Home add your blog Archives Search Book Reviews Forum Contact RSS FEED

This site is an rss/xml news reader containing our favorite feeds. All articles are the copyrighted material of the blogs that wrote them.

From North to South, The Whole Damn World is
Melting

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 06 September 2008 04:12:54 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

The data just keep pouring in (quite literally,) on ice-melting around the world.Most people have focused their attention on Arctic sea-ice melt, but the heating of the water and the air that is driving the breakup of Arctic ice shelves is also taking[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/385330452/showDiary.do

Digg this

"THEY MUST THINK YOU'RE STUPID."

post from Ezra Klein on 06 September 2008 04:09:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=09&year=2008&base_name
=they_must_think_youre_stupid

Digg this

Why Is Environmental Defenses Krupp Calling On
Green Groups To Avoid Talking About Global Warming

post from Firedoglake on 06 September 2008 03:59:59 PM. © Firedoglake

Who should be speaking out strongly on Global Warming's impacts? On the relationship of Global Warming to mounting storm and other threats to the nation? Who should lead the discussion about how federal flood policy has increased vulnerability to[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/09/06/eds-krupp-calls-on-green-groups-to-avoid-talkin
g-about-global-warming/

Digg this

The Dry Powder Dividend

post from Daily Kos on 06 September 2008 03:55:43 PM. © Daily Kos

Here's a dangerous combination of circumstances.

First, in D.C.:

A federal appeals court granted the White House a temporary delay in turning over documents to a House committee investigating the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

A three-judge panel ordered the stay on Thursday, the deadline set by the House Judiciary Committee for White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten to provide the records. The order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also will probably delay the appearance of former White House Counsel Harriet Miers before the committee. She is scheduled to testify next Thursday.

Second, in... Alaska:

Key Alaska allies of John McCain are trying to derail a politically charged investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner in order to prevent a so-called "October surprise" that would produce embarrassing information about the vice presidential candidate on the eve of the election.

In a move endorsed by the McCain campaign Friday, John Coghill, the GOP chairman of the state House Rules Committee, wrote a letter seeking a meeting of Alaska's bipartisan Legislative Council in order to remove the Democratic state senator in charge of the so-called "troopergate" investigation.

Once again, sporks to a gunfight. The McCain campaign is dispatching lawyers and operatives to Alaska, preparing to meet this issue and fight it head-on as if it were Florida 2000 all over again. Democrats, it seems, are pinning their hopes to state legislators and regular order.

Why should Dems approach this differently? We discussed the dangers of Troopergate yesterday. But let me reiterate the central points once again:

Cheneyism -- that is, the legalistic resistance to oversight in every form and at every juncture -- is gelling as precedent and is spreading to the states.

Sarah Barracuda Gantry Windripis now positioned to take the reins of a Vice Presidency gone wild, and marry her brand of Nixonism -- that is, the use of the power of office to settle personal and political scores by leveraging the mechanisms of state against her enemies -- to the principles of Cheneyism, which grafts the veneer of legality onto these vendettas, and (this is key) rebuffs all attempts to challenge this illegal exercise of power as "criminalizing politics."

Alaskans are right now seeing the same blunt refusal to permit or even acknowledge the propriety of legislative investigations of the executive that we've already been watching for years in D.C., even as its perpetrator is being foisted upon us as a successor to Cheney.

So what kind of government do we think we'll have left if she gets to cash in on the Dry Powder Dividend and continue Cheney's work? Will we see the CIA renditioning people who cut Todd off in traffic? Or something much, much worse?

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/XWkfIZMPBQI/4456

Digg this

Saturday Diary Rescue

post from MyDD on 06 September 2008 03:49:30 PM. © MyDD

Late on this today, but - as always - worth the wait. Enjoy. "I yearn to wake up one day and not be afraid to learn what my government has done in my name," says campaignmonitor in What Will This Election Say About Us? Project Vote returns with How[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mydd/~3/FiCuCR9Ul3M/0985

Digg this

IAVA Director: Faux Walter Reed Background
‘Was As Close As McCain Got To Veterans Issues’ At RNC

post from Think Progress on 06 September 2008 03:38:00 PM. © Think Progress

On Thursday night, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) formally accepted his party’s nomination for president at the Republican National Convention. During his speech, a mysterious image of a building appeared on the screen behind him, which TalkingPointsMemo identified as Walter Reed Middle School, in North Hollywood, CA. (The school did not grant permission to use its image.) Some suspect McCain had intended to show a photo of Walter Reed Medical Center; the McCain campaign has offered conflicting explanations for the bizarre use of the photo.

Appearing on MSNBC’s Countdown last night, Paul Riekhoff, director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, slammed McCain for completely ignoring Iraq and Afghanistan veterans during his speech, saying the mistaken background was “about as close as Sen. McCain got to veterans issues”:

RIECKHOFF: I think honestly that backdrop, whether it was Walter Reed medical center or Walter Reed middle school — that’s about as close as Sen. McCain got to veterans issues last night. He didn’t mention the word veteran once during his entire speech, didn’t talk about post-traumatic stress disorder, didn’t talk about veterans funding. I think he really forgot where he came from last night.

