Senate passed Health Bill for children -- again. Bush prepares to screw over sick kids -- again.

They must be all excited at the Bush White House tonight. Bush gets to pull out his veto pen again. And, one more time, he gets to screw sick kids. The Senate passed the children's health insurance bill tonight:

The Senate passed a new bill Thursday expanding a popular children's health insurance program, despite the lingering threat of a veto from President Bush.

The bill -- which boosts the number of low-income children covered by the State Children's Health Insurance Program -- was recently passed by the House, but without the veto-proof margin it received in the Senate.

Bush vetoed the first SCHIP bill and is expected to veto this one.

"There's a bill moving through Congress that's disguised as a bill to help children, but I think it's really a trick on the American people," the president said Wednesday.

Oh, that Bush. He's such a joker. You know he's giddy about vetoing SCHIP again. Hey, they're just sick kids. What's the big deal? His kids have health care. Why is Bush supposed to worry about other people's children? Read the rest of this post...

Tread Lightly, by the Guardian

When I look at the British media, they have so much more focus on the environment and global warming. The US media dishes out an article here and there but generally speaking, they continue to lack serious environment coverage. The Guardian, for example, just launched a new website that is aiming to help readers with practical advice for stepping up and facing the issue. This will be in addition to the already existing "Environment" pages of the Guardian. Check it out.

It is an attempt to counter the defeatist attitude about tackling rising carbon emissions, by establishing an online meeting place for the community of people who are keen to be part of the solution, but who still seek motivation. By bringing readers together and encouraging them to make lifestyle changes, the hope is to show that individuals acting collectively can achieve impressive results. These changes range from the simple - washing clothes at 30C (86F), taking the bus instead of driving, - to the more imaginative, such as coordinating a "walking crocodile" for the trip to school.

Read the rest of this post...

It's sad how many lies Bush can weave into one press event

Here's what our incompetent commander in chief, the guy lost the war in Iraq and let Osama go, had to say today:

"Unfortunately, on too many issues, some in Congress are behaving as if America is not at war," Bush said during a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. "This is no time for Congress to weaken the Department of Justice by denying it a strong and effective leader. ... It's no time for Congress to weaken our ability to intercept information from terrorists about potential attacks on the United States of America. And this is no time for Congress to hold back vital funding for our troops as they fight al-Qaida terrorists and radicals in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Hmm, let's see:

1. America doesn't have an attorney general because Bush let his old guy resign after he broke too many laws for even the corrupt Bush administration. So tell us again why we don't have an attorney general.

2. Weaken our ability to intercept communications? Congress sent Bush a new domestic spying law and he vetoed it because it didn't grant Verizon and AT&T; immunity for illegally spying on innocent Americans' phone records. Had nothing to do with his ability to intercept Al Qaeda - Congress gave him that, and he vetoed it. So again, it's Bush's fault we don't have a new domestic spying law.

3. Funding the troops? Huh? Congress fully funded the troops. They're fully funded until after New Years. It's only November 1. What is he even talking about?

Our president is a liar. That's because he comes from a party of liars. All the extremists leading the Republican party know how to do nowadays is lie. They look in a mirror, pick out the worst things they're doing, and then blame the Democrats for it. Bush let Osama go? Blame the Democrats! Bush bankrupted the country while Clinton left us with hundreds of billions of dollars of surplus? Call the Democrats fiscally irresponsible because they want to add a few billion to a program to insure millions of children.

The Republicans, personified by Bush, have nothing left to stand for, nothing left to run on. All they can do is lie. Because to admit the truth would require a few hundred impeachments and or permanent stints at Gitmo. Read the rest of this post...

Bush and the GOP on economics

Bush can conveniently blast the Democrats for spending but nobody can deliver destruction to the economy the way Bush can do it. Some of his greatest hits include:

- Largest decline in housing prices since 1991.
- Crumbling US dollar, weakest showing against leading five currencies since early 1970s. This includes 37 year low against Canadian dollar. Against the UK pound, it's over $2 to buy only one.
- Skyrocketing and "out of control" oil prices, record highs at the pump.
- Billions of US taxpayer dollars lost, missing, and who knows what from Iraq. Costs for war to drag out for decades.
- Record high budget deficit, compounded by GOP spending boondoggles.

