Open thread

Just got a sneak peak at Mitchell Gold's new store in DC (it opens tomorrow). Pretty cool stuff. Read More......

Should Dems boycott FOX?

I mean totally, no interviews, period? That's the issue that's arisen since Barack Obama apparently gave an exclusive interview to FOX News the other day. This, coming on the heels of Obama and other Democratic presidential candidates pulling out of two FOX-sponsored presidential debates (remember, FOX is the network that says that Obama's black Christian church is a cult). Which raises the question of whether Democrats should simply refuse to go on FOX ever again? Now, I don't recall there being a total blackout on FOX, but maybe there should be. On the pro side, FOX is an extension of the Republican party, and we shouldn't be enabling the GOP. On the con side, FOX does have a large audience, which includes some moderate winnable Republicans, and reaching them isn't a bad thing.

So what do you think, really? Should Dems stop going on FOX, period? (I have to admit that I stopped going on FOX a while ago because the network just creeped me out too much.) Read More......

Another lie under oath from one of George Bush's top appointees in the Department of Justice

Just because someone in the Bush administration doesn't mean it's true -- even if that Bush administration official is under oath:

A Justice Department e-mail released today shows that the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales proposed replacement candidates for seven United States attorneys nearly a year before those prosecutors were fired, in contrast to testimony last month in which the aide said that no successors were considered before the firings.

The e-mail written by D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned last month as the top aide to Mr. Gonzales, provides the first evidence that the Justice Department wanted to appoint its own candidates, despite the insistence of Justice Department officials in recent weeks that the eight prosecutors, with one exception, were removed in December 2006 for performance reasons, without regard to who might succeed them.

Now, again, reporters won't say that Sampson lied. But, we will. He lied. He lied under oath.

So, to the media: you're now seeing that Bush officials routinely lie. They lie even when sworn to tell the truth. That means they've been lying to you, too. Just an FYI. Read More......

Where's my apology, Imus?

I'm glad that the Rutgers basketball team has accepted Don Imus' apology for his racist crack about them, but will the mainstream media please stop pretending as if this were Imus' first and only bigoted comment. Imus and his team have been making these kind of horrendously bigoted, racist, sexist, and homophobic jokes for years (going on ten years from what I've been able to find). Where's his apology to the black community for referring to Gwen Ifill as "the cleaning lady," simply because she's black? Where is his apology to Latinos for calling singer Gloria Estefan a ho? Where is his apology to gays and lesbians for saying it's okay to kill "homos"? Where is his apology to Jewish-Americans for joking about overturning Jewish tombstones and calling Post reporter Howie Kurtz a "boner-nosed, beanie-wearing Jew boy"?

It's all well and good that Don Imus has apologized to the women of Rutgers. Now let's hear him apology to the rest of America. You know as well as I that this man is going to get a big fat filthy contract on satellite radio. He needs to come clean about his ten-plus years of bigotry against everyone, and promise never to do it again, before anyone dares hire him again. Read More......

White House lost 5 million of ITS OWN emails

These weren't emails that senior White House employees were writing from personal accounts (which has its own legal problems), these are five million missing emails from the White House's own email server. That's suspicious as hell. Even Karl Rove's private attorney admits that there appears to be "a gap" here. CNN just did a major report on this, top story. Major Kudos to CREW. Read More......

American Family Association, Family Research Council, and Concerned Women for America disseminating Nazi-esque science of known 'hate group'

UPDATE: More from Pam Spaulding on the Paul Cameron hate group here.

How sad that the far-right Republicans are now embracing known hate groups in order to further their homophobic agenda.

"CAMERON'S 'SCIENCE' ECHOES NAZI GERMANY"

Yes, they're now promoting extremists who have been labeled "hate groups" by THE expert on hate, the Southern Poverty Law Center. Amazing. SPLC lists religious right hatemonger Paul Cameron's Family Research institute as one of the lead hate groups in Colorado - SPLC lists Cameron's FRI alongside the Klan and white supremacists. SPLC says that "Cameron's 'science' echoes Nazi Germany." That's how bad it is. Here is SPLC's "hate group" map:



Now, why does the Southern Poverty Law Center label Cameron and his Family Research Institute a "hate group"? Look at what Cameron espouses, per the SPLC:

He told the 1985 Conservative Political Action Committee conference that "extermination of homosexuals" might be needed in the next three to four years. He has advocated tattooing AIDS patients in the face, and banishment to a former leper colony for any patient who resisted. He has called for gay bars to be closed and gays to be registered with the government.

