Lesbian mom-to-be Mary Cheney disses religious right leader James Dobson

Dick Cheney's daughter, and former gay rights activist and professional homosexual and head of the vice president's re-election campaign, Mary Cheney publicly declared today to an open panel discussion, and then in a personal interview with the New York Times (circulation 1.1 million), that her lesbian out-of-wedlock pregnancy is a private matter and it's none of anybody's busines. Apparently, irony isn't big in the Cheney family.

Mary then laid into the #1 religious right leader James Dobson, accusing him of distorting scientific research in order to slam gays.

The religous right has a real problem with Mary. She claims she doesn't want to get political, but she already has, and continues to do so. And in the end, she's daddy's little girl. And everyone knows that daddy is the real president of the United States. If the religious right is trying to figure out why their agenda has disappeared from the Republican agenda, they need go no further than Mary. Read the rest of this post...

Top GOP Senator and Bush ally says war will be over in six months if there isn't progress. Senate Dems and Repubs merge two anti-"surge" resolutions.

They're melting.

First, Senators John Warner (R-VA) and Carl Levin(D-MI) agreed to merge their competing resolutions, giving the merged resolution a much better chance of passage.

Second, GOP minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), along with conservative GOP hawk and Bush suck-up Pat Roberts (R-KS), both seemed to endorse a timetable this week. Roberts - who you'll remember as the Senate Intelligence Committee Chair who refused to do anything critical of the Bush administration for six years - today said we won't be able to sustain the war more than six months without some real progress, and McConnell said this week that the "surge" was the Iraqi government's "last chance."

More from AP:

"I don't think this war can be sustained for more than six months if in fact we don't see some progress," said Roberts. His comments came two days after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the new U.S. military push was the Iraqis' "last chance."

It's anarchy on the Republican side of the aisle. Things are moving fast. Read the rest of this post...

Molly Ivins has died

From AP:

Best-selling author and columnist Molly Ivins, the sharp-witted liberal who skewered the political establishment and referred to President Bush as "Shrub," died Wednesday after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 62....

In a column in mid-January, Ivins urged readers to stand up against Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

"We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war," Ivins wrote in the Jan. 11 column. "We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop it, now!'"

Read the rest of this post...

Turner Broadcasting, parent company of hate-speech shock jock Glenn Beck, places bomb-looking devices in bridges across America

Smart move. Though what do you expect from a network that thinks "faggot" is just "a naughty name," that thinks Muslim-Americans may all be working with the terrorists, that the Katrina survivors are scumbags, and that the 9/11 victims families are hateful. It's all about the ratings with that company.

More on Turner's hate speech here, including contact info for Best Buy, which is sponsoring Beck's show. Read the rest of this post...

Check out Maine Congressman Tom Allen's interview with My Two Sense

Chris Achorn, a.k.a Chris from Maine, who has been kicking butt with his anti-Glenn Beck campaign, scored an interview with Maine Democratic Congressman Tom Allen. Chris posted the interview on his blog My Two Sense.

This is, I think, one of Allen's first interviews with a blogger -- and it's cool that he did it with a Maine blogger. Tom told Chris that his top three priorities are 1) Addressing the Health Care Crisis; 2) Ending the Conflict in Iraq; and 3) Global Warming and Alternative Energy. This was one of the other questions:

CHRIS FROM MAINE: How important do you feel it is to investigate the President's actions on the Iraq war and various other measures some find to be either unconstitutional or illegal?

TOM ALLEN: My constituents have repeatedly expressed outrage at the fact that recent Congresses have refused to conduct meaningful investigations into the misleading justifications for war made by Administration officials. Since the start of the war, I have joined colleagues in responding to the public’s outcry by writing numerous appeals to committee chairmen, introducing legislation, and making public appeals for proper investigations. For the past several years, all have fallen on deaf Republican ears. Under Republican control neither of Congress’ two premier oversight committees, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee or the House Government Reform Committee, held even one hearing on the White House’s incorrect statements on threats posed by Iraq in the lead-up to the war. This will change under the 110th Congress. It is vital that we find out what mistakes have been made so that we do not repeat them in the future.

Tom Allen is a great Congressman. More importantly, Allen is gearing up to challenge Republican Senator Susan Collins in 2008. He can beat her.

Collins chaired the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in the last Congress. Despite that position of power, Collins did nothing to challenge Bush. In fact, just this morning, Collins was featured in an NBC news piece on the disastrous and wasteful Baghdad Police Academy project. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction issued a scathing report about the fraud and abuse in that US government funded job. There was Collins acting all outraged.

