Saturday, July 11, 2009

WHAT'S UNCLEAR, MARA?

On FAUX News, Mara Liasson was discussing the revelation that the CIA had been conducting a secret operation since 2001 without informing Congress:
BAIER: And as you said, the CIA says that Panetta learned about this on the 23rd. He felt that it was not adequately briefed to Congress, suggesting perhaps it was briefed at some level, perhaps the gang of eight, the leadership and the head of the committees. And it was a program that ended, started in 2001, and at some point has ended.

LIASSON: Or never actually happened. It is unclear.

BAIER: Or never launched. And we don't know what it was.

Mara is wrong again, as mcjoan noted:
Both Pete Hoekstra and Mike Rogers have said that the program "never quite got there" or wasn't "ever implemented," are contradicted by the Bush administration official who definitely confirmed that the program, run by the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, was implemented. It might have been off and on, but it was definitely on during the last eight years. Remember, it was begun in 2001 following 9/11 and Panetta didn't find out about it and put an end to it until the day before he met with the Intelligence Committee last month.

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH SNOWFLAKE, ARIZONA?

One of the right-wing loons who posts at Politico identifies himself as living in Snowflake, Arizona and it seems there's something bad with the water there. From Matt Corley at Think Progress:
On June 25, the Arizona Senate’s Retirement and Rural Development Committee discussed the prospects for uranium mining in the state. During the hearing, State Senator Sylvia Allen (R-Snowflake), the vice chairman of the committee, argued in favor of mining by saying that the earth “has been here 6,000 years, long before anybody had environmental laws, and somehow it hasn’t been done away with.”

INSTADUNCE WASTES SPACE IN THE L.A. TIMES

Glenn Reynold's repeats one of Sarah Palin's many lies:
We've been talking about Palin, and in fact her no-nonsense schoolmarm routine -- "I put it on EBay" -- would fit that well.

According to FactCheck, the plane was NOT sold on E-Bay.

RADIO TIDBITS

Joe Pagliarulo was the guest host for Glenn Beck this week and yesterday he demonstrated the appalling ignorance of wingnut radio. Pags, as he refers to himself, didn't know where the President is tried after being impeached, House or Senate. He was an adult during the Clinton mess and for him not to know the rules is inexcusable.

It gets worse. Discussing the Ricci case and Judge Sotomayor, Pags claimed that many of our economic problems are the result of incompetent blacks taking jobs from qualified whites.

Mike Gallagher was attacking health care reform again and said it was wrong to tax hard-working people to pay for deadbeats and losers. He was referring to a House proposal to tax those individuals making over $250K and households making over $350K.

Friday, July 10, 2009

NOONAN GETS SOME HEAT

Peggy Noonan writes an op-ed that's critical of Saint Sarah of Alaska and the wingers start whining about Peggy being an elitist:
* Vincent Holbrook wrote: your an elitist snob

* Richard Scruggs wrote: You're horrified by Palin? Sounds like xenophobia, compounded by a severe case of arrogant elitism.

* Robert Jones wrote: Ms. Noonan, as a card carrying member of the East Coast Elite formerly of the GOP,

* mark timm wrote: Oh Peggy, here in fly over country, we understand that the Elites contempt for Palin

* M T wrote: What these elitist women hate is that Sarah Palin is not like them.

* Rick Cannon wrote: Nothing more than a column of elitist tripe.

* Bruce Colella wrote: I am just amazed how this person thinks that her pompous, elitist diatribe holds water.

MORE ON COAST TO COAST AM

I noted below the connection between the reasoning found on Art Bell's show Coast to Coast AM and the reasoning used by Fats Limbaugh. George Noory has taken over for Art and he is keeping up the tradition. Tonight, Noory discussed this story with fringe attorney Tom Cryer:
Ed and Elaine Brown are convicted
By STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
Manchester Union Leader

5 hours, 42 minutes ago

Concord – Tax evaders Ed and Elaine Brown were convicted Thursday of amassing weapons, explosives and booby traps and plotting to kill federal agents during a nine-month standoff in 2007 at their fort-like home in Plainfield.

The couple, who do not recognize the federal government's authority to tax its citizens, held hands and looked straight ahead as the verdict was read. They refused to stand when the jury and judge left the courtroom.

Ok, these are two tax nuts who don't know the law. In addition to the 16th Amendment, there is also settled case law that gives government the right to tax its citizens. Cryer has a website ironically named Truth Attack that promotes this idiotic notion about taxes.

THE JUDGE RED BAITS LIKE ALL THE OTHER FAUX NEWS CLOWNS

Yesterday, Pres. Obama gave a joint press conference with Pres. Giorgio Napolitano of Italy. Toward the end, Pres. Obama said this:
And just a personal note: I had heard of the wonderful reputation of President Napolitano as somebody who has the admiration of the Italian people because of not only his longstanding service but also his integrity and his graciousness. And I just want to confirm that everything about him that I had heard is true. He's an extraordinary gentleman, a great leader of this country, and the fact that he has been such a gracious host is something that we all greatly appreciate.

So thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership. Thanks to the people of Italy for your great friendship to the United States. (Applause.)