I think some people need to step back and look at the devastation triggered by complete GOP rule in our government and think about where we go from here. For decades Republicans (much like Bush yesterday) talked a big game, telling anyone who would listen that they were the financially responsible party but the results say something else. Their rule is setting new records, none of which are good for the country, yet some of them still have the audacity to blame the Democrats. Sorry folks, but check again. Read the rest of this post...

A Better Democrat for Congress: Donna Edwards will put her constituents first.

According to the Washington Post, Prince Georges County, Maryland has the highest mortgage foreclosure rate in the state. You'd think that the congressman from Prince Georges County would have been worried about the predatory lending affecting his constituents. Nope. While the mortgage crisis was brewing, Rep. Al Wynn was doing everything he could to protect the financial services industry -- not the families in his district. And that culminated with his vote for the bankruptcy bill.

The mortgage crisis didn't happen overnight. And, we're not saying the bankruptcy bill caused the mortgage crisis. But let's be real. Members of Congress, like Al Wynn, were too busy doing the bidding of the large banks and financial institutions to worry about consumers. That has to change.

We need better Democrats. We need Democrats who will put the interests of their constituents before the powerful special interests. We need Donna Edwards in Congress.

As I reported yesterday, in advance of Speaker Pelosi's fundraiser for Al Wynn on November 3rd, a group of progressive blogs are holding an online fundraiser for Donna. Every contribution sends the message that we want better Democrats. You can contribute here. Send that message.

This coming Saturday afternoon, Donna will be posting on AMERICAblog and taking some time to respond to questions and comments.

And, below is a recent video interview with Donna Edwards. She's found that the mortgage foreclosure issue is resonating in Maryland's Fourth Congressional District:

With your help, on February 12, 2008, Donna Edwards will be on her way to Congress. Read the rest of this post...

Mukasey nomination in trouble. Bush starts whining that it's not fair

The nomination of Michael Mukasey is running into very serious trouble. And, George Bush is cranky. He says it's not fair. And, guess what? Bush says we're at war. Therefore, no one can question anything Bush does and he should get what he wants:

“Judge Mukasey is not being treated fairly,” the president said, after taking the extraordinary step of inviting a group of reporters into the Oval Office to vent his feelings. Sitting behind his desk and leaning back in his chair, Mr. Bush said he was concerned that some people may have “lost sight of the fact that we’re at war.”

Pretty soon Bush will start weaving in Al Qaeda and September the 11th.

Bush just wants another Attorney General who will let him break the law. Democratic Senators are standing up against torture. And it's key that the Senators on the Judiciary Committee are lining up against Mukasey. Note to Dianne Feinstein: Don't screw this one up.

Let's all remember what happen during the confirmation hearing for Mukasey in mid-October. On the first day of testimony, Mukasey wowed the Senators. On day two, Mukasey was a different person -- he became a loyal Bushie overnight. It was an overnight transformation. Waterboarding was probably involved. Read the rest of this post...

In Dubai, rape is your fault

Dubai, that little Middle Eastern paradise that Bush is so happy to sell our ports too, and so many Europeans flock to as the newest hot spot. Well, read this article from the New York Times and learn what a barbaric, backwards, hostile place Dubai still really is.

Alexandre Robert, a French 15-year-old, was having a fine summer in this tourist paradise on the Persian Gulf. It was Bastille Day and he and a classmate had escaped the July heat at the beach for an air-conditioned arcade.

Just after sunset, Alex says he was rushing to meet his father for dinner when he bumped into an acquaintance, a 17-year-old native-born student at the American school, who said he and his cousin could drop Alex off at home.

There were, in fact, three Emirati men in the car, including a pair of former convicts ages 35 and 18, according to Alex. He says they drove him past his house and into a dark patch of desert, between a row of new villas and a power plant, took away his cellphone, threatened him with a knife and a club, and told him they would kill his family if he ever reported them.

Then they stripped off his pants and one by one sodomized him in the back seat of the car. They dumped Alex across from one of Dubai’s luxury hotel towers....

