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No wonder they can't find bin Laden
posted by Clyde
1:17 PMGuardian finds Afghan witnesses US couldn't
The US government said it could not find the men that Guantanamo detainee Abdullah Mujahid believes could help set him free. The Guardian found them in three days.
Two years ago the US military invited Mr Mujahid, a former Afghan police commander accused of plotting against the United States, to prove his innocence before a special military tribunal. As was his right, Mr Mujahid called four witnesses from Afghanistan.
But months later the tribunal president returned with bad news: the witnesses could not be found. Mr Mujahid's hopes sank and he was returned to the wire-mesh cell where he remains today.
The Guardian searched for Mr Mujahid's witnesses and found them within three days. One was working for President Hamid Karzai. Another was teaching at a leading American college. The third was living in Kabul. The fourth, it turned out, was dead. Each witness said he had never been approached by the Americans to testify in Mr Mujahid's hearing.
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Robin Williams: Rush Limbaugh's just going fishing
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
1:09 PMRobin poked fun at Rush on the Tonight Show:
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Caption This!
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
7:52 AM
Use the "Post a Comment" link to add your caption.
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No blank check
posted by Clyde
4:45 AMSupreme Court Decision on Gitmo Undermines Bush's Legal Case For Warrantless Wiretapping
The impact of today's Supreme Court decision on military commissions goes well beyond Guantanamo. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Authorization for the Use of Military Force - issued by Congress in the days after 9/11 - is not a blank check for the administration. From the syllabus:
Neither the AUMF [Authorization for the Use of Military Force] nor the DTA [Detainee Treatment Act] can be read to provide specific, overriding authorization for the commission convened to try Hamdan. Assuming the AUMF activated the President's war powers, see Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U. S. 507, and that those powers include authority to convene military commissions in appropriate circumstances, see, e.g., id., at 518, there is nothing in the AUMF's text or legislative history even hinting that Congress intended to expand or alter the authorization set forth in UCMJ Art. 21.
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Mountains and mole hills
posted by Clyde
4:23 AMHouse intelligence chief berates Negroponte on WMD
The chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee accused U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte's office on Thursday of downplaying the significance of chemical weapons finds in Iraq.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican, said in a letter to Negroponte that intelligence officials at a June 21 press briefing organized by his office misled journalists about the significance of 500 munitions containing mustard and sarin nerve agents discovered since May 2004.
Intelligence officials at the briefing told journalists the weapons predated the 1991 Gulf War, were too degraded to be used as originally intended and posed no threat to U.S. forces deployed in the region during the run-up to the 2003 invasion.
"I am very disappointed by the inaccurate, incomplete, and occasionally misleading comments made by the briefers," Hoekstra said in the letter, a copy of which was released by his office.
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Jenna Bush finally gets a job!
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
3:05 PMToo bad it's not in Daddy's booming economy. It's in Latin America.
I guess we should update our chart now:
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Gitmo has got to go
posted by Clyde
9:18 AMJustices: Bush went too far at Guantanamo
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Bush overstepped his authority in creating military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees, a rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policies.
The case, one of the most significant involving presidential war powers cases since World War II, was brought by Guantanamo prisoner Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who was a driver for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
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I thought "timetables" send the wrong signal? (Update)
posted by Wally
7:54 AMIran has until July 5th
What happens after that is anybody's guess. But it might be a good time to buy more Halliburton and defense contractor stock.MOSCOW (AP) - The United States, Russia and other industrial democracies said Thursday they want Iran to answer "yes" or "no" next week to an international offer to bargain over Tehran's disputed nuclear program and said they are disappointed that the clerical regime has not replied by now.
"We are disappointed in the absence of an official Iranian response to this positive proposal," said a statement from foreign ministers of the Group of Eight industrial nations. "We expect to hear a clear and substantive Iranian response to these proposals" at the meeting scheduled July 5 between the European Union's foreign minister and Iran's nuclear negotiator.