For Judge Napolitano, this was an outrage because Pres. Napolitano had been a Communist from 1945 to 1991. I guess you can't even tell a former Communist that he's been gracious because that somehow amounts to supporting Stalin.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

I DIDN'T LIKE IT WHEN GRANPA MCCAIN DID IT

and I don't like it now. Aside from attending charity events, I don't think reporters and those they cover should socialize.
White House Press Corps Happy to Attend Barack Obama's Off-the-Record BBQ
By John Cook, 12:44 PM on Thu Jul 9 2009, 23,137 views
GAWKER

THE WINGERS FLOCK TO POLITICO

I wasn't sure I wanted to go through a thread and pick out the posts that parrot what Limbaugh, Hannity and the other gasbags think until I saw this post:
SilasDoGoodJr

Member Since: Sep. 10, 2008
Party: NA
Last Visited: Jul. 9, 2009 - 9:18 PM EST
#2332
Jul. 9, 2009 - 9:18 PM EST
God Bless talk radio for exposing the Marxism rampant in the White House.

Here are some more on the same theme:
bornorange

Member Since: May. 4, 2009
Party: Conservative
Last Visited: Jul. 9, 2009 - 11:40 AM EST
#2
Jul. 9, 2009 - 5:17 AM EST
The awakening is beginning! Spread the word! Stop the race to government ownership of everything... including your freedoms.

Ken in Grand Rapids

Member Since: Jan. 28, 2008
Party: Democrat
Last Visited: Jul. 9, 2009 - 6:23 AM EST
#14
Jul. 9, 2009 - 6:23 AM EST
Americans cannot sit idly while Obama and his policies DISTROY America as we know it.

used2bdemocrat

Member Since: May. 25, 2008
Party: Democrat
Last Visited: Jul. 9, 2009 - 6:59 AM EST
#23
Jul. 9, 2009 - 6:59 AM EST
Any independent who voted for the socialist/marxist liar obama was a fool.

ONE POSSIBLE REASON CARIBOU BOOKED

The fiscal good times in Alaska are coming to an end and that means her job as governor would be more difficult and perhaps also tarnish her image as a fiscal conservative.
After California: Which States Are in the Most Peril?
By Barbara Kiviat Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009
TIME Magazine

Revenues — from income, sales and property taxes — continue to fall. True, states have already plowed through a lot of tough decisions to close the $102 billion shortfall they collectively faced during the last budget cycle. But already it looks like this year's gap will be $121 billion, according to a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Two of the worst-off states by that count are Alaska and Nevada. Each of them will need to spend 30% more than what state tax officers think they'll be collecting. And neither has a state income tax, relying on oil and tourism taxes, respectively, for most of their revenues.

FILE UNDER "JOBS SAVED"

The wingers have been criticizing Pres. Obama's use of the phrase "jobs created or saved" because they claim there is no way to track the number of jobs saved. Well, now we have some real evidence for his claim.
Stimulus spending short sighted - watchdog
Federal government is pushing out stimulus faster than expected. But states are using it to plug immediate gaps, rather than undertake long-term reforms.
By Tami Luhby, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: July 8, 2009: 6:13 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Fiscally-stressed states are using their stimulus dollars to satisfy immediate needs rather than undertake longer-term reforms, according to a government report released Wednesday.

For example, states are spending education funds to prevent layoffs and maintain programs, a Government Accountability Office report found.

Near 2,000 teachers will retain their jobs in Florida's Miami-Dade district because of stimulus funds. Officials in half the states surveyed said recovery act money will prevent layoffs.

ETHNIC STUDIES STUPIDITY UPDATE

I noted this below and on Sunday, June 14th I sent the head of the ethnic studies program, Dr. Augustine Romero, an e-mail asking him to explain what he meant by an "ethnic lens" on algebra and calculus. I didn't get a reply on Monday or Tuesday, so on Wednesday I sent an e-mail to Romero's immediate manager, Dr. Jim Fish, an assistant superintendent, and copied to Romero. Fish responded on the following Monday, June 22nd, and wrote that he would speak to Romero. I still didn't get a reply after another week, so I wrote again on June 29th to Fish to ask him if had in fact spoken with Romero. Fish replied on the 30th and told me that I should expect a reply by Thursday, July 2nd.

By July 8th, I still had not gotten a reply so I sent Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Calenia-Fagen an e-mail and she replied the same day and let me know that Dr. Romero is planning to respond.

The ethnic studies issue seems to have raised the hackles of the editors at the Arizona Republic, who in this unsigned June 16th editorial seem to believe that the program is radical:
Tucson's school administrators and board members seem to have no problem with a "raza studies" program that is openly, defiantly political - "progressive," in the preferred language of its advocates.

This is what "progressive" means at TUSD: It means advancing the most radical, neo-Marxist notions of anti-free-market revolution to be found in any education-theory textbooks. It means hiring raza-studies "educators" whose primary qualification is that they hold extreme leftist political views.

I have no idea if this assertion is true and it is orthogonal to my concern about how mathematics can have an "ethnic lens."

