Ad closings

Here's Clinton's closer, sticking with the gas tax, which she's clobbered Obama on: This is Obama's closer, probably his most negative ad to date: And notice that Obama drops his opposition to the gas tax too, trying to broaden the debate past that[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/mydd/~3/284198833/55649

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TalkLeft Appreciation Days

We're working really hard. Not just at keeping you up to date with the latest on tomorrow's primaries, but in making sure the site stays civil and weeding out the drive-bys who come here not to have a reasonable debate but to slam and insult our readers or try to hijack or dominate the discussion.

This takes an increasing amount of my time because site traffic and comments are way up.

If you appreciate our coverage, today and tomorrow are the days to let us know. If you're short on funds, don't give it another thought, we'll get by:

Here's the paypal link, it's very easy. If you don't like paypal (which takes credit cards if you don't have a paypal account) feel free to pull a few dollars out of your pocket and send it snail mail. The address is below the fold.

If you'd like to donate anonymously, here's the Amazon link.

If you can't afford a few dollars, don't worry about it. This is only meant for those who can. Thanks to all of you for reading TalkLeft. You are all appreciated, including those who politely disagree with us.

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The Sliding Scale

The other day the New York Times reported that the President is asserting that he has the unilateral right to decide on a case by case basis whether or not a particular interrogation method constitutes torture. While the Geneva Conventions prohibit[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/05/the-sliding-scale/

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The Serendipitous 'Suicide' of the D.C. Madame

"Death solves all problems - no man, no problem."

-Joseph Stalin

You can add D.C. Madame Deborah Jeane Palfrey to that long list of marvelously convenient mysterious deaths, 'accidents' and 'suicides' that have for so long been a fixture of the hijacked by fascist American political system. The dead giveaway on the importance of Palfrey and the threat that she represents is that ordinarily such an incident would be flogged to death 24/7 on the corporate media machine given the sexual sleaze factor and the celebrity allure. Well that insipid blathering sow Nancy Grace spent about ten or fifteen minutes on it on Thursday and was then on to something ridiculous involving actor Rob Lowe, as much as I hate cable 'news' programs I tuned again the night after and she was talking about some kidnapped or murdered pregnant teenager, you know, the same local news that is trumped up and manufactured into a national crisis.

Palfrey was really big trouble for a lot of folks with serious clout and the cover story of her hanging herself is in my opinion just more of the same easily digestible lemming food that is usually spoon-fed to the masses of asses when such things occur so as not to induce even the slightest doubt in the legitimacy of the good and wise people who are running their government while they can stay in their narcotized state in front of their beloved television sets.

Now I just happen to live in the same county where Palfrey's body was found and after being front page news in the major area newspaper on Friday the next day's follow up story was very small, below the fold in the local and state section not about Palfrey but rather one that was dismissive of so-called 'conspiracy theorists' who found the 'suicide' to be as suspicious as I do. It has not been covered in depth by any of the major websites to my knowledge, you know the same ones that gave us all of that wonderful detail on the Natalee Holloway disappearance, Anna Nicole Smith's O.D., the amazing adventures of Laci and the fetus and the great in depth coverage of the sex offender or pederast of the week at the expense of say the crimes of the Bushreich, the war, real economic news absent the numbers massaging to obfuscate and obscure the real picture and the accompanying dismantling of America by the Wall Street looters as the oligarchy locks in the gains and offshores the rest of the country.

Every and I mean EVERY piece that I saw in the mainstream media accepted and sold at face value that this was a suicide even though Palfrey's prostitution operation was so tied in to the most integral parts of the fascist establishment and that she had given interviews on radio programs that she was NOT going to commit suicide. The one story that I did see in the Orlando Sentinel had this little tidbit that wasn't picked up anywhere else but should have been for a very obvious reason:

On Monday, Palfrey arrived at her two-bedroom, two-bath corner condominium at Park Lake Towers, where she often stayed on trips to visit her mother, Strizack said. She had owned the Orlando home since 1996, but it was up for sale.

