How ICE killed an immigrant in federal custody by letting him die of "undiagnosed and untreated" cancer

This is not what a civilized nation does to people in its custody. This is not what a civilized nation does to the father of two of its young citizens. This is not what a civilized nation does to the husband of one of its citizens. This is not what a civilized nation does to other humans. But, this is what happened in George Bush's America. This is what happened in George Bush's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A 34-year old immigrant, hoping to get a green card, instead ended up in prison. He had cancer and no one cared. He's dead now:

He was 17 when he came to New York from Hong Kong in 1992 with his parents and younger sister, eyeing the skyline like any newcomer. Fifteen years later, Hiu Lui Ng was a New Yorker: a computer engineer with a job in the Empire State Building, a house in Queens, a wife who is a United States citizen and two American-born sons.

But when Mr. Ng, who had overstayed a visa years earlier, went to immigration headquarters in Manhattan last summer for his final interview for a green card, he was swept into immigration detention and shuttled through jails and detention centers in three New England states.

In April, Mr. Ng began complaining of excruciating back pain. By mid-July, he could no longer walk or stand. And last Wednesday, two days after his 34th birthday, he died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Rhode Island hospital, his spine fractured and his body riddled with cancer that had gone undiagnosed and untreated for months.

On Tuesday, with an autopsy by the Rhode Island medical examiner under way, his lawyers demanded a criminal investigation in a letter to federal and state prosecutors in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, and the Department of Homeland Security, which runs the detention system.

This should make all the immigrant bashers really proud. CNN's Lou Dobbs should be giddy because this guy really suffered. He should do a show on this case and explain to us how America is a better place because there is one less immigrant to worry about.

This is a sick story and says so much about the country we've become. I don't suppose George Bush brought this story up when he was discussing human rights with Chinese leaders. Kinda takes away any moral superiority.

Heckuva job Julie Myers. Yeah, this Julie Myers. She runs the ICE for George Bush. Read More......

GOP congresswoman says there's no need to address environmental issues because Jesus already saved us 2,000 years ago

I'm a Christian. This is whacked. What's next? No reason to eat my vegetables, mom, because Jesus already saved me? Sorry I missed the stop-sign officer.... Feel free to come up with your own. Read More......

A bit jealous are we?

Right wingers flip out over pretty cool new pro-Obama t-shirt/graphic. They compare Obama to Hitler. Sounds like someone has been watching too many of John MehCain's sleazy ads.

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FOX News cut out of presidential debates

Nah nah. Eric Boehlert, writing for Media Matters, says in large part FOX's woes are due to a blogger-initiated boycott of FOX started last year. Basically, the blogs told the Democratic party that the part had better not choose FOX to host a presidential debate, and in the end, the candidates walked. FOX has always been a Republican front, but the difference, as Eric notes, is that others in the media are finally starting to call FOX out for its bias and unprofessionalism. And getting cut out of the debates - again - will add to FOX's increasing isolation. Let me reiterate: Nah nah. Read More......

Obama picks up GOP support

John McCain may have Joe Lieberman and Icky Frye, but, today, Obama picked up support from several key Republicans including a former Bush official, a former U.S. Senator and former member of Congress:

The three Republicans -- former Iowa Rep. Jim Leach (who formally endorsed Obama today), former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, and former White House intelligence advisor Rita E. Hauser -- announced the formation of "Republicans for Obama," which will launch a Web site in the coming days that will be a clearinghouse of information for Republicans who want to learn more about the Illinois Democrat. The site will highlight the differences between Obama and McCain on the issues and let them know where they can go to see the candidate and how they can help in his election effort.

Chafee and Leach were two of the only GOP moderates around. There is no room for people like them in the Bush/McCain Republican party.

Obama also got the endorsement from a Republican Mayor in Alaska -- and a new poll showing him with a lead in the 49th state.

After trashing Hawaii for the past couple days, can't wait to hear what Cokie Roberts will say about Alaska. Read More......

Meh-cain

Every time I look at this photo I discover something new.

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Embedded with the Iraqi Army

And it ain't pretty. This is an important read to fill in the gaps when you hear McCain and Bush brag about how many Iraqi security forces we've trained. You'll recall a while back we posted an article from an American service members, in charge of training Iraq troops, who said he wouldn't trust half the Iraq security forces to "feed his dog." In any case, Iraq has become a welfare state - though in this case, it's the state that's on welfare. No need to buy the cow (or truly train the forces) when you get the milk for free. So long as Americans are willing to risk their lives to defend Iraqis, why should Iraqis bother defending themselves? Read More......

