Just So You Know

John McCain: Piece of Shit Hypocrite.

Via BusinessWeek

What the McCain campaign doesn’t want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was...wait for it...using wounded troops as campaign props. So, no matter which way Obama turned, McCain had an Obama bashing ad ready to launch. I guess that’s political hardball. But another word for it is the one word that most politicians are loathe to use about their opponents—a lie.

S.O.S. - Emphasis on O

Ron Paul followers pose danger for McCain in West

Sent from Express News
LAS VEGAS - Dueling delegations pitting Ron Paul's Nevada supporters against those of John McCain vow to take their fight to the Republican National Convention.

That's just one sign that the outsider, Internet-fueled movement led by the feisty Republican congressman from Texas remains afloat in the wake of McCain's victory in the GOP primaries.
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY Associated Press Writer

Political Play: Obama claims link to the Wild West

Sent from Express News
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Barack Obama is claiming a link to the Wild West - Wild Bill Hickok, to be precise.

The Democratic presidential candidate came to this town on the edge of the old West on Wednesday and laid down a challenge for his GOP rival.

The Associated Press

Details sometimes fall away as McCain campaigns

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Details can bedevil any presidential candidate. Republican John McCain announced this week that he backs an anti-affirmative action referendum that has drawn sharp debate in Arizona, his home state. Then he added a curious note: He doesn't know that much about it.

And when McCain was asked earlier this month about insurance coverage for Viagra but not contraceptives, he admitted he wasn't sure about that issue, though he had once voted against requiring coverage for birth-control pills.

By CHARLES BABINGTON Associated Press Writer

Want Some Guns?

Elitist!

via HuffPo

This summer John McCain is traveling in style. He has worn a pair of $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes on every recent campaign stop — from a news conference with the Dalai Lama to a supermarket visit in Bethlehem, PA. The Calfskin loafers, with silver-tone "Gancini" buckles, are imported from Italy.

In response to Barack Obama's foreign tour, McCain spent much of his energy last week emphasizing his focus on domestic issues. What better way to show his American pride than to tour the country in Italian leather?

No Shit

Look, I admit that I can appear to think highly of my opinions and less-so of people who don't have the insight and wisdom to have similar ones ....

But, I have never thought that I really knew anything special about terrorism (outside of a youthful intellectual enthrallment with the IRA).

Turns out, that just a small amount of insight is all that is necessary to reject what statistics show to be the least effective means of stopping lunatics from suiciding all over your/my/our homes and homies.

Rand reports:

Military force was effective in only 7 percent of the cases examined; in most instances, military force is too blunt an instrument to be successful against terrorist groups, although it can be useful for quelling insurgencies in which the terrorist groups are large, well-armed and well-organized, according to researchers. In a number of cases, the groups end because they become splintered, with members joining other groups or forming new factions. Terrorist groups achieved victory in only 10 percent of the cases studied.

Needless to say (but they do anyway) that 'War On Terror' is a self-defeating appelation for Counter Terrorism activities.

The term we use to describe our strategy toward terrorists is important, because it affects what kinds of forces you use," Jones said. "Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests that there is no battlefield solution to terrorism."

Press Hubris

Marc Ambinder puts today's Press Meme in context ... of course ruining it in the process.

SPRINGFIELD, MO -- Writing a Messiah Watch could get me kicked off the bus here, but onward! Dana Milbank teed this up, quoting Obama's boast to Democratic members of Congress:

"I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions," he said.

Slam dunk, right?

Well, actually...I asked the Obama campaign about the quote, and they provided some context that makes this particular utterance more digestible.

"It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol..." Obama said, according to the campaign.

And here's the thing about that.

He's kind of right. Not universally so, and there's real way to know how Iraqis or Jordanians viewed his visit, but if the European elite even marginally reflects or influences the views of Europeans, then a whole lot of them associate Obama with a restoration of American (a) glory or (b) humility, depending on the country. To put it another way, Europeans see Obama as being on the right side of history. Not all of them. But a lot of them.

A few other points:

The Capitol Police and the Secret Service, not the Obama campaign, closed the halls for Obama to pass yesterday. If you're inclined to think Obama presumptuous for this, then John McCain is also on your list; last week in Columbus, the police department there gave him full intersection control during rush hour. Oh, and that was David Cameron to whom Obama "gave some management advice," not to Gordon Brown, although Brown could probably have used it!

Obama says he'll order review of executive orders

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama told House Democrats on Tuesday that as president he would order his attorney general to scour White House executive orders and expunge any that "trample on liberty," several lawmakers said.

Presidents, as head of the executive branch of government, issue such orders to direct operations of executive branch agencies, like the Justice Department and the CIA. For example, President Bush used an executive order last year to breathe new life into the CIA's controversial terror interrogation program that allowed harsh questioning of suspects.
By JESSE J. HOLLAND Associated Press Writer

Support Barry O And Make A Bad Man Morose!

In a New York Times op-ed, Neocon William Kristol appears depressed by the current assumption that Obama has the election in the bag -- but what seems to annoy him most are the "got hope?" bumper stickers adorning even expensive cars in his Washington suburban neighborhood.

"I relapsed into moroseness," Kristol complains, wondering "Are my own neighbors’ lives so bleak that they place their hopes in Barack Obama?" ... "Do they really believe their fellow citizens who happen to prefer McCain are hopeless?"

Get Your Own Bumper Sticker Here And Piss On Bill Kristol

Gallup Now Favoring Everybody

Can Someone Explain This?

USAT/Gallup: McCain Moves Into National Lead

Sen. John McCain moved from being behind by 6 points among "likely" voters a month ago to a 4-point lead over Sen. Barack Obama, 49% to 45%, in the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll.

The poll was taken over the weekend.McCain still trails among the broader universe of "registered" voters, 44% to 47%. This poll is separate from the Gallup Tracking poll which today shows Obama ahead by 8 points among registered voters, 48% to 40%.

There's Some Good In The World

Real Beverages Still Rule

I Heart New York

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Well, I've Been Saying This For, Like, Ever

Kevin Drum confesses:

... I'm watching him in 2008, his desperation for the presidency driving him to conduct a campaign that's carefully but relentlessly testing ever more contemptible depths of squalor in its attacks on Barack Obama ("he made time to go to the gym but cancelled a visit with wounded troops" is just the latest), and I wonder how he's going to feel when it's all over. Not only will he lose the election, but he's going to wake up one morning and realize that he abandoned his dignity in the process. That's obviously something that's important to him, and even for someone who was never much of a fan, it's kind of sad to watch him give it up so readily.

GT12 has thought that McCain was a fool and a phoney since, well, 2000 at least. A man whose 'dignity and honor' was narccissistically defined by what he did, as opposed to defining what he did. A Smeagol turned Gollum without ever even handling the ring.

Hmm....I guess that makes him maybe more of a Sam-Gamgee-turned-Gollum - Even more pathetic

Geez, so pathetic I can find no allusions outside of Lord Of The Rings. That is wicked pathetic.

So, Welcome to the club everybody.

