daily headlines Sunday, May 11, 2008   •  After drunk driving arrest, Republican Congressman calls mistress, not wife, to bail him out (hilarity ensues)  •  Max:  Big surprise: Republicans are spreading un-true smears: Every single one of these hundreds of emails, ostensibly sent by dozens of different people, all come to my Republican-only email address -- which means they're either being sent by Republican Party workers, or (pretend this is a meaningful difference) Republican Party membership roles are sold, leased, or loaned to people who send these email lies.  •  McCain's convention chair worked for Myanmar's military junta  •  Underground Panther in the Sky:  Can you empathize, do you care?: Will you stand up for others, will you act upon the desire to protect the living beings in this world from those who abuse them?      Or not?  •  Fallen US troops cremated at ‘Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service’  •  Vincent Bugliosi:  The prosecution of George W. Bush for murder: There is direct evidence that President George W. Bush did not honorably lead this nation, but deliberately misled it into a war he wanted. Bush and his administration knowingly lied to Congress and to the American public -- lies that have cost the lives of more than 4,000 young American soldiers and close to $1 trillion.      Comment: There's nothing in this short article that isn't fairly well known, at least among people who don't watch network newscasts, but it;'s good to see it all in one place -- and the author, Vincent Bugliosi, is the lawyer who sent Charles Manson to prison.  •  NY Times, Washington Post confirm claim that McCain did not vote for Bush  •  U.S. lawmakers introduce new Net neutrality bill  •  Evangelicals call for movement to shun politics: Charlatans blow with the wind, but mostly, charlatans just blow.  •  Nursery programs allow infants to be imprisoned with mothers  •  E-mails show derogatory banter at Secret Service: "Secret Service supervisors shared crude sexual jokes and engaged in racially derogatory banter about blacks, and passed around an anecdote about a possible assassination of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, according to internal e-mail disclosed in a federal court filing on Friday by lawyers for black Secret Service agents."   Comment: If Obama is assassinated, we'll know where to look for suspects.  •  Reid promises Senate hearings on Pentagon propaganda program  •  Right-wing echo chamber promotes doctored and deceptive audio clip of Al Gore  •  State Department renews Blackwater’s Iraq contract ‘for at least another year’  •  Blackwater unlikely to face charges for Sept. ‘07 Iraq shootout  •  On at least 15 occasions on May 8, Fox News lied that McCain is reluctant to discuss his POW experience  •  Bush again declared, ‘Bring ‘em on’  •  Butt seized by terror police  •  Air Force's scare-mongering space ad shoves facts out of the airlock  •  Farm bill includes tax breaks for horse racing industry     RSS       Unknown News   Saturday, May 10, 2008   •  Networks continue keeping secret their cooperation with Pentagon propaganda program  •  Media and Pentagon keep it quiet, but those weapons weren't Iranian  •  Federal judge orders CIA to turn over 2002 torture memo for review  •  A new look at the hub of AT&T's spying program  •  Guantanamo kangaroo trials hop along  •  Senate Ethics committee looks the other way again, drops complaint against Vitter  •  Limbaugh's Operation Democracy Disruption is promoted on Fox News  •  Bush administration arranged support for militants attacking Lebanon  •  Bush administration asks court to block wider testing for mad cow  •  Rumsfeld blames generals for poor pre-war planning  •  House passes bill that will let the RIAA take away your home for downloading music  •  Google's shareholders vote against human rights  •  Google News again drops controversial (but invaluable) news source  •  Canadian cops subdue hospitalized man, 82, with Taser  •  House Republicans take a firm stand -- against Mother’s Day  •  Legal residents, troops being denied rebate checks  •  Mom of teens killed in trooper-caused crash sues cop involved  •  Taylor wins Democratic primary for Congress in North Carolina: This news report is quick and shallow, not even worth a click, but it's worth adding that the Democratic Party's winner, Harry Taylor, is the same guy who stood up at a Bush "town hall" meeting in 2006 and asked the President if he had any sense of shame at all.  •  McCain campaign more than a little touchy about the age issue  •  US Army's "stop-loss" orders up dramatically over last year  •  McCain stays silent on Hagee’s homophobic slurs  •  New Congressional report proves McCain is ‘full of it’ in his opposition to GI Bill  •  Anti-pork McCain speaks at New Jersey museum funded by nearly $1 million in earmarks  •  Reuters reports McCain attack on Obama on campaign finance, but doesn't mention that McCain may be breaking campaign finance laws  •  CNN's Shepperd says reporters "drank the government Kool-Aid" on Guantanamo  •  Fox News lies about Gore's comments     RSS       Unknown News   Friday, May 9, 2008   •  Zawahiri endorses McCain plan to bomb Iran  •  William M.:  Why Hillary won't quit: Hillary will remain in the race "until a nominee is selected." Can you guess how the math could work for her?      Right. One man, one book depository, one magic bullet. Obama's plane could crash. He could suffer an embolism, fall down and hit his head, commit suicide and leave two goodbye notes like Deborah Jeane Palfrey... He could O.D. on heroin, he could be taken by aliens, he could be outed for something... maybe even something true-ish. Obama might eat a bad burrito, be bitten by a rabid dog, drown in his bathtub, or be hit by lightning! That's how Hillary wins. She hangs in JUST IN CASE. Anything could happen, and Hillary won't leave till the Fat Lady sings, because it ain't over 'till its over!  •  Feds seeking records of 2004 Condoleezza Rice ethics probe  •  Marie K.:  Relentless propaganda on Iran: Clearly it is easy for Gen. Petraeus, Sec. Rice, Defense Sec. Gates, and all of those unnamed sources to spew forth their accusations/propaganda against Iran etc. while providing no proof or in the case of the “Syrian reactor” altered/fake pictures (no cooling tower). On the other hand, those of us who care about the truth have to take time to find sources that debunk the propaganda -- AND, I don’t mean sources that have to be taken with a grain of salt or LOTS of them, either. So here is what I found.  •  Clinton says Obama is not winning over "hard-working Americans, white Americans": Enough already. I will personally pledge $50 to any Democratic Party candidate who challenges for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat.  •  Sam Smith:  How business culture dragged America down with it: We now live in the second robber baron era. ...      Once, I think, we knew our greedy were greedy but they were obligated to justify their greed by reference to some of the other values in which all of us could participate. Thus, maybe 'old Joe' was a crook but he was also a 'pillar of the business community' or 'a member of the Lodge' or a 'good husband' and these things mattered. Now the pretense of justification is gone and greed is its own justification.      