Democratic newcomer to challenge Merricks in 16th

post from What IS Right for Virginia on 21 May 2009 03:10:00 AM. © What IS Right for Virginia

Issues facing Pittsylvania County and other areas in the 16th House District are prompting a political newcomer to make his first bid for elected office.

Shawn Palmer, 27, a Democrat from Java, said high crime, high unemployment, problems in education and few jobs ?pre-empted me to strike and pursue this political aspect.?

Palmer hopes to be the party?s candidate to challenge incumbent Del. Don Merricks, R-Pittsylvania, in the Nov. 3 election.

Read The Full Article:
http://southeastvirginia.blogspot.com/2009/05/democratic-newcomer-to-challenge.ht
ml

Digg this

Will Afghan Peace Talks Pose A Dilemma for the
Obama Administration

post from MyDD on 21 May 2009 03:08:15 AM. © MyDD

The New York Times reports that the leaders of various Afghan resistance groups, including the Taliban, are talking to intermediaries of the Karzai government about a potential peace agreement. Central to the discussion is a timetable for a US[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mydd/~3/PEw4y1enrzY/14032

Digg this

Late Night Karaoke

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 21 May 2009 03:00:00 AM. © Docudharma - Front Page

[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/fNN-4HOjnvk/late-night-karaoke

Digg this

Holy Fucking Shit! It's Hot Icelandic Lesbian
Robots!

post from Zirgar's Fresh New Brain Squeezin's! on 21 May 2009 03:00:00 AM. © Zirgar's Fresh New Brain Squeezin's!

This is probably my favorite song/video combination ever. I really liked the song when I first heard it but when I finally saw the video I was completely blown away, and not by the very horny hetero male desire to see two women kissing (even if they are kinda hot, but Bjorky robots) but by the stupendously artistic visual wonder that is this incredibly beautiful video by Chris Cunningham. It's a perfect match for this version of the song.

video details and more

Read The Full Article:
http://zirgar.blogspot.com/2009/05/holy-fucking-shit-its-hot-icelandic.html

Digg this

David Broder Gets Worse

post from MAL Contends . . . on 21 May 2009 02:43:00 AM. © MAL Contends . . .

Even the most dense of Washington political journalists is taking note of the American people's objection to more war from the Obama administration.

The Dean of the American political journalism, David S. Broder, has a piece out, though of course Broder being Broder manages to miss the point.

To Broder, the cheerleader of George W. Bush and Karl Rove, the ideological "left" needs to learn from the new president as he has learned to prolong the wars going so well. Unmentioned are the lies Bush and the neocons told the world with Broder in tow.

Writes Broder the banal:

In every instance, Obama heeded the advice of his uniformed and civilian defense leaders and in each case but Afghanistan, he abandoned a position he had taken as the Democratic presidential candidate.

The predictable result has been the first sustained outcry from the left, angry denunciations from leaders of constituencies that had been early supporters. They feel betrayed as they watch him continuing, with minor modifications, the policies and practices of his Republican predecessor. ...

Ever since Vietnam, the prevailing ideology of grass-roots Democratic activists has been hostile to American military actions and skeptical of the military itself. Iowa, where the Democratic nomination process begins, is famously tilted toward a pacifist view of war. Throughout the primaries, the pressures push forward candidates who do not challenge that mind-set. ...

Obama's liberal critics are right. He is a different man now. He has learned what it means to be commander in chief.

Peace and non-intervention are ideologies for Broder. More war and following the dictates of the neocons (whom Broder tries to align with the military) is what being president really means.

And Democrats need (like George W. Bush?) to become more acquainted with the military to really understand foreign policy and war, no mention of the chicken hawk neocons again.

It's all going so well in Iraq and Afghanistan and Obama just needs to listen and learn to become commander in chief and things will get even better.

And those lying chicken hawks, the $trillions in war costs, the 100,000s of innocents dead, and the constant pissing on the veterans.

That's just the griping left and the Defeatocrats that don't know better.

Listen to the wise men like Broder, Cheney and Bush who saved us from weapons of mass destruction being flown over America in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from the "Iraqi dictator (who) must not be permitted to threaten America and the world with horrible poisons and diseases and gases and atomic weapons," as George Bush assured us in the Oct. 7, 2002 speech in Cincinnati.

That was part of the freedom agenda that Broder applauded and cheerleaded without irony or ridicule.

Read The Full Article:
http://malcontends.blogspot.com/2009/05/david-broder-gets-worse.html

Digg this

TNR Profiles Dr. Doom

post from MAL Contends . . . on 21 May 2009 02:28:00 AM. © MAL Contends . . .