Monica Via Vid

For those of you who don't have time to read, here's MSNBC's coverage of GoodlingGate

More Monica

Via Think Progress

In one disgraceful example, Goodling refused to hire “one of the one of the leading terrorism prosecutors in the country” because his wife was a Democrat:

He was an experienced terrorism prosecutor and had successfully prosecuted a high-profile terrorism case for which he received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service. … The candidate’s wife was a prominent local Democrat elected official and vice-chairman of a local Democratic Party. […]

[Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) Michael] Battle, [EOUSA Deputy Director and Cheif of Staff] Kelly, and EOUSA Deputy Director Nowacki all told us that Goodling refused to allow the candidate to be detailed to EOUSA solely on the basis of his wife’s political party affiliation. Battle said he was very upset that Goodling opposed the detail because of political reasons.

We Are All Obamicans Now

ABC reports:

Two former Bush Advisers Now Advising Obama, Will Appear at Economic Meeting

ABC News has learned that two former administration officials for President George W. Bush will appear with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, at an economic meeting today, having signed up to be Obama economic advisers.

Bush administration veterans former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and former Securities and Exchange Commissioner William Donaldson will join former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, and more traditionally Democratic economic advisers such as former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, billionaire liberal Warren Buffett, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger.

Donaldson's tenure at the SEC was notable for his attempts to work with the Democratic Commissioners, for angering the US Chamber of Commerce and Republican legislators, and for abandoning an effort for shareholder proxy access.
O'Neill, the former CEO of Alcoa, had a stormy tenure as Bush's Treasury Secretary, and revealed his frustrations with the Bush administration -- especially over the war in Iraq, economic policy, and the President's leadership style -- in a book written with Ron Suskind, The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill.
- jpt

GT12's Monica Needs Jail!

Faithful readers know of our particular interest in God-Squader-Psuedo-Lawyer Monica Goodling and her role in the Gonzalez-Bush Assault upon our justice system (GT12 relevant posts can be found here - good[ling]ness! there's a number of them!).

Well, the Office of the Inspector General has issued it's report. This tidbit jumps out quickly

In sum, we concluded that the evidence showed that Goodling violated both federal law and Department policy, and therefore committed misconduct, when she considered political or ideological affiliations in hiring decisions for candidates for career positions within the Department. In particular, the evidence showed that she considered political or ideological affiliations in deciding several waiver requests from interim U.S. Attorneys, in promoting several candidates for career positions, and in disapproving a candidate for an EOUSA career SES position

Implicated in the Report:

former Chief of Staff to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Kyle Sampson; Goodling's predecessor, former White House Liason Jan Williams, and EOUSA Director John Nowacki-- who is still at the department. The report states that Nowacki knew of the politicization of the DOJ but drafted a press statement saying otherwise. Of Sampson, Williams and Goodling the report states:

In sum, the evidence showed that Sampson, Williams, and Goodling violated federal law and Department policy, and Sampson and Goodling committed misconduct, by considering political and ideological affiliations in soliciting and selecting IJs [immigration judges], which are career positions protected by the civil service laws.

Jesus Loves You! And Mickey Does Too!

In England, not just stiff upper lips:

A leading art gallery is being taken to court over claims that it outraged public decency by displaying a statue depicting Christ with an erection.

The sculpture was the most provocative item in an exhibition at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.

Other pieces in the show by the controversial Chinese-born artist Terence Koh included models of Mickey Mouse and ET, also with erections.

...The prosecution has been launched by Emily Mapfuwa, 40, an NHS administrator from Brentwood, Essex, who read about the exhibition in newspapers. ‘I don’t think this gallery would insult Muslims in this way, so why Christians?’ she said.

Father Christopher Warren, of the Roman Catholic cathedral of St Mary’s in Newcastle upon Tyne, said: ‘For Christians the image of Jesus is very special and to interpret it in a sexualised way is an affront to what we hold dear.’

The Baltic said yesterday that it had yet to receive a copy of the summons.

The Stupidity Of McCain - Pt 849

Or is he just a liar?
The LA Times Reports A Study:

The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign.

You read it right: tougher on the Democrat.

During the evening news, the majority of statements from reporters and anchors on all three networks are neutral, the center found. And when network news people ventured opinions in recent weeks, 28% of the statements were positive for Obama and 72% negative.

Network reporting also tilted against McCain, but far less dramatically, with 43% of the statements positive and 57% negative, according to the Washington-based media center.

Missing wife suspect, ex-pal fight in parking lot

Sent from Express News
CHICAGO - A man who says he cooperated with police and wore a wire during conversations with a former police sergeant considered a suspect in his wife's disappearance was charged Friday with battery after shoving Drew Peterson in a barber shop parking lot.

Len Wawczak, a former friend of Peterson's, was charged with misdemeanor battery and released after posting $100 bond.

By DANIEL J. YOVICH Associated Press Writer

Pa. teens charged in fatal beating of immigrant

Sent from Express News
PORT CARBON, Pa. - Three white teens were charged Friday in what officials said was an epithet-filled fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in a small northeast Pennsylvania coal town. Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation in the July 12 attack on Luis Ramirez.

A third teen, Derrick M. Donchak, 18, was charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other offenses. All are from Shenandoah, where the attack occurred.

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press Writer

Mexican military losing drug war support

Sent from Express News
OJINAGA, Mexico - This hardscrabble Mexican border town welcomed 400 soldiers when they arrived four months ago to stop a wave of drug violence that brought daytime gunbattles to its main street.

But then the soldiers themselves turned violent, townspeople say, ransacking homes and even torturing people.

By DAN KEANE Associated Press Writer

Poland says no to DNA testing of Chopin's heart

Sent from Express News
WARSAW, Poland - Like a religious relic, the heart of composer Frederic Chopin rests in a Warsaw church, untouched since it was preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849 at age 39. And that's how the Polish government wants to keep it.

Scientists want to remove the heart for DNA tests to see if Chopin actually died from cystic fibrosis and not tuberculosis as his death certificate stated. But the government says that's not a good reason to disturb the remains of a revered native son.

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press Writer

Wis. Democrats oust delegate over McCain support

Sent from Express News
MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in November.

Embarrassed by a defection in their ranks, the Wisconsin Democratic Party's administrative committee voted 23-0 to strip Debra Bartoshevich of her status as a delegate to the Denver convention next month.

By RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press Writer

Israeli paper publishes Obama Western Wall prayer

Sent from Express News
JERUSALEM - An Israeli newspaper's decision to publish a handwritten prayer left by Barack Obama in the cracks of Jerusalem's Western Wall drew criticism Friday as an invasion of his privacy and his relationship with God.

In the note, placed at Judaism's holiest site Thursday, Obama asks God to guide him and guard his family.

The Associated Press

Analysis: Echoes of Clinton's campaign in race

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - There's something familiar about this stage of the presidential campaign. A candidate running on inevitability. A candidate running on experience. A candidate complaining about a rival's media coverage.

Ah yes, that was Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign model.

BY JIM KUHNHENN Associated Press Writer

NZ students offer reward for Rice arrest

Sent from Express News
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - New Zealand students protesting the Iraq war offered a reward to anyone who carries out a citizen's arrest of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to the country Friday.