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

"WRONG AGAIN" WILL STRIKES AGAIN

George F. Will doesn't seem to be that knowledgable about too many things. His latest effort attempts to pin the blame for the idea of body counts on behavioralism:
The apogee of McNamara's professional life, in the first half of the 1960s, coincided, not coincidentally, with the apogee of the belief that behavioralism had finally made possible a science of politics. Behavioralism held -- holds; it is a hardy perennial -- that the social and natural sciences are not so different, both being devoted to the discovery of law-like regularities that govern the behavior of atoms, hamsters, humans, whatever.

Two of behavioralism's reinforcing assumptions were: Things that can be quantified can be controlled. And everything can be quantified. So, pick a problem, any problem. Military insurgency in Indochina? The answer is counterinsurgency. What can be, and hence must be, quantified? Body counts, surely. Bingo: a metric of success.

LBJ, not behavioralism, was behind the idea of body counts, as H. R. McMaster's Dereliction of Duty pointed out on page 248:
"On March 15 [1965] the president called the JCS to the White House for consultation. ... He told his military officers that he wanted them to employ any means necessary to "kill more Viet Cong." He expected a weekly report totaling the Viet Cong dead."

SALLY QUINN AGREES WITH SOME WINGNUTS

In her column about Sarah Palin, Quinn starts off with the obvious:
I did not understand one word of what Sarah Palin said in her 18-minute resignation speech the other day.

The wingers at FAUX Nation are outraged, of course, but Quinn is just stating what other conservatives have said, such as Fats Limbaugh and Michael Barone.

KILMEADE NEEDS TO GO!!!

UPDATE: Here's the e-mail for Fox & Friends: Friends@foxnews.com

(h/t Steve Benen)

Brian Kilmeade, a FAUX News person, said something far worse than anything Don Imus has ever said publicly. This is wingnut racism of the highest and purest order:

Brian Kilmeade Would Like Species and 'Ethnics' to Remain Pure
By Richard Lawson, 1:23 PM on Wed Jul 8 2009, 15,368 views
GAWKER

To stave off dementia! Yes, today the befuddled screech owls on Fox & Friends were discussing a study that states that those that stay married fend off Alzheimer's and dementia better than lonely divorcees. Brian Kilmeade took issue with this.

He didn't trust the study because it was done in Finland and Sweden and the Finns and the Swedes stay "pure" by only marrying each other. Whereas in America, everyone marries everyone (so long as they're white and their partner is white. Oh, and straight!) So therefore the study doesn't mean anything.

Here's the transcript from Media Matters:

KILMEADE: I'm just amazed that they thought about doing this study in the -- by interviewing people in the 1970s and the 1980s.

BRIGGS: A little dated, you think?

KILMEADE: The average is 50, and they see that they keep it together. I find this -- I find this somewhat --

BRIGGS: Go ahead.

KILMEADE: Different. Leave it to the Finns and Swedes to some up with something. They literally --

CARLSON: Don't look at me, pal.

KILMEADE: Because that's a -- we are -- we're -- we're a -- we're -- we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and other --

CARLSON: Are you sure they're not suffering from some of the --

KILMEADE: I mean, the Swedes --

CARLSON: -- causes of dementia right now?

BRIGGS: What are you getting at?

KILMEADE: See, the problem is, the Swedes have pure genes.

BRIGGS: OK.

KILMEADE: Because they marry other Swedes. Because that's the rule. Finland -- Finns marry other Finns, so they have a pure society. In America, we marry everybody.

DO WE HAVE A.D.D. OR WHAT?

(h/t Atrios)

First, let's do the basic numbers:
Two years after the credit markets began to seize up, costing the world’s biggest financial institutions $1.47 trillion in writedowns and losses...

Finance companies have been forced to raise $1.27 trillion in capital, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

These losses occurred in part because people believed with a little higher math, they could turn BBB securities into AAA securities. Guess what's happening AGAIN?
Morgan Stanley Plans to Turn Downgraded Loan CDO Into AAA Bonds

By Pierre Paulden, Caroline Salas and Sarah Mulholland

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley plans to repackage a downgraded collateralized debt obligation backed by leveraged loans into new securities with AAA ratings in the first transaction of its kind, said two people familiar with the sale.

... banks are again taking so- called structured finance securities and turning them into new debt investments with top credit ratings. While the Morgan Stanley deal is the first to involve CDOs of loans, banks have been doing the same with commercial mortgage-backed securities in recent weeks.

A SIMPLE ANSWER TO MICHAEL GOLDFARB

As I noted below, the war whores are getting ginned up about Israel attacking Iran. In the Weekly Standard, Goldfarb makes this argument for an Israeli strike:
Better to ask forgiveness than ask permission. And really, what's Obama going to do about it anyway? He won't even sanction the Iranian regime for killing Iranians, why should he sanction the Israelis for doing the same?

BECAUSE WE FINANCIALLY SUPPORT ISRAEL'S ARMED FORCES, DUMMY!!!

A BAD ARGUMENT AGAINST THE PUBLIC OPTION

The wingers claim that a public option will crowd out the private sector and that's a good reason to oppose it. In reality, there are many cases of public and private entities existing in the same sector of the economy. I first thought of the US Post Office and the private firms Fedex and UPS. In addition, there are also public and private universities and colleges. Finally, Switzerland has a successful mixture of public and private health care.