MORE How quickly things change. Just yesterday Rummy said in a press conference: "The president's view has been and remains that a timetable is not something that is useful," Rumsfeld said Wednesday at a joint news conference at the Pentagon with Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson.
"It is a signal to the enemies that all you have to do is just wait and it's yours," he said. Well, which is it? Timetable, or no timetable?
UPDATE
Apparently, it's no timetable. Iran looked at the July 5th deadline and told the US and EU "Suck it. We'll get back to you August-ish". Boy that whole Iraq thing really raised our level of credibility and respect in the world community, didn't it? Good job George. I'm sure your mommy is proud of you.
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The D.C. two-step
posted by Clyde
4:45 AMMcConnell Admits GOP Knew About Casey's Redeployment Proposal, Even As They Blasted Democrats' Similar Plan
Last week, Senate Republicans -- following the Bush Administration's wishes -- led an effort to kill a proposal by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Jack Reed (D-RI) that would have required a redeployment to begin by the end of the year but not set a timetable for a complete withdrawal.
Many conservatives labeled the Levin-Reed proposal a "cut-and-run" policy.
(snip)
But then Americans learned that at roughly the same time that Senate Republicans were denouncing the Levin-Reed proposal, the top American commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, had briefed the administration on a plan to reduce U.S. troops in Iraq, with the first cuts perhaps coming by September, and much deeper cuts coming in 2007.
Although the plan was conceptually similar to the one proposed by Levin and Reed, the same conservatives said it was not a "cut-and-run" policy.
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How much more love can the troops take?
posted by Clyde
4:40 AMWhite House heartburn can't slow military pay gains
The Bush administration continues to sound the alarm over rising military personnel costs from steady gains in pay and benefits voted by the Congress, including more new initiatives in the 2007 defense budget bill.
But Congress shows no sign of heeding the alarm, not while U.S. forces "stay the course" in Iraq and Afghanistan, separated from family and suffering casualties in an uncertain quest to help democracy take root there.
The latest administration criticisms of personnel costs appear in "heartburn" letters to the armed services committees from the White House's Office of Management and Budget. The administration, says OMB, "strongly opposes" several new initiatives for personnel in the House and Senate versions of the defense authorization bill nearing enactment.
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White House bragged about bank monitoring program before NYT article.
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
12:44 PMPot meet kettle.
Terrorist funds-tracking no secret, some say
WASHINGTON -- News reports disclosing the Bush administration's use of a special bank surveillance program to track terrorist financing spurred outrage in the White House and on Capitol Hill, but some specialists pointed out yesterday that the government itself has publicly discussed its stepped-up efforts to monitor terrorist finances since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
On Monday, President Bush said it was "disgraceful" that The New York Times and other media outlets reported last week that the US government was quietly monitoring international financial transactions handled by an industry-owned cooperative in Belgium called the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Communication, or SWIFT, which is controlled by nearly 8,000 institutions in 20 countries. The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal also reported about the program.
The controversy continued to simmer yesterday when Senator Jim Bunning, a Republican of Kentucky, accused the Times of "treason," telling reporters in a conference call that it "scares the devil out of me" that the media would reveal such sensitive information. Senator Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, requested US intelligence agencies to assess whether the reports have damaged anti terrorism operations. And Representative Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has urged Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to pursue "possible criminal prosecution" of the Times, which has reported on other secret government surveillance programs. The New York Times Co. owns The Boston Globe.
"Unless they were pretty dumb, they had to assume" their transactions were being monitored, Comras said of terrorist groups. "We have spent the last four years bragging how effective we have been in tracking terrorist financing."
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Caption This
posted by Wally
7:53 AM
Use the "Post a Comment" link to submit your caption.
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Dems grow a spine
posted by Clyde
4:42 AMDemocrats vow to block pay raises until minimum wage increased
Democrats ratcheted up their election-year push for an increase in the federal minimum wage Tuesday by promising to block a congressional pay hike unless some of the lowest-paid hourly workers get their first raise in nearly a decade.