The result is a stunning lack of restraint. We find ourselves without heroism, without debate over right and wrong, with little but an endless narcissistic struggle by the powerful to get more money, more power, and more press than the next person. In the chase, anything goes and the only standard is whether you win, lose, or get caught.  •  Bush administration torture memos     RSS       Unknown News   Thursday, May 8, 2008   •  Librarian is now allowed to speak about FBI's gag order, harassment, and phony subpoena  •  Palfrey's building manager: That's not her signature on suicide notes  •  Carter acknowledges that US uses torture  •  Top hackers were on News Corp unit payroll 'for years'  •  Man arrested, strip searched, for turning without signaling  •  EPA official says agency might not regulate toxic chemical in water  •  CNBC store sells "Hillary Nutcracker"  •  Treasury Secretary Paulson whistles a happy tune  •  McGovern tells Clinton to give it up  •  Myanmar deaths may top 100,000  •  Don't impugn my patriotism, says Stephen King  •  How KBR electrocuted US troops -- It's lying ... and it's murder  •  U.S. court ruling on Tasers worries Canadian doctors  •  Marines ignore Taliban cash crop of opium: At the beginning of the Afghan and Iraq wars, I saw a protester of the wars with a sign that read "Blood for Oil and Drugs". He'll be happy to know that's still true, that our Marines are right there protecting the opium plants, so that children around the world will get hooked and die horribly.  •  Brits make pot penalties even more draconian  •  FBI search, leaked documents lead to renewed calls for ousting of Scott Bloch  •  Bloch shut down probe of Siegelman case last year  •  216 held in protests of acquittals of Sean Bell's killer-cops  •  Prominent neocon jerk calls for bombing Iran and Syria  •  Philadelphia probes beating by cops (after it's caught on video and broadcast nationwide)  •  Second largest US physicians group endorses medical marijuana  •  McCain’s proposes creating a task force that already exists  •  McCain explains his support for women's lack-of-rights to 14-year-old girl  •  Clinton gives herself another multi-million dollar loan  •  Michigan Supreme Court rules that benefits for domestic partners would be illegal  •  Meet the Press's Russert says ‘in time,’ McCain will ‘receive the same scrutiny’ from the media as Obama and Clinton  •  CNN hosts Republican creator of racially charged ad to falsely suggest link between 9/11 and Iraq  •  Fox News makes "lower class" Americans butt of jokes  •  EPA's Johnson sidesteps testimony before Congress  •  Nazi-friendly Republican is defeated in Indiana  •  US drug war policies spur sales of Afghan child brides  •  Bush administration loses as many as 400 anti-terrorism program laptops (and more)  •  Autism risk linked to distance from power plants, other mercury-releasing sources  •  Ukrainian candidate hires Giuliani to help ‘root out corruption     RSS       Unknown News   Wednesday, May 7, 2008   •  House subpoenas Cheney henchman Addington  •  Max:  None of this seems real: Two years into the so-called "Presidential campaign", i>for the very first time, a matter of actual political policy is being publicly discussed.      But even this one policy that's allowed to be discussed is inane beyond belief -- whether to suspend a nearly-nothing gas tax to encourage more driving this summer ... when of course, (a) the proposal is idiotic and accomplishes nothing and (b) the election is scheduled long after summer is over, making the whole discussion even mooter than moot.  •  FBI raids Special Counsel Office, seizes records: There's no reason to have any confidence in high-level Justice Department officials -- they're more corrupt than Block. So this is either an operation authorized below the top levels of the Justice Dept (unlikely -- it would be career suicide) or, more likely, it's a coordinated effort, and the FBI is actually seizing evidence of wrongdoing by Bloch and others, so that evidence can be quietly destroyed.  •  White House admits no email backup tapes from March 1, 2003 through May 23, 2003, which coincides with start of Iraq War  •  Laura 'Pickles' Bush slams Burmese gov't for responding to cyclone as GW Bush responded to Katrina  •  12 nuns turned away from Indiana polls for lacking photo IDs  •  CNN's Beck brings on caller ‘Honky Whitesville’ for attack on Michelle Obama  •  Iraqis sue US military contractors over Abu Ghraib torture  •  Evidence again shows, war on drugs is all about racism  •  College drug sting snags justice, security majors, scores of others: Apparently, some white kids got arrested in this drug bust, because if they hadn't been white, it wouldn't have been news.  •  Jeremiah Wright gets more corporate-media coverage than Hillary Clinton  •  Bush's plan for global warming: Do nothing.  •  FSU researcher: As gas prices climb, employee productivity plummets  •  Heparin contaminated 'on purpose'  •  Nevada First Lady says she doesn't know why Governor (R, of course) is divorcing her  •  Florida teacher accused of "wizardry", fired  •  Tougher security checks to enter US as laptops and mobile phones searched: I don't know what the stats are, but it's hard to imagine that America isn't on the decline as a destination for international tourists. Who would want to put up with this crap?  •  England's massive investment in surveillance cameras has had little impact on crime  •  Even among the wacko right-wing, few politicians wear flag lapel pins  •  McCain continues to shift with the wind  •  Only 6+ years later, Newsweek almost notices that hyping terror is a racket  •  Hispanics not amused by Limbaugh's racist crack  •  Washington Post’s Abramowitz lies that McCain gets no break from press for verbal miscues     RSS       Unknown News   Tuesday, May 6, 2008   •  Relying on discredited reporter, NY Times highlights alleged (but undocumented) Iranian interference  •  US sees golden future for Green Zone: Navy Capt. Thomas Karnowski and everyone else involved on this project should be assigned to latrine duty. I can't come up with a wisecrack to describe just how absolutely delusional this is. Do these maniacs believe their own drivel, or is it all just supposed to fool the stupidest sliver of the American public, and keep them solidly in the Republican camp?  •  Derelict medical district is sad symptom of Baghdad's decline  •  Washington Post's Kurtz says media won’t cover Pentagon propaganda ‘because they are embarrassed’  •  Washington Post, Wall Street Journal editorial pages urged release of tax returns by Teresa Heinz Kerry in 2004, but in identical situation in 2008 have yet to call for Cindy McCain's tax returns  •  Suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan war vets may exceed combat deaths  •  Up to 10,000 feared dead in Burma cyclone  •  Japanese pay less for more health care  •  Mainstream media acts as McCain's spin control  •  Fox News brings on wacko ex-ambassador John Bolton, who says striking Iran ‘is really the most prudent thing to do’  •  No-fly list grounds US Air Marshals  •  NY Times gives neocon warmongers even more op-ed space  •  Iran rejects nuclear inspections unless Israel also allows inspections  •  After voting to declare English as the national language, McCain launches Spanish-language website  •  Pat Tillman’s mother: ‘This was a public deception.’     