Watch the entire interview:
video details and more

Rieckhoff also mentioned McCain’s opposition to the 21st Century GI Bill. “We told America that if Sen. McCain was on the wrong side of the G.I. Bill, it would hang around his neck for the election. That’s exactly what’s happening now,” Rieckhoff said.

McCain’s opposition to the GI Bill is just one aspect of his abysmal record on veterans issues. It’s no wonder, as Rieckhoff said, that we saw “a deliberate attempt by the RNC not to put Iraq and Afghanistan vets out in front.”

Transcript:

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/06/mccain-veterans-rnc/

Digg this

Palin More Qualified Than Lincoln, Kennedy,
Johnson, McCain!

post from Open Left - Front Page on 06 September 2008 03:33:09 PM. © Open Left - Front Page

The latest "bold move" by the McCain campaign is to tout their unkown, untested VP as actually[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/385251008/showDiary.do

Digg this

Surge success beyond our wildest dreams

post from Crooks and Liars on 06 September 2008 03:30:14 PM. © Crooks and Liars

John McCain has made much of how he was correct about the Surge in Iraq when his opponent was saying it wouldn’t work. Barack Obama has been moving gradually further towards McCain’s position, propelled there by a narrative that questions his original judgement in the face of drastic cuts in Iraqi violence [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/06/surge-success-beyond-our-wildest-dreams/

Digg this

Real Time With Bill Maher: 09/05/08

post from All Spin Zone on 06 September 2008 03:19:00 PM. © All Spin Zone

Bill Maher is my hero! Last nights show simply reminded me of that fact. While one could argue that his acerbic tongue alienates the religious right and those voters who might be persuadable, I’ve come to the conclusion that it may be the only way to fight a war with ideological fanatics.

Honestly, in the course of an hour, Maher’s program did more to refute the nonsense spewed by the GOP and their Christian allies than you’ll find in a weeks worth of cable news programming. Maher’s take no prisoners style may not be appropriate for a news format, but we desperately need more of his clarity and candor.

Truth be told, we live in a nation that is being fed a choreographed script that has little connection to reality. We’ve just ended a week of watching the GOP and John McCain do what they do best…tell lies…over and over again. Unfortunately, they succeed in this endeavor because they are, for the most part, telling their tall tales to a willing audience…an audience that is capable of ignoring science in favor of its cherished Biblical babble.

Never have I seen such a willingness to pander and such a hunger to accept it. All the GOP needs to do is toss out the necessary code words and the flock is willing to march in lockstep…assured that their beliefs will not be challenged and facts will not be allowed to interfere with the precepts of their fantastical faith.

OK, let’s start by looking at the opening segment of last evenings program…a faux commercial premised upon the Palin family’s “pentecostal” predisposition…for celebrating pregnancy. You see, if you’re a Christian, you can do no wrong…even when contradicting the judgments you heap upon everyone else. The simple fact that you believe in Christ…and are willing to tell everyone you do…makes everything you do part and parcel of God’s will. So as we’ve seen with the pregnancy of Bristol Palin, if you’re fornicating for Jesus, you go girl…let the spirit (and the sperm) be with you!

video details and more

Look, in my mind, if the Palin’s and others can celebrate their small town small mindedness as a badge of honor, the rest of us who live in this country have every right to ridicule their right wing rednecks. If Levi Johnston can state the following on his MySpace page, we can surely call him a holier-than-thou hick.

“I’m a f - - -in’ redneck” who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes.”
“But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some s- - - and just f - - -in’ chillin’ I guess.”
“Ya f - - - with me I’ll kick ass.”

Is that supposed to be charming? Is that representative of the family values we embrace? You see, the GOP flew him to their convention and paraded him on the tarmac…with John McCain virtually giving him a hand job…and then the network cameras cut away to him and his knocked-up honey (celebrities anyone?) while mommy spouted her nonsense.

OK, aren’t these the same people who had a fit when we got a split second view of Janet Jackson’s breast? Mind you Jackson wasn’t knocked-up…and Justin Timberlake hadn’t knocked her up…and the two of them were simply performing a song on a stage. The reaction of the GOP? Outrage…sinful…disgusting…immoral…unfit for our children to see…fine the shit out of the network! In other words, performance art is far worse than parading a teenage boy and and his knocked up girlfriend for 40 million Americans to glorify…teens who have MySpace pages containing the crap noted above…teens who haven’t the good sense to use contraception…all because we’re concerned about the upholding of family values?!

Well excuse me, but why is Hollywood the big bad villain…the home of secular elites…the epicenter of all that is wrong with America…and Wasilla, Alaska is home to newly found titular head of the Republican Party…and the newly impregnated family values virgin mother? Tell me, what’s wrong with this picture? Quite frankly, I’m sick and tired of being told that my values are inferior and that I’m a member of the educated elite. Since when did stupidity wrapped in Christianity become a virtue?