The Auckland University Students' Association is seeking Rice's arrest for her role in "overseeing the illegal invasion and continued occupation" of Iraq, Association President David Do said. The group is offering a $3,700 reward.
The Associated Press

2002 Justice memo OKs CIA interrogation tactics

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department in 2002 told the CIA that its interrogators would be safe from prosecution for violations of anti-torture laws if they believed "in good faith" that harsh techniques used to break prisoners' will would not cause "prolonged mental harm."

That heavily censored memo, released Thursday, approved the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques method by method, but warned that if the circumstances changed, interrogators could be running afoul of anti-torture laws.
By PAMELA HESS and LARA JAKES JORDAN Associated Press Writer

Hagel chides candidates on Iraq

Sent from Express News
OMAHA, Neb. - Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, fresh from an Iraq trip with Democrat Barack Obama, said the presidential candidates should focus on the war's future and stop arguing over the success of last year's troop surge.

Hagel mentioned both candidates, but his comments seemed directed at Republican John McCain. McCain, while Obama traveled the Middle East, attacked Obama for opposing the military escalation last year that increased security in Iraq.
By ANNA JO BRATTON Associated Press Writer

He Did It

This is sort of an age test ... as in if you get this, you are sooooooo old. I laughed till I cried.

Hat tip to TxGG

Two! Two! Two Failed Wars In One Place!

The New York Times Asks:

Is Afghanistan a Narco-State?

When we do something wrong, we do it wrong.

Over .... two years I would discover how deeply the Afghan government was involved in protecting the opium trade — by shielding it from American-designed policies. While it is true that Karzai’s Taliban enemies finance themselves from the drug trade, so do many of his supporters. At the same time, some of our NATO allies have resisted the anti-opium offensive, as has our own Defense Department, which tends to see counternarcotics as other people’s business to be settled once the war-fighting is over. The trouble is that the fighting is unlikely to end as long as the Taliban can finance themselves through drugs — and as long as the Kabul government is dependent on opium to sustain its own hold on power

Fox Quest

What happens when a propaganda machine masquerading as a news channel does it's own polling?

Fox News is asking some rather loaded questions in its latest poll:

Have you heard any of your friends and neighbors say there is something about Barack Obama that scares them?

Yes 49% No 50%

Have you heard any of your friends and neighbors say there is something about John McCain that scares them?

Yes 36% No 62%

Some people believe Barack Obama, despite his professed Christianity, is secretly a Muslim. Others say that is just a rumor and Obama really is a Christian as he says, and point out he's attended a Christian church for years. What do you believe -- is Obama a Muslim or a Christian?

Muslim 10% Christian 57%

John McCain was held captive for five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. Do you think that experience would make McCain a better president or a worse president?

Better 49% Worse 11% No Difference (voluntary) 33%

Do you think Barack Obama's trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East is better described as a fact-finding trip or as a campaign event?

Fact-finding 19%Campaign event 47%Both (voluntary) 25%

Viva Tech!

The Gay Peril, Explained To Congress

Dear Readers, that abomination of a sellout by Bill Clinton known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is under review (15 years later)....

But The Dangers Are Still There!

Dana Milbank reports:

[Anti-Gay activist Elaine] Donnelly treated the panel to an extraordinary exhibition of rage. She warned of "transgenders in the military." She warned that lesbians would take pictures of people in the shower. She spoke ominously of gays spreading "HIV positivity" through the ranks.

... [S]he attacked the "San Francisco left who want to impose their agenda on the military."

She spoke of the "devastating" effect gay soldiers would have on the military and said "people who do have religious convictions" would be driven out of the military by the "sexualized atmosphere."

... [She] made a comparison to Sen. Larry Craig's adventure at the Minneapolis airport. She said admitting gays to the military would be "forced cohabitation" and a policy of "relax and enjoy it."

Berlin

“If we’re honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart and forgotten our shared destiny,” Mr. Obama said. “In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe’s role in our security and our future.”

“Both views miss the truth.”

... The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

In Germany, Obama urges joint fight against terror

Sent from Express News
BERLIN - Before an enormous crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.

"The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand," Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city.
By DAVID ESPO and DAVID RISING Associated Press Writers

Must Visit This Site

Slate has developed a great interactive Venn Diagram for all the lawbreaking in the Bush White house.

Very Cool And Very Informative.

Teaser: Guess who's the one guy implicated in each 'orbit'? Yes, that's right, only our chief Law Enforcement Official, Albberto Gonzalez can say he had his hand in every criminal conspiracy.

Go There Now

Vegans Are Trying To Lead Us To Exinction

via BBC

Soy foods 'reduce sperm numbers'

A regular diet of even modest amounts of food containing soy may halve sperm concentrations, suggest scientists.

The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, found 41 million fewer sperm per millilitre of semen after just one portion every two days.

The authors said plant oestrogens in foods such as tofu, soy mince or milk may interfere with hormonal signals.

However, a UK expert stressed that most men in Asia eat more soy-based products with no fertility problems

[of course, none of them are more than 5'6"]

And Then....

Via TPM:

Polls: McCain Coming On Strong In Battleground States
By Eric Kleefeld - July 24, 2008, 11:21AM

Uh, oh. Conventional wisdom holds that McCain's campaign is tanking and has been an all-around disorganized mess, but a new round of polling from Quinnipiac suggests John McCain could be making major headway in key swing states. He's also taken the lead in Colorado, where Barack Obama is making a major play for support.

Here are the latest numbers, compared to Quinnipiac's previous poll from a month ago:

Colorado

McCain (R) 46% (+2)Obama (D) 44% (-5)

Michigan

Obama (D) 46% (-2)McCain (R) 42% (+0)

Minnesota

Obama (D) 46% (-8)McCain (R) 44% (+7)

Wisconsin

Obama (D) 50% (-1)McCain (R) 39% (+0)

Poll: Latinos favor Obama by big margin

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama has opened a big lead among Hispanic voters, winning support from the vast majority of those who had voted for rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries, according to a poll released Thursday.

The national survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center, showed that 66 percent of Hispanic registered voters supported Obama, compared to 23 percent for Republican John McCain. The other 11 percent were undecided.
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press Writer

Like We've Been Saying

Overconfidence, though, can lead to no end of catastrophes though.

Politcal wire picks up:

Not a Toss UpThe Crystal Ball:

"While no election outcome is guaranteed and McCain's prospects could improve over the next three and a half months, virtually all of the evidence that we have reviewed -- historical patterns, structural features of this election cycle, and national and state polls conducted over the last several months -- point to a comfortable Obama/Democratic party victory in November. Trumpeting this race as a toss-up, almost certain to produce another nail-biter finish, distorts the evidence and does a disservice to readers and viewers who rely upon such punditry. Again, maybe conditions will change in McCain's favor, and if they do, they should also be accurately described by the media. But current data do not justify calling this election a toss-up."

Something For Your Fixed News Watching Friends

Olberman Worsts include Bill-O, Joe L and new views on normal levels of violence in America

Just Not Ready On Day One

When it comes to brains Grampy McSame is not a Maverick.

Again, more on the absolute lack of knowledge and wisdom of John McCain.:

How Much Does John McCain Really Know About Foreign Policy?