(Note that Cameron made the speech at CPAC, the same conference at which Ann Coulter called John Edwards a "faggot" - nice long history of hate at the top conservative conference of the year.)

Uh huh, this is who the lead religious right organizations are using to buttress their anti-gay cause, to lobby Congress and the White House. This is how these self-proclaimed voices of God show their love for Jesus. By embracing someone who called for the extermination of gays - someone who was kicked out of the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association for being an unethical extremist. And these people are in the senior ranks of the Republican party and the Bush administration.

FORMER FRC AND CWA EMPLOYEE PROMOTES HATE GROUP

But, oddly, Peter LaBarbera, a former employee of both the Family Research Council and the Concerned Women for America, is pushing Cameron's hate research to this day (LaBarbera was also, until recently, the lead "family values" advocate in the state of Illinois). In an online screed blasting the gay organization Human Rights Campaign, LaBarbera cites the research of Paul Cameron.

"THE HILL" CAUGHT PUBLISHING HATE SCIENCE

Even more troubling, far-right activist Armstrong Williams published Cameron's hate research on the respected inside-the-beltway publication "The Hill" - a publication not known for promoting the Nazi-esque science of known hate groups (well, at least not until now). The study Williams' cites is Cameron's most recent study that LaBarbera pushed above.

AFA, FRC, AND CWA ALL ARE CURRENTLY PROMOTING CAMERON AND HIS HATE SCIENCE

Equally sad, and disturbing, three top religious right organizations, the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and Concerned Women for America all promote Cameron's Nazi-esque research on their Web sites (examples: AFA in 2005, FRC in Oct. 2006, and CWA in 2002 examples - there are many more).







We exposed AFA's promotion of this known hate group over a year ago, to no avail. AFA continues to promote the hate group on its Web site. It's one thing for the religious right to be a bunch of anti-gay bigots, but it's quite another to embrace science that echoes of Nazi Germany. It's time for the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and the Concerned Women for America to publicly rebuke Paul Cameron and their former employee Peter LaBarbera.

(More on Cameron here. And note that this is not the first time FRC's Tony Perkins has had a disturbing tie-in to white supremacists.) Read More......

Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 4/13/2007

Another Week. More preposterousness to report.

You've done a heckuva job Rudy!

In one week The Rudester has admitted to favoring publicly funded abortion (in winger world, roughly equal to tea time with Mephistopheles), shown he knows not the difference between Sunni and Shia (where have we seen this movie before?) and has displayed zero understanding of how our health care system works. Didn't you get the memo Rudy, being stupid is "out" in Republican circles (or at least being so stupid the PR guys can't cover it up). It hasn't done good things for your party brand, if you hadn't noticed.

Add in a dash of Bernard Kerik and a hint of Mrs. Rudy #3 hanging out at Cabinet meetings should he become prez (Note to Rudy: Republicans don't like women at private gatherings where the serious stuff is to be discussed, you know, like throw weights), and it's been a helluva week for the 9/11 hero. You know, the guy who brilliantly built his counter-terrorist HQ in New York in the most likely spot to be attacked by terrorists (and of course was--and was destroyed).

Although, showing he does on some level understand the Republican base down South, he took a pass on the Confederate Flag and whether southern states should apologize for slavery. Tell 'em you'll name Imus as your running mate, and you might hit the trifecta!

So, ok, he may not hate woman and gays enough to make the South happy, but will hating African-Americans pick up the slack? We'll see, I guess.

I still gotta wonder, however, how soon it is until we get the Rudy Death Watch, much like we've gotten the McCain Death Watch? Polls now show him losing to Edwards by six points in the general election and we also just got this nugget of fun from Rasmussen:

Giuliani has seen his poll numbers decline on several fronts in recent weeks. While he remains the frontrunner in polls for the GOP nomination, his support fell nine percentage points in a week when Fred Thompson's name was added. Additionally, Giuliani has lost his leads over New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama. His favorables have tumbled from 71% in December to 58% today. Giuliani stumbled in a television interview recently and suggested his wife might be an advisor at Cabinet meetings. He also repeated his support for public funding of abortions, a position not likely to help his cause in a GOP primary.

