The Lesbians are angry

It is kind of funny that the islanders actually call themselves "Lesbians." From Andy Towle:

A group of plaintiffs from the Greek island of Lesbos begins their quest in court today to stop gay women from calling themselves lesbians. It seems as though they'd have to take their court case around the world. And even then:

"The hearing has been initiated by plaintiffs on the Aegean island of Lesbos, who say they are unhappy that gay women have 'usurped' a term that locals claim should have only geographical connotations. 'We are very upset that, worldwide, women who like women have appropriated the name of our island,' said Dimitris Lambrou, a magazine publisher who is one of those bringing the complaint with other islanders. 'Until 1924, according to the Oxford English dictionary, a Lesbian was a native of our isle,' he said. 'Now, because of its new connotations, our womenfolk are unable to call themselves such and that is wrong.'"

Tell that to the roosters. Read More......

US trade deficit increases thanks to weak dollar

Oh, so a weak dollar isn't always the saving grace? Sure, exporters are enjoying the weak dollar and Wall Street isn't complaining about the pro-inflation policies of Bernanke but the dollar continues to take its toll on oil prices, driving up costs for everyone.

Obama's campaign emailed a statement:

Today we learned that the trade deficit jumped to its highest level in 13 months. This is not an accident. This is yet another sign of the failed economic policies of the Bush administration that John McCain seeks to extend – policies that reflect unprecedented fiscal irresponsibility and borrowing from abroad. Rather than get America's fiscal house in order, Senator McCain is proposing $300 billion more in tax breaks and loopholes for big corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and he hasn't explained how he'd pay for them. Just this week, John McCain reaffirmed his commitment to special interest-driven economic policies that will widen the trade deficit, but won't help American automakers secure fair treatment in South Korea, and won't ensure that China stops devaluing its currency and tilting the playing field against American workers. As President, Barack Obama will stand up for fiscal responsibility by restoring fairness to our economy, investing in a renewable energy future, and adopting a trade policy that serves the interests not just of multinational corporations but of America's hardworking families.

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A cool storm that just passed by

Yeah, it was stupid as hell, standing on my balcony trying to get pictures of the lightning, but for the first time ever, it actually worked. And I got several great shots. I've been trying to do this for most of my life, to no avail. Yeah. For the photo buffs among you, I have a simple Canon Powershot SD700. Nice miniature camera. For the first two shots, I simply had the camera pointed in the direction that I had the sense the lightning might hit and waited until I just sensed some light, then snapped the shot. Got really lucky on both. With the latter shots, below, I decided to set my camera on continuous shot, so I just held the button down and shot 800 pics until I got 4 I liked. Funny that the best shots are the ones I just sat and waited and then snapped.

This one is totally cool. If you could see the original, you'd note that the lighting hit probably ten blocks or so from the US Capitol building, and you can see the Capitol just to the right of where the lightning strikes (a light is on in the dome).



This one has the Washington Hilton in the foreground, where Reagan got shot.




UPDATE: Well the storm kept coming, so I shot a few more:







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GOP governor of Nevada and the 100 text messages to the other woman

I have a feeling somebody is deleting all the messages on John McCain's cell phone right about now. Okay, that wasn't fair. Everyone knows that John McCain probably still uses one of those shoebox sized cell phones that didn't even have text. Anyway, more from the LA Times blog:

You know that unidentified estranged wife of a Reno doctor that the governor of Nevada is not having an affair with?

Well, during one month last year he exchanged 850 text messages with her phone from his official state phone, at 15 cents per.

It's all part of an increasingly messy divorce after 22 yearNevada Gov Jim Gibbons and his wife Dawn at a public speech in March 2007 about the time state records show the governor was exchanging hundreds of text messages with another woman's phones between the 63-year-old Gov. Jim Gibbons, a former military and commercial pilot, and his wife, Dawn, 54, who formerly ran two Las Vegas wedding chapels. She's also served in the state legislature. Hey, it's Nevada remember.

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Conservatives for Obama

Obamacons. The latest headache for the GOP this autumn.

"The essential point is this: conservatives intent on voting in November for a candidate who shares their views might as well plan on spending Election Day at home," Bacevich continues. "The Republican Party of Bush, Cheney, and McCain no longer accommodates such a candidate.

