CNN host says Cali fire victims "hate America"

And the question remains, why does CNN continue to stand behind this idiot? Read More......

Human Rights Campaign issues ultimatum to Obama: Fix it or else.

From The Hill:

The nation’s biggest gay rights group is trying to force Sen. Barrack Obama (D-Ill.) to cancel presidential campaign event with a controversial preacher who claims he was homosexual but has been cured.

The Human Rights Campaign has expressed its strong reservations to Obama over his campaign-sponsored tour that features gospel singer Donnie McClurkin.

The influential organization, representing a powerful Democratic constituency, let Obama’s campaign know that it would issue a public demand if Obama did not immediately cancel the event, said a person who had been briefed on the exchange....

By threatening to weigh in strongly, Human Rights Campaign has elevated what began as a controversy in the blogosphere into a full-fledged dilemma for Obama’s campaign.

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Sexist or just a different culture?

From the NYT:

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Why it's so hard to trust

US military says an operation kills 49 militants with no civilian casualties.

Iraqi sources say the operation resulted in 15 dead, all civilians, including three children (plus over 50 civilians wounded).

How to reconcile the two? There's no way to, really, except to look at the circumstances of the raid. The New York Times article says Iraqis claimed that fire came from a helicopter (or helicopters), which seems like a detail that wouldn't likely be invented out of thin air. Assuming that a helicopter was involved -- there's no indication one way or the other from the military in the story -- it's absolutely impossible for me to believe that no civilians were hit. Airpower is an extremely blunt weapon -- even the most precise bombs create a big explosion (duh), and gunfire is far more indiscriminate. Also, it's been widely reported that many Iraqis sleep on the roofs of buildings to get relief from the heat (and lack of electricity), so I have no problem believing that (again, Iraqi-reported) account.

So you have a helicopter spraying fire into a crowded slum, from the air, at dawn, when people are sleeping on the roof. And we're supposed to believe there were no civilian casualties? Seriously?

Now it may be fair to say that the US position ("The U.S. military said it was not aware of any civilian casualties") is not technically inaccurate -- it's not like our forces go door to door after every engagement to figure out who died. Maybe -- and I'm skeptical, but bear with me -- not a single US soldier saw any civilian get hit. But even if that's the case, that we can't tell who got hit and who didn't . . . how the hell do we come up with an "estimate" of 49 dead "militants"?

Airpower as a counterinsurgency tactic is horrendous. Misleading the public about operations is horrendous. Body counts are horrendous. And the fundamental breach of trust between citizenry and government, created and perpetuated by this administration, will have profound effects for years to come. Read More......

Obama needs to explain his hypocrisy on asking for Justice Dept official to be fired

Obama really needs to explain why it's okay for him to ask last week for a Justice Department official to be fired for making a racially insensitive remark, but when a notoriously homophobic gospel singer "declares war" on gays and says that gays need to be cured, suddenly Obama is all Mr. Nice Guy and refuses to "fire" the bigoted singer from hosting a concert for Obama's campaign.

Obama can't have it both ways. When he's insulted as a black man by someone who isn't black, suddenly we fire everyone. But when we're insulted as gays and lesbians, and the offender just happens to be black, firing the offender is no longer on the table. Does Obama only have a problem with prejudice, does he only take action on bigotry, when the black community is the target and when the offender isn't black? Is he ever going to represent the rest of us too? Don't get me wrong, I think people should be held accountable for their racism. But I also happen to think that bigots should be held accountable for their homophobia, anti-Semitism, and every other form of prejudice too, and that they don't get a "get out of jail free card" simply because of their race. But that would be expecting Obama to actually put his words into action. Silly me.

And now we hear, via MSNBC, that Obama's staff think they've weathered the storm, that the crisis has now passed, and it won't damage them much at all. Funny, but I've got enough additional info to write about for the next week at least. There's much more on this McClurkin homophobe, and I plan to talk about it at length.

Hey, so I'm wondering what kind of protests we can plan at Obama campaign stops? They need to be whimsical, bitchy, and embarrassing as hell. All suggestions are welcome. Maybe carry signs saying "I am a man." Read More......

The Advocate's editor is a sexist, misogynistic, two-spirit hating, racist, transphobic, homocentric, rich white man

(click image to see a more readable copy) Read More......

Maine GOP Senator Susan Collins' staff used government emails to communicate with Bush election campaign

That's a no-no. And the reason we know about it is because Collins' staff is so daft that they accidentally wrote to a Bush-blasting parody site rather than the REAL Bush-Cheney 2004 election site.

Susan Collins, she's just not Olympia. Read More......

Reader mail on Obama's embrace of anti-gay bigot McClurkin. It ain't pretty.