Palfrey was a pleasant, meticulous person, Strizack recalled. She treasured her privacy so much that she once sued the condominium association because it kept a key to her unit.

She did not draw attention to herself, but when she talked to you, she was clearly well-organized and in control, he said.

On Monday, Palfrey seemed no different. She carried clothing, briefcases and suitcases down the stairs from her second-floor apartment to a rented car in the parking lot, stopping to chat as usual.

She told Strizack she was taking her property to her mother's home in preparation for prison. Contrary to the U.S. Attorney's Office estimate, she told the condo manager she thought she might spend six or seven years behind bars.

On one trip down the stairs, she lugged a 2-foot-wide box she suggested carried materials related to her infamous court case.

"This is my evidence," she told Strizack before carrying it out the door.

Now I personally would find it strange that the women was found swinging from a rope shortly after making a comment like that. But Florida being what it is which is the diseased penis of America, a sweltering cesspool of crime, corruption, black ops and depravity where elections go to be stolen there is no chance in hell that any sort of legitimate follow up investigational work be done into Palfrey's death. Not with Jeb Bush's people still dug in like ticks in the state bureaucracy and with sitting Governor Charlie Crist rumored to be on the list as John McCain's running mate.

Regarding the client list Republican diaper baby David Vitter (who still sits in Congress) was the one main name came out but dark rumors abounded that heavy hitters like one Richard B. Cheney may have at one time used the service while in the employ of Haliburton. Of course now we'll never know will we?

Palfrey is just the latest but there have been so many others, the lesser minded and the deniers will of course accuse me of being a 'tin-foil hatter' but they are intellectually barren and content to lay warmly inside their warm security blanket of denial and suck their thumbs rather than acknowledge that this government is run (and has been for a long time) by a criminal syndicate far worse than the mafia itself.

Here are just a few of the others whose deaths were marvelously serendipitous for the prevailing status quo that I personally find to be very interesting.

Danny Casolaro: Was working on a book about a far-reaching global criminal syndicate with roots in the U.S. government that he had called The Octopus that tied together elements of the Reagan-Bush administration, an old boy CIA network, the theft of the legendary PROMIS software, international gangsters, BCCI figures and government contractors. He was found dead in a bathtub with his wrists sliced open in a West Virginia motel after telling friends that he was going to "bring back" the head of the Octopus.

Steve Kangas: Critic of the American extreme right and the Central Intelligence Agency Kangas wrote the marvelous piece The Origins of the Overclass and was rumored to be working on a book on CIA covert operations when he was shot dead in get this - the home of Hillary Rodham-Clinton buddy Richard Mellon Scaife.

Gary Caradori: During the Franklin Coverup involving allegations of child prostitution against Republican officials including rising GOP star Lawrence King and leading up to the White House itself investigator Caradori along with his young son perished in yet another of those small plane crashes that seem to occur with great frequency when the occupants are a threat to the establishment

Gary Webb: investigative reporter who wrote the famous Dark Alliance on the CIA-Contra crack cocaine connection series for the San Jose Mercury news and then had his life and career destroyed. He was found dead in 2004.

James Hatfield: Wrote a book called Fortunate Son about then presidential candidate George W. Bush alleging that Dubya had been busted for cocaine in 1972 and that his father had intervened to have the arrest covered up. Hatfield was then smeared, slimed and publicly vilified. He was found dead of an overdose in an Arkansas motel room in 2001.

Cliff Baxter: Enron executive and potential witness found shot dead in his car, death was ruled a suicide.

Kenneth Lay: Kenny Boy, a buddy of George W. Bush and the biggest kahuna of them all with Enron died of a heart attack after his conviction and before he could potentially cut a deal for sentencing leniency. Dead men tell no tales do they?

There are of course a multitude of others, and each of the above merits and entire post on their own all though could have caused serious problems to the existing establishment. Just a bit of research into the plethora of similary convenient and suspicious deaths related to both Bush administrations and the Clinton administration build a circumstantial case that this is no longer a government of the people for the people but one that has long become a criminal enterprise that serves the elite, the corporations, the defense industry and the financiers and will use any method at its disposal to terminate those who threaten it with extreme prejudice. A good piece that I recommend reading is L.F. Prouty's An Introduction to the Assassination Business.

