How We Are Spending The Weekend

Ohio man arrested for mowing unkempt grass at park

Sent from Express News
SANDUSKY, Ohio - An Ohio man arrested for mowing unkempt grass at a public park said he just wanted to make his city look nice. John Hamilton said he took control of the situation because the grass in Sandusky's Central Park was about a foot high. According to a police report, a witness said Hamilton was blowing grass onto the sidewalk and shredding trash in the park that had not been picked up.

Police said they arrested 48-year-old Hamilton after he refused to stop mowing and charged him with obstructing official business and disorderly conduct.
The Associated Press

Phil Spector gets 19 years to life in murder case

Sent from Express News
LOS ANGELES - Phil Spector was sentenced Friday to 19 years to life in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, who was shot through the mouth in the music producer's home six years ago. Spector, 69, looked straight forward and showed no emotion as Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler ordered a term of 15 years to life for second-degree murder plus four years for personal use of a gun.

Clarkson's mother, Donna, made a brief statement before sentencing, speaking of her daughter's fine qualities, sense of humor, intelligence and dedication to her craft of acting.
By LINDA DEUTSCH AP Special Correspondent

Heartland

GT12 journeys to Columbus Ohio today. When last we were there, in September, McCain signs outnumbered Obama signs. Will we get to experience the bracing racism that Judge Sonia is provoking? Will Barry have made things better? We'll see.

We will try to post a few observation pieces but follow the twitter posts at the right for real time comments and, of course, Twitpics!

Openly gay teen voted prom queen at LA high school

Fierce!

Sent from Express News
LOS ANGELES - An openly gay teen has been voted prom queen at his Los Angeles high school in a campaign that began as a stunt but ended up spurring discussion on the campus about gender roles and popularity.

Sergio Garcia said he felt "invincible" when he was crowned queen of the Fairfax High School dance at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Saturday.
The Associated Press

Video You Never Thought That You'd See

Gillette misses no opportunities:

VERY Bad

And we all thought that his silence was bad ...

"I would put these first four months up against any prior administration since F.D.R," Mr. Obama said. Later, he added: "I'm confident in the future, but I'm not yet content."

A gaggle of sign-waving [LGBT] protestors milled around outside The Beverly Hilton, the sprawling hotel on Wilshire Boulevard.

They must have caught the president's eye when he arrived at the hotel from an earlier stop in Las Vegas because he relayed one of their messages to the crowd.

"One of them said, "Obama keep your promise,' " the president said. "I thought that's fair. I don't know which promise he was talking about."

The people in the audience - who paid $30,400 per couple to attend - laughed as they ate a dinner of roasted tenderloin, grilled organic chicken and sun choke rosemary mashed potatoes.

How about this promise?

Highlights Truth

Personally, I always saw Gallant as an insufferable suck-up

Oh?

Name the Speaker:

I tried to provide a little picture of who I am as a human being and how my background and my experiences have shaped me and brought me to this point. … And that’s why I went into that in my opening statement. Because when a case comes before me involving, let’s say, someone who is an immigrant — and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases — I can’t help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn’t that long ago when they were in that position. [...]

And that goes down the line. When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.

Roland Shows His Stuff

Which is not saying much at all.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

You are in big trouble when you claim your innocence by saying "Hey, I was Lying!"

Episcopal Church ousts 61 clergy in bishop dispute

Sent from Express News
FRESNO, Calif. - National leaders of the Episcopal Church have ousted 61 clergy who aligned with a former bishop in California when he broke with the national church in a dispute over the Bible and homosexuality.

Former Bishop John-David Schofield led the Diocese of San Joaquin to become the first full diocese to secede from the U.S. denomination in 2007. Four years earlier, Episcopalians consecrated their first openly gay bishop, setting off a wide-ranging debate within the church and upsetting conservative congregations.
By GARANCE BURKE Associated Press Writer

Pa. mom who reported being abducted faces charges

Sent from Express News
PHILADELPHIA - A suburban mother tracked to Disney World after claiming she and her young daughter had been abducted by two black men and stuffed into a car trunk will be extradited from Florida and charged with making false reports and identity theft, a prosecutor said.

Bonnie Sweeten and her daughter, Julia Rakoczy, were taken into custody Wednesday night at the Grand Floridian Hotel in Orlando, Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry said.
By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press Writer

Helm's OT goal puts Red Wings back in Cup finals

Dad would be pleased.

Sent from Express News
DETROIT - Darren Helm and Dan Cleary are far from marquee players for the Detroit Red Wings. The banged-up Red Wings, playing without stars Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, needed Helm and Cleary to eliminate the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals Wednesday night.

Helm scored 3:58 into overtime, and Cleary had a goal in the third period in the defending champion Red Wings' 2-1 victory over Chicago that set up a Stanley Cup finals rematch with Pittsburgh.
By LARRY LAGE AP Sports Writer

Lawyer seeks trimmed prison time for Phil Spector

Sent from Express News
LOS ANGELES - A lawyer for Phil Spector said in a court document filed Wednesday that the music producer maintains he did not kill actress Lana Clarkson and is not responsible for her death.

