep, dating back to when he burst onto the scene for good in the 70s, with his breakthrough album containing the taboo-shattering "Seven Dirty Words."
George Carlin Dies: Video Highlights From His Career
Comedian George Carlin, best known for his scabrous, unflinching style and his rivetingly observant social satire, died of heart failure Sunday night in Los Angeles. Carlin was 71 years old.
In a career spanning a half-century, Carlin's comic routines tended toward social commentary and satire, with a deep and abiding love for the vagaries and peculiarities of the English language and a fearless embrace of the profane. The apotheosis of Carlin's comic mind probably came in the form of his famous "Seven Words You Can't Say On Television" routine. The original routine can be read here. Below, Carlin does a variation. Yeah, it is Not Safe For Work.
Gen. Wesley Clark: on John McCain's lack of policy-making and
foreign policy leadership (Video)
Clark says McCain has always been for the use of force, and more force, when a president should view force as a last resort. He complains that when McCain talks about throwing Russia out of the G8 or makes up ditties about bombing Iran, he "betrays a disrespect for the office of the presidency."
Obama would close 'Enron loophole' to stem speculation, help provide relief at the gas pump
Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday said as president he would strengthen government oversight of energy traders he blames in large part for the skyrocketing price of oil. The Democratic candidate's campaign singled out the so-called "Enron loophole" for allowing speculators to run up the cost of fuel by operating outside federal regulation. Oil closed near $135 a barrel on Friday — almost double the price a year ago.
"My plan fully closes the Enron loophole and restores commonsense regulation as part of my broader plan to ease the burden for struggling families today while investing in a better future," Obama said in a campaign statement.
Contradictions and misstatements short-circuit McCain's
energy policy pronouncements.
McCain has spent the week focusing on energy policy, making some surprising, and inaccurate, statements.
Among them:
He said that ending a moratorium on offshore oil drilling "would be very helpful in the short term in resolving our energy crisis." But according to a government report, offshore oil wouldn't have much of an impact on supply or prices until 2030. McCain tried to paint Obama as an opponent of nuclear power, yet Obama has said he is open to nuclear energy being part of the solution and has supported bills that contained nuclear subsidies.....
White House Blocking Army's Plan To Overhaul Contracting System
The Army's march to overhaul its tarnished contracting system has been slowed by an unlikely foe: the White House.
The Office of Management and Budget, President Bush's administrative arm, has shot down a service plan to add five active-duty generals who would oversee purchasing and monitor contractor performance.
U.K. to Begin Microchipping Prisoners
The British government is developing a plan to track current and former prisoners by means of microchips implanted under the skin, drawing intense criticism from probation officers and civil rights groups.....In addition to monitoring incarcerated prisoners, the ministry hopes to use the chips on those who are on probation or other conditional release. By including a satellite uplink system in the chip, police would be able to use global positioning system (GPS) technology to track subjects' exact locations at all times. According to advocates of such a measure, this could help keep sex offenders away from "forbidden" zones like schools.
Kristol: Bush might attack Iran if he thinks Obama will win
President Bush is more likely to attack Iran if he thinks Senator Barack Obama may be elected, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol told FOX News Sunday morning.
Kristol added that if Senator John McCain was going to win the presidency, Bush would “think it more appropriate” to let him deal with the issue.
GOP worries Bob Barr could play spoiler in presidential race,
siphoning votes from McCain
A fiery former GOP congressman who gained national prominence for doggedly pursuing impeachment of President Clinton has some Republicans worried he'll play spoiler in a tight presidential contest. Bob Barr's Libertarian Party bid for the White House is the longest of long shots, but political experts say he may be able to exploit the unease some die-hard conservatives still feel about Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting. Combined with the surge in turnout among Democrats during the primaries and a difficult political climate for Republicans, they see what could be a recipe for trouble for the GOP
Investigation Update: Three Days In Rome
..... committee chairman John "Jay" Rockefeller (D-WV) explained why the committee would be reluctant to call for possible charges against US officials. "If we pressed for that, it would be like impeachment."
But there are signs that further federal investigation of at least one aspect of the committee’s inquiry may continue. Mother Jones has learned that one subject of one of the recent Senate Intelligence committee reports has told associates that he has hired a defense attorney in connection to a federal investigation. Pentagon civilian official Harold Rhode, a civilian employee of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessments who participated in controversial meetings with Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar in Rome and Paris, did not respond to messages sent to his home and Pentagon emails inquiring about the Senate’s report on the Ghorbanifar channel, and questions over a possible federal investigation involving him and the hiring of an attorney.
Dick Cheney: How I became Vice President
Vice President Dick Cheney shed a little more light today on how he came to be vice president for George W. Bush.