THIS IS SAD NEWS

I knew that many of the troops were suffering but I didn't draw the easy inference that their children would also. From TPM:
Big increase in troops' kids seeking mental help

KIMBERLY HEFLING
AP Features

Jul 07, 2009 13:43 EST

Children of U.S. military troops sought outpatient mental health care 2 million times last year, double the number at the start of the Iraq war, and there was also an alarming spike in the number of military kids actually hospitalized for mental health reasons.

The total number of outpatient mental health visits for children of men and women on active duty doubled from 1 million in 2003 to 2 million in 2008. During the same period, the yearly bed days for military children 14 and under increased from 35,000 to 55,000, the documents show.

"PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS"

Except perhaps when you are dealing with a MOTU who has demonstrated his ability to screw-up massively. I wonder why anyone would invest with him after the collapse of LTCM which was preceded by his dismissal from Salomon? Is this another case of market failure?
Meriwether Said to Shut JWM Hedge Fund After Losses (Update2)
By Katherine Burton and Saijel Kishan

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- John Meriwether, who roiled global markets when Long-Term Capital Management LP collapsed in 1998, plans to shut his current hedge fund, according to a person familiar with the matter.

JWM Partners LLC is closing its main Relative Value Opportunity II fund after losing 44 percent from September 2007 to February 2009.

Before Long-Term Capital, Meriwether worked at Salomon Brothers, where he was vice chairman and built its proprietary trading desk. ... He lost his job at the firm following the 1991 government bond scandal. Regulators ruled that he’d failed to supervise traders who violated bond-auction rules.

TAX EVASION THE SWISS WAY

I guess money talks pretty loudly in Switzerland, certainly louder than justice.
Swiss Government Says It Would Seize UBS Data Sought by U.S.
By David Voreacos and Mort Lucoff

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Switzerland said it would seize UBS AG data to prevent the U.S. Justice Department from pursuing a U.S. court order seeking the identities of 52,000 American account holders in a crackdown on tax evaders.

The assertion came in court papers yesterday in federal court in Miami, where the Justice Department sued UBS on Feb. 19, a day after the bank avoided U.S. prosecution for helping wealthy Americans evade taxes. The U.S. effort to enforce a summons seeking the names would force UBS to violate Swiss laws barring disclosure of such data, the filing said.

A LITTLE MORE CENSORSHIP

On this article by neo-con war whore Caroline Glick, I made two posts asking two other posters to back up their claim that Israel was an ally. This was my question:



When I went back to the page a couple of hours later, both of my posts had been removed. The screen shot above is from a 3rd post I made after I returned.

I've asked this question before on other sites and I have never gotten a satisfactory answer.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

MORE WAR WHORE WHINING

From FAUX News:
A day before New York Rep. Peter King called Michael Jackson a “pervert” unworthy of nonstop media coverage, the aunt of a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan on the same day Jackson died asked why her nephew's death went virtually unnoticed while the King of Pop got memorial shrines across the country.

"Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media," Martha Gillis wrote to the Washington Post. "Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week?"

Here's the coverage for her nephew, Lt. Brian Bradshaw:
Results
1. Afghan war takes toll on Washington soldiers
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 7, 2009 Tuesday 12:55 AM GMT, STATE AND REGIONAL, 172 words


2. Afghan war takes toll on Washington soldiers
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 7, 2009 Tuesday 12:55 AM GMT, STATE AND REGIONAL, 172 words


3. Afghan war takes toll on Washington soldiers
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 7, 2009 Tuesday 12:55 AM GMT, STATE AND REGIONAL, 172 words


4. Afghan war takes toll on Washington soldiers
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 6, 2009 Monday 6:41 PM GMT, STATE AND REGIONAL, 128 words


5. Afghan war takes toll on Washington soldiers
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 6, 2009 Monday 6:40 PM GMT, STATE AND REGIONAL, 128 words


6. Afghan war takes toll on Washington soldiers
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 6, 2009 Monday 6:40 PM GMT, STATE AND REGIONAL, 128 words


7. Afghan war takes toll on Washington soldiers
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 6, 2009 Monday 2:18 PM GMT, STATE AND REGIONAL, 128 words


8. Afghan war takes toll on Washington soldiers
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 6, 2009 Monday 2:17 PM GMT, STATE AND REGIONAL, 128 words


9. Afghan war takes toll on Washington soldiers
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 6, 2009 Monday 2:17 PM GMT, STATE AND REGIONAL, 128 words

The mother of Bradshaw said the same thing:
Bradshaw's mother, Mary, said she agreed with Gillis, saying the nonstop coverage of Jackson's death has become "totally ridiculous" and laughable.

"I can watch the news many nights and there's no mention of what's going on in Afghanistan or Iraq and there's boys dying over there," Bradshaw told FOXNews.com. "Oh God, I can't talk."