... It may be time to reassess this narrative's premise [that McCain is an experienced old-hand and Obama naive] —or to abandon it altogether and simply examine the evidence before us. Quite apart from the gaffes, in formal prepared speeches, McCain has proposed certain actions and policies that raise serious questions about his suitability for the highest office. As president, he has said, he would boot Russia out of the G-8 on the grounds that its leaders don't share the West's values. He would form an international "League of Democracy" as a united front against the forces of autocracy and terror. And though it's not exactly a stated policy, he continues to employ as his foreign-policy adviser an outspoken, second-tier neoconservative named Randy Scheunemann, who coined the term "rogue-state rollback" and still prescribes it as sound policy.

Just Always Wrong

Stephen Chapman, a conservative columnist for the hometown Chicago Tribune, pops the McCain Myth:

What McCain omits is that if he himself had been right all the times before 2007 that he said things were going fine, no surge would have been needed. He's like a weatherman who forecasts clear skies every day and, when the rain finally lets up after a week, expects a standing ovation for his accuracy.

If we had done what Obama wanted to do back in 2002, we would not have lost -- because we would not have invaded Iraq to start with. We would not have suffered 4,100 dead and 30,000 wounded or burned through hundreds of billions of dollars.
We also would not have diverted ourselves from the correct focus of the war on terrorism. "Greater problems in Afghanistan and the entire region"? Apparently McCain hasn't noticed that we got those in spite of the surge, or more likely because of it.

The troop escalation has not been the complete failure Obama suggested it would be, but it has fallen far short of the triumph claimed by Republicans. The level of violence, though down from the very worst months of the war, remains at levels comparable to 2005 -- which were considered awful at the time.

All Over But The Shouting

In looking at the recent spoutings of the McCain Camp, Kevin Drum observes:

McCain is pretty obviously doomed this year, and it looks like he's decided that his only slim hope of winning is to wage a brutally negative and misleading campaign and hope for the best. My guess is that this is just a warmup. Yesterday's antics were a taste of much more to come.

Point Taken

In our delight at a McCain skewering, GT12 lost it's intellectual footing. We are rightly ashamed.
Especially when it's a writer from Pat Buchanan's mag that outlines the inconsistencies:

No doubt, there will be a hue and cry about “ageism.” The thing that seems strange to me is that every time someone tries to do a McCain parody of the now-infamous New Yorker cover, they end up denying the intention and context of the satire that they are parodying. There is essentially nothing in this image that is not an exaggeration, or just a representation, of things that are true about John McCain: he is old, his wife once had a problem with prescription drugs, he is closely aligned with George Bush and he does support policies that violate the Constitution. As a caricature, it works quite well. As a parody of an image that is supposed to be mocking absurd claims about the Obamas, it completely fails, because the point of the New Yorker image is supposed to be that everything in it is ludicrous and false and obviously so and, more to the point, it is supposed to be exaggerating the absurd claims to their most extreme form.

Something Different

Ran across this today ....

This is a picture taken by the orbiting Hubble Telescope at a black spot in the sky, covering an area of a grain of sand held arm's length away. Yes, that tiny an area. Yes, at what was "black sky".

The image contains 3000 galaxies. Galaxies. For those that don't remember basic astronomy, a galaxy contains somewhere between 10 million to 1 trillion stars.

And there are 3000 of these galaxies in this picture.

Temper - Ment

Yesterday John McCain said, "I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign."

Sniping and whining is so not, well, Reaganesque.

Joe Klein (who gets everybody to hate him) writes:

I can't remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation. It renews questions about whether McCain has the right temperament for the presidency. How sad ...

There is a reason why politicians who want to be President don't say these sort of things: It isn't presidential ...

McCain should be proud that he helped salvage a disastrous situation by pushing the counterinsurgency plan. It's something to run on. But, at this point, McCain must sense that it's not a winning hand. Obama, the poker player, has drawn to an inside straight: the Iraqis favor his plan over McCain's long-term bases. That must be galling. But it's no excuse to pop off the way McCain did. It was, shockingly, unpresidential.

Outrage?

I Love Vanity Fair

Surge-ery

So, was BHO wrong about the surge? He says 'No' even though violence is down and the Iraqi eaders are leaning toward kicking us out (suggesting some stability in the political structure)

Politcal Animal tackles this:

OBAMA ON THE SURGE....Over at the Corner, Andy McCarthy berates Barack Obama's explanation for the reduction in violence in Iraq ("What you had is a combination of political factors inside of Iraq that then came right at the same time as terrific work by our troops"):

Does Obama think the Sunni Awakening and the Shia militia stand-down are somehow separate developments from the surge and the brilliant performance of American forces? If he really thinks that, it's dumb.

Hmmm. Let's roll the tape:

February 2006: Muqtada al-Sadr orders an end to execution-style killings by Mahdi Army death squads.

August 2006: Sadr announces a broad ceasefire, which he has maintained ever since.

September 2006: The Sunni Awakening begins. Tribal leaders, first in Anbar and later in other provinces, start fighting back against al-Qaeda insurgents.

March 2007: The surge begins.

Say what you will about the surge, which does indeed deserve a share of the credit for reducing violence and increasing security in Baghdad. But it pretty obviously wasn't related to either the Shia militia stand-down or the Sunni Awakening, since both those things began before Petraeus took over in Iraq and before the surge was even a gleam in George Bush's eye. American troops played a role in the Sadr ceasefire and (especially) the Awakening, but the surge itself didn't — and without them, the surge would certainly have failed. Obama has it exactly right.

Whiner!

Johnny Mac thinks the Press (the folks that he once referred to as his 'base') loves BHO too much. So he issues an ad mocking their Obamalove.


the Politico notes that Grampy McSame may not relish the attention, were it given to him:

In truth, and while there are other dynamics going on, the central issue is just sheer volume. There's vastly more public interest in, and coverage of, Obama. His rise is a better, newer, story. That means that McCain's message has been muted; but his missteps are too. He's been able, in particular, to make it this far with a domestic policy agenda whose sheer vagueness wouldn't have made it through the Democratic primary.

Ron Paul's political event moves to larger venue

Chicago '68 for The Reps?

Sent from Express News
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Supporters of maverick Rep. Ron Paul who are organizing a rally as an alternative to the Republican National Convention are moving their crosstown event to a larger venue.

The Rally for the Republic featuring Paul - the Texas conservative failed in his bid to win the GOP nomination for president - is scheduled for Minneapolis' Target Center, home of basketball's Minnesota Timberwolves.
By BRIAN BAKST Associated Press Writer

Obamamania in full flight ahead of tour of Europe

Sent from Express News
BERLIN - Europe is about to give Barack Obama one of the grandest of stages for statesmanship.

In this city where John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton all made famous speeches, Obama will find himself stepping into perhaps another iconic moment Thursday as his superstar charisma meets German adoration live in shadows of the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. He then travels to Paris and London where he can expect to be greeted with similar adulation.
By MATT MOORE and MELISSA EDDY Associated Press Writers

Obama vows to work for Mideast breakthrough

Sent from Express News
AMMAN, Jordan - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday to work for a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations "starting from the minute I'm sworn into office."

