Puzzled

post from MyDD on 01 April 2007 11:45:19 PM. © MyDD

This is weird, and it's something that keeps perplexing me. Here are some applause lines from a Hillary Clinton fundraiser. Big applause lines -- "I intend to be the first woman elected President of the United States". "If George Bush doesn't[...]

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Tsunami wipes out village in Solomon Islands

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 01 April 2007 11:42:00 PM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

The reports in so far vary, but the earthquake that hit was an 8.0 striking about 200 miles north of the capital. Some news outlets are reporting 10-12 dead but this has not yet been confirmed.

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-in-solomon.html

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See McCain walk the streets of Baghdad.

post from Daily Kos on 01 April 2007 11:31:15 PM. © Daily Kos

Remember the other day when John McCain said the escalation was working so well, he could walk the streets of Baghdad unescorted?

Take a look at his "stroll" for yourself:

What is that, an apron?

Note the... uh... well, body armor -- which I'm sure is just totally out there on a stroll of its own and just happens to walk into the shot!

And it's kinda hard to make out from the photo, but Senator ~~Magoo~~ McCain has a few friends with him.

Y'know, soldiers. But just a couple.

Well, a hundred.

And three Blackhawks and two Apaches overhead.

But I swear, it was all just coincidence! They were all out for their own strolls, independently!

Ah, Senator! How cruel fate does conspire against you!

UPDATE: ThinkProgress has video of NBC News kinda doubtin' his story. And you'll be tempted to shout "April Fools!" just one last time today when you hear this exchange:

NBC Reporter: McCain fielded a question about a statement he'd made last week.

Reporter in Baghdad: You said there are areas in Baghdad that you can walk around freely...

McCain: Yeah, I just came from one.

The guy couldn't stop lying if you wired his jaw shut.

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The "Playing Chicken" Meme--NOT About Obama

post from MyDD on 01 April 2007 11:05:54 PM. © MyDD

bumped - MattWith three straight front-page posts about Obama's fumbled response, there's no need for another diary about that. But what about the underlying meme itself? The idea that Congress and the President are playing chicken may sound[...]

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Late Nite FDL: The Chocolate Jesus Manifesto

post from Firedoglake on 01 April 2007 11:01:19 PM. © Firedoglake

NOTE: Bill Donohue and his death-threatening, hate-spewing huns have managed to intimidate the hotel that was going to display artist Cosimo Cavallaro's life-size milk-chocolate rendition of the crucifixion, entitled "My Sweet Lord". [...]

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Endangered Ethics

post from Daily Kos on 01 April 2007 10:57:03 PM. © Daily Kos

Keeping up with scandals in the Bush administration is like trying to follow a tennis match with a thousands players. Balls are being hit out of bounds from so many directions at once, you could get neck strain just trying to follow them all. With most of the line judges intent on watching our pro-torture, anti-law Attorney General, it's little wonder that the Fish and Wildlife branch of the Interior Department has gotten little attention. But at the risk of overloading your outrage meter, it's worth a reminder that the Republicans haven't backed off one iota on seeing that the world is safe for developers at the expense of every species up to and including man.

The most public scandal at the Interior Department is that surrounding Julie A. MacDonald, the deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks. Ms. Macdonald, who has no training whatsoever in biology, has continued the fine Bush tradition of bullying scientists into producing reports that toss away facts in favor of administration policy. She's even proven willing to put a species of bird at risk for purely personal reasons.

H. Dale Hall, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, recounted a battle he had with Ms. MacDonald over the Southwest willow flycatcher, an endangered bird. Biologists in the field concluded that the bird's nesting range, which determines how much land the government should protect as habitat for the species, was 2.1 miles. Mr. Hall claims that Ms. MacDonald insisted on lowering that to 1.8 miles so that the nesting range would not extend into California, where her husband maintained a family ranch.

That may seem outrageous enough, but MacDonald got away with that one. In fact, she's been able to spend years erasing facts from scientific reports. What's gotten her in trouble was that she decided to follow one of those other standard tactics of the right -- leaking secret information to administration pals.

The inspector general's review of Ms. MacDonald's e-mail account also showed that she had close ties to lobbying organizations that have challenged endangered-species listings and that she had "misused her position" to give them information not available to the public on Interior Department policy.

While scientists at the Interior Department have been working out plans to protect endangered plants and animals, MacDonald has been providing developers the information they needed to block, bend, or evade the rules.

