Allies to Fill US Army's Capability Gaps

post from IraqSlogger.com on 07 November 2007 12:52:36 PM. © IraqSlogger.com

Ongoing operations and emerging mission requirements place a heavy burden on Army resources, resulting in capability gaps that the Army is unable to fill by itself, according to a new report by the RAND Corporation's Arroyo Center.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/4838

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Why the Re-Runs

post from Daily Kos on 07 November 2007 12:52:24 PM. © Daily Kos

The Daily Show is in re-runs!

Why is that, again? Watch this for some answers:

video details and more

In fact, that video is already out of date. The WGA dropped its demand for 8 cents per DVD sold - offering to keep settling for 4 cents, if they just got money for internet use. But that concession wasn't enough for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), whose refusal to budge despite that concession is revealing of their approach to these negotiations. And, having shown that the AMPTP was lying when it said the DVD money was a major reason they couldn't settle, the WGA may resume pushing for an increase in DVD residuals.

Meanwhile celebrities are out on the picket lines, showrunners are supporting the strike, shutting down some shows sooner than would otherwise have happened, and labor leaders from other unions seem to be giving the strike positive reviews so far. It is, all in all, a far more photogenic strike than most, and the names of the people picketing are far more recognizable. But it's about the same issues as most strikes - the ability of workers to make a decent living. Joss Whedon, taking off from a lousy NYT article, writes:

"The trappings of a union protest..." You see how that works? Since we aren’t real workers, this isn’t a real union issue. (We’re just a guild!) And that’s where all my ‘what is a writer’ rambling becomes important. Because this IS a union issue, one that will affect not just artists but every member of a community that could find itself at the mercy of a machine that absolutely and unhesitatingly would dismantle every union, remove every benefit, turn every worker into a cowed wage-slave in the singular pursuit of profit. (There is a machine. Its program is ‘profit’. This is not a myth.) This is about a fair wage for our work. No different than any other union. The teamsters have recognized the importance of this strike, for which I’m deeply grateful. Hopefully the Times will too.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/181196349/345

Digg this

ACLU Learns of Third Secret Torture Memo by
Gonzales

post from Crooks and Liars on 07 November 2007 12:50:43 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Wonderful. And I’m sure Mukasey will be right on that, as soon as he goes through confirmation by the full Senate.How proud you must be of that vote, Chuck and Dianne.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/07/aclu-learns-of-third-secret-torture-memo
-by-gonzales/

Digg this

Caption This: Chuck Schumer

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 07 November 2007 12:45:06 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

A BuzzFlash Caption This Challenge

This is our third BuzzFlash "Caption This" Challenge

We'll begin, as usual, with a couple of possibilities, then you take it away with your own!

(No gratuitous vulgarity, bigotry or threats of violence, which will be deleted.)

"I just got waterboarded and feel SO refreshed!"

"My tongue is stuck from spending so long kissing Bush's butt."

Bookmark/Search this post with:

buzzflash |

delicious | digg

digg |

technorati

Technorati Tags: Other Schumer Caption This

Read The Full Article:
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/node/3662

Digg this

$101,665

post from Eschaton on 07 November 2007 12:45:00 PM. © Eschaton

In total, 2284 people gave $101,665 to Donna Edwards over the past week, with a bit under $14,000 coming from Atriots.

Awesome.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/bRuz/~3/181196369/2007_11_04_archive.html

Digg this

GOP final effort to kill ENDA: Claiming ENDA will
let gays marry

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 07 November 2007 12:45:00 PM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Wow, the Republicans truly are a twisted bunch. They're arguing that a bill to outlaw job discrimination against gays will cause gay marriage. So their amendment is to send the bill back to committee to clarify that the job discrimination bill doesn't legalize gay marriage. Wow. Hateful bunch, these Republicans. They literally had no other argument against the bill. All they can say is that it's a marriage bill. A job discrimination bill is a marriage bill. Wow.

And as an aside, it's always a special pleasure to see southern bigots leading the charge against a civil rights bill. Ah Virginia, you're still for haters.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/181318890/gop-final-effort-to-kill-
enda-claiming.html

Digg this

The Mind Boggles - Robertson Endorses Giuliani

post from All Spin Zone on 07 November 2007 12:37:00 PM. © All Spin Zone

Televangelist Pat Robertson has blessed Rudy Giuliani's campaign for president. So, how's that gonna sit with his 700 Club followers?

