Ron Paul breaks his own one-day online fundraising record: $5m in ONE DAY

(click graph to see a more legible version)

Ron Paul raised over $5,000,000.

Today.

This shatters his own single-day online fund-raising record, and he'll end up at about twice the record he broke last time (Kerry's $2.7M haul *after* he had sewn up the nomination on Super Tuesday).

What a phenomenon (and, for the moment, it isn't even on the front page of either CNN or NYTimes) . . . Read the rest of this post...

Lieberman to endorse McCain

Reader Dennis in Arlington alerted me that our favorite loser is going to be endorsing McCain. Big surprise. Lieberman lost his mind, and his loyalties, long ago. All that he's interested in now is starting as many wars in the Middle East as possible. And in that regard, Lieberman is right to pick McCain. No one can guarantee getting us into more wars than another Republican candidate.

I really can't wait until we get just a few more Democratic Senate seats in the next election so we can tell Lieberman to take a hike and join the Republicans where he'll be happily irrelevant working in the minority. Then see how much good he is to whomever it is he's truly loyal to. Read the rest of this post...

Tourist from Iceland put in chains and shackles by US

Her crime? She over-stayed a travel visa when she was in her early 20s. She was wrong to do that though locking someone up in chains for two days and denying them contact with the outside world just might be a bit of an overreaction. Deport her on the spot or fine her, but chains? Good grief. Read the rest of this post...

Huckabee calls Bush administration "arrogant"

Oh this is going to get fun. The Rs have finally broken their silence on George Bush. Up until now, they've preferred not to mention our illustrious leader. Now, in an effort to take the lead in the up-for-grabs Republican primary, Huckabee is directly attacking George Bush. As Dr. House would say, that's interesting.

Mike Huckabee, a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, said the administration of President George W. Bush has an ``arrogant bunker mentality.''

``American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out,'' Huckabee wrote in the journal Foreign Affairs. ``The Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad.''

Romney, who doesn't have a sincere bone in his body, is choosing to defend Bush.

Romney's campaign Web site posted a press release today saying Huckabee's comments ``disappointed'' the Massachusetts Republican, and that ``the attack on the presidency was something uncalled for. It was unnecessary and inaccurate.''

White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo referred questions about Huckabee's article to the Republican National Committee. A spokesman at the committee's press office declined comment and suggested contacting the Huckabee campaign.

Still, Huckabee has clearly calculated that dissing Bush is a winning strategy. And in the general election, that's likely true. In the primary, it's harder to tell. Self-described Republicans, a shrinking breed, still like Bush. And it's likely that many of them are primary voters, as people who have left the party for independent-land may not be as interested in voting in a partisan primary. But Huckabee knows that, yet he's still going after Bush. Very interesting. And fun too. Read the rest of this post...

George Will on Mike Huckabee

Conservative writer George Will on ABC's THIS WEEK this morning:

"Huckabee, this week it was learned that he gave more clemencies, one every four days, to convicted criminals in Arkansas - more than the three preceding governors combined, included Bill Clinton."

Read the rest of this post...

My health insurance premium just went up 22%

So I got a letter from Blue Cross yesterday. My health insurance premium just went up from $277/month to $340/month - that's a 23% increase. Why? I have no idea. Is it because I've had problems with my eyes this year and now am paying the price? Or is it simply that health care costs keep rising and someone has to pay? And what am I going to be paying for health insurance when I'm 60?

I don't claim to be an expert on health care policy, and admit that my eyes gloss over when trying to understand the differences between Hillary's, Obama's, and Edwards' health care plan. But I have a gut feeling that none of those plans are meant to help people like me, people in the middle, people who are neither rich nor poor. Just like the sub-prime bail-out, where our politicians are helping to artificially inflate real estate prices so first-time home buyers like me can pay tens of thousands, if not a hundred thousand, more for my first condo (that's called a "tax"), everything politicians do is meant to help either the rich or the poor at my expense.

Another example: I'm self-employed, and so is my friend Michael. We both work from home. Michael gets a write-off for working at home, for his "home office," because he can afford a two-bedroom condo and can thus dedicate one room exclusively as his office. But because I can't afford a two-bedroom condo, and only have a studio, I can't write off my "office" even though I work from home, my home is my office, just as much as Michael. The difference between us? Michael is wealthier than me so he gets to write off working at home, and I don't.

Neither party ever seems to give a damn about people in the middle.Chris has a good summary:

For every fool who didn't jump into the shoddy loan business, you get coal in your stocking. Whether we're talking handouts to the wealthiest and big business or loans to people who fell for get rich quick schemes in real estate, I've had it. Congress ought to start thinking about all of the schmucks in the middle who are paying for this stupidity. They're the ones paying for the war, the tax cuts and now the subprime bailout. The schmucks in the middle also ought to take a long look at who they are voting for and why, while they are at it. Neither party looks very appealing.

Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Four presidential candidates today -- evenly split between Rs and Ds. Edwards does three shows. Mitt gets the full hour with Russert. Be interesting to see how Romney does in an hour long interview. He's so programmed -- does he even have an hour's worth of answers? He just says the same carefully crafted talking points over and over. And will his hair hold up for an hour?

Also, Greenspan appears to talk economy. Clearly on a campaign to clear his name since the economy started tanking -- and the housing crisis erupted -- under his watch. And, more baseball. Lot of team owners made a lot of money because their players were taking drugs. They're laughing all the way to the bank.

The full lineup is after the break:ABC's "This Week" — Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.; former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

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CBS' "Face the Nation" — Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and Edwards.

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NBC's "Meet the Press" — Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.

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CNN's "Late Edition" — Edwards; Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., Kit Bond, R-Mo., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind.

"Fox News Sunday" _ Former Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine, author of a report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball; Reps. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., and Jane Harman, D-Calif.; Ted Leonsis, owner of the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals. Read the rest of this post...

Success in Bali on climate change?

There are no shortages of media reports about the US coming around and joining the rest of the world at the Bali conference on climate change. To the degree that the administration recognized the problem and said action needed to be taken, there's not much more here. We have seen Bush the last few years give plenty of lip service but it's a different story when it comes to real actions. Maybe there has been real change and we'll all be shocked at the new Bush. Then again, have we ever once witnessed any movement like this before?

Bush has one more year to go and his entire game plan on everything is to run out the clock. Whether it's the war, the subprime problems or the economy in general it is always about pushing the issue out to the next president. It's nice to see that the US wasn't the class idiot yet again at an international conference, but when I see results over talk, then I will start to believe there is an updated position on climate change. Read the rest of this post...

Fannie Mae CEO: No housing recovery until 2009

..."at the earliest". Congratulations to Bush, Greenspan and the GOP. Well done on steering the economy right onto the rocks. Read the rest of this post...

Republicans help keep junk food in schools

Besides delivering the pork to wealthy farmers in GOP south (they need help about as much as Halliburton) the new farm bill protects another GOP special interest, the junk food industry. Heaven forbid we modernize school nutrition standards which have not changed since 1979. America's collective weight gain problem has noticeably spiked during this period of time. The industrial food/chemical industry has also made strides in delivering strange chemical concoctions (olestra, apartame, hydrogenated oils and other goodies) to foods during this time as well.

While this was a great win for the GOP and their friends, American children will pay the price. This is of course the same GOP who never stops talking about protecting human life, though you would never know it by their disgraceful actions. This will only lead to more health care problems and costs down the road for everyone. Protecting GOP special interests, yes. Protecting America's kids, no. It's all just SOP for the Republicans. Read the rest of this post...