What Al Gore's been up to

If you're watching Bill Maher, Graydon Carter, Editor of Vanity Fair, brought up a speech Al Gore has been giving around the country for the last few years. It's about global warming. I had the privilege, and I say that with all sincerity, of seeing it live. He recently gave a short version of the presentation at a conference and you can see it here. Scroll down below the player and click on his image on the right.

It's tagged Current TV, but he doesn't spend much time talking about it. He talks a little bit about the forces of change in the media landscape, defends a free Internet, consumer generated media (blogs and Current) and then (about 1/3 way through) he gets into global warming.

It's a fascinating presentation which is poorly captured here. This video doesn't show that Gore's presentation was much more like a Steve Jobs keynote than a politician's speech. If you want to see what I think that a Presidential stump speech is going to look like in the future, watch it.

An interesting little analysis of how much buzz certain people are getting on the net. Check this out - it's a chart of Gore vs. Hillary vs. John Kerry. Read More......

Friday Night Open Thread

It's been a while since I've recommended a drink to the President. Since Bush doesn't read the paper and none of his people ever tell him the truth, they're probably celebrating a successful foreign trip tonight. I think this is the perfect drink for Dear Leader:

Champagne & Mango

Scale ingredients to servings
1/2 part Champagne
1/2 part mango juice
1 mango chunk
ice cubes

Mix champagne and mango juice together, add cubed mango and ice.

Serve in:
Champagne Flute

Consider this an open thread. Read More......

Bush says the US should welcome competition

So how does Halliburton and no-bid contracts to cronies fit in with that statement? If the GOP wasn't so obsessed with helping corporate America consolidate power, Soviet-style, I might take this more seriously but the guy is so removed from reality. How about starting with a little competition at home for a change? Read More......

Bush deal will allow India to build hundreds of nukes

Because that's what the world needs right now. A couple hundred extra nukes in the developing world.

On CNN tonight, Lou Dobbs went ballistic on this nuclear deal with India. (After he went ballistics on Bush's port security deal...again.)

Rob in Baltimore's Note: I've totally fallen in love with Lou Dobbs - every night I can watch his show is a total treat. He just keeps beating the drum on what he believes, and unlike Bill O'Reilly actually loves America. Read More......

Experts from right and left say Brownie didn't do a bad job after all - the real problem was Chertoff and Bush

They're melting, they're melting...

You know things are bad when Brownie starts looking good. Read More......

Open Thread

Yes, we need to talk. So talk. Read More......

Bush: McCain torture ban doesn't apply to Gitmo

I mean, it's only a law passed by Congress and we know how much the Bush administrations cares about those silly things.

The really question is whether Mr. McCain, who wants to be president, actually does something about this or whether he's willing to let his little anti-torture law slip away into irrelevance. Read More......

GOP wants to remove food safety labels

Because they give too much helpful information to consumers? It's clear that the GOP is in debt to the mega food producers but wiping out consumer protection notices is flaunting it. Tough shit if a candy maker doesn't like to tell consumers that its product has lead content in it. Who's side is congress on here? The GOP loves to talk about self regulation and the laws that are already there but when self regulation means no regulation and the laws and enforcement capabilities have been picked to the bone, none of that really means anything anymore.

With food safety issues like mad cow, salmonella and others out there and consumers receiving so little information (due to self regulation) this proposed law is about as anti-consumer as they come. Why does the GOP hate American consumers? Read More......

The Antarctic ice sheet is melting, fast

So what are we going to do about it? Where are the environmental groups with the brilliant online/offline public relations campaign to finally scare the hell out of the public and get them to rise up now that Bush is at 34% in the polls?

I'm just asking. Read More......

Pat Robertson snubbed by religious broadcasters

Apparently kooky Pat is even too much for his own kooky bedfellows.

If evidence is needed that the Rev. Pat Robertson's shoot-from-the-hip approach to world affairs has embarrassed some of his fellow evangelicals, it comes from thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gife recently concluded convention of the National Religious Broadcasters.

Robertson, 75, a longtime member of the NRB's board of directors, failed to win reelection despite good odds: He was one of about 36 candidates running for 33 seats, NRB President Frank Wright said.

Read More......

59% say Bush can no longer manage the government effectively

Every day is Christmas.

Bush's handling of Iraq drew the support of just 35%, while 64 percent said they disapprove.

Of the 1,020 adults surveyed, 59% said President Bush can no longer manage the government effectively....

While newspaper editorials remain virtually silent on the subject, the American public seems to have made up its mind. A new Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll out tonight shows that 2 out of 3 adult Americans now want U.S. troops to start to come home from Iraq. And 55% call the decision to attack Iraq in 2003 a "mistake."

Remember what I wrote the other day. I think Bush's presidency is in serious jeopardy. He no longer has the confidence of the American people, but in the sense that they don't think he's capable of running the government, and that puts our lives at risk. I don't think he'll be impeached, only because people might be wary of going down that path again. But that only leaves the option of Bush resigning, a la Nixon.

Yes, it's far fetched at the moment. But at the moment, Bush is in serious trouble and things are only getting worse. We have 3 more years until the next election - as of today, I don't see how Bush survives. Read More......

Couple investigated by Homeland Security because they paid they credit card bill

I'm not kidding. They owed $6000 on their credit card and figured it was time to pay it off. So they did. And that's when Homeland Security was alerted...

Living in a police state? Priceless. Read More......

Bush Speech Open Thread

Chimpy is over in India giving a "major speech". The media is like Charlie Brown and Bush is Lucy with the football. Really - it's a major speech! Really! This time I'm not lying...

Comment on the "major speech" here.

UPDATE 1: Bush just went through the promise of equality that both nations share. Each time he details out a position of equality that America offers, I personally like to add in "except for gays and lesbians" cause Bush most certainly doesn't believe in the promise of America for ALL Americans.

UPDATE 2: The speech is over, and, as expected, Bush said absolutely nothing. It was not a newsworthy speech. Every time that the media breaks into regular programming for a "major speech" I lose what little respect I have for them... Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Another banner week for Bush and the GOP. What's the latest? Read More......

Brownie thinks Chertoff should be sacked

Ohhhh, this infighting is really getting interesting these days. "Heckuva job Brownie" is lashing out at his former boss Chertoff. All of that GOP discipline seems to be collapsing faster than Enron.

"It appears to me that, you know, when Chertoff does things like tells me that I've got to go to Baton Rouge and plop my butt down on a seat in Baton Rouge and run a disaster from there, I think that shows naivete about how disasters are run," Brown told CNN. "And you've either have to get with it, or move on."

Asked whether Chertoff should be dismissed, Brown said, "Well, I think so." He said FEMA had been "marginalized" by Chertoff and his predecessor, Tom Ridge, and that he had expected the agency's performance to suffer.

Read More......

Katherine Harris: I am not a crook

There's plenty of slime to go around in the GOP these days and Harris is caught up in new charges of funny money slipping into her campaign coffers. This new revelation is going to make her uphill battle to win the Florida Senate seat that much more difficult. Why does the GOP hate democracy?

The donations were described in a plea agreement last Friday, when Mitchell Wade, the former president of MZM Inc., pleaded guilty to bribing U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham in exchange for assistance in getting $150 million in Defense Department contracts for his company.

Read More......