The worst thing about the MacDonald scandal? It might not matter. Even if Julie MacDonald is -- after years of destroying the life work of people trained in biology -- finally kicked to the curb, it won't even be a road block on the highway to ending the Endangered Species Act.

Salon.com and the radio series Living on Earth both feature work this week from freelancer Rebecca Clarren, who has another leaked document from the Fish and Wildlife Service, this one explaining upcoming changes to how the department interprets the Act.

If we thought that by getting rid of Pombo we had stopped the war on the planet, we were sadly mistaken, because the Bush administration has already proven many times that you don't have to repeal a law, you just have to stop enforcing it. Think the "Clear Skies" program, which allows the worst polluting old coal-fired power plants to actually increase in size, completely dodging the Clean Air Act.

What's the Bush plan for the "new improved" Endangered Species Act?

A cap on the number of endangered species. Meaning that for any new species to be added, one would have to be removed.

Allowing states to opt out of enforcing the act. Wyoming ranchers don't like wolves? Fire away, boys! (and hey, they're about to take wolves off the list anyway)

Limiting the definition of endangered to only those animals likely to go extinct in the next twenty years -- meaning that an animal with a life span beyond that range wouldn't be considered endangered even it was the last living representative of its kind.

How does Rebecca Clarren describe the changes to the Act?

They also, looks like a lot of the language is lifted directly from a very contentious bill by Pombo, a congressman from California, former congressman, that was also shot down in congress. So you're seeing the Bush administration trying to insert into regulatory changes, things that congress has already decided we, as a country, didn't want to see.

Update [2007-4-1 22:3:5 by Devilstower]:I forgot this nice little addition: under the new regulations, there would be no attempt to restore an animal to its historic range. Wherever it was holding on at the moment would become it's natural range.

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C&Ls Late Nite Music Club with Always There

post from Crooks and Liars on 01 April 2007 10:45:44 PM. © Crooks and Liars

This song was a big Ronnie Laws hit before there was "Smooth jazz."Rick Braun : Trumpet Kenny Garrett : Alto Sax. Boney James : Tenor Sax. Kirk Whalum : Tenor Sax. Larry Carlton : Guitar George Duke : Keyboards Billy Kilson : Drums Mike Manson : BassI've seen Kenny Garrett in LA and he's a [...]

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When Everything Goes Right in Baghdad

[Promoted by DHinMI: only the stupid or the naive fail to recogonize the difference between supposed good intentions and good results, and how the first so often doesn't lead to the second. This is an great case where everything was done right, and the result was disastrous.]

No, this isn't an April Fool's diary. This is a short, but I think important, diary whose main purpose is to get you to read this article from the New York Times:

Iraqi Widow Saves Her Home, but Victory Is Brief

By EDWARD WONG
Published: March 30, 2007

It is a personal story that illustrates some very important-- yet unspoken-- considerations about the surge. It's a story in which everyone does what they should: the US Army, the Iraqi Army, the neighbors, and the Baghdad citizen-- soon to be the Baghdad victim. I don't know how long it will be available before disappearing into subscription land, so please click.

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Frameshop: Traitors, Terror and--Taxes

Looking over President Bush's radio address, we see the White House returning to three key concepts used to build an image of the bad Democratic Party: traitors, taxes and terror. Like a drunk ship's captain clinging to the last remnants...

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I'm John McCain, Bitches!

I think it's worth spending a couple of moments pondering just how low Saint John Straight Talk "Maverick" McCain has sunk.

Last week he laid down his marker. He said yo my bitches - and by his bitches, we mean the media which are his "crazy base land" - your reporting is wack! There are safe neighborhoods in Baghdad!

Then he went to Iraq. He could've walked through one of those neighborhoods. And, hell, he's macho John McCain! Tough guy Saint John! He's got bigger balls than you do! If anyone can swagger down the streets of Baghdad with nothing but his grimace and glare to keep himself safe, it's fucking John McCain!

Now, realistically, I wouldn't have expected even Fucking John McCain to wander down random Baghdad streets unaccompanied. But you would've thought he'd have more self respect than to do it with 100 soldiers, 3 Blackhawks, 2 Apaches, and then have the balls - well, I guess here is where his mighty balls do their job - to pretend it was a stroll through the park.

I don't know whether to be more amazed by how full of shit he is or the fact that some in the media are actually choosing to report on that fact.

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