Attorney Doron Weinberg wrote in a memorandum to the sentencing judge, however, that Spector's prison sentence on a second-degree murder conviction should be 18 years to life in prison.
By LINDA DEUTSCH AP Special Correspondent

Cloud from Illinois continues to hang over Burris

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Sen. Roland Burris wants to be known for his work on Capitol Hill. But once again he's finding it hard to escape the cloud that followed him to the Senate.

Tainted from the day he was appointed, Burris on Wednesday denied new allegations of a pay-to-play scheme as newly revealed wiretaps showed him begging for his Senate seat and offering to donate to the campaign of Rod Blagojevich, later ousted as governor of Illinois.
By HENRY C. JACKSON Associated Press Writer

Republicans Issue Special SNL Video

I mean, how else do you explain this?

Does No One on the Right Have A Mirror?

I just keep telling myself : "We won in November. These are the dying calls of a failed generation".

Yglesias voices the frustration:

I am really truly deeply and personally pissed off my the tenor of a lot of the commentary on Sonia Sotomayor. The idea that any time a person with a Spanish last name is tapped for a job, his or her entire lifetime of accomplishments is going to be wiped out in a riptide of bitching and moaning about “identity politics” is not a fun concept for me to contemplated. Qualifications like time at Princeton, Yale Law, and on the Circuit Court that work well for guys with Italian names suddenly don’t work if you have a Spanish name. Heaven forbid someone were to decide that there ought to be at least one Hispanic columnist at a major American newspaper.

Resources

The few things that right will be using against Sotomayor are a reather weak tea:

We've heard a lot about Sotomayor saying that appeals courts are "where policy is made," but this is easily debunked as a controversy. The right was also excited yesterday about this 2001 quote: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion [as a judge] than a white male who hasn't lived that life." But, again, there's even less here than meets the eye.

No More Work Today ...

... if you click here

Why We Fight

Think Marriage Doesn’t Matter? The Government Knows It Does:

Twice, once in 1997, and most recently, in 2004, the United States’ General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report that “identified a total of 1,138 federal statutory provisions classified to the United States Code in which marital status is a factor in determining or receiving benefits, rights, and privileges.” That means there are 1138 benefits, rights, and privileges that gay people are denied simply because they cannot be legally married and have their marriage recognized by the federal government. Yes, that includes gay marriages in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and now, Iowa. Want to know more? Take a look at the report at here, or visit Equality Matters for even more.

Cheap Self-Congratulation

We soooo called this one:

WASHINGTON — President Obama has decided to nominate the federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, choosing a daughter of Puerto Rican parents raised in Bronx public housing projects to become the nation’s first Hispanic justice, officials said Tuesday.

California awaits court's gay marriage decision

Sent from Express News
SAN FRANCISCO - The nation's most populous state stood poised to recapture the spotlight in the debate over gay marriage as California's highest court prepared to rule on the legality of a voter-approved ban on same-sex unions.

The California Supreme Court planned to hand down its decision Tuesday in a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn November's Proposition 8. Gay rights advocates maintain the ballot measure so dramatically revised the state constitution's equal protection clause that it needed the Legislature's approval before it could be put to voters.
By LISA LEFF Associated Press Writer

Billy Joel drummer files NY lawsuit over royalties

Sent from Express News
NEW YORK - A former drummer for Billy Joel claims the Grammy Award-winning singer of hits including "Uptown Girl" and "Movin' Out" has stiffed him out of royalties for years.

Liberty DeVitto has filed a lawsuit in Manhattan's state Supreme Court demanding Joel pay him overdue royalties. The 58-year-old says he was Joel's drummer from 1975 to 2005 and helped the piano man craft some of his biggest albums.

The Associated Press

Mullen: Military to comply if gay ban law changes

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's top military adviser said Sunday the Pentagon has enough challenges - including two wars - without rushing to overturn a decade-old policy that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military and incites political and social factions on both sides.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he is working on an assessment of what - if any - impact overturning "don't ask, don't tell" policies would mean for the military and its culture. In the meantime, the Pentagon plans to follow the existing rules, which say gays and lesbians can serve in the military if they do not disclose their sexuality or engage in homosexual behavior.

The Associated Press

Obama says he's a night owl, working on big issues

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says he's a night owl.

Obama tells C-SPAN in an interview airing Saturday that after he's had dinner with his family and tucked his daughters into bed, he typically stays up until midnight going through a big stack of material he's taken into the White House residence.

The Associated Press

Obama in fresh overture to Cuba on immigration

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - In a fresh overture to Cuba, President Barack Obama is asking the communist government to resume talks on legal immigration of Cubans to the United States.

Obama's proposal would reopen discussions that had been closed off by former President George W. Bush since they were last held in mid-2003. His move comes ahead of the United States' attendance at a high-level meeting early next month of the Organization of American States, where Cuba's possible re-entry into the regional bloc will be discussed.