RSS       Unknown News   Monday, May 5, 2008   •   Iraq says there's no hard evidence of Iranian support for militia  •  Building manager: Palfrey's death was not suicide  •  McCain's "health plan" same as Bush's: Tax cuts for the wealthy: The only people who can afford private insurance outside of company health plans, or who can afford to put aside enough money in a health savings account to actually cover medical expenses down the road, are the wealthy. They are also the only ones who pay enough income taxes (as opposed to sales tax or Social Security taxes) that an income tax break makes a real difference in their budget.      Meanwhile, taking the richest and healthiest people out of the already-broken health care system is just about the only thing you could do to make it even worse.      Basically, it should be illegal to refer to McCain's "health plan" without using the sarcastic quotation marks.  •  Sanchez accuses Bush Administration of 'gross incompetence'  •  Pelosi tries to get social spending in exchange for war funding: This strategy of threatening to cut off war funding if Bush doesn't approve these other programs might make sense if everyone on the planet didn't already know that there's no chance in hell the Dems are cutting off war funding.  •  FCC says TMZ and 700 Club qualify as "bona fide newscasts"  •  Another defense contractor hides behind shell company to avoid paying US taxes  •  City will fight Blackwater's permit for mega-military base; company got OK by applying under different name  •  Group demands explanation of racist lending practices at Wells Fargo  •  Bush promises extra food aid ... but not until a couple days before the election  •  Big agribusiness reports record profits: Big agribusiness is one of the biggest sponsors of American news shows, so expect in-depth discussion of this topic in the mainstream press approximately never.  •  UN Officials: Biofuels are a "crime against humanity"  •  Bush doesn't think that burning corn in cars raises food prices: Yes, because a huge increase in demand for something, without an increase in supply, does absolutely nothing to the price. Apparently those Harvard business degrees aren't worth the thousand-dollar bills they're printed on.  •  Iran files complaint with UN about Clinton's threat to "obliterate" them  •  Clinton-MCain gas tax cut would benefit oil companies, not consumers  •  Judge overrides coroner, orders Taser references deleted from autopsies  •  Delaware plans high school for homeland security  •  Gourmet Boutique recalls over 286,000 pounds of meat, poultry  •  Parents falsely accused of child abuse by DCFS fight to clear their names  •  The Christian Right and the rise of American fascism  •  Smoking pot doesn't cause cancer -- it may prevent it!  •  Millions of Americans in chronic pain  •  More and more Americans who need major surgery leave US  •  New York Times' Kristol lies about Clinton and Obama     RSS       Unknown News   Sunday, May 4, 2008   •  House members press Pentagon for investigation into illegal propaganda program  •  US bombs Baghdad hospital  •  Mr. Chuckles:  Bush regime rewards incompetent and dysfunctional corporations: Imagine a country with countless Paris Hiltons -- millionaires never tested by reality, never forced to dig deep and excel, never offered any incentive to improve.       Which is pretty much what we have today: an upper class of wealthy bunglers who have too much time on their hands and want to run for office. Like George W. Bush, our inbred, water-brained, devo chuckle-monkey president. How did we get him? It is as if his father screwed a chimpanzee when the circus came to town! If not for the wealth and power of the Bush-Walker clan, Curious George W. would probably have ended up as an alcoholic, cokehead con-artist used-car salesman with a sub-prime mortgage in foreclosure.  •  '91 war, not Iraq war, was over oil, McCain clarifies  •  Networks continue refusing to mention military propaganda exposé: The longer the big boys of journalism refuse to even mention their participation in illegal propaganda aimed at Americans, the plainer it becomes that the networks weren't "victims", they were participants.  •  Juan P.:  Blast from the past: Whip Inflation Now (WIN): Or in elementary terms, chum, the price of everything else must now rise if real estate and stock prices are not allowed to fall. Otherwise, real estate would not be economically viable.  •  KBR ignored warnings of unsafe electrical wiring that led to deaths of US troops  •  Chris M.:  The audacity (and consequences) of truth: It took being bombed to rubble for Japan and Germany to finally get over most of their race-based nationalism which the people rallied around for their identity. And it may take the same thing for this country to finally be brought into reality and out of its delusional little bubble of denial. 9/11 was just a shot across the bow.  •  CNN hires another long-time Bushie  •  AP report on McCain criticism of "Mission Accomplished" banner overlooks his previous public promotion of its message  •  Democrats win Congressional seat in long-time ‘red’ Louisiana district  •  Clinton distances herself from "elite" economists and experts  •  McCain is lying about health care  •  McCain’s foreign-policy incoherence becomes slightly more embarrassing  •  McCain’s staff and Bush’s staff talk 'every day'  •  Uninsured kids in middle class have same unmet medical needs as poor  •  Saudi Arabia lets women and men listen to music together     RSS       Unknown News   Saturday, May 3, 2008   •  Al-Jazeera cameraman freed from Guantanamo after 6 years: I remember reading rare but joyous accounts like this, of dissidents being released from gulags in the Soviet Union, or ordinary citizens escaping from behind the Iron Curtain. This is what Bush has accomplished -- he's made America a place to escape from, to find freedom.      And is there a word of apology from American officials, the people who called this man a dangerous terrorist for six years, and for six years refused him a trial? Nope. Not a word of regret, not even an oops.  •  Sami al-Hajj criticizes US captors  •  McCain wants to kick Russia out of the G8  •  Secret Bush "finding" widens war on Iran  •  Ohio County prepares to sue Diebold  •  D.C. is assembling surveillance network  •  Conyers greases rails for proposed Copyright Infringement Czar  •  Turkey confirms air strikes on Kurd rebels in Northern Iraq  •  China's underground nuclear sub base revealed: While the U.S. plays in its Iraq sand box, China prepares for a real war. They want Taiwan back. They want it back bad. This underground nuclear submarine base will help.  •  O’Reilly: ‘It’s bull’ that torture doesn’t work: In addition to his routine dishonesty and monstrosity, it's worth noting that Bill O'Reilly said this directly to Hillary Clinton, face to face on his TV show. So why is an alleged Democrat appearing on not just America's most infamous TV network, but that network's most infamous show?      