"Congress is going to have earn its raise by putting American workers first: A raise for workers before a raise for Congress," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
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The issue that refuses to die
posted by Clyde
4:39 AMFlag amendment fails by one vote
A constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration died in a Senate cliffhanger Tuesday, a single vote short of the support needed to send it to the states for ratification a week before Independence Day.
The 66-34 tally in favor of the amendment was one less than the two-thirds required. The House surpassed that threshold last year, 286-130.
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He thinks he is upholding the Constitution - Idiot Alert!
posted by Clyde
11:33 AMThe White House today defended President Bush's prolific use of bill signing statements, saying they help him uphold the Constitution and defend the nation's security.
"There's this notion that the president is committing acts of civil disobedience, and he's not," said Bush's press secretary Tony Snow, speaking at the White House. "It's important for the president at least to express reservations about the constitutionality of certain provisions."
Snow spoke as Senate Judiciary Committe Chairman Arlen Specter opened hearings on Bush's use of bill signing statements saying he reserves the right to revise, interpret or disregard a measure on national security and consitutional grounds.
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Cheney is the one who really wants to be Dictator
posted by Wally
8:11 AMBush is just the puppet front-man
Yesterday afternoon the Democrats held a hearing about how intelligence had been manipulated in the run up to the Iraq invasion. In this telling little exchange, Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican, questioned how a handful of people in the administration were able to run over the intelligence experts:
But what perplexes me is how in the world could professionals - I'm not criticizing anybody here at this table - but how could the professionals see what was happening and nobody speak out?
(snip)
So where along the way - how did these people so early on get so much power that they had more influence in those in the administration to make decisions than you the professionals? The answer came from Lawrence Wilkerson (Colin Powell's former chief of staff):
I'd answer you with two words. Let me put the article in there and make it three. The Vice President. You can watch the video and read the trancript at CrooksandLiars.com or Think Progress
Video -WMP Video -QT
Cheney no longer thinks he is above the law, he is certain of it.
On a related note, if you haven't had the chance to see the Frontline program "The Dark Side" download it and watch it. They don't call him Darth Cheney for nothing.
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Limbaugh is a "LIMP" dick
posted by Clyde
4:29 AMLimbaugh Detained At Airport For Drugs
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh was detained at Palm Beach International Airport for the possible possession of illegal prescription drugs Monday evening.
Limbaugh was returning on a flight from the Dominican Republic when customs officials found a Viagra prescription that did not bear his name. Instead, the bottle of pills had the names of two doctors on it according to the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office.
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The rising price of war
posted by Clyde
4:23 AMWars Force Army Equipment Costs To Triple
The annual cost of replacing, repairing and upgrading Army equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to more than triple next year to more than $17 billion, according to Army documents obtained by the Associated Press.
From 2002 to 2006, the Army spent an average of $4 billion a year in annual equipment costs. But as the war takes a harder toll on the military, that number is projected to balloon to more than $12 billion for the federal budget year that starts next Oct. 1, the documents show.
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Labeling the Republican party.
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
2:42 PMKarl Rove is at it again. Instead of debating issues and fixing America's problems, he did what he always does: Label the Democratic party.
This year, be prepared to hear the words "Cut and Run" from the mouths of the right-wing spin machine. In the past two weeks, its already become a fad in the main stream media, Congress, and more.
Unlike past years, it time to fight back, now! Lets label them before it's too late. With a new leader at the DNC, we think it's possible.
As we all know, the president's approval ratings are in the toilet. So are the Republican lawmakers in Congress. It's time to come up with something fresh and new.
Based on the fact that Republican lawmakers are keeping their distance from Bush for re-election, we thought of this label:
"George Bush Republican"
This label on the Republican party serves a variety of purposes. It tells them they are a "rubber-stamp" Congress, that they are no different than President Bush, and "moving to the center" will do them no good.
