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Prominent neoconservative site goes under.

post from Think Progress on 16 May 2008 04:02:00 PM. © Think Progress

Eleven years ago, the neoconservative Project for a New American Century (PNAC) set out its statement of principles advocating the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, putting the country on the road to a preventative invasion of Iraq. Signatories included future Iraq war architects Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Elliott Abrams, as well as neoconservatives like Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan. From PNAC?s statement of foreign policy goals:

The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire.

But just as the neocons are attempting to run from responsibility for the Iraq war, it appears PNAC may be abandoning its own website. Here’s the message that greets visitors to PNAC’s site:

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http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/16/prominent-neoconservative-site-goes-under/

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Four at Four

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 16 May 2008 04:00:00 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

This is what appeasement looks like. Something... From Voice of America, Bush in Saudi Arabia for Nuclear Deal. "Bush and King Abdullah... will discuss a deal to help the kingdom develop civilian nuclear power for medical and industrial uses as well as[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/291871673/showDiary.do

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NBC's Williams touts Bush administration
"milestone" in listing polar bears as "threatened," but doesn't note lawsuits forced its hand

post from Media Matters for America on 16 May 2008 03:54:39 PM. © Media Matters for America

On the May 14 edition of NBC's Nightly News, while previewing a report onthe Department of Interior's announcement that it was listing the polarbear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), anchor Brian Williams said: "Then today, ahuge milestone by the Bush administration: Polar bears were declared athreatened species." However, neither Williams nor the report by chiefenvironmental affairs correspondent Anne Thompson mentioned that the"milestone" comes after environmental groups[...]

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http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/291833324/200805160005

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Electability

post from TalkLeft on 16 May 2008 03:54:00 PM. © TalkLeft

Some new GE state polling from Ras:

WASHINGTON

Obama 51
McCain 40

Clinton 47
McCain 42

ARKANSAS

Obama 33
McCain 57

Clinton 53
McCain 39

More . . .

IOWA

Obama 44
McCain 42

Clinton 42
McCain 45

KANSAS

Obama 34
McCain 55

Clinton 39
McCain 55

ALASKA

Obama 41
McCain 50

MAINE

Obama 51
McCain 38

Clinton 51
McCain 38

Obama has strengths in the West that Clinton does not, but Kansas, for example, is not one of those states. Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada can be flipped by Obama from Red to Blue out West. I doubt Clinton can.

But Clinton has strengths Obama does not match in the East and other states. Arkansas is clearly one of them. West Virginia can also be flipped. And most importantly, Clinton has distinct advantages over Obama in Ohio and Florida for turning them Blue from Red.

These are competing electability arguments. Both are reasonable. More importantly, their competing strengths argue for a Unity Ticket imo.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/291828438/420

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The GOP Abuses the Environment at Its Own Peril

post from TPMCafe on 16 May 2008 03:42:00 PM. © TPMCafe

Indeed, "here we go again," with the Bush EPA weakening environmental rules on building power plants near national parks. The environment is a key issue for many Americans but you would never know it by how willingly the GOP genuflects before Old King Coal.

When I was the Republican senator from Rhode Island, I attended briefings for potential donors and watched party honchos brag about our cozy relationship with the coal interests. The bigwigs wanted donors to know that coal is an important brick in the foundation of the Republican Party.

This strategy of favoring coal interests over the air that sustains life on our planet may be bringing in campaign dollars but it contributed to Republican losses in 2006 (including a Rhode Island seat that will probably never be regained).

The GOP faces a potential blowout in November on a myriad of issues - Iraq, the economy, gas prices - and, certainly, its insensitivity to environmental issues.

If Republican senators are smart, they'll start to break the pattern by speaking out against this EPA mistake. And not just the usual blue-state incumbents up for reelection: Gordon Smith of Oregon, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Susan Collins of Maine. Everyone expects them to protest, which means none of the party leaders will pay attention.

It needs to come from a Lamar Alexander of Tennessee or a Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. In 2005, they showed enough independence to sign on as co-sponsors of the Carper-Chafee compromise on reauthorizing the Clean Air Act.
Lamar was committed because of air pollution in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Judd had concerns about pollution in the Presidential Range in his state.

Paul Kiel highlights the threat posed by the EPA rule change to national parks in Virginia, Colorado and North Dakota. Are we going to hear from John Warner on protecting the Shenandoah? From Wayne Allard on protecting the Mesa Verde?

North Dakota has no Republican senator. Is there a brave Republican out there who will stand up for the old Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt and the national park named for him in North Dakota?

Republican senators would be foolish to stay silent and watch the Democrats climb all over this issue and claim ownership of the environment that most Americans care about. If they don't speak up in protest to the continuing Bush lunacy, more Republican seats will be lost in 2008.

Lincoln D. Chafee is the author of Against The Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President. He was the Republican U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, 1999-2007. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/tpmcafe-main/~3/291851911/

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et al.: you can go overboard on hive mind

post from Stephenson blogs on homeland security 2.0 et al. on 16 May 2008 03:37:25 PM. © Stephenson blogs on homeland security 2.0 et al.

It’s been too long since I’ve commented on miscellany. Here goes!I’ll admit that I’m second only to Edward O. Wilson in my love of ants and their sophisticated hive mind/emergent behavior (didn’t Wilson write that if humanity vanished, we’d take 2-3 species [I’m betting head lice] with us, but if ants vanished, life as we [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stephensonstrategies/Rbib/~3/291845751/

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When a hound howls and growls, you better be
alert

As I said in my previous post, electability is the GOP’s worry now. Have you noticed that John McCain, in the past two months, has traveled to speak with the forgotten people he forgot for his 24 years of public service: Blacks in Selma and poor white people everywhere, mostly. He’s suddenly become a global [...]

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http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2008/05/16/when-a-hound-howls-and-growls-
you-better-be-alert/

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Iraqi Family Injured by National Guard Gunfire

Members of a civilian family traveling in an automobile were injured by Iraqi forces' gunfire near an Iraqi checkpoint in the al-Hawija district west of Kirkuk after the family did not respond to instructions to stop at the checkpoint.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/5832

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Exec. producer tells fishbowl DC that Meet the
Press "would certainly be open" to interviewing Bob Barr

In a May 15 post to the mediabistro.comblog fishbowl DC, editor Patrick W. Gavin reported that in response to hisinquiry following up on a Media Matters forAmerica item asking whether NBC Washington bureau chief TimRussert would give Libertarian presidential candidate and former Republicancongressman Bob Barr (GA) the same platform on Meetthe Press that Russert gave Ralph Nader, Meet the Press executive producer Betsy Fischer asserted,"We would certainly be open to having Rep. Barr back on Meet[...]

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http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/291818580/200805160004

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THE IRONMAN THEORY OF AMERICAN INNOCENCE.

We just published a terrific article by Spack tracking the political evolution of the Iron Man series. Take the film's plot in which Stark finds that his underlings are selling weaponry on the black market and arming some of the world's most brutal[...]

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http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=05&year=2008&base_name
=the_ironman_theory_of_american

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