"So why consider Obama? For one reason only: because this liberal Democrat has promised to end the U.S. combat role in Iraq. Contained within that promise, if fulfilled, lies some modest prospect of a conservative revival.

"For conservatives, Obama represents a sliver of hope. McCain represents none at all. The choice turns out to be an easy one," Bacevich concludes.

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How Joe Lieberman stabbed a friend in the back

Senator Joe Lieberman has cultivated this image of being a "nice guy." And a lot of Americans fell for it. But he's not a nice guy at all. He's kind of a backstabber, in the worst Washington way. Just ask Barack Obama. You know how Lieberman is endorsing John McCain for president, and he's even gone so far as to publicly criticize Obama? Well did you know that when Joe Lieberman was in the campaign for his life just two years ago, he begged Obama to help him, and Obama did. (Here's video to prove it.)

Lieberman is a backstabber. He betrays his friends. He's what's wrong with Washington. From TPM Election Central:

[A] top official on Joe Lieberman's 2006 Senate reelection campaign tells me that Lieberman's staff practically begged Barack Obama to come in and endorse him at a critical moment -- requests that Obama agreed to, helping Lieberman minimize the damage from challenger Ned Lamont's recent entry into the contest.

This back-story is particularly relevant right now in light of Lieberman's harsh assaults on Obama's national security credentials.

The top Lieberman official, who was directly involved in securing Obama's help, tells me that the campaign was desperate for Obama to come to Connecticut in March of 2006, soon after Lamont entered the race.

"We needed him to strongly validate us as a candidate that liberal Democrats should not desert," the staffer tells me. "We went to the Obama operation with a very urgent plea for him to come out for us."
...

In response to the Lieberman camp's pleas for help, Obama subsequently endorsed him at a dinner of Connecticut Democrats later that month.

"I am absolutely certain Connecticut is going to have the good sense to send Joe Lieberman back to the U.S. Senate so he can continue to serve on our behalf," Obama said at the time.

"It was a favor as huge as we could have gotten -- it was like a drowning man getting thrown a life preserver," the Lieberman official continued. "Just when Ned was trying to establish himself as a credible alternative on the war, Barack Obama came in and said, `Hey, I disagree with him on the war, but you should send him back to the Senate.'"

Joe Lieberman isn't a nice guy. He's a bitter old Washington politician who begged a friend for help, got it, then turned around two years later and stabbed that friend in the back. Joe Lieberman isn't crossing party lines to show how he puts principle above party. He's crossing party lines because today it's the move that pays him the most benefit. That doesn't make him principled, it makes him a whore. Read More......

Dennis Kucinich and impeachment

I'm sorry, but this is all so six minutes ago. As you may know, last night Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich filed 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush. And yes, George Bush and Dick Cheney deserve to be impeached. But the country isn't in the mood for it, so unless you convince them to be in the mood for it, all it is is a big distraction that makes us all look silly. Unfortunately in life, it's not enough to be right. In a democracy, you have to convince 51% of everybody else that you're right too. Kucinich isn't doing that. He's just looking silly, albeit in a wildly popular populist way. He's making us look silly in a year in which we need to very much look not silly. The republicans pretty much made impeachment a non-starter for at least another decade. The public just doesn't want to go there again. So, I'm sorry, but while I agree with Kucinich that Bush and Cheney surely deserve to be impeached, I'm not going to jump on a bandwagon that's either heading nowhere, or worse, off a cliff. The voters think it's a kooky idea. And Kucinich being the guy spearheading the effort only helps to reinforce that impression. Until someone convinces the public that it's not kooky, introducing articles of impeachment will simply piss the voters off, convince them not to vote for us in the fal, and then there definitely won't be any impeaching or anything else if all of our supporters lose their jobs. I said it before during the Alito filibuster, and I'll say it again. High-profile public relations stunts, that have no chance of success, are not well organized, and which the public doesn't support, serve no purpose other than to trick you guys into seeing hope where there is none. I really don't like publicity stunts posing as policy. Read More......

McCain says he'll veto every single beer. Really. He said it.

So sad. And he really screwed up a key line that clearly his staff was hoping the networks would play again and again. And they sure will.

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GOP obstructionism continues on the Hill

Today in the Senate, Democratic leader Harry Reid had the following conversation on the Senate floor with Republican Thad Cochran:

REID: Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during session of the senate.

COCHRAN: Mr. President, on behalf of the republican leader, I object.