The authorities not only discouraged Alex from pressing charges, he, his family and French diplomats say; they raised the possibility of charging him with criminal homosexual activity, and neglected for weeks to inform him or his parents that one of his attackers had tested H.I.V. positive while in prison four years earlier.

Read the rest of this post...

A turning point for Iraq?

In general I think discussions of turning points in Iraq -- even in retrospect, much less forward-looking -- are over-hyped; Iraq has been, if nothing else, a slow-moving process, much of it predictable based on the failures of governance by US and Iraqi leadership. Spencer Ackerman takes a look at the current landscape, though, and wonders whether the coming weeks might give a clearer picture of where Iraq is heading for the next few years:

Shiites have started to unite as Sunnis have started to expand their power. By some measurements, violence has decreased. November 2007 is a moment to test whether progress on reconciliation is possible, or whether both sides are gearing up for a larger conflict.

As Ackerman says, there are indications that casualties are down, and groups are tentatively reaching out to each other, both intra-sect (the Shia truce between Badr and Sadr is, however tentative, an important symbolic step) and inter-sect (Shia groups have been visiting with some of the resurgent Sunni groups). While one certainly hopes these are indications of broader reconciliation, it's also just as likely that the sides are gearing up for a broader war. The problem with splintered groups is anarchy; the problem with united groups is potential titanic conflict. Ackerman recognizes this, of course, and rightly acknowledges the usual Iraq dichotomy of opportunity and risk:

There's breathing room here for negotiations, as shallow a breath as it may be. No one should believe reconciliation is at hand, or that the process of achieving it won't be protracted and laborious. But consider that with the decline of violence comes a rise in expectations. If those expectations aren't addressed expeditiously, what will remain will be frustrated sectarian factions that are more consolidated and, in the Sunni case, better armed than ever. It might be a good time to revitalize the stalled forum of leaders from Iraq and its neighbors. That's Iraq for you: each potentially hopeful situation is intertwined with a combustible one.

There's nothing yet to indicate, to me at least, that reasonable steps are being made for broad agreement on any major issue, either within the US or Iraqi leadership. Meanwhile, Turkey is poised to invade and Kirkuk remains a flashpoint, Shia groups are fighting under the radar in the south over the vast oil riches of Basra, and we're arming Sunnis who still hate the Shia government.

To me, the issue is this: We keep talking about whether the glass if half full or half empty. But since the liquid in the glass is gasoline, the real question is, who's holding the match? Read the rest of this post...

Religious right wackjob ordered to pay $11m for protesting military funerals/gays

The religious right always says that their hate-wrapped-in-God, their protests of our troops' funerals (because, get this, America is too gay so they're protesting our dead soldiers) is protected by freedom of religion. The religious also argues that their right to fire gays from a job simply because their gay, their right to not rent an apartment or sell a home to gays, is all protected by their freedom of religion (no word on how they feel about the religious justification for discrimination against Jews or blacks - they're awfully silent on that one, what a surprise). Well, now a court has found against them to the tune of $11m. Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

That get-tough-with-Iran strategy is working -- working to increase the price of oil. Breaking new records of price per barrel. Heckuva job Bushie and all the Senators who voted for the Kyl-Lieberman war-mongering resolution.

Start threading the news. Read the rest of this post...

Big Oil wants your biometric details

Uh huh, this sounds like a great idea. The corporate world has done such a fantastic job of protecting consumer personal privacy, so now they want to take it to the next level. Whether it's losing data due to incompetence or handing over data to the government without following proper legal methods, this is such a terrible idea in every way. Add "Big Oil" to the mix and you have an even worse situation.

Ten Shell gas stations in the Windy City are testing biometric systems that let consumers walk up to the pump, scan their fingertips on a device and fill up their vehicles. The systems, also installed at Shell convenience stores, are directly linked to customers' checking or credit-card accounts for payment.

"When we talk to customers, they're always looking for ways to make buying gasoline quicker and easier, and always looking for ways to make their transactions faster and more secure," said Chris Susse, Shell's manager of global refueling innovations.

Read the rest of this post...

Oil jumps to $96

Wow, that was fast. Read the rest of this post...