By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press Writer

Obama committed to moving ahead on health care

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says it's going to be very difficult to push a major health care overhaul through Congress.

But the president says he really thinks "the stars may be aligned" and that a deal can get done if everyone involved works in a spirit of compromise, rather than rigid ideology.

The Associated Press

Elizabeth Taylor tweets from her hospital bed

Well, this be the end of this trend .....

Sent from Express News
LOS ANGELES - Elizabeth Taylor is in the hospital, but she's well enough to communicate on Twitter.

A publicist for the 77-year-old actress says she "entered the hospital for a routine visit and is doing fine."

The Associated Press

"Absolutely Torture"

Morning Zoo-type Local DJ/overcompensating conservative gets hisself waterboarded

“It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,”Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. “It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back…It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture.”

“I wanted to prove it wasn’t torture,” Mancow said. “They cut off our heads, we put water on their face…I got voted to do this but I really thought ‘I’m going to laugh this off.’”

Pink Power

Everybody's favorite military story this Memorial Day

Kinda Sad

It makes me sad when people humiliate themselves to this level, this often.

Ultimately, this is about self-loathing. I am loathe to make such comments, but I was a psychological professional for 20 years, and the level of discomfort this man has with his own, uh, skin is deep and profoundly debilitating.

Like a Homophobic Closet Case. And the Repubs know something about that too. So do ex-seminarians, which Steele also is.

Think Progress:

Steele: Obama ‘Was Not Vetted Because The Press Fell In Love With The Black Man Running For The Office’

Apparently unable to learn from egregious mistakes from the recent past, RNC Chairman Michael Steele once again took to the radio airwaves today as a guest host for Bill Bennett. Earlier this week, Steele declared “an end to the era of Republicans looking backward.”

This morning, however, Steele revisited the 2008 election to insist that President Obama had never been “vetted” because the press “fell in love with the black man”:

STEELE: The problem that we have with this president is that we don’t know [Obama]. He was not vetted, folks. … He was not vetted, because the press fell in love with the black man running for the office. “Oh gee, wouldn’t it be neat to do that? Gee, wouldn’t it make all of our liberal guilt just go away? We can continue to ride around in our limousines and feel so lucky to live in an America with a black president.” Okay that’s wonderful, great scenario, nice backdrop. But what does he stand for? What does he believe? … So we don’t know. We just don’t know.

Remember ... Steele's won only one elective office... and that was as Gubernatorial ticket-mate.

In 2006, when Steele ran for lieutenant governor in Maryland, a Baltimore Sun editorial said that he brought “little to the team but the color of his skin.” Steele slammed the implication as “pure ignorance”:

QUESTION: “Mr. Ehrlich’s running mate, state GOP chairman Michael Steele, brings little to the team but the color of his skin.” Baltimore Sun. … What was your reaction when you read that?

STEELE: Ignorant. It was just pure ignorance. It’s something I had to put up with countless times. … But it was, again, showing a high level of ignorance — ignorance and racism. And call it for what it is. The Baltimore Sun is the Baltimore Sun. I don’t deal with the newspaper. I have nothing to say to the editorial board or –- I barely speak to its reporters, because this is a newspaper that, in my view, has some issues it needs to work out with respect to race.

Earlier this month, also while hosting Bill Bennett’s show, Steele agreed with a caller who declared that Obama “is the Magic Negro.” “Yeah,” Steele replied, laughing. “You read that too, huh?”

Clip O the Day

Man Vs Mouse

Fair Enough

Short Dick

TPM:

11:42 AM ... I think the truest read on Cheney is his cutting and snide anger contrasted with his history of personal cowardice, ducking service in the Vietnam war he himself vociferously supported. Fear and anger are his defining emotions.

What It's All About

If you missed this, you must watch it



Sully

I wish the war could be over. It isn't. More important, I do not want America to be over, and, thanks to this remarkable figure in a terribly divided and difficult time, it isn't. The system which relies on law not men, on decency not barbarism, on democratic balance not autocratic deciderism is the system we are fighting for. It won, as Obama noted, even before the last election when two anti-torture candidates, McCain and Obama, emerged from the pack. But its long-term victory was never assured.

I feel much more confidence now that victory - for both our system and the war against Jihadism - is possible. Civil liberties purists will quibble and fight. Cheney-dead-enders will continue to stoke fear and division. I think this is the right balance - and deserves our vocal and persistent support.