As you know, Democratic presidential candidate has chosen an outspoken anti-gay bigot, Donnie McClurkin, to lead a fundraising concert for him in the south. When confronted with rising outrage in the gay community over Obama embracing, and showcasing, a man who has declared "war" on gay Americans and who thinks gays need to be "cured," Obama responded by saying that he abhors anti-gay bigotry, but if wishing away the existence of an entire minority in America can earn him a few bucks and a few votes, the gays can kiss his ass. Here are the reactions of several of you:

If hillary (or any other white candidate) invited a well known bigot to a campaign fundraising event, I can only imagine the backlash and repurcussions they would suffer because of it. I realize he is trying to appeal to some the conservative religious base, but this is unnacceptable. He won't get my vote.
ndtovent |

Obama's done in my book. What kind of Democrat who believes in equaliy for all travels with and hires for his 'entertainment' a homophobic jerk? So I guess his audaciously hopeful for ya as long as you're straight? What a phony.
Clevelandchick |

Barak,
Kiss my money and my vote goodbye!
If I want to be marginalized, treated like a criminal, etc, I'll look to the republicans.
MajorD |

Just tore my Obama sticker off my bumper.
Olivia |

What a piece of shit attitude for him to take. Glad he's off my list, he is no longer relevant AFAIC. Just another bigot in the DC lineup.... Obama COULD have been endorsed by any number of bigots and I wouldn't think twice about it. However, had sHillary trotted Mayberry out on the tour with her, I'd be pissed as hell. Since obama can't seem to find any other gospel singer to go on tour with him, then I see no need to give him my vote.
rikc |

Obama is a con man because on the one hand he strongly disagrees with McClurkin's views but doesn't take any responsible action. On the other hand he states a lot of rhetoric about equal rights to cover his true ideology. All talk, but no action, makes him a liar!
Pastor Man |

Stick a fork in him...
SJD |

Obama is the biggest disappointment of the election. He is being handled by the strategist who as always, are screwing things up. Good bye campaign. It is all over for them.
gonzalez |

When you have someone on stage raising money for you, they are representing you. Obama could have gotten a multitude of people who were squeeky clean to sing for his tour! BUT he did not, he got Donnie, who has openly declared war on gays. How do I know that Obama does not believe this way? Because he says so? Or by his actions that I see? I see a gay basher on stage, and that is what I have in my hand!
dave i. )O( |

Maybe Obama's campaign should be asked if they are going to invite other agents of intolerance. I mean they have a gay basher in their next event what's next David Duke doing the Obama for Israel drive?
DKarma |

Obama just made a big mistake, clearly desperate to catch up to Clinton, he's rejecting gays in order to pander to religious bigots. And you can be darned well sure Obama and his supporters would be screaming a different story if it were Clinton cozying up to a white supremacist...
Mike H. |

I did not think I would be trying to remove the bus tire marks off my clothes this early in the campaign. Silly me.
Angela Channing |

Mr. Obama's actions are speaking volumes over his words. His arrogance in dismissing our point of view over a crusading bigot who thinks we need fixing and is at war with us, tells gays and lesbians where we rank among his priorities. I think he is toast and now, it may be too late to change his position for it to do anything for him.
Butch |

JA, I don't agree with several of your political positions, but I'm with you all the way on this one. Couple it with his pandering to evangelicals in general and...X on Obama. That's two down.
mirth |

This really irks me. Really. I had pretty much settled on Obama come primary time. I was planning on voting for him regardless of how well he was doing at the time....
I had a few reservations about him, but then, I have reservations about all of 'em!
This "ex-gay" crap is unconscionable, though. I mean, Wot. Teh. Hellz?.... This "ex-gay" dude is likening gays to a disease! Nice. And, he wants to effing cure us!! Or, go to war against us. Or something. Obama doth protest too much! I'm not voting for anyone who willingly associates with such a person. Hell, I won't even vote to re-elect him to the senate if he keeps this shit up.
Marq |

So I guess Obama doesnt have a chance in my book. Why doesnt he just hang out with the Cheney family hypocrits and all the Bathroon-Crazed Republican self-hating gays.
Corey Mondello |

I have said it before, and I will say it again. Fuck you, Obama. Yeah, FUCK YOU! Now he's acting as though he doesn't even know about the actions of his staff. If he doesn't know what is going on in his campaign then he shouldn't even RUN for president, let alone be elected as one.
Dom |

Obama wants to have it both ways - court the homophobic black vote and also be pro-gay. Politicians have no ethics by definition.
G. |

I've always had a suspicion and feeling that Obama internally was basically anti-gay and this generally proves that. However, he has one more chance, I'll withhold final verdict until I see his statement on this issue of this homophobe McClurkin. If he keeps this creep on his tour of SC, then it's over for my support of him, ever.
Jim-n-Alpharetta |

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Updates on the U.S. Senate races in North Carolina and Maine

Pam Spaulding, who is filling in for Glenn Greenwald over at Salon.com, has been keeping us up-to-date on the campaign to defeat Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina. The Dems. were having a tough time finding a candidate to run against the hapless Dole. No longer. The major revelation is that potential candidate Jim Neal is an unabashedly out gay man:

Enter investment banker, former Democratic presidential fundraiser and Chapel Hill resident Jim Neal. For those of you who may have missed this story over the weekend, my friends at the progressive blog community BlueNC broke big news, as Neal participated in an online forum with readers and moderator James Protzman ("Anglico").

