Anti-Muslim slur remains on DOD Web site

Day 3, and counting.

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McClellan lies

God Bless E&P;:

At a White House press briefing Monday, Press Secretary Scott McClellan, pressed by reporters and with Afghan President Karzai in disagreement, retreated on claims that Newsweek's retracted story on Koran abuse cost lives in Afghanistan.

He also claimed that he had never said it did, even though a check of transcripts disputes that. On May 16, for example, he said, "people have lost their lives." On May 17, he said, "People did lose their lives," and, "People lost their lives" due to the Newsweek report.

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Frist already breaking filibuster deal

Or so it seems. (Hat tip to Atrios) Read the rest of this post...

Dems caving on Bolton?

If the White House didn't provide the documents the Dems wanted, then why are they caving? Sounds like more after-effect from the filibuster deal. And not necessarily good after-effect. Read the rest of this post...

Dumbest press release ever

From our friends at the Concerned Women for America. Read the rest of this post...

New episode of DemsTV.com is up

We taped last night while the filibuster deal was breaking, and din't realize it (sorry). Here's today's episode.

By the way, can anyone figure out C-Span? They did in fact tape the House panel today, the one on media bias, that I spoke before. But I can not figure out what time it will be on. Can anyone make heads or tails of C-Span's Web site? Read the rest of this post...

Breaking: House Passes real Stem Cell Research Bill

Interesting. Watching C-SPAN...House passed the real stem cell bill (Castle/DeGette) by a 238 - 194 margin.

Tom DeLay and George Bush both lobbied hard against this bill -- on ethical and moral grounds. (Yes, consider the sources)

Think about this one: During his speech today, Bush actually had the gonads to say: "We should not use public money to support the further destruction of human life." Yeah, that's his policy.

And, wow, the folks who called in to C-SPAN opposing the bill -- and supporting Bush and DeLay -- are real nut jobs. Read the rest of this post...

New allegations about Spokane Mayor West, the one who likes 18 year old boys

Just resign already.

New allegations of misconduct surfaced Tuesday against Mayor James West, who has rejected demands for his resignation amid allegations he offered city jobs to men he met in gay online chat rooms.

According to The Spokesman-Review, state Sen. Pam Roach said that when West served in the Legislature, he made an inappropriate sexual comment to her about her teenage son. The newspaper also said a man claimed that he was inappropriately touched during a pat-down search when West was a sheriff's deputy in the 1970s....

Roach told the newspaper that West made the comment in the Senate chamber around 1990, when her then-18-year-old son was working as a tour guide in the state Capitol and West was a state senator.

''West told me, 'I want to do to your son what no mother would want to know,''' Roach said the former senator told her.

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Open Thread

Chat away Read the rest of this post...

Hypocrites at the WH says stem cells bill "morally troubling"

Reuters:

The White House on Tuesday criticized as "morally troubling" legislation that would loosen restrictions on government funding of embryonic stem cell research, ahead of a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.

At his press conference today, Bush said "every life is a priceless gift of matchless value."

Wow, where to begin. This White House talking about morals when it comes to life.

Didn't see any comment from Bush on the deaths of 8 American soldiers in Iraq over the past 24 hours. Update: It's nine now.

Bush is morally bankrupt. Read the rest of this post...

Off to the Democratic panel on the Hill

Break my leg, or whatever :-)

Consider this an open thread. Read the rest of this post...

8 American Soldiers Killed in Iraq in past 24 hours

Jesus Christ.

How Bush get aways with acting like things are humming along in Iraq is just insane. There's a reason his approval rating on Iraq is tanking. The American people seem more clued in to what a disaster Bush has made in Iraq than Congress or the MSM. CNN has the latest carnage story:

Insurgent attacks during the past 24 hours have killed eight U.S. soldiers in Iraq, the military said Tuesday.

Three soldiers died in a car bombing in central Baghdad on Tuesday and a fourth -- who was manning an observation post -- was killed by a drive-by gunman, Task Force Baghdad spokesman, Maj. Darryl Wright said.

Four other American soldiers were killed by a bomb on Monday, the military said. They were assigned to the 155th Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.

The explosive "detonated near their vehicle" in fighting in Haswa, south of Baghdad.

The deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war to 1,643, according to U.S. military reports.

Iraq is out of control. Maybe, just maybe, this will force Congress -- or the MSM -- to take a hard look at the Downing Street Memo. BTC News reports that McClellan really doesn't dispute the substance of the memo. Isn't that a story?

Maybe, just maybe, there will be some accountability. Okay, I know I'm dreaming.... Read the rest of this post...

NYT headline declares Bush winner in filibuster battle

Ok, I've got my example of media bias. Read the rest of this post...

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Baby angry.

To: Bill Frist, US Senate.
From: Mitch Berg, Schmuck Citizen and pissed-off former GOP contributor
Re: Your Infinite Cretinism

Senator Frist,

Mitch Berg here. You probably don't know who I am; I'm a typical schmuck. I write a blog, and I try to pitch in on GOP activities around Minnesota.

