Virginia On Track for 101 Executions

post from Moue Magazine on 09 July 2008 11:55:11 PM. © Moue Magazine

Since the Supreme Court ruled that the current method of lethal injection is not cruel and unusual punishment, the state of Virginia wasted no time whatsoever in getting back to the business of executing people. It was only hours after the Supreme[...]

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Naming Names

post from TalkLeft on 09 July 2008 11:43:00 PM. © TalkLeft

As an unusually long editorial in The New York Times expresses,

it was distressing — and depressing — to watch Congress wrench Americans’ civil liberties back to where they were in the days before Watergate, when the United States government listened to our phone calls whenever it wanted.

From Republicans (all of whom voted for the FISA bill except McCain who was too busy trying to be noticed to show up at the one place he might have been noticed today) this is what we expect:

Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said there was nothing to fear in the bill “unless you have Al Qaeda on your speed dial.”

From Democrats we expect more. For Senators Baucus, Bayh, Carper, Casey, Conrad, Feinstein, Inouye, Johnson, Kohl, Landrieu, Lincoln, McCaskill, Mikulski, both Nelsons, Obama, Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar, Webb, and Whitehouse, and for the United States Constitution, this is a dark day indeed.

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Bush: "Goodbye from the world's biggest
polluter"

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 09 July 2008 11:42:00 PM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

Nice sign off by Bush to the G8 leaders. Surprising that he was so weak on making progress on climate change with this attitude though he defended his friends right until the end. The latest announcement by the G8 on climate change is as worthless as every other statement.

President George Bush signed off with a defiant farewell over his refusal to accept globahttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifl climate change targets at his last G8 summit.

As he prepared to fly out from Japan, he told his fellow leaders: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

President Bush made the private joke in the summit's closing session, senior sources said yesterday. His remarks were taken as a two-fingered salute from the President from Texas who is wedded to the oil industry. He had given some ground at the summit by saying he would "seriously consider" a 50 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050.

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Late Night: Choosing and Losing (FISA Edition)

post from TalkLeft on 09 July 2008 11:38:00 PM. © TalkLeft

video details and more

And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson....

....Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon.
Going to the candidate's debate.
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you've got to choose
Every way you look at this you lose.

This is an open thread. [Hat tip to jawbone in the FISA comments]

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George Bush: From soul-senser to believer

post from Daily Kos on 09 July 2008 11:25:22 PM. © Daily Kos

As the Bush presidency (finally) winds down, it seems that George has lost his ability to sense a man's soul. Here was his take on Vladimir Putin seven years ago:

I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country. And I appreciated so very much the frank dialogue.

But sadly, this was all he could come up with for Dmitry Medvedev:

You know, I'm not going to sit here and psychoanalyze the man, but I will tell you that he's very comfortable, he's confident, and that I believe that when he tells me something, he means it...My judgment is that when he tells you something he means it...

With his ability to read souls gone, it's good to know that we can still count on George Bush's judgment.

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Mush, Mush!

post from Talking Points Memo on 09 July 2008 11:22:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Reports are bubbling tonight about a new indictment in the sprawling Alaska corruption scandals. But these scandals are so broad-ranging and involve so many different players that there's no solid word about who's up next. [...]

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Obama Just Can't Stop ... Not Shifting Rightward

post from LiberalOasis : The Blog on 09 July 2008 11:19:00 PM. © LiberalOasis : The Blog

In the past 48 hours, Obama has:

1) Re-affirmed his support for direct diplomacy with Iran, even after Iran conducted a missile test and McCain and his fellow necons couldn't barely keep themselves from drooling over the prospect of a fresh war.

Now is the time to work with our friends and allies, and to pursue direct and aggressive diplomacy with the Iranian regime backed by tougher unilateral and multilateral sanctions. It's time to offer the Iranians a clear choice between increased costs for continuing their troubling behavior, and concrete incentives that would come if they change course.

Obama did not use this is as an opportunity to shift his position or try to blur his position with McCain's, on a critical matter that the next president will surely have to address.

2) While campaigning in a red sate, explicitly embraced a role for our government in stopping unethical lenders:

"Like the president he hopes to succeed, Sen. McCain does not believe the government has a real role to play in protecting Americans from unscrupulous lending practices," Obama said in remarks before a few thousand people in a high school gymnasium outside of Atlanta. "He would continue to allow the banks and credit card companies to tilt the playing field in their favor, at the expense of hardworking Americans."

3) Backed equality for women as a strategy for economic growth, while on NBC's Today:

"It's not that women are unique in feeling pressure under this economy. It's the fact they get paid 78 cents on the dollar compared to men, and 62 percent of families rely on women for at least half and maybe more than half of their income," Obama replied. "So if we can raise wages and incomes for women, if we can make sure that they've got paid family leave, if they've got more support for child care, that doesn't just benefit women. It benefits all American families."

4) Encouraged people to quit worrying about "English-only" laws and start worrying about getting our kids to learn second languages:

"You know, I don't understand when people are going around worrying about, 'We need to have English- only.' They want to pass a law, 'We want English-only,'" Obama said. "Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English -- you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language.
"You know, it's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say [is], 'Merci beaucoup.' Right? (Laughter) You know, no, I'm serious about this. We should understand that our young people, if you have a foreign language, that is a powerful tool to get a job. You are so much more employable. You can be part of international business. So we should be emphasizing foreign languages in our schools from an early age, because children will actually learn a foreign language easier when they're 5, or 6, or 7 than when they're 46, like me."

So can we end this ridiculous talk that Obama is going to run as Republican Lite?

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C&Ls Late Nite Music Club with Ringo Starr

A little historical discussion before Liverpool 8, the latest by Ringo Starr (Happy belated birthday!)We missed this little request from him on his birthday, but since my kids are of the belief that birthday celebrations should last the week, I see no reason not to honor it today as well.Peace and Love, Ringo. [...]

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Late Nite FDL: About Republicans And Race

So it seems that Jonah Goldberg is upset at those nasty liberals again -- this time for having the audacity to say that racism, embodied in the tenure of the recently deceased Jesse Helms, is a significant cog in the Republican Party machinery. I think I[...]

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