In a news conference here before departing for Israel, he said any U.S. involvement in peace talks must recognize not only Israel's security concerns but also the economic hardships facing Palestinians.
BY DAVID ESPO AP Special Correspondent

Tough Enough

TPM reports on Barry's Press Conference in Jordan (the first of his excellent adventure)

Obama's presser in Jordan has now wrapped up, and one thing that was striking is how aggressively -- again -- he moved to appropriate Republican rhetoric about the war on terrorism.

Obama said he'd decided to go to Afghanistan first because it's the "central front in the war on terror," the place "where 9/11 was planned" and where terrorists are "plotting new attacks against the United States."

"We have to succeed in taking the fight to the terrorists," Obama said at another point, calling for a broader policy that defeats terrorists, reduces the spread of nukes, and achieves "true energy security."
As we've noted here before, with John McCain painting Obama's Iraq policies as a "surrender," a central political challenge Obama faces is driving home the message that his national security policies constitute going on offense against global threats. He tried to do precisely that today by appropriating language the GOP uses about Iraq and instead using it to describe Afghanistan, his first stop on the trip.

Time Calls The Election

Time, Via Kos, looks at the subtext for the next four months of Chris Matthews and the rest:

Oh, let's just admit it: John McCain is a long shot. He's got a heroic personal story, and being white has never hurt a presidential candidate, but on paper 2008 just doesn't look like his year. And considering what's happening off paper, it might be time to ask the question the horse-race-loving media are never supposed to ask: Is McCain a no-shot?

Last week, the McCain campaign's case against Barack Obama went something like this: He's irresponsible when it comes to Iraq, naive when it comes to Iran, and a big-government liberal when it comes to the economy. But now Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has more or less endorsed Obama's plan to withdraw from Iraq, forcing McCain to argue that Maliki didn't really mean it, and even the Bush administration has accepted a "time horizon" for withdrawal, if not a precise "timetable."

....

The media will try to preserve the illusion of a toss-up; you'll keep seeing "Obama Leads, But Voters Have Concerns" headlines. But when Democrats are winning blood-red congressional districts in Mississippi and Louisiana, when the Republican president is down to 28 percent, when the economy is tanking and world affairs keep breaking Obama's way, it shouldn't be heresy to recognize that McCain needs an improbable series of breaks. Analysts get paid to analyze, and cable news has airtime to fill, so pundits have an incentive to make politics seem complicated. In the end, though, it's usually pretty simple. Everyone seems to agree that 2008 is a change election. Which of these guys looks like change?

Darkest Sideman

Bob Herbert spends his column talking about Jane Mayer's book. Hopefully This book will lead to incarceration of David Addington. We find it hard to avoid the word Himmler......

Very few voters are aware of Mr. Addington’s existence, much less what he stands for. But he was the legal linchpin of the administration’s Marquis de Sade approach to battling terrorism. In the view of Mr. Addington and his acolytes, anything and everything that the president authorized in the fight against terror — regardless of what the Constitution or Congress or the Geneva Conventions might say — was all right. That included torture, rendition, warrantless wiretapping, the suspension of habeas corpus, you name it.

... To get a sense of the heights of madness scaled in this anything-goes atmosphere, consider a brainstorming meeting held by military officials at Guantánamo. Ms. Mayer said the meeting was called to come up with ways to crack through the resistance of detainees.

“One source of ideas,” she wrote, “was the popular television show ‘24.’ On that show as Ms. Mayer noted, “torture always worked. It saved America on a weekly basis.”

I felt as if I was in Never-Never Land as I read: “In conversation with British human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, the top military lawyer in Guantánamo, Diane Beaver, said quite earnestly that Jack Bauer ‘gave people lots of ideas’ as they sought for interrogation models.”

AP IMPACT: Big Oil profits steered to investors

Sent from Express News
HOUSTON - As giant oil companies like Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips get set to report what will probably be another round of eye-popping quarterly profits, just where is all that money going?

The companies insist they're trying to find new oil that might help bring down gas prices, but the money they spend on exploration is nothing compared with what they spend on stock buybacks and dividends.
By JOHN PORRETTO AP Business Writer

It's the law: No sagging pants in Chicago suburb

Sent from Express News
LYNWOOD, Ill. - Be careful if you have saggy pants in the south Chicago suburb of Lynwood. Village leaders have passed an ordinance that would levy $25 fines against anyone showing three inches or more of their underwear in public.

Eugene Williams is the mayor of Lynwood. He says young men walk around town half-dressed, keeping major retailers and economic development away. He calls the new law a hot topic.
The Associated Press

Obama in Iraq: Withdrawal support but no timetable

Sent from Express News
BAGHDAD - Face to face with Iraq's leaders, Barack Obama gained fresh support Monday for the idea of pulling all U.S. combat forces from the war zone by 2010. But the Iraqis stopped short of actual timetables or endorsement of Obama's pledge to withdraw troops within 16 months if he wins the presidency.

The Democratic presidential contender also got a military briefing - and a helicopter tour - from the top U.S. commander in the region, Gen. David Petraeus, and also met with a few of the nearly 150,000 U.S. troops now well into the war's sixth year.
By BRIAN MURPHY and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press Writers

McCain adviser lobbied for Stephen Payne

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - A top foreign policy adviser to John McCain has lobbied the National Security Council, Congress and the State Department on behalf of Stephen Payne, the Texas businessman and longtime Republican fundraiser caught up in a controversy over whether he sought to sell access to the Bush White House.

According to records on file with Congress, McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann lobbied the Senate and House on behalf of Payne's firm, Worldwide Strategic Partners Inc., in 2002.
By PETE YOST Associated Press Writer

McCain: Doomed?

Possibly the real reason that HRC held on so long ...

via The Financial Times:

Alan Abramowitz, a politics scholar at Emory University, has shown that summer head-to-head polls convey almost no information about the forthcoming election. (Subsequent head-to-head polls are not much better.) Instead, he has a simple “electoral barometer” that weighs together the approval rating of the incumbent president, the economy’s economic growth rate and whether the president’s party has controlled the White House for two terms (the “time for a change” factor). This laughably simple metric has correctly forecast the winner of the popular vote in 14 out of 15 postwar presidential elections.

The only exception is 1968, when the barometer (calibrated to range between +100 and –100) gave Hubert Humphrey a wafer-thin advantage of +2; he lost, with a popular vote deficit of less than 1 percentage point. The barometer not only picks winners but pretty accurately points to winning margins, too. In 1980, Jimmy Carter had the biggest postwar negative reading (–66); Ronald Reagan beat him by nearly 10 percentage points.

President George W. Bush’s net approval rating (favourable minus unfavourable) is currently –40; the economy grew at a 1 per cent annual rate in the first quarter; and Republicans have had two terms in the White House. Plugging the numbers into Mr Abramowitz’s formula gives the Republican candidate a score of –60, about as bad as it gets: second only to Mr Carter’s in the annals of doomed postwar candidacies. The barometer says Mr Obama is going to waltz to victory.

Please Explain

Grampy McSame AGAIN shows that his superior experience and understanding of foreign affairs does not seem to include any real knowledge of the foreign world:

Democrats point out that McCain misspoke on ABC's Good Morning America, as he talked about the problems on the "Iraq-Pakistan border." He probably meant to say the Afghanistan-Pakistan border as they were talking about Afghanistan and there is no Iraq-Pakistan border.