And on behalf of the entire GOP, I'm having a hard time walking right now - because you just boned your party up the a**.

No, not just the party; not just the assembly of suits and climbers and hangers-on that no doubt surrounds you at work every day. No, I'm talking about all of us who busted our asses overcoming a full-court media press (and continue to do so), and gave of our time and money until it hurt - hurt our wallets, our families, our relationships, our equilibrium. We gave them all with enthusiasm because we knew what was at stake; a whole generation of Supreme Court decisions.

So we gave. And you took.

And today, you looked us all in the face, and spat.

Reading Michelle and John and Ed, I'm about as depressed as I can be.

We won you a majority, pinhead. What the hell good is it? You think the Democrats are going to abide by your little gentleman's agreement? You got conned. You entered into an agreement with a Klansman, a drunk machine hack and a party bag man. You are the Neville Chamberlain of my generation.

I don't believe in Karma, but I believe what goes around comes around. And I guess you demonstrate it, Frist. The Democrats elect a pinhead doctor to lead their party - I guess it's only fair we did, too.

Thank God for Tom Delay. The least you could do is make it hard for the Dems to neutralize you, rather than walking off the cliff into the kool-aid vat on your own.

Captain Ed is right. Not one more dime. You have made me ashamed to be a Republican.

Oh, I'll bounce back. We all will - most of us, anyway. We'll have to. Because you showed us today - the grass roots have got to do it for themselves; we'll get no help from hamsters like you.

Sincerely - go back to medicine.

Mitch Berg
Saint Paul.

Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Any suggestions for my panel on the Hill today? The topic is media bias, and I only have 3 to 5 minutes to speak, so I need a good 3 talking points, that's it. Thoughts? Read the rest of this post...

More Ohio GOP Coin-Gate Shenanigans

The scandal that keeps going in Ohio...well, it's still going.

Today's Toledo Blade reports that the Governor finally ordered an investigation. He's "fed up" according to his spokesman.

Uh-oh, though, the Governor's people told the mastermind of coin-gate and major GOP fundraiser/Bush Pioneer, Tom Noe, about the investigation in advance...and guess what?....he wouldn't let them do it:

State fraud investigators, ordered by Gov. Bob Taft to “execute a complete inventory” of all rare coins owned by the state, were barred yesterday by Maumee coin dealer Tom Noe from beginning the inspections.

Democrats are stepping up the criticism and the pressure:

“Why don’t they just tell the truth?’’ replied state Sen. Marc Dann, a Democrat from suburban Youngstown who has emerged as the leading critic of the state’s investment in rare coins.

Mr. Dann questioned why state officials would tell Mr. Noe’s attorney anything in advance of an inspection.

“It is consistent with what my fears are, which is putting the same people in charge of the Republican money machine in charge of the investigation,’’ said Mr. Dann. “If they gave notice to Mr. Noe’s lawyers, that is criminal. If those lawyers are nervous today, what stops them from tossing the investigators out?”

Also, the State Auditor, Betty Montgomery, and Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, are conducting separate investigations:

The Ohio inspector general’s office is investigating, state Auditor Betty Montgomery has announced a special audit, and the secretary of state’s office is scrutinizing Mr. Noe’s campaign contributions to GOP statewide and legislative candidates.

Both are running for the GOP nomination for Governor next year. And both are beneficiaries of Tom Noe's political largesse.

Ohio really is a cesspool...a corrupt GOP cesspool. Read the rest of this post...

What about a Privacy Bill of Rights?

With the news of even more leaks of private information, isn't it time a serious Privacy Bill of Rights was addressed? I'm not talking about the wimpy bill that is currently being discussed which offers more carrot, less stick, but a real bill that will protect average citizens from this never-ending stream of bad news? The companies involved are raking in millions using private information yet they don't seem to give a damn about what happens to that data. Sure it's going to cost them money to set up proper security but doesn't anyone in Washington care about this constant loss of personal data which is so controlling in our lives?

I seriously doubt we will see anything because our both parties are in such a fight for campaign money, heaven forbid they actually do anything to block out a potential contributor so as always, the public gets nothing but talk, talk talk and both parties will continue to dial for campaign dollars.

Is there anyone in the DNC who can see this as a campaign issue? We're talking about hundreds of thousands of victims, that we know of so far. Read the rest of this post...

Iraqi oil scandal continues, now US and new Iraqi government involved

Hello Mr Pot, welcome Mr Kettle. Go ahead and take the previous complaints and charges against the previous regime such as diverting money into bank accounts -no-bid contracts, failure to use the money to help the Iraqi people- and replace the old regime with the new regime which naturally includes the US. The result? Pretty much the same as the old regime with corruption, and regular Iraqis getting shafted out of the benefits of oil.

Hmm, the Iraqi people really seem so much better off now that they have a democratically elected government who cares about them, not to mention the world's super power providing peace and security. They must be so happy.

So when should we expect to see Senator Coleman call for an investigation or is he still licking his wounds from the last one? Read the rest of this post...