Honestly, besides being tortured, what did McCain do to excel in the military?

It's not "nice" to ask the question, but it's actually a pretty good question. Yes, we all know that John McCain was captured and tortured in Vietnam (McCain won't let you forget). A lot of people don't know, however, that McCain made a propaganda tape for the enemy while he was in captivity. Putting that bit of disloyalty aside, what exactly is McCain's military experience that prepares him for being commander in chief? It's not like McCain rose to the level of general or something. He's a vet. We get it. But simply being a vet, as laudable as it is, doesn't really tell you much about someone's qualifications for being commander in chief. If McCain is going to play the "I was tortured" card every five minutes as a justification for electing him president, then he shouldn't throw a hissy fit any time any one asks to know more about his military experience. Getting shot down, tortured, and then doing propaganda for the enemy is not command experience. Again, it's not nice to say say, but we're not running for class president here. We deserve real answers, not emotional outbursts designed to quell the questions. Read the rest of this post...

McCains haven't paid the taxes on their home in 4 years

Well, that's only one of their eight or nine homes. (Mrs. McCain isn't quite sure how many homes they have, Newsweek says they have "at least seven" - at least? No one knows for sure.). Gosh, I hope this isn't the home that John McCain built his own private lake on, so he could go fishing - be a shame to lose that one. More from Huff Post:

The McCains have failed to pay taxes on their beach-front condo in La Jolla, California, for the last four years and are currently in default, The Huffington Post has learned.

More from Newsweek, which broke the story. Apparently the McCains paid their taxes once Newsweek confronted them. Brings new meaning to McCain's commitment to a tax holiday. Read the rest of this post...

Verizon Wireless charges you to call your own voicemail

I know it's been a while since I've posted here, and there is a very good reason for that which I will explain soon. It has to do with the fact that I have an awesome new job that's taking up most of my time.

However, knowing the history of AMERICAblog and Verizon, I thought I might share this tidbit I just discovered.

Did you know that when you call your Verizon voicemail, you get charged against your minutes? Even though it's technically "in" because it's a Verizon number calling a Verizon number, you get charged for the minutes as if you were calling an out-of-network number.

I just spent about an hour on the line with Verizon dealing with unrelated billing issues, and in the course of that conversation, I noticed the voicemail charges. The woman assisting me - who was ridiculously helpful, btw - said they have received many complaints about this voicemail thing, but she doesn't know what - if anything - is being done about it.

Seems awfully shady to me. It's hard to feel sorry for companies complaining about customers using too much bandwidth and the need to charge more when they're sneaking fees in the backdoor. Read the rest of this post...

OPEC President: Oil at $150-$170 in near term

The good news is that he doesn't think $200 oil is coming soon. The cheap dollar position by Bush is coming home to roost.

"I forecast prices probably between $150-170 during this summer. That will perhaps ease towards the end of the year," he told France 24 television, according to a text of the interview released by the station.

The comments came as crude prices neared $135 per barrel, after rising about 40 percent this year.

Khelil said he doubted prices would climb as high as $200.

"I think that the devaluation of the dollar against the euro, if everything goes as I think it will, will be of the order of perhaps 1-2 percent and this will probably generate an $8 rise in the price of oil," he said.

Read the rest of this post...

Supreme Court: "the coming presidential election will determine its future path"

Not that most of us aren't aware of the implications for the presidential elections, but, a front page article in today's Washington Post lays out one of the most basic and critical impacts. The future of the Supreme Court is at stake in the presidential election:

But as justices finished their work last week, two overarching truths about the court remained unchanged: It is sharply divided ideologically on some of the most fundamental constitutional questions, and the coming presidential election will determine its future path.

A victory by the presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, would probably mean preserving the uneasy but roughly balanced status quo, since the justices who are considered most likely to retire are liberal. A win for his Republican counterpart, John McCain, could mean a fundamental shift to a consistently conservative majority ready to take on past court rulings on abortion rights, affirmative action and other issues important to the right.

"Could mean"? Duh. A McCain presidency would mean a fundamental shift to the right. Just watch the way he pandered to the right wing last week.

Stark choice. But, it's not that complicated. If rights matter, vote Obama. If rights don't matter -- and if taking rights away from Americans is acceptable, vote McCain. This election really matters to anyone whose rights are in danger (you know, like, women, gays, minorities, union members....to name a few.) Read the rest of this post...

McCain debates himself on immigration reform -- and loses

McCain is flipping and flopping on immigration, which used to be one of his signature "maverick" issues, but that was before he started pandering to the GOP immigrant bashers. But, it's okay if McCain flip-flops because the King of Conventional Wisdom, David Broder, says McCain's flip-flops don't matter because even though McCain flip flops, he has "long-established reputation as a man who says what he believes." Got that? Watch this:
Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Okay, there's a lot going on today on the Sunday shows. You got a couple of third party contenders: Nader and the GOP's Nader, Bob Barr. You got a slew of potential VP choices, mostly on the GOP side: Pawlenty, Lieberman, Jindal and Portman. Wes Clark is the only potential Democratic V.P. pick. Then, there's one Senate Minority Leader who is facing the possibility of defeat in November: Mitch McConnell (will CNN be giving his opponent, Bruce Lunsford, an equal amount of face time?).

Seems like every Republican (except Arnold)on the t.v. today wants to be McCain's V.P. Most of the Dems are just there to represent Obama.

Here's the lineup:

ABC's "This Week" — Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.; Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; Ralph Nader, independent presidential candidate.

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CBS' "Face the Nation" — Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; retired Gen. Wesley Clark.

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NBC's "Meet the Press" — Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., Dave Freudenthal, D-Wyo., and Bill Ritter, D-Colo.

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CNN's "Late Edition" — U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Govs. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., and Bobby Jindal, R-La.; Terry McAuliffe, campaign chairman for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Fox News Sunday" _ Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa.; former Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Bob Barr, Libertarian presidential candidate.

Read the rest of this post...

Blair urges people to do something

Whatever. He could not even get his best friend Bush to listen and now he somehow wants everyone to follow him on climate change? Doesn't he have a meeting on Wall Street to help out a few billionaires screw everyone again? Just go away and don't tell us where you are going or what you are doing. Read the rest of this post...

US & EU agree to share spying data on each others citizens

Hard to believe the world does not want to copy our so-called democracy. Read the rest of this post...