REID: Mr. President --

The Presiding Officer: Without objection? Objection is heard.

REID: I understand the objection of my good friend from Mississippi. He wasn't objecting on his own but for someone else. The hearing, Mr. President, that we were going for conduct was a hearing entitled "coercive interrogation techniques: do they work, are they reliable and what did the FBI. Know about them?"

Mr. President, this morning senator Feinstein, as chair of the subcommittee, began chairing a very important hearing on interrogation tactics in the Judiciary Committee. The hearing featured a report by the Department of Justice inspector general on tactics at Guantanamo that amounted to torture. The hearing was interrupted by three floor votes and the chair recessed the hearing until p.m. as you know, we have our weekly caucuses starting at 12:30. But now the minority is objecting to the committee meeting by invoking the two-hour rule. Two hours after we come into session there has to be consent to conduct hearings.

In other words, you have to do them in the first two hours we are in session. It's very rare there is an objection but there is today. I have no alternative but to recess the senate to allow the hearing to continue. The Republicans may not want these abuses to come to light but I think the American people have a right to know. It's part of a partner of obstructionism by my friends on the republican side.

I want the senate to debate a bill to reduce gas prices and now they don't want the judiciary committee to hold a hearing about coercive interrogation tactics. They can try to use senate rules to silence these debates. I'll use the rules at this time to allow the judiciary committee to continue the hearing. As soon as the hearing is over, we're going to be out here Mr. President to talk about gas prices.

And I would hope -- this is framed, Mr. President with the picture of there is a presidential election going on. We have one presidential candidate that wants to do something about these high gas prices, wants to do something about the bill to extend tax credits for renewable energy and we have another candidate who is opposed to this and we know who that candidate is and it is senator from the state of Arizona. And I would think that my friend, the senator from Arizona, who is a Republican nominee, would be concerned about this delaying tactic, not to allow the judiciary committee to hold a hearing on torture. That's what it amounts to. So, Mr. President, I ask that -- unanimous consent that the senate be in recess subject to the call of the chair.

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Saudis host oil cost meeting, point to dollar again

It's the economy, stupid, yet again. And McCain has the audacity to say Obama is bad for business? Seriously? If he looked beyond his 8 or 9 houses, he might see that the world economy is being dragged down by the Republican economics that he helped put in place. The weak dollar, high demand (even with the mild reductions) and speculators (i.e. an under-regulated market) are feeding the market frenzy. Add to that the normal problems in Nigeria coupled with the ongoing mess in Iraq and inflammatory remarks about Iran and guess what you have? That's right, you have overpriced oil.

If McCain wants to talk about the economy, by all means, let's hear how he's so different from the economy that's in place today. Let's give him a head start so Phil Gramm can whisper stories into his ear but it's not our fault if he gets the story wrong as he does when Lieberman tries to give him answers. Read More......

McCain: I don't care how many troops we need to send, we're staying in Iraq

From JedReport:

On NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams asks John Bush McCain about Iraq. "Will your support be there for however many U.S. troops are required?" McCain answers emphatically: "Yes."

No price too high, eh? Remember what Hendrick Hertzberg said in the New Yorker:

McCain wants to stay in Iraq until no more Americans are getting killed, no matter how long it takes and how many Americans get killed achieving that goal—that is, the goal of not getting any more Americans killed. And once that goal is achieved, we'll stay.

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Gazprom sees $250 oil in 2009

Wishful thinking for the Russian oil company or just seeking publicity as they plan to expand their business empire? I'm going with both. Read More......

GOP activist: "No matter who wins in November, we lose."

Daily Kos has a great summary of various Republican lead pundits talking about how the GOP is royally screwed this fall in the congressional and presidential elections. Taken together, the quotes are incredibly damning and telling. Republicans are very worried. Beyond worried, actually. They're despondent. And as Joe noted earlier, that will only help third-party candidates like former-Republican Bob Barr. After all, if you're Republican and you think the GOP has no chance against Obama in the fall, then why not at least make your vote have meaning by making it a protest vote. I.e., you know that if you vote for McCain, you lose. But if you vote for Bob Barr, at least you're making a statement to the party that they need to shape up. Read More......

Losing the right-wing base: Tom DeLay says his wife is ditching McCain for Barr

Mrs. "The Hammer" isn't voting for the GOP candidate:

Mr. DeLay said he will vote for Mr. McCain for president, but said it's unclear whether the presumptive nominee can win, and he said his wife, Christine, says she is planning to vote for Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr.