Here are the results for the week from Jackson's death on June 25th and July 1st, inclusive:
Results
1. Michael Jackson's Will Names Katherine Jackson, Then Diana Ross as Guardians
CNN, July 1, 2009 Wednesday, NEWS; International, 1924 words, Kyra Phillips, Don Lemon


2. CQ Transcriptions , SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY GENERAL MICHELE MONTAS HOLDS OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL REGULAR NEWS BRIEFING, July 1, 2009 Wednesday, LOAD-DATE: July 1, 2009


3. EPISODE TWENTY TWO OF "ARMED WITH SCIENCE: RESEARCH APPLICATIONS FOR THE MODERN MILITARY," A DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE WEBCAST HOST: DR. JOHN OHAB; GUESTS: KELLEY HUGHES, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, JOINT NON-LETHAL WEAPONS DIRECTORATE; ALICIA OWSIAK, DEPUTY CHIEF, TECHNOLOGY DIVISION, JOINT NON-LETHAL WEAPONS DIRECTORATE
Federal News Service, July 1, 2009 Wednesday, DEPARTMENT DEFENSE BRIEFING, 2581 words


4. TEXT OF DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS (UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, JUNE 30, 2009)
Federal News Service, July 1, 2009 Wednesday, 2988 words


5. NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO "ALL THINGS CONSIDERED" SPECIAL REPORT; SUBJECT: MARINES LAUNCH OFFENSIVE IN HELMAND PROVINCE ANCHOR: MELISSA BLOCK REPORTER: TOM BOWMAN
Federal News Service, July 1, 2009 Wednesday, PRESS CONFERENCE OR SPEECH, 795 words


6. THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES (ACUS) MEETING; SUBJECT: "CHALLENGES FACING THE PAKISTAN ARMY" WELCOME AND MODERATOR: SHUJA NAWAZ, DIRECTOR, SOUTH ASIA CENTER, ACUS; SPEAKER: GENERAL JEHANGIR KARAMAT, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN; LOCATION: WASHINGTON, D.C.
Federal News Service, July 1, 2009 Wednesday, PRESS CONFERENCE OR SPEECH, 10080 words


7. In Afghanistan, Marines Prep For Taliban Battle [U]
National Public Radio (NPR), July 1, 2009 Wednesday, 763 words


8. In Afghanistan, Marines Prep For Taliban Battle [FtF]
National Public Radio (NPR), July 1, 2009 Wednesday, 727 words


9. CQ Transcriptions , GENERAL RAY ODIERNO (USA), COMMANDER OF MULTI-NATIONAL FORCES- IRAQ, HOLDS A DEFENSE DEPARTMENT NEWS BRIEFING VIA TELECONFERENCE FROM IRAQ, June 30, 2009 Tuesday, LOAD-DATE: June 30, 2009


10. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING FROM IRAQ WITH GENERAL RAY ODIERNO, COMMANDER, MULTINATIONAL FORCES-IRAQ; SUBJECT: OVERVIEW ON IRAQI SECURITY AND THE WITHDRAWAL OF U.S. COMBAT FORCES FROM IRAQI CITIES; LOCATION: PENTAGON BRIEFING ROOM, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
Federal News Service, June 30, 2009 Tuesday, DEPARTMENT DEFENSE BRIEFING, 6550 words


11. PRESS CONFERENCE WITH SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES; SUBJECTS INCLUDE: WITHDRAWAL OF U.S. FORCES FROM IRAQI CITIES; WEAPONS ACQUISITIONS; IRAN; LOCATION: EN ROUTE FROM GERMANY
Federal News Service, June 30, 2009 Tuesday, DEPARTMENT DEFENSE BRIEFING, 2833 words


12. DAILY UNITED NATIONS PRESS BRIEFING (AS RELEASED BY THE UNITED NATIONS); BRIEFER: MICHELE MONTAS, SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL; LOCATION: U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
Federal News Service, June 30, 2009 Tuesday, PRESS CONFERENCE OR SPEECH, 2991 words


13. Political Headlines
Fox News Network, June 30, 2009 Tuesday, NEWS; Domestic, 5264 words, Bret Baier, Malini Wilkes, Major Garrett, Shannon Bream, Steve Centanni, Brian Wilson, Wendell Goler, Brit Hume, Catherine Herridge, Eric Shawn


14. Emotional toll on soldiers facing down firefights in Afghanistan
NBC News Transcripts, June 30, 2009 Tuesday, 835 words


15. Madoff Faces Judge; Madoff's Path to Prison; Honduras President Zelaya Still Reeling From Yesterday's Bloodless Military Coup, Iran Conducts Partial Recount of Votes; All U.S. Combat Forces to be Out of Iraqi Cities Tomorrow; Celebrating Gay Pride Around the World
CNN, June 29, 2009 Monday, NEWS; International, 7268 words, Heidi Collins, Reza Sayah, Dan Simon, Dan Lothian, Barbara Starr, Steve Kastenbaum, Josh Levs, Rob Marciano, Susan Lisovicz, Christine Romans, Atia Abawi


16. CQ Transcriptions , SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON HOLDS STATE DEPARTMENT REGULAR NEWS BRIEFING, June 29, 2009 Monday, LOAD-DATE: June 29, 2009


