Bush’s Budget: $687 Billion For War

post from Think Progress on 04 February 2008 03:48:00 PM. © Think Progress

Today, the White House submitted its fiscal year 2009 federal budget request of $3.1 trillion. President Bush has asked Congress to approve $515.4 billion in funding for the Department of Defense which, when adjusted for inflation, would be the highest defense budget since World War II.

chart However, the costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not included in the baseline DoD request. In reality, the war costs will most likely increase the defense budget to nearly $688 billion through the first quarter of FY 2009:

$515.4 billion: Bush’s baseline Pentagon budget request.
+$70 billion: The amount Bush’s defense budget includes as separate request for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. However, this bridge fund only covers the first quarter of FY 2009.
+$102 billion: Current emergency war funding request that Congress not yet approved.
TOTAL = $687.4 billion: Bush’s total war budget.

According to a recent Congressional Research Service report, the U.S. is spending over $10 billion a month in Iraq. “With Congress having already approved $691 billion in war spending since 2001,” the WSJ reports, “the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined could rise to just under $900 billion by next spring and could near the $1 trillion mark by the end of 2009.”

To fund his war and preserve his tax cuts for the rich, President Bush is cutting vital services for low- and moderate-income Americans, including child-care assistance for low-income families, low-income rental assistance programs, and total funding for K-12 education.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/04/war-budget-fy09/

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Neither of the above

post from American Street on 04 February 2008 03:40:00 PM. © American Street

With Edwards out, I’ve been looking for reasons to favor Obama over Clinton or vice versa. It appears to me by now that I’m being presented with a choice almost designed to cost me the maximum amount possible for my support.Hillary has built a more progressive domestic agenda — crucially, a truly universal health [...]

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http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2008/02/04/neither-of-the-above/

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NY Post , Wash. Post editorials distorted key
facts regarding Clinton's Kazakhstan trip

post from Media Matters for America on 04 February 2008 03:38:59 PM. © Media Matters for America

In February 4 editorials, the New York Post and The Washington Post distorted or omitted relevant facts concerning President Bill Clinton's September 2005 trip to Kazakhstan with Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra. The New York Post editorial misleadingly characterized Giustra as "a newcomer to uranium mining" and suggested he was able to secure agreements giving his company the right to buy into uranium mining projects in Kazakhstan because of his connection to Clinton. In fact, Giustra[...]

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http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/229124155/200802040005

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FISA Fight: Debate time

post from Daily Kos on 04 February 2008 03:35:47 PM. © Daily Kos

Word from the Senate as debate resumes is that the critical amnesty amendments will be introduced tomorrow and voted on either tomorrow or Wednesday. There are possibly votes tonight, including Cardin's amendment to sunset the law in four rather than six years, which is important because it would ensure the next President would be in office when it was reconsidered and Whitehouse's minimization amendment that would give the FISC oversight over how the government deals with the data it collects--including destroying superfluous data. Hopefully these votes will be postponed until tomorrow, because then we'd hopefully at least have Senators Kennedy and Kerry back on the floor.

Sen. Feingold just spoke on the floor (C-SPAN2) speaking about the importance of external oversight of this surveillance program. He spoke to Newsweek for an online exclusive:

Supporters of the PAA say that if these calls and e-mails were subject to the regular FISA court, it would take hundreds of lawyer and analyst hours to prepare them for the appropriate review.
Listen, a criticism like that just shows no understanding of what's going on here. Every time a foreign conversation runs through a transmitter in L.A., there was an archaic technicality in the law that would require individualized warrants [in order for the government to intercept them]. We all said, fine, we agree with changing that, but in cases when the program ends up impacting Americans, there has to be some oversight.

What's the status of your amendments? It's been suggested that in the consent agreement to allow debate, Republicans are allowing straight majority votes only on amendments they know will fail—including yours.
We're trying to make a record here, and to show who voted for what. My prediction is this thing will go through; it will be challenged and go through the courts. And eventually a Supreme Court with something like seven Republican-appointed judges will strike down the worst parts of it. This is a long-term battle to protect the rights of the American people.

In the modern political climate you're more likely to hear about amnesty with respect to undocumented workers than you are about the amnesty for the phone and Internet companies who helped the government break the law before the act was passed.
Oh, I think there's tremendous feeling that there's a problem here. In some ways I think it goes deeper than immigration. People see their own personal liberties affected. And we've seen that the telecom immunity does offend people. People may be nervous about giving a free pass [on immigration]. But what's gonna bother them even more are the types of things I'm describing here: the level to which their privacy is being subjected to a "trust me" government that impacts their daily freedom and privacy. It really is disturbing to people with any kind of common sense at all.