Quick Rudy, time to remind us on 9/11 you were the mayor on 9/11 when the terrorists attacked on 9/11! So what if you can't place Afghanistan on a map and think that under Sharia Law, men have to wear those veils--you know those Birkenstocks--over their heads.

Did you know they also had to cover their heads on 9/11?

For more on this and other stories, go to cliffschecter.com. Read More......

During CNN Appearance, Al Franken Calls On CNN To Fire Glenn Beck

From ThinkProgress (they have the video):

Appearing last night on CNN’s Larry King Live, Al Franken said that firing Don Imus was the “right decision,” but pointed out that CNN has its own anchor who regularly spews hateful and bigoted remarks.

“CNN has Glenn Beck on,” Franken told King. “Glenn Beck asked my congressman, Keith Ellison, who is the first Muslim to be elected to Congress, you know, I just want to ask you, how do I know that you’re not working with the enemy? … I don’t know why that wasn’t grounds for CNN thinking, well, maybe Glenn Beck shouldn’t be on. I mean, how dare he say that to a congressman who has just been elected?”

King asked Franken, “With a lot of [controversial remarks] going on, are you calling for other dismissals?” Franken said, “No, I’m not. Just Glenn Beck on your network.”

Read More......

Pro-Iraq War Lieberman supports Pro-Iraq War Collins for Senate

From MSNBC's First Read:

Does This Surprise Anyone? National Journal’s CongressDaily reports that Joe Lieberman (I) is backing Sen. Susan Collins’ (R) re-election bid no matter the Democratic nominee -- even though Democrats are targeting her seat. "I would just feel that I was not being honest to myself and everything I've said about what our politics should be like now if, for partisan reasons, I didn't support somebody who I think is a great senator,” he says. Does McCain become Lieberman’s second GOP endorsement in ‘08, if he wins the Republican nomination?

A great Senator? Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman have been complete and total failures at providing government oversight. They were -- and are -- the ranking Republican and Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that has done NOTHING to hold the Bush administration accountable for Iraq or Katrina or any other issue really.

Lieberman and Collins had the opportunity to rein Bush in -- and they didn't. They won't. They support Bush. They support his war in Iraq. No wonder Joe Lieberman thinks Collins is a great Senator. She's just like him. Read More......

The theocrats have been taking over the government and imposing their agenda

Paul Krugman exposes the theocratic infiltration of the Bush administration:

Today, Regent University, founded by the televangelist Pat Robertson to provide “Christian leadership to change the world,” boasts that it has 150 graduates working in the Bush administration.

Unfortunately for the image of the school, where Mr. Robertson is chancellor and president, the most famous of those graduates is Monica Goodling, a product of the university’s law school. She’s the former top aide to Alberto Gonzales who appears central to the scandal of the fired U.S. attorneys and has declared that she will take the Fifth rather than testify to Congress on the matter.

The infiltration of the federal government by large numbers of people seeking to impose a religious agenda — which is very different from simply being people of faith — is one of the most important stories of the last six years. It’s also a story that tends to go underreported, perhaps because journalists are afraid of sounding like conspiracy theorists.

But this conspiracy is no theory. The official platform of the Texas Republican Party pledges to “dispel the myth of the separation of church and state.” And the Texas Republicans now running the country are doing their best to fulfill that pledge.

So much have what we've been saying gets dismissed as just conspiratorial thinking. But, we've been right. It's happening with the theocrats. And, they do want to impose their religious agenda. Anyone who criticizes them is deemed anti-religious, but that's not true. The theocrats want to control our lives. They hate, but are yet oddly obsessed with, gay people. They want to prevent contraception. Yes, birth control. That's not a whacked out conspiracy...it's a frightening reality. Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Friday. What a week. Read More......

Pesticides and chemical fertilizers - it's what's for dinner

I'm sure that all five food inspectors that the FDA has (after being gutted by our good friends in the Republican party) are just wringing their hands, worried about what junk is coming into the US food system. Worried, that is, if they're not one of the GOP-stooges who are running the FDA. As much has the Big Food industry may try to push the envelope in the US, take a guess what happens in countries like China, who are eager for foreign cash to grow the economy?

One source of the problem is China’s fractured farming sector, comprised of small landholdings which make regulation difficult, experts said.