The trail of prematurely dead reporters, politicians, bureaucrats, former CIA directors and witnesses who are connected to government and corporate scandals is something that bears more serious scrutiny or at least the same amount of scrutiny that the missing teenager or pervert of the week is afforded by our pathetically deficient and corrupt mainstream media.

None other than old Joe Stalin himself put it best, "Death solves all problems - no man, no problem".

Read The Full Article:
http://www.myleftwing.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=21728

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Harold Ford: Obama has to Win Indiana

guest post by Texas Darlin’On April 22nd, as Hillary-??s win was declared in Pennsylvania, an L.A. Times blog reported on a statement by Harold Ford Jr. to MSNBC: Harold Ford Jr. -?" not so long ago the rising black politician within [...]

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http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27603

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Obama Launches Attack Ad on Hillary

Obama: politics of change, hope and unity? Check out his new ad attacking Hillary Clinton airing today on television called "Hometown."

video details and more

He accuses Hillary of taking the low road on the economy. Shorter version: Meet the new boss, he's the same as the ones he's trying to replace.

Text of ad below:

Announcer: A war that should never have been waged. An economy in turmoil. Record prices at the pump. America held hostage to foreign oil. And what does Hillary Clinton offer us? More of the same old negative politics.

Her hometown newspaper says she’s taking the low road. Her attacks do nothing but harm.

The same old Washington politics won’t fix our problems. We need honest answers — and a president we can trust.

Mr. Obama: I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message

The New York Times notes:

“Hometown” doesn’t explain why Mr. Obama doesn’t support the gas tax suspension — or even mention it — but it states that “the same old Washington politics won’t fix our problems.”

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House and Senate Roundup, 5/3

Senate Races

TX-Sen: Kos wrote earlier about the shocking polling numbers out of Texas. Rasmussen indicates a slim four-point lead for John Cornyn, with Cornyn receiving 47% to 43% for Democratic challenger and Blue Majority candidate Rick Noriega. If the poll is accurate, it's fantastic news for Democrats.

Noriega still trails badly in the money race-he has just $300,000 on hand, compared to Cornyn's formidable $8 million war chest, so feel free to drop by the Blue Majority page and show Noriega some love.

NH-Sen: Yet another poll-the Granite State Poll-shows Jeanne Shaheen with a wide lead over incumbent John Sununu. Sununu has a cash advantage, but he remains the most endangered incumbent in the Senate. The House races in NH-01 and NH-02 were also polled; more on that below.

MN-Sen: Now for the bad poll news; the ever-reliable SurveyUSA shows Al Franken trailing Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by 10 points, 52% to 42%. This is lousy news, coming on the heels of reports that Franken owes $70K in back taxes. Franken has done quite well in fundraising so far; it may be a good time to start spending some of that money in order to start closing this gap.

NC-Sen: The day before the North Carolina primary, Kay Hagan holds a wide lead over Jim Neal in the U.S. Senate primary, 42% to 17%. Expect her to be the nominee against Elizabeth Dole.

VA-Sen: Mark Warner kicked off his Senate campaign today. He should cruise to victory over Republican Jim Gilmore, as he is dominating in both polling and fundraising. In fact, the best Republicans can say about this race is "well, maybe it's not macaca-proof".

Even Republicans acknowledge that Mark R. Warner is considered the heavy favorite. But, they say, he could still lose.

He could make a mistake the way then-Sen. George Allen did two years ago when he lost to a virtual unknown. He could be hurt by problems in the Democratic Party nationally in the coming months. He could be dragged down by his party's presidential nominee in a state that has voted for a Republican president for more than four decades.

"It can be done," said J. Kenneth Klinge, a prominent Northern Virginia Republican. "But it's going to take some luck."