McCain was asked if he agrees that the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent. To that, he said, "Well I think it's very serious...I don't know the exact vocabulary, but it's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."

McCain has made other mistakes on the region, including confusing Sunni with Shia and on more than one occasion stating incorrectly that Al Qaeda was getting help from Iran.

Even Bill Kristol Can Find Some New Outrage To Create

John McCain? Not so creative (via Wonkette):

Stylish wordsmith Barack Obama had an op-ed in the New York Times last week, which is kind of a big deal. He could be the next David Brooks or Bill Kristol or even Maureen Dowd! So then Grampa Walnuts McCain was all, “Argghhh, I should get a column in the New York Times, I was tortured,” so the Times is all, “Okay, submit one, we guess?”

According to Drudge:

or where-ever he got this from, Op-Ed editor David Shipley cold rejected McCain’s submission because, instead of being an op-ed for the NYT, was just some rehashed campaign talking points against Obama.

Drudge reports: 'The Obama piece worked for me because it offered new information (it appeared before his speech); while Senator Obama discussed Senator McCain, he also went into detail about his own plans.'

Shipley continues: 'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq.'

Lincoln Died In Vain

Rice told embassies to limit aid for Obama, McCain

A Klass Act As Always

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - On the eve of Democrat Barack Obama's overseas tour, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told employees at U.S. embassies to provide only minimal help to visiting presidential candidates.

The orders went to all overseas posts and tell government employees not to do anything that might show favoritism or amount to improper campaign activity. A spokesman said the State Department issued similar orders ahead of presumed Republican nominee John McCain's similar overseas tour four months ago, but limited the communication to embassies in countries the Republican planned to visit.
By ANNE GEARAN AP Diplomatic Writer

Pur Her On Your Friend List Johnny

Old girls can learn new tricks:

If Sen. John McCain is really serious about becoming a Web-savvy citizen, perhaps Kathryn Robinson can help. Robinson is now 106 — that's 35 years older than McCain — and she began using the Internet at 98, at the Barclay Friends home in West Chester, Pa., where she lives. "I started to learn because I wanted to e-mail my family," she says — in an e-mail message, naturally.

Crickets Chirping, Right or Wrong

Rik Hertzberg evaluates his employers controversial cover:

In view of the fact that many thousands of intelligent people—people who agree with the image’s intended point—have reacted to it with rage or sadness, I don’t see how it can be denied that the satiric exercise must be considered, shall we say, somewhat less than completely successful.

He's Just Speeches

McCain that is .... and they're not even good!

Hilzoy compares the availability of Senator 'just-beautiful-speeches' Obama policy info versus that of Senator 'Experience-&-Knowledge' McCain:

Here's a list of issues that Obama has a page on and McCain doesn't: Civil Rights, Disabilities, Faith, Family, Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, Poverty, Service, Seniors and Social Security, Technology, Urban Policy, Women. That's a pretty striking list. Moreover, he has a page called 'Additional Issues' with links to plans on Arts, Child Advocacy, Katrina, Science, Sportsmen, and Transportation. Of these, only Sportsmen has a counterpart on McCain's site. Finally, under 'People', you can find separate policy pages on issues relevant to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (one-pagers in six languages, a longer version in English), First Americans, Labor, Latinos, and LGBT.

That's twenty five issues that Obama gives a page to and McCain does not. And some of them are pretty striking: Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, and Poverty are surprising absences in one way; Faith, Family, and Service in another.

... [There]are three issues that McCain gives a page to and Obama does not.

Moreover, Obama's pages are a lot more detailed than McCain's, and they usually contain links to both to pdfs that are even more detailed and to speeches Obama has given on the topic in question. Almost none of McCain's do.

Time Horizon For Sanity

Fareed Zakaria looks at the Obama foreign Policy Vision:

The rap on Barack Obama, at least in the realm of foreign policy, has been that he is a softheaded idealist ... liberal dreamer who wishes away the world's dangers ... [whose] willingness to meet with tyrants [is] naive ... [and] is in for a rude awakening

These critiques, however, are off the mark. Over the course of the campaign against Hillary Clinton and now McCain, Obama has elaborated more and more the ideas that would undergird his foreign policy as president. What emerges is a world view that is far from that of a typical liberal, much closer to that of a traditional realist. It is interesting to note that, at least in terms of the historical schools of foreign policy, Obama seems to be the cool conservative and McCain the exuberant idealist.

Obama rarely speaks in the moralistic tones of the current Bush administration. He doesn't divide the world into good and evil even when speaking about terrorism. He sees countries and even extremist groups as complex, motivated by power, greed and fear as much as by pure ideology. His interest in diplomacy seems motivated by the sense that one can probe, learn and possibly divide and influence countries and movements precisely because they are not monoliths. When speaking to me about Islamic extremism, for example, he repeatedly emphasized the diversity within the Islamic world, speaking of Arabs, Persians, Africans, Southeast Asians, Shiites and Sunnis, all of whom have their own interests and agendas.

League of Conservation Voters to endorse Obama

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - In an election all about change, environmental groups are doing the usual - endorsing the Democratic presidential candidate.

The League of Conservation Voters will become the latest green group to back Democrat Barack Obama in five separate events across the country Monday. Its pick shouldn't be a surprise. Its scorecard of votes on environmental issues for the first session of the current Congress gave Obama a score of 67 and Republican John McCain a zero. The Arizona senator did not show up for any of the votes the group scored.
By DINA CAPPIELLO Associated Press Writer

Obama begins firsthand look at Baghdad

Sent from Express News
BAGHDAD - Barack Obama began Monday his first on-the-ground inspection of Iraq since launching his bid for the White House, with U.S. commanders ready to brief him on progress in a war he long opposed and Iraqi leaders wanting more details of his proposals for troop withdrawals.

His stops in Baghdad - and other areas of the country - marked the second major leg of a war zone tour that opened in Afghanistan. The contrasts in tone and message were distinct.
By BRIAN MURPHY Associated Press Writer

Let Us Again Speak Ill Of The Dead

Mr G Baker, who has been helping our monitoring of the internets while GT12 Center prepares for tonight's Summer Confab and Obama Rally, sends us this. We thank him and love him.

From A Vast Conspiracy by Jeffery Toobin

When Aldrich's book (Unlimited Access) was published in the summer of 1996, (Linda) Tripp had already been gone from the White House for almost two years. But the former secretary couldn't resist investigating whether she, too, might cash in the same way. She told her idea to Tony Snow, a journalist who had served with her in the Bush White House. Snow said Tripp needed a literary agent. "You ought to talk to Lucianne Goldberg," Snow said.

Analysis: Accord may blur disputes over Iraq war

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - A new U.S.-Iraqi agreement raising the possibility of a withdrawal timeline threatens to complicate the war policies of presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.

It bolsters Obama's call for a quick exit but also could undercut one of the Democrat's signature issues - opposition to the war - as he prepares for a high-stakes trip to the region. It leaves McCain caught between his objections to any timetable and the evolving wishes the Republican president he hopes to succeed.