I’m capable of distinguishing the entertainment value of Janet Jackson’s breast from the idiocy of having sex without a condom…and I don’t need no stinkin’ Bible or abstinence only program to figure it out. Her breast isn’t going to make me hire a male prostitute or tap my foot in an airport bathroom stall to solicit sex…just as the Bible isn’t going to keep Levi Johnston’s sperm from impregnating polly purebred.

I’m reminded of Howard Beale’s famous soliloquy in the movie Network in which he stated the following:

We know things are bad - worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’ Well, I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot - I don’t want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad.
You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!’ So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell,
‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’
I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it:
“I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

Perhaps that’s why I so admire Bill Maher…he is as mad as hell…and he doesn’t want to take it anymore…and he is at the window yelling…imploring us to refuse to take this crap anymore.

Take a look at the comments of Dan Savage during last evenings show. Note the clarity he displays in cutting through the utter hypocrisy being demonstrated by the roll-out of their right wing Republican with a vagina…the new life support system for the dicks who run the GOP and use these seemingly cuckolded Christians to win elections and run this country into the ground…while lining their licentious pockets.

Dan Savage On The GOP & Women

video details and more

Dan Savage On The GOP Hypocrisy

video details and more

Honestly, the words coming out of Savage’s mouth are an adherence to truth…a moral manifesto far superior to the scripted pabulum that is coming out of Sarah Palin’s mouth. Seriously, it’s impossible to respect the GOP and the governor when they are so willing to corrupt and misconstrue Christian values for votes. It’s even more difficult to respect those voters who allow themselves to be used in this fashion. The truth of the matter is that out of their own lack of self-examination and their delusional and dogged adherence to denial, the voters who enable the GOP are actually embracing a doctrine that is fully situational and summarily subjective.

When Savage mentions the role of women, and James Dobson’s belief that women should remain at home with their children, he’s referencing Focus on the Family’s involvement with, and support of, Promise Keepers…the group that rose to national notoriety under the guidance of former Colorado University football coach, Bill McCartney.

Generally speaking, the objective of Promise Keepers was to empower men to take back their roles as the leader of their families…and to simultaneously instruct the women in their lives that their role should be subservient to that of their husbands…all out of an adherence to God’s instruction, of course.

While McCartney was busy empowering men, his daughter, like Sarah Palin’s daughter, was also busy getting pregnant while unmarried. Let me be clear…getting pregnant is not the issue and I pass no judgment upon these young women. In fact, I have great sympathy for them and the lack of logical instruction they are receiving from their parents.

You see, if one thing is true of children, it’s their ability to see inconsistency and hypocrisy. Unfortunately, their typical reaction to it often includes the acting out of self-destructive behaviors. In many ways, they do this to demonstrate the dissonance that exists in their lives…a primitive attempt to tell mom and dad that they are full of shit.

In other words, they lack the authority to sit mom and dad down, so they subconsciously seek to force mom and dad into reflecting upon their inane ideological irrationalities. Sadly, these efforts rarely succeed. In fact, it often forces the child into further embracing the doctrine of their parents as they rarely have the means to support themselves. Hence we witness a process of perpetuation that involves the breaking the spirit of one’s children such that the cycle of indoctrination is self-sustaining. As the old saying goes, “The sins of the father will be visited upon the son.”

The bottom line…what these people are selling just doesn’t work…and it’s time to say so…loud and clear…over and over…and to elect leaders that will not coddle them.

OK, so let’s close with a look at this weeks New Rules.

video details and more

As always, Maher cuts through the John McCain mumbo jumbo of, “My friends… ignore the ground noise and the static” to present us with unfiltered reality. Maher quickly slices through the BS…pointing out the many misrepresentations that accompany the GOP’s rhetoric. Maher closes with a clear indictment of the oft heard meme that Barack Obama is an elitist.

Maher aptly highlights the real issue…that the GOP has figured out the means to play upon the insecurities found in all too many voters. Rather than vote issues, too many American voters are stuck in a never ending battle with their own nefarious narcissism.

America needs change…but I fear it wont begin until the Democrats take the GOP, kicking and screaming, out to the wood shed for an old fashioned whooping. I’m looking forward to watching it unfold on November 4th. In the meantime, I’ll be standing at my window…yelling at the top of my lungs, “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

Cross-posted at Thought Theater

Read The Full Article:
http://allspinzone.com/wp/2008/09/06/real-time-with-bill-maher-090508/

Digg this

Live From Walter Reed Middle School

As Talking Point Memo reported...

A lot of people were asking tonight: what the hell was that mansion up behind John McCain tonight during the first part of the speech?
Well, several readers have written in to tell me that the building is actually the main building on the campus of the Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, California.

Reed Alum Shane Stranahan investigates!

video details and more