Yet, she was the chair of the very Senate Committee that could have -- and should have -- asked questions -- but she didn't do anything to upset her President and defend her country.

She's useless. And despite what she's now saying about Iraq - which is frankly flip-flopping all over the place - Collins is already supporting the leading advocate of escalating the war, John McCain, for President. Susan always wants it both ways. She's no Olympia.

This is going to be a great race. And, it's good to see that Tom engaging the Maine blogosphere. Read the rest of this post...

New report shows our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan STILL don't have the equipment they need

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) is hopping mad about the latest Pentagon scandal. You won't be surprised to learn that yet again the Bush administration and the Republican congress short-changed our troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here's an excerpt from the executive summary of a report done by the Department of Defense's Inspector General, which was sent to Rep. Slaugther's office yesterday confirming equipment shortages faced by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan:

"…. Based on responses from approximately 1,100 Service members, they experienced shortages of force-protection equipment, such as up-armored vehicles, electronic countermeasure devices, crew-served weapons, and communications equipment. As a result, Service members were not always equipped to effectively complete their missions….

The Request for Forces process did not always ensure that Service members who performed missions that they do not traditionally perform – such as training, provincial reconstruction, detainee operations, and explosive ordinance disposal – received the equipment necessary to perform their wartime mission. As a result, Service members performed missions without the proper equipment, used informal procedures to obtain equipment and sustainment support, and canceled or postponed missions while waiting to receive equipment….

The U.S. Central Command's and the Army's internal controls were not adequate…."

Here is the link to that report. Read the rest of this post...

Gonzales to release domestic spying program details to congress

Yes, Virginia, there is a democracy. But before we get too excited, let's wait and see what they actually release. Read the rest of this post...

Finally, a clean black guy

Joe Biden needs to learn some humility if he ever wants to be president. He talks too much, doesn't have self-control, and either doesn't listen to his friends and advisers who tell him to learn to shut up once in a while, or he's such a jerk they don't even dare tell him. Either way, diarrhea of the mouth, and what it suggests about the brain, is the kind of thing that is dangerous in a president, let alone a presidential candidate.

Here is the latest from the man who bragged he came from a slave state. Biden on Obama:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

Yes, who isn't tired of of all those unclean, stupid, ebonics-speaking African-Americans in politics?

Okay, what Biden was trying to say, I think, was that Obama is quite possibly the first serious black presidential candidate who doesn't scare white people (or at least a good segment of white people). And I think that's true. Jesse Jackson? Scary (yeah, a lot of you like him, a lot of us don't). Alan Keyes? Insane. Al Sharpton? I find him funny, but he's still fighting the Tawana Brawley image. What other serious black candidates have we had? So, yes, in that context, Obama is the first candidate that doesn't routinely scare white people - and that's part of the reason Republicans are trying to smear him as a scary madrassa-attending radical Muslim.

But that's not what Biden said. He said we haven't had any black candidates who have been articulate, bright and clean. Jackson, Keyes, and Sharpton are all articulate, bright and clean. So what exactly was Biden's point?

If this were Biden's first racist "bimbo eruption," we could write it off as a simple mistake. But it's not. Read the rest of this post...

Senate agrees to minimum wage increase, Republicans force even more tax cuts for business

Typical. The republican answer to everything: cut taxes for business. Particularly telling of the Republican mentality, the following quote:

"The Senate has recognized that our economy is interdependent," said Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo. "One simply cannot claim credit to be helping workers at the same time that they're hurting the businesses that employ them."

Funny that for the past six years, when Mr. Enzi and his republican colleagues were in charge, I seem to recall massive tax cuts for businesses, repeatedly, and not a lot of help for their workers. But now, suddenly, we need to tie any help for workers to even MORE tax cuts for business. It's the only idea Republicans have left - cut taxes for business. Read the rest of this post...

Update on Judy Miller testimony in Scooter Libby trial

From E&P;. Read the rest of this post...

AP corrects misleading budget story

We wrote yesterday about an AP story on the budget that had a misleading headline and first paragraph. The AP has fixed it. Whether they heard and agreed with our concerns, or simply caught this one themselves, the article is now accurate - so thank you.

In the future, if someone from AP wants to give us a contact for passing along these kind of concerns, we can avoid having to write our criticisms online in order to get your attention. That doesn't mean we won't ever criticize AP in the future, but not every criticism needs to be published if it can be fixed quietly. Read the rest of this post...