If you like the new label as much as we do, please feel free to write the DNC and Gov. Howard Dean. They can carry this message all the way to the Novemeber elections and put the Republican party back in its place.
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Burning the Constitution to Protect the Flag
posted by Wally
8:20 AMCongress should protect our Freedoms, not symbols
Now that they've solved all the other pressing problems in the country, the Senate is about to begin debate, again, on a flag desecration amendment. This is sort of a biennial event - every election year it rears its ugly and unnecessary head. Problem is, this time it might actually pass. While we at dubyaD40.com respect and revere our flag, we see it as a symbol of something much much greater - a symbol of a whole myriad of Freedoms that we have kind of gotten used to. We find the irony almost overwhelming that Congress is debating diminishing the freedom of expression by protecting the ultimate symbol of the freedom of expression. The Bill of Rights is the envy of freedom lovers everywhere. It has not changed one whit in the more than two centuries since it was written.
Now Congress wants to amend it to shrink the protection it provides for unpopular political expression. The issue is a proposal to authorize Congress to prohibit desecration of the American flag.
LINK
You know what I have to say about that?
Arrest this man!
Read More Here
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Bob Kincaid interviews First Lt. Ehren Watada.
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
8:00 AMYou're familiar with the ongoing story of First Lt. Ehren Watada, right? He's been muzzled and confined to base for refusing to deploy to Iraq. He's the first officer to do so. He hasn't even been charged yet and they're already trying to punish him.
Bob got one of the last interviews Lt. Watada was able to give. It's up on the site at Head On Radio Network
Make sure to listen!
~Dookie
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Caption This
posted by Wally
7:49 AM
Use the "Post a Comment" link to submit your caption.
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Supporting the Troops: 200,000 homeless vets in the United States
posted by Wally
10:20 AMThat yellow ribbon on the back of your SUV means nothing. You say you support the troops? Then take a vet to dinner. Pay his rent. Better yet, call and write your congress-critter and tell them to support the damn troops. This is appalling.
Thousands of U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are facing a new nightmare - the risk of homelessness. The U.S. government estimates several hundred vets who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are homeless on any given night across the country, although the exact number is unknown.
The reasons that contribute to the new wave of homelessness are many: some are unable to cope with life after daily encounters with insurgent attacks and roadside bombs; some can't navigate government red tape; others simply don't have enough money to afford a house or apartment.
(snip)
Long before the current war, the Homeless Veterans Program had guided men and women back into daily life after service in Vietnam, Korea and the Second World War. But Dougherty makes no secret of a truth few Americans know: about one-quarter of all homeless adults in America have served in the military - most of them minority veterans.
FULL STORY We've spent nearly half a trillion on Iraq. How about diverting one percent of that (5 billion would go a long way) to support our returning vets, to make sure they have not just "adequate", but high quality lifelong medical care - including mental health care to help them recover from PTSD. How about paying their way through college and helping with low-cost home loans like we used to under the old G.I. Bill? I have several friends and relatives who bought houses and went to college using that before the government bit by bit eviscerated it. How about taking care of these men and women the way they deserve.
How about SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS!
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Abramoff wasn't a whore. He was a Pimp
posted by Wally
9:46 AMWanted: Face time with President Bush or top adviser Karl Rove. Suggested donation: $100,000
Blunt e-mails that connect money and access in Washington show that prominent Republican activist Grover Norquist facilitated some administration contacts for Abramoff's clients while the lobbyist simultaneously solicited those clients for large donations to Norquist's tax-exempt group.
(snip)
Norquist wrote Abramoff in one such e-mail in July 2002, "When I have funding, I will ask Karl Rove for a date with the president. Karl has already said 'yes' in principle and knows you organized this last time and hope to this year."
FULL STORY
 The pimp thing explains the hat. Kind of makes me wonder where Jeff Gannon fits into all of this.