Hope These Gentlemen Are Not Being Radicalized

(Hat Tip Pour Me Coffee)

This is a list of prisoners at ADX Florence, the United States supermax federal prison in Florence, Colorado. This list includes both former and current prisoners:

Abdul Hakim Murad, of al-Qaeda's Operation Bojinka[1]
Accardo Simonelli, gangster from the New Mexico mafia. Hitman with more than 30 counts of murder.
Adolph Reynoso, of the Mexican Mafia
Ahmed Ajaj, of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing[2]
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, Al Qaeda conspirator in several plots, including one to assassinate U.S. President George W. Bush
Ahmed Ressam, of the 2000 millennium attack plots[1]
Alex Aguirre, of the Mexican Mafia
Andrew Fastow, former CFO of Enron
Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, 16802-050, former Underboss turned informant for the Lucchese crime family
Anthony McBayne
Anthony Jones, multiple murderer
Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez, Cuban spy, serving life plus 10 years
Aziz Abdul Mumi
Barry Byron Mills, of the Aryan Brotherhood
Bryan Cook serving a 40-year sentence for carjacking and assault, was stabbed while in the recreation yard
Charles Harrelson, 02582-016, Texan hitman, convicted of murdering federal judge, father of actor Woody Harrelson, died in prison of a heart attack March 15, 2007.[3]
Cornelio Tristan member of Nuestra Familia
Clement Rodney Hampton-El, a.k.a. Dr. Rashid, of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
Dandeny Muñoz Mosquera, chief assassin for Pablo Escobar, responsible for the bombing of Avianca Flight 203
Danny Weeks, for kidnapping two women in the course of escaping from Louisiana Penitentiary at Angola[4][not in citation given]
David Brian Stone was stabbed in the back while in the recreation yard. He was serving a 10-year sentence for firearm possession by a felon
David Lane, 12873-057, white supremacist and racketeer. Died in his sleep 28 May 2007.
David Roland Hinkson convicted in federal court for plotting to kill a federal judge, prosecutor and IRS agent who were involved in a tax case against him.
David Vargas
Douglas Black facing a life sentence for murder in Massachusetts in addition to his federal time a seven-year sentence for assault
Douglas Saxon Taylor leader of the 88 Skinheads
Dwight York, 17911-054, founder of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors serving 135 years for child molestation and racketeering[5]
El Sayyid Nosair, of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[6]
Eric Robert Rudolph, 18282-058, terrorist, committed the Centennial Olympic Park bombing and other bombings[1][7]
Eyad Ismail, 37802-054, of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing[6][8]
Frank Melendez, cocaine dealer from California killed in ADX Florence by Mirssa Araiza-Reyes
Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, Mexican drug lord
Garrett Wade Linderman Linderman had been in another prison for robbery until his cellmate there was found stabbed to death. Linderman wasn't tried for the murder, but they transferred him to the A.D.X.
Gerald Rubalcaba, of the Nuestra Familia
Gregory Scarpa Jr former Colombo Family member
H. Rap Brown 99974-555, former civil rights activist convicted of murdering a Georgia sheriff's deputy (NOTE: Brown is a Georgia state inmate held here because Georgia does not have a suitable facility.)
Hanif Shabazz Bey (Beaumont Gereau) # 295933
Howard "Pappy" Mason 24651-053, drug trafficker who ordered the murder of police officer Eddie Byrne.
Ibrahim Elgabrowny, of the New York City landmark bomb plot
Iyman Faris, also of the NYC landmark plot, sentenced to 20 years in 2003
are James "Tibbs" Morado member of Nuestra Familia
James Curtis Martin was stabbed and strangled last April. He was serving a 95-year sentence for two counts of murder.
James Ujaama, who tried to develop an al-Qaeda camp in Oregon
Jeff Fort, he is currently imprisoned on drug trafficking charges. He is also the only American citizen ever convicted of terrorism for hire.[9]
Joey Estrella, bank robber, killed in ADX Florence by the Sablan cousin's
John Greschner, Aryan Brotherhood
Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez member of the Nuestra Familia
Joseph Wroblewski killed by Shane Patrick Bailey
John Walker Lindh, dubbed "The American Taliban"[10]
Jose Padilla, 20796-424, convicted of aiding terrorists
Joseph Bryant McGee, bank robber
Joseph Anthony Leissler, robber and murderer
Juan Matta-Ballesteros, 37671-133, drug trafficker in the Enrique Camarena case, serving 480 years
Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, participant in the 1998 United States embassy bombings
Kojo Bomani Sababu, aka Grailing Brown convicted of bank robbery, part of the Black Liberation Army
Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff 26301-053, an American drug trafficker and organized crime figure.
Larry Hoover, 86063-024, leader of the Gangster Disciples gang in Chicago
Lawrence Klaker He killed himself, Aryan Brotherhood member
Luis Felipe, leader of the Latin Kings gang[11]