Looks like Barr is going to be the candidate for the hard core right wingers. That's the GOP base. Those are the people who make the phone calls, knock on doors, give money. Tom DeLay just sent the signal to them that a vote for Barr is okay. Read More......

McCain announces tax cuts for everyone and accountability too!

The Easter Bunny is coming! The Easter Bunny is coming! No word on what spending will be cut since the budget is going to be crushed but who really wants to get into those ugly details now anyway? If there is any proof that McCain-Gramm economic policies have been successful, let's hear more because there's a lot more that suggests failure. Is McCain or Gramm going to admit that they failed miserably with the banking changes that brought on the credit crisis? Hearing more about that would be a better place to start instead of more radical changes.

How many banking scandals and failed economic policies does one receive before people understand that McCain is not to be trusted with anything connected to the US economy? Read More......

Ted Stevens also has an(other) ethics problem

Yesterday, John reported that Elizbeth Dole was using the same photo on her campaign website that she uses on her official site. That's a violation of the Senate's rules. But, apparently, that's all the rage among the aging GOP Senators. You know, it could be that these Senators don't really get the internets with all its tubes.

Here's a picture from the website of the Ted Stevens for Senate campaign:


Here's the Senate site. You'll notice that Stevens is using the same puke green background made famous last week by John McCain, but it's the same picture:

Here's a closer look:
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It's back to the early 80s for John McCain. That's the era he knows best.

I read about McCain's lame attempt to link Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter last night. But, McCain's weak attempt at humor has to be seen to fully grasp how pathetic it is. McCain really thinks he came up with a great line. This short clip just defines McCain for the out-of-touch candidate that he is. First, he repeats Obama's main line of attack about a third Bush term. Then, he invokes Jimmy Carter. That's so early 80s, but that was when John McCain entered politics so it's what he knows best:
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Scotty is going to testify on the Hill about Plame leak

After Scotty's book came out, House Judiciary Chair John Conyers invited the former Bush press secretary to testify before his committee. The amazing thing is that Scotty accepted:

"I have extended an invitation to Mr. McClellan to testify before the Judiciary Committee after discussions between committee staff and his attorneys," Conyers said. "In his book, Mr. McClellan suggests that senior White House officials may have obstructed justice and engaged in a coverup regarding the Valerie Plame leak. This alleged activity could well extend beyond the scope of the offenses for which Scooter Libby has been convicted and deserves further attention."

Michael and Jane Tigar, who are representing McClellan, said in a statement: "We confirm that Mr. McClellan will appear before the House Committee on the Judiciary and will answer questions as outlined in the Chairman's invitation. He will also make a statement about the policy proposals he presents in his book."

The big question now is: Will the Bush administration try to intervene? Over the years, the Bush crew has worked extremely hard, using ever possible maneuver, to prevent the testimony of key Bush aides including Karl Rove, Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers. Now, one of their own -- or one who used to be their own -- is going under oath.

Scotty appears on June 20th. Let's see if any Bush staffer will go under oath to rebut McClellan. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Seems like this is the first Tuesday in a long time that we haven't had a primary. By my count, we have 21 weeks -- 147 days -- to go til the real thing: Election Day, November 4, 2008.

We're already seeing signs that the GOP is going to launch a full-scale smear attack on Obama. That's all they have. It wont' work this time, but think about it: Despite all the years of Republican rule, McCain has got nothing, absolutely nothing, to run on.

147 days. Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride. But, it's going to be a fun ride. Read More......

Shanghai stock market falls almost 8%

For a market that has been chopped in half in recent months this is not very good news. The Chinese government ordered banks to have more cash reserves on hand and the decline on Tuesday is the market's response. China has some tough times ahead both economically and socially. Read More......

Bernanke thinks energy increases might impact inflation

Ya don't say! Wow, he is quite the genius so now it's clear how he made it to where he is today. Forget his talk about giving a damn about inflation. He does, provided it disturbs Wall Street. For everyone else he has consistently made it clear that he could not care less. He is completely owned by his friends on Wall Street who brought him there and allow him to stay. This guy needs to quit carrying Wall Street's water and realize it's a big country out there beyond Manhattan. Either that or fire him, preferably the latter. Read More......