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Frameshop: For Assassination Joke, Huckabee
Should Be Off TV

post from FRAMESHOP on 16 May 2008 06:10:00 PM. © FRAMESHOP

Having joked less than a year ago about killing Mitt Romney (and his supporters), former Republican candidate for president, Mike Huckabee, has now made light of assassinating Sen. Barack Obama. According to CNN, during his recent speech at the NRA...

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http://jeffrey-feldman.typepad.com/frameshop/2008/05/frameshop-for-a.html

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Obama Hits Back At Bush Nazi Comment.

post from The Osterley Times on 16 May 2008 06:08:00 PM. © The Osterley Times

video details and more

Bush broke all the rules when he launched this appalling attack. Obama, rightly, nails the little shit for it. Then he turns on McCain and the way he jumped on this bandwagon.

As he says, Bush and McCain have a lot to answer for.

Bush's speech was an utter disgrace. McCain jumping on the band wagon was equally disgraceful.

McCain offers more of the same. He, essentially, offers a third Bush term. That's why he will be defeated come November.

Tags: Bush, McCain, Israel, Palestine, Iran, Obama, US election 2008, Democratic presidential nominee, Hamas

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http://the-osterley-times.blogspot.com/2008/05/obama-hits-back-at-bush-nazi-comme
nt.html

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Again ignoring numerous falsehoods, NY Times
falsely suggested that only Clinton administration officials objected to ABC's Path to 9/11

post from Media Matters for America on 16 May 2008 06:06:13 PM. © Media Matters for America

In a May 14 article about the upcoming HBOfilm Recount, New York Times writer Edward Wyattreported, "In 2006 ABC made changes to 'The Path to 9/11'after complaints from former Clinton administration officials that it portrayedthem as less than vigilant in their pursuit of Osama bin Laden," but didnot note that, despite editing,the final version of the ABC miniseries still included severalfabricatedscenes,falsehoods,and sharp discrepancies between its account of certain events and the[...]

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http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/291899250/200805160006

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THOMAS "GUS" KONTOGIANNIS HEADS OFF TO PRISON IN
ONE OF THE MOST SECRETIVE POLITICAL CRIME CASES IN HISTORY

post from DownWithTyranny! on 16 May 2008 06:02:00 PM. © DownWithTyranny!

The photo of Kontogiannis with Bush has disappeared
Most Americans have never heard the name Thomas Kontogiannis. DWT readers have known all about him since 2005 when we started talking about how he is the link that ties Bush directly to convicted felon and Republican ex-congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Cunningham was Kontogiannis' very own "congressman-on-retainer." Today he was given an 8 year prison sentence "for his role laundering bribe money" for Cunningham. He was also fined over a million dollars. Kontogiannis pleaded guilty, making a deal with the prosecutors for a reduced sentence.

This is far from Kontogiannis' first brush with the law. In 2000 he was arrested for receiving more than $2 million in kickbacks in a bid-rigging scheme involving junk computer foisted on the Queens School District. The district Superintendent, Celestine Miller, a Republican scam artist, with absurd pretensions to get elected to Congress, helped Kontogiannis defraud the district. He financed her doomed campaign, in part by giving her a brown paper bag filled with $50,000 in cash. That Cunningham sold him a presidential pardon for $400,000 is the most covered-up part of the Randy "Duke" Cunningham scandals. That's because there's only one person who can grant presidential pardons and it isn't Randy "Duke" Cunningham (nor is it Vice President Cheney, nor Irving Libby, nor Mitch McConnell nor any of the myriad corrupt scoundrels Bush has surrounded himself with. Only Bush can grant a presidential pardon. What was his cut of the $400,000 bribe from Kontogiannis? Cunningham brought Kontogiannis to the White House to meet him.

And there's more-- even more serious stuff that hasn't been dealt with-- yes more serious than Bush selling a pardon. But the Bush bribe and the treason parts of this case have been scrupulously kept out of the public record. Last month the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the secrecy around this case was unprecedented. "Federal prosecutors asserted extraordinary powers of the executive branch over the judicial branch when it comes to information it has classified. In essence, prosecutors argued that once the executive branch says something is classified, courts are virtually powerless to review or disagree. That is true, they argued, even when the information is part of court records-- which historically have been considered open under the First Amendment."

Kontogiannis and a shady Saudi operative living in Southern California, Ziyad Abduljawad, took Cunningham and another crooked Republican California congressloon, Ken Calvert, to Saudi Arabia. Calvert and Cunningham were not there for sightseeing-- nor on government business, at least not legitimate government business.

Kontogiannis, in tears, was whisked off to jail immediately. This is a case that will either be buried or will be looked into by Attorney General John Edwards in the future. I'm betting Kontogiannis will either die in prison before then or be pardoned and disappeared.

Read The Full Article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2008/05/thomas-gus-kontogiannis-heads-off-to.
html

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Saudis tell Bush to go F himself, oil prices are
just fine at $127/barrel

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 16 May 2008 06:02:00 PM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Seriously, why do we defend these people? I get it, they have oil. But if their little royal family got conveniently replaced by someone else, they'd still have oil.