By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writer

Obama visits Afghanistan to tour war zone

Sent from Express News
KABUL, Afghanistan - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama started a campaign-season tour of combat zones and foreign capitals, visiting with U.S. forces in Kuwait and then Afghanistan - the scene of a war he says deserves more attention and more troops.

The Illinois senator arrived Saturday in Kabul as part of an official congressional delegation and then flew to eastern Afghanistan. Staff. Sgt. David Hopkins said Obama and two other senators were making a brief stop in Jalalabad airfield, in Nangarhar province, to visit with soldiers stationed there.

By NAHAL TOOSI Associated Press Writer

Self-Indulgent Cranky Non-sequitor Blog Post Of The Week

Saw the Simpsons movie on the cable.

It's not that good

Ah Texas, Home of The Republican Brand

You could buy this at Texas' State Republican Convention.
Klassy Ain't They?

Many ills found at Chicago jail, nation's biggest

Sent from Express News
CHICAGO - A federal investigation of the nation's largest single-site county jail has uncovered serious sanitation and medical care problems, as well as violence against prisoners who clashed with guards or failed to follow commands, officials said.

Among the problems cited in the 98-page report: Old or mentally ill inmates struck by guards for dressing too slowly; inmates burning milk cartons to heat food in their cells; and prisoners rigging a dumbwaiter to move homemade weapons.
By MIKE ROBINSON Associated Press Writer

Poll: McCain backers' excitement lags Obama voters

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - John McCain is facing an excitement deficit. While overall interest in the presidential campaign has swelled since last fall, backers of Barack Obama are more fired up and express more loyalty to their candidate than McCain's do, a poll by The Associated Press and Yahoo News showed Friday. In addition, individual groups backing Obama - African-Americans, Democrats and liberals - are more enthusiastic than whites, Republicans and conservatives, who are more aligned with McCain, the GOP senator from Arizona.

Obama faces hurdles of his own. The poll shows lagging fervor for the Democratic senator from Illinois by supporters of his vanquished rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. And there are lots of dispirited and undecided independents, who are expected to be pivotal on Election Day, now less then four months off.
By ALAN FRAM Associated Press Writer

McCain gets Social Security but criticizes system

Sent from Express News
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Although Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called Social Security "a disgrace," he still cashes his own retirement check every month.

"I'm receiving the benefits, the system is broken and, unfortunately, my children and grandchildren, according to the trustees of the Social Security system, will not have the same benefits the present retirees have," McCain told reporters Thursday on his campaign bus.
By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press Writer

DNC sets up independent operation to help Obama

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee plans to target Republican John McCain and help Democrat Barack Obama with an independent ad campaign run by veteran Democratic strategist Jonathan Prince, Democrats familiar with the decision said Thursday.

By law, the effort would be prohibited from coordinating with either Obama's presidential campaign or with the DNC. The ads would be financed with party money, however.
By JIM KUHNHENN Associated Press Writer

Not Visualizing The Goal

McCain, today:

Could I mention the presence of my friend Congressman Steve Pearce who I believe will be joining me in the United States Senate.

Clearly, not even he sees himself becoming President.

Stop! Stop! Stop! Who Cares? What Does It Matter?

Oprah Doesn't Like It. Mr TW of China Doesn't either. I don't like white folks doing it.

But, why is Jesse Jackson using the N-word so goddammed important?

I know Fox news (esp Bill-O) has a whole thing about him and that he is the face that white America looks to for justification of many a racist thought or feeling.

But Jeezus-Keee-Rist-On-A-Cracker, enough with the old has-been.

A black guy wants to call a black guy 'N*****' what have I go to say about it?

About as much as most of you have to complain about me using the word Faggot.

Anyway..... MSNBC has of course jumped on this....

CHICAGO - The Rev. Jesse Jackson used an emotionally charged racial slur during a break in a TV interview in which he criticized presidential candidate Barack Obama, Fox News confirmed Wednesday.

The longtime civil rights leader already came under fire this month for crude off-air comments he made against Obama in what he thought was a private conversation during a taping of a "Fox & Friends" news show. In those comments, he contended that Obama wasn't speaking to issues important to the black community and unaware that his microphone was still on, he said, "I want to cut his nuts off."

In additional comments from that same conversation, first reported by TVNewser, the African-American leader is reported to have said Obama was "talking down to black people," and referred to blacks with a slur commonly referred to as the N-word when he said Obama was telling them "how to behave."

They're trying to drive the last people in the country who care about politics (without being paid to care)back into the sweet sweet arms of drugs, booze and TBS aren't they?

Die Fu(h)rer

CatsWhoLookLikeHitler.com

Why I Don't Care

GT12 spent a lot of time 'Rock & Roll [ing] With Hudepohl' back in '76

Belgians Buying Bud!

Good. Belgians know how to make beer. Bud knows how to make money.

Salon explores the history of this triumph of American Lowest Common Denominator:

From its very inception, Budweiser was a triumph of marketing over quality. Adolphus Busch, the dynasty's founder, called his beer "dot schlop" and drank wine instead. During taste tests, St. Louis drinkers spat it back over the bar. But if the Busches didn't believe in their product, they believed in their business plan. Adolphus bought licenses for tavern keepers and paid their rent. In exchange, they served Budweiser. On one of his frequent visits to Europe, he learned about pasteurization. That, and a fleet of refrigerated railcars, kept the beer fresh on cross-country shipments, allowing Bud to break out of St. Louis.

Imagine the Budweiser Clydesdale team on a cross-country rampage, with a decrepit, tipsy August A. Busch Jr. strapped to the lead horse, wearing a bright red St. Louis Cardinals cowboy hat. Starting on the West Coast, platter-hoofed horses trample a can of Blitz-Weinhard, spewing suds all over the streets of Portland, Ore. Moving south to San Francisco, they stamp on bottles of Lucky Lager. In their hometown of St. Louis, they crash through the wall of a Griesedieck Bros. brewery, rolling hundreds of barrels into the Mississippi. They're seen next in Cincinnati, kicking a Hudepohl taster to death. The Clydesdales' tour of destruction ends in Brooklyn, N.Y., where Busch orders them to urinate in a vat of Piels, cackling that no one will be able to tell the difference.

Barenaked Ladies singer arrested on drug charges

But they're such nice guys!

Sent from Express Movies
FAYETTEVILLE, N.Y. - Barenaked Ladies singer and guitarist Steven Page faces a cocaine possession charge after his arrest while visiting two woman at their suburban Syracuse apartment.

Page, 38, of Toronto, was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison, Manlius police Capt. Bill Bleyle said Wednesday.

By WILLIAM KATES Associated Press Writer

Stones keyboardist Leavell jams with House members

Sent from Express Movies
WASHINGTON - The congressman-lead singer had a question for the guest keyboardist at the all-congressional band gig Wednesday night.

"You know 'Brown Sugar'"? asked Rep. Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat.

By FREDERIC J. FROMMER Associated Press Writer

Rolling Stone guitarist Ronnie Wood enters rehab

As Mr G Baker says: You could see this coming....

Sent from Express Movies
LONDON - Ronnie Wood entered a rehabilitation facility Wednesday for help with alcoholism, said a spokeswoman for the Rolling Stones guitarist.