17. STATE DEPARTMENT REGULAR BRIEFING WITH INITIAL REMARKS BY U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON; BRIEFER: IAN KELLY, DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN; LOCATION: STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING ROOM, STATE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Federal News Service, June 29, 2009 Monday, STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING, 6239 words


18. HIGHLIGHTS OF U.S. BROADCAST NEWS COVERAGE OF THE MIDDLE EAST FROM JUNE 24, 2009 (FULL TRANSCRIPTS) (FNS MIDDLE EAST, JUNE 25, 2009)
Federal News Service, June 25, 2009 Thursday, 5116 words


19. HEARING OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE; SUBJECT: A REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF SOUTH ASIA; CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE GARY ACKERMAN (D-NY); WITNESS: ROBERT BLAKE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIAN AFFAIRS; LOCATION: 2172 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Federal News Service, June 25, 2009 Thursday, CAPITOL HILL HEARING, 11455 words


20. HEARING OF THE ASIA, THE PACIFIC, AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE; CHAIRED BY: DELEGATE ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA (D-AS); WITNESSES: JOSEPH NYE JR., PH.D., UNIVERSITY DISTINGUISHED SERVICE PROFESSOR, SULTAN OF OMAN PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY; MICHAEL J. GREEN, PH.D., SENIOR ADVISER AND JAPAN CHAIR, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN SERVICE; KENT CALDER, PH.D., DIRECTOR, EDWIN O. REISCHAUER CENTER FOR EAST ASIAN STUDIES, DIRECTOR, JAPAN STUDIES, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY; ARTHUR J. ALEXANDER, PH.D, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF ASIAN STUDIES AND ECONOMICS, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY; LOCATION: 2200 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Federal News Service, June 25, 2009 Thursday, 20069 words


21. New Biography Examines Rumsfeld's 'Rules'
National Public Radio (NPR), June 25, 2009 Thursday, 1835 words


22. REP. GARY L. ACKERMAN HOLDS A HEARING ON A REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF SOUTH ASIA
CQ Transcriptions "All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ Transcriptions. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.", June 25, 2009 Thursday, 11445 words


23. DEL. ENI H. FALEOMAVAEGA HOLDS A HEARING ON JAPAN'S CHANGING ROLE
CQ Transcriptions "All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ Transcriptions. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.", June 25, 2009 Thursday, 20043 words

YES, THE STIMULUS IS PROVIDING JOBS

And even the Wall Street Journal admits it.
Boost in Food-Stamp Funding Percolates Through Economy
JULY 7, 2009
By ROGER THUROW and TIMOTHY W. MARTIN
Wall Street Journal

The president's stimulus plan has been aimed primarily at the top of the economy, pumping money into banks and car companies and state and city governments. But it also has put more money into the hands of the poorest Americans by boosting monthly food-stamp allocations. Starting in April, a family of four on food stamps received an average of $80 extra.

Money from the program -- officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- percolates quickly through the economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture calculates that for every $5 of food-stamp spending, there is $9.20 of total economic activity, as grocers and farmers pay their employees and suppliers, who in turn shop and pay their bills.

Farmers markets in Iowa have been particularly aggressive in courting the business of food-stamp recipients. At the Davenport market, food-stamp purchases have boosted business at Sawyer Beef. As farmer Norman Sawyer's sales increase, he says he plans to buy more fencing and water tanks to improve grazing areas for his cattle. "This has been a good deal for us," he says.

THANX, ANDREW SULLIVAN

He's put a link post to all the lies (32 so far) he caught Palin making.

NEAL BOORTZ ASKS...

"How's the Stimulus Working For You So Far?"

For me, it's been pretty good. I really needed the extra $25 a week in unemployment benefits to stay in my apartment and the extra food stamps are a great help.

MEMO TO CAROLINE GLICK

She argues here that Israel should basically greatly reduce its reliance on America, to which I say: "About damn time."

AN ALL-PUROSE RESPONSE TO WINGNUT POSTS

This is derived from the movie Billy Madison:
[INSERT NAME OF WINGNUT], what you've just written is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this thread is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

ALMOST GONE BUT STILL IGNORANT

(h/t Atrios)

Sarah Palin still can't get the basics of American government correct. You might recall that she thought the Founders wrote the Pledge of Allegiance and that the VP had a direct role in the Senate's legislative process. Now we learn that she has "discovered" a brand new department!
Sarah Palin: Why She Resigned
Sarah Palin Talks to ABC News About Why She Resigned
By KATE SNOW
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, July 7, 2009

As to whether another pursuit for national office, as when she joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the race for the White House less than a year ago, would result in the same political blood sport, Palin said there was a difference between the White House and what she had experienced in Alaska. If she were in the White House, she said, the "department of law" would protect her from baseless ethical allegations.

"I think on a national level, your department of law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out," she said.

There is no "Department of Law" at the White House.

MIKEY ♥ SARAH

Mike Gallagher came to the defense of Sarah Palin today and repeated the meme that Katie Couric is a vicious interviewer simply for asking Caribou what she reads.

KISSINGER SAYS PRES. OBAMA WAS CORRECT

In May 2008, Obama expressed a little bit of reality-based thinking about Iran:
I mean, think about it: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela — these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us.