It happened in the spring of 2000, to be exact, when the newly-victorious Bush campaign contacted Cheney, obviously desperate to ensure capture of Wyoming's three crucial electoral votes. (Come to pass, in fact, those 3 E.V.s did turn out to be crucial. Without them, Florida would not have mattered.) "The way it actually worked was," Cheney recalls, "they talked to me about whether or not I was interested in the (vice president's) job originally, and I said, 'No, definitely not interested.' "And then they came back and said, 'Would you help us find somebody?' and I said, "Sure, I'd be happy to do that.' We got through doing the search.
Obama: I'll Fight To Strip Telecom Immunity From FISA
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., issued a statement in support of the House's update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but said he would try to strip a provision granting immunity to telecommunication companies when the bill comes to a vote in the Senate next week.
The House approved a compromise bill Friday that would set new electronic surveillance rules that would also shield telecoms from lawsuits arising from their participation in the government's warrantless eavesdropping on telephone and computer lines in the United States.
Obama decision threatens public campaign financing
From the moment that the public financing system was created in the wake of the Watergate crisis, it was viewed as an imperfect way to rid politics of the excesses of special-interest money.
But now, with the decision by Senator Barack Obama to become the first presidential candidate to forgo public money, the system is facing the most critical threat to its survival.
Senator Hagel says he'd consider VP offer from Obama
Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel said Friday he would consider serving as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's running mate if asked, but he doesn't expect to be on any ticket.
Hagel's vocal criticism of the Bush administration since the 2003 invasion of Iraq has touched off speculation that if Obama were to pick a Republican running mate, it might be Hagel. Hagel said in an interview with The Associated Press that after devoting much of his life to his country — in the Senate and the U.S. Army — he would have to consider any offer.
InsiderAdvantage: Georgia Becomes Competititve
A new InsiderAdvantage poll in Georgia shows a very competitive race with Sen. John McCain barely edging Sen. Barack Obama, 44% to 43%, with Libertarian candidate Bob Barr getting 6%.
Said pollster Matt Towery: "Georgia is competitive for Obama for several reasons. First, it has a high African-American voting age population. Second, it has an unusually high percentage of younger voters (18-29). Both of these groups are more in the Obama camp, with black voters already at the 83 percent level and likely to climb."
Spying, a U.S. Psychic Dilemma
The House has passed a new version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. It is not surprising that the legislation makes many Americans queasy. After all, this is the country that created its first secret agency in 1947 and then announced it to the world.
The irony of America’s intelligence services is that they are so public. The United States routinely releases secret documents of historical importance, many over the Internet and sometimes only 25 years after the event. The Central Intelligence Agency is the cinematic archetype of skullduggery mainly because the government won’t shut up about it. Ours is the only nation out of 194 that requires itself, by law, not only to declassify but also to publish former state secrets.
America's Berlin Wall
QUEUES of frustrated foreigners crowd many an American consulate around the world hoping to get into the United States. Less noticed are the heavily taxed American expatriates wanting to get out—by renouncing their citizenship.
In Hong Kong just now, they cannot. “Please note that this office cannot accept renunciation applications at this time,” the consulate's website states. Apart from sounding like East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the closure is unfortunately timed. Because of pending legislation on President Bush's desk that is expected to become law by June 16th, any American who wants to surrender his passport has only a few days to do so before facing an enormous penalty.
HOW IRAN WOULD RETALIATE IF IT COMES TO WAR
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - Pressure is building on Iran. This week Europe agreed to new sanctions and President Bush again suggested something more serious – possible military strikes – if the Islamic Republic doesn't bend to the will of the international community on its nuclear program.
But increasingly military analysts are warning of severe consequences if the US begins a shooting war with Iran. While Iranian forces are no match for American technology on a conventional battlefield, Iran has shown that it can bite back in unconventional ways....
Author: Karl Rove 'helped arrange' Swiftboat attacks on Kerry (Video)
Karl Rove may have left the Bush administration last summer, but he is never very far from the political spotlight, especially with former press secretary Scott McClellan due to testify today on Rove's role in the outing of Valerie Plame. MSNBC's Morning Joe welcomed Paul Alexander, the author of Machiavelli's Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove, to dig through Rove's legacy of scandal.
The Assassination of Robert Kennedy, Part 5 (Final Part) - Sirhan Sirhan
......Van Praag's analysis reveals a total of thirteen shots that can be positively identified on the tape. It is possible that there were more, but the noise of the crowd following the shooting would rule out identification of them. Two pairs of shots, shots 3-4 and 7-8, come only 149 milliseconds and 122 milliseconds apart, respectively. To put this in perspective, the world record for quick shooting is 140 milliseconds between shots. That record was set using a competition grade firearm.....Already, with the identification of thirteen shots fired, we can see that it is not possible for Sirhan to be the sole shooter that night. From the data gleaned from the recording, it would appear that Sirhan fired eight shots and someone else fired five. The next question would be, does the count of thirteen shots make sense given the other evidence? It does.......