Good question.  •  Hagee says abortions are available at US public schools  •  Big surprise: Bush administration's reading program hasn't helped  •  Sidney Blumenthal is behind many of the most ugly anti-Obama smears  •  MSNBC's Matthews: "What do you have with McCain? Integrity"  •  Obama calls for $15 billion tax on oil company profit: I'm not sure this is wise. The proposal is fine, heck, I'd favor a windfall profits tax ten times as big, but I wonder if it's wise to propose it now. We all remember that Howard Dean was shot down in the media almost immediately after he said that if elected he'd look into breaking up mass media monopolies. Wham, all of the sudden he went from being a media darling to being portrayed everywhere as a nut (even before the phonied-up "scream"). The oil industry frickin' owns the United States of America, and with one phone call to Media Inc., the CEO of ExxonMobil could probably obliterate Obama's campaign.  •  Corrupt US Justice Dept will prosecute so-called Sears Tower terrorists a third time  •  Hamas serving as Iran's 'proxy warriors,' Rice says  •  Bill would penalize companies for aiding (foreign) internet censorship  •  Report slams U.S. food safety system  •  United Methodist Church blaks at housing Bush Library at SMU  •  School forces students to shave eyebrows  •  McCain in 2003: Americans ‘need some straight talk’ about ‘how long we’re going to be’ in Iraq  •  Ted Rall:  One nation, under a heartless God: What ought to happen to the nearly 300 detainees [at Guantanamo] is obvious. Hand each of them an apology, a bag of cash -- a million bucks wouldn't be nearly enough for what they've been through -- and a plane ticket home. Those who can't return to their countries of origin because their U.S.-backed dictatorships would murder them receive a penthouse suite in the U.S. city of their choice.      I'd let them switch places with their guards and 300 top-ranking members of the Bush Administration for a couple of days first. No questions asked. Just get on the plane, and don't forget your bag o' cash.  •  College is awfully easy for daughter of West Virginia Governor  •  VA report rips care level for veterans with brain injuries     RSS       Unknown News   Friday, May 2, 2008   •  Strike against war shuts down West Coast ports  •  Bush administration refuses to turn over documents relating to illegal wiretaps  •  White House SpokesLiar Perino defends Pentagon's illegal US propaganda program  •  "America is under the curse of God", says McCain's favorite pastor  •  McCain backs further and further away from "no earmarks" promise  •  One day after Bush says we’re ‘winning’ in Afghanistan, State Dept. says al Qaeda is ‘stronger’  •  In 2003, McCain claimed ‘Mission Accomplished’ in Iraq, but now he claims he 'thought it was wrong at the time’  •  McCain's office has disabled activists arrested  •  EPA squeezes out regulator who made life difficult for Dow Chemical  •  CNN again airs clip of McCain falsely attacking Dems for health care proposals  •  AP notes McCain's sponsorship of immigration bill, but not that he says he wouldn't vote for it now  •  Farm broadcaster ousted after ripping Monsanto’s goon squads  •  Why gas prices are so high  •  Tell Wal-Mart to keep its promise to the Shanks  •  Study finds no cancer-marijuana connection  •  America's most overrated product: the Bachelor's Degree  •  TMZ identifies 14-year-old alleged sex crime victim     RSS       Unknown News   Thursday, May 1, 2008   •  Hard evidence of voting machine addition errors  •  Did the US Supreme Court just elect John McCain?  •  Palast and Kennedy seek funding for disenfranchisement investigation  •  MSNBC's Matthews conflates Wright and Obama, then says they are "different faces of the same guy"  •  Court rejects RIAA's 'making available' piracy argument  •  Border Patrol demands proof of citizenship on ferries that never leave US waters  •  Robocalls lie to black voters about registering; group responsible tied to Clinton  •  White House blocked EPA studies  •  Networks continue to ignore NY Times' coverage of military propaganda, but find time for Hannah Montana  •  Today's GI Bill is a pale shadow of the GI Bill that sent your father or grandfather to college  •  ICANN takes a step toward ending domain tasting  •  ISP flat-rate proposal could squeeze heavy users' budgets  •  White House SpokesLiar Perino rewrites banner five years later: ‘Mission accomplished for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission'  •  US prepares ‘new options’ to attack Iran, deploys second carrier to Persian Gulf  •  Annenberg "Fact Check" program takes right-wing tilt  •  How to cast a ballot in Indiana if you don't have state-issued photo ID: It doesn't matter if you've voted in every single election for the last 40 or 50 years at the same polling place. Nor does it matter, as Justice Souter pointed out his dissent yesterday, "that the State has not come across a single instance of in-person voter impersonation fraud in all of Indiana’s history." You'll still need to do the following if you don't happen to have an Indiana drivers license!  •  US Department of Justice banned from Wikipedia after repeated vandalism  •  Washington Post promises McCain will face journalistic scrutiny ... eventually  •  320 complaints of racial profiling and not one had merit, LAPD says  •  Numbers Racket: Why the economy is worse than we know  •  Fox's O'Reilly says US didn't invade Iraq  •  Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday slammed as bad idea  •  Rezko witness links Hastert to alleged plot  •  How can we respond to conservative attacks on our patriotism?  •  Amateur video exposes appalling conditions at Fort Bragg  •  Washington Post and NY Times have published more than 12 times as many articles mentioning Obama and Wright as mentioning McCain and Hagee  •  CNN continues trend of uncritically airing McCain's false attacks on Democrats' health care plans     RSS       Unknown News   Wednesday, Apr. 30, 2008   •  Spakovsky (Bush's nominee for vote suppression office) says Supreme Court voter ID ruling ‘vindicates the Bush Justice Department'  •  Cheney lawyer claims ‘Congress lacks Constitutional power’ to investigate VP’s role in torture approval: Only in the movies have I ever seen criminals issue such taunts. And in the movies they always get caught, but of course, Cheney will never see justice until he's barbecued in Hell.  •  Microsoft provides free device to help police search computers  •  Herb Ruhs, MD:  Chicken Little saves the world from the Dogs of War: Meanwhile, ever-greater chunks of sky were falling everywhere, burying cities and towns, and causing great consternation. The Dogs of War, Commerce, Industry and Finance continued to claim that the Terrorist Goats were behind the destruction and that the Illegal Sheep crossing the border were also a big part of the problem.  •  San Diego Republican Party chairman co-founded international piracy ring  •   'Free Tibet' flags made in China  •  Lurita Doan finally forced out at GSA: Another incompetent, corrupt Bush crony bites the dust.  •  Siegelman hit with travel restrictions  •  US News says after letting New Orleans drown, Brownie's "comeback" makes an interesting story  •  Former KBR employees say workers stole from Iraq, ‘melted down gold to make spurs'  •  Jessica Wakeman:  On sexist media coverage of Hillary Clinton: Whether they call themselves a feminist or not, many women and many men have noticed how different mainstream media coverage of Hillary Clinton's run for the Democratic nomination has been from coverage of male candidates. From her tone of voice and her style of dress, her eyes welling up with tears to her credentials as a senator, Clinton's run for the Democratic nomination has been awash with the most dispiriting ridicule I have seen in my (albeit short) lifetime.      (Let me say right up front that I voted for Barack Obama in the Connecticut primary -- in fact, I took a Metro North train back home to Connecticut to vote for Barack Obama in the Connecticut primary in the flesh. So I can tell you all about why Hillary Clinton gives me the heebie-jeebies -- but that conversation will include words like "Mark Penn," "Wal-Mart" and "Iraq War," not "crying" or "nagging wives.")  •  Chinese children sold "like cabbages" into slavery  •  Vets say they feel misled about GI benefits  •  Medicare "drifting towards disaster": U.S. official: My understanding is that Medicare faces funding problems, but when a Bush official addressing the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute says it's "drifting toward disaster," that's reassurance that the problem really isn't all that bad.  •  Leigh Saavedra:  Hillogic, Billogic: Personally, I had promised myself to say nothing negative about any Democratic candidate. And while I still believe that the nation would not be nearly as bad under Clinton as it would be under McCain (Clinton might live up to her word and end the Bush Wars), I do not believe we can thrive under her logic, and as she continues to try to destroy Obama's character, perhaps we must speak up. While she surpasses Bush in double digits regarding intelligence and education, I have found nothing to convince me she is any more truthful than Bush. As for her indignity about Reverend Wright, I would beg you to listen to Bill Moyers' interview, in order to put the sound clips into perspective. Jeremiah Wright is very angry about the injustices perpetrated by people in the name of the country that he too loves and has served. You'll not get entire transcripts from those trying to ruin Obama.  •  Judge rules against Bush Administration in polar bear protection case  •  House Democrats eager to continue funding for Iraq occupation  •  Louisiana floodwalls stuffed with newspaper?  •  More Americans marrying for health insurance  •  McCain's own photo ops repeatedly spotlight his ineptitude  •  McCain was against a long-term presence in Iraq before he was for it (more than once)  •  Fox News wrongly 'corrects' Obama on scripture  •  Dallas man freed by DNA testing after 27 years in prison  •  Editor blows it, columnist loses his gig and gets tarred     RSS       Unknown News   Tuesday, Apr. 29, 2008   •  Supreme Court approves Republican vote suppression in Indiana  •  Obama gets heat (but not enough) for appearing on Fox News  •  Herb Ruhs, MD:  Why democracy does not matter right now: Almost anything that substitutes local sources of goods and services for corporate ones extracts another drop of blood from the beast. It doesn't seem like very much at the time, but every effort to feed, clothe, house and care for ourselves that does not send money toward the center of the exploitive economy are blows that can, when taken cumulatively, weaken the beast to the point of harmlessness.  •  Vigilante brownshirts harass undocumented workers  •  Conservatives increasingly tuned out everything except Fox News between 1998-2006  •  British bank bail-outs will be kept secret  •  Scott Adams:  I will get that Nobel Peace Prize yet!: What I’d like to see is a pen pal web site designed to end war. The idea would be to connect citizens in different countries at such a high rate it would be politically impossible for the two countries to start a war.      You might support your government in a war against a country full of people you don’t know. But would you support a war that has a good chance of killing your e-mail friend Phlubanakawahaha and his entire family? There is some theoretical level of citizen-to-citizen contact that makes war between two countries virtually impossible.      And think how much you could learn if you had a pen pal in Iran or Syria or China. It would be hugely interesting, especially for senior citizens and students who have extra time on their hands.  •  Rove's name comes up at Rezko's trial  •  Hillary Clinton criticizes closure of Indiana factory that Bill Clinton helped close  •  On Meet the Press, Russert flubs even the small facts     RSS       Unknown News   Monday, Apr. 28, 2008   •  Federally-funded test used poor black people used as guinea pigs in 2000  •  Green Zone -- the allegedly safe, US-fortified corner of Baghdad -- comes under attack again  •  Warmonger Petraeus is put in charge of mongering war in entire Middle East  •  Marie K.:  Making it harder for the speculators: The more prices rise, and big profits are made, the more others invest, hoping for big returns. Look at the financial web sites: everyone and their mother is piling into commodities. ... The trouble is that if you are one of the 2.8 billion people, almost half the world’s population, who live on less than $2 a day, you may pay for these profits with your life.  •  Fundamental changes in American life may turn today's McMansions into tomorrow's tenements: I don't think so. Slums have to be close to low-paying jobs for slum-residents, but most of these McMansions have been constructed far from any jobs or other signs of civilization. And I've been inside a few of those modern monstrosities, and guess what? These great-looking super-homes were built cheap, sloppy, and half-assed. Without expensive maintenance and repairs, most McMansions won't be standing in a few decades, so I doubt they'll have any usefulness as future slum dwellings. They might make nice squats, though.  •  Ron Paul supporters take majority in Nevada Republican convention ... so convention is immediately cancelled  •  Life expectancy down for American women in low-income areas  •  House blocks Bush's Medicaid cuts  •  McCain calls Obama insensitive to poor people: Oh, give me a break. Could anyone be as out of touch with ordinary people as John McCain III? McCain has had exactly three jobs in his life: The US Navy (where his father and grandfather were admirals), the US House of Representatives, and the US Senate. He's married to a millionaire, he owns eight houses, he flies around in his wife's private jet, and he doesn't have a friend in the world who isn't a millionaire. Obama is wealthy compared to you and me but he's a pauper compared to McCain, and Obama at least started poor, earned his borderline elite status, and his domestic policies aren't great but they're not 100% crafted for corporate interests, like McCain's.  •  Clay Shirky:  Gin, television, and social surplus: So how big is that [cognitive] surplus? So if you take Wikipedia as a kind of unit, all of Wikipedia, the whole project--every page, every edit, every talk page, every line of code, in every language that Wikipedia exists in--that represents something like the cumulation of 100 million hours of human thought. I worked this out with Martin Wattenberg at IBM; it's a back-of-the-envelope calculation, but it's the right order of magnitude, about 100 million hours of thought.      And television watching? Two hundred billion hours, in the U.S. alone, every year. Put another way, now that we have a unit, that's 2,000 Wikipedia projects a year spent watching television. Or put still another way, in the U.S., we spend 100 million hours every weekend, just watching the ads. This is a pretty big surplus.  •  Senate Committee votes to stop FCC from relaxing ownership limits  •  Soldiers losing homes to foreclosure  •  Ex-EPA head won't be held liable for lying about Ground Zero safety  •  Israeli ex-soldiers expose abuse of Palestinians  •  Hold the presses! Journalist challenges Karl Rove for lying!  •  'Extreme porn' law could criminalize millions in UK  •  Record numbers of Americans facing energy shut-offs  •  Number of soldiers forced to stay in the Army up 43%  •  Pentagon's number of "ready" Iraq combat troops includes deserters and dead people  •  Number of felons allowed into Army up 18%  •  McCain lies that Hamas has endorsed Obama  •  Bush's visit brings lower ratings for Deal or No Deal  •  'Voracious' jumbo squid invading Pacific Northwest waters  •  "Here I am, a Republican, thinking about nationalizing health care"     RSS       Unknown News   Sunday, Apr. 27, 2008   •  Powell aide suggests Cheney committed war crimes  •  McCain stands against equal pay for women  •  Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein:  Next bubble: Food (and other necessary commodities): Because governments no longer back their currencies with gold, increases in money supplies have resulted over the past several decades, which greatly exceed the growth in planetary production. Therefore, in the years following the implosion of the internet stock bubble and the real estate bubble, both of which had global reach, another bubble was "needed" by the "investors" managing the excess trillions of dollars.  •  Sheehan files papers to take on Pelosi  •  House Republicans oppose fair elections: Tin foil hats aside, what possible reason could the GOP have for opposing such a measure? 2000 and 2004 have left such a bitter taste in the electorate’s mouth that this seems like a no-brainer.  •  Marie K.  Problems & solutions with Yanquis & corporations: The European Union has put pressure on and been negotiating with 77 countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific since 2002 to sign on to "Economic Partnership Agreements" (EPAs) -- sanctions were threatened if they didn’t sign. In general, this will result in local production in these countries being further exposed to big international corporations.  •  mykero.com:  This week’s Creationist legal coup: Legislation like this, although irritatingly stupid and disingenuous, shows how Creationism is losing over time. Used to be the law tried to outright ban the teaching of Evolution. Then the demand was for “equal time” followed by Creationism repackaged in various ways that still didn’t pass the laugh test. Now they are down to “criticizing Evolution”, perhaps as a tacit admission that, what ever Creationism is, it has no theory itself that can be taught.  •  Bill Moyers lets Jeremiah Wright actually have his say  •  O’Reilly attacks Moyers for interviewing Rev. Wright: They should ‘take a long vacation, perhaps in Iran’  •  Today, Early Show covered Wright interview, but didn't ask McCain about Hagee  •  Joint Chiefs chair says US prepping military options against Iran  •  Despite family's invitation, reporters barred from funeral at Arlington  •  Senators seek to stymie state secret shenanigans  •  McCain flies on millionaire wife's corporate jets at mega-mondo discount rates  •  Iraqis accuse Blackwater of shredding documents  •  Pentagon "temporarily stops" US propaganda program  •  Thousands strip-searched by Broward deputies to be paid in settlement     RSS       Unknown News   Saturday, Apr. 26, 2008   •  House Republican plans to tack telecom immunity onto war funding bill  •  Cheney camp 'behind Syrian reactor claim'  •  Mark Morford:  You're being lied to by your government -- constantly: The truth is as sad as it is revolting: You have been lied to, again and again, perhaps even more than you imagined, in a rather unexpected way, perhaps like no other time in American history, in a more carefully orchestrated and widespread effort than any presidential administration has managed to attempt in the past.  •  McCain falsely claims he ‘never voted for a single earmark or pork barrel project  •  Treasonous Supreme Court justice taunts America  •  Despite saying he’ll ‘do everything’ in his power to stop Republicans' ugly ad, McCain hasn’t called  •  In "covering" Republicans' smear ad, cable networks run it over and over and over again  •  ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC won't answer questions as PBS Newshour covers Pentagon propaganda program  •  Let’s play, ‘Imagine if a Democrat had said this’  •  McCain executes difficult triple flip-flop  •   Al-Sadr threatens 'open war' on American occupiers  •  Cops who fired 50 shots killing unarmed man ... acquitted, of course  •  Customers who pay cash pay surcharge at AT&T  •  CIA Chief Hayden finally quits Air Force: This smells like the practice of retiring from one government position and taking another so that on final retirement the individual qualifies for pensions from both positions. In Hayden's case there may be multiple pensions coming. He's been the top CIA official since May 2006. Talk about pork!  •  Man tasered by police dies: The policeman's account, complete with a cordial "stop or I'll taze you" warning in the middle of a fist fight, smells a little unlikely to me.  •  Thomas Friedman gets pied     RSS       Unknown News   Friday, Apr. 25, 2008   •  White House says North Korea assisted Syria on nukes: In 1962, "When Acheson offered to show De Gaulle the photographs of the missile sites, the French leader brushed them aside and said, 'A great country such as yours does not act without evidence'."      How I long for the good old days when there were real threats, real evidence and we had real leaders! Now days, what the White House says is always a lie, and acts without evidence all the time.  •  Rush Limbaugh calls for riots at Democratic convention  •  Obama's "get out the vote" emails delayed  •  US sells secret anti-IED tech to Iraq  •  McCain passes brain-hemorrhaged colleague as most absentee Senator  •  Clinton campaign chair McAuliffe compliments Fox News  •  Beijing Olympic Chief linked to torture  •  US court says IP addresses are private  •  McCain on Hagee’s Katrina comments: ‘It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense.’  •  FBI warned Justice, Pentagon about torturing terror suspects  •  Saudi Arabia won't open embassy in Baghdad, due to security concerns: Huh? Haven't they heard? "The Surge" has succeeded. So say the Bushies.  •  Disneyland-style theme park set for Baghdad. Honest to God.  •  Carbon and methane in atmosphere up sharply  •  Washington Post carries water for McCain all week  •  Scotts pulling pesticide from shelves under EPA order  •  Feith's next lie: 'We took an extremely strong pro-Geneva Convention position in the Pentagon’  •  Georgetown University terminates Feith  •  Memphis police officer charged with domestic assault, making false report     RSS       Unknown News   Thursday, Apr. 24, 2008   •  Clinton threatens to "totally obliterate" Iran  •  McCain visits shuttered factory to call for more "free trade", less protection for American jobs: McCain is perhaps even dumber than Bush, even more determined to dismantle everything that ever made America great.  •  McCain’s televangelist ally believes God damns America  •  Ashcroft gets furious when asked about torture techniques  •  One reporter (Helen Thomas, of course) asks about Bush's approval of torture  •  Weary of CIA infiltration, Ecuador may close US base  •  Appeals Court overrules Fourth Amendment to US Constitution  •  Another case of treason and delivering US state secrets to Israel, is again immediately dismissed as insignificant  •  Republican candidate for Congress spoke at Hitler birthday celebration  •  Paul Waldman:  Pay no attention to the media behind the curtain: Reporters will choose to write about flag pins. They will choose to write about whether some catastrophic, heretofore hidden character flaw has been revealed by a comment a candidate made, or by a comment somebody who knows the candidate made. They are not merely conduits for the campaign's discourse, they create the campaign's discourse, as much as the candidates themselves.      Ah, but didn't Hillary Clinton criticize Barack Obama over his "bitter" comments? Doesn't that justify a week of relentless, repetitive discussion? Yes, she did (as he has criticized her before on matters equally trivial). But on that day, she probably held half a dozen campaign events and talked about a hundred different things. Had reporters wanted, they could have written stories about what she said about health care, the economy, Iraq, or just about anything else. They chose instead to write about this. The time is long past for them to stop pretending they have nothing to do with how trivial a campaign becomes.  •  Judge says Bush administration must tell people who sue whether they're on "Watch List": So all you have to do, to see if you're on the "Watch List" is sue the federal government, get a good judge, and win your case.  •  Appeals Court overrules Fourth Amendment to US Constitution  •  60% of EPA staff have personally experienced ‘political interference’ during Bush era  •  Carter says Secretary Rice is "not telling truth": Carter says he "has the greatest respect for ... Rice and believes her to be a truthful person. However, perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true." a statement issued by the Carter center in Atlanta said on Wednesday.      "No one in the State Department or any other department of the US government ever asked him (Carter) to refrain from his recent visit to the Middle East or even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President (Bashar) Assad or leaders of Hamas," it said.      Comment: It's been so many years since he was President, I sometimes forget how much I abhorred Carter while he was in office, and why -- the man's 100% made of marshmallow and milquetoast.  •  Bush rewards Petraeus with Central Command, positioning him to oversee war on Iran  •  Obama campaign rules out using Whitewater, '90s scandals against Clinton  •  Washington Post columnist finds Clinton's acts disqualifying, but McCain's numerous inconsistencies and falsehoods are deemed "understandable"  •  After lamenting absence of debate on "fundamental issues," Today's Lauer asks Clinton only about campaign     RSS       Unknown News   Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2008   •  Disapproval of Bush breaks another record: But still, no matter how much he's despised, no matter how plainly he ignores his oath of office, no matter how many laws he breaks, and no matter how deeply and daily he offends human decency, impeachment remains "off the table", thanks to Nancy Pelosi and the lily-livered Democrats.  •  Herb Ruhs, MD:  Endless war for endless profit: Victory, in this setting, is the last thing desired, as it would mean an end to the flow of profit. Defeat and retreat, likewise, are unthinkable for the same reason. The business plan is endless war for endless profit.  •  Refiners slow fuel production as profits drop: Weren't Exxon and other oil companies posting record profits only maybe 30 days ago? Something smells fishy here ...  •  Mr. Chuckles:  Freedom is for brave people, not for farm animals: Let's face it, the long and slow decline of America is well deserved. We are ignorant, lazy, fearful sheep who inherited a rich paradise and watched placidly as it was stolen and obliterated. Freedom is for brave people, not for farm animals.  •  JR Mooneyham:  What the rich do with their amazing freedom from taxes: I mean, what makes more sense? Some rich dude blowing a million dollars on a watch, or that million instead going to pay for universal healthcare, or children's education, or supplying our soldiers in the field? All of that arguably helps the rich a lot more than the fancy watch, by keeping a lid on contagious diseases, creating better quality workers, protecting against military threats, and speeding economic recovery after disasters.  •  Libyan lobbyists seek free ride for terror reparations  •  Bob Herbert:  Clueless in America: While we’re effectively standing in place, other nations are catching up and passing us when it comes to educational achievement. You have to be pretty dopey not to see the implications of that.      But, then, some of us are pretty dopey. In the Common Core survey, nearly 20 percent of respondents did not know who the U.S. fought in World War II. Eleven percent thought that Dwight Eisenhower was the president forced from office by the Watergate scandal. Another 11 percent thought it was Harry Truman. We’ve got work to do.  •  McCain's back door deals shatter ethical facade  •  World Vision cuts food ration to millions  •  Teacher suspended for refusal to give standardized test  •  How "voter ID" hands victories to Republicans  •  Colorado state Congressman (Republican, of course) calls workers 'illiterate peasants'  •  Cheney lies again  •  US isn't in a recession, says Bush  •  In change, industry groups back downer cow ban  •  Despite McCain's numerous falsehoods, CNN's Blitzer and Borger repeat "maverick" and "straight-talker" characterizations of McCain  •  Former Justice official pleads guilty in Abramoff probe  •  US soldiers say administration exaggerated role of Iraqi troops in Basra offensive     RSS       Unknown News   Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2008   •  "Bring 'em on" all over again?  Rice mocks anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as a coward  •  After four years of aggravation, charges dismissed over comic book  •  Herb Ruhs, MD:  Which numbers deserve our attention?: Compassionate people recognize that the suffering that these criminal wars at home in the US is, in turn, dwarfed by the unbelievable suffering that these wars inflict on the people of the Middle East which will also echo down through generation after generation.  •  Clinton defends taking money from oil execs: “They’re Americans” too  •   New anti-terrorism rules 'allow US to spy on British motorists'  •  Social justice activist found bound, gagged and drowned in Texas -- police call it a suicide  •  Veterans Administration hid suicide risk, internal e-mails show  •  White House challenges release of visitor logs  •  Clinton draws endorsement from leader of 'vast right-wing conspiracy'  •  5.3-million Americans legally barred from voting  •  McCain flip-flops in 30 seconds: Hagee endorsement a ‘mistake,’ but ‘I’m glad to have’ it  •  On ABC's This Week, McCain isn't challenged by Stephanopoulos as he lies about his health-care program  •  Despite promise to abolish earmarks, McCain uses earmark-funded ferry as campaign trail backdrop  •  Gonzales, Addington witnessed and approved of Guantanamo torture  •  Torture victim's records lost at Guantánamo, admits General  •  Bush was into torture in college, too  •  McCain blasts Obama over phantom links to graying radical (and still no questions about McCain's ties to anti-Catholic nutbag Hagee)  •  NBC's Gregory again touts McCain's "brand" as "being a maverick"  •  Washington Post reporter sticks up for McCain’s ‘Maverick’ brand  •  Meet the Press's Russert too busy repeating nonsensical attacks to debunk them  •  CNN hires noted liar Tony Snow  •  Fox's Morris again lies about Clinton  •  Kristol continues embarrassing New York Times  •  McCain catches another lucky break from NPR analyst Cokie Roberts' ignorance  •  AP reports McCain's "concession" that it probably was a "mistake" to seek Hagee's endorsement, but not his assertion that he's "glad to have" it     RSS       Unknown News   Monday, Apr. 21, 2008   •  White House torture policies are finally mentioned in New York Times (obliquely, in an editorial)  •  Hazel Burke:  The mote in Hillary's eye: OK, so we know for a fact that Hillary Clinton is a chronic, serial, truth-avoider who lies frequently but is not actually very good at it, at least compared to her husband's skill as fabulousity and prevarication.  •  The truth behind ABC and Clinton's "60s radical" smear against Obama  •  Amber Perez:  It's a lie to say it's a mis-statement: Basically, anyone making actual, real-life decisions involving money, property, liberty or happiness would be well advised to ignore television news completely. Even when they are right, they're wrong because their information is so dated that it is nearly impossible to use -- when they say buy houses that means that the richies are selling houses and short-selling banks!  •  Washington Post reports (at last) that McCain is famed for his furious temper  •  UN head: global food crisis reaches emergency proportions  •  US food inflation reaches highest level in 17 years: I'd like to point out that while millions of Americans are facing food insecurity, and first three paragraphs of the AP story deal with an how sad it is that an upscale bakery has been forced to raise the price of one pie from $20 to $25.  •  Senate "foreclosure" bill hands out money to lots of big companies, ignores actual homeowners  •  Gov't spies on reporter who uncovered illegal spying  •  Supreme Court approves lethal injection ... because the indescribable pain it causes is just a pesky side effect  •  Groups call for Rice to resign for personally approving torture  •  Second jury also refuses to convict chuckleheads as dangerous terrorists  •  ON ABC's This Week, host Gibson and candidate McCain agree on ‘flawed,’ ‘misleading’ and ‘dubious’ tax theories  •  Rove has been 'analyst' for Fox News for two and a half months, with zero mentions that he's also working for McCain's campaign     RSS       Unknown News   Sunday, Apr. 20, 2008   •  Basra battle -- Bush's "defining moment" for Iraq -- was a 'complete disaster'  •  Lloyd B.:  Without sexism, where would Hillary Clinton be?: Hillary Clinton deserves the respect due any person with six years' experience in politics, with no apparent ideals, with no original ideas of consequence, with a track record supporting an idiotic war, and with a political agenda that can only be described as Hillary Clintonist. There is nothing, absolutely nothing in her life to suggest that she is of anything remotely approaching Presidential stature.  •  NY Times blows the lid off obvious propaganda use of "military experts" on TV news: There's nothing here that's news to Americans who are awake, but it's a well-written if far too long article, and it's important because nothing's really 'news' for some people until it's been in the New York Times.  •  Pavel C.:  A supersized stack of good advice: Eventually I realized that I needed to do work for which I already had skills and training, which would, even though I disliked it, pay be some ok money and use my abilities. And that meant moving back to Civilization, or at least, near a big city in California.  •  ISPs' error page ads let hackers hijack entire web, researcher discloses  •  Don Nash:  United States of Denial  •  McCain Wednesday: "Great progress economically" during Bush years; McCain Thursday: Middle-class Americans are struggling  •  Canada to ban polycarbonate baby bottles  •  Cablevision lies to subscribers     RSS       Unknown News   Saturday, Apr. 19, 2008   •  EPA defies subpoena to turn over documents: The arrogance would be breathtaking, but these bastards took all my breath years ago ...  •  Defense study concludes that Iraq is "a major debacle" and the outcome is "in doubt"  •  Herb Ruhs, MD:  A society that erects pedestals, and digs dungeons: All our professions and institutions are now led and controlled by people whose only claim to superiority is their political cleverness and ruthlessness. This is what comes from idolizing wealth and fame, and being influenced by the lies that ambitious people use to entice and confuse us. The way out of the corner is start forming small, local groups where the true character and capacity of the membership can be accurately assessed.  •  Peace activist is barred entry to America  •  Fox News blowhard interviews the wrong priest (Father Michael Pfleger) but it happened live so it was actually telecast  •  JR Mooneyham:  Democrats must be cautious: If impeachment were feasible, I think the Democrats would have done it. Their razor-thin Congressional majority though -- diluted still further by Lieberman and a few others -- plus the Republican-dominated Supreme Court, and the Republican-owned mainstream media, would simply make a real impeachment effort on the part of Democrats worse than futile: it would likely help the mainstream media to hand the next election over to the Republicans in a landslide.  •  McCain proposal leads to privatized Medicare  •  Bush’s S-CHIP policy violates law, report says  •  Don Nash:  A day at Blood Beach  •  In leaked audio, Clinton blasts "activist base of the Democratic Party" and lies about MoveOn.org  •  Bush names inept crony to replace Jackson as HUD Secretary  •  Rove hints he'll refuse to testify (and blasts reporter who reported on Siegelman matter)  •  MSNBC's Scarborough walks off the set when Maddow calls him on rudeness, misogyny  •