The New Republic has a profile on Nouriel Roubini, "the economist known to the general public as Dr. Doom, Prophet of the Financial Apocalypse," by Julia Ioffe.

Though he hasn't attacked the Obama administration's policies with Paul Krugman's fury, and though he is no longer the most bearish of the bears, his short-term outlook is still quite bleak: a 36-month downturn, double-digit unemployment, and sluggish, recessionary growth well into 2010. ...
Roubini understood better than anyone just how weak the fundamentals of our economy were. The day after the now-famous 2006 IMF talk, he went on 'Kudlow & Company,' on CNBC. Roubini was, as always, the foil to Kudlow's chipperness. 'All my friends are in a great mood, Nouriel. They're in a terrific mood. They love America,' Kudlow sang. Roubini countered starkly: 'Well, they're all rich,' he said. 'The average American actually is in debt'--a sign to Roubini that housing would only be the catalyst of something larger.

Read The Full Article:
http://malcontends.blogspot.com/2009/05/tnr-profiles-dr-doom.html

Digg this

US Papers Thu: Another Baghdad Car Bomb

post from IraqSlogger.com on 21 May 2009 02:14:08 AM. © IraqSlogger.com

Today, we have four papers with one story each.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/7674

Digg this

Will Pope Benedict investigate Catholic Church of
Ireland

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 21 May 2009 02:14:00 AM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

Will the European Union? After all, the new report covers widespread abuse though somehow the Catholic Church received a free pass. I remember when the Boston abuse scandal was first exposed, many Catholics in Europe shrugged their shoulders and blamed it on the American culture of lawsuits. Nothing like that was really true but lawyers will be lawyers, especially in America. And then stories began emerging in one country after another.

This report documenting the abuse of over 30,000 children is by far the most damning report to date. Once again, those in power were leading the abuse and covering up abuse. People ought to be shamed and ought to be retiring in prison. The government report avoided naming any individuals within the church but that needs to be addressed urgently by Pope Benedict. The Guardian:

After the revelations of systematic clerical abuse, Pope Benedict was challenged to hold a Vatican inquiry into the role of Catholic religious orders in Ireland's orphanages and industrial schools. Irish Soca said it was now up to the Vatican to investigate the scandal further.

Kelly said: "Now that the Ryan commission is finished we call upon Pope Benedict to convene a special consistory court to fully investigate the activities of Catholic religious orders in Ireland. Among other things, such a court could establish the whereabouts of Irish state assets that were misappropriated over many years by the religious orders and make restitution to the Irish state exchequer."

Kelly said Irish Soca was disappointed that members of the religious orders who abused children, and the government officials who turned a blind eye to abuse in places like the Artane industrial school, would not be prosecuted.

Leadership from the Vatican? I'll believe it when I see it.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/sMzLeY4uwKk/will-pope-benedict-inve
stigate-catholic.html

Digg this

Mullins Mudslinging isn't Sticking

From Decision Virginia

Republican Party of Virginia chairman Pat Mullins is renewing his party?s call that Tim Kaine devote all of his energy to the job of Governor of Virginia. His statement comes in reaction to what the Governor (who also serves as the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee) said to the DNC executive committee at their meeting in Richmond last Friday.

In case you missed it, here (in part) is what Kaine said:
?I am trying to juggle two pretty challenging jobs. As I shared with you in January, It is not an easy time to be a Governor. As I talk to Governor?s all across the country we all agree it is a tough, tough time to be a governor.?

Mullins said today that if he can?t handle both job of DNC chair and Governor he ought to pick one or the other:
?He simply cannot be a part-time governor when people are looking for full-time solutions. If Tim Kaine thinks his burdens are too great, he should pick one job to do and resign from the other.?

This is not a new attack by Republicans and for the most part it has not seemed to stick. This could be as much about attacking Governor Kaine as it is about stirring up grass roots support for Mullins, who faces a vote from the party faithful at the end of the month to hold on to his job as Chairman.

I re-posted the video from Governor?s Kaine statement from Friday to give you the chance to see for yourself what the Governor said.

video details and more

Read The Full Article:
http://southeastvirginia.blogspot.com/2009/05/mullins-mudslinging-isnt-sticking.h
tml

Digg this

Pat Some on the Back, Put Some to the Rod

I was one of the few volunteers. Oh yes, I was paid to screw that bear-paid very well, actually-but I started having second thoughts almost immediately. I realized I was in way over my head when the zoo gates closed behind me and the cages began[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/ARi95JqwdEY/pat-some-on-the-back-put
-some-to-the-rod

Digg this