"Following Ronnie's continued battle with alcohol he has entered a period of rehab," the spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity as required by her agency. "His close family and friends say he is seeking help and look forward to his recovery."

By GREGORY KATZ Associated Press Writer

US judge to consider blocking 1st Guantanamo trial

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - A federal judge is considering whether to block the first Guantanamo Bay war crimes trial from beginning next week. If he does, it could throw another kink into the Bush administration's legal strategy in the war on terrorism.

Salim Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, is scheduled to go on trial Monday as the first defendant in a special military commission system set up to prosecute detainees at the Navy base in Cuba. Other detainees, including alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, are awaiting trials of their own.

By MATT APUZZO Associated Press Writer

Obama campaign raised $52 million in June

So much for the whispers of anemic returns....

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign says it raised $52 million last month.

The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee ended the month of June with a combined total of nearly $72 million in the bank.

The Associated Press

JibJab Time

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Potential veeps joining Obama for security talk

Sent from Express News
CHICAGO - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called on two potential running mates and a host of foreign policy experts Wednesday as he pushed his agenda for Iraq and his views for U.S. foreign policy elsewhere.

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., were scheduled to join Obama for a national security roundtable at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
By GLEN JOHNSON Associated Press Writer

McCain assailed for opposing adoptions by gays

Sent from Express News
NEW YORK - Advocates for gay and lesbian parents are denouncing Sen. John McCain, an adoptive father himself, for opposing adoptions by gays, which prompted his presidential campaign to clarify Tuesday that he does not seek a federal ban on the practice.

Only one state, Florida, outlaws adoptions by gays, which have become commonplace in much of the nation.
By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer

Assholes

I soooo fucking hate Florida

billboard on display in Orange County, Florida shows the World Trade Center towers burning while telling passers-by: “Please Don’t Vote for a Democrat.” The local ABC News affiliate reports that the person responsible is a local musician “trying to help Republicans” but that “officials with both political parties are calling the billboard inappropriate.”

How He's Gonna Do It

From 538:

Shock and Awe, Paid Organizer Version

Amid on the ground reports that McCain is outspending Obama on the air at least 2-1 in places like Missouri, we learn that Obama’s team is betting on a different strategy – overwhelming ground organization early and often.

In Missouri, Obama will have 150 paid organizers and maintain a 12-1 paid organizer edge in my native state. Show-me, indeed. In Michigan, Obama will put an unprecedented 150 field organizers on the ground. In Ohio, why not go for 300 field organizers? That sounds like a nice, absurdly large, round number.

This is the campaign equivalent of invasion with overwhelming force. In the coming days, we should be hearing more reports like these from other battlegrounds (here's Iowa, for example), giving us a clearer and clearer picture of each campaign’s voter contact strategy.

Already, however, Marc Ambinder has pointed out that:

The polls don't account for the force multiplier effect that Obama's campaign will almost certainly bring to bear with its millions of volunteers and thousands of paid staffers. Whether that effect is 1.01, 1.05 or even 1.3 -- we don't know yet. But even the McCain campaign acknowledges its existence.

Continue Reading and find out why this is so important.

"They were killing me. I had to tell them something."

Terror begets terror which has probably begotten terror in Jane Mayer's exploration of the Bush War On Terror (really David Addington and Dick Cheney's war on non-presidential power).

The above quote was offered as explanantion by Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi. Chief of an al-Qaida training camp and the source of much of our 'justification' for invading Iraq, for his tales of WMD's-on-the-March.

We Leave you with the closing graph of Salon's review of Jane Mayer's 'The Dark Side'.

Consider this if you have no problems morally with torture...

A former MI5 security officer believes the United States is falling into the same trap as 1970s Great Britain: "They violated people's civil liberties, and it did nothing but radicalize the entire population." To see how that plays out over time, look no further than al-Qaida itself, which, as Lawrence Wright's "The Looming Tower" argues, was born not in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan but in Nasser's prisons. There, thanks to a steady diet of torture, Islamic extremists metastasized into Islamic terrorists. After reading "The Dark Side," one can only ask: What rough beast is slouching from Guantánamo, waiting to be born?

Homerun!

This Quote

“a portrait of a man slowly losing what’s left of his mind after eight years of exhaustion and failure.”

About This Performance

Imagine

BHO, 2Day

Imagine, for a moment, what we could have done in those days, and months, and years after 9/11.

We could have deployed the full force of American power to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and all of the terrorists responsible for 9/11, while supporting real security in Afghanistan.

We could have secured loose nuclear materials around the world, and updated a 20th century non-proliferation framework to meet the challenges of the 21st.

We could have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in alternative sources of energy to grow our economy, save our planet, and end the tyranny of oil.

We could have strengthened old alliances, formed new partnerships, and renewed international institutions to advance peace and prosperity.

We could have called on a new generation to step into the strong currents of history, and to serve their country as troops and teachers, Peace Corps volunteers and police officers.

We could have secured our homeland--investing in sophisticated new protection for our ports, our trains and our power plants.

We could have rebuilt our roads and bridges, laid down new rail and broadband and electricity systems, and made college affordable for every American to strengthen our ability to compete.

We could have done that.

Instead, we have lost thousands of American lives, spent nearly a trillion dollars, alienated allies and neglected emerging threats - all in the cause of fighting a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

Our men and women in uniform have accomplished every mission we have given them. What's missing in our debate about Iraq - what has been missing since before the war began - is a discussion of the strategic consequences of Iraq and its dominance of our foreign policy. This war distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize. This war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st century. By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe.

A Woman Of the People

GT12 wonders how Mr Dan's parents can survive in AZ without adequate transportation...

'In Arizona, the only way to get around the state is by small private plane," - Cindy McCain. So she bought her own plane, of course. With money she inherited.

For What It's Worth

Quinnipiac: Obama Opens Lead Nationally
"With commanding leads among women and young voters and near unanimous support from black voters," Sen. Barack Obama has a 50% to 41% lead over Sen. John McCain, according to a new Quinnipiac poll of likely voters released today.

Independent voters split 44% to 44%. McCain has a slight 47% to 44% edge among men voters and a larger 49% to 42% lead among white voters. But black voters back Obama 94% to 1%, while women support him 55% to 36%.

Interesting: Obama gets 44% to McCain's 47% in red states, which went Republican by more than 5 percent in 2004, and leads 50% to 39% in purple or swing states.

Wholesale prices soar in June; Sales are sluggish

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - The economy showed the depth of its twin problems on Tuesday, slow growth and rising inflation, as the nation wrestled with a teetering financial system, a slumping dollar and rising prices for food and fuel.

The Labor Department reported that soaring costs for gasoline and food pushed inflation at the wholesale level up by a bigger-than-expected 1.8 percent in June, leaving inflation rising over the past year at the fastest pace in more than a quarter-century.

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer

Gitmo video offers glimpse of interrogations

Sent from Express News
TORONTO - A 16-year-old captured in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo Bay sobs during his questioning, holding up his wounded arms and begging for help in a video released Tuesday that provided the first glimpse of interrogations at the U.S. military prison.

"Help me," he cries repeatedly in despair.

By CHARMAINE NORONHA Associated Press Writer