Conservative Chicago Trib editorial blasts FOX over Obama smear, then blames bloggers for FOX's lies

In a very weird editorial the other day, the Chicago Tribune, whose editorial board is decidedly conservative, blasted FOX News for helping smear Obama with the false accusation that he was a Muslim (he's really a Christian) who had attended radical Muslim schools as a child (he didn't). That's the good part of the editorial. From the Trib:

[W]hat [the Washington Times' magazine] Insight did on its Web site, and what Fox News did in repeating the report, was not ideological at all. It was unethical, unprofessional and shabby, a trifecta, if you will, in the world of journalism.

Oh really? The fact that the Washington Times and FOX News have no ethics proves that they didn't publish the smear with the intent of harming a Democrat? Because a news outlet having an ideological agenda would be unethical, I guess. (Not to mention, suggesting that the Washington Times isn't ideological?)

Then the kicker from the Trib:

It also is a sign of the growing indifference Internet "journalism" presents on the question of truth. Rumor is good enough. Bibles of blogging are created based on nothing more than rumor.

Right. The fact that two major multi-million dollar icons of the conservative mainstream media - the print publication Washington Times and the TV news channel FOX News - totally defamed an honest hard-working American is somehow proof that online, independent bloggers suck.

Now who has a problem with the truth? Read the rest of this post...

White House and GOP allies want filibuster of anti-escalation resolution

Bush and his Senate Republican allies, led by McCain and Lieberman, don't want a vote on the anti-escalation resolutions -- the non-binding anti-escalation resolutions. They're planning to filibuster the resolution according to The New York Times

In advance of a possible Senate vote on the resolutions, Republican senators now appear widely divided over how to proceed. In trying to head off the resolution supported by Senators Warner and Collins, allies of the White House appear to be trying to muster at least the 41 votes they would need to prevent a vote on the measure under Senate rules. Mr. McCain is sponsoring the competing resolution that would establish benchmarks for the Iraqi government. He said the proposal also could be fashioned to give Congress more oversight.

Republicans were viewing Mr. McCain’s plan as a way to deter Republicans from joining in the resolutions more critical of Mr. Bush, and many Republicans said that would be preferable to one criticizing the troop buildup outright. Senators also said they were beginning to realize that the vote, while nonbinding, would be an important statement on Congressional sentiment regarding the war.

In plain english, "prevent[ing] a vote on the measure" is a filibuster. Bush and his pro-war Senate pals are escalating the importance of the resolution.

If the GOP wants to a filibuster, let them have it. Make it a real filibuster. Make them tell the American people every hour of every day how they support Bush's war. The American people are way ahead of the politicians when it comes to Iraq. The American people are over it. But, the GOP is stuck with their President and his war. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Lots swirling around out there. None of it is positive for Bush and his administration. They've been on a path of destruction -- whether it's Iraq or global warming or almost any other issue. It will take years for us to recover from this disastrous Presidency. Years. At least Congress is slowly starting to rein him in.

So, what's the latest? Read the rest of this post...

New audit shows even more waste and fraud in Iraq reconstruction

And Bush wants even more taxpayer money to fund his mess? How much more taxpayer money should we throw at this black hole of spending when we still have the leftovers of Katrina to address? The war-monger crowd that ran the US into this war can simply take up a collection to fund the adventure that they wanted and leave taxpayers out of it.

According to the report, the State Department paid $43.8 million to contractor DynCorp International for the residential camp for police training personnel outside of Baghdad'?s Adnan Palace grounds that has stood empty for months. About $4.2 million of the money was improperly spent on 20 VIP trailers and an Olympic-size pool, all ordered by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior but never authorized by the U.S.

U.S. officials spent another $36.4 million for weapons such as armored vehicles, body armor and communications equipment that can't be accounted for. DynCorp also may have prematurely billed $18 million in other potentially unjustified costs, the report said.

The Waxman hearings will no doubt be interesting and informative. Read the rest of this post...

California to lead the way on the environment, again

This reminds me of when I came out of the Al Gore movie with friends and just as we were passing the popcorn stand on our way out (i.e. steps away from exiting the theater) one friend -ever the optimist- stops and says "I thought about it and it's hopeless...there's nothing we can do to combat global warming." Actually, Gore did a great job of outlining what individuals can do and even has a page on the movie web site.

To that end, California wants to bring change by moving its population over to more energy efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs. We started to migrate our lightbulbs over to the 10 year type and honestly can't tell the difference. My only complaint is that I have been unable to find the 10 year lightbulbs for the non-standard sizes. Sure the 10 year lightbulbs are more efficient, but over time they are much cheaper. Read the rest of this post...

Video: Obama floor statement on withdrawing troops from Iraq

(Hat tip, Politics TV) Read the rest of this post...