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This is how Bush, Rummy, etc. support our troops.
posted by Wally
10:09 AMU.S. troops tread through 110-degree deserts with little food or water
LINK
They don't have enough food or water. They are so dehydrated that they have to give each other IV drips, just to be able to function. These are United States soldiers! We're not talking about third world resistance fighters. These are the brave men and women risking their lives in the service of the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. And they are not getting food and water.
"I am hungry, thirsty and dirty. Welcome to my world," said Sgt. 1st Class Gonzalo Lassally, 31, of Deltona, Fla (snip)
"I'm just not doing too good today because of the minimal food and water, adds Valdiva, of Altaloma, Calif.
For lack of supplies, and choppers to deliver them, they had to rent a donkey. The most sophisticated, technologically advanced military ever has to resort to using 5000 year old transportation methods to resupply.
Dozens of soldiers and one donkey, rented for $10, lugged more than 7,000 pounds of food and water from the valley floor to their mountaintop ridge Thursday. It had been air-dropped by coalition aircraft because no helicopters were available to deliver it closer.
The extra supplies mean the troops get 12 bottles of water to drink per day, instead of eking by on five or six as they had been. They also now have two MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) food packs this day, instead of the one they'd been limited to earlier.
This is how our troops are being treated. This is what the Bush administration thinks of our Soldiers. This is the respect that they give to our fighting men and women. This is how much they care about America's finest. This is how they serve those who are serving all of us.
Traitors. The whole administration - nothing but traitors to their country.
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The Boss says Fire Bush
posted by Wally
8:47 AMLeave it to The Boss - whether you like his music or not - to speak his mind.
Saw this on ThinkProgress.org
Springsteen Hits Coulter, Defends Right To Take A Stand On Political Issues
In a recent interview, CNN's Soledad O'Brien asked Bruce Springsteen (aka "The Boss") about criticism he has received for taking a stand on political issues. Springsteen responded sarcastically, "Yeah, they should let Ann Coulter do it instead." He added that there are "idiots rambling on on cable television on any given night of the week," and called the idea that musicians shouldn't speak up, "insane" and "funny." Watch it:
Transcript:
O'BRIEN: In 2004 you came out very strongly in support of John Kerry and performed with him - your fellow guitarist, I think is how you introduced him to the crowd. And some people gave you a lot of flack for being a musician who took a political stand. I remember...
SPRINGSTEEN: Yeah, they should let Ann Coulter do it instead.
O'BRIEN: There is a whole school of thought, as you well know, that says that musicians - I mean you see it with the Dixie Chicks - you know, go play your music and stop.
SPRINGSTEEN: Well, if you turn it on, present company included, the idiots rambling on on cable television on any given night of the week, and you're saying that musicians shouldn't speak up? It's insane. It's funny.
O'BRIEN: As a musician though, I'd be curious to know if there is a concern that you start talking about politics, you came out at one point and said, I think in USA Today listen, the country would be better off if George Bush were replaced as President. Is there a worry where you start getting political and you could alienate your audience?
SPRINGSTEEN: Well that's called common sense. I don't even see that as politics at this point. So I mean that's, you know, you can get me started, I'll be glad to go. [...] You don't take a country like the United States into a major war on circumstantial evidence. You lose your job for that. That's my opinion, and I have no problem voicing it. And some people like it and some people boo ya, you know? I have two words for the Republicans who rag on musicians, actors, and other "hollywood liberals" for being too stupid to speak out on political issues.
Ronald Reagan.
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"Paris Hilton" tax cut passes. Minimum wage increase shot down.
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
11:11 AMI'm really tired of these GOP azzholes:
US House votes to cut estate tax
GOP-Run Senate Kills Minimum Wage Increase
Send this to all your right-wing friends.
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The GOP's Plan For Iraq
posted by Wally
10:28 AM
(click picture for bigger image)
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Caption This!
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
8:17 AM
Use the "Post a Comment" link to add your caption.
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Who needs privacy? (part II)
posted by Wally
7:38 AMIt's not just your phone calls. Big Brother is watching your bank records too.
Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials.
(snip)
Viewed by the Bush administration as a vital tool, the program has played a hidden role in domestic and foreign terrorism investigations since 2001 and helped in the capture of the most wanted Qaeda figure in Southeast Asia, the officials said.
Does that mean we've secretly captured Osama bin Laden? Because, call me crazy, but I thought OBL was the most wanted Qaeda figure.
(snip)
The program, however, is a significant departure from typical practice in how the government acquires Americans' financial records. Treasury officials did not seek individual court-approved warrants or subpoenas to examine specific transactions, instead relying on broad administrative subpoenas for millions of records from the cooperative, known as Swift.
That access to large amounts of sensitive data was highly unusual, several officials said, and stirred concerns inside the administration about legal and privacy issues. "The capability here is awesome or, depending on where you're sitting, troubling," said one former senior counterterrorism official who considers the program valuable. While tight controls are in place, the official added, "The potential for abuse is enormous."
Read More Here
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Who needs privacy?
posted by Clyde
4:10 AMJudge Orders Release of Abortion Clinic Files
The Cincinnati Planned Parenthood Clinic must give a family that is suing the clinic all records on abortion patients younger than 18, a judge ruled. The documents are being sought in a lawsuit by the family of a teenage girl.
The suit alleges that Planned Parenthood never got parental consent to perform an abortion on the girl, as required by Ohio law.
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6 is one and a half dozen the other
posted by Clyde
4:03 AMPre-1991 Iraqi weapons said a threat to US troops
Abandoned Iraqi chemical weapons dating from before the 1991 Gulf War could pose a deadly new threat to American forces if they fell into the hands of insurgents, U.S. officials warned on Thursday.
(snip)
"They are dangerous, and anyone ... in that country would be concerned if they got into the wrong hands," asserted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "It's dangerous to our forces and it's a concern."
Iraq chemical weapons 'too old to use'
THE chemical weapons that have been recovered by US forces in Iraq were all made before the 1991 Gulf War and were too degraded for their intended use, US intelligence officials said today.
Republican politicians have cast the disclosure that about 500 chemical weapons have been found in Iraq as evidence that Saddam Hussein had a stockpile of the weapons before the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
But the intelligence officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the weapons were too degraded to have posed a threat to US forces in March 2003.
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FRONTLINE: The Dark Side
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
2:12 PMIf you missed "The Dark Side" on FRONTLINE, here's your chance to watch it. Begining today at 5pm EST, you can watch it online.
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Traitors In The Senate
posted by Wally
9:07 AM2511 American Soldiers are Dead
and these men DON'T CARE.
19 US Senators, all Republicans, voted in favor of giving amnesty to terrorists who kill US soldiers in Iraq.
Allard (R-CO) Bond (R-MO) Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX) DeMint (R-SC) Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC) Hagel (R-NE) Inhofe (R-OK)    Kyl (R-AZ) Lott (R-MS) McCain (R-AZ)
Sessions (R-AL) Stevens (R-AK) Thomas (R-WY)
Warner (R-VA) Click on their pictures to send them a message and tell them what you think.
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More from the "family values" crowd
posted by Clyde
4:26 AMDefendant expected to take stand in sexual harassment case
Political consultant and ad producer Carey Lee Cramer is expected to testify today defending himself against charges he sexually molested two young girls.
(snip)
Cramer, who gained national notoriety with an anti-Al Gore commercial in 2000, is facing several counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
He is the second witness defense attorney Charles Banker called to rebut the testimony of the two 15-year-old girls who testified Cramer sexually molested them when they were younger.
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They get $32,000. You get nada!
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
1:59 PMSenate defeats Democrats minimum wage increase
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday defeated a proposal pushed by Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage in increments from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour by January 1, 2009.
Sen. Edward Kennedy , a Massachusetts Democrat, unsuccessfully tried to attach the proposal raising the wage for the first time since 1997 to a defense authorization bill that is expected to be passed by the Senate soon.