Mahmud Abouhalima, of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing[12]
Manuel Torrez, who in 2005 at age 64 became the first inmate to be murdered in a Supermax prison[13][14]
Mark Jordan was convicted of bank robbery, and in 1999 he stabbed an inmate to death at the adjacent U.S. Penitentiary in Florence
Matthew F. Hale, 15177-424, white supremacist for soliciting the murder of federal judge Joan Lefkow
Maynard Campell, white separatist with ties to militia groups;serving a ten-year sentence stemming from a land dispute with federal officials in Orego, was stabbed to death
Michael Swango, physician and serial murderer
Mirssa Araiza-Reyes, drug smuggler and illegal alien; killed inmate Frank Melendez
Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-Owhali, of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings
Mohammed A. Salameh, of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing[12]
Mohammed Ali Hassan Al-Moayad, would-be financier of al-Qaeda and Hamas, serving 75 years
Mohammed Odeh is one of the four former al-Qaeda members sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 for their parts in the 1998 United States embassy bombings.
Mohammed Mansour Jabarah A Canadian convicted of terrorism-related offences
Mustafa Zulu
Mutulu Shakur, 83205-012, serving 60 years for a bank robbery in which a policeman and two guards were killed. Stepfather of late rapper Tupac Shakur, brother of Assata Shakur[15]
Nicodemo Scarfo, was serving life imprisonment at Supermax,[9] primarily on the testimony of a number of informants, including his nephew. He managed to overturn his life sentence and get transferred to an FCI in Atlanta, Georgia.
Nidal Ayyad, of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing[12]
Omar Abdel-Rahman, 34892-054, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya mentor, nicknamed "The Blind Sheik", serving life for his part in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
Omar Mohammed Rezaq, airliner hijacker
Omar Portee, aka O.G. Mack. Co-founder of the United Blood Nation
Paul Chartier
Peter Rollack Sex, Money, Murder founder is currently serving 105 years without parole for 6 murders
Oscar Rivera, leader of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, a Puerto Rican militant group, for bombing 28 targets in the Chicago area. Received an additional 15-year sentence for an escape attempt (from another prison).
Ramzi Yousef, 03911-000, of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Operation Bojinka, senior al-Qaeda member[13][16][11]
Raymond Luc Levasseur, American domestic bomber
Raymond Oechsle, was incarcerated with Casso from 2001 to 2002 at ADX
Ramiro "Ramsey" R. Muñiz 40288-115 convicted of drug charges, political figure
Richard Reid, 24079-038, al-Qaeda's would-be "Shoe Bomber"[17]
Richard Lee McNair, 13829-045, escape artist, serving 3 life sentences for murder.[18][19][20]
Richard Scutari, conspirator in a 1984 robbery of a Brink's armored truck; serving 60 years
Robert Haney, bank robber, pretended to escape from ADX with Tony Francis
Robert Hanssen, 48551-083, former senior FBI agent serving life for espionage[16]
Robert Jones
Rodney Hambrick, serving a 68-year sentence on bomb charges
Ronald Griesacker, fraudster, passed $2 million in worthless checks. Released in 2002.
Rudy Cabrera Sablan serving a 92-month sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Also serving Life without parole in the killing of Joey Estrella.
Ruben "Nite Owl" Castro, of the Mexican Mafia
Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, former Underboss turned government witness of the Gambino crime family[16]
Tex Marin Hernandez member of the Nuestra Familia
Terry Nichols, 08157-031, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator[13]
Shane Patrick Bailey bank robber from Minnesota, is charged with ending cellmate Joseph Wroblewski's life on May, 23, 1999
Steven Riddle inmate who did most of the stabbing of Campbell, got ten years for manslaughter
Theodore Kaczynski, 04475-046, the "Unabomber"[11]
Thomas Silverstein, bank robber and murderer; killed guard Merle Clutts at United States Penitentiary, Marion[16]
Timothy McVeigh, executed 2001 for Oklahoma City bombing[16][11]
Tom Manning, political serial bomber, has been transferred to USP Hazelton
Tony Francis pretended with Robert Haney to escape from ADX[citation needed]
Tyler Davis Bingham, conspired to order multiple killings and assaults from Florence ADX
Tyrone Love, transferred to Florence after the "crack riots" at Lompoc, California in 1996
Wadih el-Hage, 42393-054, of the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa[21]
Wali Khan Amin Shah Operation Bojinka
Wayne Perry, henchman for The Alberto "Alpo" Martinez Drug Gang
William Sablan serving a 252-month sentence for hostage taking, now serving life without parole, killing of Joey Estrella
Yu Kikumura, of the Japanese Red Army, released April 18, 2007, served 221 months, deported[21]
Zacarias Moussaoui, 51427-054, of the September 11, 2001 attacks[1]
Zayd Hassan Abd Al-Latif Masud Al Safarini, Pan Am Flight 73 Hijacker