Read The Full Article:
http://allspinzone.com/wp/2007/11/07/the-mind-boggles-robertson-endorses-giuliani
/

Digg this

Banking Industry Slammed: More Punishment Ahead

In a recent market report dated 10/18/07, I reviewed the banking industry. At this time, the Bank Index (BKX) was trading at $102.90 and was just beginning to break down from what we chartists refer to as a symmetrical triangle. Here?s a brief conclusion of what I stated in the report:?The bottom line here is [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/jutiagroup/~3/181186506/

Digg this

Clinton's Downturn: Careful What You Wish For

Whether or not the fallout from last week's debate has actually hurt Clinton in the polls is still[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/181184202/showDiary.do

Digg this

WHY WON'T PELOSI AND HER CREW LET THE DEMOCRATS
SOLVE THE MORTGAGE CRISIS ARE THE BLUE DOGS THAT POWERFUL

The menu of reasons to dismiss Al Wynn as a hopeless hack and Big Business Interests pimp is so extensive that anyone with an ounce of sense will find plenty of reasons to oppose him and support Donna Edwards. But the one that first got me going was his aggressive support for the credit card-written bankruptcy bill. What's a Democratic representative from a middle class, predominantly African-American, overwhelmingly Democratic, suburban district doing pushing a Republican bankruptcy bill. His campaign donations, of course, tell the story. Wynn's a whore for dozens of business groups, whose bidding he routinely does, regardless of the interests of his constituents. Among his big financial contributors are the real estate industry, commercial banks, and investment firms.

But today I received a thank you note from a woman in MD-04. She was thanking me for sending her an e-mail Blue America sent her asking her to contribute to Donna Edwards' campaign. She donated $5 and sent this note.

My husband and I live in a part of Montgomery County represented by Congressman Wynn. We don't have much to give but we count ourselves among the formerly middle class who recently lost our home to a predatory lender. I am happy and honored, determined and pissed and hopeful to have sent what we could towards the $100,000 goal. I can't thank you enough for what you are doing.

I had over 100 e-mails this week very much like that. These aren't going to be Al Wynn-voters. But Wynn is hardly the only reactionary, corrupt Democrat who is at least partially to blame for the sub-prime lending crisis in our country. Matt Stoller over at OpenLeft has done some great work on this issue. Do you want to know what a Blue Dog is? A Blue Dog is a Democrat who blocks reform that would help families in crisis because of the mortgage lending meltdown. Although the House Judiciary Committee is ready to send a reform bill to the full House, there are enough reactionary Democrats threatening to join Republicans to make it pointless.

The reason the subprime mortgage meltdown is so problematic is because homeowners can't renegotiate mortgages for primary residences in bankruptcy court. If you declare bankruptcy, you still can't get out from under your mortgage debt, which essentially enslaves people whose home value has dropped lower than their debt amount.

The good news is that Brad Miller, Linda T. Sánchez, Barney Frank, and Mel Watt have a bill in Congress that empowers bankruptcy courts to restructure mortgages for primary residences. You can find out more here and here. It's a very sane and reasonable approach that lets people declare bankruptcy and get out from under horrific levels of debt.

Knowing how vulnerable he is, electorally, Wynn has sat by mum, while his political allies have done their best to sabotage the assistance most Democrats want to offer homeowners who find themselves in dire straits a reasonable way out-- the way they always, always, always offer "reasonable" ways out for Big Business (usually in the form of massive taxpayer-funded bailouts).

Instead of offering you a list of the Democrats most actively working to screw over homeowners-- many of them the regular suspects who are always opposing everything and anything progressive, from ending Bush's wars to extending civil rights to minorities, let me give you each of their names with the legal bribes they have taken from the Finance/Insurance/Real Estate industries whose interests they are serving:

Lincoln Davis (TN):
2006: $79,600
2008: $89,486

John Tanner (TN):
2006: $292,579
2008: $127,396

Tim Mahoney (FL):
2006: $183,850
2008: $213,565

Jim Matheson (UT):
2006: $455,600
2008: $117,344

Allen Boyd (FL):
2006: $165,042
2008: $57,550

Jim Marshall (GA):
2006: $166,401
2008: $90,342

David Scott (GA):
2006: $300,152
2008: $157,741

Bean, Melissa (IL):
2006: $404,527
2008: $400,851

Mike Ross (AR):
2006: $170,139
2008: $56,700

Baron Hill (IN):
2006: $110,934
2008: $65,650

Mike Thompson (CA):
2006: $168,413
2008: $116,919

Bart Gordon (TN):
2006: $119,750
2008: $48,250

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD):
2006: $162,848
2008: $59,400

Charlie Melancon (LA):
2006: $186,265
2008: $56,700

Dan Boren (OK):
2006: $113,370
2008: $98,200