While a majority of the Senate, 52 senators, backed the move to increase the minimum wage, it failed to win the 60 votes needed for passage under a procedural agreement worked out earlier.
{snip}
House Republican leaders, who oppose raising the minimum wage, have put that bill on a backburner because of the amendment.
Link
From Bob Geiger:
So Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has found a new way to pull his Simon Legree act and this time it takes the form of attaching a "poison pill" amendment to Kennedy's S.AMDT.4322, which would gradually raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour over the next two years.
A poison-pill is a procedural maneuver in which an onerous amendment is attached to a bill under consideration to force proponents of the original legislation to bail out and drop the whole issue. It's designed to either kill a bill entirely or create a situation that forces the other side into a negotiation to water down their original legislation to an unrecognizable point.
In other news: Number of millionaires rises 6.5 pct 2005-report
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Kill a US soldier and get amnesty but if you are brown - no dice
posted by Clyde
11:49 AM19 of our esteemed senatorial leaders have saw fit to endorse amnesty for Iraqi insurgents who only kill US soldiers. Although the measure condemning the murder of our soldiers passed overwhelmingly, some decided it was okay to vote against it.
Deaths of GIs stir Senate to condemn Iraq amnesty plan
On the day after the tortured bodies of two U.S. soldiers were found in Iraq, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to condemn the idea that Iraq's new government might ever grant amnesty to insurgents who have killed or wounded American military personnel.
The 79-19 vote on a nonbinding "sense of the Senate'' resolution offered by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., opened several days of debate this week on Iraq policy. Starting today, the Senate is expected to take up two Democratic resolutions, one calling for the withdrawal of all 130,000 U.S. military personnel by July 2007 and the other calling for a phased withdrawal to begin this year, but without setting a deadline for getting all troops out.
And I bet you would never guess their Party affiliation.
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Caption This
posted by Wally
7:44 AM
Use the "Post a Comment" link to submit your caption
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There's no need to ask
posted by Clyde
4:43 AMIraq: US may be asked to leave
THE level of violence in some areas of Iraq is worsening dramatically and US forces may soon be asked to leave by the Iraqi Government.
In an exclusive interview with The Australian, former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage has given a gloomy assessment of the situation.
"The British used to make a big deal of walking around in their berets in the south," he said. "Now they won't even go to the latrines without their helmets. The south has got much rougher, it's mainly Shia on Shia violence."
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But George - you said we won
posted by Clyde
4:29 AMU.S. Back at Full War Footing in Afghanistan
The United States military is quietly carrying out the largest military offensive in Afghanistan since U.S. troops invaded the country in 2001.
"The Taliban has made a comeback, and we have the next 90 days to crush them," said a senior U.S. military official.
The offensive, "Operation Mountain Thrust," involves almost 11,000 U.S. troops and is focused on four southern Afghanistan provinces.
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What could possibly go wrong?
posted by Dookie The Webmaster
2:07 PMWe can't f*cking believe this. Wait, yes we can:
Saudis Offered Scholarships for Aviation Courses in US
JEDDAH, 20 June 2006 - The Ministry of Higher Education and the General Authority of Civil Aviation are offering scholarships to Saudi men and women to study various majors related to civil aviation in the United States.
The forms are available online at the ministry's website until July 12 for both bachelor's and post-graduate studies. Nominations will be announced on July 31. Interviews will take place in August and final scholarship winners will be announced on Sept. 2.
The scholarships are available in majors such as communications, electrical and computer engineering, computer science, systems analysis, air traffic control, flight safety, and other majors related to the airline transport industry.
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They're supposed to be protecting us from these guys, not supporting them
posted by Wally
1:00 PMThe FBI, Homeland Security, Justice Dept, etc. are paying data brokers for (often) illegally obtained information so that they don't have to do their jobs and get a subpoena to spy on you. Let me say that again. Our Law Enforcement agencies are sidestepping the law by paying other people to break it for them. Our Law Enforcement agencies are intentionally not only not enforcing the law, they are actively supporting companies in illegal activities.