When You Scrape Away The Slogans

Pro-Life? Pro-Choice? Lots of talk in the last week that more folks are now 'Pro-Life' Than 'Pro-Choice'.

Who Isn't pro-life. I like life. Doesn't everybody?

The citizens may not know how to describe themselves, but CNN shows that they do want women to have the right to choose what they can do with their bodies.:

The 1973 Roe versus Wade decision established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy. Would you like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe versus Wade decision, or not?

30% Yes, overturn

68% No, not overturn

Take Action

Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund is leading the fight against DADT.

Go There. Send E-mails. Give Money. Find People to harrass.

Air Force Boots Their 25 Million Dollar Aviator (He's Gay)

New President. New Congress. No Change. Here is the latest evidence of what our country is losing under the law that prevents gay men and women from serving openly in the armed forces of the United States.

Lieutenant Colonel Victor J. Fehrenbach, a fighter weapons systems officer, has been flying the F-15E Strike Eagle since 1998. He has flown numerous missions against Taliban and al-Qaida targets, including the longest combat mission in his squadron's history. On that infamous September 11, 2001, Lt. Col. Fehrenbach was handpicked to fly sorties above the nation's capital. Later he flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has received at least 30 awards and decorations including nine air medals, one of them for heroism, as well as campaign medals for Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He is now a flight instructor in Idaho, where he has passed on his skills to more than 300 future Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force weapons systems officers.

Since 1987, when Fehrenbach entered Notre Dame on a full Air Force ROTC scholarship, the government has invested twenty-five million dollars in training and equipping him to serve his country, which he has done with what anyone would agree was great distinction. He comes from a military family. His father was a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, his mother an Air Force nurse and captain. Lt. Col. Fehrenbach has honored that tradition.

Dick Durbin: A Senate Rarity

A Man With Balls

"Some of my Republican colleagues argue that Guantanamo is the only appropriate place to hold the detainees and they said, and I quote, 'We don't have a facility that could handle this in the United States,' end of quote. And American prison guards, they went on to say, quote, 'have no idea what they're getting into,' close quote.

"Well, I would just say to my colleagues who made those statements, you ought to take a look at some of our security facilities in the United States, and you ought to have a little more respect for the men and women who are corrections officers and put their lives on the line every single day to keep us safe and to make sure that those who are dangerous are detained and incarcerated. The reality is that we're holding some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world right now in our federal prisons, including the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the shoe bomber, the Unibomber, and many others." [emphasis added]

Imagine trying To Explain Why God Let Mommy Die In A War Of Choice

Don't Forget to tell @NOMTWEETS to SUCK IT!

Good Question

Just Asking

First Read:

"We have this one question for the GOP straw-man argument on Gitmo: So is living near a prison with convicted rapists or murderers safer than living next to a prison with suspected terrorists? Discuss."

DEEEEEETROOOOOOOIIIIT!

Brothers and Sisters of the rainbow, one of our greatest siblings (straights can claim him and love him too):

Not All Irish Eyes Smiling

Thanking Buddha for Jim and Ginny Angevine again today...

NY Times

Report Details Abuse in Irish Church-Run Reform Schools

DUBLIN (AP) -- A fiercely debated, nine-year investigation into Ireland's Roman Catholic-run institutions says priests and nuns terrorized thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades -- and government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation.

More than 30,000 children deemed to be petty thieves, truants or from dysfunctional families -- a category that often included unmarried mothers -- were sent to Ireland's austere network of industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages and hostels from the 1930s until the last church-run facilities shut in the 1990s.

The report found that molestation and rape were "endemic" in boys' facilities, chiefly run by the Christian Brothers order, and supervisors pursued policies that increased the danger. Girls supervised by orders of nuns, chiefly the Sisters of Mercy, suffered much less sexual abuse but frequent assaults and humiliation designed to make them feel worthless.

"In some schools a high level of ritualized beating was routine. ... Girls were struck with implements designed to maximize pain and were struck on all parts of the body," the report said. "Personal and family denigration was widespread."

Victims of the system have long demanded that the truth of their experiences be documented and made public, so that children in Ireland never endure such suffering again.

But most leaders of religious orders have rejected the allegations as exaggerations and lies, and testified to the commission that any abuses were the responsibility of often long-dead individuals.

Long Time Readers will remember my connection to this, reviewed here

Important Web Site

Tweeting Too Hard

How's Newt Doin'?

Don't Fuck With The Internets old man ... heh

More Cute

esp for Mr. GB

President Barack Obama, runs away from the family dog, Bo, during a brief break from meetings on the South Lawn of the White House May 12, 2009.

Yay!

Kennedy's cancer in remission

Sen. Edward Kennedy’s brain cancer is in remission and the Massachusetts Democrat is expected back in the Senate after the Memorial Day recess, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Sen. Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that he spoke with Kennedy’s wife and was told the 77-year-old lawmaker will return to work full time during the first week of June.

Kennedy, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has been mostly absent from the chamber for the past year, recovering in Florida and Massachusetts. He is expected to lead a markup of highly anticipated health reform legislation in his first month back - one of the biggest bills of the year and a signature domestic initiative for President Obama.

Cuter Than LOLDogs

White House Flickr Feed, via Ben Smith:

“President Barack Obama bends over so the son of a White House staff member can
pat his head during a family visit to the Oval Office May 8, 2009. The youngster
wanted to see if the President’s haircut felt like his own.”

And This

See, even the GOP has given up on beating BHO.

A new Web promotion by the Republican National Committee, the "ObamaCard" -- parodying the national debt built up by the stimulus bill -- seems to be a bit confused about exactly when a presidential term ends:

@newtgingrich Must Now Be Included In All Your Tweets!