"Supply and demand are in balance today," [Saudi oil minister Ali] al-Naimi told a news conference, bristling at criticism from the U.S. Congress. "How much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning our oil practices and policies?"

Early this week, Senate Democrats introduced a resolution to block $1.4 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia unless Riyadh agreed to increase its oil production by 1 million barrels per day.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/292031602/saudis-tell-bush-to-go-f-
himself-oil.html

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Friday Philosophy: Addressing the Future

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 16 May 2008 06:00:00 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

It always takes a few days to turn the switch.There are still teaching things to attend to over the summer, some of which will be fairly onerous, like building an evaluation instrument for one of our computer literacy classes, a mechanism by which[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/291921984/showDiary.do

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Where The Rubber Meets The Road (5/16/08)

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 16 May 2008 05:55:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

As reported in last Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer, here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week.

House

Federal mortgage relief. Voting 266-154, the House authorized a program in which mortgage holders would refinance hundreds of thousands of at-risk home loans in return for Federal Housing Administration backing of those loans and other benefits. Now before the Senate, the bill (HR 3221) is designed to rescue up to 500,000 mortgages, totaling $300 billion, that are now headed for default.
A yes vote backed the legislation.

Voting yes: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Voting no: Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), and H. James Saxton (R., N.J.).

This is the work first and foremost of Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services committee, which he crafted after meeting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke (as noted here).

And as I noted earlier, President No More Golf In ?Tribute? To Our Dead And Wounded Service People has threatened a veto because it is ?a burdensome bailout that would open taxpayers to too much risk.?

Does he mean ?burdensome? financially? If so, I have a question; how much is the Iraq war costing us again?

Homeowner tax breaks. Voting 322-94, the House adopted an amendment to HR 3221 that authorizes $7,500 tax credits for first-time home purchases and allows taxpayers who do not itemize deductions to treat up to $700 of their 2008 property taxes as a federal tax deduction. The measure also authorizes housing authorities to issue $10 billion in tax-exempt bonds to refinance subprime loans and provide low-income rental housing.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Schwartz, Sestak and Smith.

Voting no: Pitts and Saxton.

At least Saxton has the decency to be leaving; if Pitts had a speck of integrity, he?d do the same thing (and once more, to help Bruce Slater, click here).

Home foreclosures. Voting 239-188, the House sent the Senate a bill (HR 5818) providing $15 billion in grants and loans through 2013 for a program to help communities and nonprofit organizations buy, rehabilitate and occupy vacant, foreclosed homes. Families with incomes below the regional median income would then be offered the properties for purchase or rental.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Andrews, Brady, Fattah, Holden, Murphy, Schwartz and Sestak.

Voting no: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Pitts, Saxton and Smith.

This was sponsored by Maxine Waters of California, as noted here; also, here is an extended Center for American Progress article about what the organization proposes for the current downturn, including the Waters bill (the party line vote here indicates some continued Repug reality avoidance, which is not surprising at all).

Senate

Wind-damage insurance. Voting 19-74, the Senate defeated an amendment to expand the National Flood Insurance Program to cover wind damage as well as water damage. This occurred during debate on a bill (S 2284) to renew and reform the FEMA-run program, which serves 5.5 million policyholders in 20,000 communities. The bill remained in debate.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).

Voting no: Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey Jr. (D., Pa.), and Arlen Specter (R., Pa.).

Not voting: Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D., Del.).

I tend to go along with Chris Dodd and Richard Shelby on this here (amazing I agree with Shelby on anything, I guess) in that it would make the NFIP prohibitively expensive. Of course, the New Jersey senators needed to vote ?yes? on this given the state?s ocean exposure, but there was no real need for anyone else to do so.

This week, the House took up an Iraq-Afghanistan war-funding bill (it didn't pass due to a Repug parliamentary gimmick). The Senate debated energy programs and flood insurance, with a possible vote by both chambers on the farm-bill conference report.

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2008/05/where-rubber-meets-road-51608.html

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KS-Sen: Slattery Within Striking Distance

No Democrat since 1932 has won election to the United States Senate from Kansas, but that's not stopping former Democratic Congressman Jim Slattery from making a real pass at it this year. Before March, the Unites States Senate election in Kansas was a[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/mydd/~3/291887410/040

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Obama's Handling of Bush's Knesset Speech is a
Good Sign

I don't have a lengthy analysis of all this, and many other folks are commenting about it today,[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/291923866/showDiary.do

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What Will Obama, Clinton and McCain Say About
Iran To AIPAC

Not too many lobbies can score all three candidates to their annual convention. AIPAC can and does.

AIPAC's #1 agenda item is Iran. No other issue comes close. It will expect the candidates to echo Bush's language at the Knesset. Will they do it, knowing how badly that language plays with the rest of the country?

We'll see. In the meantime, the candidates can study AIPAC's own promotional video to see what goes over with that crowd.