125 out of 130 times McCain votes with pro-lifers

McCain is anti-abortion. Read the article, then send it to your friends who think that this guy is a moderate. And be sure to send a copy to Senator Feingold, who took it upon himself to tell a newspaper recently that McCain really was a maverick and would never ever do anything hard-line conservative were he elected (I'm not going to link to the piece). Thanks, Senator. Nothing like building up the Republican presidential candidate less than 3 months before the election, and helping him rebuild his reputation on his number one issue just when we're starting to make a dent in it. Really idiotic and downright stupid of Feingold to do this now. Looks to me like Feingold has a beef with Obama and wanted to take a swipe at him, or else Feingold is just an idiot.

Kind of makes you wonder if Feingold actually cares about any of those progressive issues he always talks about, but doesn't actually do much about. Oh, and thanks again for being the guy who put Attorney General Ashcroft in office, Senator Feingold - we'll be paying for that little mistake for years to come. But hey, you showed everyone how independent you were by supporting Ashcroft, and isn't that all that matters? Just like your support for John McCain now, just when he needs you most. For most sane people, being "independent" means crossing party lines to buttress, not undermine, the values you claim to believe in, Senator.

I've always liked Feingold, but seriously, what has he accomplished in the past several years on anything that we actually care about? Like most Democrats, he grandstands real well, but actual accomplishments? Sorry, but after the Ashcroft debacle, Feingold is on a short leash. And it just got shorter. Read More......

Exxon John LIkes Big Oil

There's two million reasons Exxon John likes Big Oil: they've given him two million bucks to protect their spoils...
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GOP Senate aide calls McCain Convention "a funeral"

Wow. Had any of us said this we'd be accused of mocking McCain's 72 years (he'll be 72 on the 29th):

While excitement is building for a Democratic Party convention capped by Barack Obama’s historic acceptance speech before a sold-out, 75,000-seat football stadium, the GOP convention the following week is shaping up to be a considerably more staid affair, marked by the conspicuous absence of many of the usual convention attendees....

Of the 12 Republicans running in competitive Senate races — five of whom are incumbents — only three have said they will be attending the convention. Six are definite no-shows, and three are on the fence.

“Nobody likes a funeral,” said a Senate Republican press secretary who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing “the overall climate of general malaise about the party” as the reason for hesitance on the part of Republicans.

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John McCain: "The One" for Lobbyists

As, they say in the law, the thing speaks for itself.



Nothing will change with a McCain presidency. The lobbyists who loved Bush and Cheney adore McCain -- and run his campaign.

Jed is doing the best video of the campaign, by far. The Obama campaign's media consultants, like GMMB, should study Jed's work. They could learn a lot. Read More......

Democratic voter registration continues to surge in Florida

The trend estimate for Florida at Pollster.com shows a very tight race with McCain leading 46% to 44.9%. That's why the news on voter registration coming out of Florida is especially important. Dems are trouncing Republicans in new voters:

If the state's new voter-registration numbers were a public poll, here's what they'd say about the political climate in Florida:

• Democrats are surging and boasting of an ''enthusiasm gap.'' Since the Jan. 29 primary, the party increased its ranks by 252,600 voters, ticking up 6 percent. Overall voter registration across all parties grew 4 percent to 10.6 million.

• The Republican Party is not doing as well. Its membership increased by just 2.5 percent -- about 98,000. The nearly 4.4 million Democrats outnumber Republicans by 465,000.

• Voters are less inclined to register with no-party affiliation, once the fastest-growing segment of the electorate. NPA registration increased 2.5 percent since January.

• Hispanics, who make up a crucial voting group, are flocking more to the Democratic Party, which increased its Hispanic rolls by 18 percent. African-American voters increased 8 percent statewide. The gains among black voters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties: 14 and 12 percent, respectively.

• Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, as well as the tough economy, seems to be the difference maker.

''I don't know what else to attribute it to,'' said Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, noting the high numbers of minorities in Florida, when asked if the voter rolls showed an Obama bounce.