We know one thing, the reporter has been reading the blogs--his questions, and his discussing the telco issue as amnesty show it. Further demonstration that your involvement and activism on this issue is making an impact.

Feingold is being a realist here, suggesting that his amendments--particularly on amnesty--will fail. That's entirely likely, but as I've argued before, getting as many votes on all of the amnesty amendments as possible is critical. It will strengthen the House's hand in negotiating in the conference agreement, since the House's version, the RESTORE Act, does not contain amnesty. So keep calling your own Senators and also the usual crowd. And, as always, you can follow today's floor action courtesy of the Kossack livebloggers.

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/229121983/3147

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Fresh Curfew Imposed in Falluja

post from IraqSlogger.com on 04 February 2008 03:34:36 PM. © IraqSlogger.com

The Iraqi city of Falluja is under curfew for the second time in four days as an Iraqi news agency reports increasing violence in Anbar province and expectations of further attacks.

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http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/5351

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Pre Super Tuesday Spin

post from Taylor Marsh on 04 February 2008 03:31:11 PM. © Taylor Marsh

Pre Super Tuesday Spin Via Ben Smith’s "Empty Seats."The arena holds 13,000; Obama team est. 8,000 attended; Obama attracted 14,000 in Boise.Clinton had 10,000 in CA; with 4,000[...]

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http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=26945

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Hub

post from Eschaton on 04 February 2008 03:29:00 PM. © Eschaton

I think Jane's too kind here, though I appreciate it. When thinking about whether I should do a fundraiser, I had some time to think about just what it is this blog offers. Something, other than the booze and snacks, keeps people coming back. Once upon a time it was a hub of sorts for the liberal blogosphere. There was even a mapping study which showed I was the sole bridge between the political/activist side of the blogosphere and the academic/wonk side of the blogosphere. But now there are just too many blogs, too many parallel conversations going on. No one blog can really manage to provide a synthesis for all of them, and so there are multiple hubs.

Throw some change into the pot. Who knows, maybe Gizmo and Wiley will reappear at some point...

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/bRuz/~3/229114891/2008_02_03_archive.html

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How Do You Say “Boondoggle” in Hindi

post from American Street on 04 February 2008 03:26:00 PM. © American Street

Depending on whether you have ever been involved in one of these disasters, you are ready to laugh or to cry as the FBI eyes $1 billion surveillance deal:CLARKSBURG, West Virginia (CNN) — The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people’s physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau [...]

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http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2008/02/04/how-do-you-say-boondoggle-in-h
indi/

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Just Win, Baby

Tomorrow is a day for winning. Not for tales about "running out of time" or "the celebrity endorsements" or for any excuse period.

No excuses for the Clinton campaign. No excuses for the Obama campaign. Everybody has had their shot.

Winning means winning.

They might be Giants. They might be inspirational. But now they have to win. And no, it is not just about delegates. Indeed, it is more about winning than delegates. Especially in California.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/229113558/6411

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Polling Update 2/4

ConnecticutSurvey USA 2/4Barack Obama48%Hillary Clinton46%

CaliforniaReuters/C-SPAN/Zogby 2/4Barack Obama46%Hillary Clinton40%

GeorgiaReuters/C-SPAN/Zogby 2/4Barack Obama48%Hillary Clinton31%

GeorgiaStrategic Vision 2/4Barack Obama49%Hillary Clinton27%

MassachusettsSuffolk 2/4Barack Obama46%Hillary Clinton44%

MissouriReuters/C-SPAN/Zogby 2/4Barack Obama47%Hillary Clinton42%

MontanaRassmussen 2/4Hillary Clinton46%Barack Obama40%

New JerseySurvey USA 2/4Hillary Clinton52%barack Obama41%

New JerseyReuters/C-SPAN/Zogby 2/4Hillary Clinton43%barack Obama43%

New JerseyQuinnipiac 2/4Hillary Clinton48%Barack Obama43%

New YorkSurvey USA 2/4Hillary Clinton56%barack Obama38%

New YorkQuinnipiac 2/4Hillary Clinton53%Barack Obama39%

The chart below is something of an experiment. Let me know whether you can make sense of this. If it needs a stack of explanation to be legible, it's better just to skip it.

California (370 Delegates)ClintonObama >7+7+5+3+1 +1+3+5+7>7CNN1/27Field1/202/1Gallup1/26McClatchy2/1Rasmussen1/141/29 2/2Suffolk 2/3Survey USA1/27Zogby 2/22/32/4