TWITTERERS UNITE!

We Must NOT FORGET NEWT!

Getting Lost in the Twitter

Newt Gingrich sends cease and desist letter to pro-EFCA twitterer demanding that he stop using @newtgingrich in his twitters, which is just asking for a Twitter-based movement to use @newtgingrich in all twitters. Not that I'm advocating such a thing

And Then There's This

Re-branding the Dems DEMOCRATIC-SOCIALISTS may be a good idea ... for the Dems

Millennials are not afraid of big government.

Derek Thompson notes:

What I find interesting, if not entirely revelatory, is that Millennials are stoked about the goals of liberal government (more than two-thirds support sustainable eco-solutions, universal health care, alternative energies) but pretty ambivalent about the means...Of course we don't have strong opinions about economic strategy: We're waiting to see if Obama's tactics work first. And if they don't, the big government generation could slow its leftish shift.

After all, let's remember: about two-thirds of this group once supported the Iraq War.

Looking Forward To the Next 41

The Washington Independent documents the 7 Republican Rebranding Efforts in the last 7 months since the election.

Rebuild the Party Announced: November 7, 2008 Mission: “Set in motion the changes needed to rebuild our party from the grassroots up, modernize the way we run campaigns, and attract different, energetic, and younger candidates at all levels.” Progress: Got all six candidates for Republican National Committee chairman to sign on to its agenda. Launched an interactive site where members could propose, and vote for, an agenda for the next chairman; the site was swiftly taken over by Ron Paul and Fair Tax supports. Heavily pushed volunteering and donating to Jim Tedisco’s unsuccessful campaign to win NY-20. Status: Active, but much less prominent since the New York election was held on March 31.

The Center for Republican Renewal Announced: December 16, 2008 Mission: A think tank inside the Republican National Committee charged with “identifying the most innovative ideas and policies from across the nation.” Progress: Hired some staff in run-up to the RNC chairman’s race. Status: Disbanded by new RNC chairman Michael Steele on February 6, 2009.

Young Conservatives Coalition Announced: February 27, 2009 Mission: “To implement a new conservative agenda for the 21st century” and “allow young conservative activists the opportunity to communicate and network with each other, while fostering an environment for sharing resources and strategic coordination to counter the rising young, progressive left.” Progress: Launched and held a “brainstorming session” at the Conservative Political Action Conference, followed by “Reaganpalooza,” a massive party and “young professional networking event.” Held a “Earth Day Beach Party” outside of the Environmental Protection Agency. Status: Active.

The Tea Party movement Announced: February 27, 2009 Mission: Hard to define, but the gist is to protest government overspending. Progress: Held hundreds of anti-spending, anti-tax “Tea Parties,” heavily promoted by Fox News, on April 15, 2009. Survived some post-Tea Party infighting. Status: Active, although activity since Tea Party day has largely consisted of protesting a CNN reporter who asked rude questions at the Chicago event and demanding a meeting with President Obama.

Renewing American Leadership Announced: March 20, 2009 Mission: Unite social and economic conservatives to survive a “crisis in which the secular state, if allowed, will fundamentally and radically change America against the wishes of most Americans,” according to founder Newt Gingrich. Progress: Web site still under construction. Status: At the moment, not much more than a promotional vehicle for Gingrich’s upcoming documentary about Pope John Paul II.

Resurgent Republic Announced: April 28, 2009 Mission: “Promote market-oriented policies, lower taxes and economic growth, and strong national security policies. It will help policy makers, think tanks, interest groups and others advocate for policies that are consistent with conservative principles, and oppose policies that stifle job creation, weaken national security and undermine values that have made America a great country.” Progress: Released a poll that, they argued, proved that independents were siding with the Republican message. Battled with pollster Stan Greenberg after he argued that the poll was badly sampled and off base. Status: Still active.

The National Council for a New America Announced: April 30, 2009 Mission: Bring together Republican leaders to “engage with and empower the American people to develop innovative solutions that meet the serious challenges confronting our country.” Progress: Held its first event, a pizza lunch with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Jeb Bush, and Mitt Romney, in Arlington. Spent a week defending this from accusations of pandering lobbed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh. Status: Planning at least four future events across the country.