There are a couple of challenges. Being Florida, the first is, of course, to make sure the voters can actually vote. Then, the second challenge is getting the votes counted.

This news also bodes well for all the competitive House races in Florida. There are eight by our count, including the three challengers in South Florida: Annette Taddeo, Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez.

The Miami Herald also ponders the impact of Crist since he is being vetted for V.P. When is his wedding? Read More......

ABC's Jake Tapper implies that McCain's newest attack ad is racist

ABC's Jake Tapper defended John McCain a few weeks ago against possible charges of having lanched racist attacks against Obama. It seems that now even Tapper has been convinced.

Today's Campaign Contest: Count the Young White Women in McCain's Anti-Obama Video

August 12, 2008 9:30 AM

How many young white women professing adoration for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, can you count in this anti-Obama web video that the campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, was sending out yesterday?

One...two...three...four...sure are a lot of young white women in this thing....

Why do you think they put so many young white women professing their love for Obama in what is clearly an anti-Obama video? What would possibly be negative about young white women liking Sen. Obama?

When asked, the McCain campaign says they took the video from local news packages, but of course that doesn't explain anything.

It's interesting that the corporate media generally keeps letting McCain get away with this sleaze. Had Obama run ads calling McCain a senile old adulterer married to a drug addict we'd never hear the end of it from McCain and the corporate media. But McCain continues this sleazy bizarre attack on Obama and where is the media? Why aren't they all asking McCain every single day why he lied about never going negative? Why he's given up on being a maverick? Why he no longer talks to the media? Why his campaign days have grown so short? Why he no longer seems to even be in charge of his own campaign?

This is how Swift Boats are started. And it's already begun. It's time for the media, and Obama, to blow McCain out of the water. As for the Obama campaign, don't confirm or deny that McCain is going racist, let him defend himself. When asked about it, just say "we're not going to comment on John McCain's childish antics, we've got a war to fight and an economy to save." Let McCain defend himself when independents start walking because they realize that while John McCain's base embraces intolerance, independents won't like it one bit. Read More......

Russian President stops war against Georgia for now. Where has our "Russian expert" Condi Rice been?

Still not sure why Georgia started this conflict last week, but, Russia is now stopping the operation. Medvedev is right about one thing -- Georgia was punished:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to military operations in Georgia on Tuesday, saying Moscow had achieved its objectives by punishing Tbilisi.

Just before meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy for peace talks at the Kremlin, Medvedev issued instructions to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to "stop the operation to force Georgian authorities to peace".

"The aim of the operation has been achieved," Medvedev said in televised remarks. "...The aggressor has been punished and has suffered very considerable losses."

Close U.S. ally Georgia entered conflict with Russia last week after launching an offensive to retake the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia, which broke away from Georgian rule in 1992. Moscow responded with a huge counter-offensive.

Think Progress reports that uur Secretary of State was apparently on vacation during this conflict, although she did make a lot of phone calls. But, keep in mind, Russia is Condi Rice's area of expertise. Read her bio. It's chock full of her Russian/Soviet/East European credentials. Yeah. Clearly, she's been a disaster at those areas of conflict where she wasn't an expert. Now, we see she's pretty inept at those areas where she is an avowed expert, too. Read More......

This is only one of John McCain's 8 or 9 (or 10) houses

Hey, nothing wrong with being filthy rich. Just stop playing the regular guy, going after your opponent's supposedly elite life, when you and your wife combined are worth $100 million and you can't even remember how many homes you own. Here's a spread John McCain posed for in Architectural Digest with one of his 8, 9, or 10 homes. I particularly like the shot below of the pool, barbeque, and guesthouse area. Most of us have BBQs, not an entire BBQ "area." And we're lucky if our houses have guest rooms, rather than entire additional guest houses. No wonder the media loves going to McCain's barbeques.



And hey, who doesn't have a bedroom with an outdoor spa and outdoor fireplace on a huge private patio?

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Twelve weeks -- 84 days -- til Election day.

Seems all those Clinton followers who are still bitter and angry are aiming their ire at the wrong subject. They're all furious with Obama. But, the fault lies with their own campaign and candidate. Joshua Green's piece in The Atlantic corroborates a lot of what was written earlier -- but with evidence from inside.

And, how about that Michael Phelps?

What's in the news? Read More......