The war-whore neocons strongly objected to this statement but none other than Henry Kissinger agrees with now-Pres. Obama:
SPIEGEL: The situation in Iran doesn't make you fearful?

Kissinger: Fear is not a good motivation for statesmanship. It could be that some kind of at least local conflict will happen, but it does not have to happen. Iran is a relatively weak and small country that has inherent limits to its capabilities. The relationship of China with the rest of the world is a lot more important in historic terms than the Iranian issues by themselves.

THIS ONLY MEANS SOMETHING IN WINGNUT WORLD...

because there are a LOT of things Michael Barone doesn't get but he is another conservative voice who thinks Palin just blew it. He wrote this in the new wingnut paper, Washington Examiner:
I was astonished by Sarah Palin’s announcement that she is going to resign as Governor of Alaska. I’ve read over her “point guard” explanation for doing so, and I still don’t get it.

WHY WE NEED GOVERNMENT IN HEALTH CARE

Hugh Hewitt interviewed Prof. Clayton Christiansen about his new book, The Innovator’s Prescription. The professor makes two great points, one about computer-based diagnostics and the other about system design.

The data we have on diagnostics can be automated to arrive at the most likely diagnosis and the preferred care:
CC: Well, what will happen is primary care doctors will disrupt physicians. So there are technologies now that will bring to the desk of the primary care physician the expertise to do things that in the past had required a specialist. For example, there’s a firm here in the Boston area called Simulconsult, that is starting out in neurological disorders, and then broadly expanding. And so if you as a patient present yourself to your primary care doctor, and the doctor judges that you’ve got a neurological problem, she’ll just input into the Simulconsult system the symptoms that she observes, and any test results that she’s collected. And the system will come back to her and say well, there’s a 68% probability that your patient has this disease, 17% that she has that disorder, 8% that it’s this one, and then there’s a long tail. Now collect these four other pieces of information from the patient if you would, please, and input them. And you put that in, and then the system comes back and says gosh, it looks like that what we thought was a 68% probability is a 93% probability that it’s this syndrome. The 17% idea looks like it’s dropped down. And now get two more pieces of information, and we’ll tighten it even further. And what they’ve done using the miracle of the internet is captured over 30,000 published studies of neurological disorders, and synthesized them in a way that is distills all of that expertise onto the desktop of your primary care physician, so she doesn’t have to refer you to the specialist, because that specialty expertise is right there.

The second point he makes is that the "invisible hand" isn't going to get the job done. Hewitt didn't make a stink about this.
CC: I’m not sure that the market will drive it, but management could drive it in the sense that Adam Smith in the Wealth Of Nations, the treatise of capitalism, introduced this construct called the invisible hand, that in competitive markets directs resources to the highest use. And there are just some problems where Adam Smith’s invisible hand is impotent. And it requires what Al Chandler calls the visible hand of managerial capitalism. And that means that there has to be an entity that has the scope that can wrap its arms around all of the pieces of the system to just re-architect it. And in most of America’s health care system, you don’t have that scope. ... But there are only a few institutions that we call in the book integrated fixed fee providers that have the scope to rethink it all. And some of those institutions are the military’s health system, the Veterans’ Administration health system, Kaiser Permanente in California, Health Partners in Minneapolis, Intermountain in the intermountain states. And what those institutions have is they control the payments or the insurance system, they employ doctors, they own the hospitals.

Monday, July 06, 2009

THE OTHER MCCAIN VS. FATS LIMBAUGH

Robert Stacy McCain has uncanny powers of ramble comprehension:
I've got MSNBC on my office TV and the mid-day newsette just referred to Palin's "baffling" resignation. It's not baffling. Palin explained her reasons, and her reasons sounded entirely plausible to me.

Fats Limbaugh doesn't have those powers:
On this Palin business, you know, one of the reasons I haven’t said anything to anybody is I don’t know what this means – and I think all of this is just speculation. We don’t know what her reasons for doing this are yet.

A SWEET FACTOID

(h/t David Weigle)

Caribou Barbie infamously used the phrase "real America" in a speech at Guilford County, North Carolina. Those "real Americans" opted for Obama/Biden over McCain/Palin, 59% to 41%.

LIZ TROTTA SMACKDOWN OF SARAH PALIN

Andrew Sullivan had the video. I especially liked the line "The woman is inarticulate, undereducated." In the latter, she has a lot in common with Joe the Plumber.

RADIO TIDBITS

Sean Hannity really is plugged in to the movement conservatives. On his radio show today, he admitted that one of Palin's aides called him up about 30 minutes before her rambling press conference to let him know what was happening.



On Glenn Beck's radio show, Joe Pagliarulo (sp?) was the guest host and he thought this move made Palin look like a quitter.



The Tucson Tea Party had a pretty good turnout:





And there were the usual wackos. Note the "death" sign...


And Tammy "The Shrill" Bruce did make it...

Sunday, July 05, 2009

SARAH PALIN, THE HIDDEN LIBERAL SIDE

(h/t James Wolcott)

I didn't read Caribou's Runner's World interview but Wonkette did and found this paean to Liberalism:

Is there anything else the world should know about you as a runner?

