Clinton Comes Back

post from Ezra Klein on 03 August 2007 01:11:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

After some bad press and a gleeful attack from the Obama campaign ("Why turn down the opportunity to hear from people excited about bringing change to Washington and new leadership to the White House? It is Barack Obama's birthday and...[...]

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Tragedies Waiting To Happen: Yesterday
Minneapolis, Tomorrow Your Town

post from Cut to the Chase: Zapping & Snapping The Zeitgeist on 03 August 2007 01:05:00 PM. © Cut to the Chase: Zapping & Snapping The Zeitgeist

Right now, according to ABC News, the federal government acknowledges that about 35% of this nation's major highways are in desperate shape; this in addition to the tens of thousands of bridges, countless thousands of stretches of railway, and other parts of the infrastructure that have been left to decay and are now at best "structurally unsound" and more likely flat out very dangerous.

It's only a matter of time before we see the disaster on the I35W bridge in Minneapolis repeated, perhaps with far more deadly results.

Department of Homeland Security? I dunno; al Qaeda supposedly attacked us ONCE. But can these terrorists do anywhere near the damage our federal government has, just in its total irresponsibility regarding the failing infrastructure?

I think not. President Bush's plan? Why, to tell us to pray, of course.Media, Politics, United States, World, War, Terrorism, Propaganda, Constitution, Vermont, US.

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Gingrich says Bush's war on terror is "phony"

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 03 August 2007 01:04:00 PM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Wow. When John Edwards said basically the same thing, he got fried. So does Gingrich think 3500 US troops gave their lives for a "phony" war, or just a phony president?

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday the Bush administration is waging a "phony war" on terrorism, warning that the country is losing ground against the kind of Islamic radicals who attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001.

A more effective approach, said Gingrich, would begin with a national energy strategy aimed at weaning the country from its reliance on imported oil and some of the regimes that petro-dollars support.

"None of you should believe we are winning this war. There is no evidence that we are winning this war," the ex-Georgian told a group of about 300 students attending a conference for collegiate conservatives....

"We were in charge for six years," he said, referring to the period between 2001 and early 2007, when the GOP controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. "I don't think you can look and say that was a great success."

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Why

post from Eschaton on 03 August 2007 01:02:00 PM. © Eschaton

That is, indeed, the question. The broader one, of course, is why 5 years later the category of "people who opposed the war to begin with and get to appear regularly on the teevee" is shockingly small one. It's related to, though not fully explained by, the discussion question posed below.

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Watchdog: Jefferson Court Opinion "Such a Help"
for Corrupt Pols

post from TPMmuckraker on 03 August 2007 12:57:52 PM. © TPMmuckraker

Well, here's a clear verdict on this morning's appeals court opinion on the FBI's raid of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). It's a great day for corrupt lawmakers, says Melanie Sloan of Citizens for...

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A Catch-22 For Former Sex Offenders

post from TalkLeft on 03 August 2007 12:57:00 PM. © TalkLeft

Here's a Catch-22 for you: Laws regulating where former sex offenders may live are so restrictive that, in urban areas, former offenders can find no housing (forcing them, in this famous example, to live under a bridge). But former sex offenders have to register their addresses, and the homeless have no address to register. So if they find a home, they're breaking the law by living too close to (for instance) a park or school; if they remain homeless, they're breaking the law by not registering.

It should be obvious that due process is violated when the government makes it impossible to obey the law and then punishes an individual for violating it, but that hasn't stopped Georgia from prosecuting Larry Moore for failing to register, or from seeking a life sentence against him, all because Moore was homeless.

At least 15 sex offenders have been arrested because of homelessness since the law took effect in July 2006, according to documents gathered through pretrial proceedings in a lawsuit brought by the Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The suit argues that the law leaves offenders virtually nowhere to live. Sarah Geraghty, a lawyer with the human rights center, said she had scoured the state for homeless shelters that would accept male sex offenders and could find only one, which was full. A document from the Sex Offender Administration of the Georgia Department of Corrections, provided to a reporter by Ms. Geraghty, lists what it calls “offenders arrested for being homeless.”

Georgia's intent is to force sex offenders to live elsewhere.

As a tough-on-crime measure, the Georgia law was enacted easily, with supporters saying it would force sex offenders to leave the state.

To the extent that former sex offenders are a societal problem, the solution isn't to make them some other state's problem. More importantly, the solution can't be to punish people for being homeless, particularly when state laws make most housing unavailable.

The combination of sex offender registration laws and laws that restrict housing yields counterproductive results. People who can't live in a home legally and who can't register a nonexistent address are driven underground, where they can't take advantage of counseling or other support systems that help them not to reoffend. The laws don't prevent crime, other than by forcing some former offenders back into prison; they make crime more likely.

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Time To Say Goodbye

post from Firedoglake on 03 August 2007 12:55:29 PM. © Firedoglake

More from Steve Kornacki at the NYObserver:Maybe the 50 members of the Senate?s Democratic Caucus should just call the bluff of their 51st vote and tell Joe Lieberman to take a hike.The junior Senator from Connecticut, who was elected as an independent[...]

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Keeping A Watchful Eye On The Economy

Predicting the economy is a daunting task but this current merger of ominous factors is reason for concern...and we haven't even discussed the huge costs of prosecuting the war in Iraq, the expanding national debt, the huge trade deficit, and the infrastructure deficiencies being brought to light by the bridge collapse in Minneapolis.

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http://allspinzone.com/wp/2007/08/03/keeping-a-watchful-eye-on-the-economy/

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Say it aint so, Dianne!

Down With Tyranny!:For decades I wished I had worked harder when Jello Biafra ran for mayor of San Francisco against the most conservative member of the Board of Supervisors, Dianne Feinstein. (Well, actually the most conservative member, Dan White, had just shot Mayor Moscone and was in prison. Feinstein was the most conservative [...]

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/08/03/say-it-aint-so-dianne/

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Open Thread

I am obviously finidng it difficult to produce content while attending Yearly Kos. Strange how thse[...]

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