No Matter

Who Are We Kidding? These guys are irelevant until at least '14

There's this

Republican Favorable Ratings
Republican/ Net Favorable / # Polls

Laura Bush/+54%/3
Condoleezza Rice/+29%/1
John McCain*/+18%/4
Cindy McCain/+17%/6
Tim Pawlenty/+5%/1
Rudy Guiliani/+4%/2
Sarah Palin*/+2%/5
Mike Huckabee**/+1%/4
Bobby Jindal/+1%/2
Mitt Romney**/-11%/3
Mitch McConnell/-16%/2
Rush Limbaugh/-18%/4
Karl Rove***/-19%/2
John Boehner/-21%/2
Newt Gingrich***/-23%/2
Dick Cheney/-27%/5
George W. Bush*/-29%/6

* = Post-2008 election

** = Polling from January-February 2008

*** = Polling from early 2007

and this

Michael Steele isn't looking back, he swears:

The Republican Party has turned a corner, and as we move forward Republicans should take a lesson from Ronald Reagan. Again, we’re not looking back – if President Reagan were here today he would have no patience for Americans who looked backward. Ronald Reagan always believed Republicans should apply our conservative principles to current and future challenges facing America. For Reagan’s conservatism to take root in the next generation we must offer genuine solutions that are relevant to this age.

and this

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman] probably assumes that the GOP will spend the next few years banging rocks together in the wilderness, throwing moderates like Colin Powell out of the party, and trying to wind the clock back to the early 1980s while the rest of the country moves on. He probably assumes that he's already established himself as "a different kind of conservative," that the domestic policy fights he'll face as governor will be frustrating and possibly fruitless, and that the GOP will need a few more electoral thrashings before it is ready to buy what he's selling.

What's more, he probably assumes that, while the rest of the GOP tears itself apart in naval-gazing fights about the meaning of "true conservatism," he can go off and pad his resume with several years of experience managing America's largest (and increasingly, its most important) bilateral relationship, and that when he returns in, say, 2014, not only will the GOP primary voters not punish him, they'll welcome him as a practical, reform-minded leader, attuned to the problems of the 21st century, who puts the national interest above partisan politics -- that is, just the kind of guy to lead them to victory in 2016.

And this

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) approval rating -- at about 33% or 34%, per recent polls -- aren't much different than they were when Gray Davis was governor.

And this

No Gain

The Republicans are losing the entire country .........

This leads to Blago Dem leaders, BTW

NYT's Dowd Admits Plagiarizing Blog
Columnist Took Paragraph Virtually Word-For-Word From Josh Marshall's blog Talking Points Memo

AP) New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has admitted to using a paragraph virtually word-for-word from a prominent liberal blogger without attribution.

Dowd acknowledged the error in an e-mail to the Huffington Post on Sunday, the Web site reported. The Times corrected her column online to give proper credit for the material to Talking Points Memo editor Josh Marshall.

The newspaper is expected to issue a formal correction Monday. A request for comment made by The Associated Press was not immediately returned by the Times late Sunday.

The error appeared in Dowd's Sunday column, in which she criticized the Bush administration's use of interrogation methods in the run-up to the Iraq war.

In the original column, Dowd wrote: "More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when the Bush crowd was looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq."

Marshall last week wrote virtually the same sentence. But where Dowd's column used the phrase "the Bush crowd was," Marshall used "we were."

Dowd, who won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1990, told the Huffington Post that the mistake was unintentional. She claims she never read Marshall's post last week and had heard the line from a friend who did not mention reading it in Marshall's blog.

Gays Save Country From Crippling Recession

Boston Globe

Study: Gay marriages pump $111 million into Mass

AMHERST, Mass.—A study says the over 12,000 same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts since 2004 have pumped over $111 million into the state's economy.

The report from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law says a typical same-sex couple spent about $7,400 on their wedding, with one in ten couples spending over $20,000.

A second study by the same group found that young, highly educated people in same-sex relationships were 2.5 times more likely to move to Massachusetts after 2004 than before gay marriage became legal.

M.V. Lee Badgett, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts and a study co-author, says allowing gay couples to marry has helped businesses in tough economic times.

Sunday marks the five-year anniversary of Massachusetts recording its first same-sex marriage licenses.

The Tragedy Of DADT

wonkette gets to the heart of it as it looks at the Rummy article

... Rumsfeld would hand-deliver these briefing documents to the president during the early days of the war, and the briefs had covers with photos from the war combined with Biblical quotes. ..... And the layouts, jesus god, did the Defense Department have not a single queer atheist designer who might have made this shit not look like a PTA newsletter from 1980? Yellow drop-shadows, seriously?

I Understand They Delay

If abortion is still the only issue to judge a politician by what can the gays hope for?

Barry's trying his darndest though

Fine Catholic EJ Dionne:

Facing down protesters who didn't want him at Notre Dame, President Obama fought back not with harsh words but with the most devastating weapons in his political arsenal: a call for "open hearts," "open minds," "fair-minded words" and a search for "common ground."

There were many messages sent from South Bend. Obama's opponents seek to reignite the culture wars. He doesn't. They would reduce religious faith to a narrow set of issues. He refused to join them. They often see theological arguments as leading to certainty. He opted for humility.

He did all this without skirting the abortion question and without flinching from the "controversy surrounding my visit here." ... By facing their arguments head-on and by demonstrating his attentiveness to Catholic concerns, Obama strengthened moderate and liberal forces inside the church itself. He also struck a forceful blow against those who would keep the nation mired in culture-war politics without end. Obama's opponents on the Catholic right placed a large bet on his Notre Dame visit. And they lost.

In Case You Missed The, uh, Irony

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