The only other thing I'd like to add is I've been very fortunate to be a recipient of all the efforts people put into Title IX all those years ago where girls got equal opportunity to participate in sports and extracurricular activities because sports growing up were my world. I'm so thankful for Title IX allowing equal access to these opportunities, and I'm a huge proponent of girls being able to realize what they're made of by participating in sports, and whatever I can do there I'm going to be doing.

ESSE EST PERCIPI

Berkeley was wrong about metaphysics but correct about politics: Palin is now a confirmed joke.
GAIL COLLINS: When she ran for vice president, she frequently became disjointed and garbled when she departed from her prepared remarks. Now the prepared remarks are incoherent, too.

MAUREEN DOWD: Caribou Barbie is one nutty puppy.

ED ROLLINS: Palin now seems more like a kook than a serious candidate.

SHORTER MARY MATALIN

Palin's move was brilliant (unless it's not).

ANOTHER CASE OF WINGNUT CENSORSHIP

Once again, I've had my posts deleted from a thread on a wingnut site. As I noted below, I wrote that I only had some sympathy for Palin but that was too much for the blog owner. The only evidence that I posted are the replies:

Howard Roark

SJ, you’re not answering my question: just what did anyone (even the swiftboaters) do to Gore and Kerry, specifically, that compares to the attacks on Sarah’s Down Syndrome child or any of the other attacks she, her daughters, and her family have withstood? Answer my question without asking a question if you know what you’re talking about.

I never heard Sarah claim that only Conservatives are real Americans. Where did you hear it, SJ? And if that upset you so much, how upset were you that Gore said that Conservatives were the “extra chromosome” crowd?

Steve, could you elaborate what reference you mean? I think she used “real Americans: in passing when she was referring to people in the crowd, who were from a small town. But I am pretty sure she didn’t go on to say that people who weren’t in small towns were not real Americans. She was trying to affirm small town people who felt disconnected from the election and ignored by McCain. Just to clarify.

Howard Roark

As Karl Rove put it, “she’s fair game.” Now do you understand?

What is it about “answer my question” that you struggle so much with, SJ? Put down the crack pipe and type out some specific answers to my simple question if you’re so sure of yourself.

[aren't squealing libs fun when you challenge them?]

Howard Roark

Just about all of them.

If that’s so, it will be REALLY easy for you to name one, SJ. Can you try that for us, oh brave one?

tranquil.night

Just about all of them.

Can you even name one? Here I will and then you will and if you respond in reasonable time I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn’t just search the reuters archive.

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth charged that John Kerry blatantly lied when he returned from his abbreviated 4 and a half month tour and wrote in his book ‘Tour of Duty’ of witnessing horrible atrocities committed by swift boat patrols, charges over hundreds of veterans who were there claim they never saw.

Howard Roark

She was addressing a campaign rally and spewing a popular meme among movement conservatives.

Your retort is beside the fact of your argument that Sarah said, specifically, conservatives as the only “real Americans.” Can you understand your flaw, here, SJ? Are you really that dense?

Besides your irrelevant argument above, do you have the courage to answer the question of “how upset were you that Gore said that Conservatives were the “extra chromosome” crowd”?

But in an interview with The Oregonian, French freely admitted he had no firsthand knowledge of the events surrounding Kerry’s medals and that his information came secondhand from “friends.”

How does that amount to a lie? Are you really that craven that you deem this flimsy bunch of nonsense as morally equivalent to saying that Sarah will run on the “More Retardation Platform” in 2012?

You’re trying hard, here, SJ, but you really are showing yourself to be nothing more than ‘hysteria in the diaper’. Maybe this kind of immature banter passes for intelligent reasoning on your sites, but the people here on S&L are much more considerate, fair, and cogent to entertain ridiculous claims such as yours.

canary

SteveJ/ I’d also like to add that Palin in part brought this on herself by referring to conservatives as the only “real Americans.” Paybacks can be vicious. [NOTE: I ADDED THE ITALICS - STEVE J.]

So Steve?, by Payback to do you mean instead of an American, we got a muslim terrorist lover, a communist lover, a bitter American hater for the world, much like John Kerry is.
Her statement on conservatives is the truth by the laws and beliefs that America was formed to be run by.

Steve? , you were asked “So what claims from the swiftboat veterens were false again Steve J?”
And you didn’t name one. Anyone that throws fake medal over a fence, and then has to publically admit it was fake, and he still has the real one. Kerry was far outvoted as to what the truth was. Majority rules. And Al Gore using a fake scene from a fiction movie and trying to decieve the world that is was truth, is bizarre.

Sara Palin was a threat, and must still be a threat to the Democratic party, or they would not have had to stoop so low to find fault. Her hairstyle, and glasses and children.
The Huffington Post and Time are perfect examples of the continuation of superficial and superfluous fault with Sara Palin. I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of those that make of an innocent child.
Oh. Let’s not forget Obama making fun of Speical Olympics, and laughing that he could dance better than John McCain, when John McCain, is handicapped and crippled and truly deserved his war medals, unlike John Kerry.