He came out of the closet. And he did so in a very matter-of-fact manner that should be a lesson to all of the closeted head cases in the GOP, writhing in the pathology of their self-loathing that usually turns into anti-gay positions and policies -- and sometimes hilariously into scandal.

Pam is waiting for the DSCC to catch up with Neal's announcement.

In the Maine race, Markos released a poll showing Susan Collins ahead of Tom Allen by a margin of 56 - 33:

This one won't be easy. But Iraq will loom large, and hopefully will work to peel away Collins' significant Democratic and Independent support. Crosstabs are below the fold. I'll be commissioning periodic polls of this race to track our progress. Allen needs to push Collins below 50 percent within the next 4-6 months for this race to become top-tier. He's got the material to work with.

Very cool that Markos is doing these polls. Jonathan Singer offers an astute analysis of the race over at MYDD. I'd add one thing from a Maine perspective. This race is starting to remind me of the 1982 race between George Mitchell and David Emery. In 1980, Mitchell had been appointed to the Senate seat to replace Ed Muskie. Emery was a very popular four-term members of Congress. In 1981, this race looked like a goner. Emery was releasing polls showing he had a 30 point lead over Mitchell. On October 7, 1982, The New York Times (available in archives) described the situation:

Mr. Emery had a 2-to-1 lead in polls a year ago, his name wellknown after four successful House races; Mr. Mitchell had left the obscurity of a Federal judgeship for a Senate appointment in 1980 when Edmund S. Muskie resigned to become Secretary of State.

Emery made a series of stupid mistakes, just like Susan's recent attack on Tom Allen for missing votes because Allen was at a family funeral. Like Collins, Emery was exposed as a very negative campaigner. Also, Emery was tied to an unpopular President -- and in 1982 in Maine, Reagan was unpopular. And just like Emery couldn't hide his support for Reagan, Susan Collins cannot hide from her support of Bush and his war in Iraq. Mitchell, who was down by 30 points in 1981, won 62% - 38% in November of 1982.

Both North Carolina and Maine offer opportunities for Democrats to pick up GOP seats -- very good opportunities that will take a lot of work. Read More......

Bush wants billions more for Iraq, but doesn't know how billions are being spent

Remember how the GOP used to claim it was the party of fiscal responsibility? Remember how yesterday Bush said he wanted another $46 billion mostly for his war in Iraq? Further evidence that Bush doesn't even know how and where your tax dollars are being spent in his war:

The State Department does not know specifically what it received for a billion-dollar contract with security firm DynCorp International to provide training services for Iraqi police, a U.S. watchdog agency said on Tuesday.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said it was forced to suspend its audit of the DynCorp contract after administration officials told investigators they had no confidence in their own accounting records.

A billion here. A billion there. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Most of us look at the Bush countdown clock and see an opportunity for a new and better America. Dick Cheney uses it to remind himself how little time he has left to start a war with Iran. It's a race against time for Cheney.

454 days. Read More......

The more I get to know Brown, the less I like him

His rejection of providing UK voters with the democratic right to vote for or against the new EU was pretty sad. The ruling class of Europe continues to ignore any concerns that voters have with the ever-expanding EU, probably knowing that voters will show politicians what they think of the dog with fleas. That's bad enough but now Gordon Brown is preparing to ditch one of the few positive programs started by Blair. This leaked report says a lot about the new PM.

Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show that Gordon Brown will be advised today that the target Tony Blair signed up to this year for 20% of all European energy to come from renewable sources by 2020 is expensive and faces "severe practical difficulties".

According to the papers, John Hutton, the secretary of state for business, will tell Mr Brown that Britain should work with Poland and other governments sceptical about climate change to "help persuade" German chancellor Angela Merkel and others to set lower renewable targets, before binding commitments are framed in December.

It admits that allowing member states to fall short of their renewable targets will be "very hard to negotiate ... and will be very controversial". "The commission, some member states and the European parliament will not want the target to be diluted, though others may be allies for a change," says a draft copy of Mr Hutton's Energy Policy Presentation to the Prime Minister, marked "restricted - policy".

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Why do we continue to hear about missing billions from Iraq?

No wonder Bush has made such a mess of the place. He can't even win the war on accounting. Another mercenary group and more missing money. When will they learn that this is taxpayers hard-earned money they are throwing around and wasting? This story also explains the MIA Iraqi army that we used to hear was stepping up, any day now.

The U.S. State Department is unable to account for most of $1.2 billion in funding that it gave to DynCorp International to train Iraqi police, a government report said Tuesday.

"The bottom line is that State can't account for where it went," said Glenn D. Furbish, who was involved in putting together the 20-page report for the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction (SIGIR).

The Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) "did not have the information needed to identify what DynCorp provided under the contract or how funds were spent," the report said.

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