Numerous federal and local law enforcement agencies have bypassed subpoenas and warrants designed to protect civil liberties and gathered Americans' personal telephone records from private-sector data brokers.
These brokers, many of whom advertise aggressively on the Internet, have gotten into customer accounts online, tricked phone companies into revealing information and even acknowledged that their practices violate laws, according to documents gathered by congressional investigators and provided to The Associated Press.
(snip)
Legal experts said law enforcement agencies would be permitted to use illegally obtained information from private parties without violating the Fourth Amendment's protection against unlawful search and seizure, as long as police did not encourage any crimes to be committed.
"If law enforcement is encouraging people in the private sector to commit a crime in getting these records that would be problematic," said Mark Levin, a former top Justice Department official under President Reagan. "If, on the other hand, they are asking data brokers if they have any public information on any given phone numbers that should be fine."
LINK to Full Story What's worse, now that the Supreme Court ruled that illegally obtained evidence can be used against you in a court of law, there is no reason for our Law Enforcement agencies to follow the law in obtaining evidence.
That whooshing sound you hear is our Bill of Rights deflating as our Civil Rights escape into thin air.
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Hey Zell - is this what you meant by spitballs?
posted by Clyde
11:56 AMDespite failure after failure - US makes missile defense system operational
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid concerns over an expected North Korean missile launch, the United States has moved its ground-based interceptor missile defense system from test mode to operational, a U.S. defense official said on Tuesday.
Missile defence shield test fails
The first test in almost two years of the planned multi-billion dollar US anti-missile shield has failed.
The Pentagon said an interceptor missile did not take off and was automatically shut down on its launch pad in the central Pacific.
A target missile carrying a mock warhead had been fired 16 minutes earlier from Kodiak Island in Alaska.
The Pentagon is spending $10bn a year on the missile system, which was meant to be in operation by the end of 2004.
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They See The Light! Corporate Contributions Shift To The Left
posted by Wally
8:05 AMSome Companies See Democrats Having More Sway in Washington After Upcoming Elections
Some big companies are boosting their share of campaign contributions to Democrats this year, a sign that executives may be starting to hedge their political bets after a decade of supporting congressional Republicans.
(snip)
Most companies say they give political donations to candidates who support their businesses, regardless of party affiliation. But corporations also tend to channel funds to politicians they think will hold power. So any shift in corporate campaign giving toward Democrats could signal that businesses believe Democrats will have more sway in Washington after the 2006 midterm elections or the 2008 presidential contest.
(snip)
"The reality is beginning to set in here," says Greg Casey, the head of the Business-Industry Political Action Committee, an organization of businesses dedicated to electing pro-industry candidates. Even if Republicans maintain control of Congress after the November election, their majorities in both chambers are expected to shrink. "What you couldn't get done in 2006 will be much more difficult in 2007," Mr. Casey says.
Mr. Casey's PAC has given 24% of its $18,500 in campaign contributions to Democrats so far in the 2005-2006 election cycle, up from 3.5% to Democrats in the previous election cycle, and the highest level in the 22 years that PoliticalMoneyLine keeps statistics for the group.
Full Story in the Wall Street Journal
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I'm getting really sick of this guy!
posted by Clyde
4:32 AMNew York terror plot said to justify wiretaps
WASHINGTON -- The Chairman of the U.S. Senate intelligence committee said Sunday that reports of a planned cyanide gas attack on the New York subway system showed the need for continued warrantless surveillance of suspected terrorists.
In book excerpts published by Time Magazine this weekend, Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Suskind reported that U.S. intelligence had in 2003 discovered an al-Qaida design for small and easily constructed makeshift device to produce deadly cyanide gas, and separately discovered the group had a plot to use a series of such devices in a coordinated attack on the New York city subway system.
(snip)
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN only that "the intelligence committee is briefed on these kinds of threats. I | | |