Small farms ship to market with little documentation. Testing of the safety and purity of farm products such as milk is often haphazard, hampered by fuzzy lines of authority among regulators. Only about 6 percent of agricultural products were considered pollution-free in 2005, while safer, better quality food officially stamped as “green” accounts for just 1 percent of the total, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For foreign importers, the answer is to know your suppliers and test thoroughly, food industry experts said.

“You just have to hope that your system is strong enough and your producers are careful enough,” said Todd Meyer, China director for the U.S. Grains Council.

Uh huh and you have to hope against hope that the FDA actually gives a damn about protecting the food coming in to the US. Then you have to hope that they physically have the people to examine the food. It's time to wake up and smell the coffee, if you can smell around the pollutants and chemicals. Read More......

Personal data on 2.9 million Georgians lost

It's probably not very important though, because what can anyone do with names, birth dates and social security numbers?

A computer disk containing the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of 2.9 million Medicaid and children’s health care recipients is missing, Georgia health officials said Tuesday.

The state said the security breach was reported by Affiliated Computer Services, a private vendor with a contract to handle health care claims for the state.

Read More......

Fake medicines causing deaths in developing world

The numbers involved here are staggering, leaving at least a few hundred thousand dead each year despite the fact that they could have lived had they used the real products.

Governments have not tackled the problem and pharmaceutical companies are burying the issue, afraid that any publicity given to their medicines being faked will lead to a fall in the sale of the genuine product, according to a documentary.

The problem has been particularly acute with the treatment of malaria in Africa, with anti-malaria drugs faked on an industrial scale. Professor Nick White, of Oxford University, one of the world's leading experts on malaria, said: "We estimate that there are more than one million deaths each year - which is the equivalent of seven jumbo jets going down every day. And 90 per cent of those deaths are in children."

Since the fake drug industry generates tens of billions of dollars per year, there are enablers everywhere who are ready to help.

Nigeria's campaigning drugs regulator, Dora Akunyili, described counterfeiting as "mass murder". She told the documentary, which will be aired today on The Business Channel, a satellite station: "The fake drug racket and the silence associated with it have led to the resurgence of malaria... The companies kept quiet. The regulators were paid off and everybody was helpless. Drug counterfeiters operated in this country and in most developing countries for almost three decades, unchallenged."

Read More......

Bush crony Wolfowitz gave his lover a high-paying job and guaranteed promotions at World Bank that he runs

Nice to know the Bushies have now turned the World Bank into their own personal cesspool. Paul Wolfowitz, the brainiac behind the Iraq war, has now made the World Bank his own personal love bank.

If some third world despot did this, Wolfowitz would orchestrate an invasion of his country. But when Wolfowitz grossly abuses his office in order to pay off his lover, it's a simple "mistake." The man should be run out of the bank on a rail. What happened to all those conservative concerns about organizations like the World Bank wasting our money? Our TAXPAYERS' money? Wolfowitz spent YOUR MONEY, folks, on his lover. And you can take that one to the bank.

More from the Washington Post:

World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz publicly apologized yesterday for the "mistake" of personally orchestrating a high-paying job and guaranteed promotions for a bank employee with whom he is romantically involved, as new details of his role in the arrangement emerged and staff members angrily demanded his resignation.

Wolfowitz attempted to address about 200 staffers gathered in the bank's central atrium but left after some began hissing, booing, and chanting "Resign. . . . Resign." He had approached the gathering after holding a news conference in which he said, "I made a mistake for which I am sorry."

Bank insiders confirmed reports from the bank's staff association that Wolfowitz directed personnel officials to give Shaha Riza, his longtime companion, an automatic "outstanding" rating and the highest possible pay raises during an indefinite posting at the State Department, as well as a promotion upon her return to the bank.

And to top it off, he lied about it:

Until yesterday, Wolfowitz and his aides had insisted that "all arrangements concerning Shaha Riza were made at the direction of the bank's board of directors." Bank sources said, however, that neither the board nor the ethics committee was aware of the terms of the final agreement.

Oh, and get this - Wolfowitz is worried that his using Bank money, YOUR money, to pay off his lover might detract from larger issues like his "anti-corruption" campaign. Now that's chutzpah:

Wolfowitz bemoaned that the controversy threatens to overshadow the official agenda of the bank's annual spring meeting opening here today -- including ratification of a global anti-corruption strategy and funding to reduce poverty in Africa.

Read More......