House Races

NH-01, NH-02: Good news and bad news from the Granite State Poll. The good news is that Second District incumbent Paul Hodes (D) holds a wide lead over both his challengers, and is over 50% against both.

The bad news is that First District Rep. Carol Shea-Porter appears to be in serious trouble. Against former Rep. Jeb Bradley, whom she defeated in 2006, Shea-Porter actually trails by six points, 45% to 39%. Against the other Republican in the race, John Stephen, Shea-Porter leads 43% to 35%, but she is still well under 50%.

Shea-Porter surprised a lot of people in 2006, and overcame similarly bad polling numbers, but she is still one of the more endangered Democratic incumbents in the country.

NJ-03: Happy news from New Jersey's Third District; registered Democrats now outnumber registered Republicans in the district. The Third already votes like a lean-Dem district; Gore won NJ-03 by 11 points and Kerry narrowly lost it, 51-49. Best of all, we have an open-seat race featuring a terrific Democratic challenger in John Adler, who has over $1 million cash-on-hand and has already made the DCCC's Red to Blue list.

FL-13, FL-15: Two news items of note from last week's filing deadline in Florida. First, in the 13th District, Jan Schneider, who lost two previous races in the general election and one in the Democratic primary, is gearing up for a fourth run at the seat-as an independent.

She had considered running as a Democrat again, but apparently the national party sided with 2006 candidate Christine Jennings (no surprise, given that Jennings came within 400 votes of winning). So Schneider has decided to play Ralph Nader.

On the bright side, Dems have another serious candidate in the 15th District, home of the retiring Dave Weldon, in the person of former Air Force Lt. Col. Paul Rancatore.

More good news from Florida; there are now more Hispanic Democrats than Hispanic Republicans in the state. Our progress with this key demographic is wonderful to see, especially as there are nine House races in the state which are expected to be somewhat competitive (in the 8th, 9th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 22nd, 24th and 25th Districts). And oh, yeah, there are 27 electoral votes at stake, too.

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Oil does it again, closes at new record high

The price per barrel went over $120 - a new high - and closed at $119.97. Last week's sell off was short lived and buyers jumped on whatever news they could find, which is pretty much the same as any other day. It's going to test the $120 mark a few times but unless the demand eases and suddenly the world has great news in the oil regions, get used to more increases. Add to that Bernanke's Wall Street loving rate cuts (which never quite reach beyond Wall Street, in a good way) and you have this.

Those Republicans sure were right on this. Ha ha, look at those ridiculous people who talk about conservation. They're tree hugging goofballs who want to drive silly little cars. Errrr, nevermind. Mission Accomplished.

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SUSA NC Poll: Obama By 5

The final SUSA NC poll is out, Obama by 5, 50-45:

According to SurveyUSA's 8th and final tracking poll, conducted exclusively for ABC11 Eyewitness News, on the final day of the fiercely fought campaign, Senator Barack Obama holds on with 50% of the vote to Senator Hillary Clinton's 45% of those polled.

. . . In Charlotte and Western NC, there is the slightest momentum for Clinton. In the Research Triangle, in Southern NC and in Coastal NC, there is slight offsetting momentum to Obama. The net is a wash. If Obama wins, it will be entirely from the 19% of voters who describe themselves as liberal. Clinton leads by 9 among conservatives and leads by 8 among moderates.

. . . 1 in 4 of SurveyUSA's likely voters say they have already voted. Among those who say they have already voted, Obama leads by 16 points. Among those who say they will vote on Primary Day, Obama and Clinton are effectively tied.

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Welcome to the Disneyland drive by: Iraq and its
Billion dollar Green Zone Resort

I’m not kidding you. This story is right out Kafka’s The Metamorphosis Forget the rocket attacks, concrete blast walls and lack of a sewer system. Now try to imagine luxury hotels, a shopping center and even condos in the heart of Baghdad.That’s all part of a five-year development “dream list” - or what some dub [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/05/welcome-to-disneyland-iraq-and-its-billi
on-dollar-green-zone-resort/

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